Annual Meeting
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annual meeting of the Fairlington Commons Council of Co-Owners will be held
Thursday, October 11th in the cafeteria of the Abingdon Elementary
School, 3035 S. Abingdon Street, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The purpose of the meeting will be to elect
board members and to discuss topics of interest.
One seat on the Board of Directors is up for election, the seat currently held by Patti Burke. Votes submitted by proxy or at the meeting will elect the Board Member. The Board then selects officers from within itself as mandated by our By-Laws. Anyone interested in serving on the Board should notify Secretary Bernie Weaver or President John Sinks by email, telephone, or by a note in the pool mailbox at 3367 S. Wakefield Street no later than Saturday, September 15th to be listed on the proxy ballot mailed with the meeting notice.
You
must be a resident Co-Owner to serve on the Board. For additional information
about responsibilities and time commitments, please contact a Board member with
your questions. Formal meeting
notification and proxy ballots will be mailed to all Co-Owners in the near
future.
Interesting Fact Total number of Recreation Passes produced as
of this Newsletter – 598! Zory, our
lifeguard, is sure glad you didn’t all show up at the pool at once!
Great American Bake Sale Sets Record!
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Wednesday, July 4th in conjunction with the Fairlington Villages/FCA
4th of July Parade, this year’s “Great American Bake Sale” raised an
all time record $1,030 for “Share Our Strength," a non-profit organization
dedicated toward ending childhood hunger in America. This was the fifth consecutive year that The
Commons has sponsored “The Great American Bake Sale,” and the credit for its
success goes to Commons resident and event coordinator Cathy Malin.
This
year’s event doubled the amount raised by any previous sale, a success credited
by Cathy to the fantastic weather, a mid-week holiday with most residents at
home, the superb efforts by all who donated baked goods, and the generosity of
the many patrons who made purchases and donations. Thanks also to the Panera
Bread Company, Diversions Cards and Gifts, Great Harvest Bread Company, One Two
Kangaroo, One Good Tern, Reunions, Pro Feed, Unwined, Fairlington Pizza,
Robcyns, and Ho Chinese Carryout for their donations to the silent auction
and Gift Basket drawing.
Thanks To Jeff Phaneuf, who, with his dog “Brady” volunteered to accept
stewardship of the “Doggie Depot” adjacent the pool while Judy Barr and
“Maggie” maintain the others.
Reminders
Last
Day of Full-Time Pool Operation – The Pool closes at 6:00 p.m. Labor Day Monday,
September 3rd. Weather
permitting, it will be open Saturday and Sunday September 8th and 9th
and September 15th and 16th with an impromptu “Doggie
Dip” during the last few hours.
Season
End Pool Party
– Saturday, September 8th, 6:00 p.m.
We will provide hotdogs, hamburgers, soft drinks, and condiments. Bring a dish to share. Watch for the upcoming flyer.
Free
Outdoors Yoga Class - Saturday, September 8th at the Commons Basketball Court
on the Wakefield Circle from 9 to 10 a.m. Commons resident and Registered Yoga
Teacher Kristi Daniels is the instructor.
Rain date is Saturday, September 15th - same time.
Watering
New Trees –
Please help our new trees survive. They
are easily identifiable by the wooden stake anchors holding them in place. After a week of little or no rain, each tree
needs 10 gallons of water, administered by bucket (the typical bucket holds
four gallons) or hose.
Agronomic Applications - remember, dates are
tentative, and may need to be adjusted based on weather or other factors. In keeping with Virginia law, signs will be
posted in advance advising of actual application dates.
Application Dates:
Organic Fertilizer and Strike III Herbicide for Broad Leaf Weed Control
Organic Fertilizer
Commons
Service Coordinator Eric
Pamer - 703-379-0027 Or
drop a note in the mailbox in front of the Pool.
Pool News
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summer has seen a lot of changes at our pool, starting with the new umbrellas,
bases, tabletops, and side tables.
Unlike our old umbrellas (aluminum pole, steel ribs, and vinyl
covering), the new umbrellas are sturdy fiberglass covered with a UV resistant
fabric and should provide many years of trouble-free service and much improved
resistance to damage by the sun and thunderstorm winds.
The
wading pool filter is also new, and replaces its 20-some-year-old predecessor
that announced its demise by spraying a fire hose sized blast of water across
the pump well after splitting wide open; much to the surprise of the
lifeguard! Many thanks to High Sierra
Pools for the quick installation of the new filter!
We’ve
had a diverse group of lifeguards this summer from countries including
Bulgaria, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Poland, and Russia. All are undergraduate or graduate students
with majors in economics, medicine, psychology, geography, accounting, and HVAC
(Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning).
The
flags in the flowerbed are those of Bulgaria and Poland. Zorka “Zory” Sholeva and Elena Peicheva are from Bulgaria,
supervisor Robert Walasek is from Poland.
While Robert and Elena came to the U.S. this summer intending to work as
lifeguards, Zory was supposed to drive an ice cream truck in Philadelphia, and,
after a series of misadventures that would make a great movie script, thankfully
ended up at our pool!
If
you came to our pool last summer or the first part of this one, you probably
met Maeve. She was the owner of the
huge, green, inflatable alligator, ten years old, everyone’s friend, and the
lifeguard and pool manager’s helper.
