May 2013 Howard County Beacon Edition by The Beacon Newspapers

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When Ferrucci made the decision to become part of the solution, he began working in a geriatric hospital in Italy, but decided that wasn’t quite the right fit. “It’s sort of difficult to be only a clinician when you work with aging because the rate of success is very low. You’re dealing with very old, frail people. I wanted to do research. I started being interested in the epidemiology of aging,” he said.

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The secrets of healthy aging By Barbara Ruben Luigi Ferrucci set out to study aging as a young man. As an idealistic 20-year-old medical student and volunteer for the Red Cross in Italy, Ferrucci found himself intrigued by a professor who told him the coming wave of aging adults would transform not just medicine, but politics and society as well. “He was absolutely right. If you think about it today, what everybody’s talking about in political discussion is passing healthcare [reform], how costly modern medicine is, how we’re going to afford Social Security, how we’re going to take care of people in a nursing home,” said Ferrucci, now 59. He’s pursued his early interest ever since, and is currently the scientific director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he oversees more than 600 employees. From the NIA’s Baltimore offices, Ferrucci leads the largest and longest study of aging in the world — the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. As part of that research, he is now studying the secrets of very old, very healthy people in a study aptly named IDEAL (short for “Insight into Determinations of Exceptional Aging and Longevity”). But nearly 40 years after he first decided to focus on aging, it’s still a topic that gets far too little attention in everyday life, Ferrucci believes. “Unless we’re really focused very, very intensively on aging, we’re not going to be able to address it. So our cities will be designed by young people but inhabited by old people. We will have a social and environmental structure designed for 30-year-olds, but will in fact be used by 60- or 70-year-old people. And that’s a problem,” he said.

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Big Bend National Park — big even for Texas; plus, how to avoid passport problems when traveling overseas page 27

ARTS & STYLE Dr. Luigi Ferrucci, scientific director of the National Institute on Aging, discusses the long-running Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging with colleague Dr. Toshiko Tanaka. In a new study, Ferrucci is now seeking very healthy people 80 or older to help uncover why they have aged so much better than their peers.

The creative life of a not-soretired West Friendship couple; plus, recalling the real-life story behind the film Argo page 30

So rather than taking his vacation to relax in Rome or visit the canals of Venice, Ferrucci used his time off to go to NIA to learn about its work. He soon began to commute between Baltimore and his native Florence, spending three months here each year before returning home to his family and his work with the Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology at the (Italian) National Institute for Research and Care on Aging. When the NIA sought a director for the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), Ferrucci decided to apply, never dreaming he’d get the job.

“I thought it was unlikely an Italian would ever get such a good position. But I was wrong, because one of the beautiful things about this country is that it gives people a chance. “They liked what I was saying, they liked the work I was doing, and they offered me a position. I was 48 or 49, and I thought if I don’t do it now, I’m never going to do it.” So in 2002, Ferrucci took the reins of the longitudinal study, which had begun in 1958. A few of the earliest participants are still members of the study, which continues See HEALTHY AGING, page 13

FITNESS & HEALTH 4 k Waiting before operating k Easy to follow heart-healthy diet THE SENIOR CONNECTION 17 k Howard County Office on Aging newsletter LAW & MONEY 21 k Rewards outweigh stock risks k Protect your spouse PLUS CROSSWORD, BEACON BITS, CLASSIFIEDS & MORE

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Anonymously yours The scariest thing about sitting down to doubt, even when your thinking has mawrite a column, especially in the Internet tured. age, is that you risk putting You’d think (well, I’d think) your ignorance on display to these consequences of Interthe entire world, forever. net search engines would It used to be if you made make people more reluctant an error or there was an to say the first thing that “editing mistake,” you might came into their minds, that get a comment or two, perperhaps they might lead to a haps a letter. You could then more reflective type of disissue a retraction or correccourse in the public arena. tion (“sorry I misspoke”) and After all, being told to pretty much figure that had “think before your speak” taken care of it. meant one thing when we FROM THE But today, every word you PUBLISHER were sitting in our elemenwrite in a blog, article, col- By Stuart P. Rosenthal tary school classrooms, but umn or even comment gets quite another when our “cached” in cyberspace and can remain ac- words may immediately be broadcast cessible ad infinitum — and searchable by worldwide. your name — despite all efforts to erase it. On the contrary, however, many people And what about expressing opinions today appear to lose most of their inhibithat, upon further reflection, you realize tions when writing online. To them, it’s libwere somewhat half-baked. (I’m speaking erating to see their words immediately and theoretically here.) Those, too, will always indelibly expressed in print with the click resurface, at an inopportune time no of an “enter” button.

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Of course, I’m omitting a crucial qualification here. Most Internet comments are submitted pseudonymously, or at least using a truncated name that cannot easily be traced back to the author. The ability to hide one’s identity online is, indeed, one of the signature features of the Internet. This privacy is what makes the medium so useful to people — for both positive and prurient purposes. And the threats allegedly posed to this privacy by some features of the latest technology, including that of Google and Facebook, have caused a storm of criticism online and elsewhere. On the other hand, the ability to comment while remaining out of sight isn’t really a new development. Book authors and columnists have used pseudonyms for hundreds of years. But when push comes to shove, people can usually ferret out a person’s true (or should I say, primary) colors in the publishing world. This appears to be more difficult online, though digital sleuths do have their ways. So would people step back and be more circumspect (or at least less vicious) if they were required to write in their own names at all times? Would writers be more careful to check their facts and think

through their arguments? Would we be able to have more faith in online product reviews if we could tell whether a PR hack wrote them? I think it’s clear all of these would be true. But I also think we’re unlikely to see the day when all Internet postings are clearly identifiable. While sites like Facebook tell users they are required to use their “real name,” and the fine print on many sites says you must at least register in your real name before being able to comment, there are still plenty of opportunities to hide one’s identity online. And for all practical purposes, the fact that a site’s owner has access to your real name doesn’t make your otherwise anonymous comments identifiable without a court order. At least there is one good thing about the fact that people so often hide behind pseudonyms when they write the most outrageous things. It means they do still have a sense of shame. When people choose to use their real names in rants, we’ll know the barbarians truly are at the gates.

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The Beacon is a monthly newspaper dedicated to inform, serve, and entertain the citizens of Howard County, Md. and is privately owned. Other editions serve Greater Baltimore, Md., Greater Washington DC, and Greater Palm Springs, Ca. Subscriptions are available via third-class mail ($12), prepaid with order. Maryland residents add 6 percent for sales tax. Send subscription order to the office listed below. Publication of advertising contained herein does not necessarily constitute endorsement. Signed columns represent the opinions of the writers, and not necessarily the opinion of the publisher.

Letters to the editor Readers are encouraged to share their opinion on any matter addressed in the Beacon as well as on political and social issues of the day. Mail your Letter to the Editor to The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915, or e-mail to barbara@thebeaconnewspapers.com. Please include your name, address and telephone number for verification. Dear Editor: I was interested in your publisher’s column in April, “Driven by Technology.” My cousin was in charge of the “Urban Chal-

• Publisher/Editor ....................Stuart P. Rosenthal • Associate Publisher..............Judith K. Rosenthal • Vice President, Operations........Gordon Hasenei • Director of Sales ................................Alan Spiegel • Assistant Operations Manager ..........Roger King • Managing Editor............................Barbara Ruben • Graphic Designer ..............................Kyle Gregory • Advertising Representatives ........Doug Hallock,

lenge” in California a few years back [a contest for teams developing self-driving cars]. It was a defense project sponsored by Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). He invited me and my wife to come out and watch the contest. About 30 cars made the finals. Here is a photo of the Google entr y. $150,000 per car seems low based on all the money they put into the contest. Bob Wood Columbia, MD

................................................ Steve Levin, Jill Joseph • Publishing Assistant ....................Rebekah Sewell

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

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Apr. 26

PUBLIC TRANPORTATION PRIMER

A training workshop on learning to use Howard County’s public transportation systems will be offered on Friday, April 26 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Duncan Hall, Room 100 at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. The event is free, but registration is required. For more information or to register, call (240) 346-4606.

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MEDITERRANEAN DIETS WIN A large study shows heart-healthy Mediterranean diets beat low-fat ones TENNIS ELBOW, ANYONE? Commonly used steroid shots for tennis elbow may worsen the condition CANCER PREVENTION STUDY Sign up to take part in a study that examines why some don’t get cancer INTOLERANT EATERS Why do so many people avoid gluten and lactose products today?

Pessimists may live longer, healthier lives Older people who have low expectations for a satisfying future may be more likely to live longer, healthier lives than those who see brighter days ahead, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. “Our findings revealed that being overly optimistic in predicting a better future was associated with a greater risk of disability and death within the following decade,” said lead author Frieder R. Lang, PhD, of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. “Pessimism about the future may encourage people to live more carefully, taking health and safety precautions.” The study was published online in the journal Psychology and Aging. Lang and colleagues examined data collected from 1993 to 2003 for the national German Socio-Economic Panel, an annual survey of private households consisting of approximately 40,000 people 18 to 96 years old. The researchers divided the data according to age groups: 18 to 39 years old, 40

to 64 years old and 65 years old and above. Through mostly in-person interviews, respondents were asked to rate how satisfied they were with their lives and how satisfied they thought they would be in five years. Five years after the first interview, 43 percent of the oldest group had underestimated their future life satisfaction, 25 percent had predicted accurately and 32 percent had overestimated, according to the study. Based on the average level of change in life satisfaction over time for this group, each increase in overestimating future life satisfaction was related to a 9.5 percent increase in reporting disabilities and a 10 percent increased risk of death, the analysis revealed.

More pessimistic with age Because a darker outlook on the future is often more realistic, older adults’ predictions of their future satisfaction may be more accurate, according to the study. In contrast, the youngest group had the sunniest outlook while the middle-aged adults

made the most accurate predictions, but became more pessimistic over time. “Unexpectedly, we also found that stable and good health and income were associated with expecting a greater decline compared with those in poor health or with low incomes,” Lang said. “Moreover, we found that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability.” The researchers measured the respondents’ current and future life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10 and determined accuracy in predicting life satisfaction by measuring the difference between anticipated life satisfaction reported in 1993 and actual life satisfaction reported in 1998. They analyzed the data to determine age differences in estimated life satisfaction; accuracy in predicting life satisfaction; age, gender and income differences in the accuracy of predicting life satisfaction; and rates of disability and death reported between 1999 and 2010. Other factors, such as illness, medical treatment or

personal losses, may have driven health outcomes, the study said.

