Blogs

Have a Safe Holiday

Anita Renfroe is a comedian who cleverly wrote The Lyrics to “Momsense”, a song that she commonly sings at speaking events to the tune of William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini (or the theme to the Lone Ranger if you are still wondering!) If you feel like you hit the ground with your feet running and the hour and a half that follows is like being on a racetrack you may want to Google the song and enjoy a laugh! For the sake of not getting too lengthy, below are just the first 17 lines to give you the idea! Get the tune in your head and then sing along…
Get up now…Get up now…Get up out of bed…Wash your face…Brush your teeth…Comb your sleepy head…Here’s your clothes…And your shoes…Hear the words I said…Get up now…Get up and make your bed…Are you hot?...Are you cold?...Are you wearing that?...Where’s your books and your lunch and your homework at?...Grab your coat and your gloves and your scarf and hat…Don’t forget you got to feed the cat!

So much to do, so little time they say and often we look for a place to cut some of that time out. Let this blog serve as a reminder that regardless of how rushed you may be, on the road is NOT the place to make up time, especially now that school is back in session!! During school zone (7:15-8:15 a.m. and 2:45-3:45 p.m.) priority is given by the traffic and patrol divisions to enforcement in these areas. As you travel please be mindful of the following laws that are in place to protect our children;

Speeding in a school zone is illegal. The majority of school zones in Dothan are 20 miles per hour. Drivers cited for speeding in a school zone can expect to pay enhanced monetary fines and have 2 points added to their driving record.

Overtaking and passing a school bus is illegal. The law says the driver of a vehicle must stop upon meeting from either direction any school bus which is stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging on any roadway, school property, or private property. This applies on four lane roads as well, the only exception is a DIVIDED highway (for example with a grass median), traffic on the opposing side is not required to stop.
Did you know? Did you know the driver of a school bus can provide a violators tag number to the traffic division and the registered owner of the car will be cited? Drivers cited for passing a school bus can expect to pay $150 to $300 for the first conviction. The second conviction penalty is $300 to $500, at least 100 hours of community service and a suspended license for 30 days.

Lastly, remember to follow orders given by School Crossing Guards.
The law says the driver shall slow down and yield right of way to a pedestrian in a cross walk.

Gregory J. Benton
Chief of Police

School is in Session!!

Giving a little back to the community.  We’re hearing more people say that they’d like to do this... so we’re starting a series of blogs about those that give a little back to the community - called “Giving Back”.  It may not be a big, splashy gift, it may not be actual money or tangible items.  Like today’s blog, it’s about a local person, incredibly busy, that takes time to give a little back to the community.

Katie McManus-Faye is the news director for WTVY News Channel 4 TV..... a very very busy woman.  But once a month, she blocks out a few hours in her schedule to drive to Ft Rucker and provide a class of senior-level Warrant Officers with valuable information and insight.  She adds to their personal toolbox, to their skillset in dealing with the media.  This enhances their ability to provide accurate information to the press, while maintaining professionalism and being mindful of our country’s security.

PC Scams to watch out for! 

We have talked about various scams and ways in which criminals obtain your identity in the past. Based on reports that come across our investigators desks we try to occasionally update with specific scams because with the evolution of technology that occurs daily, criminals also update their techniques and tactics. There are two new scams we want to warn everyone about in which money is being scammed, and malware (virus or trojan) is being spread to unsuspecting computer users... by live operators under the guise of helping to remove a malware infection. 

In the first scenario, you get a call to your residence warning you that you have a virus on your computer. The caller claims to be a "Microsoft Support Partner" who will, for a few hundred dollars, help you remove the infection.  Most of us would, of course, be wary of this but the less computer literate of us may be swayed by the scammer’s aggressive tactics and techno-babble.  The scammer then takes your credit card number and talks you through installing a remote connection program on your PC where they infect it with trojans, backdoors, and anything else that will help them to continue to scam you and steal your money, your passwords, and your identity.  This is a small but growing trend so make your less computer savvy family and friends aware of it.   

In the second (less dangerous but still costly) case, you get an email or see an ad for an online computer help website that promises to help speed up your computer and/or remove malware.  You call the number and get connected to a support person. Several long minutes of meaningless jargon later, you are told that you have malware (even if you don't) and that for a couple hundred dollars they can remove it for you.  The "tech" then takes your credit card number and performs a few tasks that could be accomplished by any of several free applications that can be downloaded from the internet. Be very wary of these online "speed up" or "PC support" sites.

The Dothan Police Department is excited to announce that the 2010 National Night Out is quickly approaching! The concept of the National Night Out began in the 1980’s in an effort to heighten awareness and strengthen participation in local anticrime efforts. The founder of the program believed that a high-impact type of crime prevention event was needed nationally and so began National Night Out, ‘America’s Night out against Crime’.

Trying to eat healthier? Many of us are, and growing your own vegetables and fruits is a healthy and economical alternative to buying commercially-grown produce. But, what if you can't grow your own, due to space, physical ability or simply time constraints??

Trying to eat healthier? Many of us are, and growing your own vegetables and fruits is a healthy and economical alternative to buying commercially-grown produce. But, what if you can't grow your own, due to space, physical ability or simply time constraints??

Sweltering heat can be alleviated by finding just the right air-conditioned store, and if you’re looking for a deal in that store - look for the following items in July -

Computer safety: You, Your Stuff, Your Computer
Part three of four

Securing You, Your Stuff, and Your Computer involves a lot of overlap. Securing a wireless router protects the Computer as well as Your Stuff. Using common sense in online social situations protects You, Your Stuff and Your Computer.

The best thing that can be done to protect a user's data is to BACK IT UP to a separate drive/disk/device that remains separate from the computer when not actively backing up. The biggest destroyers of data are malicious software, acts of God (weather, fire), and failure of the storage device. Backing up all data to an external drive and leaving that drive connected to the computer doesn't protect Your Stuff from malware or acts of God. Back it up and put the backup somewhere else - preferably outside the home. Online backup services will do this for you, for a monthly fee. Unless you have very fast Internet or only a little data, these services are most useful in the case of catastrophe (Biblical flood, plague, massive hurricane), because both backing up and recovering the data only goes as fast as one's Internet connection. Regardless, back the data up. Just copying it to DVDs or CDs is lots better than nothing at all. Data recovery can be very expensive, so make backing up as routine as brushing teeth. Don't be like the client who didn't back up his one-of-a-kind digital recording of a now-deceased war hero and had to pay a California data recovery company $1,100 to get one file back.

If your computer came with disks to reinstall the OS and the programs and drivers that came with it, keep them where you can find them. If you have bought new software, keep the disks. If it was downloaded software, burn the installer and a copy of the serial number on a CD or DVD and keep with your other disks. If your computer didn't come with a set of disks, you can still use the Recovery partition to create a set of restore disks. The procedure is a little different with each computer brand, but the instructions will be on the company web site, in the support section, usually as part of the downloadable manual for your model computer.

If at all possible, do not use Internet Explorer. I could say some versions are better than others, but simplicity is best. Don't use IE. Use Firefox, Safari, Chrome. They are all free and work great.