Portage Life / Valpo Life
Perhaps you have heard of www.portagelife.com and/or www.valpolife.com ? Both offer a great opportunity to stay in touch with what is happening in our community . Recently they wrote a very nice story about the Portage Police Department and you are welcome to take a peek by visiting http://www.portagelife.com/index.php/community/government-and-community-resources/3267-portage-police-protect-and-serve-reach-out-to-community
Ms. Karin Mick may be contacted as to posting your events or for any ideas or comments you may wish to offer for future stories. Karin can be reached at community@portagelife.com
Fraud / Check Scam
The US Secret Service needs your assistance in their investigation of a group that is travelling about the Midwest and issuing counterfeit checks. The attached bulletin labeled ‘ “Johnson Bulletin Alert” provides you with photographs and additional information. They have apparently touched on businesses here in Indiana as well as several other states.
RED Light Camera
One of the most basic instructions we all were told in ”Drivers Ed” was that “Green” does not mean “Go”, it means look both ways and then proceed! I recently was sent this link that has captured what happens when we fail to look before proceeding into intersections. It is a bit graphic, there are two or three incidents where a pedestrian and/or a motorcyclist is struck by a vehicle, so it likely is not something that you want to share with a child. It is something that I shared with my two daughters who drive a car and it served as a nice reminder that I also need to be more aware of those who run red lights.
If you care to be reminded, take a look http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=-qvXbIenivk
Speaking of driving, do not forget about “Arrive Alive”, that is our teen defensive driving program that we hold on Saturdays at the Portage High School. Contact us at (219) 762-3122 to get your young driver enrolled. What better place to experience their first spin out than on the friendly and safe confines of our driving course rather than on I-65!
“Bath Salts” – Yet Another Threat to Your Family
We recently dealt with a substance that was being sold under a variety of names, such as K2, Spike, etc., which was being sold as an incense and but was being smoked so as to experience similar effects as if one were smoking marijuana. Now there is yet another substance that is being marketed as a bath salt, but is being consumed and kids are getting high as if they had ingested cocaine or methamphetamine. The substance is known as MDPV as well as street names such as Ivory Wave, Red Dove, Vanilla Sky and Hurricane Charlie to name but a few. If you Google “bath salts” you will find several articles on this new threat. I am attaching a link to an article that has been written on it as well.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/23/bath-salts-a-growing-drug-problem_n_812693.html
As I am writing this I learned of a recent overdose of this stuff that has been reported in The Times- !!!
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte/city-of-laporte/article_1a15f5be-7929-5386-a13c-4a3f925e2610.html
Packaging may appear as the one below- Keep vigilant and monitor your kid’s computer, it does not take much effort to navigate to the sites that sell this stuff!
Electronic Pickpocketing - Credit Card Theft
Gotta love technology, it makes life so much easier for us and so much easier for others to take that which is not theirs. One of our subscribers sent me a link to a video that depicts how folks can simply scan you as you walk by and as they do, they obtain your credit card information. The “Radio Frequency Identification Technology” or “RFID” for short is what allows us to simply swipe our cards as we make our purchases. Now there is technology out there that allows our RFID to be stolen electronically via a scanner and you will not know anything about it until your next bill.
I did a little checking and if you are so inclined, there is a way to protect yourself from these scanners. If you are looking for some protection, Google “RFID Protector” and you will find a wide variety of vendors that sell wallets from under $10 and upwards.
http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-electronic-pickpocketing-story,0,5636726,full.story
Charitable Organizations – We Need Groups Like These to Survive!
I am honored to have been selected to the Board of Directors for both The Caring Place as well as an organization known as Frontline Foundations Inc. I look forward to working with these organizations in the future and of course they, like so many other fine organizations in our community, can always use your support. I am providing a brief outline in the event you find yourself in need of their services or perhaps you would consider supporting their efforts.
Frontline Foundations Inc. – Offers substance abuse recovery support, exclusively for young adults. Their program model is age specific, ages 18 – 25, offering group sessions and individual substance abuse and relapse prevention counseling. They offer family education and group counseling as well, peer to peer mentoring and they do so via non-denominational faith based principles. They are currently trying to involve local churches in a combined effort to deal with these issues and more information concerning that effort may be found at www.liferecoveryproject.com This site is under construction and hopefully will be ready to go by March 15th- take a peek, it might be something you have been looking for!
Mark your calendars for April 19th- and visit their open house from 2 – 7pm at 802 Wabash in Chesterton. Amber Hensell serves as the President and she can be reached at (219) 728-1638 for additional information or you may visit their website http://www.frontlinefoundations.com/about.html
The Caring Place – Provides service and shelter for victims of violence and their children. Through education and awareness, they empower all members of our community to live in peace. They maintain a 6 bedroom shelter and they provide assistance to both male and female victims of domestic violence and sexual assaults. In addition, they offer support groups for victims, offer legal advocacy, they work hard to increase community awareness and they conduct outreach programs on such topics as bullying, teen dating violence, sexual assault, etc.
I am new to all of this, but I am told that their annual fund raiser- “Black-Tie Bingo”, April 29th at the Strongbow Restaurant is supposed to be something you do not want to miss. Every year it grows and grows, please consider joining us this year!
Mary Beth Schultz is the Executive Director and she can be reached at (219) 464-0840. They maintain a 24 hour Crisis Line as well – (219) 464-2128
You may also visit their website at www.thecaringplacenwi.org
As always, if it does not feel right, it probably is not right. Call the police and let us figure it out, that is what we get paid to do.
Contact Us!
Emergency - "911"
Routine Business - (219) 762-3122
STOP Team - (219) 764-5676
We Tip Line- 1 - 800 - 78 - CRIME