But optimists may be happier The findings do not contradict theories that unrealistic optimism about the future can sometimes help people feel better when they are facing inevitable negative outcomes, such as terminal disease, according to the authors. “We argue, though, that the outcomes of optimistic, accurate or pessimistic forecasts may depend on age and available resources,” Lang said. “These findings shed new light on how our perspectives can either help or hinder us in taking actions that can help improve our chances of a long healthy life.” To read the full journal article, “Forecasting Life Satisfaction Across Adulthood: Benefits of Seeing a Dark Future?,” go to www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/pa g-ofp-lang.pdf. — American Psychological Association

Sometimes it’s better to wait than operate By Marilynn Marchione In a stunning example of when treatment might be worse than the disease, a large review of Medicare records finds that older people with small kidney tumors were much less likely to die over the next five years if doctors monitored them instead of operating right away. Even though nearly all of these tumors turned out to be cancer, they rarely proved fatal. And surgery roughly doubled patients’ risk of developing heart problems or dying of other causes, doctors found. After five years, 24 percent of those who had surgery had died, compared to only 13 percent of those who chose monitoring. Just 3 percent of people in each group died of kidney cancer. The study only involved people 66 and older, but half of all kidney cancers occur in this age group. Younger people with longer life expectancies should still be offered surgery, doctors stressed. The study also was observational — not an experiment where some people were given surgery and others were monitored, so it cannot prove which approach is best. Yet it offers a real-world look at how more than 7,000

Medicare patients with kidney tumors fared. Surgery is the standard treatment now. But perhaps it shouldn’t be. “I think [the study] should change care” and that older patients should be told “that they don’t necessarily need to have the kidney tumor removed,” said Dr. William Huang of New York University Langone Medical Center, who led the study. “If the treatment doesn’t improve cancer outcomes, then we should consider leaving them alone.” The research was discussed in a recent telephone news conference sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and two other cancer groups. In the United States, about 65,000 new cases of kidney cancer and 13,700 deaths from the disease are expected this year. Twothirds of cases are diagnosed at the local stage, when five-year survival is more than 90 percent. However, most kidney tumors these days are found not because they cause symptoms, but are spotted by accident when people are having an X-ray or other imaging test for something else, like back trouble or chest pain. Cancer experts increasingly question

the need to treat certain slow-growing cancers that are not causing symptoms — prostate cancer in particular. Researchers wanted to know how lifethreatening small kidney tumors were, especially in older people most likely to suffer complications from surgery. They used federal cancer registries and Medicare records from 2000 to 2007 to find 8,317 people 66 and older with kidney tumors less than 1.5 inches wide. Cancer was confirmed in 7,148 of them. About three-quarters of them had surgery and the rest chose to be monitored with periodic imaging tests. After five years, 1,536 had died, including 191 of kidney cancer. For every 100 patients who chose monitoring, 11 more were alive at the five-year mark compared to the surgery group. Only 6 percent of those who chose monitoring eventually had surgery. Furthermore, 27 percent of the surgery group, but only 13 percent of the monitoring group, developed a cardiovascular problem such as a heart attack, heart disease or stroke. These problems were more likely if doctors removed the entire kidney instead of just a part of it.

The results may help doctors persuade more patients to give monitoring a chance, said a cancer specialist with no role in the research, Dr. Bruce Roth of Washington University in St. Louis. Some patients with any abnormality “can’t sleep at night until something’s done about it,” he said. Doctors need to say, “We’re not sticking our head in the sand, we’re going to follow this” and can operate if it gets worse. One of Huang’s patients — 81-year-old Rhona Landorf, who lives in New York City — needed little persuasion. “I was very happy not to have to be operated on,” she said. “He said it’s very slow growing and that having an operation would be worse for me than the cancer.” Landorf said her father had been a doctor, and she trusts her doctors’ advice. Does she think about her tumor? “Not at all,” she said. For more information on kidney cancer, see www.cancer.net/cancer-types/kidneycancer and www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/kidney. More information on the study can be found at http:// gucasym.org. — AP

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You’re on top of your medications. But we make a good back up. You know it’s important to stay on your medications exactly as prescribed. However, if you miss a dose, want a lower-cost alternative, or experience any side effects, we can answer any questions. Speak to your local CVS Pharmacist to learn more. Find a store near you at www.cvs.com

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Commonly used corticosteroid shots may worsen tennis elbow in the long run and increase chances that the painful condition will reappear, a small study found. So-called tennis elbow is caused by repetitive activity or overuse of the arm, which can cause small tears in tendons that attach to the elbow bone. Rest, applying ice, and over-the-counter pain medicine can help relieve symptoms. Researchers at the University of Queensland enrolled 165 adults aged 18 and older suffering from tennis elbow. They were divided into four treatment groups: a single steroid injection; a shot of a dummy liquid; a steroid shot plus about eight weekly half-hour sessions of physical therapy; or a dummy injection plus physical therapy, After four weeks, steroid patients fared best, but after one year, those who didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get a steroid shot did better: All the patients who had physical therapy without steroids and 93 percent who got just dummy injections reported complete re-

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covery or much improvement, versus about 83 percent of those who had steroids with or without physical therapy. A recurrence of tennis elbow was reported by about half of the patients in both steroid groups, compared with just 5 percent of the physical therapy patients and 20 percent in the placebo group. While the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, echoes previous findings, injections of cortisone or similar steroids are still widely recommended by doctors to treat tennis elbow and similar conditions, probably because they can provide short-term pain relief. One reason steroid injections arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always the best choice is that they reduce the pain without fixing the underlying problem, so patients are more likely to resume activity too soon, said Dr. Michael Perry, a sports medicine specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

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Health shorts From page 7 a new device implanted in their retinas. In February, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System as the first treatment for the disorder that causes the breakdown of cells in the retina. The technology will initially be available only to a small number of patients, but could eventually be used to treat vision disorders that af fect millions of people, including macular degeneration. The device was approved in Europe in late 2011. The system includes a small video camera and transmitter mounted on a pair of glasses. Images from the camera are processed into electronic data that is wirelessly transmitted to electrodes implanted into the patient’s retina. The FDA approved the device from Second Sight Medical Products for patients

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who have advanced retinitis pigmentosa. The inventor, Dr. Robert Greenberg, first proposed the technology as a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University’s medical school about 20 years ago. He founded Second Sight to develop the technology in 1998. Results from a study of 30 patients with the condition showed that most were able to perform daily activities better with the implant than without it. Activities included navigating sidewalks and curbs, matching different color socks, and recognizing large words or sentences.

FDA approves targeted breast cancer drug The FDA has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones. The drug Kadcyla, from Roche’s Genentech unit, combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent dose of anti-tumor poison. Cancer researchers say the drug is an important step for ward because it delivers more medication while reducing the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy. “This antibody goes seeking out the tumor cells, gets internalized, and then explodes them from within. So it’s very kind and gentle on the patients — there’s no hair loss, no nausea, no vomiting,” said Dr. Melody Cobleigh of Rush University Medical Center, who helped conduct key studies of the drug. “It’s a revolutionary way of treating cancer.” The FDA approved the new treatment for about 20 percent of breast cancer patients with a form of the disease that is typically more aggressive and less responsive to hormone therapy. These patients have tumors that overproduce a protein known as HER-2. Patients taking Kadcyla lived about 2.6 years, compared with 2 years for patients taking the other drugs. Roche estimates a full course of Kadcyla, about nine months of medicine, will cost $94,000. FDA specifically approved the drug for patients with advanced breast cancer who have already been treated with Herceptin and taxane, a widely used chemotherapy drug. However, doctors are not required to follow FDA prescribing guidelines, and cancer researchers say the drug could have great potential in other patients as well. Kadcyla will carry a boxed warning, the most severe type, alerting doctors and patients that the drug can cause liver toxicity, heart problems and potentially death. The drug can also cause severe birth defects and should not be used by pregnant women. — AP

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

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M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Mediterranean-style diets beat low-fat ones By Marilynn Marchione Pour on the olive oil, preferably over fish and vegetables. One of the longest and most scientific tests of a Mediterranean diet suggests this style of eating can cut the chance of suffering heart-related problems, especially strokes, in older people at high risk of them. The study lasted five years and involved about 7,500 people in Spain. Those who ate Mediterranean-style with lots of olive oil or nuts had a 30 percent lower risk of major

cardiovascular problems compared to others who were told to follow a low-fat diet. Mediterranean meant lots of fruit, fish, chicken, beans, tomato sauce, salads and wine — and little baked goods and pastries. Mediterranean diets have long been touted as heart-healthy, but that’s based on observational studies that can’t prove the point. The new research is much stronger because people were assigned diets to follow for a long time and carefully monitored. Doctors even did lab tests to verify

that the Mediterranean diet folks were consuming more olive oil or nuts as recommended.

Better than medication Most of these people were taking medicines for high cholesterol and blood pressure, and researchers did not alter those proven treatments, said the study’s leader, Dr. Ramon Estruch of Hospital Clinic in Barcelona. But as a first step to prevent heart problems, “we think diet is better than a drug” because it has few if any side effects, Estruch said. “Diet works.” Results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and were discussed at a nutrition conference in Loma Linda, Calif. People in the study were not given rigid menus or calorie goals because weight

loss was not the aim. That could be why they found the “diets” easy to stick with — only about 7 percent dropped out within two years. There were twice as many dropouts in the low-fat group than among those eating Mediterranean-style. Researchers also provided the nuts and olive oil, so it didn’t cost participants anything to use these relatively pricey ingredients. The type of oil may have mattered — they used extra-virgin olive oil, which is richer than regular or light olive oil in the chemicals and nutrients that earlier studies have suggested are beneficial.

Participants at high risk The study involved people ages 55 to 80, just over half of them women. All were free of heart disease at the start but were at See DIETS, page 11

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May 14+

FREE SKIN CANCER SCREENING A dermatologist will talk about skin cancer with participants on

Tuesday, May 14 and Thursday, May 16 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Howard County General Hospital Wellness Center, Suite 100, 10710 Charter Dr., Columbia. For more information, call (410) 740-7601.

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H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

Diets From page 10 high risk for it because of health problems — half had diabetes and most were overweight and had high cholesterol and blood pressure. They were assigned to one of three groups: Two followed a Mediterranean diet supplemented with either extra-virgin olive oil (4 tablespoons a day) or with walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds (a fistful a day). The third group was urged to eat a lowfat diet heavy on bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, fruits, vegetables and fish — and light on baked goods, nuts, oils and red meat. Independent monitors stopped the study after nearly five years when they saw fewer problems in the two groups on Mediterranean diets. Doctors tracked a composite of heart attacks, strokes or heart-related deaths. There were 96 of these in the Mediterranean-olive oil group, 83 in the Mediterranean-nut group and 109 in the low-fat group. Looked at individually, stroke was the only problem where type of diet made a big difference. Diet had no effect on death rates overall. The Spanish government’s health research agency initiated and paid for the study, and foods were supplied by olive oil and nut producers in Spain and the California Walnut Commission. Many of the authors have extensive financial ties to food, wine and other industry groups but said the sponsors had no role in designing the study or analyzing and reporting its results.

mont professor who heads the American Heart Association’s nutrition committee, said the study is very strong because of the lab tests to verify oil and nut consumption and because researchers tracked actual heart attacks, strokes and deaths — not just changes in risk factors such as high cholesterol. “At the end of the day, what we care about is whether or not disease develops,” she said. “It’s an important study.” Rena Wing, a weight-loss expert at Brown University, noted that researchers provided the oil and nuts, and said “it’s not clear if people could get the same results from self-designed Mediterranean diets” — or if Americans would stick to them more than Europeans who are used to such foods. A third independent expert also praised the study as evidence diet can lower heart risks. “The risk reduction is close to that achieved with statins” — widely used cholesterol drugs, said Dr. Robert Eckel, a

diet and heart disease expert at the University of Colorado. “But this study was not carried out or intended to compare diet to statins or blood

pressure medicines,” he warned. “I don’t think people should think now they can quit taking their medicines.” — AP

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Health Studies Page

M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

THE PLACE TO LOOK FOR INFORMATION ON AREA CLINICAL TRIALS

Never had cancer? Major study needs you By Carol Sorgen The American Cancer Society’s Epidemiology Research Program is inviting men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 who have no personal history of cancer (except for basal or squamous cell skin carcinoma) to join the Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3).

