Christmas Party

Thanks to Sonja and Jim McFarland and Jean and Connor Keller; Meg Davenport and Amy and Rob Crofoot; and Bo and David McCall for hosting the Forest Hills Christmas party. It was Julie and my first neighborhood Christmas party and we enjoyed seeing the neighbors we met and the ones we hadn't. The food and hospitality was great and we look forward to next year.

Sad News

Trish, a neighbor here on Colonial Dr. passed away last night. As many of you know, she was living as a paraplegic for sometime, due to an accident on Market St.
Judy, her mom, is the neighbor that FH's adopted a few years back to help with home repairs.
Our neighborly thoughts and prayers go out to their family, especially at this time.

Hi folks, welcome to the blog

I see Miles sent out a missive from Bradley introducing many of you to this blog. Welcome. And please please please take up the offer of becoming an author. We created this thing (and by "we" I mean my lovely wife) so the neighborhood could use it to share information. Any kind of information -- yard sales, school news, neighborhood watch, safety concerns, local meetings, etc. And to make it accessible to everyone, not just folks who knew about Miles' list and gave him their email address.

That's where our responsibility starts and ends. The rest is up to you. And as Bradley noted in his letter (which I'll excerpt below), writing a blog post is as easy as writing an email, only you also get to add pictures and video, if you like. Just remember not to reveal too much information (you probably don't want to post your phone number here or the names/ages of your kids, for example). Other than that, it's pretty much fair game.

Here's Brad's email, as a reference:

Anyone who lives in Forest Hills can be an author at the blog and it's very easy. Send an email requesting an author account and you will get one. Even if you aren't yet set up as an author, you can post comments. (At the end of posts, click on the word comment). If you need help figuring out that first blog post, email me at bcoxe (at) ec.rr.com or Dan at dan (at) tynanwood.com. [Remember to substitite an @ symbol for (at) in that address.] After that posting to the blog will be a simple as sending an email to Miles.

And you don't have to check the blog to read announcements. Just subscribe to the blog and the posts will come right to your email. Enter your email adress on the box on there on the left or click on the feed button if you like to use a feed reader.

Now, there are a few differences between this blog and the email chain. First, understand that this blog is not private. You need permission to post, but there is no permission required to view it. I think this is a positive thing as it allows people who are thinking about moving here to check it out, and new neighbors who are just googling their new neighborhood to find it. The more people who use or view the blog, the better it is. If you exercise a little common sense, there shouldn't be much of a security risk. If I or anybody else sees something that you probably shouldn't post, we'll let you know. I can't think of any of Mile's emails that would have concerned me had they gone public. Again though, you will control how much or how little identifying information you want to post.

Second, your blog post or comments will go "live" as soon as you post it. Nobody will edit it or check it beforehand. Usually everybody stays on their best behavior, but while the topics or posts may start in Forest Hills, the discussion may range outside. For example, one post lately was an ad for a fundraiser for Obama-Biden held in Forest Hills. Now somebody may make a comment to that supporting McCain and then all of a sudden we have a political debate for a national office, just like you might have over the back fence with your neighbor.

Blogs are supposed to be a conversation. when the conversation turns ugly, it's usually self correcting. if someone gets abusive, they can be banned. The biggest problem with blogs is bots that fill comments fields with spam; you get around that by having people register before they can post, and by moderating comments. That's also how you catch people who are abusive. it's a system that works very well for 99.9% of the online world.

One final gentle suggestion: Though you can comment anonymously (at least for the moment), I think it would keep things more civil if people identified themselves in some fashion when they comment on a post. It's very easy to post negative things about people when you can do it anonymously; much harder when you have to actually account for what you say.

Cheers.

dt

Looooong Lines at Early Voting

I've been driving people to the six early voting stations in Wilmington. Actually, I've only been to two: The one at the Government Center near Ten Pin Alley, and the one downtown at 805 North Third, the northern end of the Cape Fear Community College campus.

The lines got longer each day I drove: 30 minutes, then an hour, then 1 to 2 hours, and this morning over 3 hours. (As you can sort of see from that very surreal picture I snapped with my cell phone.)

But New Hanover County declined to extend its early voting hours, despite the fact that many counties in NC are extending them today until 5 pm. (New Hanover's closed today at 1 pm.) I emailed Margaret Haynes, chair of the New Hanover Board of Elections, and asked her why. Here's what she said:

I appreciate your involvement and concern.

