The View

from Vantage Point East Vol. 11, No. 11 November 2013

www.vantagepointeast.com Mutual 24

Armistice Day–

Veterans Remembrance Day In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD

(1872-1918)

Canadian Army

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in Ypres in the spring of 1915.

The poem was an exact description of the sce-ne in front of him. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were be-ing blown that morning by a gentle east wind.

The sentiments of the poem are universal for all who made the final sacrifice in our country’s service.

Brought to the editor’s attention by Bert Marks, who served in the U.S. Navy during WWII.

They all are in remembrance of of the 11th hour

of the 11th day of the 11

th month of 1918 when

the slaughter of World War I ended. Our ally, Great Britain memorialized the day by building a Cenotaph in Whitehall in London, 94 years ago, as the national memorial to all of the British men who died in that war. World war II was included in 1945.The Sunday closest to 11 November is Remembrance Sunday, when Veterans organi-zations from all of Britain fill the avenue of Whitehall for the ceremonial march past the Cenotaph.. The members, I was one, of The American Legion post in London were invited to join with the British Legion in their march past the Cenotaph. We saluted as we marched past . AJEX (the Jewish Veterans) invited us to march the next year Their Dundee, Scotland post fol-lowed us in the parade. We somberly watched the wreath laying. Next year we marched with the British Legion in the High Street, Ruislip, a village in the northern suburbs, followed by a sherry party in the church hall . While we sipped, nibbled bits of cheddar and pickled onion, the bell ringers pulled on their ropes beneath the church tower as they rang a change. . A memo-rable sound to complement a memorable event. They don’t celebrate the day with sales.

–Bernard Patlen

The VIEW from VPE Page 2 November 2013

How Condo Fee Supports

LW Community Facilities

The Board of Directors Meeting scheduled for October 31

has been moved to Thursday, November 7

at 3:00 p.m. in the Community Room.

Some residents have expressed interest in the various components of the sum paid to LW for operation and mainte-nance of the community facilities. The monthly charge for 2014 is $158 per resi-dential unit and is built into all LW condo fees. The amount is set by LW; the VPE Board has no discretion over this item.

2014 2013

Administration $28.94 $26.50 Clubhouse I 11.49 11.22 Clubhouse II 9.95 9.76 Leisure World News ( 1.02) ( 1.14) Food Service 1.58 1.60 Medical Center ( 1.47) -- Physical Properties 1.03 0.64 Grounds 5.90 5.81 Refuse/Recycling 7.90 8.51 TV Maintenance 27.98 28.06 Transportation 4.72 4.39 Supplemental Transp. 2.80 2.77 Security 19.14 17.98 Street Lighting 2.61 2.61 Golf Course 3.86 3.67 Golf Pro Shop 1.16 1.13 Community Call Syst. 0.53 -- Snow & Ice Removal 1.18 1.18 Property Maintenance 19.52 20.29 Contingency Fund 1.18 1.03 Equipment Fund 0.43 1.08 Replacement Reserve 6.11 6.13 Salary Adjustment 2.48 2.78

Total $158.00 $156.00

The 2014 fee is only slightly higher than the fee for 2013 and lower than the $160 reported for 2012, the reason being that earlier projected figures for the Medical Center and the Leisure World News are no longer needed.

Following is the unaudited VPE financial report through the third quarter (3Q13):

The overall financial condition of the Association remains sound. The Association has been re-turning accumulated surplus to unit owners through lower condominium fees. This has re-sulted in a planned deficit but has not, to date, significantly affected the financial condition of the Association. Through the third quarter, the Association experienced a small deficit but re-mained substantially ahead of budget largely be-cause of lower than budgeted electricity ex-pense.

Additional information may be obtained by at-tending the monthly Budget & Finance Commit-tee meeting. Also, financial statements are available for examination in the Association Of-fice by appointment with the Property Manager.