This nationwide study will help researchers better understand the genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors that cause or prevent cancer. (Once a person has cancer, the body has been affected by the disease, various treatments and/or lifestyle changes as a result of the diagnosis, so they cannot take part in the study.)

Seeking Men and Women The University of Maryland & Veterans Aﬀairs of Baltimore are conducting a research study to better understand balance & prevent falls as we age. With your participation you will receive:

• Health evaluation • Balance, step, strength, and/or ﬂexibility exercises • Compensation for your time For Information, please call the Baltimore VA/University of Maryland Gerontology Recruitment Phone Line

410-605-7179 Mention code: LIFT *You must be at least 65 years old and in good health *Participants will be seen at the Baltimore VA Medical Center and University of Maryland School of Medicine for approximately 41 visits for 1 to 4 hours of time per visit

The first such study, CPS-1, established the link between smoking and lung cancer in the 1950s. In Maryland, the goal is to enroll 1,000 to 2,000 participants. The national goal is a diverse population of up to 500,000 Americans. Participants will have their waist measurement taken and give a small blood sample. They will also complete a comprehensive survey and follow-up surveys every few years.

Diverse participants sought Because the genetic susceptibility for cancer can differ by race, having a diverse population to study allows researchers to examine genetic as well as lifestyle difference in relation to cancer occurrence and prevention. Liver cancer rates, for instance, are higher in Hispanics than non-Hispanic whites, and CPS-3 provides a means to help scientists understand why. Rates of obesity are also increasing in U.S. Hispanic populations (as well as most other populations), and it has been proven that obesity is related to various types of cancer. Similarly, African American men have a higher incidence of prostate cancer com-

pared to white men, and the reasons are unclear. CPS-3 will allow researchers to better understand why. The incidence and death from lung cancer is also higher in African American men than white men. This is partly due to differences in the types and amount of cigarettes smoked by African Americans compared with whites, but requires more research like that which will be conducted through CPS-3. The incidence of breast cancer in women under the age of 40 is also higher among African American women than white women, and CPS-3 will help researchers understand why. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to participate in lifesaving cancer research,” said Gloria Jetter Crockett, American Cancer Society Maryland vice president. “In order to reach the enrollment targets, we need passionate people who are committed to fighting cancer.”

How to take part Those interested in participating will make an appointment at one of three Howard County sites on June 11 to 13 (see See HEALTH STUDY, page 13

Where to enroll in the study Enrollment appointments will be available at the following locations: Tuesday, June 11 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. UnitedHealthcare, 6095 Marshalee Dr., Suite 200, Oriole Park/Ravens Roost Room, Elkridge Wednesday, June 12 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT), 6711 Columbia Gateway Dr., Sustainability Suite, 1st Floor, Columbia

Wednesday, June 12 4 to 7:30 p.m. Howard County General Hospital’s Wellness Center, 10710 Charter Drive, Suite 100, Ellicott Mills Room, Columbia Thursday, June 13 4 to 7:30 p.m. Roger Carter Community Center, 3000 Milltown Rd., Oella & Caplan Multipurpose Rooms, Ellicott City

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

Healthy aging From page 1 to accept new applicants. About 1,200 people are currently enrolled; in all, there have been more than 3,000 participants over the past 55 years. Those entering the BLSA must be at least 20 years old and commit to spending two to three days at NIA every two to three years for intensive testing — on everything from cardiovascular health to personality. “At the end of this visit, they do a survey and the most important complaint is that they do not have enough time to go to the bathroom because we test them constantly,” he joked.

Health study From page 12 box for details). After scheduling the enrollment appointment, participants will receive a confirmation e-mail with instructions to go online and complete the first, most comprehensive survey. This survey will ask questions regarding medications, family history of cancer, lifestyle and other behaviors, and will take approximately 45 to 60 minutes to complete. At your appointment, participants will be asked to sign an informed consent

“Up to about 10 years ago, almost everything we knew about aging was coming from the BLSA,” Ferrucci, said. “In the last 10 to 15 years, there has been a groundswell of interest, as many other people are starting to study aging.”

Cornerstone findings The BLSA has documented some sweeping discoveries about older adults, including the concept that there is no chronological timetable of aging; everyone ages differently. Also, while people’s bodies change as they age, a number of disorders that typically occur in old age are a result of disease processes, not normal aging as had

form, complete a brief survey, and provide a waist circumference measurement and a small blood sample (similar to a doctor’s visit). The blood sample will be taken by a certified, trained phlebotomist. The appointment should last approximately 20 to 30 minutes. At home, participants will receive periodic follow-up surveys, which will ask for information on lifestyle, behaviors and other factors related to their health. Participants will also receive annual newsletters about ongoing research. For more information, call 1-888-604-5888, or visit www.CPS3HowardCounty.org.

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previously been thought. Ferrucci said a few of the most important findings from the study are the following: • The development of the glucose tolerance test to diagnose diabetes was due to the BLSA. • The study discovered that artery stiffness is a strong predictor for cardiovascular disease. • In autopsies of some of the study patients, their brains showed all the hallmarks of severe Alzheimer’s, yet they were able to function normally with no

signs of dementia. (Those in the study are encouraged to agree to an autopsy, but it is not required.) “If we could understand why some people escape the devastation of Alzheimer’s, that would be a very good way to develop new treatment strategies,” Ferrucci said. • The decline in strength during aging is much more severe than the decline in muscle mass indicates. “Not only do the muscles become smaller, their quality seems to decline. If we See HEALTHY AGING, page 14

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Healthy aging

ic problem, some disease is occurring,” Ferrucci said.

From page 13 could understand the biological process, we could implement strategies that would allow us to prevent muscle decline and some of the disability that occurs with aging,” he said. • People maintain the same personality for their whole lives. “There are some stereotypes that people become more vicious and grumpy as they age, but BLSA data show this is actually not the case…When change in personality occurs, it usually indicates there is some patholog-

Aging ideally Intrigued by the fact that some of the older study participants remain healthy while others don’t, Ferrucci began the IDEAL study two years ago. “What we’ve realized is that being a centenarian is not what people really want. What people want is to be long-lived [and] to live those lives as fully and joyfully as possible. The real outcome everyone wants is to be old and healthy — to live many years, but not have disease or disability.”

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M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

The IDEAL study is now recruiting participants age 80 or older who can walk a quarter mile unassisted, have no severe memory problems, and have no major medical conditions. These healthy agers will be compared with ones in the BLSA who have had more problems as they’ve grown older. Only about one-tenth of one percent of the population fits the criteria for the IDEAL study, Ferrucci said. There are currently about 70 patients in the study, primarily from the Baltimore and Washington areas. Participants must spend two to three days at NIA each year for a battery of tests — including six hours of cognitive testing and an MRI of the brain, as well as testing of walking ability, vision, hearing, personality and more. As he approaches 60, Ferrucci is applying his decades of research to his own life. His wife and two children in their 20s live in Italy, and he said he plans to be around for his grandchildren and beyond. He follows a Mediterranean diet, including fruit and yogurt for breakfast; a lot of vegetables, nuts, fish and olive oil; a small amount of carbohydrates; and wine several times a week. Ferrucci runs three to five miles several

times a week and insists on getting at least six to six and one-half hours of sleep a night. And he’s preparing for a time when he’s older. Worried he won’t be able to run for too many more years, Ferrucci is taking up tennis as an alternative, less intensive exercise. He also believes it’s important to cultivate interests and social interaction. He’s honing his art skills, noting his mother painted while she was in her 90s. And he’s cooking up a storm. “My friends feel the best Italian restaurant in Baltimore is my house,” said Ferrucci, who lives in Roland Park. He’s also trying to learn as much as he can from the patients in his studies. “Friday is the best day of the week for me because I go to the clinic and talk with the patients. I’ve learned about mobility problems, about their everyday worries and concerns,” he said “Unless you see them, unless you talk to them personally, your awareness of them as individuals and not just numbers is just not there.” To find out more about the IDEAL study, call toll free 1-855-80-IDEAL (43325) or email IDEAL@westat.com.

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May 21

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Apr. 29

ASK THE PHARMACIST

A free program on using tools of imagery, visualization and meditation to promote positive changes in life will be offered on Tuesday, May 21 at 7 p.m. at the Howard County General Hospital Wellness Center, Suite 100, 10710 Charter Drive, Columbia. For advanced registration and more information, visit www.hcgh.org or call (410) 740-7601.

Consultant pharmacist Don Hamilton will meet with individuals to provide updates and other information and to answer questions concerning their medications in a free session on Monday, April 29 at 11 a.m. at the Ellicott City Senior Center, 9401 Frederick Rd., Ellicott City. For further information, call the center at (410) 313-1400.

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Why do so many avoid gluten and lactose? Q: So many people follow a glutenAlthough a few studies have linked high free or lactose-free diet today. Do they consumption of lactose with greater risk of play a role in reducing cancer risk? ovarian cancer, the overall A: For people who have celiac evidence is not concludisease, closely following a sive, and some animal regluten-free diet is vital. Gluten is a search shows possible protein in wheat, rye and barley protective effects of lacthat poses no risk to most people, tose in the colon. but for people with this condition, High consumption of it damages the intestines, and dairy products is linked that could increase risk of cancer. with increased risk of People with celiac disease can prostate cancer, especially eat a well-balanced diet, replacing advanced or fatal forms. these three grains that are harmBut this may relate to exful to them with potatoes, rice, soy, NUTRITION cess consumption or calciWISE amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, um or some other compoBy Karen Collins, beans, and starch or flour made nent of milk, not lactose itMS, RD, CDM from them. self. However, for people without Overall, research shows conditions that make them sensitive to no reduction in cancer risk by avoiding gluten, research shows no cancer protec- foods with lactose (dairy products) if you tion from avoiding it. In fact, whole-grain are not lactose-intolerant. In fact, AICR’s foods containing gluten can be good expert report and its updates link consources of fiber and antioxidant phyto- sumption of dairy products with lower risk chemicals that may be cancer-protective. of colon cancer. For people who can’t digest lactose, a Q: Do stevia sweeteners offer any milk sugar, the problem is the uncomfort- special advantage because they are able cramping and diarrhea that result natural? from consuming it. A: Keep in mind that “natural” on food

BEACON BITS

May 2

LIKE TO BIKE?

Howard County’s new bicycling initiative, a non-competitive, peerled bicycling club for older adults, Cycle2Health or C2H, will open on Thursday, May 2 beginning at 10 a.m. in the parking lot of the East Columbia 50+ Center, 6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia. The program launch will be held rain or shine and will feature complimentary bike checks and presentations on bike-related topics. There is a $10 fee to participate in the ride. Adults of all ages and riding abilities are welcome. Coordinated by the Department of Citizen Services’ Office on Aging, the county-wide program will feature scheduled rides of varying length departing from various county senior center locations. For more information, call (410) 313-5940 or visit www.howardcountyaging.org/Cycle2Health.

labels has no legal definition; in fact, stevia sweeteners are highly purified compounds technically called steviol glycosides, produced as extracts of the stevia plant. Research does not identify these products as any more beneficial to health than other zero-calorie sweeteners. Stevia sweeteners are available under several different brand names and are 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. So in the small amounts needed to sweeten foods, they are essentially calorie-free. Like other calorie-free sweeteners, stevia sweeteners do not raise blood sugars and are safe for people with diabetes. Substituting sweeteners like this for a single teaspoon of sugar only saves 16 calories. But in foods or drinks in which it replaces larger amounts of sugar, stevia and other zero-calorie sweeteners can make a significant calorie difference over time. Of course, when added to desserts or to

soft drinks to replace some sugar, those foods still contain calories from the other ingredients. “Reduced-calorie” foods are not “zero-calorie.” Stevia sweeteners are one of many options for adding sweetness without calories. Yet even though some refer to stevia as “natural,” adding it (or any other zero-calorie sweetener) to a food or drink with no nutritional value does not suddenly turn it into “health food.” The American Institute for Cancer Research offers a Nutrition Hotline, 1-800843-8114, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. This free service allows you to ask questions about diet, nutrition and cancer. A registered dietitian will return your call, usually within three business days. Courtesy of the American Institute for Cancer Research. Questions for this column may be sent to “Nutrition Wise,” 1759 R St., NW, Washington, DC 20009. Collins cannot respond to questions personally.

