Use These Scam Tools to Spot Fraud

Dawn Bystry, Deputy Associate Commissioner, Office of Strategic and Digital Communications

ON MARCH 10, WE HELD OUR ANNUAL NATIONAL SLAM THE SCAM DAY to raise awareness of Social Security-related scams and other government imposter scams. In case you missed it, here are our top tools and resources for this year: 1. Check out our Fraud Prevention and Reporting page to learn about Social Security fraud – and how we fight scammers. 2. Read our Scam Alert factsheet to learn what tactics scammers use and how to protect yourself. 3. Create your own personal my Social Security account to stay one step ahead of fraudsters. Please read our blog post for more information about creating or signing in to your personal my Social Security account. 4. Learn about other types of fraud on our Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) Scam Awareness page. You’ll also see how to report these scams to our OIG and other government agencies. 5. Read our blog post to learn how to guard your Social Security card – and protect your personal information.

You can also check out the Federal Trade Commission’s page, Avoiding and Reporting Scams, for additional scam-related information.

We encourage you to watch the replay below of our Facebook Live from March 10 about Social Security-related scams and other government imposter scams. Please share these scam resources with your friends and family—and help us spread the message on social media. Let’s continue to Slam the Scam together!

California Writers Club Celebrates Women’s History Month

THE HIGH DESERT BRANCH OF THE CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB members met recently in the Hesperia Library Community room for a Read-in of works by women writers for their Fourth Annual celebration of Women’s History Month. Master of Ceremonies was author Emmalisa Hill who began by announcing that the evening was dedicated to writers and poets of the Ukraine. The room was filled with sunflowers, their national flower. Reader Judith Pfeffer began by reading a selection by the renowned Agatha Christie. Lorelei Kay read “My Grandmother Plaits my Hair at the End of the World,” by Shivanee Ramlochan. Linda Boruff read an abridged Polish folktale, “The Jolly Tailor Who Became King,” by Lucia Merecka Borski, and Debbie Joy Rubio did a powerful performance reading of a poem by Anastasia Dmitruk, “Never We Will Be Brothers.” Poet Robert Keith Young read

HDCWC President Dwight Norris Loralei Kay

poems by his mother, Bonnie Young, a former Poet Laureate of San Luis Obispo County. He also read from Linda Pastan’s work. Rita Wells, in addition to setting up the refreshment table, told facts about sunflowers, symbols of optimism and nuclear disarmament which actually absorb radioactive toxins from the environment. Ann Miner read from the club’s state Literary Review, and President Dwight Norris read a poem by Meg Wheatley, “I Want to be a Ukrainian,” written in 2005 to honor the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. Mary Langer Thompson read a short love poem by Lina Kostenko, a wildly popular poet and novelist in Ukraine who was censored for a number of years but is currently publishing. All that was missing seemed to be music until Anita I. Holmes sang a Ukrainian lullaby, partly in Ukrainian and partly in English. It was an evening to be long remembered. The High Desert branch of the California Writers Club meets the second Saturday of each month at Jess Ranch Community Church in Apple Valley. Visit www.hdcwc.com for more information.

THEPULSE

OF THE HIGH DESERT

Low cost internet services help seniors stay connected

THE INTERNET IS A VALUABLE TOOL FOR SENIORS. It helps them stay connected with family, friends, and community services. This helps prevent social isolation, which can seriously worsen health. An internet connection is also needed to use helpful services like Amazon Echo, free caption phones, free videos (like exercises to reduce fall risk), on-demand music, streaming movies, and more. Having internet at home also allows the use of safety services, like fall monitoring, automated temperature control, home security, and more. But monthly access fees can be expensive.

Fortunately, federal government programs and some internet service providers are helping seniors get online with low-cost services, typically with no monthly contracts and free or low-cost equipment.

We rounded up 8 sources of low-cost internet for seniors. Availability depends on location and financial situation, but these programs are well worth checking into

8 sources of low cost internet for seniors 1. FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program

Most internet providers participate in the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program which allows eligible households to save up to $30 a month on internet service and get a one-time discount of up to $100 for a laptop, tablet, or desktop computer. Find out more and check eligibility

2. FCC’s Lifeline program

Lifeline is a federal program that lowers the monthly cost of phone or internet services. Eligible customers will get up to $9.25 off the cost of phone, internet, or bundled services. Participants in Medicaid, SSI, SNAP, Veterans benefits, and other federal, state, and tribal assistance programs will be eligible. Find out more and sign up

3. Comcast Xfinity

Eligible individuals can get home internet service for $10/ month, in-home Wifi, option to buy a discounted computer, access to free internet training classes, and access to Xfinity Wifi hotspots. Free access is available for those participating in the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program. Find out more and apply online

