Senior Times - October 2021

DELIVERING NEWS TO MID-COLUMBIA SENIORS SINCE 1982

Franklin County Historical Museum expansion coming – maybe by 2022?

By Kristina Lord

publisher@tcjournal.biz

Pieces of the Franklin County Historical Museum’s collection are scattered throughout the county.

Some are stored in the basement of the Pasco police station.

Some are tucked into the Kahlotus Grange Hall.

The Port of Pasco is storing some items for the museum. Past museum board members opened up their barn space.

Only about 10% of the museum’s collection is on display, said Damien Davis, the museum’s part-time executive director since January 2021. Davis also served as manager at the Pasco Farmers Market and interim executive director at the Downtown Pasco Development Authority.

“Franklin County, with its rich history in agriculture, means there have been large things donated. As people have donated items and we received them through the years, we haven’t had a place to house the donations. We really wanted a place to centralize it,” Davis said.

That’s why the Franklin County Historical Society plans to build a 5,802-square-foot annex behind its museum at 305 N. Fourth Ave. in Pasco. It’s not clear when construction will begin on the $809,352 project as it has been fraught with delays.

Expansion plans

Preserving the history of the people of Franklin County is important, said Glen Allison, president of the Franklin County Historical Society. He’s a reuMUSEUM, Page 10

OCTOBER 2021

Vol. 9 | Issue 10

Cemetery Tim keeps memories alive at the graveyard

By Kristina Lord

publisher@tcjournal.biz

The proprietor of Headstones by Cemetery Tim makes death look cool.

That’s what some of his clients have told him over the years.

But Tim Morris isn’t trying to look cool. He’s going for approachable.

His headstone company is based in Yakima but he recently opened a showroom in downtown Pasco.

His front door at 325 W. Lewis St. features a caricature of him leaning around a tombstone engraved with the words, “The Headstone Whisperer.”

There’s a welcome mat with the same logo. It’s also branded on his shirt.

His Ram pickup is emblazoned with red lettering, touting his business’ offerings: lay-away options, service to all cemeteries, custom design work and his large social media presence.

“I can’t tell you how many people pull out their phone and start recording my truck on their phone,” he said.

Morris’ headstone-making business has been featured on several nation-

Photo by Kristina Lord Tim Morris, owner of Headstones by Cemetery Tim, sets a headstone at Pasco’s City View Cemetery with help from Gilbert Sanchez. His eye-catching branded pickup is parked behind him.

wide news outlets, including TMZ, BET and New York Daily News, because he’s designed extravagant grave markers for celebrities.

His goal when he started the business five years ago was to be approachable. He wasn’t interested in uCEMETERY TIM, Page 12

Chaplaincy Health Care delays hospice project over costs

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

Chaplaincy Health Care is delaying construction of a 10-bed hospice house at the Richland Wye after construction estimates soared 30% past the $5 million price tag.

The nonprofit intended to begin construction on a replacement for Chaplaincy Hospice House in Richland this fall.

The site, 1336 Spaulding Ave., is a short walk from the agency’s Fowler Street administrative office.

Instead, it will make updates to its existing hospice facility in Kenne-

wick to extend its useful life by about five years.

Costs coupled with Covid-related challenges to fundraising prompted the board to rethink the timing, said Tom Corley, a retired hospital executive who is serving as Chaplaincy’s second interim executive director.

A nationwide search to replace Gary Castillo, who departed in the spring, is ongoing. Bob Rosselli, a board member who stepped in as interim, left in July.

Chaplaincy hired Richland’s Bouten Construction, a veteran hospital builder, to assess the hospice build-

ing, which was constructed by volunteers in 1996 on West Entiat Avenue behind First Lutheran Church.

Bouten will recommend repairs and updates to the board, along with cost estimates.

The board will choose which to pursue.

Corley and hospice staffers say the new building will serve a need, but the existing one is a useful and sacred space for patients and families facing death.

“Hospice house is going to be here,” Corley said. uCHAPLAINCY, Page 2

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Seniors group offers ways to avoid Covid isolation

Page 5

MONTHLY QUIZ

Spudnut remodels to meet ADA requirements after suit

Page 13

What military rank did Meriwether Lewis and William Clark hold during the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery expedition?

ANSWER, PAGE 9

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He stressed that the new hospice is delayed, not canceled.

Chaplaincy began contemplating the new building about four years ago.

While the Kennewick hospice building is operational, it is about 25 years old and lacks the hospital-grade touches needed in modern medical settings.

Updates to the Americans with Disabilities Act are always a challenge in older buildings, Corley said.

The board looked at the costs and the estimated life of the building and concluded it made more sense to build than to renovate.

Staff say they are looking forward to having more room for families, private bathrooms for patients, a commercial kitchen and cooking facilities for families and in-room equipment such as oxygen.

Chaplaincy raised money to support the project and purchased a 2.6-acre site at the Port of Kennewick’s Spaulding Business Park in early 2020.

It was to be a centerpiece for Chaplaincy’s golden anniversary this year.

Chaplaincy formed in 1971 to provide chaplains of all faiths to the community. Four local churches sponsored the undertaking. Today, 31 churches support its mission to support the community.

It incorporated in 1974 and accepted its first hospice patient in 1981.

It has touched thousands of Tri-City families. In late September, hospice was serving 136 patients in home settings and three at the hospice house, in part because half of its five rooms were closed off while a new HVAC system was installed.

Cancer is the most common reason for patients to seek hospice. Others include Lou Gehrig’s disease and heart, lung and liver disease. It is also supporting pandemic victims, though most have underlying conditions exacerbated by Covid.

Hospice house offers a respite for caregivers, with patients staying up to five days. It also provides in-patient care for those who need intensive

Courtesy Chaplaincy Health Care A 30% increase in the cost of construction prompted Chaplaincy Health Care to temporarily shelve construction of a 10-bed hospice house at the Richland Wye.

treatment to manage pain.

It provides supportive care rather than treatment to patients with a terminal diagnosis and an estimate of six months or less to live.

Chaplaincy’s mission also includes providing chaplains to local hospitals, jails and the Benton-Franklin Juvenile Justice Center in Kennewick. It supports those who are grieving, including youth through its Cork’s Place setting.

In mid-September, Chaplaincy sent grief specialists to Pasco to support students and staff at Longfellow Elementary after the inexplicable murder of a school bus driver in front of his 35 elementary school passengers.

When the time is right, the new building is nearly ready to submit for building permits.

ALSC Architects of Spokane and Knutzen Engineering of Kennewick created plans, which are more than 99% complete.

At Spaulding Street, archaeological test pits were dug to scrutinize the land for Native American remains or artifacts.

The future hospice will be accessed via Denver Street, with a secondary driveway on Spaulding shared with Cherry Creek Mortgage.

The 12,113-square-foot building will have 10 rooms – the same as the current building – with room to add

10 more in a future 8,500-square-foot wing.

This spring, Chaplaincy submitted plans for review under the Washington State Environmental Review Act program, or SEPA. The project won’t adversely impact the environment, the review found.

Chaplaincy Health previously curtailed programs as the Covid-19 pandemic affected fee-paying services that supported other programs.

In late 2020, it made the “gut wrenching” decision to stop offering palliative care, which is not covered

by Medicare. Those services ended in December.

In 2020, Chaplaincy served 1,131 hospice patients and their families, 437 palliative care patients and 279 children and teens through Cork’s Place.

The pandemic also curtailed activities, including its reliance on volunteers. It will, however, hold its primary fundraiser of the year, in November, although it had to cancel plans for an in-person event at the Three Rivers Convention Center. A virtual Lighting the Path breakfast fundraiser is set for 7:30-8:30 a.m. Nov. 9.