–Sid Sussan, Chair

Budget & Finance:

Quarterly Report

Actual Budget

YTD Total Rev-enue

$1,174,594 $1,026,270

Less: Transfer to Reserve

152,749 153,702

Net Revenue $1,021,845 $ 872,568

Less: Total Op-erating Expens-es

1,025,144 892,626

YTD Surplus (Deficit)

($ 3,299) ($ 20,058)

November 2013 Page 3 The VIEW from VPE

At Council of Unit Owners Meeting

Left to right: Arthur Kirsch, George Pearlman, Sid Sussan, Marvin Franklin, Henry Jordan, Tim Coursen, Bob Pillote and Earl Reba at Council of Unit Owners Meeting on Oct. 17, 2013 for business of electing 3 new directors and reporting on

past year’s activities. –Photos by Len Silver

Computer Support Scams Are Alive and

Well at VPE

In the last few weeks I have encountered four people, three in Vantage Point East and 1 in the Greens, who have fallen victim to computer sup-port scams.

Two of these scams were phone calls. The caller claims to be from Microsoft and to have detected many viruses and offers to fix them. After taking remote control of the computer, the caller tries to collect money, usually several hundred dollars.

The other two scams began with pop-up win-dows on the computer claiming that malware has been detected and giving a phone number to call for removal. If the victim calls, the technician on the other end takes remote control of the com-puter and after making some changes to the computer wants money to complete the “repair.”

Both scenarios are scams. Microsoft will never initiate a service call to you. No one should be able to monitor your computer’s security status, unless you have given them that ability. Be smart. Don’t fall for a computer support scam. If one of the pop-ups shows up on your computer, check your computer carefully for malware with a known good scanner, but don’t call the number in the window! If you get one of the calls from Microsoft, hang up immediately!

–Tom McGrath

Residents with humidifiers are reminded to call the Physical Properties Department to have their humidifier inspected prior to turning it on for the winter months.

A list of handicapped residents is maintained in the fire control room. The fire department will use this list to give priority attention to those per-sons who may need assistance in an emergen-cy situation requiring evacuation of the building. If you are not on this list or would like to confirm that you are listed, contact the Association Of-fice. Also, if you use or store oxygen in your unit, please make sure you have notified the As-sociation Office.

The Montgomery County Board of Elections has assigned another Precinct to Leisure World; it will be the Interfaith Chapel, 13-071. They will be sending out notices of your precinct assign-ment; please save it for future reference (2014).

There are now three precincts:

13-054,Clubhouse I 13-069, Clubhouse II 13-071, Interfaith Chapel

If you have questions, just call 240-777-VOTE, the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

–Renee Steward

Property Manager’s Corner

The VIEW from VPE Page 4 November 2013

Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 8, 1945. U. S. Army infantrymen were then as-signed to occupation duty in West Germany. The Germans offered no resistance to our being there. They were happy that the Russians were elsewhere. The US Army held training and edu-cational classes for our fellow soldiers, while awaiting orders to move to the Pacific to attack Japan. Many casualties were expected.

Our Pacific air forces had been firebombing eve-ry Japanese homeland city. One amazing day in August 1945, we got word that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, and a few days later another atomic bomb was dropped on Na-gasaki. Some thought it should have been dropped over the ocean to demonstrate our ca-pability to end the war. The war quickly ended with Japan's surrender when the emperor said it was OK.

From that day on, we were allowed passes to visit European cities (in between regular Army training periods). I had an extended vacation to England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Paris all for free, except for a few local meals. With prob-lems ferrying across the English Channel, my two-week pass ran for nearly four weeks. I wait-ed a year before my turn came to go home via the Antwerp (Belgium) shipping dock. We were greeted in NY Harbor by signs saying "Welcome Home." Then I returned to college, which I had left to volunteer to fight the Nazis.

This was much different from my arrival at Le Havre during the "Battle of the Bulge" fighting at the German/Belgian border. My infantry division had sailed from Southampton, England to Le Havre in a troop ship, encountering rough Eng-lish Channel winter seas. We had climbed down a rope ladder into a landing craft, which then sailed to the demolished beachhead in January 1945. The Germans were far from there by the time I landed. Then we travelled by boxcar (40and8's, nicknamed for 40 men or 8 hors-es) across France to Belgium and to the German border. We stayed in farmhouses, chateaus, and barns. We also stayed overnight with several local families who were delighted to have Ameri-cans liberating their country. Then we attacked and chased the Germans back towards Berlin. The Russians took Berlin at a heavy human cost. They liberated Auschwitz. We never got

word about the Holocaust until the war’s end. We only had the military’s Stars and Stripes news and the telephone or radio on occasion.

