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More than 30,000 readers throughout Howard County

Candidates court older voters

Both have records of service GOP candidate Kittleman is not put off by the fact that about 48 percent of the county’s voters are registered Democrats, with 29 percent registered as Republican and 21 percent listed as unaffiliated. He noted that he won more than 60 percent of the vote in his last two elections in a district split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. “The voters of Howard County have a tradition of voting for the person rather than the party,” he said in a recent interview. “They will vote for the best qualified for the position,” he said, pointing out that he has served in Annapolis as state senator for 10 years (2004-2014), and also as a Howard County Council member for six years (1998-2004).

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ALLAN KITTLEMAN AND COURTNEY WATSON

By Robert Friedman If Democratic candidate Courtney Watson is elected Howard County executive, residents 65 and over will get free transportation on regional buses, the county’s six senior centers will be transformed into centers for lifelong learning, and new programs will ease the burden on caregivers for the elderly and disabled. The election of Republican Allan Kittleman as county executive will see the Office on Aging promoted to a cabinet-level department, the bus system expanded to include a “senior’s route” specifically going to health and community service agencies, and efforts being made to expand property tax credits for seniors. Those are some of the salient points in the platforms for seniors being pushed by the candidates hoping to replace current county executive Ken Ulman, who is running for lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket headed by current Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown. Both county council member Watson, 51, of Ellicott City, and state senator Kittleman, 54, of West Friendship, say they realize the major importance of the older vote. Some 30 percent of the county’s 290,000 residents are 50 or older, according to Census figures. The 65-and-older senior population is expected to double by the time the 2030 elections roll around. And something the candidates keep in mind: A higher percentage of 55-and-older voters turn out to the polls than younger voters.

FREE

5 0 NOVEMBER 2014

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Tech tools that ease travel; plus, online investment advisors, and protecting yourself with better passwords page 4

L E I S U R E & T R AV E L

Republican Allan Kittleman and Democrat Courtney Watson will face off in the election for Howard County Executive on Nov. 4. Both have platforms that include expanded services for older adults, from transportation to continuing education.

Kittleman said that talks with county residents have convinced him that “they want elected officials to put away partisan politics and do the right thing simply because it’s the right thing to do.” He added, “I have relationships with, and a very good understanding of the working of, both the state and county governments.” This, he said, is of special importance because of increasing pressure by the state to get local governments to conform to its wishes. Watson, meanwhile, told the Beacon that as a member of both the county council and the board of education she has helped make decisions “that have led to the wonderful quality of life we enjoy in Howard County.”

She added: “In contrast, my opponent has...a long history of conservative Republican votes, and has repeatedly voted against state dollars coming to Howard County for education and other critical services.” On his website, Kittleman is described by a supporter as “a fiscal conservative who leans to the left on many social issues.” In 2011, he resigned his post as minority leader in the state Senate after fellow caucus members voiced discomfort with legislation he had pushed to recognize samesex civil unions. “I’m a social moderate, and I wanted to stand up for what I believe in,” he said at the time. “It is more important for me to See COUNTY EXECUTIVE, page 24

Cancun offers resort life and fascinating Mayan ruins; plus, Civil War sites for recreation and contemplation, and the top 10 tourist scams page 26

FITNESS & HEALTH k You may need more protein k What’s new with flu shots?

THE SENIOR CONNECTION 18 k Newsletter for Howard County seniors LAW & MONEY 20 k Save money on groceries k Surprising source of dividends ARTS & STYLE k An orchestra of exiles k Poet W.S. Merwin

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A season for thanks I grew up in Texas, where the seasons ries, Beacon Bits and other local features — were not all that distinct. Sure, the days reached her 10th anniversary with the Beagot shorter in the fall, and con. During those years, as she many trees lost their leaves. has covered a wide range of But I find autumn much fascinating topics, she has inmore tangible here. There’s a troduced many Baltimoreans change in the air and in the to the Beacon, and along the way you feel when you walk way, garnered a number of outside. writing awards (more about It’s almost as if the change those next month). in seasons represented a Even more recently, our change in seasonings: there’s managing editor, Barbara a different flavor to life, and a Ruben, and our graphic dedifferent style, as we move FROM THE signer, Kyle Gregory, both through the calendar here in PUBLISHER reached their 15-year anniverthe mid-Atlantic. By Stuart P. Rosenthal saries with us. Many of us associate fall Barbara has truly shaped with Thanksgiving, of course. And I like to the Beacon’s editorial content throughout take this opportunity each year to thank that time, writing most of our cover stories the Beacon staff for their hard work and in Greater Washington and managing the dedicated service to our publications — work of freelance writers and other conand to our readers — all year long. tributors. This fall also offers me a unique opporMeanwhile, Kyle has created the style tunity to single out seven members of our of our paper and designed many of our adstaff who have reached, or are about to vertisers’ ads, not to mention our collateral reach, significant anniversaries with the materials, Resource Guide, Expo logos Beacon. and flyers, and more. A few months ago, our contributing editor Where would we be today without them? in Baltimore, Carol Sorgen — who writes Or would the Beacon even be here today most of our Baltimore cover stories, arts sto- without them? They have contributed so

Beacon The Howard County

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The Beacon is a monthly newspaper dedicated to inform, serve, and entertain the citizens of Howard County, Md. and is privately owned. Other editions serve Greater Baltimore, Md., Greater Washington DC, and Greater Palm Springs, Calif. Subscriptions are available via third-class mail ($12), prepaid with order. Maryland residents add 6 percent for sales tax. Send subscription order to the office listed below. Publication of advertising contained herein does not necessarily constitute endorsement. Signed columns represent the opinions of the writers, and not necessarily the opinion of the publisher. • Publisher/Editor ....................Stuart P. Rosenthal • Associate Publisher..............Judith K. Rosenthal • Vice President, Operations........Gordon Hasenei • Director of Sales ................................Alan Spiegel • Assistant Operations Manager ..........Roger King • Managing Editor............................Barbara Ruben • Graphic Designer ..............................Kyle Gregory • Advertising Representatives ........Doug Hallock, ................................................ Steve Levin, Jill Joseph • Editorial Assistant ........................Rebekah Sewell

The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915 (410) 248-9101 • Email: info@thebeaconnewspapers.com Submissions: The Beacon welcomes reader contributions. Deadline for editorial and advertising is the 1st of the month preceding the month of publication. See page 35 for classified advertising details. Please mail or email all submissions.

much to what our paper has become. Alan Spiegel, our director of sales, and Steve Levin, one of our Baltimore advertising representatives, will reach their fiveyear anniversaries early next year. Both of them have been instrumental in the growth of the Beacon in recent years, including the introduction of the Howard County Beacon. Speaking of which, also next year we look forward to marking the 10-year anniversary of Doug Hallock, our number one advertising representative. Doug services more of our advertisers than any other member of the staff, and has done so with distinction throughout the past decade. Without his efforts, and those of our other ad reps, Cheryl Watts, Dan Kelly and Jill Joseph, there would certainly be no Beacon, as it is our advertisers who enable us to stay in business as a free publication. Next year will also mark the 10-year anniversary of Roger King, our assistant operations manager. Roger, who started out as an ad rep, showed us his diverse talents as a web master and graphic designer, and now assists both our vice president of operations, Gordon Hasenei (on his way toward 15 years), and Kyle in all these areas. It’s difficult to count how many important

tasks are handled by our editorial assistant Rebekah Sewell, the most recent addition to our staff, and a very welcome one. We are also grateful for the many contributions of our talented freelance writers, including Robert Friedman and Anne Ball in Howard County, travel writers Victor Block and Glenda Booth, and theater reviewer Michael Toscano. And last, but certainly not least, I want to thank my wife and associate publisher, Judy Rosenthal. You might say we have reached a significant anniversary as well, as this month marks the end of our 25th year of publishing the Beacon together. In conclusion, I must thank all of you, our readers. You give meaning to all of us on the staff by reading the Beacon and attending our annual Expos. We hope we are providing you with the information you want and need, and invite you to communicate with us — by phone, fax, mail, email, through our website, and even through Twitter: @StuartPRosenthal). We love to hear from you and value your opinions. Have a wonderful fall and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Letters to the editor Readers are encouraged to share their opinion on any matter addressed in the Beacon as well as on political and social issues of the day. Mail your Letter to the Editor to The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915, or e-mail to barbara@thebeaconnewspapers.com. Please include your name, address and telephone number for verification. Dear Editor: A few months ago, I ran into your publisher, Stuart Rosenthal, at the hospital where he was visiting his mother. I was visiting a long-time friend. I reminded Mr. Rosenthal that I knew him when he was an attorney working at an office building where my son and I operated a card and gift shop. I offered Mr. Rosenthal my condolences on the passing of his father, and now offer him my condolences on the recent passing of his mother. His meaningful eulogies on his departed parents brought back memories on my father’s passing away, on August 19, 1944. I was a member of the 42d Infantry Rainbow division during World War II, stationed in a permanent artillery complex known as Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. What I will never forget is that I was able to attend my father’s funeral through the help of my commanding officer, Officer Charles L. Brown. I received a Red Cross telegram informing me: “YOUR FATHER ARTHUR ROSEN SERIOUSLY ILL COME HOME AT ONCE.” I obtained a necessary furlough and proceeded to a nearby railroad station, for a

train that could take me to my family home. While waiting for the train, I phoned to let the family know that I was on the way home and scheduled to arrive in two or three days. A close relative who answered the phone exclaimed, “Your father died today and the funeral is tomorrow! Please come home [by then].” I checked possibilities of catching a plane, and was informed that I needed a priority for a plane flight. I also became aware that I did not have enough money for the trip. I had heard that the Red Cross sometimes helped soldiers when cash is needed. I rushed to that office, and learned that they do not supply cash for plane flights. I rushed back to my Army group. When I mentioned my problem to Mr. Brown (warrant officers were addressed that way), he asked, “How much do you need?” I am happy to say that through Mr. Brown’s assistance, after catching three different planes, I was able to arrive home on time for the funeral. I recently recited prayers for my dad on the anniversary of his departure, at which time I also remembered Warrant Officer Charles L. Brown, a great human being. Larry Rosen Via email

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon

“As County Executive, my goal will be to build a model community for aging in Howard County. I will create an environment where seniors are a vital and contributing part of our society and I will provide the services critical to successful aging.”

www.CourtneyWatson.com By Authority: Friends of Courtney Watson, Kevin Doyle, Treasurer

VOTE COURTNEY WATSON for Howard County Executive on November 4th.

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

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Technology &

Innovations Tech tools that make travel easier, simpler By Anick Jesdanun Your swimsuit and your sunscreen are in the luggage, and your boarding passes are all printed out. But did you remember your gadgets and chargers? Did you download enough entertainment? Do you know where you’re going? In my travels, I’ve come across a number of products and services worth bringing along:

Keeping your gadgets charged You’ll need not only the charging cord, but also the unit for plugging into the wall outlet. Bring a power strip, too, if you’re sharing a room. Otherwise, you’ll be fighting for the few outlets that aren’t hidden behind furniture or dangerously near a sink. If you’re going abroad, bring adapters and make sure your chargers will work with the voltage there. Also consider ways to keep your gadgets charged during the day. If you’re driving, bring a USB charger that plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter. There are also portable chargers you can plug gadgets into. Some

phone cases also serve as spare batteries. One product that stands out is Mophie’s Space Pack for the iPhone 5 and 5s. It not only doubles battery life, but also gives you additional storage for photos and videos. A 16-gigabyte version retails for $150, while a 32-gigabyte one costs $180 and a 64-gigabyte version is $250. With it, I get about two full days of general phone use. It’s clunky to use, though. The iPhone uses its own power first, and you recharge the iPhone battery by switching on the Space Pack’s battery. If you forget to switch it off, the pack’s battery will continue to drain, even after the iPhone is fully recharged. The pack itself also takes a while to recharge — typically about four hours in my tests. You need Mophie’s free Space app to copy photos and other content to the Space Pack’s storage. You then delete those files from the iPhone. It’s like having an external hard drive and having to manage what goes into it. Once I move photos to the

pack, I’m not able to view them through the phone’s Photos and iPhoto apps. Because of these constraints, and the fact that the case is bulky and heavy, I’m better off with a regular, unpowered case when I’m near chargers. The Space Pack is good for trips and other times I know I’d be draining the battery or filling up the phone’s storage faster than usual.

Keeping organized I’ve been a loyal user of TripIt since I reviewed it in 2007. Back then, it was strictly a website for organizing your travel plans. Now, there are apps for various mobile devices. The apps remind you where to go next and offer easy links to your phone’s mapping apps for directions. TripIt automatically creates a day-byday itinerary based on all the flight, hotel and other confirmation emails that you forward to it. TripIt automatically pulls out flight numbers and seating information from the email, while adding useful information such as gate numbers. For hotels, TripIt pulls out addresses and check-in times. You can add notes such as the hours for a national park you’re visiting. TripIt proved helpful recently when I went with two friends to Yosemite National Park in California. I forwarded everyone’s flight confirmations to keep track of who was arriving when. I added details on hikes we were planning and the dress

code for a fancy dinner. I then shared a link with everyone. TripIt also kept track of buses, subways and ferries I needed in Chicago, Denver and San Francisco. The basic service is free. I haven’t found a need to pay $49 a year for TripIt Pro, which offers information on alternate seats or flights and ways to track frequent flier programs. TripIt Pro also offers alerts when gates and departure times change, but I get those free anyway as TripIt tries to show the benefits of upgrading. Beyond TripIt, you might want to download apps for your airline. In many cases, you can check in and get a boarding pass on the phone — no printing needed.

Keeping entertained You might want to download some books, magazines and video ahead of time for when you don’t have a good Internet connection. If you’ll be driving, consider an FM radio transmitter. These gadgets transmit whatever’s playing on your digital music player See TECH TOOLS, page 7

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Say you saw it in the Beacon | Technology & Innovations

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How online investment adviser sites work

Housing Communities

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❏ Alta at Regency Crest (see ad on page 14) ❏ Brooke Grove (see ads on pages 36) ❏ Charlestown (see ad on page 29) ❏ Heartlands (see ad on page 21) ❏ Homecrest House (see ad on page 8) ❏ Ivy Manor Normandy (see ad on page 32) ❏ Paradise Assisted Living (see ad on page 15) ❏ Park View at Colonial Landing (see ad on page 22) ❏ Park View at Columbia (see ad on page 22) ❏ Park View at Ellicott City (see ad on page 22) ❏ Park View at Emerson (see ad on page 22) ❏ Shangri-La Assisted Living (see ad on page 15) ❏ Shriner Court (see ad on page 28) ❏ Somerford Place (see ad on page 11) ❏ Vantage House (see ad on page 12)

❏ 80+ Healthly Volunteer Study (see ad on page 13) ❏ Fall Prevention Study (see ad on page 13) ❏ Migraine and Stress Reduction Study (see article on page 13)

Phone (day)________________________(evening)________________________

Email_________________________________________________________________

Check the boxes you’re interested in and return this form to: The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915 or fax to (410) 248-9102.

