Hear ye, hear ye,
Here is your
SHERWOOD FOREST CRIER
September 1, 2020
Neighborhood Message
We hope everyone is staying safe and maintaining recommended practices for staying healthy!
As businesses reopen, folks head back to work, and children go back to school, these efforts are more important than ever!
The City of Columbia and Richland County both have mandatory mask ordinances in place.
For information on the ordinance or mask distribution, visit: City of Columbia COVID-19 and Richland County Facemasks
For local COVID-19 information:
City of Columbia website
Richland County Coronavirus (COVID-19) Info
SCDHEC Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Centers for Disease Control information:
Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Using and making cloth face coverings
Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University
SFNA General Meeting
Tuesday, November 10, 6:30pm-8pm
This general meeting is tentative depending on circumstances.
We are considering having a Zoom meeting. Would you be interested in virtually attending a neighborhood general meeting? Email us or use the poll on our Facebook private group.
If you have questions, answers, requests, offers or comments about the neighborhood, you can join the discussion in our SFNA private group on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/sherwoodforestna.
Only your neighbors can see who's in the group and what is posted.
City of Columbia CRT Officer Report
The South Region CRT (Community Response Team) Officer Mason L. Frier is the Sherwood Forest neighborhood contact at the Columbia Police Department. In normal times, he attends our quarterly general meetings. Here is his current update:
"We are still having autobreakings, mostly unlocked vehicles. We need to lock our vehicles, and secure valuables and FIREARMS inside our homes!
We did arrest a notorious property crime offender Friday night, resulting in him receiving a 25,000 surety bond, so we are hoping to see an impact in crime based on him being in custody.
Loud parties have been a talking point these last several weeks, and we are working constantly to respond, document, and hold these students accountable for their actions.
If anyone has any problems with loud noise or parties please call 252-2911 and we will receive the call and address it as necessary."
Report a personal or property crime immediately to the City of Columbia Police by calling 911. To report suspicious activity, call 911 or the non-emergency number 252-2911 or our CRT (Crime Response Team) Officer Mason L. Frier at 803 391-6203 or mlfrier@columbiasc.net. Then alert your neighbors!
City of Columbia Police Department website
Apply to Vote Absentee Now for the November Election
The Richland County Voter Registration & Elections Office is accepting absentee ballot applications for the November 3 general election.
As of this time, the qualifications for voting by absentee ballot do not include "State of Emergency" as was the case for the June primary election which allowed any registered voter to vote absentee by reason of the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency declaration.
Persons qualified to vote by absentee ballot at this time:
- Members of the Armed Forces or Merchant Marine serving outside their county of residence and their spouses and dependents residing with them
- Persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations (USO) who are attached to and serving with the Armed Forces outside their county of residence and their spouses and dependents residing with them
- Overseas Citizens
- Persons who are physically disabled
- Students attending school outside their county of residence and their spouses and dependents residing with them
- Persons who for reasons of employment will not be able to vote on election day
- Government employees serving outside their county of residence on Election Day and their spouses and dependents residing with them
- Persons who plan to be on vacation outside their county of residence on Election Day
- Persons serving as a juror in state or federal court on Election Day
- Persons admitted to the hospital as emergency patients on Election Day or within a four-day period before the election
- Persons with a death or funeral in the family within three days before the election
- Persons confined to a jail or pre-trial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial
- Persons attending sick or physically disabled persons
- Certified poll watchers, poll managers, and county election officials working on Election Day
- Persons sixty-five years of age or older
- Persons who for religious reasons do not want to vote on a Saturday (Presidential Primaries Only)
South Carolina law requires you to register to vote at least 30 days prior to the election.
Absentee Voting Information...
Dominion Energy Tree Trimming & Spraying
In the last month or so, Dominion Energy has been performing maintenance on trees and vegetation along their utility rights of way for safety, reliability and access. This has including spraying herbicide.
Most of Sherwood Forest was developed with power lines and other utilities located in the back of lots which makes for an uncluttered streetscape, but which complicates access and maintenance!
While Dominion is supposed to notify property owners of line maintenance, many don't get or see a notice, and don't get a knock on the door, or aren't home to get the knock. The current approach in our neighborhood is for crews to come through and poison plants below the power lines with herbicides. They are supposed to be trained to hit only plants (mainly trees) that will grow tall enough to interfere with the lines, but errors are not uncommon. You won't notice anything amiss until days or weeks after the crews have come through. The plants slowly start to brown out - a few leaves at first, and then branches, and then the whole plant. You may just think the plant has a disease or hasn't been watered enough. If it's under a power line, or within 10 or so feet of one, it's likely the result of intentional poisoning by Dominion.