–Ted Snyder

After WWII Surrender of Germany:

A Reminiscence

Soldiers traveling across France in boxcar (Ted Snyder is on extreme right)

Federal Communications Commission Do-

Not-Call Registry

Want to reduce the number of unwanted phone calls to your home or cell phone? The FCC es-tablished a national Do-Not-Call Registry. Com-mercial telemarketers may not call you if your number is on the registry.

People may enter their residential telephone number, including wireless numbers, on the na-tional Do-Not-Call Registry at www.donotcall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236).

B & G Committee Report

During a special meeting on October 30th heat-ing problems in the corridors was dis-cussed. Moving of 10th floor thermostats from present location to a place 50 feet away from registers was discussed and passed. Replace-ment of Reznor Duct Heaters was discussed and passed, but work was postponed for 60 to 90 days to re-evaluate whether the moving of the thermostats and the removal of rust from the heaters would help solve the problems. Con-tract for preventative maintenance of booster pumps system was approved.

–Marvin Wolf, Chair

November 2013 Page 5 The VIEW from VPE

Activities Committee Report for

November 2013 Events for November:

Yoga - Tues and Thur., 9:00 a.m. Singles Club Meeting - Sun., Nov 10, 2:00 p.m.

– Go to Fitzgerald Theater to see Guys and Dolls

Matinee Theater - Tues., Nov 12, 1:00 p.m. – Amadeus – a follow up to the Great Courses on Mozart.

Activities Committee - Wed., Nov 13, 10:00 a.m.

Book Club - Mon., Nov 18, 9:45 a.m. – Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

Crafts and Conversation - Tues., Nov 19, 2:00 p.m.

Birthday Party - Thurs., Nov 21, 7:30 p.m. – November and December Birthdays

Sunday movie - Sun., Nov 24, 7:00 p.m. – Quartet starring Maggie Smith, Michael Gam-bon and Billy Connolly

Bingo - Mon., Nov 25, 7:30 p.m.

Salon Discussion – Nov 27 - Cancelled.

Thank you to the following people for helping to make the October events successful:

Volunteers for Halloween Deli party:

Co-chairs Eunice Kahn and Marylin Jordan with Anita Blum, Nan Vincent and Peaches Hurwitz.

Manna Food drive: Co-chairs Nan Vincent and Peaches Hurwitz with Diane Lipskind, Marilyn Funk, Arlene Marks, Paula Rubenstein, Eunice Kahn, Marylin Jordan and Anita Blum.

The Great Courses Committee: Cindy Snyder, Larelda Gruber, Diane Lipskind and Marilyn Funk.

Special thanks to all the VPE volunteers who help during the events.

In addition: a note of appreciation to Ruth Cohen for preparing the past monthly Activities Commit-tee reports for The View.

–Cynthia Snyder, Acting Chair, and Pattu Durairaj, for the Activities Committee

November Book Club

Frontier Life Depicted

Singles Circuit

The VPE community wishes

Henry Nachlas

And

Lou Rubenstein

a speedy and full recovery.

Lily Casey Smith was a mustang breaker, schoolteacher, ranch wife, bootlegger, poker player, racehorse rider, bush pilot and mother of two. The feisty Texas protagonist of Half Broke Horses, who survived droughts, tornados, floods, poverty and more in the first half of the 20th century, is based on author Jeannette Walls’s grandmother. Walls, who also wrote re-cent VPE Book Club selection The Glass Castle, says Half Broke Horses is “in the vein of an oral history, a retelling of stories handed down by my family through the years, and undertaken with the storyteller’s traditional liberties.” The Book Club will discuss this “true-life novel” at 9:45 a.m. on Monday, November 18. The meeting is open to any interested VPE resident.

–Ruth Gutstein

The Singles are looking forward to November 10, when a group of them will attend the mat-inee performance of Guys and Dolls at the Fitz-gerald Theater in Rockville. Nan Vincent and Katherine Hubert are chairing the event.

Thanks to Ruth Kay and Gerry Singer for co-chairing the October event. Twenty-four of the members attended the annual Bingo/Subs Sup-per and Game night. Every one enjoyed the evening, games and food as well.

There will be no Singles meeting on Mon., Nov. 11. The Dec. activity has not been finalized.

–Althea Steinberg

All in the VPE Family

The VIEW from VPE Page 6 November 2013

Interview with John Eldridge by Ted Snyder with the gracious consent of Althea Steinberg

Editor: In the September 2013 issue of The View, Althea had written extensively about San-dra Robinson, the spouse of John Eldridge. However, she had no column space left to write about the interesting background of John. This article by our guest interviewer addresses that omission.