To support chaplaincy, operations and construction, go to chaplaincyhealthcare.org/lighting-the-path.

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

3

Seniors may not be able to outrun fires, but they can outsmart them Fire Prevention Week runs from Oct. 3-9 this year.

As usual, the dates coincide with the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire that began on Oct. 8, 1871.

The rationale for having a yearly Fire Prevention Week is to get you thinking about how to safeguard your home from fire.

Since home fires kill more than 3,000 Americans a year, preventing fires makes sense for everyone. But the need for fire prevention planning is particularly acute for seniors because the risk of dying in a home fire increases as we age.

A government study found that while those over 65 make up just 13% of the U.S. population, they account for 32% of home fire deaths.

Capt. Brian Ellis is deputy fire marshal of the Kennewick Fire Department.

Prevention is an important part of his job. He says that “at age 65, adults are twice as likely to be killed or injured in a fire. At age 75 that rises to three times as likely to fall victim and at 85 it rises to four times as likely.”

It is obvious why the death toll from fires rises as we age. Fires double in size every 30 seconds, so surviving a home fire requires being able to escape to safety in just two minutes or less.

Be honest in asking yourself whether you could get downstairs and out the door in as little as two minutes.

“As we age, we can’t get around as fast,” Ellis said. “Fire and smoke can travel faster than we can.”

So, everyone can benefit from fire prevention – but seniors are most in need.

Plan ahead to keep fires from starting in the first place and know how to reach safety if a fire does break out.

Ellis offers many of those lessons and more are taught by the American Red Cross.

First step, said Ellis, is to make sure your home has a full complement of smoke alarms – tested at least twice a year.

“You want one in each bedroom, one outside the family sleeping area and one on each floor,” Ellis said.

The Red Cross can help here since its Sound the Alarm (STA) program aims to reduce home fire deaths by installing alarms in homes that don’t have them. Contact the STA program at SoundTheAlarm.org.

Plan ahead for how you would escape if there were a fire.

Map out your home, showing at least two ways of exiting every

room. Be honest with yourself about limitations that would make it difficult to get yourself and anyone who Gordon Williams lives with you American Red Cross to safety.

If you use a GUEST COLUMN wheelchair or a walker, you may have extreme difficulty escaping a fire. As a senior you may be on medications that make you drowsy – and unable to respond quickly in an emergency. If you use a hearing aid and turn it off at night, you might not hear an alarm.

You might not hear the shouts of people warning you of the fire danger.

“Plan your escape route around your abilities,” Ellis said.

If you might not hear an alarm, he suggests getting a bed-shaker, a device meant to jar you awake in case of fire.

Your local fire department can help you locate and install a bed shaker. To further protect you in a fire, Ellis said to close all bedroom doors at night. That will slow the spread of smoke and flames.

Remember to “close before you doze.”

If there is a fire and you can’t make it to safety, make certain the dispatcher knows what responders can expect when they arrive.

“In a fire report all the details of your condition,” Ellis said.

To make sure responders know all they need to know, Ellis suggests a not-for-profit program called File of Life. You enter all pertinent information about your physical condition and medical issues. A magnet sticks all that information to the refrigerator so responders can find it easily.

More fires start in the kitchen than in any other room.

“Stay in the kitchen while you are cooking,” Ellis said. “Never cook while you are drowsy.”

The Red Cross Fire Prevention & Safety Checklist adds two more cautions.

“Stay in the kitchen while frying, grilling or broiling food. Use a timer to remind you food is cooking,” and “Keep anything that can catch fire, like potholders, towels, plastic and clothing, away from the stove.”

Space heaters account for 43% of home fires and 85% of home fire deaths.

And seniors are especially likely to make use of them.

“My grandmother is always cold,

so she always has a space heater going,” Ellis said. “Make sure the space around the heater is clear with no clothing or blankets close by that could ignite. Make sure the heater has an automatic turn-off if it tips over.”

The warning about not putting anything flammable near a space heater applies to other sources of heat such as baseboard heating outlets. Finally, the Red Cross warns: “Turn portable heaters off when you leave the room or go to sleep.”

Plug heavy duty devices such as space heaters into wall plugs rather than using an extension cord.

“Extension cords are for temporary use,” Ellis said.

If you find yourself relying on extension cords to run devices, consider having a licensed electrician install new outlets. Check all electrical cords for wear or damage. Have your home heating system checked out by a professional before the winter heating system begins It goes without saying to never smoke in bed or close to any device that generates oxygen.

Even smoking outdoors can be a danger if you don’t make 100% certain that whatever you smoke is safely extinguished, Ellis suggests

using metal or ceramic ashtrays filled with sand.

Finally, there is more from the Red Cross about how to escape from a home when there is a fire. Here are some examples: • If closed doors or handles are warm, use your second way out.

Never open doors that are warm to the touch.

• Crawl low under smoke.

• If smoke, heat or flames block your exit routes, stay in the room with doors closed. Place a wet towel under the door and call the fire department.

• Use a portable fire extinguisher only if you have been trained by the fire department and only if the fire is confined to a small area and is not growing, and only if everyone has exited the building and the fire department has been called.

• Most important is never let the fire get between you and a safe exit from the room. Gordon Williams is a volunteer with the American Red Cross’ Northwest Region Communications Team.

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4

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

CALENDAR OF EVENTS OCTOBER 7

• Historic Downtown Kennewick Farmers Market: 4-7 p.m., 204 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick. For more information, call 509-582-7221 or email market@historickennewick. org.

OCTOBER 8

• Richland Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., roundabout at Lee Boulevard and The Parkway in Richland. For more information, call 509-539-7229 or email herbsetal@ pocketinet.com.

OCTOBER 9

• Pasco Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-1 p.m., 101 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco. For more information, call 509-528-8131 or email omartinez@ downtownpasco.com.

OCTOBER 14

• Historic Downtown Kennewick Farmers Market: 4-7 p.m., 204 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick. For more information, call 509-582-7221 or email market@historickennewick. org.

• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Benefit Drive-In Movie: 6-9:30 p.m. Columbia Point Marina Park, Riverfront Trail, Richland. $15 per car. Drive-in movie and costume

contest. Movie will be “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” Tickets available at bit.ly/ A4LDriveinmovie or by calling 800595-4070.

OCTOBER 15

• Richland Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., roundabout at Lee Boulevard and The Parkway in Richland. For more information, call 509-539-7229 or email herbsetal@ pocketinet.com.

OCTOBER 16

• Pasco Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-1 p.m., 101 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco. For more information, call 509-528-8131 or email omartinez@ downtownpasco.com.

• Water Lantern Festival: 4-9 p.m., Columbia Park, Kennewick.

Tickets avialable at waterlanternfestival.com/tri-cities.php.

OCTOBER 19

• Senior Times Expo Drive-thru: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Southridge Sports & Events Complex, 2901 Southridge Blvd., Kennewick. Get a goody bag filled with vendor products and information in our drive-thru lane.

OCTOBER 21

• Historic Downtown Kennewick

Bring your grandchildren and families to events with a star. ✪ Farmers Market: 4-7 p.m., 204 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick. For more information, call 509-582-7221 or email market@historickennewick. org.

• Former Hanford Workers, National Day of Remembrance Drive-thru: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 640 Jadwin Ave., Suite K, Richland.

Food and commemorative goody bags. Call 509-420-5046 to RSVP.

