Atlanta Senior Life - March 2022 by Atlanta Senior Life from Reporter Newspapers

PEOPLE

Bill Tush is still a funny guy page 10

MARCH 2022 • Vol. 7 No.3 • AtlantaSeniorLIFE.com

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Piecing It All Together

from the crates Disco! When dancing was in the Limelight page 18

TRAVEL PACERS AND TROTTERS: HARNESS RACING IN GEORGIA page 12

INSIDE THE ARTS Building a rich collection of city-owned art page 22

Contents MARCH 2022

COVER STORY

pleasures of 4 The jigsaw puzzles a battle with 5 After COVID, George Seong turned to making puzzles

8 Finding the right pieces of course, 9 And, there’s an app… 10 PEOPLE Bill Tush held a unique

(and funny) place in Atlanta TV

12 TRAVEL Harness racing returns to Hawkinsville

TO DO 14 THINGS Irish tavern keepers hope the St. Patrick’s Day crowd will be back this year

16 GARDENING March brings the time to think about flowers

THE CRATES 18 FROM The heady days when disco was in the Limelight

PERSONAL SAFETY In their heyday, the bars in Sandy Springs drew quite a crowd

4 Visit Atlanta Senior Life online by scanning this QR Code

FINANCE 21 PERSONAL Does Medicare Parts A

and B back up a Medicare Plus plan?

THINGS TO SEE Building a rich collection of city-owned art

Joe Earle Editor-at-Large joe@springspublishing.com

On the cover PEOPLE

Bill Tush is still a funny guy page 10

MARCH 2022 • Vol. 7 No.3 • AtlantaSeniorLIFE.com

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from the crates Disco! When dancing was in the Limelight page 18

TRAVEL Pacers and trotters: racing horses in Georgia

INSIDE THE ARTS Building a rich collection of city-owned art

Jigsaw puzzle fan Daiga Dunis pieces together another masterpiece.

Keith Pepper Publisher keith@springspublishing.com (404) 917-2200 ext 1001

Editorial

Contributors Kathy Dean, Greg Levine, Camille Russell Love, Kelly McCoy, Isadora Pennington, Steve Rose, Charles Seabrook, Mark Woolsey Advertising For information call (404) 917-2200, ext 1002 Sales Executive: Jeff Kremer

Photo and photo treatment by Isadora Pennington.

page 13

Steve Levene Founder & Publisher Emeritus

Published By Springs Publishing Circulation/ Subscriptions For distribution information, call (404) 917-2200, ext. 1003 delivery@springspublishing.com © 2021 All rights reserved. Publisher reserves the right to refuse editorial or advertising for any reason. Publisher assumes no responsibility for information contained in advertising. Any opinions expressed in print or online do not necessarily represent the views of Atlanta Senior Life or Springs Publishing

Amy Arno Director of Sales Development amy@springspublishing.com (404) 917-2200, ext. 1002 Rico Figliolini Creative Director Deborah Davis Office Manager deborah@springspublishing.com

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COVER STORY By Kathy Dean Some people like the challenge. For others, it’s a way to unwind after a hectic day. Whatever the reason, jigsaw puzzles have a lot of fans. Puzzle lovers are found across the country and around the world, and metro Atlanta has its share. Daiga Dunis of Decatur said the puzzles allow her to disconnect and focus on relaxing. “It’s a visual thing and I’m a visual person. I like the shapes and the colors in the picture. It’s kind of like meditating.” And it’s exciting when things start to fit. “We get a bit of an endorphin surge when the pieces link together,” she added.

Piecing it all together

Good for the brain Medical experts confirm those positive results. “Putting a jigsaw puzzle together has many health benefits and can help reduce stress and improve memory,” Jill Riley, senior clinical operations associate in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, wrote in a 2020 blog entry. “Puzzles are also good for the brain. Studies have shown that doing jigsaw puzzles can improve cognition and visual-spatial reasoning. The act of putting the pieces of a puzzle together requires concentration and improves short-term memory and problem solving. Using the puzzle as an exercise of the mind can spark imagination and increase both your creativity and productivity.” Dunis, 72, said that she has particularly enjoyed working on puzzles during the pandemic, and she’s not alone.

Many flavors Dunis says every puzzle company has a different vibe for its products. “New York Puzzle Company is a bit squirrelly,” she said. “Normally, when you work an edge, it’s pretty standard and a good safe bet. Not with theirs… something could change with it.” Dunis prefers puzzles with clear patterns and colors. “I did one that was a picture of a peacock with an open tail.

Courtesy of Mosaic Puzzles

So many of the colors were exactly the same, it was very challenging,” she said. “I almost didn’t finish it, but I soldiered on and got it done.” Puzzle manufacturers’ websites demonstrate each brand’s unique spin. Most of the sites allow you to shop by number of pieces, difficulty and specific themes, such as “flowers” or “sports,” which allows puzzlers to choose designs they’re willing to stare at for hours as they assemble the images on card tables or dining room tables or any other available surface. Dunis builds her puzzles on a special table made of Masonite. The board has a smooth, flat, hard surface with skinny trays that slide out like drawers on the side. It allows her to move the

MARCH 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

pieces by shape or color,” she said. If she wants to use the dining room table for something else, she “shove the drawers back in, pick it up and carry it elsewhere.” Once she finishes a puzzle, “I stare at it for a while, snap a photo with my cellphone, then crunch it up,” Dunis said. “I take the puzzles I’ve done whenever I’m going to see people who might enjoy doing them. Just like books, I pass them on.”

