Cheney Ranch HOA: Newsletter

SUMMER UPDATE:

The new HOA Board is in place (see board members under home for contact numbers).

The entrances are looking better; after having to change landscape companies. As the summer progresses, you will see it improving.

At the east entrance, we were told they put in a fiber optic control center. Since the HOA does not own that part of the land, we could not do anything.

The county did come in and mow along the road sides in Cheney Ranch. Marilyn Peters contacted the county regarding road cracks. They told her that will either repair road cracks or chip seal again in the early fall. She will be calling them tomorrow, July 26th, to report some flooding problems on Bandido.

Contact the Linden Fire Dept., if you are interested in participating in the new Government Grant for FREE fire proofing of your lot. We believe they will still take some more. Several signed up at the yearly meeting. It's worth a call to see if you can be added.

EARLY SUMMER UPDATE:

The yearly HOA meeting will be held at the LINDEN FIRE STATION, on Saturday, JUNE 12th, at 10:00am.

The 2009-2010 HOA Board has made several improvements. The week of June 1st through June 4th, the front entrances will be transformed. Near the end of

that week, be sure to take a look.

Reminder: We are entering into FIRE season. With all the winter and spring moisture, weeds are everywhere. They will be drying out making it FIRE FUEL! Please trim weeds. Trees need to be trimmed up from the ground 4 feet. Leaving trees hanging near the ground is a FIRE HAZARD.

SPRING UPDATE

After a winter of many snowfalls, we should be in for a beautiful Spring. All that great ground moisture should help all our flowering plants to be full of gorgeous blooms! Unfortunately, it will also bring many weeds. Please help keep our area beautiful and safe by trimming all weeds. Empty lots are often an eye sore; because the owner/s aren't here to take care of the weed problem. Any help in this situation will be deeply appreciated.

All owners should have received a form for HOA Board participation. If you are interested in running for the board, please fill out the form and return to the appropriate address by the deadline.

Bids are being taken for landscape care of the front entrances by Stacie at 537-3339. The contract runs from May 1st, 2010, to October 31st, 2010. All applicants MUST be licensed and bonded.

The management company did a great job collecting dues and any fines for this year (2009-2010). The HOA Board has decided to keep the dues for 2010-2011, the same as they have been for the past two years. This decision is based on the state of the economy, and the fact that our HOA is finally "in the black."

The HOA dues will be mailed in late April along with the HOA Board ballot.

FALL UPDATE

The county did a wonderful job repairing the drainage problem on Broken Arrow! Almost every homeowner sent a thank you letter to the county for doing such a great job! The HOA board sent a letter to the county commending them for work well done.

Letter replacement for the first, east entrance sign has been orderd. It should be completed soon.

The HOA wants to thank the home/lot owners who are doing a great job of keeping their weeds trimmed. Please remember trimmed weeds help prevent fires..

SUMMER UPDATE

The county is finally working on the drainage problem on Broken Arrow. (It only took them a year. It is true: an elephant is a mouse drawn to government specifications!)

BEAR ALERT! Bears are definitely in the area. One was sitting, with legs apart, munching on the bird food from a bird feeder he held in his lap! Trash cans have been of interest to them too. The forest ranger recommends: take down all hummingbird feeders, bird feeders, and if you must leave your trash can outside, put ammonia or bleach in the indentation on the lid. They don't like the smell.

UNFORTUNATELY the bears aren't the only ones interested in our trash cans. Teenagers have been seen driving by, grabbing a garbage can and dragging it to hit the next garbage can. It's called garbage can bowling or "NO SOCIAL LIFE!" We have a description of the car involved, and this information was handed over to the Sheriff's Dept.

We looked into the water issue at the entrances. It was discovered that the timers were bad. New timers have been purchased and are being installed. Hopefully, that will help the situation.

REMEMBER THIS IS WEED SEASON, PLEASE BE GOOD NEIGHBORS AND TRIM YOUR WEEDS. WE KNOW IT IS A PAIN, BUT REMEMBER IT IS DEEPLY APPRECIATED.

WINTER/SPRING UPDATES:

Last month Cheney Ranch lost one of our longtime residence. George Sloan, devoted husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, brother and uncle is now with the Lord. He is survived by his lovely wife, Linda, his four sons; Kevin, Rick, Mark, and Bob; his brother, Richard Dick (also living in Cheney Ranch); many nieces and a nephew, Dirk Dick (a Cheney Ranch resident); plus many grandchildren and even some great grandchildren. George loved to do family activities. He often camped, fished and hunted with his family. Although I never met George, I have heard wonderful things about him. It seems every one I talk with has wonderful things to say about him. He will be truly missed.