OCTOBER 22

• Richland Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., roundabout at Lee Boulevard and The Parkway in Richland. For more information, call 509-539-7229 or email herbsetal@ pocketinet.com.

ly/Active4LifeBeep4BINGO or by calling 800-595-4070.

OCTOBER 29

• Richland Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., roundabout at Lee Boulevard and The Parkway in Richland. For more information, call 509-539-7229 or email herbsetal@ pocketinet.com.

• Parkview’s Halloween Trail of Treats: 2-4 p.m. Outside Parkview Estates senior living community, 7820 W. Sixth Ave., Kennewick.

Costume contest, hot chocolate and goodies.

OCTOBER 30

• Pasco Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-1 p.m., 101 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco. For more information, call 509-528-8131 or email omartinez@ downtownpasco.com.

• Pasco Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-1 p.m., 101 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco. For more information, call 509-528-8131 or email omartinez@ downtownpasco.com.

• Alfresco Halloween - Safe Street Trick or Treating: 3-5 p.m., Historic downtown Kennewick.

OCTOBER 26

OCTOBER 31

OCTOBER 23

• Chili Feed & Beep for Bingo Alzheimer’s Fundraiser: 11 a.m.2 p.m., Columbia Point Marina Park, Riverfront Trail, Richland. Enjoy a cup of chili & cornbread, bingo and prizes from the comfort and safety of your vehicle. Registration is required at bit.

• Scare-Ousel of Dreams Drivethru Trick or Treating: 2-5 p.m.

Southridge Sports & Events Complex, 2901 Southridge Blvd. Get candy and other fun treats from multiple stops in the parking lot at the Gesa Carousel of Dreams.

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

5

Seniors group offers ways to avoid Covid isolation The mission of the Richland Seniors Association is to find ways to improve the quality of life of all Tri-City seniors – not just those in Richland. A key element in pursuing that mission is avoiding isolation.

Isolation is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The Covid-19 pandemic has presented clear obstacles to pursuing the RSA mission. Many traditional RSA activities have had to be suspended, such as the third Friday dances, or canceled, including, most recently, the 16th annual Holiday Bazaar in November.

However, as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention.

Throughout the pandemic, and particularly as the resurgence of delta-driven Covid has caused the rate of cases, hospitalizations, breakthrough cases and deaths to skyrocket, the means and methods for conducting activities that do not pose a dangerous risk to participants has been challenging. To responsibly pursue its mission, the RSA is pursuing a plan that offers the best options possible to our communities’ seniors.

Guidelines

Guidelines have been difficult for our governmental agencies, businesses and organizations. After careful consideration of published information and consultation with health officials, the RSA as adopted policies for its activities.

They take into consideration the case statistics, including the rising rate of breakthrough cases, and the fact that over 90% of new cases are of non-vaccinated people.

Participants in RSA activities must provide proof of vaccination. They must wear masks during indoor activities. They must make best efforts to maintain safe distancing.

It is believed to be the responsibility of the RSA and all citizens to do everything reasonable to fight and defeat Covid, protect ourselves, and protect others, by being leaders in this war against this disease.

Ways to avoid isolation

With these guidelines in mind, the RSA has been and is offering both by

Zoom and, more recently by live events, a wide variety of activities for its members and selectively the community David Everett at large.

Richland Senior Examples of Association these activities GUEST COLUMN include the following:

Regular scheduled activities

• Walking Group. Led by Director Rob Koenig, this RSA group enjoys two walks a month in the Tri-Cities.

Koenig selects interesting venues for entertaining and educational walks suitable for seniors’ capabilities.

• Poker Group. A minimum of five players are needed. Each player contributes 50 cents at the beginning of each session and that is donated to the RSA. There is a $5 buy-in at the outset to play. Betting is limited to nickels, dimes and quarters, with no more than three raises per hand. The players keep whatever money they might have won. Games are played as interest determines on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Monthly Zoom trivia is offered on the first Monday of every month.

Winners receive a prize from HAPO Community Credit Union and $10 from the RSA. • Monthly Zoom Bingo is offered on the second Thursday of every month. Winners receive a prize from HAPO and $10 from the RSA. • Zoom educational programs.

These events have included a live demonstration of plant-based cooking, legal issues related to seniors and a medical presentation on skin cancer. The next presentation will be by ophthalmologist Dr. Devin Harrison at 1:30-3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 11.

Registration is required for the groups. Call the RSA information line at 800-595-4070.

RSA also has coordinated special activities, including a Senior Summer Camp, Kite Day and caravan road trips.

Please recycle your publication when you are finished reading it, or pass it on to a family member or friend.

Upcoming events

• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Benefit Drive-In Movie.

Participants will remain in their car for this Halloween-themed benefit drive-in movie on Thursday, Oct. 14 at the Columbia Point parking area.

The movie is “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.”

The event is a fundraiser for the BZB Foundation, established by the recently deceased RSA member, John Burke, in honor of his late wife Jane. The foundation provides assistance to the well siblings of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital patients. All proceeds, including the sale of food, beverages, candy and popcorn, will be donated to St. Jude’s. Additionally, there will be 500 bears for “adoption” for $50 each, with all proceeds also going to the BZB Foundation. Each bear comes with a raffle ticket for a drawing for a trip. Admission is $15 per car. Registration is required at bit.ly/ A4LDriveinmovie or by calling 1-800-595-4070.

• Chili Feed & Beep for Bingo Alzheimer’s Fundraiser. This drivein event is from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 26, at the Columbia

Point parking area. Participants will remain in their cars, like at a drive-in movie, and play bingo through an AM radio frequency. A chili and cornbread meal will be served. When a participant has a bingo, they will beep their horn and once their card is confirmed by a volunteer, they will receive a prize. Admission is $5 per car. Registration is required at bit.ly/ Active4LifeBeep4BINGO or by calling 800-595-4070.

The important takeaway here is that there are opportunities for TriCity seniors to reduce the impact of isolation in their lives resulting from the pandemic.

The RSA, in collaboration, with sponsors like HAPO and Active4Life, offers seniors access to these activities.

RSA Membership is $5 per year, and members receive a monthly Newsletter.

To find out more, email RichSrAssn@gmail.com or call 800595-4070.

Active4Life membership is free.

Contact SaLee Charlesworth, director, at 509-392-6308 or go to stayactive4life.com. David Everett is the president of the Richland Seniors Association.

6

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021 uBRIEFS Covid-19 booster doses recommended for seniors

The Washington State Department of Health announced it will immediately begin offering booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to certain people.

At least six months after completing the primary Pfizer vaccine series, the DOH advises the following individuals should receive a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine: • People 65 years of age and older.

• People 18 years of age and older living in a long-term care setting.

• People 50-64 years of age with underlying medical conditions or those at increased risk of social inequities.

Additionally, the following individuals who completed a Pfizer vaccine series at least six months ago may receive a Pfizer booster dose: • People who are 18-49 years of age with underlying medical conditions.

• People 18-64 years of age who are at higher risk of Covid-19 exposure and transmission due to their occupational or institutional setting.

“Covid-19 vaccines continue to be highly effective in reducing the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death, even against the highly transmissible Delta variant,” said Secretary of Health Dr. Umair A. Shah. “As Covid-19 continues to evolve, booster doses will further protect vaccinated people who are at high-risk and those whose protection has decreased over time.”

At press time, there were not yet recommendations for people who

received the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccines.

However, certain people who are immunocompromised can receive a third dose of an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna).

To find a vaccine location near you, go to vaccinelocator.doh.wa. gov or call the Covid-19 Information Hotline at 800-525-0127, then press #. Language assistance is available.

