Dear Heloise: The reader from Prescott, Arizona, who hides a house key in the main box for her home’s electricity will be dismayed to learn the following: Should her house ever catch on fire, the first thing that the firemen do is open this box and pull the main switch to kill the power to the house, in the interest of stopping any electrical cause for a fire, as well as for the protection of the firefighters themselves. Having it padlocked may seriously delay the saving of valued possessions, not to mention valued lives. — Doug Kelley, Temple, Texas Dear Heloise: In regards to the letter from the retired bank executive who wanted to donate to an abused women’s shelter, it was a lovely thought, but my daughter’s ex-husband used that same situation to find out where she was! The staff at the shelter had assured her that he couldn’t find her location. The next morning, she looked out the window, and he was at the gate to “donate” stuff for the shelter. (He had gone to the police department, and someone there gave him the address!)
She told the staff that he was there, and they kept her and her son safe. They ended up sending her to another shelter out of state. My suggestion is to ask the shelter if they have a “safe” drop-off spot that would hold donations until the shelter could pick them up. — Caring Grandma, via email Dear Heloise: My wife told me about a reader’s tip of securing sliding glass doors, so I had to take a look to see what she was talking about. She said she likes my way of doing it a lot better. Here it is: The letter mentioned using an old broom handle or a shower curtain holder. This method works fine if you have one active and one stationary door. The doors I have are all moveable. One has three doors, and the other has just two. So, the broom or shower curtain rod will not work in my case.
With the doors closed and locked, I drilled a 3/16-inch hole through the front door into the second door. Then I inserted a 1/8-inch machine screw into the hole and secured it to the door with a small chain. You can do this for all your moveable doors. Now you’ll have two locks on your doors!
Also, remember that this type of door just rests in the tracks. You may need to insert some type of metal piece on the top track so that the door cannot be lifted up and removed. Most new doors come with this feature. — Dennis McDonald, via email Dear Heloise: I agree with Diane D., in Tennessee. The school staff/teachers like her should not have to be the enforcer when it comes to phones in class! The school phone policy should be that parents are required to take students’ phones before they leave for school.
If the phone is found present in class, the school should call the parents, who must come to the school immediately and pick it up. Any emergency contact with parents will be the responsibility of school officials ... as it always has been. — John D., Westlake Village, California