50 North Carolina Counties did not extend early voting. The Star News article is totally erroneous. Each locality had to have a meeting to discuss extending.

There are many localities that are not running as smoothly as we are. We know there are lines, but many lines are moving fairly quickly - 20 to 40 minutes. We have many steps to prepare for Tuesday...where we will have 43 sites open to vote.

If we close at 1:00, we will not finish voting people until probably 3:00. It will be another hour or two for paperwork in each site. Then property management MUST retrieve the equipment, and return it all to the government center to be locked down.

On Sat. we are also -as always- distributing ballots and materials and supplies to 43 precinct workers...this is done from the Government Center site.

The computers used to check people in at one-stop all have to be checked, backed-up and reconfigured to support the unprecedented CALL CENTER that we will be operating out of the Emergency response center on Election Day.

This will take hours to accomplish.

We can not expect permanent staff, temporary staff and others to work 24 hours a day. They are already working 16+ hours a day. It is my understanding that people are actually threatening to quit in other localities that have extended.

Unfortunately the public has no idea how involved and detailed our work must be in order to maintain the integrity of the vote.

If you want election day to go smoothly, we need to stick with the state approved plan and proceed in an orderly fashion.

This Board of Elections has worked deligently to modernize the office, to be forward thinking in using technology and to do everything we possibly can do to support and enhance the voting process.

Thanks for all of your hard work on getting folks to the polls. We are doing the best we can with limited resources.

I know that folks at the local Democratic office feel politics were involved in the decision; longer voting hours means more likely votes for Obama, and fewer Obama voters turning away from the polls on Tuesday. Local politics here tends toward the conservative, as most of you know.

On the other hand, I can see her point. These folks are working very hard. In fact, I'd like to extend kudos and appreciation to all the election officials working at the downtown station. They were unfailingly polite, helpful, and patient, despite the huge crowds and often clueless voters.

- Dan Tynan

McCain vs Obama: Lawn Signs, part one.

So I drove around part of FH this morning counting lawn signs. I covered Mimosa from Columbus to Country Club, Country Club up Colonial to the school, down Forest Hills Ave. and Columbia, back up to my house next to the tracks (the wrong side).

The score so far: McCain-Palin 7, Obama-Biden 6.

Also: One Geezer-Dingbat sign, one Gramps-Barbie.

More reports to come.

Obama Drama: Fundraiser in the Hood

This Saturday, September 20, there will be an Obama event at Clyde Edgerton's house on Wayne. I can't tell you much about what's happening, because all I got is a flyer (left) and a couple of emails.

It's a fund raiser, there will be a bake sale, and kids are invited. Warning: There may be some speechifying and something vaguely literary (Clyde is one of our local literary luminaries, as you know, and there will be a few others in attendance). It will be held outdoors, so bring lawn chairs and all the friends you can muster.

Here's the address:

437 Wayne Drive
Hours: 3 to 5 pm

Rain date: Sunday, Sept 21, 3 to 5 pm

Questions? Call Kristina Edgerton (399-6061) or Karen Bender (815-0957)

And if any of our neighbors have any events for McCain (or heck, Ralph Nader) they want to publicize, please feel free to send us the info and we'll post it, or sign on to be an author and post it yourself.

See y'all there.

Oleander Blog

There is another neighborhood blog mostly concerning South Forest Hills at http://oleanderwatch.blogspot.com/

Attempted Robbery

In case you were wonderng what the helicopter and police cars were doing roaming around Forest Hills on Sunday; they were looking for 4 teenagers who tried to take a man's Ipod while he was out walking. Here is the link Ipod Robbery

Forest Hills Canned Food Drive--Update

Thanks to everyone in and out of the neighborhood for the cash and cans that were donated. We just packed everything in and did a count. We have collected a total of 217 canned good items and $95 for the Good Shepherd House. We'll keep the bin out on our front walk for the rest of the weekend if anybody missed the drive. Thanks again.

Canned food drive in Forest Hills This Saturday

Six-year-old Ella Coxe will be collecting canned fruits and vegetables for a food drive to benefit The Good Shepherd Center, which feeds around 480 people a day. They are currently in need of canned foods. We are asking for your help to make it a great success.