Seniors invited to drive-thru Senior Times Expo

The fall Senior Times Expo is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19 at the Southridge Sports & Events Complex, 2901 Southridge Blvd in Kennewick.

This expo is a drive-thru-only event because of rising Covid-19 rates in the community.

Attendees will receive a free goody bag filled with vendor products and information in the drive-thru loop. The expo is limited to first 700 people.

Meier Architecture hosts Oct. 12 blood drive

Meier Architecture and Engineering is collaborating with the American Red Cross to host a blood drive from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 12 at 12 W. Kennewick Ave. According to the Red Cross, donors with all blood types are needed, especially those with types O negative, A negative and B negative.

Call 800-733-2767 or sign up online at redcrossblood.org with sponsor code MeierKennewick.

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

7

Sci-fi TV stars launch new ‘Lost in Space’ book If you were a child growing up during the 1960s and a fan of sci-fi television of the day, the nostalgic value of shows like “Lost in Space” can’t be overstated.

Cast members Bill Mumy and Angela Cartwright recognize the connection many seniors may have to the series and have updated and expanded their 2015 “Lost (and Found) in Space” book into a new volume, released Sept. 14 (NCPBooks.com).

“The new book is now 350 pages and contains over 900 photographs,” said Mumy, who played plucky junior astronaut Will Robinson in the series, from his home in Los Angeles.

“The original was largely a scrapbook with a few captions, but this one contains a lot more stories about the show as well as the intertwining lives of Angela and me who have remained friends for over 50 years. Much of the credit for the expanded book goes to (the late producer, director, and screenwriter) Kevin Burns.”

Angela Cartwright, the show’s genial and imaginative space-teen Penny Robinson, said Burns called her after acquiring the CBS photo archives of the show.

“We were planning to update the book with maybe 50 additional pages, but it ended up so much more with all these never-before-seen photos,” she said from her Los Angeles art studio.

“Bill and I got on the phone and began writing down all the personal memories the photos brought back.”

“I was 10 when the show began,” Mumy said. “Angela and I were at school together for four years, we

went through puberty together, we became each other’s first loves, traveled the world together, and went on to have Nick Thomas our own famiGUEST COLUMN lies. So it’s both a book on ‘Lost in Space’ and our long friendship.”

Why the show, and science fiction in general, remains so popular with audiences is no mystery to Mumy.

“Sci-fi is just a canvas for the imagination. And because our show had children, kids watching could relate to those characters and go along on the space adventures with us each week.”

After the three-season show ended in 1968, Mumy and Cartwright continued to act. Both had cameos in the Netflix “Lost in Space” revival.

But both have enjoyed successful careers beyond the screen in other artistic areas. Mumy is a respected musician and singer/songwriter (Go to billmumy.com). Cartwright is a noted photographer and painter (Go to angelacartwrightstudio.com).

However, the pair never distanced themselves from the iconic sci-fi series.

“The props, the cast, the stories – I loved every minute working on the show,” Mumy said. “We’ve been living through a hard time on this planet lately, so a little nostalgia can take you back to a happy time. ‘Lost in

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Space’ even inspired people to go into the space program.”

“When we visited NASA to watch the Discovery liftoff, an experience I’ll never forget, that’s what technicians told us,” Cartwright said.

“We just made this little show but it really captured the imagination of the youth of the day. Now, people in their 50s and 60s Courtesy Nick Thomas/CBS Publicity have introduced it Bill Mumy and Angela Cartwright as Penny and to their children Will Robinson in the 1960s sci-fi, “Lost in Space.” and grandchildren.

Cartwright starred also played Brigitta Von Trapp in In 30 or 40 years “Sound of Music.” when we’re all no longer around, said. “They’ve even been very forgivthere will probably be new generaing about my white hair!” tions still watching it with fond mem“We’ve told our story and told it ories. So, we’re grateful for the fans honestly,” Mumy said. “ ‘Lost in and hope the book brings back a snip- Space’ just makes people happy.” pet of their childhood.” Nick Thomas has written And as the stars have aged, so have features, columns, and interviews their fans. “That’s a special connecfor numerous magazines and tion we have with them,” Cartwright newspapers. Go to getnickt.org.

8

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

uBRIEFS Trios, Lourdes tout economic impact on Tri-Cities

Trios Health in Kennewick and Lourdes Health in Pasco together employed nearly 1,800 people and paid combined salaries of about $150 million in 2020.

The two health systems, both owned

by LifePoint Health, published independent community benefit reports.

Trios said it added 72 workers, spent $3.3 million on capital projects and donated $13 million in health services. It had 950 employees and an $87 million payroll.

The hospital paid $14.5 million in state and local taxes.

Lourdes said it added 52 employees and invested about $1 million in capital updates. It too contributed $13 million in health services.

It employed 800 people with a total payroll of $61 million.

The hospital paid $7 million in state and local taxes.

The reports attributed identical statements to the hospitals’ respective CEOs, John Solheim of Trios and Joanie White-Wagoner of Trios: “We are grateful to call the TriCities home and are proud to contribute to its economic and physical well-being in all the ways that we do.

We are also incredibly thankful for

and encouraged by the support our communities have shown us over the course of this historic year. As we look to the future, we are inspired to further enhance how we serve our neighbors today and in the bright days and years ahead.”

Physicians Immediate Care is now Nova Health

Nova Health, which operates primary and urgent care services in the western U.S., has acquired Richland’s Physicians Immediate Care & Medical Centers, or PICMC. The acquisition expands Nova’s growing footprint for urgent and primary care services into its fifth state of operations, consistent with its strategy to reach more markets in the Western United States, said Nova Health Chief Executive Officer Jim Ashby in a statement.

Nova Health has urgent care offices at 310 Torbett St. and 550 Gage Blvd., and a primary care office at 1516 Jadwin Ave., all in Richland.

“Nova Health has demonstrated its dedication to quality health care and optimized operations, their reputation as a powerful healthcare network is well-earned. We want to assure patients of PICMC that they will continue to see the same staff and receive the same great care, while enjoying the benefits of a large, interconnected

healthcare organization,” said Dr. Douglas Crawford, owner of Physicians Immediate Care and Medical Centers, in a news release.

Walk to End Alzheimer’s is scheduled for Oct. 10

The Tri-Cities Walk to End Alzheimer’s begins at noon Sunday, Oct. 10 at Columbia Park in Kennewick after being held virtually in 2020 because of the pandemic.

Participants may attend the event in person or walk independently in their own neighborhoods.

The Tri-City event is part of a nationwide walk to raise money and awareness of Alzheimer’s disease.

Local organizers hope to raise $125,000 to support research, as well as local support services for people living with dementia and their families.

Walkers will carry flowers coded to represent their connection to the disease – blue for those living with dementia, yellow for caregivers, purple for those who have lost a loved one and orange for people who walk in support of all those affected.

For questions about the Tri-Cities Walk to End Alzheimer’s, contact Erica Grissmerson, walk manager, at emgrissmerson@alz.org or 509-5527026.

To register, go to alz.org/walk or call 800-272-3900.

Washington Exchange rate hike approved

The 12 health insurers who will sell plans on Washington’s Exchange in 2022 have received permission to raise rates by an average of 4.17%.

Rates and plans for insurers selling outside of the exchange remain under review by the office of Mike Kreidler, Washington’s insurance commissioner.

About 240,000 consumers buy health insurance through the individual market, with 78% enrolled through the exchange, which provides an average monthly premium subsidy of $400.

Open enrollment for the 2022 individual market runs Nov. 1-Dec. 15.

There are special enrollment periods as well.