Making it your own Daiga Dunis

puzzle around while she’s still working on it. “I sort the edge pieces first, then use the trays to sort the other

Jigsaw puzzles can also be personal treasures and unique gifts. Eloise Ragsdale of Decatur has done a lot of photography over the years and found a great way to share it with others. “We’ve been going for about

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40 years to south Florida, Sanibel Island,” Ragsdale said. There, Ragsdale and her daughter, Emily Grasso, collect seashells. “In fact, we’re going to become Shell Ambassadors there.” Shell Ambassadors are specially trained volunteers who answer beach visitors’ questions about the shells they find. Ragsdale said that after about a week, they gather their shells and arrange them on the sand to be photographed. Then, she chooses a photo, edits it on Photoshop and sends it off to be made into a puzzle that she gives as holiday gifts to some friends. “You’d think they’d be easy enough to do,” Ragsdale said. “I mean, they’re not all like blue sky. The shells look different.” But she admitted that she didn’t finish hers. She said that one of her friends received a 1,000-piece puzzle, and “he put it together so fast, I sent him a second one.”

After a battle with COVID, George Seong turned to making wooden Jigsaw puzzles

One high-quality puzzle manufacturer bases operations in the Atlanta area. Mosaic Puzzles produces carefully designed and crafted wooden jigsaw puzzles. Many are based on works of art, and as their website explains, “every piece is part of the puzzle’s story.” Individual pieces have recognizable shapes, such as animals, people and buildings — that snap into place to create the whole. The force behind Mosaic Puzzles is Seattle native George Seong, who spent most of his career in the tech industry. A variety of events came together to lead his launch of Mosaic Puzzles in 2020. One of those things was a visit in 2015 to a “magical B&B in Cannon Beach, 45 minutes from Portland, Puzzle places Ore.,” he said. “In the George Seong Jigsaw puzzles turn up all lobby, they had a wooden over the place. Stop by the jigsaw puzzle set up. I gift shop of your favorite started working on it at 10 Atlanta attraction, such as p.m. one night and kept at it until 4 a.m. the next the Atlanta History Center, morning.” and you’re sure to find a Seong went back to New York selection of jigsaw and continued working in the tech field for the next six years. Continued on page 6 Then, in March of 2020, “I left my job, took a d r o c e r e h t t break to figure a th For com reports s. rd o c e R some things d GuinessWorl ost pieces m e th h it out and went to w uzzle ents at the d the jigsaw p u st 0 0 6 Seattle to visit 1, ted by hi C o H was comple in s ic my family,” he f Econom It . University o 11 0 said. “This was 2 ietnam in a d Minh City, V re at the height su pieces, mea d n of the COVID a had 551,232 et feet by 76 fe 8 4 r e v o le pandemic.” tt li etaled lotus -p x si a d te At that ic dep time, the r. flowe saw puzzle g ji st e rg lease was la The 5,905 square 6 n a th re ending for his o covered m d 100 years te ra o m e m apartment ed bin feet and com f Sheikh Zay o in New th r of the ir b e th since nding Fathe u o F e th , n York, and re a e ahy ,320 pieces w Sultan Al N 12 s It s. te he needed a Emir g to United Arab Dubai in 2018, accordin r in put togethe Guinness.

to remove his things before the deadline. “I didn’t want to fly, but it needed to be done,” he said. “So, I got on an airplane, went to New York and got my things moved out.” That trip had a very unfortunate consequence. “I got COVID,” Seong said. “In fact, I was probably among the first 20,000 people to get it, and I had everything under the sun with it. I nearly died.” He didn’t test negative for 45 days after contracting the disease. As he started to recover, Seong stayed at an Airbnb and took the time to reflect. “Some of the scariest things had already happened to me —I had gotten COVID and was without a job,” he said. “It made me appreciate the time I have left, and I wanted to make the most of it.” He knew that he’d always wanted to start his own company; most of the ideas he had involved start-ups in the tech field. Then he remembered the hours of enjoyment he’d gotten from the puzzle at the B&B years earlier. “At 3 a.m., I was staring at the ceiling thinking about it, and I thought, ‘What about a business based on wooden jigsaw puzzles?’” Seong jumped into doing the necessary research and development and started making puzzles. He set up an Etsy shop. “We got bigger and bigger until we ran out of space in my parents’ garage. I’d already had to pay to up the power there for our production,” he said. He knew it was time move the production to a more central location. That’s when he decided to base it in Alpharetta. Seong reported that the business has been going strong and is growing. “People love puzzles. It’s a great family pastime,” he said. “We sell to customers all over the U.S. and around the world.” Mosaic creates puzzles that are found at the intersection of art and games, Seong said. “I believe we make a beautiful product — and I’m happy to say that each puzzle is fully made in America.” For more about Mosaic Puzzles: mosaicpuzzles.co.

MARCH 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

Courtesy of Mosaic Puzzles Continued from page 5

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puzzles alongside the books and magnets for sale. The Atlanta Botanical Garden’s gift shop stocks everything from puzzles for children with 20 pieces to 1000-piece puzzles for adults.

meets are for members only, and membership is $60 a year. According to the site, Sandy Springs Library is one of the swap meet-up spots. In fact, some local libraries allow patrons to check out jigsaw

Book Nook, a used book shop in Decatur, usually offers second-hand puzzles for sale. The shop takes in puzzles in trade for store credit that can be used to buy movies, music, comics or, of course, other puzzles. Jigsaw puzzle swaps are Photo by Isadora Pennington

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another option. Organizers plan get-togethers and participants gather to trade puzzles they’ve finished and packed up. An online group, JigsawPuzzleSwapExchange. com, has members in North America, Australia and Europe. It claims to be the “largest international group of puzzle enthusiasts who actively trade puzzles with each other, worldwide.” Swap

puzzles. Atlanta-Fulton County’s Milton Library is among many that lend puzzles as well as books. The Peachtree City Library in Peachtree City has a long row of shelves filled with puzzles of different shapes, sizes and difficulty levels. Librarian assistant Diane Starkey said that there’s a good mix, from 10-piece puzzles for children to 1,000 + pieces for adults. “We lend out quite a lot of puzzles every day,” she said. “Some people come in and check out a whole stack!”