On Saturday, July 26 from 9:00-12:00 you can drop off your canned goods at 402 Forest Hills Drive. She also will be selling lemonade to benefit the center. If you can’t make it on Saturday during the drop off times, you can drop off the items anytime at the above address on Wednesday, July 23 through Friday, July 25. We will have a plastic bin on our front steps for the food. If you need us to come to your house, just call (763-7109) and we will come pick it up. -- Bradley Coxe

Hey y'all there's some new blogs in town

First, let me again put in a plug for Wilmaville, a blog for Wilmington area moms (not just Forest Hills) run by Christina Wood and Elizabeth Humphrey. It even has a rapidly growing social network attached to it, which is free to join. Come explore the brave new world of social media with friendly locals.

Our friend Andie Reid has started a blog for restaurant recommendations called Wilmington NC Restaurant Recs. Andie's cool (she's even a bigger geek than I am) and so is her blog.

I just learned a new neighbor, Bradley Coxe, has started a blog called Forest Hills Vine where he's been archiving some of the emails sent out by Miles Lewis (aka The Mayor of Forest Hills). I've invited Bradley to come join us over here; maybe we'll do some kind of merger down the line.

Finally, you may not be aware of this, but this blog is linked to an iGoogle page that has news, weather, maps, and a calendar for Forest Hills. We haven't done much with it yet, but we're hoping y'all will join us and make this a true community effort.

Curious about being an author for this blog? Send an email to me -- dan (at) dantynan (dot) com. Obviously, you want to substitute actual @ and .'s

Ciao.

There are Two Forest Hills Blogs!

The Forest Hills Vine is here: http://nclawyer.typepad.com/forest_hills_vine/atom.xml. That seems to be a posting of the emails that go out over the The Port Neighborvine.

Isn't the Internet great?

I have fed those posts to this blog as well for your reading convenience.

i've been out-of-town...so this may be old news, but the house on market/end of colonial is listed for $724,900. w/ 4000 square feet....

colonial dr/market

hi,
just wanted to let everyone know that the former "methodist manor" children's home has been vacant for several months now. as you may have seen, they auctioned off all of its' contents. it is supposed to be listed very soon. anyone interested???? we are hoping for an actual resident.
kym

Spread the Word

Hi neighbors,

I just want to let you know that I set this site up to help with local communication. Not because I profit from it in any way. I know that we already have an email list. But when I ask for information to go out via that list, it frequently gets edited for meaning and my message is changed or lost.

In fact, I asked our list master to send an announcement about this blog but...nope. Nothing. Nada. I'm shut out. And not for the first time. I'm sure this isn't happening only to me. It's probably not even intentional. But this is 2008 and we have options. So I decided to provide one. And you are looking at it.

For it to work, though, we have to use it. Anyone who lives in Forest Hills can be an author here and it's very easy. Send an email requesting an author account and you will get one. If there was an easier way to join you, I would. But I need an email address to set you up. But even if you aren't yet set up as an author, you can post comments. (At the end of posts, click on the word comment). If you need help figuring out that first blog post, just call me. First request your author account and we'll take it from there.

And you don't have to check the blog to read announcements. Just subscribe to the blog and the posts will come right to your email. Enter your email adress on the box on there on the left or click on the feed button if you like to use a feed reader.

Help me out here: Send this link to some people in the neighborhood today. And use the email subscription to sign up for the feed. And ask for your author account so you can make your own announcements, ask for recommendations, or talk to your neighbors!

Christina

Hey y'all, welcome to FHNB

That's a geeky way to say Forest Hills Neighborhood Blog. We're trying to open this sucker up to everyone who lives in Forest Hills (Wilmington, NC), so we can share news, post items of interest, and connect with each other online.

Unfortunately, the way Blogger works is that you need to be invited to be an author before you can post. If you're interested, please send an email to dan (at) dantynan (dot) com and I'll send you an invite. I've sent out a few already, so hopefully some new voices will start to appear on here.

If you've never blogged, don't worry. It's as easy as sending an email, but more fun. You can also add photos and video.

Also, be sure to check out a new blog for Wilmington moms called Wilmaville. It's run by the lovely and talented Christina Wood and Elizabeth King Humphrey, and it's not limited to Forest Hills (or even Wilmington, technically). Lots of useful news about restaurants, shopping, places to go, things to do, and generally living here on the NC coast. You don't even have to be a mom to get something out of it (in other words, guys can visit too -- we won't make fun of you).