John Eldridge

Imagine meeting your future wife in the Peace Corps in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania, Africa.

John Eldridge was born in Oklahoma, an eleventh generation American, whose descendants’ line-age goes back to the May-flower. He claims to be a descendant of Pocahontas!

After learning the Japanese language at the University of Oklahoma, he en-listed in the US Navy and spent the wartime years 1944-45 in Washington, DC translating Japanese (not code breaking). John noted that he spent his last year of high school at the uni-versity under a special program offered by the US government to encourage students to gain some college credits before entering the military.

After his discharge from the Navy, he completed his BA degree at the University of Oklahoma and received an MS degree in political science at the University of California Berkeley in 1952. He then had a fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle as a community organiz-er working in the Yakima Valley. After enrolling in a PhD program in political science at Johns Hopkins, he was employed at the Government Affairs Institute (GAI) in Washington, D.C., where he worked with African political lead-

(Continued on page 7)

From the Grateful Fed

A letter from the Manna Food Center thanked the VPE community for its “generous support.” Our contributions of $380 and 1,048 pounds of food go toward helping to feed the monthly aver-age of 3,100 families in Montgomery County.

The success of this year’s drive is attributed to the generosity of VPE residents and It the help-ful committee of volunteers..

Many thanks to Anita Blum, Ruth Cohen, Mari-lyn Funk, Larelda Gruber, Beverly Itzkowitz, Marylin Jordan, Eunice Kahn, Diane Lipskind and Arlene Marks.

As usual, thanks to Rosena for her support.

–Co-chairs Nan Vincent and Peaches Hurwitz

Nan Vincent, Marylin Jordan and Anita Blum

Ruth Cohen, Nan Vincent and Eunice Kahn

–Photos by Fred Shapiro

November 2013 Page 7 The VIEW from VPE

On the Lighter Side

Thankfulness

Who says the best education is received at a prestigious university? It amazes me how much we can learn about life and people in general by just strolling through a mall with our special son Paul.

Recently, we visited Paul in Westminster, MD and took him out locally, for his favorite pastime, “mall browsing.” He loves the hustle and bustle of the people, the various stores to roam in and out of, and the variety of food stands to inspect.

He is truly happy to spend a day in this manner. But, the thing he loves the most is happily greet-ing and shaking hands with everyone. A long time ago we tried to discourage this behavior, thinking that it’s very socially inappropriate, but Paul continued to happily engage in this inno-cent friendliness. I then realized that this is Paul; this is what makes him happy, that he is not harming anyone. Why should he be deprived of his slice of happiness because of our “social hang-ups”?

It’s so sad that in this day and age most people have become cautiously suspicious of every-one’s activity. Unfortunately, it’s at times under-standable. Perhaps Paul is fortunate that he is unaware of how our world is today

But there is a heartwarming side to this story. In this little town of Westminster, people respond to Paul in the most cheerful, loving manner. As Paul greets them with a “hello, how are you,” “let’s shake hands”, “hey buddy”, “you’re cool”, these wonderful people respond with lots of friendly smiles, commenting, “hello to you too,” “give me five,” etc. A brief feeling of well-being is felt by all.

So now, as we try again to teach our children about life, they teach us what life is all about.

We give thanks this time of the year that our Paul lives in this peaceful part of the world, and anytime we feel stressed, we just jump into our car and drive two hours to get our monthly dose of Paul’s hugs and smiles and the warm friendli-ness of this quaint town of Westminster. We thank you, Paul, for being you!

–Zena Stoller

ers. While at GAI, John became interested in Africa and the new emerging nations. He was fortunate to have been offered a position at the African American Institute (AAI), which was based in New York City. However, he was as-signed as the field director for Southern Africa. He was based in Tanzania and did not initially live in New York City.

John's role as field director was to recruit and prepare African students to attend universities in the United States. As a way to prepare these students to attend American universities, AAI established a preparatory school in Dar-es-Salaam. Harvard graduates were used as teachers. This program was funded by the American and Tanzanian governments and Harvard University and was considered highly successful because it educated many emerg-ing leaders in Southern and East Africa. The American State Department supported the pro-gram, in part, because it was a way to spread democracy and to compete with the Soviet Un-ion and China at the height of the Cold War. For those interested in seeing photos of the school and its students, John has a photo album showing the school in Dar-es-Salaam.

