Window Cleaning News With Falls & Con Men

Friends of Steve Zalopany plan 'fun' raiser for him (on Aug. 1): MOBILE, Ala. -- If a man’s wealth is measured in friends, Steve Zalopany is a very rich man. Zalopany, who owns a professional window washing company, was cleaning the façade of the Infirmary 65 building at Dauphin Street and I-65 when he fell, injuring his spine. His son, Stephen, was able to contact 911 and follow directions to keep his father alive until the ambulance arrived to take Zalopany to USA Trauma Center. Zalopany was then transferred to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, accompanied by his wife, Terry.
Now, friends and neighbors have rallied together for a fundraiser in his honor. Money raised at the event will be used to make the family’s home handicapped-accessible to accommodate Zalopany’s wheelchair. The “fun” raiser is Aug. 1 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Camp Grace. It includes food, swimming, inflatables and musical entertainment. Before the event begins, there will be a brief prayer service at 12:30 p.m., led by family friend Scott Vernon. Friends are welcome to attend. Many of Zalopany’s family members plan to attend the fundraiser, including his son, who is entering the University of Alabama this fall, and his daughter, Kelley, who will be a senior at Auburn University.
There is a $25 donation per person, but additional financial and in-kind donations are welcome, said coordinator Mary Beth Bradley. Checks can be made payable to the Steve Zalopany Benefit Fund and mailed to P.O. Box 82085, Mobile, AL 36689. “I’ve known them for years,” said Bradley. “When Terry called me in tears one day, I just knew I had to do something.” Many local businesses have already pitched in to help with the fundraiser. Pollman’s Bakery is donating cookies and brownies. Jim and Susie Sherman of Firehouse Subs on Grelot Road are donating 100 sandwiches and beverages. Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shoppe is providing sweet treats. Diane Codifer will be offering massages. Bob Omainsky of Wintzell’s Oyster House is donating 200 hamburgers and buns, with Dew Drop Inn providing hot dogs. And Camp Grace has donated use of the facility for the event.
Vernon, who owns Bowhunter Pro Shop, has donated a fully-rigged hunting bow as a raffle item. Only a limited number of tickets are available, and a good number have already been purchased. While tickets may be purchased at the door, reservations are requested by July 28; e-mail Bradley at mbbradley7@comcast.net. Tickets are also available July 27 and 28 at UMS-Wright Preparatory School from 4 to 6 p.m. at the columns near the football stadium, and at Automotive Painters Supply at 1000 East I-65 Service Road North between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., next to Budweiser-Busch Distributing.

Sheriff raids Phoenix cleaning company: Maricopa County sheriff's detectives raided Valley View Building Services in central Phoenix Tuesday morning, searching for 25 people suspected of identity theft and fraud. Five people were taken into custody, four of whom were in the United States illegally. "When we went in there, one of the ladies was hiding her Mexican I.D. in an enchilada,trying to conceal the identification," said Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Dozens of deputies, with a search warrant, and a sheriff's bus rolled up to the business, near 19th Street and Buckeye Road, about 6 a.m. The bus was backed up to the door. In a press release announcing the raid, the sheriff's office said, "A three-month investigation has revealed that the company has furnished, at a minimum, one employee who was working on the Fort Huachuca military base in Sierra Vista and was determined to be in the United States illegally."
Arpaio said the search was continuing for other illegal immigrants who might be working for the company. "We did serve another search warrant on the residence of the owner and, going through the papers, we're going to determine which work sites that the others may be working at."
Wednesday's raid was the 37th workplace raid the sheriff has conducted since Arizona's employers sanctions law went into effect in January 2009. More than 500 people have been arrested, most of those in the U.S. illegally. Valley View focuses on cleaning up new and remodeled commercial projects and larger residential projects and also provides window cleaning services, as well as specialized temporary cleaning labor.

Readers recommend songs about manual labour: "What's my line?/ I'm happy cleaning windows," sings Van Morrison, "I'm a working man in my prime." This is evinced by an impish charm, apparent as he bounces from job to lunch break to spots playing sax in "that down joint". The message of the song is simple – the window cleaner's happy in his work – and the lyrical vignettes combined with delicate, upbeat R&B (with Mark "That ain't working" Knopfler on guitar) convey that feeling wonderfully. Van's window cleaner is an auto-didact who reads Kerouac and disappears home to listen to Jimmie Rodgers. No doubt he's tuning in to Blue Yodel No 8, in which a man who loves to work can find but none and sets about berating (and yodelling at) the ungrateful employed.

