Williamson County, Texas

Commissioner Cook encouraged the attendees to hang up on calls they don't recognize, sound suspicious or are too good to be real. She asked the group, "When does the government call you?" in reference to fraudulent IRS calls. 

Every month a local Taylor Church sponsors the Women's Luncheon and in August Susan Komandasky coordinated the event as a member of the Tenth Street United Methodist Church.

Grace Bulgerin Lidell founded Grace Place in 1985. 

Grace Place is an independent living community located in Taylor. Independent living can involve home ownership in a retirement community or senior apartment rentals for individuals who can still live independently. 

International Overdose Awareness Day is Aug. 31

https://www.nsc.org/home-safety/safety-topics/opioids/international-overdose-awareness-day

LifeSteps Council Observed Overdose Awareness Day as part of the International Overdose Awareness Day, a global event held Aug. 31 each year. It is dedicated to remembrance, awareness, education and action that will help eliminate overdose deaths. On Aug. 31 – and throughout the month – you can help raise awareness, memorialize a lost loved one, inspire change and save lives.

What you can do

• Invite people to a local gathering at a community center, library, park or other public space:
• Hold a candlelight vigil
• Offer an educational program, such as one related to preventing opioid use, in partnership with a local organization
• Provide a safe space for telling the stories of overdose victims
• Offer a large canvas and washable paint for survivors to add a handprint in memory of their loved one
• Display empty hats or shoes to represent the number of lives lost in the community
• Use the NSC Community Action Kit as a planning guide

Everyone can participate in IOAD with one of these activities:

• Remember a loved one by supporting NSC efforts to end the opioid epidemic
• Access the NSC Facebook page to get a purple frame for your Facebook profile image Aug. 20
• Share the NSC Facebook Live virtual candlelight vigil Aug. 31
• Add the name of a loved one who died of an opioid overdose to the Celebrating Lost Loved Ones map
• Purchase or create purple wristbands, pins, shirts or other items and wear them on A

Prevent. Intervene. Promote Recovery.

LifeSteps’ vision is a safe, supportive, drug-free community with healthy, nurturing families; where all who experience alcohol or drug-related problems have affordable, easy access to the services that they need to help them become productive, empowered and substance free.

Our mission is to improve our community’s health, safety, and well-being by preventing substance use disorders, providing early intervention, and supporting long-term recovery.

Our target population includes individuals and families in Williamson, McLennan and Travis Counties.

Help us to carry this mission out by donating or volunteering!

http://lifestepscouncil.org/                                                   

This project was part TxDOT, part Williamson County, and it took a lot of our partnership working together to get it done,” said Commissioner Cook. Williamson County first studied needed improvements to RM 620 in 2005. That study resulted in three construction projects over the past 13 years for a construction cost of $18.9 million. 

The Texas Department of Transportation’s segment includes restriping the existing four-lane section to a six-lane section from Cornerwood Drive to Wyoming Springs Drive. Their construction is anticipated to be completed in July.

In addition to the RM 620 Phase 2 project, Williamson County celebrated completion of another safety project at O’Connor Drive north of RM 620. The county made modifications to the existing median and turn lanes into driveways to help improve the safety in the area. Cox Commercial Construction completed this project as well.

As part of her speech, Commissioner Cook recited a poem that she wrote to commemorate the event, the participants who made it possible, and the drivers who endured the barricades and will now enjoy a smoother and safer ride through this area.

Please click below on Read More to read Commissioner Cook's poem 

You may have gotten that “IRS” call threatening that if you don’t pay a certain amount of money for some bogus tax owed you will be arrested, deported or have your license revoked. And if you’re a senior, you’ve more than likely gotten such a call.

I hope you hung up.

To address this and other types of fraud among our senior population, I recently introduced the Williamson County Senior Fraud Prevention Program.

At our first event in June at the Court at Round Rock, an independent and assisted living facility, we invited local organizations that sponsor programs to identify and end this fraud, as well as provide other resources for golden agers in Williamson County and throughout Central Texas.

The 2015 True Link Report on Elder Financial Abuse estimated that scams and identity theft cost American seniors a total of $36.5 billion per year, and this number continues to rise. If a senior is not on social media or email, fraudsters will find other means to steal from them through a landline, cellphone or other means.

Precinct 1 Constable Vinnie Cherrone advised residents to hang up on any callers asking for money or making threats if they refuse to give their financial information. He also recommended everyone to lock their social security cards in a safe place and not carry them around in wallets or purses.

Information on a social security card easily allows a criminal to steal a person’s identity. The federal government is even sending out new Medicare ID cards minus social security numbers. If you qualify, yours may be in the mail now.

The National Council on Aging warns that financial scams targeting seniors have become so prevalent that they’re now considered “the crime of the 21st century” because many believe seniors have significant amounts of money in their accounts. But this doesn’t mean low-income seniors don’t have to worry.