Upon returning to the United States in 1966, John had several consulting assignments work-ing for the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in Washington, DC. These assignments sent him to Korea (where he met Gen. MacAr-thur "one day out of the blue") and Okinawa, where his Japanese language skills helped him study race relations among the US Army and native populations. His international career ended in about 1972, when John focused on a career in training and development. He was prominent in developing computer based learn-ing which was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. He retired in 1995 and lived in Silver Spring until moving to Leisure World in 2010 with his wife Sandy Robinson.

–Interview by Ted Snyder

(Continued from page 6)

All in the VPE Family

The VIEW from VPE Page 8 November 2013

Mark These Dates! ACTIVITIES

DATE TIME EVENT

Nov. @ 9:00 a.m. Yoga every Tues. & Thurs.

Nov. 11 Cancelled Singles Meeting

Nov. 12 @ 1:00 p.m. Matinee Theater

Nov. 18 @ 9:45 a.m. Book Club

Nov. 19 @ 2:00 p.m. Crafts and Conversation

Nov. 21 @ 7:30 p.m. VPE Birthday Party

Nov. 24 @ 7:00 p.m. Sunday Movie

Nov. 25 @ 7:30 p.m. Bingo

Nov. 27 Cancelled Salon

COMMITTEE/BOARD MEETINGS

DATE TIME EVENT

Nov. 7 @ 3:00 p.m. Board of Directors

Nov. 13 @ 10:00 a.m. Activities

Nov. 13 @ 3:00 p.m. Communications

Nov. 20 @ 1:30 p.m. Building & Grounds

Nov. 26 Cancelled Budget & Finance

Nov. 28 Thanksgiving Office Closed

Nov. 29 Cancelled Board of Directors

The View Crew

Suzanne Offit, Chair, Communications Committee Althea Steinberg, Vice-Chair Florence Golomb, Recorder

Len Silver, Editor Tom McGrath, Layout Editor & Webmaster

Gloria Pearlman, Editorial Coordinator

Editors/Writers Ruth Gutstein Bernard Patlen

Laura Selby Ted Snyder Zena Stoller

Rosena Elliott, Production Manager

Contact the Vantage Point East Office Renee Steward, Property Manager

renee@vantagepointeast.com Rosena Elliott, Administrative Assistant

rosena@vantagepointeast.com (301) 598-1075

Halloween Party Pictures

At serving table: Athena Vranas, Marylin Jordan, Anita Blum, Eunice Kahn and Marilyn Funk

At serving table: Marilyn Funk and Diane Lipskind

Best costume winners: Don and Barbara Eisen, Shirley Henderson and Flo Golomb

November 2013 Page 9 The VIEW from VPE

FIRE SAFETY

As you are probably aware, we had an unfortu-nate incident where a resident perished in a fire in a high rise unit in Leisure World. It is worth re-peating some information about fire safety and emergency procedures at Vantage Point East (VPE).

VPE, was designed to meet the highest fire safe-ty requirements with fire detectors, alarm sys-tems, and fire and smoke suppression systems. If a fire does occur in a unit, the nearest sprinkler in the unit will activate to attempt to extinguish the fire. If the fire spreads, additional sprinklers in the unit will then activate to contain the fire. In most cases the fire will be contained in the unit. Unfortunately, until the fire department arrives and the fire is contained, the sprinklers will con-tinue to flow and water damage is likely to occur in the unit and the surrounding units. Also, smoke may permeate into surrounding units and into common area hallways. We therefore advise you to make sure you have an individual unit HO6 homeowner’s insurance policy that will re-imburse you for the $5,000 master insurance pol-icy deductible.

Occasionally at VPE, or at nearby high rise build-ings, you may see a lot of rescue equipment. If their lights are flashing and they are parked close to the building it is an emergency of some type. Other times at VPE you may see rescue equipment, without lights flashing, parked in our parking lot or at other nearby buildings. The local rescue station trains its emergency support staff using our buildings. We welcome them because they become familiar with our building to provide quicker service in case of a real emergency.