4. AT&T

Access from AT&T provides free or low-cost home internet service to qualifying households. Low-cost access is $30/ month or less based on the maximum speed available at the address. Free access is available for those participating in the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program.Find out more and apply online

5. EveryoneOn

EveryoneOn is an organization that works with a variety of internet service providers to offer low-cost plans. See offers

6. Spectrum Internet Assist

Spectrum Internet Assist offers special rates on internet internet service and discounts for those participating in the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program. Check availability in your area

7. Google Fiber

In some neighborhoods, Google Fiber offers high-speed plans for $20/per month. Check for availability and find out more

8. Internet First

The Internet First program offers high speed internet service to qualifying low-income households in RCN, Grande, and Wave serviceable areas. Check for availability and find out more

By DailyCaring Editorial Team

Your ad could be here!

Let THE PULSE be the voice and the door knocker for your business!!

by Rene Ray De La Cruz

OVER A CENTURY AGO, ONE MAN HAD THE VISION to develop his High Desert property into the greatest healing and agricultural development in the Victor Valley

“Adelanto Folk Greet Visitors” boasted a May 1922 edition of the San Bernardino County Sun, which shared highlights of a new project in the “growing colony 5 miles west of Victorville.” The Chamber of Commerce Trade Commission of Southern California made a trip there to visit the development by Earl Holmes Richardson of Ontario.

Richardson, a native of Wisconsin, moved to Pomona in 1895 and later used his scientific know-how and business savvy to helped to modernize Ontario

In 1915, he laid the foundation of Adelanto, which was incorporated in 1970 and became a charter cit y 22 years later.

In 1915, Richardson sold one of his patents and spent $75,000 to purchase land in Adelanto.

His goal was to develop Adelanto into one of the first master-planned communities in Southern California.

He subdivided his land into one-acre plots, which he hoped to sell to veterans with respiratory ailments suffered during World War I. During that time, physicians would suggest people suffering from breathing ailments to convalesce in a dry climate for an extended time Richardson also hoped to build a respiratory hospital, but that dream was never realized.

During their trip, the chamber of commerce group visited Richardson’s 250-acre dream, which included land producing pears, apples and grapes.

“We have the electric service, telephone service, domestic water system, mutual irrigating water system, post office, grocery store, garage, cement pipe plant (and) adobe brick plant,” said Richardson

His land also included adobe brick homes, 175-acre pear orchard, 40-acre apple orchard, 20-acre vineyard, turkey ranch, two concrete-lined reservoirs, eight miles of concrete irrigation pipe, six miles of street trees, three wells in operation with three more planned.

They also learned about Richardson’s business, the Adelanto Fruit Company, which was selling 4-year-old “Pear Lands” for $400 per acre.

The land deal included an offer to build a “beautiful 5-room house adjoining this property with built-in features and all modern conveniences for $3,800,” according to print ads in several publications. Richardson was outspoken about protecting the water rights of the Mojave River against diversion. He stated that he’d partner with others in the Victor Valley to resist attempts by outsiders to obtain the water.

The 62-year-old Richardson died of a heart attack in January 1934 and was interred at Bellevue Memorial Park in Ontario, according to the Chino Champion.

Earl Holmes Richardson

In the early 1900s, Richardson was a meter reader for the Ontario Power Company, where he experimented with and improved electrifying flat irons. He convinced his company to generate power all day every Tuesday, which was considered ironing day, so power customers could use his new iron. He reasoned that if more irons were used then more power would be demanded resulting in high rates reduced.

By 1904, he left the power company and started up the Pacific Electric Heating Company on Euclid Avenue, where his wife, Mary, suggested he make an iron with a hotter point for easier pressing around buttonholes, ruffles and pleats.

In 1905, he made and sold more electric irons under the “Hotpoint” name than any other company in America.

Soon, Richardson began utilizing electricity to create the “El” line of household appliances, such as an electric coffee pot, toaster, hotplates, teapots and more

Meanwhile, George A. Hughes, a 33-year-old former journalist from Iowa, was experimenting with the first electric range.

In 1918, Richardson and Hughes joined forces, merging their companies with the General Electric Company, and creating the Hotpoint brand of appliances.

Photo E.H. Richardson: Over 100 years ago, inventor and businessman E. H. Richardson helped to develop Ontario and lay the foundation of Adelanto. (Photo Courtesy Of The City Of Adelanto)

Photo Sept 1920 Adelanto: A 1920 ad for the booklet “Adelanto the desert transformed.”(Photo Courtesy Of The Evening Index) Reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at HighDesertPeople@gmail.com or on Twitter @HighDesertPeeps