SafetySmart Lilburn Wants Your Input

The Lilburn organization has a short survey where residents can answer anonymously on issues in the area.

SafetySmart Lilburn

Protect Your Neighbors, While Protecting Yourself

Following the Boston Marathon bombings, SafetySmart Lilburn leaders reflect on why residents are vital in catching criminals.

Recent events in Boston have taught us the value of resident cooperation and observation: from cell phone pictures to a person seeing a stain on the boat in his back yard and calling 911. As we go about our daily lives, it is very easy to become so focused on the next appointment or school event that we don’t notice what is happening around us. It takes effort to check that the neighbor’s car is not present for five or six days in a row; it is not always easy to notice the new business that “opened” but never is open for business, or that there seem to be many cars going to a particular house on certain nights of the week.   Life gets so busy that we are often not in the same place long enough to notice unusual behavior of those around us…

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SafetySmart Lilburn

Locked Out: How a Lilburn Family Stepped in to Protect a Latchkey Child

If you saw a child without his parents in a possible dangerous situation, would you step in? Judy Mowrey writes this SafetySmart Lilburn column response to such an incident in her neighborhood.

Not long ago, on a very cold and wintry day, my husband went out to run an errand and saw a middle-school age boy in front of his house in our neighborhood.  He stopped to inquire whether the boy was okay. The boy said he was locked out of the house because school had released early that day . . . and his family, who were unaware of the early release, had not come home from work yet. When asked, the boy said he was hungry and my husband brought him some food when he returned from his errand. He told the child to come to our house if he got too cold and reminded him of where we live. After he arrived home, we talked about it and returned with a cell phone for the boy to try to reach his parents.  Unfortunately, he didn’t know their work …

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SafetySmart Lilburn Gains New Board Members

The organization elected three new members to the board of directors.

SafetySmart Lilburn is pleased to announce election of three new members to their board of directors at the February, 2013 meeting.  Scott Kimball, Vanessa Gonzalez and Carol Watson bring strong skills to the board. Vanessa Gonzalez joins the board as a Junior member with full voting rights. A middle schooler at Radloff Middle School, she has served as Spanish translator in several situations and is working to rebuild the neighborhood watch in her subdivision. Over the past year, she helped in planning National Night Out activities for youth and helped with a rabies clinic last September. Scott Kimball has been working on the SafetySmart Lilburn website since last September. His initial introduction to the organizationwas through a booth …

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Drugs in Gwinnett County: A Presentation to SafetySmart Lilburn

Maj. John Strickland, of the Gwinnett County Police Department, recently presented information on drug activity in the area.

(Editor's Note: This piece is derived from a recent presentation on drugs in Gwinnett County by Maj. John Strickland.) In 2012, Gwinnett County confiscated more than $16 million worth of illegal narcotics, from 837 drug arrests: $905,000 in drug money, 884 pounds of marijuana, 32 pounds of cocaine and 51 pounds of methamphetamine.  In general, all drug arrests result in jail time (with the exception of possession of small amounts of marijuana.) Infiltration of Mexican Cartels Studies indicate the drug cartels in Mexico and Central America ship approximately 90 percent of drugs entering the United States. Since the 1990s, the government of Mexico recently reported being at war with the drug cartels.  In most instances these cartels tend …

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SafetySmart Lilburn

SafetySmart Lilburn Sponsors Presentation on Drugs in Gwinnett

The special event will be held Jan. 10, 2013.

Over the past 14 months, SafetySmart Lilburn has offered support and resources to neighborhood leaders of the 30047 ZIP Code during gatherings held every other month. Leaders have been introduced to various community organizations, including Blaze 4 Life, American Red Cross, Safe Kids Gwinnett, and Gwinnett Fire Safety. Representatives of both Gwinnett and Lilburn police departments have provided updates on current events and trends in the 30047 area, and have provided opportunity to get to know these officers on a personal level. Discussions about how to encourage neighbors to become involved have yielded some new ideas and discussion among individuals, resulting in closer collaboration. This month’s meeting (Thursday, January 10th) will …

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SafetySmart Lilburn

Resolve to Start a Neighborhood Watch

SafetySmart Lilburn wants residents to consider being nicer to neighbors, and starting a community group to help protect neighborhoods.

It is the start of a new year and, as always, most people think about making a resolution or two for a healthier, safer, more enjoyable life. Some people show real fortitude and stick with those resolutions for a couple months; others manage only a week before they revert to their old habits. Sometimes, it only takes one inconsiderate driver to halt the intention to think happy thoughts.  Several years ago, I made a decision not to make resolutions at the beginning of the year, because it reinforced my sense of failure when yet another resolution went out the window. After some thought, I concluded that making a lifestyle change at the moment that I realize there is an issue is much more effective: There is no delay in starting, and when …

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SafetySmart Lilburn

Be Safe Behind the Wheel, Don't Drink and Drive

SafetySmart Lilburn tackles drunk driving this week, and hopes Lilburn residents are staying safe during this holiday time.

As the holiday season is here, there is a tendency to have more parties than usual to attend. When alcohol is served, it is easy to drink more than you planned because of the good company, conversation and relaxation…but this tendency also raises the chances of driving impaired.  GUIDE (Gwinnett United in Drug Education) issued a report this week that one out of every seven drivers on a Friday or Saturday night is impaired, either under the influence of alcohol or drugs; that number goes up during any holiday.  Nearly half of all motor vehicle fatalities are alcohol related.  About 12% of drivers involved in fatal crashes are young drivers, aged 15-20 years—on a positive note, the number of vehicle accidents in this age range has decreased…

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SafetySmart Lilburn

Keep Family, Home Safe This Holiday Season

SafetySmart Lilburn shares tips on decorating, shopping and home safety for this holiday season.

SafetySmart Lilburn wants you to keep your home and family safe this holiday season. Here are a few tips to help you. Decorating Safety Tips: Shopping Safety Tips:  Home Safety Tips:

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SafetySmart Lilburn

Safe Sleep Program Saves Lives

Want to keep your baby safe while they sleep? SafetySmart Lilburn provides ways to take precautions against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Progress has been made in reducing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in the infant population. This is thanks largely to the 18-year campaign originally called Back-To-Sleep, but now entitled Safe-Sleep.  Death by suffocation is by far the number one cause of deaths in infants under one year. Since the Back-to-Sleep campaign began in 1994, infant death rates due to suffocation has been reduced by 50 percent. The Food and Drug Administration joined forces with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to promote the concept and widen the circle of those practicing this simple technique. Recently, deaths have occurred as a result of infant sleep positioners (ISPs), advertised as helping to prevent SIDS, but actually …

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