Safety topic

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>30 minutes after we left campus and sons roommates parents left as well, the boys did a Target run to get a tv. They bought the TV and sons troommate set his keys phone and wallet down on counter for a second to put the TV in a different cart …turned around and you guessed it. Someone stole all of it. !!! The store video showed a mom with her kids with her steal it and it only took a second! </p>

<p>Tell your kids to make sure they are alert to this type of event occurring if they arenot careful. The woman actually turned in the keys and phone but the wallet, bank card, Action card and cash are long gone…Also gone are the women and kids …</p>

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<p>Wow…</p>

<p>so are you saying that the woman who did the stealing also “turned in” the keys and phone to target? Wow…</p>

<p>I wonder if this gal did any purchasing at Target using any kind of ID (check, debit, credit card) that could identify her. Or perhaps the outside camera caught her getting into a car.</p>

<p>Also…tell kids to be careful with their things at the rec center. Son did have his wallet taken there. They need cameras there if they don’t already have them.</p>

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<p>The police officer at the Bama Bound public safety session we attended said that theft of unattended articles was by far the most common crime that impacted students. Sounds like personal property cannot be “unattended” even for a few seconds depending on where one is.</p>

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<p>They think she scored the wallet heist and left the property immediately.</p>

<p>We bought chris a combination lock to use at the rec and he plans on locking his bedroom door at all times when he’s not there.,…</p>

<p>On another note, the move in went without any issues. He is so excited to be at Bama! A personal note, my wife and I held it together when webdropped him off. We lost it when he said goodbye to the dog before we left Friday morning!!! Go figure</p>

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<p>My kids have never had anything stolen from a dorm room, but the rec center said that they’ve had a problem with valuables being taken when left alone.</p>

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<p>Oy, one more thing to worry about, and I’m already a basketcase.</p>

<p>So sorry about the wallet theft!!! Hope the poor kid can get his replacement Action Card etc. with no hassles. Hope they catch the thief!! </p>

<p>Back from Bama tonight. Completely exhausted. Mind is mush. DS seems happy, and his roomies seem nice. But I think DS is a bit overwhelmed. (I sure would be!) I know he’ll get his bearings eventually, but he’s always lived, well, in the woods. In a homeschooling family. And here he is on one of the biggest, most confusing campuses around. I mean, the place is a * city*! We continually got lost as we were driving around it Friday and Saturday. And this a.m. DS started out for the Catholic Church half an hour early for 11 a.m. Mass and ended up hopelessly lost…he arrived right in time for Communion, LOL. Hope he finds his way to his first class all right (Wed. 10 a.m.). It was moved from Ten Hoor (with which he’s familiar) to Farrah Hall (which none of us managed to find…but I think it’s kinda near the Catholic Student Center, IIR from the map).</p>

<p>DS called several times, which was great, but hasn’t called since this a.m. (after his getting-lost experience), so I assume that means he’s having fun at all the WOW events.</p>

<p>Sorry for rambling and for hijacking this thread. Chalk it up to stress and exhaustion.</p>

<p>The dorms are truly amazing, BTW. I love the Riverside layout.</p>

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<p>Definitely keep your bedroom door locked when you aren’t there. You might know your roommates and know they are all good guys. But you don’t know who they might have over to your dorm while you’re gone.</p>

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<p>That’s something to discuss when they do the roommate contracts, are they locking the suite door or just individual rooms. DSs did not lock the suite last year with no issues but YMMV.
And LadyDi, he will be fine after a few days of wandering around. Assuming he’ll walk his schedule as many do today or tomorrow. Can probably find an upperclassman to do it with him (or I can pm you DSs info who I’m sure would be happy to help). Hang in there, it will all work out! RTR!</p>

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<p>Sadly, with unemployment, etc… these kinds of things are happening more and more. The fact that it happened in Tuscaloosa is sadly not unique. At our local Target and Walmart, car thefts are an issue.</p>

<p>We all need to be vigilant because if we’re not watching, sigh, someone else is.</p>

<p>It behooves us to use travel tips when functioning these days: Never take your hands off your items unless you have a trusted friend giving them attention/holding them, put a small amount of money separate from your regular wallet, etc…so if you are held up you have some ready cash to ‘give’ that person. Don’t carry things you don’t need, etc…sigh. We need to restore honor in our society but as a friend said to me once, while I get up and prepare to work to earn my living, someone else is getting up and planning to prey on others to earn theirs. I know my son would never do it, but I’d love it if he’d use the round-the-neck pouch used for passports and tickets, etc… when traveling, on a daily basis.</p>

<p>I talked to my son about insurance and he said that before they got to his locked room, they would pass through the living room with tvs, game equipment etc… and he just couldn’t see them risking getting to his two year old laptop.</p>

<p>I hope the young man can get his replacement cards, etc… before classes start.</p>

<p>Lady Di: they all start out finding their way. By tomorrow your son will own that campus!</p>

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<p>LadyDi…</p>

<p>Encourage your son to “walk his classes” today to make sure he knows where all his buildings are.</p>

<p>And have him keep a campus map in his wallet. The more he walks around the campus…kind of using the Quad as kind of “home base”…he’ll get his bearings. </p>

<p>I’m surprised that he had such a hard time finding St. Francis…but now he’s probably got that down.</p>

<p>Tell him to study the map while he walks and learn the names/locations of several key buildings that he can always use as a reference…Ferguson building, Nott Hall, Gorgas Library, Carmichael Hall, Ten Hoor, BB Comer.…once you know those few buildings, then you can negotiate where other buildings are in relation to those. </p>