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VOLUME 3, NO. 5 • MAY 2013

A Message from the Administrator By Dayna Brown, Office on Aging Administrator

Happy Older Americans Month! Every year since 1963, May has been the month to appreciate and celebrate the vitality and aspirations of older adults and their contributions and achievements. This year’s Older Americans Month theme — “Unleash the Power of Age!” — emphasizes the important role of older adults as productive, active, and influential members of our communities. Here at the Office on Aging, we are especially proud to recognize the valuable contributions older adults make to communities throughout Howard County. Whether helping to launch innovative new programs like Cycle2Health Howard County, or offering their time and support to long-established ones like SHIP (now the State Health Insurance Assistance Program), older adults provide a vital link between what we do and who we serve. In Howard County, special events like WomenFest (April 27 at the Glenwood 50+ Center) and the 50+EXPO (Oct. 18 at Wilde Lake High School) show that we not only support our older residents, we celebrate them as well. And while the Office on Aging provides services, support, and resources to older adults year-round, Older Americans Month is a great opportunity to show special appreciation, and to encourage older adults to come together and share their experiences with one another, as well as with individuals of other generations. To learn more about activities and events planned for Older Americans Month, or to find how you can unleash the power of age, check out the Coming Events section of this issue, or call Maryland Access Point at 410-313-5980.

Cycle Your Way to Health

First Cycling Program in Howard County for Older Adults Cycle2Health Howard County (C2H) — the first non-competitive, peer-led, bicycling club developed for older adults in Howard County — debuts this month! Coordinated by the Office on Aging’s Health & Wellness Division, C2H offers adults of all ages and riding abilities the opportunity to experience the benefits of exercise while exploring the natural beauty and sights of Howard County. “Cycling is the perfect exercise for all age groups,” said County Executive Ken Ulman. “It allows you to take part at your own pace. It’s good for the heart and good for the muscles. It helps build stamina and improves cardiovascular fitness. And in addition to the health benefits, it’s a clean mode of transportation that helps preserve our environment.” Longtime cycling enthusiasts Saul Zuckman and José Luis Puchol-Salva have been instrumental in getting the cycling program off the ground, recruiting fellow cyclists to serve as volunteer ride leaders, mapping out initial routes, and suggesting guidelines to insure the safety of participants. Zuckman, who started cycling 23 years ago as a way to lose weight and control his type 2 diabetes, hopes Howard County residents will embrace Cycle2Health with the same enthusiasm that he has. “Before now, there wasn’t a program to meet the needs of older adult riders in Howard County, offering daylight rides of varying intensity on weekdays,” said Zuckman. “It’s our hope that Cycle2Health participants will not only develop a love for riding, but also gain better health and find new friends along the way.” Zuckman and Puchol-Salva encourage anyone interested in participating in C2H to join them at the official launch on Thursday, May 2 beginning at 10 a.m. at the East Columbia 50+ Center, 6600 Cradlerock Way in Columbia. The program launch will be held rain or shine

Saul Zuckman, left, and José Luis Puchol-Salva encourage beginner and experienced riders alike to join Cycle2Health Howard County.

and will feature complimentary bike checks and free presentations at 10:15 a.m. on bike-related topics, including: How to Change a Spare Tire (Princeton Sports); Navigating the Trails of Howard County (Race Pace); and the Need-to-Knows About Bicycling (League of American Bicyclists). Cycle2Health’s inaugural ride — to Savage Mill and back — will depart from the parking lot at 10:30 a.m., weather permitting. You must pre-register to ride; there is a $10 annual registration fee, and participants must provide their own bicycle in good working order, a helmet, water, a spare tube and bicycle air pump. Courtesy bike checks are available for C2H participants at Princeton Sports and Race Pace in Columbia. For more information or to register, contact Jennifer Lee at 410-313-5940 or visit www.howardcountyaging.org/ Cycle2Health.

Oﬃcial Launch Thursday, May 2nd • 10 a.m.

East Columbia 50+ Center 6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia

M AY 2 0 1 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

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The Senior Connection

Have Questions About Medicare? Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Still Here to Help By Bill Salganik, Counselor, State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) Our name is now slightly different, but our services are the same. What used to be known as the Senior Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) is now the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, to indicate that our services arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just for older adults. We help people with Medicare questions or problems regardless of their age, including those with disabilities who are eligible for Medicare. SHIP services are always free, confidential and unbiased, and include community presentations, such as the popular Medicare 101/102 sessions, as well as oneon-one counseling. Here are just some of the topics we can address: â&#x20AC;˘ Medicare enrollment. When do you need to sign up? â&#x20AC;˘ Medicare prescription insurance. How do you find a

â&#x20AC;˘ Medicare supplemental insurance. What kind of insurance covers your deductibles and co-pays.

â&#x20AC;˘ Income-based assistance. Depending on your income and assets, you may be eligible for government help paying for your Medicare cost. â&#x20AC;˘ Billing questions or fraud concerns. â&#x20AC;˘ Retiree health insurance. How does your employer or union plan fit in with Medicare? For a schedule of upcoming presentations see box, left, call 410-313-7392 or visit www.howardcountyaging.org/ SHIP. To make an appointment for one-on-one assistance, call the Bain Center (410-313-7392), Ellicott City Senior Center (410-313-1400), Glenwood 50+ Center (410-313-5440) or North Laurel 50+ Center (410-313-0380).

THE BAIN CENTER 5470 Ruth Keeton Way, Columbia 410-313-7213

LONGWOOD SENIOR CENTER 6150 Foreland Garth, Columbia 410-313-7217

ELKRIDGE SENIOR CENTER 6540 Washington Blvd., Elkridge 410-313-5192

ELLICOTT CITY SENIOR CENTER PLUS 9401 Frederick Road, Ellicott City 410-313-1425

GLENWOOD 50+ CENTER 2400 Route 97, Cooksville 410-313-5440

NORTH LAUREL SENIOR CENTER PLUS 9411 Whiskey Bottom Road, Laurel 410-313-7218

Upcoming Medicare Events: Medicare 101: What You Can Expect from Medicare Wednesday, May 15, 7 p.m. The Bain Center, 5470 Ruth Keeton Way, Columbia Medicare 102: Why Medicare Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Enough Wednesday, May 22, 7 p.m. The Bain Center, 5470 Ruth Keeton Way, Columbia Long Term Living: Covering the Cost Wednesday, May 15, 11 a.m. Kiwanis Wallas Recreation Center, 3300 Norbertâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Way, Ellicott City

No fee. Call 410-313-7391 to register. plan that covers your medications? â&#x20AC;˘ Medicare Advantage Plans, such as HMOs. How much are the premiums and co-pays? How do cost and services compare to â&#x20AC;&#x153;original medicareâ&#x20AC;? and supplemental insurance?

HOWARD COUNTY SENIOR CENTERS

NORTH LAUREL 50+ CENTER 9411 Whiskey Bottom Road, Laurel 410-313-0380

EAST COLUMBIA 50+ CENTER 6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia 410-313-7680

MARYLAND ACCESS POINT AGING AND DISABILITY RESOURCE CENTER

GLENWOOD SENIOR CENTER PLUS 2400 Route 97, Cooksville 410-313-5442

ELLICOTT CITY SENIOR CENTER 9401 Frederick Road, Ellicott City 410-313-1400

Your Gateway to Information â&#x20AC;˘ Assistance â&#x20AC;˘ Resources

Plan for Today. Plan for Tomorrow. Short and Long Term Planning â&#x20AC;˘ Caregiver Resources and Support Medicare Education and Assistance â&#x20AC;˘ Transportation Options Housing Options â&#x20AC;˘ Aging in Place Consultation Reverse Mortgage Counseling â&#x20AC;˘ Senior Centers Senior Center Plus â&#x20AC;˘ Guardianship/Ombudsman Health and Wellness Programs â&#x20AC;˘ Volunteer Opportunities

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The Senior Connection is published monthly by the Howard County Department of Citizen Servicesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Office on Aging. We welcome your comments and suggestions. To contact us, or to join our email subscriber list, email seniorconnection@howardcountymd.gov with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;subscribeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the subject box.

Howard County Office on Aging 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, MD 21046

410-313-6410

410.313.5980 VOICE/RELAY â&#x20AC;˘ 800.506.5806 TOLL FREE map@howardcountymd.gov â&#x20AC;˘ www.marylandaccesspoint.info

www.howardcountyaging.org â&#x20AC;˘ www.Facebook.com/HoCoCitizen

If you need this information in an alternate format, please call 410.313.5980.

Advertising contained in the Beacon is not endorsed by the Howard County Office on Aging or by the publisher.

Dayna Brown, Administrator

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

Coming Events

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The Senior Connection

Saturday, April 27, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – WomenFest, Glenwood 50+ Center Plan a girls’ day out to visit WomenFest’s 90 vendors and exhibitors, attend fun and informative seminars, get free health screenings, enjoy great food and music, and meet Andrea Pomerantz Lustig, beauty editor of Glamour magazine. Free; call 410-313-5440 for more information.

Wednesday, May 1, 1 to 3 p.m. – 25th Anniversary Celebration, Ellicott City Senior Center Join us for an afternoon of memories and a celebration of the last 25 years featuring music and refreshments. Sign our memory book and receive a special memento! Call 410-313-1400 for details. Wednesday, May 1, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Maryland Law Day, Howard County Senior Centers Lawyers will offer free preparation of Maryland medical decision documents at the Bain Center, Elkridge Senior Center, Ellicott City Senior Center, East Columbia 50+ Center; Glenwood 50+ Center; and the North Laurel 50+ Center. Call for an appointment at the center nearest you. Wednesday, May 1, 9 to 11 a.m. – Waffle Bar, Glenwood 50+ Center Join us in the lobby café and enjoy a lovely breakfast among friends. Free; call 410-313-5440 to sign up.

Thursday, May 2, 11 a.m. – Worried About the New Tax Rates?, Ellicott City Senior Center Join John Hauserman, the CFP Board Ambassador to Central Maryland, as he explains the new tax laws and how they may affect you. Topics include the healthcare surtax; higher dividend and capital gains tax rates; how to avoid tax saving “gimmicks”; and common sense tactics to lower your tax bill. Call 410-313-1400 for more information.

Thursday, May 2, 10 a.m. – Cycle2Health Kick-Off, East Columbia 50+ Center Join the fun at the kick-off of Cycle2Health, a non-competitive, bicycling club for adults of all ages and abilities. The inaugural ride departs at 10:30 a.m. from the parking lot, weather permitting; you must register in advance to ride. Visit www.howardcountyaging.org/Cycle2Health for details and forms.