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(410) 313-1950.

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Library, 9421 Frederick Rd., Ellicott City. For more information, call the library at

I N F O R M AT I O N

tures will be presented on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Miller Branch

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reviews and join discussion groups. An introduction to the website and its fea-

For free materials on housing communities and health studies, just complete and clip this coupon and mail or fax it to the Beacon.

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offers readers opportunities to track books, series and authors as well as write

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Goodreads, the online community of more than 20 million readers,

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ONLINE BOOK PROGRAM

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Nov. 12

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BEACON BYTES

www.wealthfront.com Minimum: $5,000 Annual fee on a $50,000 balance: $100 (0.25 percent on assets over $10,000) How it works: Answer 10 simple questions, and the website kicks out two portfolios for you: one for your taxable account and another for a tax-deferred retirement account. Using ETFs, the portfolios hold a mix of assets that can include municipal bonds, foreign and emerging-markets

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www.betterment.com Minimum: $10 Annual fee on a $50,000 balance: $125 (0.25 percent) How it works: Low-cost ETFs (with annual fees between 0.12 percent and 0.16 percent) fill the portfolios that Betterment has created to suit every goal and time horizon. Underlying funds include Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (symbol VTI) and the small-company-oriented iShares Russell 2000 Value (IWN). Your money is held in an account at Betterment Securities, the firm’s brokerage division. Pros: Advisory fees fall for balances above $100,000. Cons: Betterment does not accept securities, so you may have to sell current holdings to provide the cash to open an ac-

Wealthfront

stocks, U.S. stocks, and even a basket of commodities. Pros: No commissions on trades. No fee on the first $10,000. Cons: The service doesn’t provide advice on investments you currently own, whether they are individual stocks or funds in your 401(k) plan. Nellie S. Huang is a senior associate editor at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Send your questions and comments to moneypower@kiplinger.com. And for more on this and similar money topics, visit Kiplinger.com. © 2014 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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www.assetbuilder.com Minimum: $50,000 Annual fee on a $50,000 balance: $225 (0.45 percent) How it works: AssetBuilder invests your money in a mix of U.S. and foreign stocks, real estate stocks and bonds. The firm’s eight model portfolios each hold 11 to 14 funds managed by Dimensional Fund Advisors (available only through DFA-approved advisers).

Betterment

count. If you want to hold on to a specific security, hold it in another brokerage account. No 401(k) plan advice.

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Asset Builder

Pros: AssetBuilder suggests other portfolios you can invest in on your own. Plus, you can talk to an adviser on the phone, if necessary. Fees, as a percentage of assets, drop as portfolio balances rise. AssetBuilder also offers 401(k) plan advice upon request. Cons: The initial-balance requirement is high.

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By Nellie S. Huang Getting good investment advice doesn’t require millions in the bank anymore. These days, an army of online advisers will offer low-cost solutions to the age-old question: How do I invest my money? The three firms below not only provide advice, but they actually pick investments for you. The diversified portfolios they recommend hold only low-cost exchangetraded or mutual funds. Although many of these firms don’t have a long-term record, they list a lot of information on their websites. On most, you can view the recommended portfolios and see which funds they hold, along with recent performance.

Technology & Innovations | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Ways to create better, stronger passwords By Anick Jesdanun With more frequent news that hacker rings are amassing millions of username and password combinations from major retail outlets, it’s a good time to review ways to protect yourself online. If there’s reason to believe your information might have been compromised, change your passwords immediately. One of the best things you can do is to make sure your new passwords are strong. Here are seven ways to fortify them:

Long, convoluted combinations • Make your password long. The recommended minimum is eight characters, but 14 is better and 25 is even better than that, though some services have limits.

• Use combinations of letters and numbers, upper and lower case and symbols, such as the exclamation mark. Some services won’t let you do all of that, but try to vary it as much as you can. “PaSsWoRd!43” is far better than “password43.” • Avoid words that are in dictionaries, even if you add numbers and symbols. There are programs that can crack passwords by going through databases of known words. One trick is to add numbers in the middle of a word — as in “pas123swor456d” instead of “password123456.” (In general, you should avoid easy-to-guess words or numbers, such as “password,” or consecutive keys on the keyboard, such as “1234” or “qwerty.”) Another trick is to think of a sentence and use just the first letter of each word as your

BEACON BITS

Nov. 7

ON THE SEARCH

Learn how to find information on the Internet with Google and other search engines in a free program for adults and teens on Friday, Nov. 7 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Glenwood Branch Library, 2350 Rte. 97, Cooksville. For more information, call the library at (410) 313-5577.

Nov. 4

GUIDED MEDITATION

Meditation designed to impart feelings of peacefulness and connection will be offered on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Miller Branch Library, 9421 Frederick Rd., Ellicott City. For more information, call the library at (410) 313-1950.

Talking on the phone can be easy again. You have our word. If you, or a loved one, have diﬃculty hearing over the phone, Maryland Relay is committed to keeping you connected with services such as Captioned Telephone. Using voice recognition technology, a Captioned Telephone Operator makes it possible for you to receive on-screen captions of what your caller says, as you listen. Plus! You may qualify for a free Captioned Telephone,* ampliﬁed phone or other assistive device through the Maryland Accessible Telecommunications program.

Captioned Telephone t Word-for-word captions t Easy-to-read display t Simple to use Just dial 7-1-1 to make a Relay call. Visit mdrelay.org to learn more.

800-552-7724 (Voice/TTY) 443-453-5970 (VP)

*Available to qualified applicants with traditional landline service only.

password. Thus, “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” become “tqbfjotld.” • Substitute characters. For instance, use the number zero instead of the letter O, or replace the S with a dollar sign. • Avoid easy-to-guess words, even if they aren’t in the dictionary, such as your name, company name or hometown. Avoid pets and relatives’ names, too. Likewise, avoid things that can be looked up, such as your birthday or ZIP code. But you might use those numbers as part of a complex password. Try reversing your ZIP code or phone number and insert that into a string of letters.

When you can repeat passwords • Never reuse passwords on other accounts — with two exceptions. Over the years, I’ve managed to create hundreds of accounts. Many are for one-time use, such as when a newspaper website requires me to register to read the full story. It’s OK to use simple passwords and repeat them in those types of situations, as long as the password isn’t unlocking features that involve credit cards or posting on a message board. That will let you focus on keeping passwords to the more essential accounts strong. The other exception is to log in using a centralized sign-on service such as Face-

book Connect. Hulu, for instance, gives you the option of using your Facebook username and password instead of creating a separate one for the video site. This technically isn’t reusing your password, but a matter of Hulu borrowing the log-in system Facebook already has in place. The account information isn’t stored with Hulu. Facebook merely tells Hulu’s computers that it’s you. Of course, if you do this, it’s even more important to keep your Facebook password secure. • Some services, such as Gmail, even give you the option of using two passwords when you use a particular computer or device for the first time. If you have that feature turned on, the service will send a text message with a six-digit code to your phone when you try to use Gmail from an unrecognized device. You’ll need to enter that for access, and then the code expires. It’s optional, and it’s a pain — but it could save you from grief later on. Hackers won’t be able to access the account without possessing your phone. Turn it on by going to the account’s security settings. NOTE: At the Beacon’s 50+Expo on Sunday, October 26 at Ballston Mall, learn simple ways to protect your identity online and strengthen passwords. There will also be a seminar on video chat services. — AP

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Technology & Innovations

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

Beacon Links By Barbara Ruben

Scam, rumor or legit? Does the new iPhone 6 really bend if placed in your pocket? Does the Social Security Administration request banking information and passwords by email? Is that offer of a free iTunes gift card legit? Does caffeine-infused underwear help you lose weight? The answer all these questions is no, according to the website Snopes.com. The site debunks a plethora of rumors and urban legends — and lets you know when something that sounds unlikely is really true. www.snopes.com

The Writer’s Almanac Get your daily fix of all things literary, brought to you by Garrison Keillor and National Public Radio. Keillor’s five-minute show, “The Writer’s Almanac,” can be heard on WYPR weekdays at 11:55 p.m. But if that’s past your bedtime, the petite broadcast is available online in text and audio formats. Each day features an often seasonally appropriate poem, such as the compact, elegiac “Late September” by Connie Wanek, snippets on the life writers whose birthday is the day of the broadcast, and famous events that happened on that date. For example, on Oct. 2, 1950, the comic strip “Peanuts” made its debut http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org

Tech tools From page 4 over an open frequency on the FM dial. I bought Griffin’s iTrip from a Best Buy in Minnesota in 2009 for about $50. It has become essential for all my road trips. I simply plug the iTrip cord into my iPod’s headphone jack. I then tune the car radio to an open FM frequency that iTrip finds for me. Podcasts, audiobooks and regular music come over the car speakers. There are separate models for Apple devices depending on the type of charging port it has. For other devices, use the iTrip Auto Universal Plus, which uses the standard headphone jack. If you’re getting Space Pack, you’ll want this universal version, too, as the case covers up the iPhone’s regular port. This model also has a USB port to charge gadgets while driving. These transmitters don’t work well in urban areas, where there aren’t many free frequencies. Also, sound quality isn’t as good as what you normally get over the radio. But it beats silence. Beware that other motorists within 30 feet might also be able to tune in to what you’re listening to. — AP

Complementary medicine answers Dr. Andrew Weil is one of the nation’s best known practitioners of alternative medicine. Each day he answers a question from one of his site’s readers. Learn about everything from whether glucosamine supplements are worthwhile for arthritis to whether poor sleep leads to memory loss. Readers can also submit their own questions through the site. www.drweil.com/drw/ecs/ask_dr_weil

On this day in history

tized. Just plug in any month and day to find out who was born or died on the date and the headlines going back a millennium. www.scopesys.com/anyday

The government at your fingertips This federal government website offers one-stop shopping for resources on

a range of older adult issues, from caregiving to consumer protection to end-oflife concerns. Click on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, for example, and get links for benefits and assistance, as well as health safety resources. A link also connects you with state and local government agencies and elected officials. http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Seniors. shtml

BEACON BYTES

Ongoing

INTRO COMPUTER COURSES The all-volunteer non-profit organization Computer Seniors of

America gears its instruction to seniors who are novice computer users with courses, individualized tutoring and group discussions at county senior and com-

Ever wonder what happened through the years on your birthday? On Any Day in History, I discovered that on my birthday Copernicus made his first observation of Saturn and William Shakespeare was bap-

munity centers. For a complete listing of courses, locations and fees, visit www.computerseniors.org or call (410) 336-5878.

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

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Health Fitness &

REVIEW YOUR DRUG PLAN Big changes are coming to Medicare Part D plans; look over choices now LESS STRESS, FEWER MIGRAINES? Migraine sufferers are sought for a stress reduction study at Hopkins BE YOUR OWN DOC Do-it-yourself blood pressure measurement and meds may beat doctor’s NEW VACCINE OPTIONS Older adults have several flu and pneumonia vaccines to choose from

We need to eat more protein as we age By Densie Webb, Ph.D., R.D. Say the word “protein,” and it conjures up everything from Paleo and Atkins diets for weight loss, to soy protein for heart health, and whey protein for muscle building. At the other end of the protein spectrum are claims that too much can harm your kidneys, or that the key to good health is to avoid animal protein and focus on eating only plant protein. The science behind how much and what type of protein your body needs is complex. But the tide seems to be shifting as more and more researchers suggest one simple fact: For most of us, protein needs are greater than called for by current dietary recommendations. The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) say adults of all ages should have a protein intake of 0.8 grams/kilogram body weight/day. To calculate protein needs, multiply .8 by your weight in pounds and divide by 2.2; that’s 55 g./day for a 150-pound person. Note: This is based on the amount of protein required to avoid a deficiency. However, researchers now believe diets that provide more protein than the RDA may improve health by helping to prevent

obesity, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, according to a study from 2009 in Nutrition and Metabolism.

Protein needs rise with age While the current RDA for protein stays the same regardless of age, researchers now believe the amount of protein intake becomes even more important as we age. Calorie intake often decreases with age, but protein requirements do not. “When we’re young, hormones help us use dietary protein very efficiently for growth. Adults need more dietary protein to maintain healthy muscles and bones,” said protein researcher Donald Layman, professor emeritus in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois-Urbana. A recent report on the protein needs of older people concluded that to maintain physical function, healthy older people need more dietary protein than younger people — in the range of 1.0 g./kg. to 1.2 g./kg./day. That translates into 68-81 g. of protein/day for a 150-pound person (Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 2013.) Older people who are acutely or chroni-

cally ill need even more — 1.2 g./kg.-1.5 g./kg./day (81 to 102 g. of protein/per day for that same 150-pound person). If you’re trying to manage your weight or simply eating less than you used to, getting enough protein is even more important for your overall good health. The bottom line? Protein needs are based on weight, not calorie intake, so even if calorie intake drops, protein intake should stay the same or increase as you age.

Necessary for strong bones Protein is necessary for energy balance, blood sugar regulation and bone health. While there has been a widely held belief that high-protein diets were bad for bones, causing calcium to leach out and leading to osteoporosis, research now suggests that calcium and protein intake interact to actually improve bone health. As part of the Framingham Offspring Study, researchers found that greater protein intake may benefit bone health in older women, especially those with lower calcium intakes, according to research published in Public Health Nutrition last year. Protein makes up about 50 percent of the

volume of bone and one-third of its mass. Researchers also are discovering that the way in which dietary protein is distributed throughout the day is important. To maximize the muscle-building and help prevent bone loss, daily calcium intake should be adequate (1,000 to 1,200 milligrams/day) and protein should be provided with each meal.

Ways to get more protein Researchers suggest about 25-40 g. of high-quality protein (proteins that provides all the essential amino acids) at breakfast, lunch and dinner. (Current Opinions in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Care, 2009.) Small meals that contain less than 15 g. of protein provide no benefit to muscle health, Layman said. “Ideal protein intake doesn’t mean extra large serving sizes,” he said, “but 25 to 40 grams of protein at each meal. A balanced diet should provide proteins from a mixture of foods that may include milk, meats, eggs or beans.” Here are a few examples of high-quality proteins to include in your diet. One or more See PROTEIN, page 9

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A tick bite can cause allergy to red meat By Marilynn Marchione A bug can turn you into a vegetarian, or at least make you swear off red meat. Doctors across the U.S. are seeing a surge of sudden meat allergies in people bitten by a certain kind of tick. This bizarre problem was discovered only a few years ago, but is growing as the ticks spread from the Southwest and the East to more parts of the United States. In some cases, eating a burger or a steak has landed people in the hospital with severe allergic reactions. Few patients seem aware of the risk, and even doctors are slow to recognize it. As one allergist who has seen 200 cases on New York’s Long Island said, “Why would someone think they’re allergic to meat when

Protein From page 8 of these should be present at each meal: Beans (7 g./½ cup) High-protein breakfast cereals (up to 13 g./1 cup) Eggs (7 g./1 large) Skim milk (8 g./cup) Lean beef and pork (21-24 g./3 ounces) Nuts — peanuts, pistachios and al-

they’ve been eating it their whole life?” The culprit is the Lone Star tick, named for Texas, a state famous for meaty barbecues. The tick is now found throughout the South and the eastern half of the United States. The University of Maryland Extension Service considers it common in this area. Researchers think some other types of ticks also might cause meat allergies; cases have been reported in Australia, France, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Japan and Korea.