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Eloise Ragsdale, left, and her daughter, Emily Grasso, have jigsaw puzzles made from photos of seashells they’ve collected.

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COVER STORY

Finding the right pieces Jigsaw puzzles comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. NewYorkPuzzleCompany. com showcases puzzles featuring images from the Harry Potter books, The New Yorker magazine and transit maps from around the U.S. Springbok-puzzles.com features explosive color puzzles and matching accessories like aprons and umbrellas. At BuffaloGames.com there are Star Wars, Marvel and Pokemon puzzles. WhiteMountainPuzzles.com has a “Happiness Guarantee,” with a phone number to call if you’re not fully satisfied. There is one important note: “If your issue is a missing piece, we simply ask that you give a couple days to thoroughly look around your house to see if your missing piece turns up before calling. It is rare that a puzzle arrives with missing pieces. We have hundreds of stories about pieces turning up days later in peculiar places!” Check out the monstrous “Memorable Disney Moments” at Ravesnsburger.us. It’s a 40,000-piece (you read that right!) jigsaw puzzle, for $599.99. According to the site, it’s confirmed by Guinness World Records as the “largest commercially-available puzzle in the world, in both number of pieces and sheer size.” However, that info seems to be old news. A quick online search revealed that Kodak Premium Puzzle has released a 51,300-piece “27 Wonders from Around the World,” also priced at $599.99, now available through Amazon. The puzzle’s size is 28½ feet wide by 6½ feet high. Still, Ravensburger has 3-D puzzles, like VW Bus

Campervan, Statue of Liberty at Night and a globe of the Earth. These certainly arouse curiosity, but it may be that we’re quickly slipping into modelmaking at this point. BitsandPieces. com has interesting puzzles and offers other items, like tables, caddies, and organizers made for jigsaws puzzles, as well as glue and frames for anyone who wants to immortalize their efforts.

MARCH 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

Puzzles fill shelves at the Peachtree City Library, where they can be checked out like books. Photo by Kathy Dean

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And, of course, There’s an app for that By Kathy Dean My sister Marge Tackes has a pretty hectic life right now managing rental homes and caring for our elderly mother. She doesn’t have the space to spread out a jigsaw puzzle in her home and she said the last time she worked on one, she developed a crick in her neck.

So, she’s found another way to do them — through jigsaw puzzle apps. “I really thought it wouldn’t engage me and I’d hate it,” she said. “I tried three different apps. Two I didn’t care for; they didn’t let you see all the pieces at one time.” Then she found Jigsaw Puzzle for her Kindle and

Mobility Ware Jigsaw Puzzle for her iPhone. She said it’s brought the jigsaw joy back to her. “It’s wonderful. I find it more relaxing than Angry Birds or Candy Crush. I’m pretty hooked.”

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PEOPLE

From his wild days at Channel 17, Bill Tush has held a unique (and often funny) place in Atlanta media Bill Tush is still just damn funny. If that doesn’t immediately bring up a file in your memory banks, remember the 1970s, when Ted Turner owned Channel 17 in Atlanta, which later he branded The Superstation. Tush is the guy whose daft approach to the news earned him a cult following on “Channel 17 news early in the morning” in the 70s and 80s. That led eventually to a long-term gig as CNN Senior Entertainment Correspondent, from which he retired in 2002. He now views movies from a different perspective — as manager of a Sandy Springs movie theater. He sat down recently with

Atlanta Senior Life contributor Mark Woolsey for an interview that produced a wealth of information about his life and times-along with a few laughs. Q. How did you wind up at the then-nascent Turner broadcast empire? A. I came down here from Pittsburgh where I’d worked in radio. I wanted to see what Atlanta was doing because I heard it was a happening town. I went in with a tape [to WGST radio] and they said they could use somebody to do the afternoon oldies shift. One Sunday afternoon I saw this TV station running old movies and realized I passed it everyday on the way to work.

MARCH 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

Bill Tush

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I popped in there with a tape and honest to God, how can you be any luckier? They had an announcer who had just quit, and they needed someone. I don’t know what it was that drew me to that and made me know it was going to be something. It just happened. Q. You were hired to be a booth announcer, do commercials and host movies, a great fit because you were a motion picture buff from childhood. How did you become the off-beat news guy? A. [Station owner] Ted [Turner] wasn’t a big fan of putting news on our channel because it was a lot of money and you had to have a staff. We didn’t do that. We made more money running “Andy Griffith” and “I Love Lucy” and all those shows, so that’s how the [recorded news] thing in the morning started, at 3 a.m. (repeated at 5). It was using the required public service time up and it didn’t cost anything. Q. You did a straight, unadorned newscast at first, but then things began to get weird. What was the genesis of that? A. One night we just started goofing around, me and the director. He said something to me in the middle of the news on the P-A system and I answered back and that’s how it started because we got away with that. Q. The wacky stuff found favor with Ted Turner. Can you talk about that? A. We were like a bunch of little kids doing stuff on late-night TV and getting away with it. We did a takeoff on Channel 11. They had something back in the 70s called “Pro News.” So, we came up with “Dull News.” (Uses his announcer voice:) “No matter how big the news is, we’re going to bum you out.” The next morning, I’m at work at my desk and Ted walks by and he says, ‘I saw you doing Dull News last night. That was pretty funny.’ That’s when we really started to go nuts. It was sorta like we had his blessing.

Q. You’re perhaps best known for co-anchoring with ‘Rex the Wonder Dog,’ which despite urban legend was a one-night thing.

a talk show gig in LA before eventually moving to the entertainment beat for CNN. And you said you had some regrets about that period?