Friday, May 3, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Mother’s Day Pottery Class, Elkridge Senior Center Design and make a beautiful piece of pottery, just in time to give as a Mother’s Day gift, or keep it for yourself! Cost: $5; call 410-313-5192 to register.

Monday through Friday, May 6 – 10, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Honor your Mother Week, Elkridge Senior Center Enjoy facials, massages, guided relaxation therapy, silk flower arranging and much more. Most activities are free, call 410-313-5192 for details.

Tuesday, May 7, 6:30 to 8 p.m. – Flowers and Jazz, East Columbia 50+ Center Enjoy Blue Smoke Jazz with Gina DeSimone & The Moaners, and shop our flower sale for Mother’s Day gifts. Free; hors d’oeuvre reception begins at 6:30 p.m., concert at 7 p.m.

Wednesdays, May 8 – June 12, 2 to 3:30 p.m. – Tappin’ with Jackie, Ellicott City Senior Center Learn to tap dance with Jackie Dunphy of the Golden Girls — it’s an excellent form of aerobic exercise! Cost: $40/six weeks; all levels of dancers are welcome, both men and women. A recital will be held on Friday, June 14 at 12:30 pm. Call 410313-1400 to register.

Friday, May 10, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Spring Plant Sale, North Laurel 50+ Center Celebrate the gardening season & Mother’s Day; a variety of pots, flats and hanging baskets of annuals and perennials will be offered for sale. Come early for the best selection! For more information, call 410-313-0380. Friday, May 10, 10:30 a.m. to noon – Mother’s Day Brunch, The Bain Center Our 3rd annual Mother’s Day event will feature the Retro Rockets. Join us as we honor mothers as well as women who are caregivers (men are also welcome to join us!) Cost: $8; buy your tickets at the front desk before they sell out.

Tuesday, May 14, 1 to 4 p.m. — Clarity Audiology, Ellicott City Senior Center Dr. Mary Carson, clinical audiologist from Clarity Audiology & Hearing Solutions, will perform free hearing screenings. Appointments are required; schedule at the front desk or call 410-313-1400. Wednesday, May 15, 10 a.m. – The Confederate Commerce Raider, Glenwood 50+ Center Our Civil War Series continues! Brad Berger from the National Park Service will be here to talk about the CSS Alabama. Free; call 410-313-5440 to sign up.

Wednesday, May 15, 10 a.m. to noon – Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) East Columbia 50+ Center Learn this acupuncture alternative to clear blocked energy flow. Simple tapping on acupuncture points is an easy method to learn and use. Cost: $10. Call 410-313-7680 to register. Wednesday, May 15, noon – Mother’s Day Tea, North Laurel 50+ Center Celebrate Mother’s Day with friends & family. Enjoy an elegant tea service complete with savories, sweets, and live music. Cost $6 per person. Call 410-313-0380 by May 13 for reservations. Thursday, May 16, 10 to 11 a.m. – Get to Know Your Food Additives, Elkridge Senior Center Do you know what’s in the food you eat? Nutritionist Rona Martiyan will answer your questions about food additives. Free; call 410-313-5192 for more information.

Friday, May 17, 11:30 a.m. – Margaritaville, Glenwood 50+ Center Join us on the patio to dance to the sounds of Rex Allen, dine on grilled chicken and more! Cost: $8. Call 410-313-5440 to register.

Tuesday, May 21, 11 a.m. to noon – Music, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Bain Center Take a look at America in the 1940s focusing on the events, people, styles, issues, fads and values that shaped the decade. Presented by Hugo Keesing, retired faculty, the University of Maryland. Call 410-313-7213 or stop by to register by May 14; with nominal lunch donation. Friday, May 24, 11 a.m. to noon – You Be the Judge, The Bain Center Examine real-life court cases with Trial Judge Weisberger. Here’s your chance to step behind the bench and decide the verdict. Don’t miss this interactive event! Call 410-313-7213 to register in advance.

Thursday, May 23, 5 to 7 p.m. – Jazz in the Courtyard, Glenwood 50+ Center Kick back for our Jazz Happy Hour in the courtyard, featuring mocktails and live jazz music. Enjoy light refreshments and unwind after your day. Cost: $5. Call 410-313-5440 to register.

Friday, May 24, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Not Older but Better, Elkridge Senior Center Join our Older American’s Day celebration, featuring a delicious open salad bar with all of your favorite foods, entertainment, games & more. Call 410-313-5192 for more information.

Wednesday, May 29, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Older Americans Month Brunch, North Laurel 50+ Center Join us for a special brunch & live music in honor of older adults in the community. Call 410-313-0380 to make your reservations by May 24. Thursday, May 30, 6 to 7:30 p.m. – Aging: Facts and Fiction, The Bain Center Three thoughtful, dramatic presentations by the Mental Health Players provide a fresh look at aging issues and their relevance for the future. Audience interaction is encouraged; light refreshments served. Sponsored by SPRING; call 410-313-7213 for more information or to register. Friday, May 31, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. – A Moment to Honor, The Bain Center Join us to honor the significant people in our lives who are no longer with us. Listen to a guest speaker; enjoy quiet reflection to music, time for individual sharing, and a group commemorative activity. Free; open to everyone. Light refreshments served. Contact Elaine Widom, 410-313-7283 or ewidom@howardcountymd.gov to RSVP or for more information.

Need a ride? Try Neighbor Ride, a volunteerbased service for Howard County residents age 60 and over, which provides transportation to doctor's appointments, shopping, religious services, social outings or other daily activities. For scheduling information, or to volunteer as a driver, call 410-884-7433 or email volunteer@neighborride.org.

M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

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The Senior Connection

Living Well: Take Charge of Your Health

Wednesdays, May 8 through June 12, 2013 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. Glen Mar United Methodist Church, 4701 New Cut Road, Ellicott City, MD 21043

Living Well: Take Charge of Your Health is a six-week workshop modeled after Stanford University’s Chronic Disease Self-Management Program. Participants will learn techniques to cope with the frustration, fatigue, pain and isolation often associated with chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and obesity, as well as exercises to maintain and improve strength, flexibility and endurance, and how to communicate more effectively with family, friends and health professionals. The class and accompanying materials cost $28. To register, or for more information, contact Maryland Access Point (MAP) at 410-313-5980.

DESIGNED TO INSPIRE YOU TO LIVE A MORE BALANCED, HEALTHY AND FULFILLED LIFE

There’s SOMETHING for EVERYONE at WOMENFEST 2013!

Saturday, April 27, 2013 10:00 am - 3:00 pm Gary J. Arthur Community Center at Glenwood 2400 Route 97, Cooksville, MD 21723

Don’t miss these great seminars: • TRASH TO TREASURE

Create your own style; repurpose discarded objects into unique additions for your home. Presented by Wendy Jorgensen-Perry, Lindsay Cundiff and Jennifer Gerrity

• GET THE SKINNY ON WEIGHT LOSS

Experience an exciting showcase of 90+ vendors, exhibitors, seminars and health screenings!

What is your healthy weight and how can you achieve it? Learn how to make the numbers count so you can feel great. Presented by Rajiv Dua, M.D.

PRESENTED BY

• MAKE EVERY MOMENT COUNT Do you feel like you are on cruise control? Do you want to be more engaged in your life? Learn how to take steps toward a life that matters. Presented by Ginny Robertson

• RED, WHITE OR ROSÉ? HEAR WHAT THE PROS SAY! Not sure what to serve? The pros will help you choose the perfect wine every time. Presented by Raj Kathuria & Andy Chandler

• GOT CHI? Chinese medicine teaches that Chi is our life force. Learn how acupuncture, qi gong, herbal medicine and tai chi can help to restore harmony and balance in all aspects of your life. Presented by Susan Duggan, M.Ac., L.Ac.

• FROM DAY TO PLAY: ACCESSORIES & BEYOND . Presented by Chris Loney

• KEYNOTE SPEAKER: ANDREA POMERANTZ LUSTIG Beauty editor, Glamour magazine and author of How to Look Expensive – A Beauty Editor’s Secrets to Getting Gorgeous Without Breaking the Bank (books available on site for purchase/author signing)

410.313.5440

•

www.howardcountyaging.org/womenfest

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

Say you saw it in the Beacon

Money Law &

GETTING CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE Take a close look at your credit report. Twenty percent of consumers may have an error LOST AND FOUND A new technology uses cellphones and iPods to find missing keys, remotes and other easily lost items ADVANCE YOUR CAREER For less than $1,000 you can hire a career coach, take classes to learn new skills or build a blog

Stocks may be less risky than you think By Bernard Condon Is it too late? If you’ve stayed out of stocks recently, you might be worried that you’ve missed your chance to get back in. After all, they must be expensive now that the Dow Jones industrial average has risen 120 percent in four years to a record high. The good news is that stocks still seem a good bet despite the run-up. The bad news: They’re no bargain, at least by some measures, so don’t get too excited. Many investors obsess about stock prices. But you must give equal weight to a company’s earnings. When earnings rise, stocks become more valuable — and their prices usually rise, too. That seems to be happening now. “We’ve had record profits upon record profits,” said John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet, a research firm. “And estimates are we’ll have record profits this year, too.” What’s more, some of the typical threats

to stock run-ups — such as rising inflation and interest rates, which often trigger a recession — seem unlikely to appear soon. Among reasons to consider stocks again:

A stronger economy While it’s difficult for those without jobs to believe, there are no traditional signs of a recession. And that’s encouraging for stocks, which almost always fall ahead of an economic downturn. Stocks started falling two months before the Great Recession began in December 2007 and one year before the recession that started in March 2001. Better yet, the economy may be on the verge of faster growth. The unemployment rate in February dipped from 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent, its lowest level since December 2008. Employers added more than 200,000 jobs each month from November to February, compared with 150,000 in each of the prior three months.

More jobs mean more money for people to spend, and consumer spending drives 70 percent of economic activity. And there has been a flurry of other hopeful signs lately. Homebuilders broke ground on new homes last year at the fastest pace in four years. Sales of autos, the second-biggest consumer purchase, are at a five-year high. If recent history is any guide, this economic expansion is still young. The expansion that began in June 2009 is 44 months old. The previous three expansions lasted 73 months, 120 months and 92 months. Corporate earnings grow in expansions, which can push stocks higher. In the 1982-1990 expansion, earnings of companies in the Standard and Poor’s 500 stock index grew 50 percent, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, which oversees the index. The S&P 500 itself surged nearly 170 percent. For 2013, earnings of S&P 500 companies are expected to grow 7.9 percent,

then jump another 11.5 percent next year, according to FactSet. If that’s right, stocks could rise fast. But history offers three caveats: First, if you look at the 11 expansions back to World War II, instead of the last three, they last 59 months on average. By that measure, the current expansion is middle aged, not young. Second, investing based on U.S. economic expansions may not work as well as in the past. Big U.S. companies generate nearly half their revenue from overseas now so you need to worry about other economies, too. The 17 European countries that use the euro as a currency have been in recession for more than a year. Japan, the world’s third largest economy, has struggled to grow. Third, earnings forecasts are often too high. They come from financial analysts who study companies and advise on stocks to buy. In the past 15 years, their annual earnings See STOCKS, page 23

Protect your spouse with life insurance able prices for healthy individuOften, when individuals als. retire, the need for life inSometimes, insurance can be surance either is greatly reneeded even with a pension. duced or eliminated. HowFor example, when I retired, I ever, that is not always the selected a survivor option for case. my spouse regarding my emIf you are for tunate ployer-provided pension, but enough to be eligible for a sadly, my spouse died about five lifetime pension, you may years later. also have the option to I was fortunate enough to reelect a lifetime pension for THE SAVINGS marry. But as is often the case, I your spouse (should you GAME was not able to add my new die first) in exchange for By Elliot Raphaelson spouse to my pension plan as a accepting a lower monthly amount. If you have this option, you survivor. So I needed to protect my preshave less need for ongoing life insur- ent spouse. Millions of retired individuals are in the same situation. ance. I was 65 when I re-married. I investigatBut for those without a lifetime pension, and the option to elect continued pay- ed the cost of term insurance at that time, ments to their spouse, life insurance can using an independent insurance agent. be helpful. Many households do not have Luckily, my health was good, and I was enough savings and investments to ensure able to purchase term insurance at a reathat a surviving spouse will have sufficient sonable cost. For a little more than $100/month, I income for life. In that case, life insurance is still required. Fortunately, even at age was able to purchase $250,000 worth of 65, term insurance is available at reason- term insurance for 20 years. I also initiat-

ed a new investment program that utilizes dollar-cost-averaging, so that if I live past age 85 (when my term insurance ends), my spouse will no longer need life insurance.

