The Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov provides an easy way to report suspected cyber crimes.  The site also provides valuable information about current internet crime schemes including Credit Card Fraud, Identity Theft, Investment Fraud, Nigerian Letter (or “419″), reshipping and more.  The best defense is a good offense.  Outsmart the crooks on the Internet by learning how they operate. The Internet Crime Complaint Center is an alliance between the National White Collar Crime Center and the FBI.

The 2007 operating budget of the John Jermain Memorial Library will be put to a vote of the residents of the Sag Harbor School District on September 19, 2006. Voters will also select three members of the JJML Board of Trustees from among the seven candidates running. The vote will take place on the lower level of the Library from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Only registered voters who are residents of the Sag Harbor School District are eligible to vote.

If you are otherwise eligible to vote, but not yet registered, you may register at the office of the District Clerk at Pierson High School, 200 Jermain Ave., Sag Harbor, on September 12, 2006 only. Absentee ballots may be picked up at the Library or at the office of the District Clerk. All postal patrons in Sag Harbor will receive a budget newsletter from the Library prior to the election.

The annual Budget Meeting and Candidate Forum will take place on September 11, 2006 in the Pierson High School auditorium. The Budget Meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. Library Director Allison Gray and President of the Board of Trustees Greg Ferraris will be present to answer questions from the public.

The Candidate Forum will follow immediately after the Budget Meeting at 7:00 p.m. The moderator will be Bryan Boyhan, Editor of the Sag Harbor Express. The public will be invited to submit questions to the candidates. This is the second year of a three year transition to a fully elected board of trustees. Each year, three of the nine trustees run for election. Prior to last year’s election all trustees were appointed.

The candidates in this year’s trustee election are (in alphabetical order):

Nancy Achenbach
Kate Evarts
Diane Gaites (incumbent)
Chris Leonard
Suzanne McNear
Jim Posner
Deborah Wilson (incumbent)

The third incumbent and current Board Vice President, Gayle Ratcliffe is not running for reelection.

This year we went on vacation to visit relatives.  To make it different we came to the library and borrowed a travel book for the area we were going.  We tried to look at it as tourists.  This is a trip we have made many times.  The current Mobil Travel Guide to this part of the country gave us several ideas to try.  We were very pleased to find several new interesting things to do. It is amazing to find treasures right under your noses. It always pays to check things out at the Library!

We have just returned from our vacation.  While away my grandson became fascinated with hummingbirds. Where we were staying had several hummingbird feeders.  We were not able to grant his wish to bring a hummingbird home as a pet.  We were able to come to the Library and find lots of information about humming birds.  It was exciting to share learning all about humming birds with such an interested person.

This event will take place in the Pierson High School auditorium. The annual budget meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. Library Board President Greg Ferraris and Director Allison Gray will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about the budget for 2007, which will be put to vote on September 19th.

The Candidate Forum will follow at 7:00 p.m. Seven candidates are running for three seats on the Library’s Board of Trustees. Sag Harbor Express Editor Bryan Boyhan will moderate. This will be your one opportunity to hear each of the candidates speak about the issues that are important to them and the Sag Harbor community. There will be an opportunity for questions to be submitted by the public. The Trustee elections will also take place on September 19th at the John Jermain Memorial Library form 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

JJML will hold a one-session class called Protecting Your Computer on Monday, August 28th from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. on in the third-floor rotunda. This is a lecture class with visual aids. It is not hands on training. The class will cover the various threats your computer is facing and the essential protection tools you need to combat them. The dangers covered include viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, phishing attacks, spam, pop-ups, and hackers. Protection methods discussed will include firewalls, antivirus software, antispyware software, pop-up blockers, anti-spam programs, and more. Don’t miss this important program. It is recommended for all computer users. Advance registration is required. To register, call 725-0049.

Many public records are available online for free!  http://publicrecords.onlinsearch.com is a collection of links to U.S. Federal and state real and personal property records, recorded documents, wanted persons records and many more free public records. Links are organized by state and county and are searchable by ZIP code or city.

If you’ve been to the library either yesterday or today, you will undoubtedly have noticed that the first floor is closed to the public (and staff, too). Due to a particularly noxious flood, we have had to evacuate and let a professional cleaning crew have the run of the place for the last two days. This will continue tomorrow (Thursday, August 17th) and Friday, August 18th as well. The cleaning crew is using some heavy duty disinfectant and special machines that will remove all bacteria from the room.

During this time, of course, there have been and will continue to be no public computers available for adults. The young adult and children’s computers on the second floor continue to be available as is our free WiFi Internet access on the third floor for those who bring their own laptop computers. Other items that are not available during this time are magazines, newspapers, (except the current day, which is avaialble), all fiction books (including new fiction), biography, new non-fiction, DVDs, VHS tapes, and books on tape and CD. We regret this inconvenience, and look forward to welcoming you to a clean and germ-free 1st floor on Friday, August 18th Saturday, August 19th.

Learn how to prepare for and respond to hurricanes including storm-related disasters such as blackouts, floods, tornadoes and thunderstorms.  The American Red Cross web site provides step by step instructions for what to do if these events occur. Check it out.  www.redcross.org/news/ds/0305hurricane

Click here to see a 5-minute film about Sag Harbor in the off-season. It was made by Amanda Switzer. Nicely done.