Not long after we lost George, Wallace Buelow,also a Cheney Ranch resident, passed away. Wallace celebrated his 91th birthday on February 15th, 2009. He was a Col. in the United States Army, serving in World War II and Vietnam. Being quite the adventurer, he traveled to the North Pole and the Antarctic. He and his lovely wife, Janet, traveled down the Amazon River on their honeymoon. Wallace was a long time member of the Episcopalian Church in Show Low. He was always doing volunteer work for various causes. He even did the incomes taxes for Show Low senior citizens. Wallace is survived by his wife, Janet; three children; five step-children; many grandchildren; and even some great grandchildren.

Glenn Holle, member of the Architectural Control Comm., recently attended a workshop at the Linden Fire Dept. for us. They are working on a five year fire prevention plan. We will give more information when it is available.

Remember fire season is around the corner. Please trim up trees, preferably 4 to 5 feet off the ground. It is important to keep our weeds trimmed as short as possible too. Anything that can be fuel for fire is dangerous.

The annual Cheney Ranch H.O.A. Meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m., on Saturday, June 6th, 2009, at the Linden Fire Dept. The 2008-2009 expenditures and the 2009-2010 budget will be presented at that time. Although your H.O.A. board does have to handle owner complaints, their main objective is to do positive things for Cheney Ranch owners. If you have any ideas for helpful projects for your board, please bring these ideas to them.

UPDATED NEWSLETTER ITMES (11/29/08)

The Linden Fire Department is starting to rebuild the C.E.R.T program (Community Emergency Response Team). You must be 0ver 18, and be willing to attend monthly training sessions that will teach CPR, Triage, etc. . If your are interested, call Carol, at Linden Fire Department 537 -1101. You may email her at lindenfire56@hotmail.com.

Hopefully, the flood control work on Broken Arrow will start soon.

REMINDER TO ALL CHENEY RANCH DOG OWNERS: DOGS MUST BE ON A LEASH, OR RESTRAINT, OR A FENCED AREA. STILL TOO MANY DOGS ARE WANDERING!

UPDATED NEWSLETTER ITEMS (11/5/08)

1. Stewart Management Company sold to Tenney and Associates. The new phone number is: 928-532-1111, and ask for Stacy. They are honoring our contract so fees and services will not change.

2. Found: A black and white pug dog. Call 532-1321 if you lost this sweet dog.

3. HELP! We need help fighting vandalism to our Cheney Ranch entrances. Two letters were vandalized last week. To replace each letter is over $100! If you know anything about who is doing this, please call one of the board members or the board president at 537-0555. We can't afford to keep replacing them.

4. The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 13th at 10:30am. If you want something addressed at that meeting, call Marilyn Peters, at 537-0555.

UPDATED NEWSLETTER ITEMS (10/7/08)

1. Found: car keys and auto opener - call 5371201.

2. Check Accomplishments under News & Events to see things the HOA Board has accomplished thus far.

3. Just found a new restaurant in Wagon Wheel a little past Fox worth on the opposite side of the street. It's called LA CABANA (532-0906) . They had a mexican food restaurant in Globe and closed it down to move up here. The food is good and reasonably priced. (They have applied for a liquor license.)

4. We researched and found out from DPS officer Hawkins that it is NOT legal to park cars on the entrance areas to Cheney Ranch. He said to let people know he will tag them and have them towed. (If you need more information regarding this, call the HOA Board president, Marilyn Peters, at 537-0555.)

We really don't want our entrances to turn into used car lots.

Updated Newsletter items(8/17/08)

1. There have been a few incidents of the "garbage loving bear" in Cheney Ranch. Bear tracks were found by Sheryl Berentz. She said it appears to be a fairly large bear. There are a few things you can do to avoid more problems. Make sure you secure your garbage can by keeping it in a place where it would be difficult for the bear to make access. Try not to put it out until the early morning of pickup. Do not fill it to overflow.

2. The new Cheney Ranch entrance signs and areas are looking better than they have in several years. Don Jackson, of Growing Seasons Inc. (242-5164), did the landscaping and is maintaining the area. He is even mowing the grass all the way to 260. He gave us the best price, and, it appears, the best service. We have the entrances maintained twice a month.