A. If I get remembered enough to have an obituary and not just a death notice it will say, “He did the news with the dog.” It was one night before we were on satellite and there were maybe 60 people watching, but now everybody that even knows my name happens to have been up that night and saw me anchoring with the dog.

A. The biggest problem in my brain was I started believing a lot of my own press, that’s the only way to put it. If you’re not smart it goes to your head.

Q. And another animal played a role in what you did? A. There was a guy [on local TV news] in Atlanta who did “The News Hawk.” If you had a problem, you called The News Hawk. So, we came up with “The News Chicken.” Q. What about other favorite bits? A. To this day this makes me laugh. They were building a new set in the studio. Ted had the idea we’d do sports updates during the baseball and basketball games, so they were constructing a new set much better than ours. They decided not to do the updates and the set was half-finished. I decided we were going to take over that news set. So, we dressed up in Army uniforms with toy guns and did a military takeover.

Q. You did a Turner-produced comedy show for a time (The Bill Tush Show), then

Q. What movies have resonated with you lately?

Q. You became a manager at what was then the Lefont Sandy Springs movie theater several years ago. What’s it like when you’re recognized? A. These little old ladies will come in and recognize me and they’ll say they used to watch me in high school. And I’ll think, “I forgot… We got that old, didn’t we?” Q. What do you think about the state of the movies nowadays? A. It all comes down to the product. It’s not the movie theaters so much as what they’re

A. I’ll give you an example. There’s a movie called Belfast. It’s brilliant. Licorice Pizza and House of Gucci, also great. Q. Any regrets looking back? A. It was funny when I was 23, 24 years old and did the news with the dog on the crazy TV station, but nobody wants to see a 73-year-old guy doing the news with a dog. That’s pathetic. I should have a cup in my hand and be on a corner if I’m going to have a dog. Looking back, if I’d handled it differently, I’d probably still be working in the business. I partied a lot, especially in the 80s. I wish I had been more disciplined in my life.

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Q. You have spoken highly of Ted Turner and still keep in touch. What was it like to work for him back in those early days? A. It was so entertaining to work for a man like that, you didn’t know what was going to happen next and he was fun to be around. You just had this feeling you were on the ground floor of something. The feeling that was in that building, it was kind of like there was some kind of force there that said, “This is going to be something. Stick with it.”

showing. If you’re only showing junk, people aren’t going to come in and pay 15 dollars for a movie ticket to see garbage.

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TRAVEL

Harness racing returns to Hawkinsville each winter Travels with Charlie Veteran Georgia journalist Charles Seabrook has covered native wildlife and environmental issues for decades. For “Travels with Charlie,” he visits and photographs communities throughout the state.

You might not equate the city of Hawkinsville in Pulaski County with horse racing. But each year in early winter, the mid-Georgia city is the destination for numerous harness racehorse owners and trainers from

up north as far as Canada — bringing with them dozens of their most prized pacers and trotters. They spend the winter in

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Hawkinsville training the horses before heading back north in spring to race at harness tracks with pari-mutuel betting. Hawkinsville’s mild winters, good grazing land and other amenities draw the harness racing devotees, but the biggest lure is the city’s superb Lawrence L. Bennett Harness Horse Training Facility. The sprawling facility is there primarily because of Hawkinsville’s early devotion — dating back to the 1890s — to harness racing. That early connection led to a grant in 1975 to build the Lawrence Bennett complex, which opened in 1977 on the city’s outskirts. It’s now the only such facility in Georgia and one of the top Standardbred harness horse training centers in the eastern United States. (The Standardbred is best known as a harness racing breed — well-muscled, long body, slightly heavier than a Thoroughbred, solid legs Top down, Rest time in stalls Tender loving care for racehorse after daily work out

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Entrance to Lawrence Bennett Training Facility, 290 Abbeville Hwy, Hawkinsville, GA Training on the one-mile track, Lawrence Bennett Training Facility

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and powerful shoulders and hindquarters; able to trot or pace for racing.) During training, the sleek horses, pulling their “drivers” in small, two-wheel racing carts, trot or pace around a mile-long, red clay track or a half mile all-weather track. The horses are housed in 15 barns with 32 stalls measuring 10 x 12 feet each. Each barn also has wash racks, tack rooms, feed/hay rooms and groom quarters. When not training or resting in their stalls, horses also can graze in turn-out paddocks. Blacksmiths, farriers and other support services also are available. Early during their winter training, the horses start off at a jogging pace during daily laps around the track. As the weeks go by, they gradually build up speed; by the end of March or in early April, they’re up to full racing speed and ready for competition. If you visit the training facility, the best time to see the horses practicing with their drivers is in the morning, after the animals have had their breakfasts. Some horses and drivers, though, may take turns around the track in early afternoon. After their workouts, the horses are washed, rubbed down and brushed by their grooms and fed again. After that, the horses, often wearing blankets, may rest in stalls or venture into the turn-out paddocks. “They get a lot of tender loving care,” said Gerald Lilley, the facility’s manager who moved to Hawkinsville from Rockwood, Ontario, and is himself a racehorse owner. This year’s training season will culminate on April 2 with the annual Hawkinsville Harness Festival, in which horses and their drivers will compete in day-long racing. Lilley noted that it also will be a fun-filled family event featuring local music, arts, crafts and good food. But you can’t place a bet: Betting on horse races is illegal in Georgia.

