Alva will be a less interesting place

 


We were saddened at the newspaper to learn of the passing of Jewel LeDou. I first knew Jewel as a police dispatcher. After her retirement, she was quite active in the Woods County Senior Citizens in Alva, serving for a long time as their president. Jewel was also an employee of the Newsgram for a time.

In 2008 we were having difficulty finding reliable people to work on Tuesday nights getting the Newsgram ready for distribution and mailing. It seemed that some college students and other young people had too many activities or too much of a social life to commit to one night a week.

My late husband Lynn decided senior citizens were the answer. He went over to the center in Alva and talked with people there. Jewel was the first to take him up on the offer. Beginning in August 2008, Jewel was a regular on our Tuesday night crew.

Not only was she reliable at showing up and earning her pay, but she also acted as a recruiter for us. Through her efforts, we enlisted other seniors for the Tuesday night work. We still have several retirees on our crew, including another former police dispatcher. Jewel worked for us about eight years before she decided she could no longer continue due to health.

We provide snacks as an extra incentive for our Tuesday Newsgram crew, and Jewel always brought brownies. Just like Jewel, the brownies tended to have an extra measure of spice. She added peanut butter chips, Heath chips and other flavors. Sometimes there was an almond flavor or even cinnamon.

We also heard about Jewel’s various adventures. She and Linda Joseph were members of the self-named weed patrol (not the kind that gives you a high). With spray bottles and spades in their hands, they patrolled the streets and public areas for weeds sprouting in cracks that made our streets unsightly. Every spring, Jewel wrote a letter to the editor about the careless spread of grass clippings into the streets.

Jewel regaled us with fun stories of what it’s like to raise three girls. For a time, her daughter Julie also worked Tuesday nights. We assured her we knew all about how she behaved when she was a kid.

Working in the police station gave Jewel a wealth of tales. She told us about some interesting experiences when the local station had a jail cell. With a mischievous grin, she assured us the Alva officers avoided pulling her over on traffic stops because she always demanded they frisk her.

Jewel was never shy about voicing her opinion, but she always did it in a good-humored way. She made regular appearances at city council meetings.

Alva will be a less interesting place without Jewel LeDou in our midst.

Scams Target Oklahomans

Last weekend, I ordered some gift cards online for grandchild birthdays. These were general cards, not store brands. With three teenage grandchildren celebrating birthdays in July and some other things coming up, I had several cards on the list. It’s nearly impossible to shop for teens unless you have a very specific request.

Shortly after placing my order I received this email: “There are a variety of scams in which fraudsters try to trick others into paying with gift cards from well-known brands. To learn more about some common scam attempts that may involve asking for payment using gift cards please click on the button below or contact us now.” I was pleased to see they are watching out for me.

The AARP commissioned a survey of more than 600 Oklahoma adults, age 18 and older. They found that nearly one in three have been targeted by a con artist pretending to represent a government agency.

Imposter scams were the most common type of fraud in the state last year, according to federal data. Thieves often impersonate Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration and U.S. Census Bureau workers.

These crooks use every available resource such as phone calls, emails and text messages. We even receive scam faxes at the newspaper office. A couple of times the faxes have been for former employees who are now deceased.

A fax received recently was a very obvious scam. The sender was using a word processor with fill in the blanks capability but didn’t know how to do it properly. Supposedly someone with the same last name died in another country leaving no will. The sender offered to handle the legal paperwork to obtain the inheritance, which totaled several million dollars, for a small percentage of the haul. No doubt the sender wants their share up front before the settlement is finalized.

I’ve had a couple of emails using my work address that have tried to blackmail me. The writer says they’ve been monitoring my emails and search usage as well as accessing my computer camera to gather some very embarrassing material. They threaten to release said material to my contacts unless I send them a specific amount in Bitcoins. They helpfully explain how to obtain Bitcoins. This is an easy one to delete since I haven’t been doing or searching for anything embarrassing. On top of that, my computer doesn’t have a camera.

I do have a camera on my laptop at home, but I rarely use a computer there. By the time I go home, I’ve had my fill of computers. It is a good idea to cover your computer camera unless you’re actually using it as sophisticated hackers can sometimes take control. A small piece of opaque tape will do the job.

It’s also a good idea to keep your antivirus software updated and change your passwords on a regular basis.

 

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