Yes, the power lines need to be kept clear, but this is an irresponsible approach. It is much quicker and easier for crews to spray poison than to cut back manually, and it is a more long lasting solution than manual clearing. BUT, it often leaves homeowners clueless as to what is going on - and it leaves the tough clean-up (cutting and clearing of dead plants) to homeowners. To make matters worse, because many don't realize what has happened, they may replant, often inappropriately. Additionally, a toxic substance is being added to our yards. If you are unhappy with this approach, here are some suggestions for action:
- Call Dominion Energy at 1-800-562-9308 and ask for policy changes listed below.
- Ask that Dominion avoid the use of herbicides or certify that the ones in use will not harm wildlife, including pollinators.
- If poisons are to be used, ask that Dominion provide property owners with the name(s) of the herbicides, what they contain, how they work, what they affect, and what property owners need to do to keep humans and pets safe. This should include information on how long the poison is active in the environment.
- If herbicides are to be used (or have recently been used), ask that Dominion pay to have the damaged plants cleared.
- If the clearing has destroyed landscape plants, ask that Dominion pay to replace them. Take photos and document!
- To avoid problems in the future, recommend more open practices. Probably a door tag or flyer that states what Dominion has just done -- type of clearing, type of herbicide (if used) and information on it as above, and how to help prevent the need for clearing in the future (see below). A contact number should of course be included.
- Additionally, Dominion needs to have an active campaign to educate property owners about plantings under and near power lines. Property owners, builders, and the City and County should all receive information about plant types that will be acceptable under and near lines. A list of specific plantings suggestions should be included, along with the characteristics of those plants, what conditions they grow best in, and what kind of care is needed for them.
- For the current clearing, call Dominion's contractor, Marshfield Forestry Service, Scott Frock 864-992-0231 and report lack of door knocking notification and any inappropriately poisoned plants. Ask for plants to be replaced.
- Finally, follow up on any phone call with a written letter and/or an email (you can cut and paste the above suggestions):
P.O. Box 100255
Columbia, SC 29202
Here is a link to provide written comments online: account.sceg.com/contact
Some of these questions and issues are addressed in Dominion Energy's online FAQ, Trees, Trimming & Powerlines
UofSC Belser Arboretum Open House
Open Houses are cancelled until further notice.
Contact Gail Wojtowicz at 618 402-8736 or by email or see UofSC's Department of Biological Sciences W. Gordon Belser Arboretum web page. Find event info and sign up for the newsletter on Facebook.
SFNA Adopt-A-Highway Clean Up
This event is tentative depending on circumstances. Feel free to freelance in the neantime!
Please contact Dave Nelson at 803 447-4793 or appearance@sherwoodforestneighbors.org for information or any questions.
Crier emails
We are making an effort to send out these informational emails around the first of every month to keep neighbors up do date on neighborhood events, and other events and information of interest. It's cheaper and better for the environment not to print and pass out fliers! But we could all probably use the exercise!
If you have information of interest to the neighborhood, please pass it along and we may include it in a future Crier.
Tell your friends and neighbors to subscribe. No membership required, but of course we would like everybody to join! New neighbor? Let us know and we'll send out the welcome wagon.
To subscribe, email membership@sherwoodforestneighbors.org or subscribe online
Join the Sherwood Forest Neighborhood Association
Become a member or renew your membership now for 2020!
Dues are only $20 and are due in January. Pay your dues now online. Or pay at the next general meeting or mail a check to Henry Nechemias, 4 Robin Hood Ct., Columbia, SC 29205 and you will be paid up for 2020!
Why should you join the SFNA? Benefits of the SFNA...
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SFNA Facebook Page | SFNA Facebook Group | SFNA Nextdoor | SFNA Twitter
Sherwood Forest Neighborhood Association, Inc. Columbia, South Carolina
www.sherwoodforestneighbors.org
© Copyright 2020 Sherwood Forest Neighborhood Association. All rights reserved.
If you no longer wish to receive email correspondence from SFNA, please email webmaster@sherwoodforestneighbors.org
Please add webmaster@sherwoodforestneighbors.org to your approved sender list in whatever email client or system you are using to make sure you are able to receive email communications from the Sherwood Forest Neighborhood Association!
SFNA Facebook Page | SFNA Facebook Group | SFNA Nextdoor | SFNA Twitter
Sherwood Forest Neighborhood Association, Inc. Columbia, South Carolina
www.sherwoodforestneighbors.org
© Copyright 2020 Sherwood Forest Neighborhood Association. All rights reserved.