Other reasons for insurance There are other circumstances that may necessitate the need for life insurance when you are in retirement. Sometimes you will run into unexpected expenses, or your investments will not perform as well as you expect. For example, even though my wife and I have excellent health insurance, we do not have good dental insurance, which is the case for many retirees. I have used more than one dental policy with poor results. A few years ago, both my wife and I incurred approximately $50,000 in un-reimbursed dental expenses, which we paid for over a one-year period utilizing “CareCredit” in order to avoid any interest costs and to continue to earn as much as possible on

our invested assets. [Editor’s Note: CareCredit is a credit card that allows interest-free payment for medical expenses as long as minimum monthly payments are made and the entire balance is paid off in a pre-determined number of months. See www.carecredit.com for more information.] Unfortunately, we are still likely to be faced with high dental bills in the future. If I die when there is still a large outstanding dental bill, I want my spouse to be protected. Accordingly, I purchased additional term life insurance for a shorter time frame.

For those with little savings The reality is that many households have an insufficient capital base to protect a surviving spouse. In a recent Wells Fargo survey, respondents between the ages of 25 and 75 were asked about their level of savings. The median savings was $25,000. Obviously, that is insufficient for See SPOUSE, page 22

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M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Your credit report may well contain errors By Marcy Gordon One in five consumers had an error in a credit report issued by a major agency, ac-

cording to recent government study. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) study also said that 5 percent of the con-

BEACON BITS

Apr. 24

MODERATE INCOME HOUSING WORKSHOP

May 15

COVERING LONG-TERM CARE COSTS

An informational meeting for the county’s Moderate Income Housing Units (MIHU) purchase program will be held on Wednesday, April 24 at 6 p.m. in the Gateway Building, 6751 Gateway Drive, Columbia. For more information or to register for the workshop, call Howard County’s Housing’s Homeownership Division at (410) 313-6318, then select Option 4.

Discussions led by the county’s Senior Health Insurance Assistance Program will be featured in a program on long-term care costs on Wednesday, May 15 at 11 a.m. at Kiwanis Wallas Hall, 3300 Norbert’s Way, Ellicott City. The program is free, but pre-registration is required. To register or for more information, call (410) 313-7391.

sumers identified errors in their reports that could lead to them paying more for mortgages, auto loans or other financial products. The study looked at reports for 1,001 consumers issued by the three major agencies — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The FTC hired researchers to help consumers identify potential errors. The study closely matches the results of a yearlong investigation by The Columbus Dispatch. The Ohio newspaper’s report last year said that thousands of consumers were denied loans because of errors on their credit reports. The FTC said the findings underline the importance of consumers checking their credit reports. Consumers are entitled to a free copy of their credit report each year from each of the three reporting agencies. Visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-

New enforcement clout In September, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gained the authority to write and enforce rules for the credit reporting industry and to monitor the compliance of the three agencies. Prior to that, the reporting agencies weren’t subject to ongoing monitoring by federal examiners. The CFPB hasn’t yet taken any public action against the agencies. However, it is accepting complaints from consumers who discover incorrect information on their reports or have trouble getting mistakes corrected. The agencies have 15 days to respond to the complaints with a plan for fixing the problem; consumers can dispute that response. By contrast, the FTC can only take action if there is an earlier indication of wrongdoing. It cannot demand information from or investigate companies that appear to be following the law. — AP

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322-8228 toll-free to obtain yours. The FTC study also found that 20 percent of consumers had an error that was corrected by a reporting agency after the consumer disputed it. About 10 percent of consumers had their credit score changed after a reporting agency corrected errors in their reports. The Consumer Data Industry Association, which represents the credit reporting agencies and other data companies, said the FTC study showed that the proportion of credit reports with errors that could increase the rates consumers would pay was small. The study confirmed “that credit reports are highly accurate, and play a critical role in facilitating access to fair and affordable consumer credit,” the association said in a statement.

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just about any type of retirement. Thankfully, the cost of term insurance is reasonable. Costs have actually decreased because people are living longer due to better medications and improved healthcare in general. It pays to review your financial situation in retirement at least annually. At age 65, and even at 70, term life insurance is affordable. But it won’t be when you’re 10 years older. If you are in good health, you should consider whether term life insurance makes sense while you are insurable and can afford it. A good financial plan can ensure that either surviving spouse will have sufficient income and/or assets to maintain a prosperous retirement. Elliot Raphaelson welcomes your questions and comments at elliotraph@gmail.com. © 2013 Elliot Raphaelson. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

Stocks From page 21 forecasts were an average 10 percent too high, according to FactSet. Last year, they got closer: They overestimated by 4 percent.

Stocks are reasonably priced Investors like to use a gauge called priceearnings ratios in deciding whether to buy or sell. Low P/E ratios signal that stocks are cheap relative to a company’s earnings; high ones signal they are expensive. Right now P/E’s are neither low nor high, suggesting stocks are reasonably priced. To calculate a P/E, you divide the price of a stock by its annual earnings per share. A company that earns $4 a share and has a $60 stock has a P/E of 15. Most investors calculate P/E’s two ways: based on estimates of earnings the next 12 months and on earnings the past 12. Stocks in the S&P 500 are at 13.7 times estimated earnings per share in 2013. That is close to the average estimated P/E ratio of 14.2 over the past 10 years, according to FactSet. The P/E based on past earnings paints a similar picture. The S&P 500 trades now at 17.6 times earnings per share in 2012, basically the same as the 17.5 average since World War II, according to S&P Dow

Jones Indices, which oversees the index. Again, a caveat. Another way to calculate P/E’s, called a “cyclically adjusted” ratio, suggests stocks are not such a decent deal. Its champion is economist Robert Shiller of Yale University who warned about the dotcom and housing bubbles. Shiller thinks it’s misleading to look at just one year, because earnings can surge or drop with the economic cycle. To smooth such distortions, he looks at annual earnings per share averaged over the prior 10 years. The cyclically adjusted ratio is 23 times. Since the end of World War II, it’s ranged between 6.6 and 44.2, and the average is 18.3. That suggests stocks are expensive, though perhaps not wildly so. No matter which P/E you choose, it’s important to think of it as a rough guide at best. Stocks can trade above or below their average P/E’s for years.

Optimistic investors A new love of stocks could prove a powerful force pushing prices up. In fact, it can push them up even if earnings don’t increase. That’s what happened in the five years through 1986. Earnings fell 2 percent, but the S&P 500 almost doubled as small investors who had soured on stocks throughout the 1970s returned to the mar-

BEACON BITS

May 22

MEDICARE BRIEFING Learn about factors to consider when choosing a Medicare Health

Plan and how to protect yourself from healthcare fraud in a free program sponsored by the county’s Senior Health Insurance Assistance Program on Wednesday, May 22 at 7 p.m. at the Bain Senior Center, 5470 Ruth Keeton Way, Columbia. Pre-registration is required. To register or for more information, call (410) 313-7391.

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ket. The multiple — shorthand for the price-earnings ratio — rose from eight to nearly 17. Market watchers refer to this as “multiple expansion.” Will it happen again? As stocks have surged over the past four years, individual investors have been selling, which is nearly unprecedented in a bull market. But they may be having second thoughts. In January, they put nearly $20 billion more into U.S. stock mutual funds than they took out, according to the Investment Company Institute, a trade group for funds. Some financial analysts say we are at the start of a “Great Rotation.” That would mean investors shifting money into stocks from bonds. If that happens, stocks could soar. It’s too soon to say if the buying will continue.

Low interest rates Interest rates are near record lows. That’s good for stocks because it lowers borrowing costs for companies and makes bonds, which compete with stocks for investor money, less appealing.

If you want to kill a stock rally, then hike interest rates. That’s what happened in the runup to Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987. In August that year, the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose above 10 percent. Investors thought, “If I could make 10 percent each year for 30 years in bonds, why keep my money in stocks?” So they sold and stocks drifted lower. Then Black Monday struck. The Dow plunged 508 points, or nearly 23 percent — its largest fall in a single day. Today, the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond is 3.2 percent. The yield on the 10year Treasury note is 2.05 percent, less than half its 20-year average of 4.7 percent. It could be years before rates even return to that average level. Of course, interest rates could jump on fears of higher inflation. But inflation has been 1.6 percent the past year, below the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target. What’s more, the Fed has promised to keep the benchmark rate it controls near zero until unemployment falls to 6.5 percent. Unemployment today is 7.7 percent. — AP

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M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

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H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money

Use your cellphone to find lost keys, etc. By Peter Svensson Jimmy Buchheim is behaving oddly. On the floor of the world’s largest cellphone trade show in Barcelona, Spain, he’s looking at the screen of his iPod Touch, taking a few steps, and then looking again. Now and then he backtracks or turns, and looks again. Slowly, he confines his movements to a smaller and smaller area. Then he drops to his knees, and checks the screen again. He scrabbles forward. “There we are!” he says. Buchheim has found his keys, which had been hidden behind a wastebasket by a skeptical reporter. On the key ring is a small disc, slightly bigger than a quarter. That’s what Buchheim was homing in on with his iPod. It allowed him to find his keys, hidden out of sight in an apartmentsized booth. Buchheim’s company, Stick-N-Find Technologies, wants to give people a way to find things — whether it’s keys, wallets, TV remotes or cat collars. There’s no real trick to sending out a radio signal and having a phone pick it up. That’s been done before. What makes the

Stick-N-Find practical is a new radio technology known as Bluetooth Low Energy, which drastically reduces the battery power needed to send out a signal. That means the disc can be small, light enough for its sticky back to adhere to a lot of surfaces, and be powered by a watchtype battery that lasts up to two years without recharging. The signal can be picked up as far as 300 feet away, but that’s under ideal circumstances. On the floor of the wireless show, with a multitude of Wi-Fi transmitters jamming the airwaves, the range was roughly 20 feet. One downside to Bluetooth Low Energy: It doesn’t come cheap. Stick-N-Find charges $50 for two “stickers” from its first production run. It gave early backers a better deal — 4 discs for $65 — on crowdfunding site Indiegogo.com, where it had sought to raise $70,000 from donors and ended up getting $931,970 by the time the campaign ended recently. Another downside is that few devices can pick up the signals. The latest two iPhones can do it, as can the latest iPod Touches and iPads. The latest high-end

Tell them you saw it in the Beacon!