Left and second row, Training on the one-mile track, Lawrence Bennett Training Facility Second row, right, shoeing a harness race horse Third row from left, Daily practice schedule for some harness race horses Lawrence Bennett Training Facility, Hawkinsville Fourth row, from left, Lawrence Bennett Training Facility, Hawkinsville Horse shoes

Text and photos by Charles Seabrook

MARCH 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

THINGS TO DO

Will St. Patrick’s Day parties bounce back? By Mark Woolsey Nobody’s really sure about the origin of the phrase “the Luck of the Irish.” Some credit Irish miners striking paydirt during a gold rush. Others point to Celtic mythology. But to be sure, Irish pub owners and managers in metro Atlanta and across Georgia say they aren’t depending on luck this month as they prepare for what they hope will be their first “normal” St. Patrick’s Day celebrations since the onset of COVID more than two years ago. The first COVID cases in Georgia were reported in March 2020 and during that month, international travel was curtailed, local institutions and businesses closed their doors, the first social distancing guidelines came out of Washington, and the NCAA canceled the Final Four competition set for Atlanta. Barkeeps have their fingers crossed that with widespread vaccinations, COVID cases

leveling off or dropping and Georgia’s dearth of pandemic mandates, the decks are clear for crowds to return to Irish-themed taverns in March to welcome the spring weather, eat Irish food and hoist pints of perfectly poured Irish stout. “2020 was a terrible year for us,” said Joshua Jacob, managing partner of Limerick Junction, an Irish pub in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta. “Very difficult.” Other Irishthemed eateries faced similar declines due to COVID. At Fado, an Irish tavern in Buckhead, St. Patrick’s Day 2020 was “dead,” the pub’s general manager Collin Reilly said, with last year showing modest improvement. Irish pub operators say they expect things will really change

MARCH 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

this year. Some plan to start this year’s celebrations on March 12, the Saturday before St. Patrick’s actual Day. Fado plans outdoor festival March 12 featuring live music and dancing. “We are hoping for a gangbuster St. Patrick’s Day this year,” Reilly said. At Limerick Junction, business has been booming since about last June, Jacob said, but in a nod to continued COVID concerns this year, “we are doing a “pared down” version of our annual party.” That means live music inside, with just a small outdoor beer garden that can help those leery of indoor elbow-rubbing dial down their anxiety. At the Olde Blind Dog Pubs in Milton and Brookhaven, the

celebration also starts March 12, the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day, with an indooroutdoor event featuring several bands, a DJ and games. The party continues March 17 with a smaller footprint. “I think people are ready to get out and do something,” said Ron Wallace, majority owner of the Olde Blind Dog Pubs. The establishment, named International Best Irish Pub of the Year for 2015, saw some tough times during the pandemic, he indicated. After retreating to takeout sales only, Wallace said, the pubs reopened with servers and customers wearing masks. Restrictions have since been dropped, although they still dutifully sanitize. “About 95 percent of Irish pubs are successful, if run properly,” Wallace said. “The ones that go down violate the culture of an Irish Pub and become a sports bar.” Tradition resonates with Butch Elmgren, the owner of Thos. O’Reilly’s Public House in Sandy Springs. Elmgren is a member of the Savannah St. Patrick’s Day Committee and was “born and raised” in a nowdefunct Irish pub in that city. Plans for St. Patrick’s Day at O’Reilly’s include local Irish groups and societies descending on his place after the March 12 parade in Atlanta. A weeklong celebration will include a number of live music events and Irish dancers plus “the world’s shortest St. Patrick’s parade” – 75 feet in a couple of minutes. Elmgren says federal help under the Paycheck Protection Program helped keep the ship upright-even with a 10-monthshutdown. “Our survival was very much in doubt on multiple occasions,” he says frankly. And while pub operators hope COVID-related drops in business may nearly be over, they say that seniors and others concerned with safety can dine outdoors and ask unmasked servers to don them. Despite widespread closures of all stripes of eateries, “I don’t see the [Irish] concept going away,” Jacob said. “We have always been a neighborhood place in he heart of VirginiaHighland. It’s one of those places you can go by yourself, and you’ll leave with some new friends.”

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GARDENING

March brings time to think about flowers THE ENVIRONMENTAL GARDENER Greg Levine, co-executive director of Trees Atlanta, describes himself as happiest when his hands are in the dirt.

It is March and the days are getting warmer. Our gardens are beginning to explode with shades of green that remind us that spring is just around the corner and with fragrances that evoke fond memories of days gone by. I personally don’t get much of a scent from most flowers, but when it’s there I am taken back to my past with unusual clarity. I can tell you the year that I discovered fragrant honeysuckle. It was 1989 on the University of Georgia’s campus with Bob Hill, our student advisor at the School of Environmental Design. Professor Hill taught a plant ID class and I loved it. There were so many plants on campus, some brought to this country in the early 20th century, and others, the newest cultivar, straight from the Horticulture School. I was taken with fragrant honeysuckle’s sweet odor, a scent that still transports me back to my college days. Thanks to Bob, I realized there are so many plant choices you can make. Since it’s the end of the planting season, I suggest making room for some fragrant shrubs. Fragrance creates a multi-sensory experience in your garden, as if a picture had a scent. Have you run out of room in the garden after subscribing faithfully to my planting advice this past year? I suggest looking for some plants to remove and replace in your garden that are potentially invasive, or exotic plants that just don’t do much of anything but take up space, like Ligustrum.

MARCH 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

Left, Winter Daphne (Daphne odora) Second row (l-r),

Edgeworthia (Edgeworthia chrysantha)

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) Third row (l-r),

Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides).