<p>While it may seem chaotic at first glance, Bama is actually very thoughtfully laid out and is easy to negotiate. Believe me…after spending a few days on older son’s grad school campus (much smaller) that has no rhyme or reason for building placement…ugh! (and really poor signage).</p>

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<p>Thanks, y’all!1 Yes, mom2ck, I will call him and encourage him to “walk his classes” today. Yesterday, when he got lost, he had forgotten to take the campus map with him. Gaaaaa! In many ways, he is on the ball (very attuned to punctuality, for instance, a trait he definitely did NOT inherit from me, LOL). In other ways, though, he’s kind of a space shot–I can easily see him forgetting his backpack or his textbook or whatever. Thankfully this week’s classes will be more ice-breaking than intensive-academic…at least that’s how my first week’s classes always were, and I assume it’s the same at Bama.</p>

<p>Don’t mean to hijack the thread even further…but did any other parents find that they were just too exhausted to cope with some forgotten items etc.? I saw a small bookcase at WalMart that would have been perfect over son’s dresser, but it required assembly, and by that point we were so exhausted that anything requiring assembly (no matter how simple the assembly) was totally out of the question, LOL. So DS will have to wait until Christmas break, at least, for a bookcase…unless he wants to buy and assemble one himself. He seems to have plenty of room for his books atop the bedside stand, so no biggie.</p>

<p>We also forgot to get him silverware, but I guess we weren’t the only ones. Late last night I was browsing the FB Class of 2015 pages, and I noticed that one kid had posted that he was eating ramen noodles with his fingers because he’d forgotten to buy silverware. LOL, poor kid! Well, that’s what care packages are for, I guess. And Publix.</p>

<p>Speaking of care packages…we need to send a small box to DS containing printer and ethernet cables, extension cord, plastic bowls for cereal (yes, we forgot those, too), and powerstrip. Can we send such a box to the Bama post office rather than to Paty, since it will not be a huge, bulky package?</p>

<p>And speaking of sending stuff to the p.o. … I know we send stuff c/o his p.o. box number…but what’s the rest of the address? Just care of Univ of Alabama? Thanks in advance!!</p>

<p>Considering that we were running around like the proverbial chickens with heads cut off, we sure did forget to do a lot of things!!</p>

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<p>P.S. BTW—My workplace, Hanesbrands headquarters, is practically next door to a WalMart. One morning an employee hit WalMart early, before work. She was followed to the Hanesbrands campus, and, when she got out of her car, a woman jumped out of the car that had followed her and snatched her purse. (It was later recovered, and the culprits were caught.) Yes, it can happen anywhere. We have tons of security people, too. But it just happened so fast…</p>

<p>When we were walking around the Bama campus on Friday, a security truck pulled up and the big, burly guy inside told DS, “I’m your bodyguard.” He sure looked as if he’d make an effective one, LOL. To me, he seemed almost more like a guardian angel. A big, beefy guardian angel, LOL. Very reassuring!</p>

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<p>@AL34 – thanks so much for the kind offer, and I may just take you up on it, esp. if DS keeps getting lost. I was thinking of you just the other day, while we were at Bama, remembering how you’d graciously offered to have your older and wiser son show DS the ropes. </p>

<p>One problem is that DS thinks asking for help is a sign of weakness, or something. Teenagers get these silly cockamamie ideas into their heads. What he doesn’t realize is that many people enjoy giving advice and guidance, so it’s not necessarily always an imposition. And everyone at Bama is SOOOOOO friendly and helpful; we never met a single person who wasn’t willing and eager to give directions and advice.</p>

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<p>OK, one more comment, and then I am through hijacking the thread, I promise!!</p>

<p>DS did walk most of his classes the other day…he has Ten Hoor and B.B. Comer down pat! Also Rowand-Johnson. It’s great that they’re all clustered together. Farrah Hall is the only outlier. I will encourage him to find that one today.</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

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<p>Farrah Hall is to the right of Nott Hall (the honors college building). It’s on the east side of the Quad…on the corner of Univ and 6th.</p>

<p>This is a good map…you can go to the scroll down listing of buildings (below the map)…click on a building name and it will show you where it is.</p>

<p>[Interactive</a> Campus Map - The University of Alabama](<a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama)</p>

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<p>Farrah Hall is on Univ Blvd between 6th ave and Hackberry, Directly across Univ Blvd from Gallalee Hall. </p>

<p>If he’s facing the President’s Mansion head East (left) about 50 yards. You can’t miss it.</p>

<p>The campus is much easier to walk than it is to drive.</p>

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<p>Lady Di: Tonight is “Student Night at Target”. 10:30pm until 12:30 am. He could buy a few things and possibly win a few prizes. My D is going. I don’t know where the buses pick up the kids though.</p>

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<p>“Student Night at Target” Pick up/drop off is at the Dorms</p>

<p><a href=“https://twitter.com/#!/UAWOW/status/21358312285[/url]”>https://twitter.com/#!/UAWOW/status/21358312285&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks gojack.</p>

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<p>I was on campus for awhile today for meetings and saw many freshmen walking around somewhat aimlessly looking for the buildings. I would assume some were walking their classes, which I highly recommend to a freshman. Definitely will save you some panicking in the morning! Also, the late night event at Target is great for some free stuff and good people watching too. Go and you will get enough soap and deodorant for the entire semester!! I’m just going to stop in for a lightbulb, chocolate and the free stuff :)</p>