Samsung smartphones work, too. Bluetooth Low Energy is expected to become a standard feature in phones, but it’s not yet. Furthermore, whatever device you use, it won’t tell you exactly where your sticker is located. All it can tell is how far away it is. That means finding something is a process of walking around and checking whether you’re getting “hotter” or “colder.” Of course, often you don’t really need to know where your wallet is: knowing that it’s within 8 feet and therefore somewhere in the car with you is assurance enough. Buchheim says the company has plans to add direction-finding features. Users can also set up a virtual “leash” between a sticker and a Bluetooth device. Depending on the settings, when the two

devices move a certain distance away from each other, the sticker starts beeping or the device’s screen shows an alert. That way, you could place a sticker in your wallet, link it to your phone, and you’d know if you’re leaving either one behind. Buchheim sees this as just the start for what Bluetooth Low Energy can do. StickN-Find is working with a museum that’s interested in putting stickers on its exhibits, so they can issue tablets or other devices to visitors that can sense the proximity of exhibits, and say “Hello, this is the statue of so-and-so,” Buchheim says. It could even end up as a technology for the blind — one that tells them where their belongings are, he notes. —AP

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M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Advance your career for less than $1,000 For as little as $1,000, you could see a big payback — and maybe even a bigger paycheck. Build your brand. Job hunting or not, you can stay poised for new opportunities — and boost your standing at the office — by polishing your professional image. A career adviser, such as a counselor or coach, can help with matters such as updating your resume, networking, and identifying strengths you can showcase in the workplace and in interviews. Costs vary by region and adviser, but you might pay about $500 for a few sessions with a career coach. Consider hiring a photographer to take professional headshots (about $200). Use your favorite photograph on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for a cohesive online presence. Want to share your expertise on a blog or personal website? You can create one free using a platform such as WordPress.com. But for $99 a year, you can upgrade to the WordPress Value Bundle, which includes a domain name of your choice, high-definition video uploads and custom design options. Those looking for work may want to invest in a LinkedIn Job Seeker Premium account ($180 for six months). Among its benefits are five monthly “InMail” mes-

sages, which you can use to contact anyone on LinkedIn. Awaken the geek within. Many community colleges offer classes that could help you learn the technical skills you need to get ahead in your job (or find a better one). For example, Montgomery College, a community college with three campuses in Montgomery County, Md., offers more than 100 technology classes, ranging from digital literacy to programming for mobile devices. Prepare for a post-retirement career. If you’re already doing taxes for family members, consider becoming an enrolled agent — a licensed tax professional who has the right to represent taxpayers before the IRS. For $995, you can take an online course that will prepare you for the exam you must pass to obtain the designation. For more information, go to the website of the National Association of Enrolled Agents, www.naea.org. There’s a certificate program for just about every second-act career imaginable, from landscape design to writing grant proposals, said Kerry Hannon, author of Great Jobs for Everyone 50+. For example, you could find a second career as a geriatric care manager, a person who helps seniors navigate their healthcare options. The application, hand-

book and exam to become a certified care manager costs $270. You can use the rest of your money to buy two years of mem-

BEACON BITS

May 1

FREE ADVANCE MEDICAL DIRECTIVES The Elder Law Section of the Maryland State Bar Association is

providing volunteer attorneys at senior centers around the state to assist seniors without charge in the preparation, completion and execution of their Maryland Advance Medical Directives on Wednesday, May 1. For more information, check with any senior center, or contact Mary Kramer at (443) 741-3635 or by email at mary@elvilleassociates.com.

Ongoing

NOMINATE FOR SERVICE AWARDS Know a special volunteer or organization that should be honored? The annual Governor’s Service Awards recognizes both in this statewide

program. Submission deadline is June 3. To nominate a person or group, visit the website www.gosv.maryland.gov or contact Julie Mendeza in the Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism at julie.mendez@maryland.gov or (410) 767-1821.

Ongoing

VOLUNTEER WITH THE LIBRARIES The Howard County Library woos volunteers with a variety of opportunities ranging from the homebound readers program to

“adopt a shelf.” For a complete listing, visit the main website www.hclibrary.org and click on the volunteers link or contact Mary Murbach at (410) 313-7792. bership ($345 per year) in the National As-

We’re a coalition of nonproﬁts, agencies, businesses and professionals who come together to advocate for and help older adults.

Learn more by calling (410) 997-0610 or visit us at www.cogsmd.org.

may membership meeting date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 time: 8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Location: Copper Ridge 710 Obrecht Rd., Sykesville, MD 21784

speaker: Stuart Rosenthal, publisher, The Beacon topic: Marketing to Older Adults: Why and How? Thank you to our 2013 Executive Members PLatinum member Howard County General Hospital – Johns Hopkins Medicine • The Beacon Newspapers

GoLd members Being There Senior Care • Gary L. Kaufman Funeral Home at Meadowridge Memorial Park Howard County Oﬃce on Aging • Visiting Angels

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bronze members Earl Wilkinson, M.D., ENT • Gentiva Health Services • Home Instead Senior Care HomeWatch Caregivers • Lighthouse Senior Living at Ellicott City • Professional Healthcare Resources, Inc. Sterling-Ashton-Schwab-Witzke Funeral Home of Catonsville, Inc. • The Bob Lucido Team • Trevor Barringer JD/MBA • Whaley Financial Services • Witzke Funeral Homes Inc. of Columbia Wood Builders Collaborative

Patron members Alzheimer’s Association – Greater MD Chapter • Brighton Gardens of Columbia Brooke Grove Retirement Village • Chesapeake Bay Aquatic & Physical Therapy • Craig Witzke Funeral Care Elizabeth Cooney Care Network • Home With You • Ivy Manor Normandy, Inc.• Morningside House of Ellicott City •Progressive Care at Home • Right At Home – In Home Care & Assistance

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H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Travel

Leisure &

Make sure your paperwork is up to date before traveling overseas. See story on page 29.

Big Bend Nat’l Park is big even for Texas Desert, mountains and river

As you approach this National Park Service (NPS) park from the north across miles and miles of flat desert, suddenly big grayish-black limestone mountains loom, rising to 8,000 feet. As you get closer, they become orangey and russet bulging boulders, nubby knobs, protruding thumbs, rounded humps, sharp crevices, pointy mini-castles, curved ridges and jagged cliffs. Geologists treasure Big Bend because the rocks’ strata are easy to see. The park is 75 percent wilderness; 99.5 percent is open to visitors. Roads twist and turn, and trucks toot before attempting hairpin curves. The orange-brown-to-black hues and dramatic contrasts, from parched desert to mountain peaks, lure the curious. Visitors soak in the vastness, and at high elevations have long panoramic vistas for over 100 miles on a clear day. Quiet highmountain trails invite short guided walks and long backcountry treks. Even the mountains’ name is inviting — chisos, probably shortened from the Spanish word “hechizos,” which means enchanted and is what early explorers called the mountains. Big Bend has three ecological regions and over 200 miles of trails as well as paved and unpaved roads. The park lies in the Chichuahuan Desert under a relentless sun where summer ground temperatures can reach 180 degrees Fahrenheit at midday. It’s so hot that many desert animals emerge only at night. The lower desert can be around 80 degrees even in winter. The Chisos Mountains are dotted with wildflowers, evergreen and deciduous trees, and hardy bushes like mountain mahogany, Texas madrone, junipers and pinyon Big Bend National Park is home to more types of cacti than pines. The Chisos oak any other U.S. national park. Desert plants bloom from late and drooping juniper February through April and July through September.

PHOTO BY GLENDA BOOTH

By Glenda C. Booth Any mention of Big Bend National Park invokes powerful descriptors: “One of the most remote,” “large and vast,” “one of the least visited,” “darker than anywhere else in the lower 48 states” and “one of the last remaining wild corners of the United States.” Larger than the state of Rhode Island, the park sprawls across west Texas, where the state juts into Mexico and the Rio Grande River flows through 1,500-feetdeep gorges as it makes a 90-degree bend (after which the park is named). The number of annual visitors is a testament to its remoteness — 365,000 versus Yellowstone’s more than 2 million. The park’s 1,250 square miles are a river-desert-mountain landscape, where Native Americans believed the Great Spirit dumped all the rocks left over from the creation. But there’s lots of life here, too. “You can see little miracles here every day,” said James Evans, who’s been photographing Big Bend for 23 years.

Visitors paddle canoes down the Rio Grande River in Texas’s Big Bend National Park. The sprawling park covers nearly 1 million acres in the southwestern part of the state.

are found only here. For over 1,250 miles, the Rio Grande River serves as the international border between the U.S. and Mexico. About 250 of those miles constitute the park’s southern border, where the river has carved three rugged canyons — Santa Elena, Mariscal and Boquillas.

Paddling through the park Canoeing on the Rio Grande from Gravel Pit to Rio Grande village through the Hot Springs Canyon, you can glide on gently-rippling water and bounce through a few Class I rapids. You might see ravens nesting on canyon ledges. When your legs get cramped, you can stretch out on sand bars or bubble in a hot spring. Check out the fading murals in the remains of the former Hot Springs Resort and examine ancient pictographs on rock walls. A 2.5-mile hike up the winding Lost Mine Trail and back is a good introduction to Big Bend. This round trip from 5,500 to over 6,000 feet among Mexican pinyon pines, 17 species of oak and weeping junipers takes about four hours. You may be greeted by the cactus wren’s “ack, ack, ack,” protecting its globular nest in the cholla cactus, as a peregrine falcon soars overhead. The trail has many switchbacks and gets steep in a few places, but offers 75-mile views over the desert. People say that in much of Big Bend, it

is so quiet you can “hear yourself think.” And because of low artificial light at night, the park won the Gold Tier Level Dark Sky Park certification by the International Dark Sky Association in 2012. With minimal light pollution, star gazing is spectacular. Park ranger Gail Abend tells a story about introducing school children to the Milky Way. “I remarked how spectacular the Milky Way looked. The kids wanted to know where to look. Most had never seen that milky band of stars that crosses the sky. Here we can see our Milky Way from horizon to horizon. You don’t need equipment. Just look up. It’s inspiring.”

Fauna and flora Peering through my binoculars last October, looking for a pyrrhuloxia (the desert version of a cardinal), I sensed slight movement in the tall, amber grasses. It turned out to be a well-camouflaged, Sierra del Carmen whitetail deer, about three feet tall and unique to the area. “That’s prime mountain lion food,” quipped Mark Flippo, a local guide. In a place so open, so huge, so uninhabited by humans, some animals are quite visible, some not. There are 11 species of amphibians, 56 species of reptiles, 40 species of fish, 75 species of mammals, 450 See BIG BEND, page 28

Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Big Bend From page 27 species of birds, and about 3,600 species of insects. Local favorites include the tarantula, road runner, coyote and javelina, a piglike animal with a pointy snout. The park is the northern-most habitat for some species more common south of the Rio Grande, like the Mexican longnosed bat. Big Bend boasts more types of birds, bats and cacti than any other U.S. national park. Big Bend is on the “bucket list” of many birdwatchers because every spring, Colima warblers arrive from Central America to mate and nest in the Chisos Mountains chaparral at 4,000 to 8,000 feet. Birders descend from March to September, undeterred by a long hike up to see these brown and gray yellow-rumped birds.