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I recently asked Emily and Madison, from Trees Atlanta’s restoration program, what plant they would want to see removed out of people’s gardens if they could choose only one. They both said nandina, and they see a lot of plants that take over our forest. Beyond nandina’s invasive behavior, their berries can kill our native birds. But if you’re not ready to say goodbye quite yet, consider cutting off the berries before they turn red. There are several techniques for removing invasive plants. ■ Manual removal requires a shovel and some muscle. If you have a lot of nandina, consider buying a weed wrench. ■ “Cut and treat” involves cutting the unwanted plant and then treating the stump with the appropriate type and amount of herbicide. Foliar spraying of herbicide should be used sparingly and usually on vines and groundcover. ■ Repetitive cutting is the easiest on the back and best for the environment, but it is the slowest technique. Once you have more room for some fragrant plants, consider these, plus one non-fragrant March bloomer. Winter Daphne (Daphne odora) This Asian evergreen shrub grows to be just over three feet tall. Its pink or yellow flowers last for about three weeks, and their fragrance is just sweet enough to make you want more. I have found it to be a bit temperamental. It needs moisture, but better drainage than your average Georgia soil, and a bit of shade. Most people I know are excited if their plants live past five years, but I promise it is worth trying. Edgeworthia (Edgeworthia chrysantha) This Chinese deciduous shrub grows over five feet tall. When it’s fall yellow leaves drop, they leave silvery, ball-shaped flower buds that remind me of spaceships. As they open, they show their bright yellow flowers with a fragrance that stops people in their tracks. On my street, five houses in a row have them planted and no plant gets more questions: “What is this and how do I get one?”

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) This native shrub or small tree can get to be 12 feet tall. It prefers moist soils and some shade. Its leaves, twigs, and small yellow flowers all smell sweet and spicy, hence the name. It is a host plant for the swallowtail butterfly and its red berries are enjoyed by most any bird and small mammal. Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) This native yellow-flowering vine can bloom for three months, starting as early as February. It is evergreen and tough as nails. Its’ sweet fragrance competes with our native wisteria and the shrubs above. Apartment dwellers, you can grow this sweet thing in a large container for years as long as you keep it watered. My personal favorites include the hard-to-find double variety and a softer yellow selection. Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) Well, this native woodland plant isn’t fragrant, but it is too darn cute not to mention. It is an ephemeral perennial that comes up in February, blooms before all the other herbaceous plants, and usually disappears in midsummer. Its dainty leaves often have a bronze tinge and pink flowers a bit smaller than a dime. It’s great for rock gardens with welldrained yet moist soil. It will make a nice small mass which works well in the foreground of your beds, along with trillium and bloodroot. It may be hard to find, but if you join the Georgia Native Plant society you might find it on a plant save outing. GNPS helps save native plants where a future development will destroy them, so consider joining to learn more and help save some of Georgia’s beauties.

Learn how to remove invasive plants by visiting TreesAtlanta.org, where you’ll find more information under the “Forest Restoration” program tab.

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FROM THE CRATES

The heady days when disco was in the Limelight from the crates Kelly McCoy is a veteran Atlanta broadcaster who writes about the days popular music only came on vinyl records, which often were stored in crates. If you were in Atlanta in the late 1970s and early 1980s I’m guessing you sampled the disco scene. Getting all fine and spiffy in the best dancing garb you had, and hitting the clubs always provided a night of sights, sounds, and strutting your stuff in a different way. We were still a relatively small city back then, but anyone wanting a taste of the disco nightlife had ample choices for places to shake your groove thing. Yes, I used the title of a disco song. The big name in town was undeniably The Limelight. We had many fun nights there, at Jeryls Night Club, and Club 2001 VIP. Being on the radio we did appearances with contests, emceed events, and sometimes the DJ may let us mix for a minute. We could make some pretty good coin for doing a twohour gig. On WQXI, we had a Saturday Night Disco party, and we even had billboards that said, “Listen to Your Feet.” The soundtrack for the movie “Saturday Night Fever” gave us some of the best ratings we’d ever had. If you’ll look at the list of Top 40 hits the soundtrack produced, you’ll understand why. Every place had a disco ball. Combine the thumping music with a mixture of colognes and

perfumes, cigarette smoke, sounds of laughter and a good time, and outfits so outrageous we had no idea that the wardrobes would be providing Halloween costume ideas for decades to come. As usual, there are always great dancers, and John Travolta’s dancing in “Saturday Night Fever” provided plenty of inspiration for moves most couldn’t make. And the serious lady dancers with short skirts and toned legs were amazing partners. Lighted dance floors in some places added another element of glitz and glamour. Jeryls Disco was s happening place in the prime-time disco days. Jeryls was in an office park in Cobb County not terribly far from a couple of popular apartment communities located on the Chattahoochee that were

MARCH 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

Former WQXI radio employee, Tom Sullivan, wears a T-shirt promoting the music the station played when disco and dancing were the thing.

home to singles and young professionals who loved to party. Quite a few of our onair personalities were regulars on the scene and contributed to bringing in more clients with various events and promotions. Also housed in the same office park were a few record company

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You want stars? You want outrageous and decadent happenings? Then you want the Limelight. Billed as the Studio 54 of the South, the Limelight was definitely the biggest game in town in the world of disco. labels who added even more famous bodies to the mix with various artists and entertainers. Linda Ronstadt, with boyfriend, former California Gov. Jerry Brown, popped in one

evening. The Six Million Dollar Man, Lee Majors happened by. Stuntman Evel Knievel was a fairly regular customer. A lady friend of mine who was a server at the time said Evel was a big tipper, so there may have been a little sparring over who took care of Mr. Motorcycle for the evening. In the old Broadview Plaza on Piedmont is where Club VIP 2001 was located. It was a legendary venue in a spot The Great Southeast Music Hall had occupied many years before. The VIP did it right. Great lights and sound. Confetti could fall from the sky. All those songs with whistles and screeches created a lot of the sounds during the early days of the synthesizer. Really talented patrons would show up, especially if there was a contest involved. I signed on for a six-week stint (I think) with

the club that had a major dance contest that concluded on the final week and awarded cash, a trip, and other goodies. I do remember a physical disagreement happening in the men’s room one evening. With my experience as a former EMT, I was able to triage victims and advised a few to seek medical attention. The only blood most on-air people see usually comes from a paper cut. That was an interesting night. You want stars? You want outrageous and decadent happenings? Then you want the Limelight. Billed as the Studio 54 of the South, the Limelight was definitely the biggest game in town in the world of disco. The famous glass dance floor combined with thousands of lights and the best-sounding sound system in the biz made for serious fun. I watched the disc jockeys

mix the 12-inch vinyl discs in amazement. It could rain confetti or snow at any given moment. Scantily clad beauties coaxing people to dance definitely made the party happen. Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, Rod Stewart, and a gazillion more celebs frequented the place. To my knowledge John Travolta never made it. I did meet his brother, Joey, one evening. Some songs from the era are still popular today. The Village People gave a whole new meaning to the letters Y.M.C.A. Everyone knows it, and “Funkytown,” by Lipps Inc. These songs still pack a dance floor at a wedding reception. Please use caution if you try to recreate your moves from those years.