Triggers the immune system Here’s how it happens: The bugs harbor a sugar that humans don’t have, called alpha-gal. The sugar is also is found in red meat — beef, pork, venison, rabbit — and even some dairy products.

monds are highest (6-7 g./1 ounce) Veggie burgers (11-15 g. each) 100 percent whey protein powder added to smoothies and shakes (up to 24 g./1 ounce) Greek yogurt (12 g./5 ounces) Reprinted with permission from Environmental Nutrition, a monthly publication of Belvoir Media Group, LLC. 800-829-5384. www.EnvironmentalNutrition.com. © 2014 Belvoir Media Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

It’s usually fine when people encounter it through food that gets digested. But a tick bite triggers an immune system response, and in that high-alert state, the body perceives the sugar the tick transmitted to the victim’s bloodstream and skin as a foreign substance, and makes antibodies to it. That sets the stage for an allergic reaction the next time the person eats red meat and encounters the sugar. It happened last summer to Louise Danzig, a 63-year-old retired nurse. Hours after eating a burger, “I woke up with very swollen hands that were on fire with itching,” she said. As she headed downstairs, “I could feel my lips and tongue were getting swollen,” and by the time she made a phone call for

help, “I was losing my ability to speak and my airway was closing.” She had had recent tick bites, and a blood test confirmed the meat allergy. “I’ll never have another hamburger, I’m sure,” Danzig said. “I definitely do not want to have that happen to me again.” Seventy-one-year-old Georgette Simmons went to a steakhouse on June 1 for a friend’s birthday and had a steak. “About 4:30 in the morning, I woke up and my body was on fire. I was itching all over, and I broke out in hives. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before,” she said. A few weeks later, for a brother’s birthday, she ordered another steak. Hours later she See MEAT ALLERGY, page 11

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H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

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Big changes in Medicare Part D drug plans By Bill Salganik Take time now to review Medicare prescription drug plans for 2015. Some insurers are leaving the market. Others are transferring their members to different plans. And most of the rest are making some changes to drug lists and/or costs. Open enrollment runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7. This is the period when you can shop and, if needed, pick a new Medicare prescription drug plan. Your new enrollment will be effective Jan. 1, 2015. You should already have gotten an information packet from your current plan that will highlight changes in it for next year. Be sure to look at it carefully.

Even if you do not see any issues, it may help to compare plans to see if a different plan for 2015 could save you money or give you better coverage. As insurance companies complete mergers, acquisitions and other business changes, this is having an impact on the plans available in Maryland. If your Medicare prescription plan is one of the plans terminating at the end of this year (see the list below), you must take action to make sure your new coverage works for you next year — perhaps even to be sure you’ll have coverage at all. When insurance plans exit the market, some leave their members with no coverage. If you’re one of those people, you

need to enroll in a new plan, or you will be uninsured for prescriptions as of Jan. 1. Other plans automatically transfer their members, but the new plan won’t necessarily cover the same drugs. And it will have different premiums, co-pays and deductibles than your old plan. If you’re switched, you need to check if your new plan meets your needs. Even if your plan is continuing for 2015, it’s a good idea to check your coverage. Plans that don’t merge or fold still change their premiums (some are going up as much as 50 percent), their lists of covered drugs, their copays and their deductibles.

Major changes

Meat allergy

the illness in 2011. One of the first cases they saw was a bow hunter who had eaten meat all his life but landed in the emergency department several times with allergic reactions after eating meat. More cases kept turning up in people who were outdoors a lot. “It seemed something geographical. We thought at first it might be a squirrel parasite,” Commins said. “It took us a while to sort of put everything together” and finger the tick, he said.

on eastern Long Island, an area with many ticks, has seen nearly 200 cases over the last three years. At least 30 involved children, and the youngest was 4 or 5. She is keeping a database to study the illness with other researchers. “It is bizarre,” she said. “It goes against almost anything I’ve ever learned as an allergist,” because the symptoms can occur as long as eight hours after eating meat, rather than immediately, and the culprit is a sugar — a type of carbohydrate — whereas most food allergies are caused by proteins, she said. Allergic reactions can be treated with

antihistamines to ease itching, and more severe ones with epinephrine. Some people with the allergy now carry epinephrine injectors in case they are stricken again. Doctors don’t know if the allergy is permanent. Some patients show signs of declining antibodies over time, although those with severe reactions are understandably reluctant to risk eating meat again. Even poultry products such as turkey sausage sometimes contain meat byproducts and can trigger the allergy. For tips on how to avoid and remove ticks, see http://tinyurl.com/md7y78g.

From page 9 woke “almost hysterical” with a constricted throat in addition to hives and a burning sensation. She, too, recalled tick bites. Dr. Robert Valet at Vanderbilt University said Simmons was one of two patients he diagnosed with the meat allergy that day. He warned her it could be worse next time. At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, “I see two to three new cases every week,” said Dr. Scott Commins, who with a colleague, Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills, published the first paper tying the tick to

Unlike other allergies Dr. Erin McGintee, an allergy specialist

Here’s a list of some prescription plan changes of note for 2015: Dropping out altogether (members will have no coverage unless they take action): Health Markets Value Rx, First State Complete, First State Plus, Unicare Medicare Rx Rewards Standard Dropping out, but moving members to a different plan: Cigna HealthSpring RxReg 5, First Health Part D Essentials, Blue Rx Enhanced, Blue Rx Standard, SmartD Rx Plus, AARP Medicare Rx Enhanced. New plans in 2015: Symphonix Rite See MEDICARE PART D, page 12

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Health Shorts FDA approves stay-asleep pill Merck & Co. Inc. has won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a new type of sleeping pill designed to help people with insomnia stay asleep. The tablet, Belsomra, works by temporarily blocking chemicals known as orexins that control the sleep cycle and can keep people awake at night. The FDA said it approved Belsomra based on three company studies involving 500 patients that showed people taking it fell asleep faster and spent less time awake compared with people taking a dummy pill.

Medicare Part D From page 11 Aid Premier Rx, United American Essential Premium increase of more than $10 per month: Cigna HealthSpring Rx Secure-Max, WellCare Classic Premium decrease of more than $10 per month: Cigna HealthSpring Rx Secure-Xtra, Transamerica Medicare Rx Choice, Transamerica Medicare Rx Classic, SilverScript Plus

Because it was tested against a dummy pill, rather than other sleeping medications, it’s unclear whether the new drug is safer or more effective than older drugs. The FDA approved the drug in four different doses for various degrees of insomnia. The agency noted that patients who took the highest dose, 20 milligrams, experienced drowsiness and difficulty driving the next morning. Doctors should warn patients taking the highest dose against next-day driving or activities that require full concentration, the FDA said. It added that side effects such as next-day drowsiness can be reduced by using the lowest effective dose. Drowsiness is a side effect listed on the labels of all anti-insomnia drugs. In the last year, the FDA lowered the recommended dosage on Ambien, Lunesta and related drugs based on studies showing a link to Added deductible (the amount you must spend out of pocket before coverage starts): Express Scripts Medicare Choice ($50), First Health Part D Value Plus ($250), WellCare Classic ($320) Reduced deductible: SilverScript Choice (-$310), United American Enhanced (-$40) This fall, open enrollment also applies to Medicare Advantage/Health Plans such as HMOs. If you’re in one of these plans, you should also check to see if the plan will still meet your needs in 2015 — there are a

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

driving problems and impaired memory and coordination. The FDA is requiring that patients who get the new drug receive a medication guide detailing the drug’s potential safety issues, including sleep-walking, sleep-driving and other semi-awake activities.

First DNA test for colon cancer The FDA has approved the first screening test for colon cancer that uses patients’ DNA to help spot potentially deadly tumors and growths. The Cologuard test from Exact Sciences detects irregular mutations in stool samples that can be an early warning sign of cancer. Doctors have long used stool tests to look for hidden blood that can be a warnnumber of changes in your choices for these plans as well.

Help in paying for meds In addition to looking at your plan, there are two benefit programs that could help with the costs of Medicare prescription drug plans: Extra Help, and the Maryland Senior Prescription Drug Assistance Program. You can apply for these programs at any time of the year, but now is a good time to see if you might be eligible.

ing sign of tumors and precancerous polyps. But company studies of Cologuard showed that it was more accurate at detecting cancerous tumors and worrisome polyps than traditional stool blood tests. Cologuard detected 92 percent of colon cancers and 42 percent of advanced polyps in a study of 10,000 patients, while traditional blood screening only detected 74 percent of cancers and 24 percent of advanced polyps. The new test was not superior on all counts though. Cologuard was less accurate than older blood tests at correctly ruling out cancer, reporting more growths when none were actually present. Therefore, patients who test positive for the mutations should undergo a colonoscopy to confirm the results. The new test’s approval has the potential to reshuffle current medical practice, See HEALTH SHORTS, page 14

You can review your options yourself at www.medicare.gov, or you can call the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for help at (410) 313-7392. You can schedule a one-on-one counseling session – with some evening and weekend appointments available during open enrollment. If you are receiving a stipend to pay for your Medicare plans as a retirement benefit from your employer, please make sure you follow the procedure your employer has set up.

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Health Studies Page

THE PLACE TO LOOK FOR INFORMATION ON AREA CLINICAL TRIALS

Relieving migraines with stress reduction By Carol Sorgen About 12 percent of Americans suffer from debilitating migraines. Migraines are recurring headaches that are characterized by moderate to severe pain, usually described as throbbing or pulsing, and often located on one side of the head. They are frequently accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound, nausea and vomiting. Women are three times more likely to suffer from migraines than men. Some people can tell when a migraine is imminent because they see flashing lights or zigzag lines (called aura) or temporarily lose their vision. Among the causes of migraines are anxiety, stress, lack of food or sleep, exposure to light, and hormonal changes (in women). Doctors once believed that migraines were linked to the opening and narrowing of blood vessels in the head. New schools of thought, however, promote the notion that they are caused by genes that control the activity of some brain cells. Medicines can help prevent migraine attacks or help relieve symptoms of attacks when they happen. Many people also find relief in complementary treatments, such as stress-relieving techniques, herbal medicine and acupuncture.

Two methods being studied Two methods of stress reduction are being studied by Johns Hopkins University, together with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at NIH and the University of Maryland Baltimore County. In the study, researchers will randomly assign 112 migraine sufferers to one of two stress-relief treatment groups. One group is called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and the other is the Stress Management for Headache group. Researchers will assess headache frequency and impact, as well as brain activity, through both observation and MRIs to determine change in gray matter volume and brain function. They will do the assessments during the first visit, prior to intervention, and at three, six and 12 months thereafter. Mindfulness is the intention to pay attention in a non-judgmental way to each and every moment of our life, according to the Center for Mindfulness, located in Shrewsbury, Mass., which was founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. The principles of mindfulness involve purposeful action, focused attention, being grounded in the current experience, and retaining a sense of curiosity. Since 1979, more than 20,000 people have completed the eight-week Mindful-

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ness-Based Stress Reduction program at the center. Participants learn such techniques as mindfulness meditation practices, gentle stretching and yoga, in addition to participating in group discussions that enhance their level of awareness in their day-to-day life. In this study, intervention will involve a standardized mindfulness-based stress reduction group that will follow the guidelines originally conceived and developed by Kabat-Zinn. Over a period of four months, there will be eight weekly sessions and a half-day retreat, followed by four bi-weekly sessions. Over the same four-month period, the Stress Management for Headache group will learn about stress and general stress management skills, headache symptoms

and their management, sleep hygiene and healthy eating. This group will also meet for eight weekly sessions followed by four bi-weekly sessions.

Who can volunteer? To participate in the study you must be between the ages of 18 and 65, have between four and 14 headaches during a 28day timeframe, have a history of migraines lasting at least one year, and not currently be using narcotic pain medication. The study is being conducted at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Campus and the University of Maryland School of Dentistry. For more information, or to volunteer, contact Luma Samawi at (410) 550-9056 or lsamawi1@jhu.edu, or Andrew Furman at (410) 706-4049 or afurman@umaryland.edu.

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Health shorts From page 12 though FDA officials stressed that DNAbased stool screening has not been endorsed by federal medical advisers, who set screening guidelines. A spokeswoman for Exact Sciences, which is based in Madison, Wisconsin, said the new test would cost $599 per patient. That compares to about $25 for a traditional stool blood test.

New regulations for opioid painkillers The federal government is finalizing new restrictions on hundreds of medicines containing hydrocodone, the highly addic-

tive painkiller that has grown into the most widely prescribed drug in the U.S. The new restrictions, which go into effect this month, mean that drugs like Vicodin, Lortab and their generic equivalents will be subject to the same prescribing rules as painkillers like codeine and oxycodone. Patients will be limited to one 90-day supply of medication, and will have to see a healthcare professional to get a refill. In many states, only doctors will be able to prescribe the medications, not nurses or physician assistants. The “action recognizes that these products are some of the most addictive and potentially dangerous prescription medications available,” said Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart, in a statement in August. The move, announced in a federal notice, comes more than a decade after the

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The new study on the gene — called PALB2 — shows “this one is serious,” and probably is the most dangerous in terms of breast cancer after the BRCA genes, said Weitzel, one of leaders of the study. It involved 362 members of 154 families with PALB2 mutations — the largest study of its kind. The faulty gene seems to give a woman a 14 percent chance of breast cancer by age 50, a 35 percent by age 70, and an even greater risk if she has two or more close relatives with the disease. The PALB2 gene works with BRCA2 as a tumor suppressor, so when it is mutated, cancer can flourish. How common the mutations are isn’t well known, but it’s “probably more than we thought, because people just weren’t testing for it,” Weitzel said. Among breast cancer patients, BRCA mutations are carried by 5 percent of whites and 12 percent of Eastern European (Ashkenazi) Jews. PALB2 mutations have been seen in up to 4 percent of families with a history of breast cancer. Men with a faulty PALB2 gene also have a risk for breast cancer that is eight times greater than men in the general population. Testing for PALB2 often is included in more comprehensive genetic testing, and the new study should give people with the mutation better information on their risk, Weitzel said. For more information on the gene, see http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/PALB2. — AP

DEA first recommended reclassifying hydrocodone due to its risks for abuse and addiction. For years, physician groups and the FDA opposed the move, saying it would burden healthcare providers and patients while driving up costs. But last year the FDA changed its position, citing the national epidemic of overdoses and deaths tied to prescription painkillers known as opioids. Deaths linked to the drugs more than tripled between 1999 and 2010, during which sales of opioids increased four-fold.