Insurers offering plans in Benton County are: BridgeSpan Health Co., Community Health Network of Washington, Coordinated Care Corp., Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington, Lifewise Health Plan of Washington and Molina Healthcare of Washington.

Insurers offering plans in Franklin County are: BridgeSpan Health Co., Community Health Network of Washington, Coordinated Care Corp., Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington and Molina Health Plan of Washington.

Go to wahealthplanfinder.org.

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

Just for Fun

Crossword

Across 1 Rugged auto 4 Besides 7 Print leaver 10 Startling exclamation 11 Fish eggs 12 Instruction to a Mexican hen?

13 Hogwarts mail deliverer 14 Outdated computer monitor type 15 Slender metal fastener 16 Memory size unit 17 Condescended 19 Donkey cry 21 You and me 22 “The Treasure of the Sierra ---” 24 What became of the OSS?

9

Solutions on page 11

27 Longest African flower 31 Commentary 33 Gallic refusal 34 Corporate ending 35 Program that performs repetitive tasks 36 Whale group 37 Very skilled person 38 Corroded 39 Application 40 Shelter 41 Breach 42 Conference and source of online talks Down 1 Manhattan Project goal 2 High building 3 Its delta lies near Astrakhan

4 Electrical discharges 5 Flickertail state 6 Inconvenient orange road sign 7 The old man 8 Outlander 9 Proceeds 18 Augury 20 Geneva-based youth org.

23 Car safety device 24 Experiment 25 Therefore 26 Event host 28 Two cents’ worth 29 Unfettered 30 Finished 32 Pace

Word search - Battles Juno

Somme

Anzio

Marengo

Tobruk

Arnhem

Midway

Verdun

Bulge

Nile

Waterloo

Dieppe

Okinawa

Ypres

Gaines Mill

Omaha

Iwo Jima

Shiloh

SUDOKU SUDOKU

How to How beat to Str8ts beat–Str8ts – Like Sudoku, no single 1 to 9 can repeat any row Like Sudoku, nonumber single number 1 to 9 caninrepeat in any row or column.

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© 2021 Syndicated Puzzles

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STR8TS STR8TS

© 2021 Syndicated Puzzles

Alamo

How to beat Str8ts: No single number, 1 to 9, can repeat in any row or column.

But rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments. Each compartment must form a straight, a set of numbers with no gaps but it can be in any order, eg: 7, 6, 8, 9. Clues in black cells remove that number as an option in that row and column, and are not part of any straight.

Rules of Sudoku - To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains ever number uniquely.

For more strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org and www.str8ts.com.

To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 and 3x3 1 to 9 such that each row, column box contains everyTrain” numberpremiered Oct. 2:box “Soul as a contains everyuniquely. number uniquely.

5syndicated program with weekly episodes. strategies, hints and tips, many strategies, hints and tips, 3For2manyFor visit www.sudokuwiki.org for Sudoku Oct. 12: U.S.forHouse of Representatives visitThe www.sudokuwiki.org for Sudoku 2and 1www.str8ts.com Str8ts. and www.str8ts.com for Str8ts. overwhelmingly approved the proposed Equal 1 5 If you like Str8ts and other puzzles, check out our Rights as other a 27th Amendment to IfAmendment you like Str8ts and puzzles, check out our 4books, iPhone/iPad Apps and much more on our store.

books, iPhone/iPad Apps and much more on our store. the U.S. Constitution.

Oct. 17: The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series.

ANSWER Quiz answer from Page 1

They were Capt. Meriwether Lewis and Capt. William Clark.

— Source: East Benton County Historic Society and Museum

10

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

Courtesy Franklin County Historical Society & Museum The new Franklin County Historical Museum annex, pictured on right, is a steel two-story building, with 5,180 square feet on the main floor and a 622-square-foot upper mezzanine. The project is estimated to cost $809,352.

MUSEUM, From page 1

tired history teacher.

He pointed out that the society’s role is preserving residents’ stories.

“When I taught history, I did my best to tell stories about the real people who showed up for different events. … Real people are a big deal for me.

To tell their stories. That’s what we’re doing here,” he said.

The new annex will be a steel two-story building with 5,180 square feet on the main level and 622 square feet on the upper mezzanine.

The society acquired three parcels behind the museum and leveled the houses on them to build the annex at 423 W. Bonneville St. Romm Construction of Pasco is the builder.

About three-quarters of the annex will be used for curation and receiving new collection items, preservation, restoration and storage. The rest will feature museum displays. The new building also will be used to host events.

Two years ago, the historical society kicked off a capital campaign, raising about $444,000, which, com-

bined with a state grant, was enough for the building and overage for the little things that inevitably pop up, Davis said.

But the $173,404 state grant through the Washington State Historical Society may be in jeopardy due to a recent Washington Supreme Court ruling related to paying prevailing wages through the entirety of the construction project, instead of during different project phases, Davis said.

This may raise the overall cost of the project 25-33%, putting the grant dollars in jeopardy, Davis said.

“We’re evaluating it right now,” he said. “It’s just another hurdle in the race.”

The pandemic also created additional challenges.

Project costs rose from $540,000 to $809,000, increasing the budget for the annex and leaving a $240,000 gap.

The museum applied for a building permit in January and received approval in August because the building codes changed in February, Davis said.

“All our of plans and all our drawings reflected the old code. ... It took

Photo by Kristina Lord Members of the Franklin County Historical Society and Museum board include, back row, from left: Damien Davis (executive director), Richard Scheuermann (museum volunteer), Keith Snider (board treasurer), Nick Lippold (board member) and LaMar Palmer (board member). Front row, from left: Jeanne Hailey (board member), Andy Johnson (board member), Sandy Johnson (board secretary) and Glen Allison (board president).

until August to get the I’s dotted, T’s crossed,” he said. It also cost the nonprofit more to re-engineer its plans.

“We had been hoping to be done by the start of this summer. Patience is a virtue and we’re learning the hard way,” he said, adding that the city of Pasco and Franklin County have provided a “ton of support” for the project.

To bridge the funding gap, the historical society plans to run a secondary capital campaign while the annex is under construction.

Davis said he hopes to get the shell up before winter weather sets in.

The framing steel and some building supplies are already staged on the property.

But Davis isn’t sure when the work will begin because “the trade people are crazy booked,” and the museum society is waiting on the blessing from the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. But if the society doesn’t use the state grant dollars, this step is not needed, Davis said.

Currently, excavators are booked up to nine weeks out, he said. Completion is expected in 2022.

Creating a complex

The annex project is part of the museum society’s long-term goal to create a museum complex.

The Franklin County Historical Society began in 1968 before it even had a building. It took over the 5,000-square-foot Carnegie Library in 1983. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“This is a great building we have.

But there are things we can’t do in here because we can’t alter the building,” Allison said.

Looking to the future, the nonprof-

it bought the 1,000-square-foot blue home next door the museum at 311 N. Fourth Ave. for $158,800 in late 2019.

It will be used as a waypoint to vet items before adding them to the museum. Other future possibilities include turning it into a research cottage for genealogy or a student-run coffee and art shop.

Plans also are underway to digitize the museum’s collection and launch a new website, which will offer curriculum-based lessons for educators. It’s a big undertaking as there are 100,000 pieces in the collection, Davis said.

“We’re in the process re-cataloging every single thing we have in the museum,” Damien said.

The museum’s role is to educate but the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way it reaches people, Davis said.

Field trips and visiting schools were no longer options.

“Our goal is to modernize and take that next step. We’re excited for it.

There will be challenges that come along with it – space being the biggest one,” he said.

Even once the annex is built, there won’t be enough room to house the entire collection. But the historical society hopes to centralize the collection in one location.