Who would want to be the Prime Minister? Well, not me - I've been sat here trying to imagine being in David Cameron's shoes on that first morning sitting in the big chair at Number 10. I start by opening up the current account bank statement. A big fat zero! I gingerly turn to the overdraft and discover it now stands at over £150 billion quid. Crikey. I see that we are borrowing millions to pay off the interest on our borrowings. Blimey O'Reilly! I discover the previous occupant of this huge leather chair has signed up dozens of contracts for projects at zillions of pounds he must have known he could never pay for. Lo and behold, the poor old army boys are still waiting for those eight helicopters and the new boots promised five years ago. Ah – a chink of light! I've just found that we now have 4,000 new Government organisations looking into everything from "should child carers be allowed to wear bracelets" to "how many ladder rungs can a window cleaner climb up, carrying a bucket of water and a chamois leather".

Bolton Trading Standards is warning elderly and vulnerable residents to be on their guard against rogue traders selling overpriced insulation products. The warning has come after a salesman spent an hour trying to convince retired physics teacher Brian Liptrot, aged 70, that he needed a chemical spray to cover his eight widows, at a cost of £3,500. The man called at Mr Liptrot’s house in Winslow Road, Hunger Hill, after the pensioner had received a call from a spokesman of what he believed was the Government’s Warm Front team. The caller said Mr Liptrot could be eligible for grants to further insulate his home and asked if their representative could call to do an assessment. When the man came he filled in a tick sheet of improvements that had been carried out to insulate the house then asked if Mr Liptrot if he had “self-cleaning windows”.
When he said no, it became clear that the man was a salesman and he told Mr Liptrot that without a spray covering his windows he would not get an energy efficiency certificate which he would need if he ever wanted to sell his house. Mr Liptrot said: “Then he quickly told me I was eligible for a grant and the price dropped to £1,750. He was here for about an hour and I just couldn’t get rid of him. “He wanted me to sign up there and then but when I told him that I wanted to check a few facts he closed his briefcase and made a swift exit.” Mr Liptrot has since found a DIY spray on the internet to insulate his windows which can be bought for £5, per four windows. A spokesman for Bolton Trading Standards said they had had reports of salesmen in the Hunger Hill area attempting to sell energy efficient products like the window spray. He warned residents not to buy from cold callers. To report a rogue trader, call 01204 336 586.

Guilty thief gives back £160 he stole from a pensioner's purse... with interest: A crook who stole a pensioner's purse was so racked with guilt that he returned the cash, plus £40 extra, with a note of apology containing his name and phone number. Simon Crewe, 26, had posed as a window cleaner to steal from the 85-year-old widow's home in June, making off with £160. Sentencing him to two-and-a-half years in prison at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Sylvia De Bertodano said that by writing the letter he had in effect confessed. 'You paid the money back under cover of a letter, effectively turning yourself in,' the judge said.. 'I do accept that you were trying to make amends. Custody has to follow no matter how much remorse you feel.
'What makes this so bad is that someone elderly and vulnerable was targeted in their home.' Crewe was on license from a seven-year sentence when he carried out the burglary in June in the Knighton area of Leicester. Prosecuting Alan Murphy said he had been carrying a ladder when he called at the elderly victim's home. The woman, who has not been named, assumed he was her window cleaner and, while she left him outside to go upstairs on her stairlift, he made off with her purse. Mr Murphy continued: 'Eight days later he put a letter through the woman's door returning her money with an extra £40.
'Crewe said he was sorry and left a contact number. He later told the police he argued with his partner about money and went out looking for window cleaning work, but was tempted on seeing the purse. 'He said the victim was "a nice old lady". He immediately felt bad but was too scared to return it for several days, having burnt the the woman's purse and bus pass. 'The letter returning the money upset her even further and left her confused.' Sally Bamford, defending , said her client would have got away with it - if not for the letter. He had changed his behaviour since his last sentence, and become more sympathetic to victims of crime. 'It was an impulsive act and he did what he could to put the matter right,' she said. 'He handed himself in to the police and became emotional in interview. He takes full responsibility.' Crewe was convicted of four distraction burglaries in 2004, with 47 similar offences taken into consideration.

Caller steals man's wallet from house in Leicester: Police are appealing for public help after a 79-year-old man had money stolen from his home in Leicester. A man, who regularly cleans the victim's windows, called at the house at around 1610 BST on Monday. After a short while he left, then returned minutes later saying he needed to go into the house to collect something he had forgotten. The housholder realising his wallet was missing, but the window cleaner drove off in a red car. The man police would like to speak to is described as white, about 30, around 5ft 10in, of medium build with blond, curly hair combed back. He spoke with a local accent. Pc Louise Gibson said: "This man cleans the victim's windows about once a month so we are very hopeful that someone in the area will know him and be able to help us with our inquiries. "We would also like to appeal to other window cleaners who think they may know who the man is."