3. Your new board has been working on several items:

Flood problems: We have been in close contact with the county regarding changes that need to be done to culverts and ditches in Cheney Ranch. At our request, engineers came out after that horrid rain/hail storm to evaluate the need for 24" culverts on some areas of Bandido and Broken Arrow. They have been and still are digging out some of the roadside ditches. Ed Collins, from the forest service, met with us and walked the area of behind Cheney Ranch to determine if there was anything that could be done back there to help the situation. Ed Collins suggested that a ditch that was blocked needed to be cleared. He gave us permission to do so. Richard Kaufman and Doug Peters worked on the ditch. Your board continue to work on the flooding problem.

New Construction Issues: The board has worked out a construction issue brought up at the yearly meeting. The fine has been paid, and the owner is cooperating with the ACC and the Board. The owner's willingness to work with the ACC and the Board is truly appreciated.

Communication between the Board and the ACC: From now on, all Board meetings will be attended by a member from the ACC, and every ACC meeting will be attended by the Board president.

4. Barking Dogs: We have received numerous complaints about barking dogs. Due to the lovely weather, people are sleeping with their windows open. Barking dogs at all hours of the night and early morning are disturbing everyone's sleep! One of the main problem areas is Sundown and Bandido. If you choose to leave your dogs out at night and they are barking off and on throughout the night, you are disturbing your neighbors. If you are one of the many neighbors who has complained, it would be a good idea to first go and talk with the dog owners. Most people would not want to disturb their neighbors and may not realize their dogs are causing a problem. If that does not work, you need to contact the Sheriff's office and ask for Animal Control (Don). If enough of you fill a complaint, they will cite the offending party. That is the only way we can officially correct the situation.

The minutes from the yearly meeting are going to be posted on the web site this week (8/21/08). .

SAD NEWS: Janet Watson, who lived on Mountain Trail in Cheney Ranch, was tragically taken from us in a horse accident that occurred right before the 4th of July Parade in Show Low. Kalia Watson was injured in the same accident. She is now at St. Joseph Hospital in Phoenix.

NOTICE: We have received several complaints about barking dogs. It is summer time, so people are sleeping with their windows open. Let's all try and be considerate of our neighbors.

We have also received several complaints about roving dogs. Dogs are to be on a lease or contained in a fenced area. We have encouraged the Animal Control/Sheriff's Dept to pick up any wandering dogs and fine their owners. After the incident listed below, we don't want to take any chances. If you know of friends or neighbors in Cheney Ranch that allow their dogs to roam, you might want to warn them.

NOTICE: There was a viscous dog attack on Cheney Ranch Loop, May 28th. Two large, blackish German Shepard-type dogs attack a pet dog right in front of the pet owner . The pet dog was badly hurt, with massive cuts in the stomach area and neck. The pet dog had to undergo emergency surgery and may have to have a second surgery. If you know of anyone in Cheney Ranch who is allowing their dog/s to run loose, please contact Stewart Management at 537-1888 or any board member.(phone # listed on web page.) Any information given will be keep confidential.

From your HOA Board:

In recent months, there have been several burglaries in Cheney Ranch area (that includes Linden). There has been only one break in in Cheney Ranch. Residents have contacted the HOA to verify this information and asked what preventative measures can be taken. The following information can help in the prevention of burglaries:

1. Know your neighbors. What vehicles do they drive? Do they work? When are they home, and when are they away?

2. Report to the Navajo County Sheriff's office any suspicious activity eg:

- Door to door sales people that don't have credentials

- Watch for vehicles cruising up and down our streets Get a description of the vehicle, its occupants, and most important,

a licence number if possible.

3. Trim your trees so your neighbors can see your house and anyone prowling around your property.

4. Have one or more of your neighbors keep an eye on your house while you are away.

A. Have a neighbor or a friend check your house daily and remove any advertising or papers from your driveway and front door.

B. Use timers to turn off and on lights and a radio or TV while you are gone.

5. If you have a vehicle, leave it in the driveway not the garage. Have a friend or neighbor move it from time to time.

6. To help secure your house, the following suggestions may help:

A. Install double key dead bolts on your doors

B. Metal security doors are an option

C. Have an alarm system installed in your home.

D. Install exterior lights on your house with timers or photo electric cells.

E. Install lights with motion sensors on the exterior of your home.