“It’s been something we’ve been working on for about a decade,” Davis said.

Franklin County Historical Museum: 305 N. Fourth Ave., Pasco; 509547-3714; franklincountyhistoricalsociety.org.

Current hours are noon to 5 p.m.

Thursday and Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Tuesday and Wednesday available by appointment.

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

11

Buildings may come and go but memories made in them remain

By East Benton County Historical Society

The walls are tumbling down.

The old twin gymnasiums and other structures, the last remnants of Kennewick’s old junior high school on today’s Kennewick High School campus across from the west end of Keewaydin Park, are coming down in the continuing construction of a new high school complex.

What the wrecking crews cannot remove, however, are the solidly constructed memories built into those gyms, like the recall of sashaying pom-poms, the leaps and bounds of cheerleaders, the rah-rah of pep rallies, the heartbreak of defeat and the thrill of victory played out on the gym floors.

Teenage sock hops could take the air out of a shy boy’s lungs and send his heart racing faster than his shoeless feet creating rhythm on the hardwood when he lucked into pairing off with the pretty girl he was smitten with and adored from afar.

Wanting a little lunchtime solitude?

It was found in the empty bleachers in the east-side gym where you could chow down with your sack lunch from home, often a baloney sandwich layered with lettuce and pickles and lathered with condiments.

This gym was once part of Kennewick High School in an earlier era. When a new high school was built in the early 1950s at Dayton Street and Sixth Avenue the structure became sole possession of Kennewick Junior High, forerunner of today’s Park Middle School. Radiators gave warmth to classrooms in winter, open windows served to air condition.

From the oldest gym’s unretractable bleacher seating in a small-school era, fans rooted on the home team against visiting high schools like White Bluffs and Hover, now extinct, and the likes of Kahlotus, River View of Finley, Connell, Prescott, Genesse, Idaho, and Heppner, Oregon.

Courtesy East Benton County Historical Society The last remnants of the old Kennewick Junior High School are being demolished on the current campus of the new Kennewick High School, but the wrecking crews can’t take away the many memories made in the old twin gymnasium, including riveting basketball games.

Its companion gym lacked bleachers. Both gyms were linked by short open walkways on each end. A fulllength boys locker room entered at either end separated the gyms.

P.E. classes were a staple of the gyms throughout the years for junior high seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-graders, proud to be Kennewick Cubs.

Clad in the school colors, they ran through a litany of calisthenics in white T-shirts or blouses, and green shorts.

Dodge ball came down to the last player standing for a winning team as gym classes split into squads. You could win sprints racing the hardwood floor by being the first to slap the farend wall.

Eighth-grade P.E. students in the late 1950s got a lesson in physical fitness watching classmate Ed Alden, a star athlete, give a remarkable demonstration of one-arm pushups. Ed, later a Kennewick School Board member, parlayed his remarkable eighth-grade athletic skills into being a starting running back on the ninth-grade varsity football team.

The side-by-side gyms hosted the Pacific Northwest Church Basketball Championships in March 1959.

Church teams and their fans from Washington, Idaho, and Oregon converged on the twin junior high gyms with simultaneous games for the weekend morning-to-night tourney in youth and adult divisions. Memory suggests a Kennewick church youth team won the Pacific Northwest Championship for juniors. An adult team from tiny Princeton, Idaho, with parishioners from nearby locations like Potlatch and Onaway, finished runner-up in the adult division to the winner now lost in memory.

The gyms were home to the regular intramural season and the intramural basketball championships.

Cliff Ledford captained his team to the last Kennewick Junior High School eighth-grade intramural championship for Mrs. Stevenson’s homeroom with a 19-point blowout in the championship game ending the 1957-58 season.

Cliff’s teammates included cousins Kerry Metcalf and Gale Metcalf, a reserve and occasional starter.

The previous year, Cliff captained the team for Mr. Wade’s homeroom to the seventh-grade intramural championship for the 1956-57 season, capturing the title by one point in an overtime championship game won on a winning free throw by Jim Sachse.

The 1958 graduating class of Kennewick Junior High School, 1961 Kennewick High School graduates, was the last graduating class to play in the “Kennewick Junior High gyms.”

The school was renamed Park Junior High after a second junior high, Highlands, was planned for Kennewick.

The junior high graduating class of 1959, whose members would graduate three years later in the Kennewick High Class of 1962, were introduced uKENNEWICK HIGH, Page 15

Puzzle answers from page 9

Crossword 1

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Str8ts Solution

28 33

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Word search

Str8ts Solution E G B U T N 2 O M B 3M R 1A U 4R K E S N P 6G Z 7O

3A 4I N E 9S 8M 2L G5 E4 L 3A 7E W O M I W H 1A L A3 N 4A N 4T E2 Y O6N 5R E P 3 A7 N 5 I 6A R P W6 U 7K E 5 L E D J O M 7 8 1 2 O I I T Y M 9O D7 M2 H 8U 1O 8H O L1 I 2H 3S

7I E 9 Z 8 Z 1 W N 4 U 3 D R 5 E 6 V

L L W8 Y6 P N 6 7 I O W7 H8 O O2 J2 O I M 3 4 M A A4 H3 Z5 A

9 8 3 4 2 5 4 3 7 2 1 3 4 3 4 2 6 5 1 3 7 5 6 4 5 6 7 7 8 1 2 6 9 7 2 8 1 7 8 1 2 3

Sudo

7 9 8 1 4 3

8 6 6 7 7 8 2 2 3 4 5 4 3 6 5

Sudoku

Sudoku Solution

4 5 6 2 8 7 1 9 3

1 7 2 3 9 5 8 6 4

8 3 9 4 6 1 5 2 7

5 4 1 9 7 3 6 8 2

6 9 3 8 5 2 4 7 1

7 2 8 6 1 4 9 3 5

For more strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org and www.str8ts.com.

2 6 4 1 3 9 7 5 8

3 8 5 7 4 6 2 1 9

9 1 7 5 2 8 3 4 6

4 5 6 2 8 7 1 9 3

1 7 2 3 9 5 8 6 4

12

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

CEMETERY TIM, From page 1

being a buttoned-up, serious cemetery guy.

“I feel blessed to be where I am right now. Through hard work and determination, things have gone my way,” he said.

Approachable goals

One way Morris tries to be approachable is in his pricing structure.

Many businesses require half payment up front and half when the headstone is completed, he said.

He allows his customers to make monthly payments.

He got his start in the industry by working for three years as the manager of a Lower Valley cemetery before he went into business for himself.

“I wanted to work with families on my own,” he said.

He started in Toppenish but outgrew that space and opened a showroom and workshop in Yakima two years ago. His Pasco showroom opened four months ago.

He’s currently working on about 500 headstones. He employs a team of seven on a contractual basis. His wife, Alma Morris, co-owns the business.

He calls her Mrs. Cemetery Tim. He planned to open in Pasco next year, but when he drove by the vacant building and saw the “for lease” sign, he checked it out. The former beauty salon came with chandelier light fixtures and didn’t need significant remodeling – it was perfect, he said. His mom also lives in the Tri-Cities.

Morris said he’s in the business of helping families remember their loved ones with style – a style of their choosing.

His headstones sometimes feature

Photo by Kristina Lord Tim Morris stands at his showroom door at his business, Headstones by Cemetery Tim, which he opened four months ago at 325 W. Lewis St. in downtown Pasco.

vibrant photos of the deceased. Families can choose from an array of designs, ala cart style.

There are 300 or so to scroll through at CemeteryTim.com. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, Morris works with artists who can customize any design using laser etching and sandblasting techniques.