David Noton was first inspired to become a photographer by taking pictures of Scotland's landscapes. Now he is back to exhibit his art. While he took to the world of photography with all the relish of a youngster, Noton could point to an esoteric CV even before he picked up a camera. In what he now describes as his "wilderness years," he served stints as a window cleaner, a glue factory worker, and a dispatch rider, before signing up with the Merchant Navy.

REMEMBER!! - “One of the most common home accidents is the mixing of products containing chlorine bleach with those containing ammonia,” says WTC. The combination creates chloramine gas, which is highly irritating to the lungs. Since many cleaning products contain ammonia, the inadvertent mixing must be avoided. Mixing bleach and acids results in the release of chlorine gas, according to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, exposure to which can cause coughing and breathing problems, burning eyes and, at high levels, vomiting, pneumonia and even death. Products containing acids include vinegar, some glass and window cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, drain cleaners and rust removers. An “incompatibility chart” listing many chemicals that will react with bleach is available at the Chlorine Institute’s cl2.com website.

Man falls through glass roof: A man is being treated for very serious injuries after an incident in Bedford town centre on Saturday afternoon. The man is believed to have fallen through a glass roof to the rear of premises in Halls Court, off Harpur Street. He was taken to A&E at Bedford Hospital with what have been decribed as very serious injuries. There is no description of the man at present, who was not carrying any ID. The incident was reported to police at 3.45pm on Saturday, July 24.

'Thief's' 45ft plunge next to shoppers: A man being chased by a security guard fell 45ft to his death through the glass roof of a busy shopping centre. Dean Macauley, 25, died after hitting a flagstone floor on Saturday, just missing a mother with a pram. He had allegedly stolen from a nearby Marks & Spencer store when he took to the roof in Bedford. The glass shattered and Macauley, a local, sustained severe head and chest injuries as he hit the floor. At least 200 witnesses heard a "loud bang". Ambulance crews found him dead at the scene. Jan Page, owner of Arcadia sweet shop, said: "There were a lot of young children around. It was horrific. He was a complete mess." Macauley's inquest has been adjourned.

Closed head injuries are tricky to cope with: Question: My child was just beginning to ride a bike when he hit a parked car, was thrown up in the air, landed and was unconscious for the rest of the day. Though he is physically healed from the accident, he seems changed in some way, often forgetful or puzzled, more easily frustrated and even full of rage. We are trying to sort out what to do next.
Answer: Whether a person is a 70-year-old who tumbles off a ladder washing a second-story window or a toddler who falls off a riding lawn mower when his dad loses control, closed-head brain injuries can be the result. They are sneaky rascals because although our loved one seems physically just the same, something has happened in the brain's wiring causing changes in the people we care about.
Within one and a half years of sustaining a potential brain injury, a survivor should be assessed by a neuro-psychologist to learn of the type and severity of differences in thinking, language, concentration, abstract reasoning skills, planning and following through. Other symptoms should also be carefully noted, Markides writes, such as "lack of insight, reduced concentration, memory deficits, slowed response time, irritability, socially inappropriate behavior, communication problems, headaches, depression, visual and hearing problems." Currently, 5.3 million survivors need long or lifetime support, the website reports. Long-term health effects can include epilepsy, more predisposition to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc.

Boy falls 16 floors and lives: A teenager miraculously survived with minor injuries after falling 16 storeys from his family's Manukau City apartment through a carpark roof on to a concrete floor. The 15-year-old was in a stable condition in Middlemore Hospital this morning, four days after the 40m- to 50m-plunge from the top floor of the Proximity Apartments in Amersham Way, near the Westfield Manukau mall. He is believed to have suffered only a broken wrist, a broken rib, a gouged leg and internal injuries. Medical experts are amazed he was not killed. The building manager, Jason Epps-Eades, said the carpark roof broke the boy's fall and probably saved his life. "He's going to be okay. It's just incredible that he survived." The cause of the fall is not yet known and Counties-Manukau police are investigating. Witnesses said the boy might have been playing on the balcony.
One tenant was smoking on his apartment balcony at 9.30pm on Thursday when the teenager fell in front of him. The tenant raised the alarm immediately. "The sound [of his impact] was probably heard by everyone on that side of the building," said a Proximity Apartments staffer.
"People thought it was a car crash, but when they looked out their windows and saw the body, there was screaming, just screaming, and a whole lot of people coming downstairs." Housekeeper Kaa Wehi was working on the other side of the apartment complex and dismissed the large crash as the sound of a car misfiring. She thought nothing of it until she saw the teen's family rushing past her. "The boy's mum ran out of the elevator on the ground floor, shouting, 'Is it my boy? Is it my boy?' God must have been with him. He's got an angel looking after him, that's for sure."
Ms Wehi said the mother had been in bed, leaving the boy to finish his homework on his laptop. "[His parents] are dumb-founded about the whole thing. I saw the family every day - he was a good boy." The teenager - believed to be an old boy of De La Salle College in Mangere East - crashed through the carpark's steel roof, insulation and metal webbing, which saved him from directly hitting the concrete floor. He was taken to Middlemore Hospital in a serious condition, but has since stabilised. He is expected to leave hospital this week. His family were too upset to speak publicly yesterday. Mr Epps-Eades said the apartment balconies were "very safe", with railings that were chest-high to a tall person.
An intensive care medicine expert said yesterday that it was rare for someone to live if they plunged from more than five storeys, and "freakish" if they survived a fall from 16 storeys. The boy did not have head injuries, which was the most common cause of death after falling from a height. The specialist had dealt with one case where a man had fallen eight storeys and survived on "sheer luck". The key to the Manukau teenager's survival may have been that he avoided falling head-first. An American study of 200 falls showed a person is just as likely to survive a five-storey fall landing feet-first as they are a one-storey fall headfirst. A New York doctor who had dealt with a high number of falls said in 2008 that the death rate from a three-storey fall was about 50 per cent, but people who had fallen more than 10 storeys almost never survived.

