Welcome New Residents

A warm welcome to the following new residents of Tara Woods! We hope to meet you when life returns to normal and we can get out and about.

Debby and Tim Starkey, from Illinois, are parttime residents at 19506 Charleston Circle, Lot #37. They both retired from State Farm data processing and are the parents of two children and five grandchildren whom they enjoy spending time with. Both Tim and Debby like to travel, and Tim enjoys playing softball while Debby likes reading and exercising.

Diane and Marco Laviada moved to the Tara Woods community from Iowa to become fulltime residents at 2822 Tara Lakes Circle, Lot #309. They are both retired. Marco from management with Walgreens for thirty years and Diane as an elementary school teacher for thirty years. Diane enjoys reading, cooking and exercise while Marco passes time as a United Airlines virtual pilot and playing the piano.

WELCOME TO TARA WOODS, Mary Kivel

THE WELCOME COMMITTEE

The Welcome Committee is sad to note the retirement of Joanne Byrne as our biography writer for many, many years. She has spent countless hours letting readers of The Columns get to know our new residents and we thank her for her good work. Joanne, along with our other wonderful volunteer, Elaine Lavoie, will continue to welcome new residents to orientation meetings when life returns to normal at Tara Woods.

Mary Kivel and Donna Phillips, Co-chairs of The Welcome Committee

FMO NEWS: TARA WOODS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION NEWS

The below is part of Nancy Black Stewart’s comments regarding the recently completed legislative session. Nancy is our go-to person in Tallahassee.

Talk to your local elected officials as well as your legislators. Tell them your story and the issues you are concerned about. After March 20th legislators will be home in their districts. Many will be gearing up for re-election campaigns. If it is a better idea to meet with them by appointment in their legislative offices rather than in your park settings, then go do that. They need to understand more about you. This is the time for in-depth discussions. By the time they are in Tallahassee, a standard meeting is only ten minutes! The second matter for your attention is building our base. The membership drive is growing our numbers, so good job again! Keep up the good work! Numbers matter… I’m asked all the time. A squeakier wheel gets more grease!

DID YOU KNOW?

Fifty-five years ago, while many of our current park residents were fighting in Vietnam or pioneering our race to the moon, the Supreme Court of Florida affirmed the right of cities and counties to tax mobile homes as real property. A hue and cry was heard across the state, and on November 2nd, 1965, Amendment 5 to the Florida Constitution was passed. The Florida Constitution, Article VII, Section 1(b) states: “Motor vehicles, boats, airplanes, trailers, trailer coaches and mobile homes, as defined by law, shall be subject to a license tax for their operation in the amounts and for the purposes prescribed by law, but shall not be subject to ad valorem taxes”.

Looking ahead it is important to renew your membership in the FMO, and if you are not a member, to join. Go to www.fmo.org and click on quick links. There you will find both the application to renew as well as to become a member.

Please mark your calendar for January 8th, 2021. Tara Woods will be hosting the meeting in the Clubhouse. More information to follow.

In these difficult times please stay safe and healthy. When the meeting season starts in November, we want to see all of you.

BE ALERT FOR CORONAVIRUS-RELATED SCAMS There are scams you should be aware of regarding

Coronavirus. Some of these types of scams include: • Individuals and businesses selling fake cures for

COVID-19 online and engaging in other forms of fraud, • Phishing emails from entities posing as the

World Health Organization or the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, • Malicious websites and apps that appear to share virus-related information to gain and lock access to your devices until payment is received, • Seeking donations fraudulently for illegitimate or non-existent charitable organizations, and more.

Additionally, you may come across these scams through text messages, phone calls, email messages, etc. Here are some things to consider when overwhelmed with Coronavirus info found online.

Before you act, stop. Ask yourself: 1. Who is the message from? 2. What do they want me to do? 3. What evidence supports this message?

It is for this reason that we are providing you with resources to help keep you and your families safe. Unfortunately, scams do often appear during times of emergency, disaster, and uncertainty. These tools will help all of us stay alert and resilient, even during this pandemic challenge.

We have to continue to be each other’s heroes by staying home, continuing to physically distance ourselves, and always washing our hands. We keep saying it, but it truly is a community effort. U.S. Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2020/0... Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) https://www.ic3.gov/media/2020/200320.aspx