The Chavez and Cardenas family said Cemetery Tim came highly recommended.

Alexandria Chavez of Kennewick and her aunts, Idalia Cardenas and Maria Cardenas, both of Pasco, arranged fresh flowers on a recent Friday morning at the newly installed headstone for Virginia Cardenas, Chavez’s mom and her aunts’ sister, at Pasco’s City View Cemetery. She died Oct. 29, 2020, from cancer at age 61.

They gushed over her headstone, saying they were surprised how big it was.

“The bigger the better. The price was good. It’s gorgeous. It’s beautiful. Pictures don’t do it justice,” Chavez said.

Headstone maker for stars

As he got back to work, his phone pinged with a message from a member of the hip hop group N.W.A. wanting to know how much his headstones cost.

Morris said it’s a difficult question to answer because every headstone is different. The engravings differ. The designs differ. The kinds of granite differ.

Prices can range from a few hundred dollars up to a few thousand.

Cemetery Tim offers prepayment plans for headstones. It’s important to plan ahead because it’s hard on families to make decisions “at the toughest time of their life,” after a death, he said.

“It’s something you’ve got to face.

We are all born and we are guaranteed to also pass away,” he said.

The business has been getting a lot of attention from celebrities and their families.

The first request came from a daughter of Eazy-E, a California rapper from the hip hop group N.W.A., who died in 1995.

“I grew up listening to him,” Morris said. “It made the hair stand up on the back of my arm when she called.”

The late rapper needed a new tombstone at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Whittier, California. The replacement corrected his date of birth and was decidedly more modern with color photos honoring the “The Godfather of Gangsta Rap.” It was unveiled on what would have been Eazy-E’s 55th birthday in 2019.

Morris’ other famous clients include Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of the hip hop group TLC, rapper Nate Dogg and Ti-

juana singer Jimmy Gonzalez, among others. Snoop Dogg’s cousin called Morris to design a headstone for his mom. Morris told him that he’d do it under one condition: if he got a chance to meet his uncle, the famous rapper and actor.

Morris clearly enjoys telling this story, relaying details about how big Snoop’s house was and what it was like to meet the rap legend.

“I’m not in LA. but I work with a lot of L.A. families,” he said. “We can ship all over the country.”

Cemetery Tim got a celebrity endorsement from the late Tommy Debo Lister, a former professional wrestler turned actor who starred in the 1995 movie “Friday,” and alongside Bruce Willis in the 1997 movie “The Fifth Element.”

“You really need to reach out to a company that cares about your loved ones. A headstone company that can be trusted – and that company is Cemetery Tim, The Headstone Whisperer,” said Lister, who also filmed a couple of TV commercials for Cemetery Tim in 2020. He died in December.

Cemetery Tim recently was hired in late September to make a headstone for A.J. Johnson, who co-starred with Lister in “Friday.”

“That’s the power of social media and the internet – where anybody can tap you on shoulder at any moment in time and say, ‘I just lost my husband or my whoever.’ Can you help me?’ ” Morris said.

How does he feel to be designing headstones for famous people? It wasn’t part of his plan – but he’s embracing it.

“It’s really surreal. I mean honestly, I put a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears into this company and I thought about it and thought about what I wanted to do to help families, and honestly the word is getting around. And that’s the blessing. You work hard and you get to reap benefits. You stay focused and you don’t give up,” he said.

On Sept. 28, Morris was headed to the Tri-Cities Airport to fly to L.A. to meet with Johnson’s wife.

“I’m going to sit down at the table with her and find out who A.J. was and what made him happy and what he would want on his headstone. I’m going to have a discussion with her and his kids, and we’ll come up with a concept for him,” he said.

It’s no different from how he works with local families.

“Every family to me is the same. If I can, I will come to the table for everybody,” he said. “I don’t care where you come from. I want to just help out when I can.”

Headstones by Cemetery Tim: 325 W. Lewis St., Pasco; 509-380-0809; Cemeterytim.com.

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

13

Spudnut remodels to meet ADA requirements after suit

By Robin Wojtanik for Senior Times

Modern updates have come to Richland’s famed Spudnut Shop, but not from a voluntary desire to change the space that hadn’t been remodeled since 1965.

Valerie Driver, the second-generation owner of the iconic Richland restaurant, said she spent tens of thousands of dollars to update the shop after she and several neighbors in the Uptown Shopping Center were sued in federal court for allegations they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and its state-level counterpart, the Washington Law Against Discrimination.

Driver and her husband, along with six other businesses, were sued individually by a Benton County resident who uses a wheelchair. The man, who is described in the Driver suit as being a quadriplegic, visited the shopping center in January. He sued in March after encountering numerous barriers in businesses at the center.

The suit against the Drivers asserts they failed to comply with ADA requirements for parking, access, restrooms, doors, tables and counter heights.

Driver settled the case out of court in June for $6,000 and a commitment to bring the building up to compliance.

Four of the six other cases remain open, according to federal court records. Efforts to reach the plaintiff’s attorney were unsuccessful.

“I’m wondering if businesses shouldn’t put on the front of the door, ‘no public restrooms,’ as sad as that is,” Driver said.

Driver said the suit alleged violations that, in some cases, were not on property she owned or controlled.

“The first 10 violations were like the parking lot and coming up to the front door, but we said we’re not in charge of that, that’s the city of Richland,” she said.

Driver, who also owns the neighboring spaces occupied by a hair salon and barber shop, said customers who use wheelchairs are not uncommon.

“We have customers that come in in wheelchairs all the time, and there’s never been a problem,” she said.

Other settlements

Another business owner affected by the ADA lawsuits reached a settlement agreement at the end of August, a week after the plaintiff’s original attorney withdrew from the case and a new attorney from Enabled Law Group filed his notice of appearance.

Vikki Butler, owner of Real Deals, a tenant in the Uptown facing Jadwin Avenue, was one of the defendants, along with her landlord.

Butler said the terms of her settlement prevent her from discussing the final outcome reached with Martin William Judnich, a Montana attorney admitted to the Washington State Bar Association in February 2020.

Court papers say he is with Enabled Law Group, a practice located at the same address as Judnich Law Office in Missoula, where the company’s website biography lists him as president of the firm, and says he’s been “helping the injured for 17 years.”

Neither Judnich nor Enabled Law

Photo by Robin Wojtanik Valerie Driver, owner of Richland’s Spudnut Shop, has worked for more than 50 years in the restaurant started by her father and uncle. She recently spent tens of thousands of dollars to update the doughnut shop after it and neighbors in the Uptown Shopping Center were sued in federal court for allegations they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Group could be reached to comment.

Lawsuit expenses add up

For Driver, the settlement was only part of the true cost of the suit against Spudnut. She paid $4,000 to her attorney and another $4,000 for architectural renderings.

Her building needed water and electrical work, part of which was needed to add an automatic front door. Driver estimates total costs will run as high as $85,000 for her portion of the building.

Spudnut Shop has occupied the same space in the Uptown since 1950, when it moved from the Richland Wye spot

where Driver’s father and uncle first opened in 1948.

Driver said she missed out on construction grants and low-interest loans she would have qualified for due to being ineligible while in the midst of active litigation.

Looking forward

Driver is moving beyond the upheaval caused by the suit to focus on running the shop she’s worked at for 52 years and owned since 1999.

Closing in on nearly 75 years in business, Driver said the restaurant is uSPUDNUT SHOP, Page 14

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SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

SPUDNUT SHOP, From page 13

thriving despite the impact of the pandemic.

Still, it is not selling as many spudnuts to office workers as it once did.