Another gene tied to breast cancer risk It’s long been known that faulty BRCA genes greatly raise the risk for breast cancer. Now scientists say a more recently identified, less common, gene can do the same. Mutations in the gene can make breast cancer up to nine times more likely to develop, an international team of researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. About 5 to 10 percent of breast cancers are thought to be due to bad BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Beyond those, many other genes are thought to play a role, but how much each one raises risk has not been known, said Dr. Jeffrey Weitzel, a genetics expert at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif.

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Blood pressure self care can beat doctor’s By Lindsey Tanner “Do-it-yourself” blood pressure measurements and medicine changes work better than usual doctor-office care in some patients, a study of older adults in England found. Those who did their own readings at home and adjusted their medicine as needed had healthier blood pressure levels after a year than those who got standard doctors’ care. Self-care patients weren’t completely on their own — any changes they made were part of a treatment plan previously approved by their doctors. But the patients didn’t need to consult their doctors every time they increased the dose if it was part of the original treatment plan.

Likely reasons Why self-management worked best is uncertain, but patients who participated were taking more medication than the others and were perhaps more vigilant than doctors treating the usual-care group, the study suggests. It’s possible usual-care doctors had “clinical inertia” — a phenomenon described in other research showing that physicians often fail to increase blood pressure medication doses even when office measurements show patients’ levels are too high, said study author Richard McManus, a professor and

researcher at the University of Oxford. [Doctors may assume office measurements are unusually high due to a patient’s anxiety, known as “white coat syndrome.”] The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults have high blood pressure — measuring 140 over 90 or higher — but only about half of them have it adequately controlled, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. High blood pressure rates are similar in England, health surveys there have found. The study involved 450 patients with previous heart trouble, strokes, diabetes or kidney disease, aged 70 on average, who were followed for a year. About half got usual care; the others did self-care. Average blood pressure measurements at the study’s start were about 143 over 80. At the end, that dropped to about 128 over 74 in the self-care patients and 138 over 76 in the usual-care group. That difference would be expected to result in a drop in heart problems or other complications, although more research is needed to evaluate long-term benefits, according to a JAMA editorial. The researchers estimate that if the selfcare group’s lower levels could be sustained, they’d likely see a 30 percent reduction in stroke risk compared with the other group.

More popular elsewhere Self-monitoring blood pressure is common in some countries and in the United Kingdom, and the study notes that blood pressure monitors are widely available there, costing as little as $25. Similarly priced home blood-pressure monitors are sold in the United States. Some U.S. centers have tried self-management approaches although more research is needed before a program like the one studied could be widely recommended, said Dr. Laura Svetkey, a hypertension specialist at Duke University. “I think we’re moving in that direction,” Svetkey said. “There’s tremendous motiva-

tion to control health care costs, and a parallel trend toward giving patients a bigger role in their decision-making and management.” Most patients studied were white and worked at white-collar or skilled manual labor jobs. Whether similar results could be achieved with less skilled or less educated patients isn’t known. For self-care programs to work, patients need to be carefully selected, said Dr. Mary Ann Bauman, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. “You have to have compliant, knowledgeable patients,” said Bauman, medical director for women’s health and community relations at Integris Health, Inc. in Oklahoma City. — AP

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MONDAY NIGHT PROGRAMS FOR MEN ONLY The Howard County General Hospital is offering a “living well” pro-

gram taught by men and for men only on topics including managing health, developing a diet and fitness plan, dealing with pain and communicating with health professionals. The weekly program starts Monday, Nov. 3 and continues through Monday, Dec. 1, with sessions running from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the hospital’s Wellness Center, 10710 Charter Dr., Columbia. The fee is $28 for the five-week course. For more information or to register, visit online at www.hcgh.org or call (410) 313-5980.

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N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Vaccination options available this flu season Dear Savvy Senior, flu puts more than 200,000 people in the I understand that there are several hospital each year and kills around 24,000 types of flu vaccines being – 90 percent of whom are senoffered to seniors this flu iors. season. What can you tell Here’s the rundown of the me about them? different options: Cautious Senior Standard (trivalent) flu Dear Cautious: shot: This tried-and-true shot Depending on your health, that’s been around for more age and personal preference, than 30 years protects against there’s a buffet of flu shots three strains of influenza. This available to seniors this flu seayear’s version protects against son, along with two vaccinaSAVVY SENIOR the two common A strains tions for pneumonia that you (H1N1 and H3N2), and one inBy Jim Miller should consider getting too. fluenza B virus. Just as they do every year, the Centers Quadrivalent flu shot: This vaccine, for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which was introduced last year, protects recommends a seasonal flu shot to almost against four types of influenza — the same everyone, but it’s especially important for three strains as the standard flu shot, plus an seniors who are at higher risk of develop- additional B-strain virus. ing serious flu-related complications. The High-dose flu shot: Designed specifically

for seniors, age 65 and older, this vaccine, called the Fluzone High-Dose, has four times the amount of antigen as a regular flu shot does, which creates a stronger immune response for better protection. But be aware that the high-dose option may also be more likely to cause side effects, including headache, muscle aches and fever. Intradermal flu shot: If you don’t like needles, the intradermal shot is a nice option because it uses a tiny 1/16-inch long microneedle to inject the vaccine just under the skin, rather than deeper in the muscle like standard flu shots. This trivalent vaccine is recommended only to those ages 18 to 64. To locate a vaccination site that offers these flu shots, visit vaccines.gov and type in your zip code. You’ll also be happy to know that if you’re a Medicare beneficiary, Part B will cover 100 percent of the costs of any flu shot, as long as your doctor, health

clinic or pharmacy agrees not to charge you more than Medicare pays. Private health insurers are also required to cover standard flu shots, however, you’ll need to check with your provider to see if they cover the other vaccination options. The other important vaccinations the CDC recommends to seniors, especially this time of year, are the pneumococcal vaccines for pneumonia. An estimated 900,000 people in the U.S. get pneumococcal pneumonia each year, and it kills around 5,000. This year, the CDC is recommending that all seniors 65 or older get two separate vaccines, which is a change of decades-old advice. The vaccines are Prevnar 13 and Pneumovax 23. Previously, only Pneumovax 23 was recommended for seniors. Both vaccines, which are administered just once, work in different ways to provide maximum protection. If you haven’t yet received any pneumococcal vaccine you should get the Prevnar 13 first, followed by Pneumovax 23 six to 12 months later. But if you’ve already been vaccinated with Pneumovax 23 you should get Prevnar 13 at least one year later. Medicare currently covers only one pneumococcal vaccine per older adult. If you’re paying out of pocket, you can expect to pay around $50 to $85 for Pneumovax 23, and around $120 to $150 for the Prevnar 13. Send your questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of The Savvy Senior book.

BEACON BITS

Oct. 29

LIVING WITH DIABETES PROGRAM A discussion of dia-

betes management will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 29 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Wellness Center of Howard County General Hospital, 10710 Charter Dr., Columbia. For further information or to register, visit www.hcgh.org or call (410) 7407601.

Nov. 13

LEARN TO BE A SELF ADVOCATE Dr. Stephen Schimpff,

retired chief executive officer of the University of Maryland Medical Center, will discuss becoming a health advocate for yourself on a daily basis in a talk on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 1:30 p.m. at the Lutheran Village at Millers Grant, 9531 Frederick Rd., Ellicott City. For more information, visit www.MillersGrant.org or call 1(877) 900-6618.

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N â€” N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

VOLUME 4, NO. 11 • NOVEMBER 2014

A Message from the Administrator By Dayna Brown, Office on Aging Administrator November is National Family Caregivers Month! Each year, this month focuses much needed attention on the challenges millions of family caregivers face every day. Caregiving can be a daunting and stressful job. Being aware of available services and resources is key to providing the best care possible for a loved one. The Howard County Office on Aging (OOA)’s Family Caregiver Support Program offers help and guidance through educational opportunities, referrals and individual caregiver support. The OOA’s “Prepare to Care” series offers adult children the opportunity to learn about services and programs to assist aging family members. Participants learn how to assess needs, design a long-term care plan, and explore housing options. The next session will be held Tuesday, November 20, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Hickory Ridge Community Association in Columbia. Call 410-313-5980 to register. “The Caregiving Journey: Making Your Way,” our third annual caregiver workshop, will be held on Saturday, November 22, at the North Laurel Community Center (see article, right). Join us to meet and talk with other caregivers who may be facing many of the same challenges as you. Call 410-313-5980 for more information or to register. Be sure to keep a copy of the 2015 Howard County Resource Guide and the Caregiver Guide on hand for reference. These free guides include local, state and national resource information, as well as listings for programs, businesses, and nonprofit organizations serving older adults, caregivers and their families in Howard County. Stop by your local senior center or library branch to pick up a copy, or call Maryland Access Point at 410-313-5980 to have one mailed to you. Lastly, I hope you to see many of you at our annual Thanksgiving Celebration on Thursday, November 13 at Ten Oaks Ballroom in Clarksville. Enjoy a festive meal plus music by the Retro Rockets. Tickets ($13) are on sale now at senior centers. Happy Thanksgiving!

Need help making your way as a caregiver? Maybe it started slowly. You visited your parents and started to worry about them living alone. You found yourself taking over more of the responsibilities for your spouse. Maybe it happened all of a sudden. Mom slipped and broke her hip. However it began, you are now a family caregiver. And you are not alone — there are 65 million family caregivers across the country. (Source: Caregiver Action Network) Nearly one-third of the U.S. adult population are caregivers, providing an average of 20 hours of care per week, and their need for information, education and support is growing as fast as their numbers. Caregivers often turn to the Internet to find the information and resources they need; there are many excellent online resources like www.caregiver.org and www.caregiveraction.org. But caregiving can also be a lonely road, so don’t underestimate the value of reaching out to another human being (or even better, another caregiver) for support. With this in mind, the Office on Aging will present “The Caregiving Journey: Making Your Way,” the third annual caregiver workshop, on Saturday, November 22, at the North Laurel

The Senior Connection is published monthly by the Howard County Department of Citizen Services’ Office on Aging. We welcome your comments and suggestions. To contact us, or to join our email subscriber list, email seniorconnection@howardcountymd.gov with “subscribe” in the subject box. !"#$%&'!()*+&,-./0&!)&123)2 4567&'!8(9:3#&;#*0"#+&<$= '!8(9:3#>&?<&@7AB4 B7ACD7DC4B7A """=E!"#$%/!()*+#23)2=!$2 """=F#/0:!!G=/!9H !'!'3*3I0) <#+)#&?=&J$!")>&1%93)3K*$#*!$ Advertising contained in the Beacon is not endorsed by the Howard County Office on Aging or by the publisher.

Community Center, 9411 Whiskey Bottom Rd., in Laurel. A continental breakfast and lunch are included, and respite care for your loved one will be provided. There is no charge to attend, but registration is required. The free all-day event will open with a Caregiver Panel Discussion, with panelists sharing their experiences as a sandwich generation caregiver, providing care for a spouse, and navigating care systems. Following the panel presentation, attendees may choose from a variety of informative workshops, including: • Aging in Place – an overview of the Better Living at Home program, home evaluations and home repairs • Challenging Behaviors – examining and coping with common behaviors seen in those with dementia • VA Benefits – an overview of Veterans Administration benefits • Conversing with Health Care Providers – communicating effectively with health care providers • Medication Management – administering medications, managing pain meds and nutritional support • Family Mediation - discuss the reasons to pursue mediation and the benefits of doing so • Palliative Care – providing relief from the symptoms, pain and stress of a serious illness Throughout the day, attendees can visit the Engagement Room to experience a variety of stress relief methods. The day will end on an ‘upbeat’ note with an interactive performance by the FunDrum Rhythm Circle. Respite care will be provided on-site by Office on Aging Senior Center Plus staff. For more information or to register, call Maryland Access Point of Howard County at 410-313-5980; call by November 12 to arrange respite care and reserve lunch. To request a sign language interpreter or other accommodations to attend, call one week in advance.

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon

The Senior Connection The Howard County Office on Aging invites you to a

THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION!

Giving Thanks

THE

LUNCHEON & DANCE

MEDICARE

Open Enrollment October 15 through December 7, 2014

Featuring a special performance by the Retro Rockets!

In addition to our regular schedule, take advantage of these special enrollment events!

Thursday, November 13, 2014

By appointment only; call 410-313-7392

Ten Oaks Ballroom 5000 Signal Bell Lane, Clarksville 21029 DOORS OPEN 10:30 A.M.

LUNCH 12:00 NOON

Tickets on Sale at all Senior Centers $13/person PLEASE BRING NON-PERISHABLE FOOD ITEMS FOR THE HOWARD COUNTY FOOD BANK FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL

THE BAIN CENTER 5470 Ruth Keeton Way, Columbia, MD 21044 Saturday, November 8 • 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Thursday, November 13 • 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. Saturday, November 22 • 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Thursday, December 4 • 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. Saturday, December 6 • 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

410-313-5440 (VOICE/RELAY) ELLICOTT CITY SENIOR CENTER 9401 Frederick Rd., Ellicott City, MD 21042

If you need need accommodations to attend this event, call Maryland Access Point at 410-313-5980 (voice/relay) or email to map@howardcountymd.gov by October 31.

www.howardcountyaging.org

A PRESENT NT TA ATION OF THE

HOW WARD COUNTY DEP D PARTMENT ARTMENT OF CITIZEN SERVICES

OFFICE ON AGING

Monday, November 3 • 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Friday, November 21 • 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Friday, December 5 • 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

GLENWOOD 50+ CENTER 2400 Route 97, Cooksville, MD 21723 Tuesday, November 18 • 9:00 a.m. - noon

NORTH LAUREL 50+ CENTER 9411 Whiskey Bottom Rd., Laurel, MD 20723 Thursday, November 6 • 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. Thursday, November 20 • 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. Thursday, December 4 • 12:30 - 3:30 p.m.

SA AVE E THE DA ATE! TE TE! Don’t Miss the 3rd Annual Caregiver Conference

Saturday y, November 22, 2014 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM North Laurel Community Center 9411 Whiskey Bottom Road, Laurel, MD 20723 Continental breakfast & lunch provided. On-site respitee provided.