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PERSONAL SAFETY

In their heyday, Sandy Springs bars drew quite a crowd STAY SAFE Steve Rose is a retired Sandy Springs Police Captain, veteran Fulton County police officer and freelance writer. He is the author the book “Why Do My Mystic Journeys Always Lead to the Waffle House?” and the column “View from a Cop.”

Many of you either grew up in Sandy Springs or perhaps frequented the “Golden Ghetto” in the 1970’s and 80’s. There were bars and restaurants open late in the night and in some cases, until the sun came up. I was a patrol officer during late 1979 until 1988, when I moved to detectives. Cops, to subsidize their salaries, often took off-duty jobs. For me, it was either traffic or security at clubs. I did a little of both but preferred security at the clubs because the pay was better, usually in cash, and the environment was more conducive to a young, swaggering officer. Each club had its own personality and share of characters, who, like the 1956 movie “The Mole People,” emerged at dark. Bars filled with beautiful people seeking other beautiful people, looking to find love or lust. For some, it was worth the time and expensive umbrella drinks, but for others … they concluded the night throwing up in the parking lot. Some came to prey on the weak and stupid—a stocked pond on in bars on weekends. Each bar or club had its own list of characters. One bar, for example, sat just off the I-285 and the Roswell Road exit. The place was a favorite for college students,

proving each weekend that most left those college smarts at the door. “Officer, we were robbed.” “What happened?” “Well, funny story, we were buying a nickel bag from a guy where the steps go up a hill to a parking lot. I gave him the money and he ripped us off. He ran up the steps and was gone!” “Did he ascend the steps really fast?” “Yes, I mean he flew up the steps.” “Okay yes, I know who that is. High school football star and brief college football career. Yep, known him for years.” “What are you going to do?” “Kick you out for trying to buy weed behind the bar—that or arrest you for soliciting drugs, your choice.” “Well, you have to arrest him. I know the law.” Ah, these poor lads either were first-year law students, notoriously known for misguided and unsolicited legal opinions, or, bless their hearts, liberal arts students. I wished them well as I put them on the street. I’m sure it served as a learning experience. Another character was an older gentleman, a known pool shark, who occasionally showed on weekends, in search of cocky and hopefully overserved 21-yearolds, (20 with a good fake I.D.) He offered up “friendly” games that he conveniently lost only to ask for another with a friendly wager of $100 or so with a chance to win back the money he lost. Alcohol-fueled overconfidence soon led to a demonstration of his skill as he ran the table. Having worked this bar for

MARCH 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

some time, I developed a simple rule on betting. Although illegal, confidential side bets were common. My rule stated one should pay the bet either in the bathroom or outside and away from the pool tables. If not, the money was mine. The gentleman knew my rule but often, his victims did not. On several occasions, the surrendered money landed onto the table but before he could grab it, I placed the long arm of the law, meaning my nightstick, upon the ill-gotten goods, which moved from the pool table to the server’s community tip jar. The wait staff loved me. Then, there was Snake, who fancied

himself as a biker. Snake, however, was less than intimidating, reaching only fivenine or so, but with long blond ponytail biker hair and a modest attempt at a beard. Snake had a couple of tattoos and wore a dirty sleeveless denim jacket, but minus the colors—a strict no-no. He was also minus the Harley, in lieu of which, a Ford Taurus station wagon, driven by his girlfriend, discretely served as transportation to and from. His agenda was to simply

enjoy the night and fill the college kids with fictitious tales of biker conquest. Snake’s only real drawback was that he was a nice guy—even offered to back me up when fights broke out -- but he wasn’t tough like real bikers. No teeth missing, noticeable scar tissue, felony record, that big chain wallet. Biker stuff. Other clubs I worked included a video nightclub, a product of the new music video generation born of MTV. It featured a dozen or so television monitors playing not only MTV videos but also videos shot by the staff and patrons. It was fun—except on “Nickel Pitcher Night,” a concept doomed from the start with a shortage of pitchers, overserved preppies who never tipped the poor girls working the floor, and arrests. Nothing good came of it and fortunately, for all, it soon ended. As far as the cops, we worked the door in pairs just to keep up with confiscating fake I.D.’s. (Some good, some bad.) It seemed that every week the same core group of patrons, meaning guys, passed through the doors dressed in the latest trendy attire, including white cowboy boots holding tucked-in designer jeans. At 8 p.m., they passed through the doors in hopes this was the night! Unfortunately, for most, it was not the night of nights. “Son,” I would say, “Don’t give up. Remember, when one door closes, another opens. Now go throw up in the bushes with your friends.”

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PERSONAL FINANCE

Do Medicare Parts A and B back up Medicare Advantage? ask rusty Russell Gloor is a certified Social Security advisor with the Association of Mature American Citizens.

Dear Rusty

I was told that I can use Medicare Part A and B as secondary coverage to my Medicare Advantage plan. Is that true?

