We would have to get a variance from the city to gate the community, and from what I was told the "new" company that took over the leases is not bound by the original agreement to build the wall, maybe that's why the lack of input from your HOA board.  You think it's bad now with pointless rules, make HOA membership , mandatory.  I have a friend in Trophy Club and the voted to make HOAmandatory, and they told her she couldn't install a $3,500 Rainbow Play system because it could be seen over the fence line, and they wouldn't allow a taller fence because that would be considered a "spite" fence...no thanks!  I say we turn the bottoms into a shooting range and everyone get a hand gun license,  talk about a deterrent!!!

On Friday, January 16, 2009 at a little before 6:00pm at my house near the intersection of San Joaquin and Thames (the house is on San Joaquin), I had a brief verbal "discussion" with a young black male.  He was riding a silver and red bicycle (mountain bike style).  He was very thin, about 6 feet tall, maybe 150 lbs.  He had on a black hat with blue highlights and dark very baggy clothing.  He approached as I turned off my car and was getting out.  He stayed about 20 feet from me and asked me if I had any money and he appeared to be casing my garage for items of interest at the same time.  I had a difficult time understanding him as he sounded as if he was mentally retarded, but these days I have a hardtime understanding many of America's misguided souls.

I told him to get the hell out of here, I went into my house and came back out to check on him and he was bicycling very rapidly towards the east.  I can't say that I have seen him around before, but this was an unusual incident for me.

I recommend that everyone make sure they reenforce their houses and arm themselves.  At some point this burglary is going to turn into a rape and/or murder.

I am having security laminate installed on all our windows.

Check out http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/WF/3MWindowFilms/Solutions/Residential/

I also recommend having your doors reinforced, locked gates, etc.

I was at a sport practice with my son and was talking with one of the dad's who also lives in River Trails.  He told me that one day his wife came home to eat lunch, parked in the garage and while eating her lunch, 2 young guys kicked in her front door as she was IN HER HOUSE EATING HER LUNCH, when they saw her, they took off.  Can you imagine????  The alarm companies should be out here making a fortune in River Trails right now.....we invested in Smith and Wesson!

Dear Neighbor,

I know that sounds corny or like a salesman but it is true, you are my neighbor. I live at 8720 San Joaquin Trail, Fort Worth 76118. I am sending this letter out strictly to the people who live in this neighborhood. I drive thru this neighborhood everyday and I unfortunately look at things that most of you don't, due to my job. I tend to drive down the streets and look to see who has left their garage door up, their front door open or newspapers piling up in the yard. You see I am the area Security Sales Consultant for Brinks Home Security and I talk with people on a daily basis, which are being reactive to a situation. What they almost always say is "I was thinking about getting a security system." What I have found is that most people think that "it won't happen to me" but sadly it will happen to a very high number of us.

Of course I am talking about break-ins; according to the FBI a burglary happens every 15 seconds. 62% of all residential burglaries happen between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. While you go to work so do the burglars. Now here is the really scary number, over 1.4 MILLION home invasions occurred in 2005 and that number keeps going up.

I know that some people have dogs as a deterrent, but lets face some facts. Dogs can't dial a phone for help, they are vulnerable to fire and if you are like me your dog is like a family member. I don't want to put any of my family members in harms way.

Some people think that having a Non-Monitored alarm is all they need. They may alert you but the authorities are not called. They are ineffective if you are not home, and remember when most burglaries occur. And when was the last time you called the police when you heard a car alarm go off at the mall?

There are even some people who think guns can provide protection and they can if you're at home when they are breaking in. If you are not home you just gave them something very valuable to steal. TVs, electronics and jewelry get pennies on the dollar on the black market but guns are where the real money is, they get dollar for dollar. Not to mention the other deadly consequences that can happen if you come home to a break in and they have already found the guns.

When you watch the news every night and you have the relationship with the local Police Department that I have and you get the "behind the scenes look", well, I have to at least offer this to my neighbors. In actuality I am being selfish, I know that the more homes in my neighborhood that have a Brinks sign outside their home that a burglar will, like water, go to the path of least resistance. Let's look at it from their point of view. If they are driving down a street and they see 4 Brinks signs in front of houses and 1 house without a sign, which house would you break in to?

That is why I have gotten permission to offer a special to my neighbors that you cannot get through any other source at Brinks. Our normal Standard Package retails for $199, it is on special for $99 right now. Since everyone in this neighborhood has a pre-wired home you can get the system for $49. This package includes the master control panel, standard keypad, hooking up all your doors and windows, a new siren and the sign outside with window stickers. You can add a second keypad for $135 and a slew of other additional pieces. But thru February 28^th I am willing to waive the $49 and give you a second keypad for free. There are certain things that you must do such as, you must sign up for EZ-Pay but you can choose to pay monthly, quarterly or annually and you must sigh up for thirty six months of monitoring. You can get monitoring for about a dollar a day to protect your family and home.

Yes, that means you can get a $334 retail security system for $0 installed. All you have to do is call me and sigh up for monitoring. And again, I will even come out for FREE to design the system and show you some things you can do to protect your home with or without a security system.

If this sounds like something you want to take advantage of call me directly at the numbers listed below. I will come to your home to do a no-cost in home security needs analysis to help design the maximum amount of security for the minimum amount of money.

Let's protect our neighborhood together. Pleas call AS SOON AS POSSIBLE because this offer is only good thru February 28^th.

Fernando Sanchez

8720 San Joaquin Trail

Fort Worth, TX 76118

Brinks Home Security

Area Security Sales Consultant

Cell 817 680 3759

Work 817 318 2014

Fernando.sanchez@brinks.com