Information/Counseling • New to Medicare Fraud and Abuse • Prescription Drug Plans Supplemental Policies • Help with Costs

Know your options. Contact us for help. For a complete schedule of enrollment events, go to www.howardcountymd.gov/SHIP

410-313-7392 (VOICE/RELAY) EMAIL ship@howardcountymd.gov

www.howardcountyaging.org/ship

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Money Law &

TRIM YOUR GROCERY BILL Learn how to strategically shop sales, use store apps and haggle to save BAD PENNIES? Low-cost penny stocks can sometimes be fraudulent investments MUTUAL FUNDS FALTER After a strong first half the year, many funds fell in the third quarter

Ditch rising stocks or stick with them? By Bernard Condon Is it time to cash out of stocks? The market has nearly tripled in a little over five years, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed above 2,000 for the first time in late August. With each record, the temptation grows to take your winnings and flee. Plenty of experts think stocks are about to drop. But many others offer compelling arguments for the rally to continue for years. The bulls point to a strengthening U.S. economy. They also like that companies have plenty of money to keep buying back their own stock. The bears argue that stocks already reflect years of future profit gains. They also note that many economies around the world are stumbling, and that U.S. interest rates could rise soon. Remember, though, that even the best investors find it nearly impossible to time the market to catch the lows and highs. Here are the bull and bear cases in detail:

Reasons to be bullish A stronger economy: Four of the past five bull markets have ended with investors selling in a recession, or bailing out because they anticipated one. The

odds of a downturn anytime soon? Not very high, at least based on the latest economic reports and forecasts. The U.S. economy is expected to grow 1.5 percent this year, then 3.4 percent in 2015, according to recent Congressional Budget Office estimates. One reason is companies are hiring at the fastest pace in eight years. “This recovery will last several more years,” said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management. Analysts expect earnings from companies in the S&P 500 to rise 8 percent this year, then 12 percent in 2015, according to S&P Capital IQ. Low interest rates: Interest rates are low, and that’s been great for stocks. They help lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. They also hold down interest payments on bonds, making stocks look more attractive by comparison. Many investors expect the Federal Reserve to start raising short-term rates in the middle of next year. If the Fed keeps the hikes small, the stock market might shrug it off. That’s what happened in the last round of Fed hikes, in 2004, when the S&P 500 gained 9 percent. Torsten Slok, chief international econo-

mist at Deutsche Bank Securities, notes that the short-term rates that helped drag stocks down at the end of the last seven bull markets were all higher than 4 percent. With the Fed holding those rates near zero, it could take many hikes for borrowing costs to rise enough to cause damage. Buyback boom: One of the biggest forces in the stock rally so far is companies buying back their own shares. Companies in the S&P 500 have spent $1.9 trillion on buybacks since the bull market began in March 2009, according to Howard Silverblatt, a senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. By creating more demand for stocks, buybacks have kept prices rising even as other big investors sell. Mutual funds, investment brokers, foreigners and pension funds have been net sellers of stocks over most of the last five years, according to the Fed. Companies have pulled back sharply from their near-record buying in the first quarter, but their buybacks are still pushing up prices. And companies in the S&P 500 still have more than $1.1 trillion in cash, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

cast big profit gains well into the future, but what if prices fully reflect expected gains? That’s what many bears think. They cite the price-earnings ratio, or the price of a stock divided by its earnings per share. If a share costs $100 and the company is expected to earn $5 per share in the coming year, the P/E ratio is 20. The S&P 500 now trades at 15 times what companies are expected to earn over the next 12 months, according to FactSet. That is slightly above the 10-year average of 14.1. The problem is, P/Es are often not reliable gauges of stock value. They are based on just one year’s earnings, which can rise and fall along with the economy. Many experts believe a better P/E is a “cyclically adjusted” ratio, which averages earnings over 10 years. It is currently 26. That’s far below the peak of 44 it reached in the late 1990s, but it’s still very high. Since the end of World War II, the average is 18.3. Those expected rate hikes: The Fed may be able to raise rates slowly without damaging the economy and stock markets. But its record isn’t entirely reassuring. Three of the past five bull markets

Reasons to be bearish Stocks aren’t cheap: It’s fine to fore-

See STOCKS, page 21

Smaller companies may pay big dividends By Stan Choe In the hunt for dividends, biggest doesn’t always mean best. Big, blue chip stocks are often the first stop for many dividend investors. Companies like Exxon Mobil or Procter & Gamble have long histories of paying dividends and higher yields than the market’s average. But smaller companies pay dividends too, and some mutual-fund managers count them among the best opportunities to find dividend growth. That’s why Don Taylor, who has managed the Franklin Rising Dividends fund since 1996, prefers companies a tier or two below the dividend behemoths. He considers the sweet spot to be companies valued between $20 billion and $50 billion. Exxon Mobil, in comparison, is worth $422 billion, and Procter & Gamble, more than $219 billion. The average market value of companies in the Standard &

Poor’s 500 index is $36 billion. One of the biggest investments in Taylor’s fund is Roper Industries, an industrial company worth $14 billion. At first glance, it may not look like a great dividend stock with a yield of 0.6 percent. Taylor has been comfortable with the low yield because Roper has been using a lot of its cash to buy competitors to accelerate its growth. Those acquisitions helped Roper’s annual revenue nearly quintuple over a decade and top $3 billion last year. But finding acquisitions big enough to make a significant impact on its results — at attractive prices — is getting tougher. So Taylor expects Roper to steer more of its cash toward its dividend. Earlier this year, Roper hiked its payout by 21 percent.

Easier to grow when small “These companies are big enough that they’re important or leading businesses,

but they’re not so big that it becomes really difficult to grow,” he said. His fund’s 15-year returns rank in the top 9 percent of its category and top the S&P 500, though they’ve lagged the index the last few years. Some dividend-focused mutual funds focus on even smaller companies. The Principal Small-MidCap Dividend Income fund concentrates on stocks with market values below $7 billion, for example. It has a four-star rating from Morningstar. “People tend to overlook these small and mid-cap companies,” said Jill Cuniff, president of Edge Asset Management, which runs the fund. “This space is absolutely under-covered by Wall Street,” enabling investors to find underappreciated dividend payers. The fund has been focusing on Business Development Companies, or BDCs, for example, which invest in small and mid-size companies. Cuniff expects these compa-

nies, which are generally small in size, to grow due to heightened regulations at competing big banks. BDCs are also structured in a way that allows them to pass on most of their earnings to investors without paying corporate income taxes. That means they can offer dividend yields as high as 9 percent, though their stock prices have also been volatile in recent months.

Risks and rewards To be sure, smaller dividend stocks aren’t sure things. A big run up in prices for the smallest stocks during this bull market means they generally look more expensive than large-cap stocks relative to their earnings. Small-cap stocks can also have sharper declines than bigger companies when markets are rocky. See DIVIDENDS, page 22

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money

Some ways to juice up your cash returns By Jeffrey R. Kosnett Cash has its virtues. It lets you sleep better. And everyone eventually needs some liquid currency, whether it’s to pay for a minor aggravation (say, to fix a fender bender) or a major one (the car was totaled). By design, I keep 10 percent of my IRA in my broker’s cash account. When that proportion creeps up, I flag the excess cash and reinvest it in a high-dividend stock and a couple of bond funds. So my mission here isn’t to debate whether you should build a cash reserve. You should. Rather, the topic is where you can get 1 percent or more safely. Let’s call 1 percent the Bernanke Line, a play on baseball’s Mendoza Line, the .200 batting average that separates awful hitters from the merely mediocre.

Diversify cash holdings Three times a year, we devote a page in our monthly newsletter, “Kiplinger’s Investing for Income,” to a portfolio called Juiced-Up Cash. One of the goals of this

Stocks From page 20 ended after the Fed increased rates. If the central bank finds itself scrambling to contain inflation and has to raise rates sharply, stocks could fall 20 percent. Inflation doesn’t appear to be a problem right now. But that could change fast if the economy heats up. Struggling economies abroad: U.S. companies rely more than ever on foreign economies remaining healthy. Unfortunately, many of those economies are stumbling. The 18 countries that share the euro

portfolio is to get you to think of cash as a financial asset that should be spread among six to eight different investments. Should interest rates eventually increase to the point that you can collect, say, 2.5 percent from an insured online bank account, you won’t need as much diversification. In the meantime, you need to squeeze the most juice out of your cash. Start by putting 20 percent of your cash stash in Fidelity Floating Rate High Income (symbol FFRHX, yield 2.9 percent), which invests in bank loans made to companies with below-average credit ratings. Put 10 percent in Wells Fargo Advantage Short-Term High Yield bond (STHBX, 2.0 percent). Like the Fidelity fund, the Wells Fargo fund takes credit risk, but offers some protection against rising interest rates (bond prices move in the opposite direction of rates). For foreign diversification, put another 10 percent in SPDR Barclays Short Term International Treasury Bond ETF (BWZ, 0.6 percent). For safety, put 15 percent into an online

didn’t grow at all last quarter. China is slowing rapidly, and Japan shrank 7 percent compared with a year earlier. Most economists expect the U.S. to shrug off the troubles abroad. But not everyone. David Levy, an economist, predicted the last U.S. recession with uncanny precision. He said another one is coming next year. The cause: Downturns elsewhere, not domestic trouble. Even if he’s wrong, slowing economies overseas will still matter, since companies in the S&P 500 generate nearly half their sales abroad. — AP

savings account and 15 percent in a oneyear certificate of deposit. Then put 15 percent in a short-term bond mutual fund or exchange-traded fund, and another 15 percent in an ultra-short bond fund or ETF. Choose among top-tier firms, such as Fidelity, Pimco and Vanguard, and the risk of mismanagement will be low. If you had invested $50,000 in this portfolio at the start of 2014, it would have generated $576 of income, and the principal would have grown in value to $50,172 by midsum-

mer, for a total return of roughly 1.5 percent. If the second half of the year is as good as the first, you’ll earn about 3 percent for the year. That would put you well beyond the Bernanke Line. Jeffrey R. Kosnett is a senior editor at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Send your questions and comments to moneypower@kiplinger.com. And for more on this and similar money topics, visit Kiplinger.com. © 2014 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Law & Money | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Many ways to trim spending on groceries By Cameron Huddleston I’m not a big fan of using coupons at the supermarket because of the time it takes to find, clip and organize them. I employ several other strategies to save on groceries instead. But after talking to supermarket savings expert Teri Gault, I realized I was missing a lot of opportunities to cut costs even more. Gault is the founder and CEO of TheGroceryGame.com, which helps consumers get the best deals on groceries by combining sales with coupons. She said that buying only what you need for a week’s worth of meals is the worst thing for your budget. Instead, Gault advocates what she calls investing — stocking up on nonperishable items or foods that can be frozen when they’re deeply dis-

counted — and planning meals around what’s on sale and what you already have. This strategy alone can help cut your grocery bill in half, she said. By following the following 8 tips, you can take advantage of sales and special discounts — with or without coupons — so you can save money at the supermarket and have more money in your budget for other things: 1. Know how to use the sale circular. You can find supermarkets’ weekly ads, or circulars, on their websites or as you enter the stores. These will help you pinpoint some of the best deals. Typically, loss leaders — products sold at or below cost to entice shoppers — are featured on the first page of a store’s circular. You should stock up on any of these

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the year around certain holidays. Use these opportunities to stock up. For example, condiments, salad dressing, ground beef, hot dogs, chicken, chips, soda, beer and paper goods are deeply discounted around Memorial Day, July Fourth and Labor Day, Gault said. Around Thanksgiving, you can find sales on canned goods, stuffing, turkey, frozen pies, and baking items such as flour, yeast, sugar and chocolate chips. Purchase low-calorie frozen meals and diet items, cold remedies, frozen appetizers, teas and soups around New Year’s Eve and into January. And you’ll find the cheapest prices of the year on steaks on Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day, Gault said. 4. Don’t assume organics are more expensive. When organic items — especially pro-

Dividends

Income in a low-yield world: With populations aging around the world, the appetite is high for income-producing investments. Bond yields remain low, and many income investors have moved to stocks in search of greater returns. Edge’s Cuniff said some of the strongest demand she’s seeing for its dividend-focused strategies is coming from Asia and elsewhere outside the United States. A commitment to investors: Some investors find reassurance in seeing actual cash payments from companies, particularly after the lingering effects of Enron and other accounting scandals. When a company pays a dividend, it also forces a level of discipline on its managers. CEOs are reluctant to cut a dividend for fear of a backlash by investors. — AP

From page 19

Your

Lifestyle

deeply discounted items that can be frozen, and plan your week’s meals around the perishable ones. Be aware that not everything listed in the circular is actually on sale, Gault said. Some are simply items the store is promoting in hopes of getting customers to buy them at full price. You’ll know because there won’t be a sale price listed on the shelf sticker. 2. Download store apps. Most supermarkets have free mobile apps that offer shoppers exclusive discounts. You’ll likely need to be a member of the store’s loyalty program so you can add the deals you want to your account and have the discount applied at checkout. However, Gault said most of the discounts offered via apps are for regular-sized packages, and the better deal can actually be the value pack...which brings us to the next point: 3. Take advantage of holiday sales. Some items are at their lowest prices of

*Newly Renovated! • Colonial Landing 410-796-4399

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But adherents say that dividend payers among small-cap stocks aren’t as expensive as their high-growth peers. They also point to the pluses of dividend stocks in general: Returns when stock prices are volatile: The value of dividends shone through in 2011. That year, the S&P 500 index was virtually flat after worries about the European debt crisis and a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating shook markets. But the index nevertheless returned 2.1 percent after including dividends. From 2000 through 2010, the S&P 500 dropped 14.4 percent, but the payment of dividends meant that it still had a positive 4.6 percent return.

•

See GROCERIES, page 23

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H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money

Investors can lose big with penny stocks By Kathy Kristof Paul Allen understands all too well the pitfalls of purchasing penny stocks. Last spring, Allen, a 65-year-old retiree from Boston, invested in Vapor Hub International (symbol VHUB) after receiving a flood of e-mails suggesting that shares of the ecigarette company were about to take off. He quickly lost 80 percent of his investment. The stock, which hit 87 cents in early April, closed at 11 cents on July 31 and sank to 1 cent on Sept. 15. Allen won’t be the last investor to suffer such a fate. Encouraged by a bull market and the exorbitant prices companies are paying to buy start-ups, more and more people are hoping to make a killing with penny stocks. According to OTC Markets Group, where many tiny companies trade, some $26 billion in penny stock shares changed

Groceries From page 22 duce — go on sale, you often can get them cheaper than conventional ones, Gault said. 5. Check package sizes. Rather than raise prices on their products, some manufacturers have shrunk package sizes. So before you grab the item with the cheaper price, Gault said, compare its “per unit” price with that of other brands to see if you’re really getting a deal. She also said that many shoppers mistakenly assume that the biggest package is the best deal. Many times, though, the medium-size package has the better price per unit — except when the small packages go on sale, Gault said. 6. Don’t limit your search to one department. Gault said there typically are four places in a supermarket to find bread: the bakery, the bread aisle, the frozen section and the refrigerated section. You can find juice in the produce department, the refrigerated juice case and the frozen aisle. Cheese is available at the deli, in the cheese aisle, and with gourmet items. So if you can’t find these items on sale in one section, check another. 7. Be wary of clearance items. Items on clearance usually aren’t marked down more than 50 percent and often are damaged, Gault said. You frequently can get better prices when items go on sale. The exception is spices, which rarely are marked down 50 percent. 8. Haggle. Don’t be afraid to ask for a discount on food items that are near their “sell by” date, Gault said. Stores must sell items by that date, but it doesn’t mean the item will be bad after that day. If you buy sandwich meat at the deli counter, ask the deli manager if the store has meat that’s about to expire and is discounted. It still should be fresh several days after its expiration date. © 2014, Kiplinger. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

hands in 2013, up 46 percent from the previous year’s volume.