Puzzled

Dear Puzzled

Many do not understand how the various parts of Medicare work, and especially how or if “original Medicare” (Medicare Part A and Part B) interacts with

a Medicare Advantage plan. If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, it is the private insurer who provides your plan that administers all of your healthcare needs, instead of the federal government agency that runs Medicare (that federal agency is called the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or “CMS”). Although you must pay Medicare Part A and Part B premiums to the federal government to obtain a Medicare Advantage plan, all your healthcare services are handled by the private Medicare Advantage plan provider and not by the government’s CMS agency. When you have an Advantage plan, Medicare Part A and Part B do not act as secondary coverage for your Advantage plan. You don’t get healthcare services from both, because when you choose a Medicare Advantage

plan, you are deselecting CMS as the administrator of your healthcare needs. Deciding whether to use “original Medicare” to administer your healthcare services or to use a Medicare Advantage plan is always a very personal choice. Medicare Advantage plans cover almost all the medically necessary services that original Medicare covers, although you must generally use “in-network” providers to obtain full coverage.

But if you incur healthcare expenses which are not covered by your Medicare Advantage plan, you must pay them yourself — federal Medicare Part A and Part B are not backup coverage for those uncovered healthcare expenses. So, what you were told is incorrect — Medicare Part A and Part B do not act as secondary coverage to your Medicare Advantage plan.

Rusty

This article is intended for information purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. It presents the opinions and interpretations of the AMAC Foundation’s staff, trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA). NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity. To submit a question, visit (amacfoundation.org/programs/social-security-advisory) or email ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org. About AMAC The 2.3 million member Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC] www.amac.us is a conservative advocacy organization founded in 2007 that represents its membership in the nation’s capital and in local Congressional Districts throughout the country. The AMAC Foundation (www.AmacFoundation.org) is the Association’s non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and educating America’s Seniors.

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The Atlanta-Journal Constitution is committed to facilitating conversations on the topics important to aging well in Atlanta and providing you resources to live your best senior life — especially in today’s challenging environment.

Visit us at ajc.com/aging to access recordings of our virtual events, sign up for the newsletter, and learn more about our special print sections. You’ll find plenty of 55+ focused content there as well as links to our previously published sections and events. Aging in Atlanta will return this spring with new monthly print sections featuring more local content than ever.

MARCH 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

THINGS TO SEE

Building a rich collection of city-owned art Inside the Arts Camille Russell Love Love has been executive director of the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (@atlantaoca) for more than two decades. Among the many programs housed within the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA), the Art on Loan Program is one of the office’s signature activities. The Art on Loan Program supports the presentation of public art by purchasing works of art from local, regional, national and, on occasion, international artists. The goal is to make fine art available to Atlanta residents and employees by displaying pieces from the collection in public spaces. The processes by which art is selected and acquired are varied. Most often, a jury is empaneled to select and purchase works. In my capacity as executive director, I sometimes come across works of art in galleries and other venues and make recommendations to staff for consideration. Other times, our office will issue requests for proposal (RFPs); thereby casting the broadest possible net in our efforts to identify diverse artists. To date, the collection consists of over five hundred works and is on display in every City of Atlanta department (like Public Works and Finance), and in municipal buildings – including recreation centers. Previously, staff installed art based on individual preferences, availability and/or a combination of both. Lately, Program Manager Kevin Sipp invites staff from departments interested in the program to work with him to select the pieces that will hang on the department’s walls. In the process, staff not only

“Yes, We Can” by Robert Clements at Webster Park

“Hard Days Work Shack” by Beverly Buchanan at Studioplex

“Signs of the Times, The Daily Agenda” by Kevin Cole at City Hall

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participate in “curating” the office gallery, but also, they learn about the artwork and the artists who created it. Thus, the program serves as a de facto crash course in art appreciation. As a result, staff often better value the art in their office and can share information about it with those who visit. An unforeseen benefit of Kevin’s strategy is that he has uncovered a bevy of working artists within the ranks of City of Atlanta employees. Perhaps the most visible and consequential space for which the Art on Loan Program provides art is the Mayor’s Executive Suite. When a new mayor is elected to office, OCA staff work with the incoming administration to select art that best reflects the taste and personality of the city’s top

executive. Under the previous administration, Mayor Bottoms sought to rethink how the most powerful office in the city could better support Atlanta artists. To that end, she asked our staff to remove the portraits of previous mayors and to install a diverse assortment of artworks – including recently purchased works. The strategy worked. The City of Atlanta Mayor’s Executive Suite is now a premier art gallery. At any given time, visitors will see artwork that is among the best in the country and represents Atlanta’s diversity. Included in the Executive Suite’s art rotation are historic images from the municipal court—images that not only contextualize the City of Atlanta’s current legislative activities, but also images that

connect those living today with previous generations, as individuals will often recognize a face, a building and/or a location. Mayor Dickens spoke openly and plainly about his desire to strengthen and broaden the arts in Atlanta. We are excited to see the role the Art on Loan Program will play during his administration – not only in the Executive Suite, but throughout the city. As new municipal buildings come online, we will have opportunities to beautify them and to educate employees and the public about the artworks and the artists who create them. Through the program’s activities, we raise awareness and make art more accessible.

Mayor Bottoms sought to rethink how the most powerful office in the city could better support Atlanta artists. To that end, she asked our staff to remove the portraits of previous mayors and to install a diverse assortment of artworks – including recently purchased works.

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Atlanta Senior Life - March 2022

Articles inside

THINGS TO SEE Building a rich collection of city-owned art

PERSONAL FINANCE Does Medicare Parts A and B back up a Medicare Plus plan?

THINGS TO DO Irish tavern keepers hope the St. Patrick’s Day crowd will be back this

FROM THE CRATES The heady days when disco was in the Limelight

PERSONAL SAFETY In their heyday, the bars in Sandy Springs drew quite a crowd

Finding the right pieces

And, of course, there’s an app

The pleasures of jigsaw puzzles

TRAVEL Harness racing returns to Hawkinsville

PEOPLE Bill Tush held a unique (and funny) place in Atlanta TV