“When they’re all working from home now, they don’t need any refreshments,” she said. Spudnut is doing a quick business on many lunch items, like sandwiches, salads and burgers.

The price of a spudnut – which gets its name from potato flour – goes up every couple years.

Driver last raised prices in early 2020, charging $1 for a single spudnut and about $10 for a dozen.

“My baker’s dozen is $11,” she said. “I’m not getting up at that time to give stuff away.”

Driver starts making the spudnuts around midnight six nights a week, with shop hours 4 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The shop produces 150 to 250 dozen spudnuts a day, with the highest demand coming on Fridays and Saturdays.

Driver said the shop was once open round the clock. “The (Uptown) movie theater would get out and all the kids would come down here and wait for their parents to pick them up.”

Driver isn’t sure how long she’ll keep running the Spudnut Shop or what the future holds, but she’s grateful for loyal customers and loyal em-

ployees, many of whom have been visiting or working at the shop for many years. She won’t venture to guess how many spudnuts she’s made in her lifetime.

“It would make my head hurt.”

Leaning on state lawmakers

Butler, the owner of Real Deals, is looking to Olympia for relief from ADA lawsuits. She encourages other business owners to lean on state lawmakers to support House Bill 1574, expected to be taken up in the 2022 session.

Sponsored by local Reps. Matt Boehnke and Brad Klippert, both Kennewick Republicans, and 13 others, HB 1574 would give business owners a reasonable chance to make improvements prior to potential fines for ADA noncompliance.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was adopted in 1990 and allows businesses to be sued without warning for failing to accommodate those with disabilities, on the grounds of discrimination. The Tri-Cities Regional Chamber of Commerce also has voiced support for the bill, which came too late in the session to be heard in 2021.

The city of Richland was not sued, but design work is underway for improvements to the Uptown parking lot as part of the city’s 2020 capital improvement plan.

Parkview’s

October 29, 2021 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

East side parking lot 7820 W. 6th Ave., Kennewick

Courtesy WSU Tri-Cities James Mattis, a Richland native and former U.S. Secretary of Defense, left, chats with Bernadette “Bernie” Gagnier, a Washington State University Tri-Cities wine science alumna and current WSU graduate student, during the Sept. 8 dedication for his namesake library in the university’s Veterans Center. A ceremony preceded celebrating the school’s expanded Veterans Memorial. The library is a permanent installation featuring books that Mattis called influential to his career.

WSU Tri-Cities honors veterans with help from Gen. James Mattis

By Senior Times staff

Gen. James Mattis, a Richland native and former U.S. Secretary of Defense, spoke at Washington State University Tri-Cities’ Sept. 8 dedication for an expanded “Stories” Veterans Memorial and his namesake Leadership Library as part of a special tribute ceremony.

The “Stories” Veterans Memorial, created by local artist Tom McClelland, features a collection of stories from regional veterans.

With the expansion, the memorial now includes a larger concrete base that houses benches donated by the Schmieman family in honor of their late son Sgt. Dietrich Schmieman, as well as flag poles that display the

American and U.S. military branch flags.

The expansion and improvements were made possible by Cliff Thorn Construction, as well as Legacy Excavation, 1st Place Concrete and Absolute Power TC. Following the unveiling of the memorial, guests headed to the unveiling of the Leadership Library located in the WSU Tri-Cities Veterans Center.

The library features a collection of Mattis’ favorite books that have been influential throughout his career.

The library was made possible by C. Mark Smith and the Richland Rotary Club of the Tri-Cities, who led fundraising efforts for the library.

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SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021 uBRIEFS 2021 Tri-Citian of the Year delayed to 2022

The Tri-Cities’ top civic honor is once again canceled because of Covid19.

Tri-Citian of the Year, which recognizes key leaders, has been postponed to May 3, 2022. It had been scheduled for Oct. 12.

Organizers said rising Covid-19 cases in Benton and Franklin counties drove the decision, made in compliance with recommendations from the Benton-Franklin Health District.

Dave Retter of Retter & Company Sotheby’s International Realty and the previous winner will announce the next honoree at the 2022 event, which will be held at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick.

PNNL reports big impact on Washington economy

A new economic impact report indicates the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy, had a $1.59 billion impact on the regional economy in 2020 through direct and indirect activity.

PNNL published the report in September.

PNNL supports nearly 7,600 jobs in Washington through its own payroll and indirect activity.

Visitor spending, health care spending, and resident retiree spending generated $300 million in output for Washington, 1,850 jobs and $120 million in income, it said.

Its direct payroll was $530 million, with $485 million paid to staff employed in Washington.

The laboratory spent $460 million on goods and services, of which $61 million were made with Washington firms.

It spent $31.5 million on construction and renovation projects, with KENNEWICK HIGH, From page 11 to the Park Junior High gyms on returning for the 1958-59 school year.

Just off and attached to the gym complex, a small woodshop class was taught by Charlie Smith.

“Mr. Smith,” a 1944 graduate of Kennewick, was a member of the only Kennewick High basketball team to win a district championship, and one of only two teams from the school ever to reach the state basketball tournament.

He significantly influenced the junior high’s intramural program.

Plaster, moldings, supports, beams, fixtures and other assembling materials of the old gyms are coming down. The heartwarming personal memories of generations stay in place.

much of that supporting construction jobs associated with local subcontractors.

Battelle and the staff of PNNL paid $28 million in local and state taxes, including sales and use taxes and property taxes.

Health expenditures for the lab and its retirees totaled $79 million. PNNL retirees received $154 million in pension and Social Security payments.

Fifteen companies based on its technological or managerial roots generated $38 million and employed 190 million.

Finally, it made $1 million in charitable contributions, chiefly to support STEM education efforts.

Go to https://bit.ly/PNNLreport2020.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee headlines Boys & Girls event

Jackie Joyner-Kersee, considered the greatest female athlete of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated, will headline a Nov. 4 dinner to benefit Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties.

Proceeds from the Dinner with Friends program will support local clubs.

Joyner-Kersee is a six-time Olympic medalist. She belonged to the Boys & Girls Club of East St. Louis as a child and is a champion of youth.

The program is from 6-9 p.m. at Three Rivers Convention Center in

Kennewick.

Sponsorships are available. Contact Adrianne Johnson at adrianne@greatclubs.org.

Auto thefts put Washington in top 10 for car losses

Washington state now ranks eight worst in the U.S. for auto thefts, no thanks to an increase of nearly 10%.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau reports 37,465 vehicles were stolen in Washington in 2020, up 9.6% from 2019. Vehicle theft is generally covered by comprehensive insurance, less deductibles.

The crime bureau notes that auto thefts rose significantly across the U.S.

15

in 2020 during the pandemic. Vehicle thefts are the nation’s number-one property crime, with the FBI estimated losses cost an estimated $6 billion in 2019 The industry group advises vehicle owners and drivers to use its “four layers of protection” to guard against theft, or at least make it more difficult for a thief to take it.

The protections include common sense measures like locking your car, adding warning devices like light and sound auto alarm systems, using a steering wheel lock, adding an immobilizing device such as a fuse cut-off or kill switch, or using an onboard tracking device.

16

SENIOR TIMES • OCTOBER 2021

2021 Tuesday, October 19, 2021 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

FREE Drive-thru

Southridge Sports & Events Complex 2901 Southridge Blvd., Kennewick

The 2021 Senior Times Fall Expo is a drive-thru-only event because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Get a goody bag filled with vendor products and information in our drive-thru lane.

We’ll be masked and gloved up with your safety in mind.

Brought to you by:

Limited to first 700 people.

For more information, call (509) 737-8778.