Fraud concerns The SEC, which defines penny stocks as those that trade for less than $5 per share, said this market is unusually vulnerable to fraud for a variety of reasons: Few seasoned analysts follow penny stocks, financial information is scarce, and many supposedly unbiased reports are actually written by paid promoters. The SEC doesn’t list enforcement actions based on market capitalization, but the agency has shut down hundreds of suspicious stocks in the past year. Of course, plenty of legitimate outfits with tiny share prices — so-called micro caps — eventually grow into bigger concerns and reward shareholders. On average, about 50 firms graduate to larger ex-

changes each year, said Cromwell Coulson, CEO of OTC Markets Group. He said his exchange tries to curb fraud by making financial information more readily available, and by adding a skulland-crossbones warning to a company’s listing when the exchange learns that the stock is the subject of an e-mail campaign. But the warnings often come too late for individual investors such as Allen. The best way to avoid penny stock scams is to do independent research, said Ken Springer, a former FBI agent who conducts investigations for institutional investors.

Finding legitimate investments Start by visiting the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Look at a company’s 10-K an-

nual report, 10-Q quarterly reports, and Form 8-K filings, in which companies report “material” events. Checking out promoters can be tougher, but some telltale signs are readily available. For example, disclosures on the websites of the two newsletters that contacted Allen revealed that they had received payments from Vapor Hub. Said Allen: “I’ve been torturing myself over this. It’s not that I didn’t know the right questions to ask. It’s that I invested before I asked the questions.” Kathy Kristof is a contributing editor to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. © 2014 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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County executive From page 1 stay true to my beliefs than it is for me to be the minority leader.” Both candidates pledged to look long and hard at the Aging Master Plan being drawn up by a county advisory committee. The plan is being devised to meet the increasing needs of the county’s fast-growing older population by 2035. Howard County Office on Aging Administrator Dayna Brown said the plan is expected to address five priorities that have been proposed and discussed by the Advi-

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

sory Committee and Working Group that have been our community partners in the process: expanding housing options, improving transportation, making a healthy life “the default,” strengthening support for caregivers, and providing “civic education” (financial and retirement planning, long-term care, aging in place, etc.). The plan will be released sometime in early November, Brown said.

Watson’s senior agenda Expanding on her platform for seniors, Watson said that under her transportation plan, buses on the well-traveled Red route

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— with stops at Howard County Community College, the Columbia Mall, the Department of Social Services, and the Howard County office complex, among other places — will run every half hour on the hour, instead of hourly, the current schedule for all the area’s bus routes. The free fares, which she proposes be available to seniors from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and all day weekends, will only cost the county $15,000, she said. Considering the comparatively very low cost, why wasn’t such a program put in effect before? Watson replied: “Sometimes things don’t cost as much as we think. I will be looking at using existing resources differently.” Watson further noted that her plans to make senior centers lifelong learning hubs could include, among other things, higherlearning courses beamed in from local colleges, job opportunities for 55-and-older residents, as well as possibilities for volunteer work. “Only 10 percent of our seniors go to the centers now. The centers need to be more relevant. I want to broaden their mission,” the candidate said. Watson said she would also concentrate on affordable housing for seniors, and try to expand the tax credits residents are given for improving their homes. “Support for caregivers also is a very big issue for me,” said Watson, who grew up in Clarksville and graduated from Atholton High School. She said her administration would make strong efforts to forge partnerships with faith-based organizations for caregiving needs. She would also make special efforts toward getting respite for caregivers.

Kittleman’s proposals For Kittleman, raising the Office on Aging to cabinet level is a major priority. The new Department of Aging would be empowered to give more and better services to seniors as it coordinates its efforts

with other cabinet-level agencies. “This new department will have an equal seat at the table with other cabinet agencies,” enabling it “to give our aging community the attention it deserves,” said Kittleman. He said another major item will be how to meet the “lack of affordability” concerns of seniors. “Seniors fear their property taxes are too high, which is preventing them from being able to stay in the home in which they raised their children,” he said. “They want to reside near their children and grandchildren, but not enough affordable senior housing options are available to them. They also cannot afford the maintenance updates their home requires that would allow them to age in place.” In a platform paper, Kittleman said that, among other things, the new Department of Aging would look for ways to expand property tax credits for seniors, let more middleincome seniors get tax credits for making age-related home modifications, and begin programs involving volunteers and local contractors “to assist elderly homemakers with essential home repairs at lower costs.” Kittleman also vows to improve the county’s transportation system. He said if elected he “certainly” would look at the idea of free fare for seniors, but more important for him is to revamp routes so that the buses “make sure to go where the people want to go.” This would include devising a “senior route” that would stop at the various government, community and medical centers frequented by the county’s older residents. Another plank for seniors in the candidate’s platform calls for new workforce training programs in the county’s community college and public schools “for young people pursuing careers in gerontology and care for seniors.” “In my administration, the aging community is certainly going to be a high priority,” candidate Kittleman promised.

BEACON BITS

Nov. 6

REAL ESTATE 101 Pauline Hwang from Long & Foster will present tips and basic

home buying and selling strategies to downsize. The program will take place on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 11 a.m. at the Ellicott City Senior Center, 9401 Frederick Rd., Ellicott City. For more information, call (410) 313-1400.

Nov. 11

ANNUAL DINNER CELEBRATES PHILANTHROPY The Community Foundation of Howard County will celebrate philanthropy to nonprofit organizations in the county during a dinner

on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. at Turf Valley, 2700 Turf Valley Rd., Ellicott City. The event will honor the 2014 Philanthropists of the Year Individuals Fern and Ed Hamel and Corporate Philanthropist Howard Bank. Tickets are $85 each. For more information, visit cfhoco.org or call (410) 730-7840.

Nov. 20

BASICS OF PROPOSAL WRITING Learn how to write, package and submit a grant proposal in a talk cosponsored and presented by the Foundation Center on

Thursday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Central Branch Library, 10375 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. For additional information call the library at (410) 313-7800.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

Mutual funds faltered in the third quarter By Stan Choe Take a breath. After delivering solid and consistent returns through the first half of this year, most types of mutual funds faltered in the third quarter. It wasn’t a disaster — most of the declines were modest, and the largest categories of stock and bond funds were virtually flat. But it was a letdown for anyone who got accustomed to steady and widespread quarterly gains. Of the 105 mutual fund categories that Morningstar tracks, 76 fell from July through September. Compare that with the prior quarter, when only six categories declined, and those were mostly niche funds that few investors own. Here’s a look at the trends that moved the markets:

Small- and large-cap funds Small-cap stock funds had some of the biggest drops. The third quarter marked a return to earth for funds that specialize in stocks of smaller companies. Funds investing in a mix of small-cap growth and value stocks fell an average of 6.8 percent. Last year, those same funds were stars, returning an average 37.4 percent. At the time, investors were snapping up smaller companies on expectations that their earnings would grow faster than those of big companies. But their popularity caused problems. Stock prices of smaller companies rose more quickly than their earnings, enough for investors to worry that small-cap stocks had become too expensive. The Standard & Poor’s 600 index of small-cap stocks began the third quarter trading at 22 times its earnings per share,

for example. That was well above its average price-earnings ratio of 17 over the last decade. By the end of the third quarter, the index’s P/E ratio was down to 20.

Large-cap stock funds treaded water. Large-cap blend funds hold more assets than any other fund category. They own a mix of the biggest companies, such as Apple, Exxon Mobil and Google, and were virtually unchanged over the quarter. They ticked lower by an average of 0.1 percent, a big step down from the 6.4 percent return that they delivered in the first half of the year. Many large-cap blend funds benchmark themselves against the S&P 500, which wobbled up and down through the quarter. Good news for them: The index set a record high on Sept. 18. Bad news: A late-September stumble surrendered most of the gains. The index returned 1.1 percent during the quarter, including dividends — its weakest return since the last quarter of 2012. That’s when economists were warning that hikes in income tax rates and cuts in government spending would send the economy off a “fiscal cliff’’ unless Congress made changes.

Most bond funds had a muted quarter.

terest rates. When rates are falling, it causes the price of existing bonds to go up as their yields suddenly look more attractive. Recent strengthening in the job market means economists expect the Federal Reserve to begin hiking its key short-term interest rate target sometime next year. The central bank is also on track to halt its bond-buying stimulus program towards the end of October. That’s raised expectations for interest rates to begin rising, at least slowly, which would act as a drag on bond returns.

Some specialized stock funds remained healthy. Indian stock funds were stars last quarter, as they’ve been since the election of a new prime minister, Narendra Modi, in May. Investors expect Modi to push through reforms to tame India’s high inflation and thicket of bureaucracy, and the country’s stock market has soared in response. Indian stock funds returned 5.5 percent last quarter. They’re up 35.1 percent this year, helping them to make up their sharp

losses in two of the last three years. Indian stock funds are bit players in the mutual-fund world, controlling a total of $7 billion in total assets. That’s less than 2 percent of the $438 billion in diversified emerging-market stock funds, which spread their investments across India and other countries, including China and Brazil. Healthcare stock funds were also winners, returning an average 4.6 percent. It continues a years-long trend, as healthcare stocks have shaken off worries that the Affordable Care Act would hurt their earnings. Healthcare stock funds have returned an annualized 20.7 percent over the last five years. No fund category has returned more.

Gold-related funds were the quarter’s biggest losers. All 10 mutual funds with the worst returns focus on gold stocks. Low inflation and expectations for rising interest rates usually mean investors sell gold, and its price fell in early October to its lowest level since Jan. 2. — AP

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The mutual funds that form the core of most investors’ bond portfolios, intermediate-term bond funds, were essentially flat last quarter. They lost an average 0.1 percent. It’s a letdown from the first half of the year, when intermediate-term bond funds returned 4.1 percent. All of the other 31 categories of bond funds tracked by Morningstar also registered gains in the year’s first six months, benefiting from an unexpected drop in in-

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N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Travel Leisure &

Civil War buff Keith White leads hikes through nearby Civil War sites. See story on page 29.

Cancun mixes resort life, Mayan culture

Home base built for tourists Today, visitors to the modern city of Cancun, and the surrounding Yucatan peninsula, have opportunities to combine the attractions of a major resort destination with explorations of remnants of the Mayan culture, ranging from tiny struc-

tures to vast magnificent cities. The isolated site inhabited by iguanas could be hidden deep in the jungles of Mexico. Instead, the ruins of El Ray are only a short walk from modern civilization in Cancun, with its sparkling white sand beaches and high-rise hotels. The city stretches along 14 miles of beaches that overlook the crystal clear, multi-hued water of the Caribbean Sea. Most visitors stay in the hotel zone (zona hotelera), a narrow strip of land nestled between the sea and a wide inland lagoon. Towering hotels line the waterfront, familiar chain restaurants vie for customers with locally owned eateries, and upscale shops offer the latest fashions in clothes and expensive accessories. This glitzy setting resulted from the selection of the location by the Mexican government decades ago, along with other sites in the country, to be developed as tourism destinations. At the time, this was an area of mangrove forests, deserted beaches and scattered fishing villages. The coastline that stretches south of Cancun is known as the Riviera Maya, and it is dotted with inviting beachfront resorts like pearls on a necklace. As with its European counterpart, visitors to the Mexican version may combine relaxing sun-andsand vacations with a full menu of recreational activities. Golfers have a choice of courses that were designed by such legends as Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman, among others. Water-related sports include fishing,

PHOTO COURTESY OF VISIT CANCUN

By Victor Block The narrow path leads through low jungle growth, beneath long vines hanging from tree branches that would prompt Tarzan to howl with delight. Iguanas lazing in the sunlight that filters through the trees resemble prehistoric monsters frozen in stillness. The shadowy setting suddenly gives way to a clearing. Along its edge stands the remains of a small pyramid-shaped temple surrounded by stone platforms and round columns which, centuries ago, supported a roof. Here at some time during the 13th to 15th centuries BCE, worshipers built ceremonial memorials to their gods. They were members of the Mayan people, who inhabited much of what is now Mexico and several surrounding countries. The rich civilization that they built beginning about 2000 BCE lasted until the arrival of Spanish explorers and settlers in the 16th century CE. The Mayan people left behind a legacy of advanced achievements — including a fully developed written language, magnificent architecture, vibrant art, and sophisticated systems of mathematics and astronomy.

The Mexican city of Cancun features 14 miles of beaches sandwiched between the turquoise Caribbean and a wide inland lagoon. In addition to the usual tourist attractions of an ocean beach, visitors can take a 45-minute boat ride to four-mile-long Isla Mujeres to see the remains of a small Mayan temple. More dramatic Mayan ruins can be found south of Cancun, along the Riviera Maya.

snorkeling and diving, wind surfing, jet skiing and parasailing. For those who prefer to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground, opportunities for bicycling, horseback riding and allterrain vehicle touring are available.

Mayan archeological treasures

PHOTO BY LEN KAUFMAN

Chichen Itza includes a 98-foot tall pyramid that towers over a Mayan compound that was settled more than 1,200 years ago. About a 2½ hour drive from Cancun, it is one of the best-restored Mayan settlements.

Along with the glitz and glitter of contemporary Cancun, connection with the world of the Mayans remains strong. Resorts have names like Mayan Palace and Ocean Maya Royale. The architecture of some hotels echoes the pyramid shape of Mayan structures and other design features. Some health and beauty spas offer treatments derived from Mayan formulas. These random examples only hint at the nearby archeological treasures that await exploration. In addition to touches of that civilization that are found in Cancun itself, more than 30 ancient sites are within driving distance, making the city a major gateway to the Mayan world. The Mayan Museum in the hotel zone is the perfect place to begin an immersion in that ancient culture. While its exhibits showcase great architectural achievements, I found equally interesting artifacts from the people’s daily lives. Cooking implements, incense burners, jewelry and other displays provide evidence of the good life, Mayan style. Sculptures and structural fragments brought

from a number of sites serve as reminders that the once-great culture stretched across Mexico and beyond. The perfect segue after leaving the museum is to follow the path that winds through a compact jungle-like setting adjacent to the building to the San Miguelito archeological site. Small in size but not in interest, this was the site of a Mayan settlement more than 800 years ago. The path meanders past more than three dozen structures, some restored but most left in their natural state. Of greatest interest are a 26-foot-tall pyramid, the ruins of what once were residences, and a small temple where remnants of ancient mural paintings of animals are still visible. Not far south of the city, along the Caribbean coastline, is Xel-Ha, a park that combines recreational activities with history. It offers excellent snorkeling, a small museum, restaurants and souvenir stalls. An early Mayan ruin is located close to the park entrance. Paintings are still visible on the walls of the Casa del Jaguar (“House of the Jaguar”) and the Templo de las Pajaros (“Temple of Parrots”). Several miles further on is Tulum, one of the most inviting Mayan sites, but not for the ruins themselves. Instead, it’s the setting that makes this many a visitor’s favorite archeological location. The structures stand on a rolling field See CANCUN, page 27

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

Cancun From page 26 on a 40-foot-high cliff, protected on three sides by walls and on the fourth by the precipice and the turquoise water of the Caribbean Sea. A carved figure named the Diving God, with wings and a bird’s tail is repeated on many of the walls. Words etched in stone, and painted murals said to date from the 13th century, adorn the Temple of Frescoes.