Maeve and Beatrice (her mother) moved to their native Germany. We’ll miss you Maeve – the pool is just not
the same without you!
There
have been a number of parties at the pool this summer; families or groups of
friends, but no community events scheduled except our traditional year-end
gathering on Saturday, September 8. A
previous newsletter asked for volunteers to organize events, with none
forthcoming.
So, as they say in Hollywood, it’s a wrap. The pool will be in full-time operation from now through Labor Day. We close at 6:00 p.m. on Labor Day. If the weather holds, we’ll open for the two weekends following, certainly for our year-end bash. We’ll play it by ear, but when we’re certain that the season is really over, we’ll invite all of our canine friends to join us for a last splash!
Trash Topics
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Commons recently received an e-Mail from our neighbors in Fairlington Mews
stating that several of our residents have been observed carrying their trash
across 34th Street and dropping it in the Mews for pickup. While initially this may seem an acceptable
practice, it is actually illegal.
Each
Fairlington Condominium Association separately contracts and pays for trash
removal services and is a separate entity under law. For a resident of The Commons to dump their
trash in a neighboring condominium association is no different than dumping it
in the front yard of any residence in Arlington – and may result in criminal
charges.
For
our new residents, and as a reminder for everyone, here is a summary of trash
and recycling pickup times:
Please do not place your trash curbside or at the designated
pick-up points after the truck has passed.
They will not come back to get it.
If you miss the pickup, it is your responsibility to carry your trash
back to your house until the next regularly scheduled trash or recycling pickup
or to otherwise dispose of it in an approved Arlington County receptacle. It is not to be left on your porch or
"hidden" behind bushes where the rest of us have to look at it and
where it can attract unwanted animals.
Trash and recycling should be stored in your residence or patio prior to
pickup – it is not to be stored in common areas such as outside your patio.
The proper disposal of trash and litter is essential to the health
and safety of our community, and is a serious concern with Arlington County
Government and our neighboring condominium associations, some of whom have
enacted and enforce strict rules, including fines, for non-compliance. While the Commons has previously dealt
informally with most violations (except for a few forwarded to Arlington
County’s Police and Health Departments for action in the past), our By-Laws
provide our Board of Directors the authority to establish and collect fines for
non-compliance with our rules, including those governing trash and recycling.
The Human Element
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said in our last newsletter that we intend to try to feature more human
interest stories dealing with the people of our community. What follows is one of those stories...
You’ve
possibly seen him around the Commons maintaining our streetlights and replacing
smoke detector batteries in our apartment style buildings. With the exception of his white hardhat,
there is nothing unique in his appearance, or at least nothing to reveal that
40 years ago and half a world away, the events of history pivoted around his
actions and those of the men that he commanded.
“Harry”
Hue Ngoc Tran was born in Hue City, once the capital of Vietnam. His parents named him Hue, after the
city. His middle name, “Ngoc” means
pearl, so his entire name means “The Pearl of Hue City from the Trans.” His Marine Corp and Army advisors nicknamed
him “Harry,” a name that he still uses.
Harry
was born into a military family. He
entered military school at 12, attended the Vietnam National Military Academy,
and graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant.
He was assigned to Hue City, where, two years later, he was promoted to
1st Lieutenant.
In
February 1968, the North Vietnamese Communists launched the Tet Offensive, and
Harry’s company, “Hac Bao” – The Black Panther Company – was squarely in the
middle of the fighting for the city. “We
fought in the spirit of ‘Living in Freedom or Die’,” recalls Harry. It was the greatest victory of the war – the
U.S. lost 216 men, the South Vietnamese 384, and the invading communists, who
were repulsed, over 8,000.
Harry
was immediately promoted to Captain, presented the medal of Gallantry Cross
with Silver Star by U.S. General Creighton Abrams, and the National Order 5th
with Gallantry Cross with Palm Device by South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van
Thieu. Harry’s war ended three years later when he was wounded and captured by
the North Vietnamese.
Harry
came to the United States on Veteran’s Day, 1991 after 13 years in a POW camp
and a period of house arrest. He began
working for the Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) in 1994, and founded a small
business that provides services (for example – the work he performs for the
Commons) and assists Vietnamese immigrants in finding employment.
Harry began working for the Commons some twelve years ago on the recommendation of then Board Member Don Price, a retired Marine Colonel who had known Harry in Vietnam. In addition to working for the NFCU and operating his business, Harry participates in seminars throughout the U.S. dealing with the war in Vietnam and has been interviewed for numerous television documentaries and books.
(Editor’s Note: Much of the
information contained in this article first appeared in the Navy Federal Credit
Union’s “From the Bridge,” a magazine published for employees of the Navy
Federal Credit Union. Their permission
in allowing us to reprint it here is gratefully acknowledged.)
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Fairlington Commons Board of Directors |
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President |
John Sinks E-mail jsinks@comcast.net |
931-2660 |
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Vice President |
Patti Burke E-mail pattisburke@msn.com |
931-2897 |
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Secretary |
Bernie Weaver E-mail WeaverBW@comcast.net |
671-7024 |
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Treasurer |
Christine Sivigny E-mail CSivigny@hotmail.com |
778-6041 |
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At Large |
Dennis Maridueña E-mail dmariduena@gmail.com |
Unlisted |