Some of the nearby buildings have wood burning fireplaces. The VPE roof unit blowers sometimes pick up the smoke and the odor gets into the building’s hallways. This is more prevalent on the upper floors. On a lighter note, burnt toast is not a fire, even though in-unit smoke detectors do go off. Please check first whether there is an emer-gency and not just burnt toast.

For your safety, locate the nearest stairway to your unit for an emergency exit and the location of the fire alarm box. Your in-unit smoke alarm is not connected to the building’s fire alarm system. Please call 911 first if there is a fire. It will take the fire department about ten minutes to re-spond. The building’s red painted fire alarm box-es, which are connected to the building’s fire sys-tem, are on each floor next to the stairwells and are also located in the garages. These fire alarm boxes activate the building’s fire alarms and pro-vide information to the fire department as to the floor and area where the fire is located.Please activate the fire alarm box in the common area nearest the location of the fire.

The fire alarm box near each stairway only turns on the fire alarms on the floor above and the floor below the floor where the fire alarm box was activated. The building's fire alarm does not acti-vate on the other floors. Therefore, you may see fire engines outside of the building and not hear an alarm go off. This should not concern you since the reported fire is not near you. If the building or your floor needs to be evacuated, there will be an announcement or an alarm to leave the building.

If the building's fire alarm does go off on your floor, you will hear an alarm and get a recorded voice announcement from the loudspeaker in your unit that there is a fire near your unit. It may be on your floor, the floor above or the floor be-low. Please immediately get dressed and be pre-pared to exit the building. Before opening your entry door, touch the door to see if feels hot or if you smell heavy smoke. If the door feels hot or you smell heavy smoke, you may be at risk by opening the door and it may be safer to stay in your unit. Call the fire department and tell them what unit you are in and block off the bottom of the door with a wet towel to keep the smoke out. Do not lock your door. Then go to your balcony to wait for the fire department to come and get you or to hear the “all clear.”

(Continued on page 10)

President’s Message

The VIEW from VPE Page 10 November 2013

Some individuals may be physically challenged and may have a significant health risk in evacu-ating the building by the stairs. A list is main-tained by the office for use by emergency ser-vices of those residents who may require help in an evacuation. Please continue to inform the Property Manager that you may need some as-sistance. If there is an alarm, the resident or caregiver should get the person with a disability prepared to be evacuated.

If it is safe, leave your unit and go to the nearest stairway. Do not lock your door. The fire depart-ment will check surrounding units to see if the fire has spread. If you lock your door, they will break the door open to get into your unit.

It is advisable not to use the elevators since they may get shut down. The Fire Department may allow the elevators to continue to operate if the incident is not near the elevators. If you can walk down the stairs, it is advisable to do so. The fire department will be using the stairways to come up, so there may be two-way traffic on the stairs. If there is heavy smoke and/or a major fire in the building, the emergency stairway’s high speed fans may activate to keep smoke out of the stair-wells. You may have to use some extra effort in opening the stairway doors. Please note, the emergency stairway doors are required to be shut at all times for your protection. Do not keep these doors open for any reason. Do not exit through the lobby as the firemen will need ac-cess to the building through this entrance. Follow the signs on the first floor or garage directing you to exit the building.

We ask residents on the east side of the building (Overlook building side) to gather away from the building on the sidewalk near the Leisure World Boulevard side of the front parking lot and to-wards the Overlook side of the building. If you live on the West side of the building (Vantage Point West building side) please gather away from the building on the sidewalk near the Lei-sure World Boulevard side of the front parking lot and towards the Vantage Point West side of the

(Continued from page 9) building.

Based on the magnitude of the fire it may be possible for evacuated residents that to wait in the Community Room or to stay in their cars to keep warm. But you may only do so when per-mission is granted. If at all possible, we make an announcement that the fire problem is over and it is safe to return to your unit.

If your unit becomes damaged, and you cannot reside in it for any period, it is important that you inform the Property Manager where you will be staying so we can contact you regarding your unit’s repairs and when your unit will be ready for you to return. Please do not leave the building area without informing the Property Manager or contact someone you know in the building to in-form the office how we can reach you.

Thank you all for your awareness about fire safe-ty and emergency procedures at VPE. Let us all hope we are fire safe in our homes and use the proper precautions when having fires in our fire-places and cooking in our units.

–Henry Jordan

President’s Message continued (Fire Safety)

Residents attended Town Hall Meeting on Oct. 7.

–Photo by Len Silver