Visiting Chichen Itza Further from the sea, about a 2-1/2 hour drive from Cancun, is Chichen Itza, one of the most impressive and best-restored Mayan places. Its mysterious past adds interest to its already fascinating story. The area was settled by the Mayans between 500 and 900 CE, then abandoned for a reason that no one knows. It was resettled about 1100 and, it is believed today, then fell under control of the warlike Toltecs whose home base was what now is Mexico City. Chichen Itza was primarily a ceremonial place of massive structures spread out over two square miles. El Castillo (“the Castle”) is a 98-foot-tall pyramid that overlooks the lower buildings. Eight ball courts were used for a game that was won by guiding a rubber ball through rings suspended 20 feet above the ground. A series of limestone sink holes, called “cenotes” (see-NOTE-eez), provided most of the water that was required by the people. One, called the Sacred Cenote, also was used by the Toltecs, when they controlled the site, as a sacrificial well. Victims were thrown into it and drowned in order to appease the gods in which the people believed. Another reminder of the Toltec practice of human sacrifice are sculpted images of Chacmool, a reclining stone figure with bent knees whose hands hold a receptacle.

It’s believed that some sacrificial ceremonies included cutting the heart from the chest of victims and placing it, still beating, in the stone dishes. It requires a 45-minute boat ride to reach another, much smaller, Mayan monument. The four-mile-long Isla Mujeres (eesla mu-hair-us) presents a split personality to those who make the trip. The dock area includes an inviting beach, restaurant and snorkeling operation, while the compact “downtown” neighborhood is jammed with modest restaurants, jewelry stores and tourist shops, all selling pretty much the same merchandise. On a plateau overlooking the sea at the opposite end of the island stand the remains of a small Mayan temple that was dedicated to Ixchel, the goddess of love and fertility. According to legend, when Spanish explorers arrived in the 16th century and found numerous stone statues of the goddess, they gave the island its name, which means “island of women.” Whether exploring sprawling Chichen Itza or viewing much more modest Mayan sites, relaxing in the sun or taking in the excitement of the hotel zone, visitors to Cancun and the surrounding area have a wide choice of alternatives. The combination of old and new, of inviting beach destinations with fascinating reminders of a once-great civilization, offers something-for-everyone appeal.

If you go While many visitors like the convenience of staying in the hotel zone, with its proximity to restaurants, shopping and other non-beach attractions, others head for the resorts that are strung out along the Caribbean coast south of the city. The Sunset World Resorts is a Mexicanowned, family-operated mini-chain of properties, each of which offers a very different experience, plus the added benefit to

guests of taking advantage of the facilities and services available at all of them. One of them, the Hacienda Tres Rios Resort, Spa and Nature Park, features a 340-acre setting encompassing five major ecosystems. The focus at the Sunset Marina Resort & Yacht Club is on a long list of water sports. The Sunset Fisherman resort, south of Cancun, is located near several Mayan sites as well as a small town known for its bustling night life scene. Rates at the Sunset World Resorts change fairly frequently. The all-inclusive cost of a room, including all meals and a wide variety of services and activities, begins as low as $79 per person, double occupancy. For more information, visit sunsetworld.net or call (800) 494-9173. For an experience that combines cul-

ture and cuisine, check out Mercado 23, an authentic local market very different from the more commercial Mercado 28 that many tourists visit. This small market is located on Avenue Tulum. If you’re looking for somewhere to eat on Isla Mujeras, don’t let the name of the “Joint” dissuade you from going in. It combines a funky Caribbean feel with a lengthy menu of Mexican dishes. Burritos ($6), and chicken, fish or shrimp ($7), all served with French fries, are filling and tasty. For more information, call (52) 998-243-4475 or visit www.islamujeresdining.com. For information about visiting Cancun, call (52) 998-881-2745 or visit www.cancun.travel. American Airlines, US Airways and Southwest Airlines fly from BWI to Cancun in mid-Novemer with roundtrip fees ranging from $383 to $520.

BEACON BITS

Nov. 20

GOSPEL AND HOLIDAY FAVORITES The Department of Recreation & Parks is offering a bus trip to

Mercersburg, Pa. on Thursday, Nov. 20, for the Branson-like holiday show at the Pennsylvania Opry. The bus leaves at 9 a.m. and returns at 6 p.m., stopping for lunch at Keystone Family Restaurant in Waynesboro before the 2 p.m. show. Tickets are $99. To register, visit www.howardcountymd.gov/rap or call (410) 313-7275. For further information, call (410) 313-7279.

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N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

A quick review of top 10 tourist scams By Ed Perkins A recent posting on Justtheflight.com warned travelers of 40 tourist scams prevalent around the world. Wow — that’s a long checklist. Fortunately, many of the 40 are “variations on a theme,” and a comparable posting of 10 scams from Cheapflights.com is more realistic. Yes, none of the 10 or even the 40 is really new or innovative, but they bear repeating, so here goes. Fake police. A street merchant may put

something in your hand or around your wrist, then, when you try to give it back, complain that you’re trying to steal it. A uniformed policeman — fake — happens to be passing by and threatens to arrest you if you don’t pay for what you supposedly stole. Variations include trumped-up arguments with taxi drivers and merchants. Fake valuables. A vendor on a Bogota street offers to sell you “emeralds” at a fraction of the going price. A related scam: You’re standing in line to buy a ticket for

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something and someone offers to sell you a “better” ticket and avoid the line. Distraction theft. The list of 40 scams includes many variations on this basic theme. Someone distracts you while an accomplice picks your pocket or goes through your baggage. The scenarios are endless: kids swarm around you asking for money, someone “accidentally” spills something on you, someone punctures the tire on your rental car and pilfers your stuff while supposedly “helping” you change the tire, someone throws a doll dressed up like a real baby at you. The list goes on and on, and it can happen almost anywhere. Taxi tricks. When you hop in a cab and ask to go to a specific restaurant, hotel or shop, the driver tells you it’s “closed” but offers to take you to a “better” one. At best, the new place is a long trip; at worst, it’s a rip-off joint in partnership with the driver. The fake “gift.” A street musician hands you what appears to be a “free” CD, asking you to check out his/her music, then, after you have it, demands payment, even when you try to return it. Variations apply to just about any item. Photo finagling. Someone offers to take a picture of you and your companion with your camera — and runs off with the camera. Or you pose with a picturesque

but apparently willing local, who then turns mean and demands a fee. Fake friends. You go into a bar and a friendly group of locals asks you to join them. Then, after a few rounds, they suddenly depart, leaving you with a padded bill. PIN theft. A casher surreptitiously takes a picture of your credit card, or someone who “helps” you at a foreign ATM notes and remembers your PIN for later theft use. Old-fashioned pickpocketing. Pickpockets don’t need elaborate scams or setup scenarios. They can get as close to you as they need to on crowded public transit, intercity trains, and in busy shops. Currency capers. A merchant counts out your change correctly, accidentally drops it, retrieves it, and hands you a substitute wad that’s a bit lighter. Or you get a mix of counterfeit and real bills.

How to prevent theft You can easily avoid some of these scams. If you can’t tell the difference between an emerald and a fragment of green glass, don’t buy “emeralds” on the street. Assume anything someone tries to sell you on the street is either a fake or carries a grossly inflated price. Know enough about the local geograSee TOURIST SCAMS, page 29

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H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

Civil War sites: recreate and contemplate

Two dozen battlefields There are more than 300 miles of trails to explore in the 24 national parks designated as significant battlegrounds of the Civil War, according to figures provided by the National Park Service. The Manassas National Battlefield in Virginia, for example, has more than 40 miles of trails. Pecos National Historical Park in New Mexico has just two. The 24 battlefields drew nearly 10 million visitors last year. “Each one is unique, yet the vast majority share things in common,” said Mike Litterst, a National Park Service spokesman. Most have a visitor’s center and a museum to help put the site in context. Many have park rangers or volunteers who give walking tours. And these aren’t the only preserved Civil War battlefields. Others are under state, local or private jurisdiction. “Some 10,500 armed conflicts occurred

Tourist scams From page 28 phy that you can tell when you’re being “taken for a ride.” Dress modestly and try to fit in with the locals. Avoid constant

during the Civil War, ranging from battles to minor skirmishes,” the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission said in a report to Congress in 1993. Of those, 384 were determined to be “principal battles” that had a significant impact on the course of the war. Those battles occurred in 26 states. “The war really did touch pretty much every corner of America,” said Mary Koik, deputy director of communications for the Civil War Trust, an organization that works to preserve the battlefields. “You have battles fought from Pennsylvania all the way out through New Mexico.” Some people may use the battlefields for fitness or recreation, a place to walk the dog or take a stroll with the kids and be out in nature. The Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park near Atlanta is historic, but also “quality outdoor space,” Koik said. Surveys done by her group, however, indicate that most park visitors are interested in the history.

Tips for visiting Before visiting a battlefield, White recommends reading up on it. You can get information about the battlefields on the Civil War Trust and National Park Service websites, or pick up brochures and maps at the visitor center. “It’s also good to sit down and talk to a ranger,” White added. Markers along the way will point out historical spots on the battlefield and give you a snapshot of what occurred there. “By visiting these in succession, in the right order, you’ll see how the battle unfolded,” Koik said. Before his tours, White does research on the battle fought there and prepares a script. “Usually, time permitting, I will go up and glances at guidebooks or maps. But those strategies work only in obvious situations. Yes, most locals you encounter are honest and genuinely want to help. But you need to remain alert at all times. © 2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

AP PHOTO/CAROLE FELDMAN

By Carole Feldman About 150 years after the “Battle that Saved Washington,” journalist and Civil War buff Keith White leads a dozen friends on a tour of the farmland south of Frederick, Md., where Union forces led by Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace were credited with delaying the Confederate advance toward the nation’s capital. The group will spend nearly three hours hiking many of the half-dozen or so miles of trails at the Monocacy National Battlefield, listening as White relays details of the battle that July 9 in 1864, which resulted in a Confederate victory and more than 2,000 Union casualties. “It’s not just a hike, but there’s something additional,” he says in an interview later. “You can go to a battlefield and get a little sense of that history.”

Keith White, right, leads a group of friends on a tour of the Monocacy National Battlefield south of Frederick, Md. The battle of Monocacy, which took place on July 9, 1864, is credited with delaying the Confederate advance toward Washington, D.C.

walk the trail before I lead the tour so I’m not caught unaware.” White became interested in the Civil War after learning that he had ancestors on both sides of the conflict. He also volunteers at the site of the Battle of Chancellorsville, part of the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia. He plans to lead friends on a tour of two additional battlefields this year. “The more you learn, the deeper you get into it,” he said. “There are so many people and so many story lines involved.”

The National Park Service and the Civil War Trust also have free GPS-based smartphone apps that will act as tour guides for some of the parks. “We think the most important thing is to get people out to see these places,” Koik said. Learn more about visiting battlefields at the National Park Service’s Civil War page, www.nps.gov/civilwar/index.htm, and from the Civil War Trust at www.civilwar.org. — AP

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Style Arts &

Arturo Toscanini and Bronislaw Huberman connect at a 1936 concert. See story below about their journey.

Film about musicians’ escape from Nazis

Discovering forgotten music Violinist and Howard County resident Ronald Mutchnik, who is the chamber music coach for the performing students, came across the musical pieces in a discarded bin. “The four pieces that were written by Terezin concentration camp victims went almost unnoticed,” he said. “I found them some years back in a small bin of music that had been discontinued for publication in Dale’s Music Company in Silver Spring,” he said.

“I looked through the music and realized what a treasure it was. All the moods associated with the Holocaust were encapsulated tellingly in these four pieces, from abject despair and pain, to looking beyond the horror to a better world.” The Orchestra of Exiles documentary retraces through interviews and reenactments Huberman’s efforts to create what was then known as the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, which debuted in December 1936 under the direction of Arturo Toscanini, a strong opponent of the Nazi regime. It details how Huberman rescued nearly 1,000 Jewish musicians and their families. The film, directed by Josh Aronson, also shows how famous Jews and leading historical figures, such as Albert Einstein, played a vital part in creating the orchestra. Among the leading contemporary musicians interviewed are Zubin Mehta and world famous violinists Pinchas Zukerman and Joshua Bell. The film also mentions how Bell obtained Huberman’s Stradivarius some 65 years after it was stolen in New York. Julian Altman, a freelance violinist who had a stint with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington during WWII, made a death-bed confession to his wife in 1985 that he had bought the violin, knowing it had been stolen from Huberman’s dressing room during a 1936 Carnegie Hall concert. (Some versions of the story say he stole it himself.) Altman painted the

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FELICJA BLUMENTAL MUSIC CENTER LIBRARY

By Robert Friedman Orchestra of Exiles — a feature-length documentary about how renowned Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman put his career on hold to help fellow European-Jewish musicians escape Nazi persecution in the 1930s and emigrate to Palestine — will be shown Sunday, Nov. 2, at Howard County Community College. The musicians went on to form an orchestra that later became the world-famous Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. The documentary is part of a cultural program sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Howard County. A live musical prelude at 3 p.m. will begin the event. The musical piece, selections from “The Terezin Suite,” will be played by a quartet of Howard County High School GT (Gifted and Talented) Orchestra members. The piece was written by prisoners in the Terezin (also called Theresienstadt) concentration camp.

Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman helped European Jewish orchestra members escape from the Nazis. The story is recounted in the film Orchestra of Exiles.

violin and played it for many years, keeping its identity secret. The violin was returned to the Lloyd’s of London insurance company, and purchased in 2001 by Bell for more than $3 million. In 2007, Bell played that violin at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station in Washington, D.C. The “performance” was part of an experiment to see how many people in a rushhour crowd would stop to listen to beautiful music coming from a magnificent instrument played by a famous musician posing

as a street performer in a baseball cap. An article about the stunt in the Washington Post reported that 27 people stopped to listen and 1,070 people passed Bell by without paying him any attention. Reserved tickets for the event, which can be obtained through the federation’s website, www.JewishHowardCounty.org, cost $18; $15 for students. Entrance at the door is $20. Call (410) 730-4976 for more information. See ORCHESTRA, page 32

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H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

Prize-winning poet is curious about aging By Hillel Italie He turned 87 on Sept. 30, his eyesight is failing, and much of his recent work reads like that of a man saying goodbye. But W.S. Merwin continues to write poems; he cannot help himself. “I wrote the last one about 10 days ago. PHOTO BY MATT VALENTINE

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. poet laureate W.S. Merwin, 87, says he feels compelled to continue writing poetry. His more recent work focuses on themes of memory, time and loss.