SURVIVING GREAT FALLS

• December 2007: Window cleaner Alcides Moreno, 37, survives a 47-storey fall from a Manhattan skyscraper. His scaffolding broke free and he was able to use that as a form of protection as he fell.
• May 2008: A 22-year-old Ohio State University student survives after falling about six storeys from a 10th floor balcony of a Hilton hotel in Florida. He lands safely on a conference centre roof after another balcony helps break his fall.
• June 2010: 4-year-old Joey Williams falls six storeys from a Miami apartment building after chasing a balloon over a balcony. He lands in a palm tree.

Abu Dhabi feels Dubai chill as Emirate accepts money is scarcer: Times have changed for the Alimad Engineering and Contracting Company in Abu Dhabi. Two years ago, the developer was building everything from 20-story glass towers to luxury villas. It's now shelving projects, the latest a $US12 million contract with a client who has $US2 million and the banks won't give him any more money, said Ziad Ali, whose father founded the company 20 years ago. "When investors don't get funding, we don't get their business," Ali, 24, said by telephone from his office.
If the palm-shaped islands and skyscrapers of Dubai came to symbolize the excesses of the economic boom in the Gulf, the less glitzy Abu Dhabi represented the sobriety. Yet after Abu Dhabi, home to more than 7 per cent of the world's oil supply, spent $US20 billion bailing out its desert neighbor, it too is having to accept the financial crisis is catching up. Abu Dhabi, the largest of the United Arab Emirates and home of the capital and central bank, forecast a second consecutive budget deficit this year, according to statistics included in a government-guaranteed bond prospectus released last week. Spending will exceed revenue by 84.9 billion dirhams ($US23.1 billion) this year after 126.5 billion dirhams in 2009.

The tallest residential building in central London is also unique for being the first skyscraper in the world that has wind turbines integrated directly into its building fabric. Although the building is officially called the Strata Tower, it has been nicknamed the Razor. An apt enough nickname for the silver and black building that stands 147 meters (485 ft.) tall. Designed by BFLS, who were earlier known as Hamiltons, the Razor is already a distinct and recognizable profile on London’s skyline. The Strata tower, which has just been completed recently, is topped with three building-integrated wind turbines that will provide eight percent of electricity needs that will be required by the building – which will cover the mechanical and electrical services in the building including three express elevators and automated window cleaning rigs. Special design has been integrated into the turbines to ensure that minimal noise is generated, in order to not cause a disturbance to the penthouse residents, who will be living right below the turbines.
In addition to this, there are several green building strategies that have been implemented in the structure that is sure to make it the clarion call for regeneration in the Elephant and Castle area, where it is located. Natural daylight and natural ventilation has been incorporated as far as possible, even in the apartments that are high up. A quarter of the development has been designed to function as affordable housing – targeted at people who earn less than £60,000 a year. This means that the second floor to the tenth are affordable housing and the rest of the 43 floors have luxury condos, ending at the penthouse. The building offers residents a good view right into the heart of downtown; and floor to ceiling windows in each apartment ensure spectacular views from each one.

Five fearless volunteers are preparing to walk barefoot over 20ft of broken glass this week to raise more than £1200 for the Barnardo's Caern Project and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS). The JCI Edinburgh team will be taking part in the Glasswalk Challenge at Edinburgh Zoo on Friday. They have each raised at least £150 in sponsorship.