It doesn’t stop, and I don’t know where it comes from,” said Merwin, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. poet laureate, widely regarded as among the greatest poets of the past half-century. “I remember, just over a year ago, after several readings and two red-eye flights, I was absolutely exhausted. But in the middle of the night, I woke up with a line and a half of poetry to write.”

Poems of loss and memory Speaking by phone from his house on the island of Maui in Hawaii, Merwin said he hopes to finish at least another book, health permitting. He also discussed his latest collection, The Moon Before Morning. Like his Pulitzer Prize winner from 2008, The Shadow of Sirius, its themes are age, time and memory. Phrases such as “this unrepeatable present,” “the current music of vanishing,” and “the long-gone night pasture” can be found throughout. In “Relics,” he writes of his affinity for worlds that have disappeared. Before I knew words for it I loved what was obsolete crumpled at the foot of the closet lost in the street left out in the rain in its wet story from another age

“I think I’ve seen so many things in my lifetime just as they were vanishing, and sometimes I realized it was happening and sometimes I didn’t,” Merwin said. “I remember one wonderful period of late summer and autumn into winter, way up in the mountains of northern Portugal, an area that really had not changed since the Romans. So this was very, very ancient in so many ways — the architecture, the way of farming. I was just hugging myself. It was wonderful.”

CC S

An early affinity for words A Presbyterian minister’s son, born in New York City and raised in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Merwin’s earliest memories of language include writing out the sermons of his father. He was composing his own verse while still a boy, and was class poet at Princeton University. His first collection, A Mask for Janus, won the Yale Younger Poets prize in 1951, See POET, page 32

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BEACON BITS

Nov. 8

FREE CHAMBER CONCERT The Chamber Ensemble of the Columbia Orchestra will perform in

a free concert Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 pm at Christ Episcopal Church, 6800 Oakland Mills Rd., Columbia. Visit www.columbiaorchestra.org or call 410-4658777 for complete information. Note that the Beacon incorrectly listed the date in the October issue.

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BEACON BITS

Nov. 9

ORCHESTRAL TRIBUTE TO FEATHERED FRIENDS The Howard County Concert Orchestra will celebrate “The Avian

Kingdom” in a concert on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 9120 Frederick Rd., Ellicott City. The program will feature works by

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Orchestra From page 30 After the screening, a private reception for the federation’s Knesset Club members will be held at the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center, where guitarist Bruce Casteel will perform. Casteel

won an Outstanding Artist Howie Award in 2013. The Howies are presented to major contributors to the arts of Howard County. Knesset Club members donate $100 a month, or $1,200 annually, to the federation’s group, which hosts a variety of events for the community.

Vaughn Williams, Vivaldi, Haydn and Handel. Tickets are $25 for adults, $12 for ages 18-24 and free for ages 17 and under accompanied by an adult. For further

Poet From page 31

information, visit www.hococo.org or call (410) 461-7793, extension 398.

and by the end of the decade, his friends and acquaintances included Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Sylvia Plath and Robert Lowell. His style and subject matter would change profoundly — from the classical influences of his early poems, to the anti-war themes of the 1960s, to the more condensed and philosophical verse of recent years, influenced by his immersion in Buddhism. Throughout, he has been a man of peace (he was a conscientious objector during World War II), a recorder of the past, a believer in nature, and a skeptic of humankind. At his Princeton graduation, he read a commencement poem that mourned those who had died in war, and explained to the graduation committee that he had “little optimism” about the future. “I think what we’ve been doing to the Earth, especially since the dawn of the machine age, is so appalling that I don’t know [if] we can turn it back,” he said during his interview. The poem “No Flag” scorns the pursuit of earthly glory, noting that after “the speeches the medals the fame” comes the “unmapped cold of death.”

But some of the poems in Moon Before Morning are statements of gratitude, like “Variation on a Theme” — a procession of “thank yous” for everything from friendship and language to the parts of his body and his windows “above the rivers.” Work these days can be a struggle for Merwin, in part because he writes in longhand (“The computer and I are not friends,” he explained) and has to make the letters large in order to read them. Still, the pictures are clear in his mind, and words themselves make him hopeful. “I do not have to see/in order to believe,” he writes in “The Color They Come To,” from his new collection. “I know that the flame tree is flowering/when I see petals at my feet.” “I think of one of my greatest heroes, [William Butler] Yeats,” Merwin said. “He wrote at length — although nothing of Yeats is too long — about old age. He came to it with real anger, as though it was an outrage. “I think of old age as being a time like the others,” he continued. “It has its revelations of its own that you can’t come to any other way. I don’t have any of those feelings Yeats had at all. I accept [old age] with a certain amount of curiosity.” — AP

BEACON BITS

Oct. 22

A VISIT WITH POET RITA DOVE

HoCoPoLitSo presents “A Word of Difference: Rita Dove Celebrates History and Creativity” on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in the Montebaro Recital Hall at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. Admission is free. For more information, call (443) 518-4568.

Oct. 31+

A TO Z CRAFTS SHOW

With all items on sale handcrafted by the exhibitors, the A to Z Howard County Crafts Spectacular will open at 9 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. each day during the weekend beginning Friday, Oct. 31 through Sunday, Nov. 2 at the Howard County Fairgrounds, 2014 Fairground Rd., West Friendship. Admission is $5 for adults, free for children under age 10. A multi-day pass is $7. For more information, visit www.atozcrafts.net or email info@atozcrafts.net.

FROM PAGE 34

ANSWERS TO SCRABBLE

ANSWERS TO CROSSWORD W E D S E M I T B U Y O R P L A Y H I P A R R R A I N S L O T D O G A O O L S A M A N S P R E H E W

F A C

G Y M N A S I A

A C E I A N D A A B E S

A S P E A R I C E A H E N T E N D I T S L T S A N L E R A W P O N Y R T E O U T A O N O R F D A S

P E C S A N O E N D M E T P K M O U S E E A N N A D D O G S D N T E S H O W C O H O R S P A P S P A

S N E E

S A N S E A T

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N â€” N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

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N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

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Puzzle Page

Crossword Puzzle Daily crosswords can be found on our website: www.TheBeaconNewspapers.com Click on Puzzles Plus Circle of Life by Stephen Sherr 1

47 52

55 59

1. Gets hitched 5. Audibly express surprise 9. Chest muscles, briefly 13. Produce carbon monoxide 14. 365 days 15. Un ___ 365 dias 17. Violate a book banning 20. Fled on foot 21. Lady lobster 22. It tolled ya’ 23. Toy with 28. Groovy 29. “___ on it, Potsie” 30. Go out with 31. Departing part of ETA 32. Be under the weather 33. Kournikova or Karenina 36. Come down like the dickens 41. ___ gin fizz 42. Less of Lester 43. Evidence on Law and Order: SVU 44. Argentine aunt 46. Unedited 47. Commandment count 48. Overly elaborate presentations 54. Carpools’ right side 55. Watercolors and fingerpaints 56. Logical way to start 57. See ___ (and complete this puzzle’s Circle of Life) 63. Excessive outing 64. “Roadwork scheduled ___ about...” 65. One of the Bears 66. Cuts down trees 67. Since 2009, tobacco regulation is part of ___ mission 68. Not quite an all out war 1. Complex trail of deception 2. Bird from Down Under

Across

Down

Scrabble answers on p. 32.

40 43

54 57

42 44

19 21

3. One-person fixer-upper project 4. Alibi 5. Halls of records 6. First 60% of a kindergartner’s sequence 7. Scent to one’s bedroom 8. Spruce up 9. Criticize in print 10. “If all economists were laid ___, they would not reach a conclusion” (Shaw) 11. ___Serve (early on-line service) 12. Looks for the hider 16. Snick-or-___ 18. Start of the second-most-visited website 19. Throw-ins 23. Letters in an Rx sign 24. Pre-Euro currency 25. Jazz Appreciation Month 26. Abuse a pinball machine 27. Honey drinks 32. ___ the hole 34. Greet from afar 35. Vice President during every manned moon landing 37. Older 38. The “A.” in Chester A. Arthur 39. Bank holiday 40. Without 45. It’ll do ya 46. Chubby 48. “___ I do, not...” 49. Vitality 50. Piercing stare 51. Vodka value 52. Hogwarts or Monsters U. 53. B-ball 58. Two-time loser to D.D.E. 59. ___ fault (excessively) 60. It can be taken or beaten 61. Health resort 62. Devour cauliflower

Answers on page 32.

Answer: What the blacksmith did when his helper was late -- "BELLOWED" Jumbles: AWOKE CABLE ABOUND GLOOMY

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

CLASSIFIEDS The Beacon prints classified advertising under the following headings: Business & Employment Opportunities; Caregivers; Computer Services; Entertainment; For Sale; For Sale/Rent: Real Estate; Free; Health; Home/ Handyman Services; Miscellaneous; Personals; Personal Services; Vacation Opportunities; and Wanted. For submission guidelines and deadlines, see the box on the right. CAVEAT EMPTOR! The Beacon does not knowingly accept obscene, offensive, harmful, or fraudulent advertising. However, we do not investigate any advertisers or their products and cannot accept responsibility for the integrity of either. Respondents to classified advertising should always use caution and their best judgment. EMPLOYMENT & REAL ESTATE ADS: We will not knowingly or intentionally accept advertising in violation of federal, state, and local laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, familial status or handicap in connection with employment or the sale or rental of real estate.

Caregivers LICENSED, BONDED & EXPERIENCED CNA and nursing student seeks full-time overnight position caring for your loved ones. I come with an extensive resume and stellar references. If interested, please call Jacqueline at 301-787-3555.

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Caregivers KIND, DEPENDABLE, EXPERIENCED caregiver for live-out care or live-in care for a flat rate. Hygiene care, Meal preparation, Housekeeping, Errands, Appointments, Medication reminders. Call 301-490-1146.

Financial Services ACCOUNTING, BOOKKEEPING, TAXES – conscientious CPA, 37 years experience, reasonable rates, looking for additional business, personal and eldercare clients. Call 410-6533363.

For Sale CHOLESTEROL SPINACH and other medicinal plants for diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and triglycerides, kidney problems, etc. (propagate and grow your own easily). Email: alpong@verizon.net. 301-8549969. 2 SALVADOR DALI woodblock prints from Dante’s Divine Comedy. Signed and framed. Asking $900 for the pair. Can email pictures if desired. Call Steve 410-913-1653.

Home/Handyman Services BALTIMORE’S BEST JUNK REMOVAL – Clean Outs: Whole House, Emergency, Attics/Basements. Furniture and Junk Removal, Yard Waste Removal, General Hauling, Construction Debris Removal. Free estimates. 10% Senior Discount. Licensed, Bonded and Insured. Call Jesse, 443-379-HAUL (4285). SANFORD & SON HAULING & RECYCLING. Trash + Junk removal, house & estate cleanouts, garage+ basement cleanouts. Demolition – Shed, deck fence + pool removal. Licensed + insured. Free estimates over the phone. Call 7 days a week, 7 am to 7 pm. 410746-5090.

TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED Deadlines and Payments: Ad text and payment is due by the 5th of each month. Note: Only ads received and prepaid by the deadline will be included in the next month’s issue. Please type or print your ad carefully. Include a number where you can be reached in the event of a question. Payment is due with ad. We do not accept ads by phone or fax, nor do we accept credit cards. Private Party Text Ads: For individuals seeking to buy or sell particular items, or place a personal ad. Each ad is $10 for 25 words, 25 cents for each additional word. Business Text Ads: For parties engaged in an ongoing business enterprise. Each ad is $25 for 25 words, 50 cents for each additional word. Note: Each real estate listing counts as one business text ad. Send your classified ad with check or money order, payable to the Beacon, to:

The Beacon, Baltimore Classified Dept. P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915-2227 Personal Services

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FINE ANTIQUES, PAINTINGS AND QUALITY VINTAGE FURNISHINGS wanted by a serious capable buyer. I am very well educated [law degree] knowledgeable [over 40 years in the antique business] and have the finances and wherewithal to handle virtually any situation. If you have a special item, collection or important estate I would like to hear from you. I pay great prices for great things in all categories from oriental rugs to Tiffany objects, from rare clocks to firearms, from silver and gold to classic cars. If it is wonderful, I am interested. No phony promises or messy consignments. References gladly furnished. Please call Jake Lenihan, 301-279-8834. Thank you.

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ELECTRIC SLOT-RACING CARS & accessories from 60’s and 70’s especially Aurora, Atlas & Tyco HO-scale plus other manufactures & scales. Call Bill @ 410-615-7043.

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Retail

Columbia’s Village Centers 24 Care Patrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 First Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Ideal Health Study . . . . . . .13 Home Health Care UM Elderly Falls A-1 Action Nursing Care . .13 Legal Services Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Homewatch Caregivers . . . .14 Options for Senior America 29 Carney Kelehan Attorneys at Elections Law Firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Right at Home of Central Courtney Watson County Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Frank, Frank & Scherr Executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Law Firm . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 John Sarbanes Congressman .6 Housing Howard County Board of Medical/Health Alta at Regency Crest . . . . .14 Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Brooke Grove . . . . . . . . . . .36 AA Eastern Mobility . . . . . .23 Charlestown Independent Audiology First, LLC . . . . . .5 Events Living/Erickson . . . . . . . .29 Low Vision Specialists of Beacon 50+ Expos . . . . . . .17 Heartlands of Ellicott City .21 Maryland & Virginia . . . .15 COGS Meeting . . . . . . . . . .28 Homecrest House . . . . . . . . .8 Dr. Taylor & Associates Vision Ivy Manor Normandy . . . . .32 and Learning . . . . . . . . . .11 Financial Services Paradise Assisted Living . . .15 Maryland Relay Dial 711 . . .6 JS Richardson Insurance . . .21 Park View . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Medical Eye Center . . . . . . .4 Shangri-La Assisted Living 15 Funeral Services Shriner Court/Quantum . . .28 Pharmacies Somerford Place/5 Star Harry H. Witzke’s Family CVS Pharmacy . . . . . . . . . .10 Senior Living . . . . . . . . . .11 Ellicott City Pharmacy . . . . .9 Funeral Homes, Inc. . . . . . .32 Going Home Cremations . .24 Vantage House . . . . . . . . . .12 Rite Aid Pharmacy . . . . . . .16

Senior Services

AARP Maryland . . . . . . . . .25 Senior Connection . . . . . . .18

Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation

CommuniCare . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Theatre/ Entertainment

Candlelight Concert Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Columbia Pro Cantare . . . . .30 Toby’s Dinner Theatre . . . .31

Tour & Travel

Eyre Tour & Travel . . . . . . .27 Side by Side Travel . . . . . . .27

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 â€” H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

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Assisted living - memory support

SIMPLY

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