Northern Virginia residents Ray and Anne Smith were determined to see them. Describing their trek, Ray said, “Going up and down at 45 degree angles on switchbacks, it was 9.3 miles round trip. We saw many new birds, including a Lucifer hummingbird, ash-throated flycatcher, Montezuma quail and elf owls. “The Colima warbler is definitely one of the most difficult birds to see in the U.S. Some people are lucky and catch it part way up the mountain. We were not and had to do the whole hike.” Wildflowers burst out of the parched desert in big bunches and little sprigs. There are 1,500 different types of plants, like ocotillo, yucca and desert marigold. Agaves reach up to your shoulder.

Visiting Big Bend Big Bend has five visitor centers open

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M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

year round: Panther Junction, the park headquarters; Chisos Basin; Castolon; Persimmon Gap, and Rio Grande Village. Select one closest to where you enter the park and pick up materials and tips to fit your interests and schedule. The Chisos Mountain Lodge has 72 rooms and a dining room. Rooms start at around $125 a night in the summer. Reservations are strongly recommended. There are four campgrounds, including the Rio Grande Village RV Camp with full hookups. Backcountry campsites (a permit is required) have no amenities. Cellphone coverage is limited in the park. NPS staff can suggest lodging options outside the park if there are no vacancies in Big Bend. The most popular time to visit is October through April, say park rangers. All year, temperatures vary significantly between the desert floor and the mountains. Air temperature changes around five degrees for every 1,000 feet in elevation change. That means that the temperature in the high mountains can be 20 degrees cooler than temperatures along the Rio Grande. On the same day, you can sweat at ground level and wear fleece at 4,000 feet. May and June are hot, into the 90s. Desert plants bloom between late February and late April and July to September. Humidity is low. Big Bend is 559 miles from Dallas; 474 miles from Austin; 406 miles from San An-

tonio; 329 miles from El Paso; 39 miles from Marathon. A vehicle is a must since there is no public transportation in the park. Distances are long between services. Fill up your gas tank in Alpine or Marathon. Crossing the border from the park into Mexico is illegal, with up to $5,000 in fines and/or one year in prison. Park officials caution visitors against buying items from Mexican nationals who may approach you. Items can be seized as contraband. You can also check out the nearby funky ghost town of Terlingua. One October afternoon, the front porch of the trading post seemed infested with aging hippies, imbibing various liquids as mongrels wandered among dusty pickups and guitar pickers plucked. Next door, at the Starlight Café, margaritas, infused with who knows what, were going for $2. The joint was hopping, Texasstyle, at 2 p.m. For more information on Big Bend, download a visitor’s guide at www.nps.gov/bibe. A friends group sponsors some events. See www.bigbendfriends.org. See www.BigBendResortAdventure.com for van tours and http://bigbendfarflung.com for river trips. Ask NPS officials for recommendations. There are no equipment rentals in the park. Glenda C. Booth is a freelance writer in Alexandria, Va.

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H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

Heading overseas? Check your paperwork By Ed Perkins Several decades ago, a high-powered Madison Avenue ad man I know was heading to an important client meeting in Frankfurt. He had a reservation for a flight on Lufthansa, but when he got to JFK, he realized that his passport had just expired. Being a resourceful sort, he found a pencil, ducked into a handyman’s room, and — very carefully — altered the expiration date. He got on the flight. Needless to say, that wouldn’t work today with machine-readable documents and it wasn’t a very good idea even then. Fast-forward to last month. An Oregon friend has a son who works for an international organization, and he was on his way to an assignment in South Africa. Everything was OK on his flight from Oregon to Washington, but when he arrived for his connection to Johannesburg, the agent refused to board him because his passport, although valid, did not have enough extra pages. He was forced to delay his flight until he could get either a new passport or a book of extra pages. These days, you need a passport just about anywhere you want to travel outside the United States — and even to get back in the United States from most countries. The only exceptions are a few nearby island countries, Canada and Mexico, where

you can cross borders with a bit less, but only by ground or sea. So don’t even think about leaving the United States without a valid passport. Unfortunately, even a valid passport often isn’t enough. I spot-checked a few dozen of the countries you’re most likely to visit, and I found some important gotchas: — Lots of countries aren’t content with a valid passport that’s due to expire soon. Instead, they demand a passport with remaining validity ranging from one to six months, often measured from the end of your visit, not the beginning. Among them: Bolivia, China, Ecuador, Estonia, French Polynesia (Tahiti), Jordan, and most countries in Southeast Asia. — A few countries require one or two blank pages in your passport. The only ones I found in my check were South Africa and Turkey, but there are probably others. — Lots of popular destination countries require visas issued in advance, including Brazil, China, India, Russia and Vietnam. Several others require visas but issue them on arrival at your entry airport. — A few countries, including Australia and Sri Lanka, require you to arrange an “electronic travel authority” in advance, which you can do online. It’s used in place of a visa and is linked to your passport. — A few South American countries —

notably Argentina and Chile — assess a $160 fee on U.S. visitors in retaliation for a fee the U.S. imposes on their citizens, but Chile lets you pay on arrival. — Many countries have complex rules about travel with minor children, especially when traveling with only one parent. Some require written authorization from both parents, even when divorced. My spot-check was based on entry requirements for travelers who are tourists and plan to stay only a limited time, and maximum stay periods for tourists typically vary from 30 to 90 days. If your travel plans include work, business or study in a foreign country, requirements typically vary and are generally stiffer and more involved.

Countries don’t fool around with you if you arrive without proper documentation. Instead, they’ll refuse to admit you and make you get on a plane heading back where you came from — at your expense. Airlines are supposed to check for compliance before you leave the United States, but problems sometimes slip through the cracks. Unless you’re heading to very familiar territory, such as the Caribbean or Western Europe, I strongly recommend you visit the State Department’s detailed country-by-country rundowns at www.travel.state.gov/travel/. The “Entry/Exit Requirements for U.S. Citizens” sections provide all the details on various red tape requirements. © 2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

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M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

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Style Arts &

Who painted this barn owl? See below for a profile on artists Judith and Roger Roark.

The creative life of a not-so-retired couple

On their bucket list Several years ago when the couple

began to talk about what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives, they agreed that they wanted to add more artistic expression. Both being firm believers that “nothing gets done without commitment,” Judith came up with her scenario: “Three things I always wanted to learn: how to whittle, how to paint with watercolors, and how to play the fiddle.” Roger has had a longtime interest in photography dating back to winning a Brownie camera in a high school magazine subscription selling contest. “I had lots of relatives who signed up,” he said, grinning. Since that Brownie, Roger has moved through a succession of cameras and now relies on a much higher-tech Canon SXi. He has augmented his skills through classes at Howard Community College and Kelby Training. He now does most of the printing, matting and framing of his photography, and prints all of the note cards that he markets. Recently the couple shared some of their work in a show at the Glenwood Senior Center in Cooksville, with Roger’s photos and Judith’s paintings lining the corridor walls. The Roarks enjoy the center and use its facilities regularly. Judith recently took a class in carving there, carrying out the whittling part of her plan. She’s been taking watercolor lessons as well at the Willowbrook Studio in Clarksville,

Saturday, June 1, 2013 7:30 .. • Jim Rouse Theatre

where she finds inspiration and encouragement for her painting. “I start with a photograph,” she explains, “and then I move on from there.” The results range from exciting to soothing to fanciful, especially on those appearing on the note cards that Roger prints in their studio. But the fiddle fell by the wayside two years ago when her grandson Thomas, then 10 and learning to play the cello in school, was given an assignment to teach

someone else what he was learning in his class. Judith was his subject, so she switched her ambitions to the cello, and now plays not only with her grandson’s class, but with a group at Howard Community College as well.

Second, and third, acts Roger likes to use Judith’s experience See ARTISTS, page 32

Showcase performances by: Beijing Guitar Duo

Dahlia Flute Duo

Park Family Trio Emily, Caleb & Aaron Park Beethoven Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 “Ghost” Mvts 1&3

May 18, 2013 3:00 - 6:00 PM

Chen Yi: Mount a Long Wind

Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center

Richard Wagner: Siegfried’s Funeral

plus the 2013 Young Artist Competition Winners

Judith and Roger Roark made a concerted effort to bring art actively into their lives after retiring. In addition to displaying and selling their works at a gallery beside their home in West Friendship, they sell note cards online featuring their paintings and photographs.

Candlelight Concert Society

Wagner & Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky: Firebird Ballet Highlights

PHOTO BY ROGER ROARK

By Anne Ball She paints; he photographs. Their themes reflect widespread travels and their shared “we’re happiest at home unless we’re traveling” philosophy. They are the Roarks, Judith, age 73, and Roger, 72. They live in a fairy tale-like house up the slope from their cedar shingle cottage/studio/gallery called “Bryn Gwadd” (“Mole Hill” in Welsh) on Pfefferkorn Road in West Friendship. The headwaters of the Middle Patuxent River run through their woods, and there is abundant (as well as some seldom-seen) wildlife all around, especially the birds. In March, Roger snapped a photo of a magnificent blue heron strolling along the water’s edge on their property. Roger was as surprised and delighted to see the heron as he had been when he came across a bald eagle he photographed earlier near Lake Needwood in Montgomery County’s Rock Creek Regional Park. In their gallery, he paired the Maryland bald eagle photo with that of another eagle he snapped during one of the couple’s trips to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Additional water and foliage views from that area share the gallery displays with scenes from other U.S. travels as well as England and Wales, the home of Judith’s maternal grandfather.

U.S. premiere of Chen Yi’s Mount a Long Wind

$30 Before April 18 $40 After April 18

And the Grand Finale of the 40th Anniversary Season: Dvorák’s “Dumky” Piano Trio

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Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

Recalling the real-life story behind Argo By Barbara Ruben Nov. 4, 1979 started like any other work day for Robert Anders, a senior consular officer at the American Embassy in Iran. He passed hundreds of demonstrators crowding the gates in the rain chanting “Allahu akbar! Marg bar Amrika!” — “God is great! Death to America!” But that was nothing new. A few weeks before, the Shah had fled Iran to come to the United States for medical treatment and the anti-American Ayatollah Khomeini took power. “I thought, ‘So what? It’s just another day at the office,” Anders recalled of a day that would become anything but routine. By mid-day, some of the more militant demonstrators scaled the walls surrounding PHOTO BY BARBARA RUBEN

the 27-acre compound and stormed the gate. Electric lines were slashed, and Anders finished issuing his last visa by flashlight. He and five other diplomats slipped out the back door — and into an 80-day odyssey of subterfuge and concealment that is documented in the recent Best Picture Academy Award-winner Argo. In a plot orchestrated by the CIA, and with the help of Canadian diplomats, Anders and the other Americans eventually escaped Iran by posing as Canadian filmmakers scouting a location for an absurd science fiction adventure film that happened to be called Argo. Fifty-two other embassy workers weren’t as lucky and were taken hostage by the Iranians. Many were not released for more than a year. Today, Anders, 88, lives in Silver Spring, Md., after a Foreign Service career hopscotching from Rangoon to Manila to Oslo. He chatted with the Beacon about the months spent hiding at a Canadian diplomat’s home, his alter ego as film location manager Robert Baker, and just how much the Hollywood version of his escape deviates from actual events.

On the run

Trapped in Iran during the hostage crisis in 1979, Robert Anders and five fellow American Embassy workers posed as Canadian movie executives to escape the country. Their story is recounted in the Academy Award-winning movie Argo. After Foreign Service posts around the world, Anders now lives in Silver Spring, Md.

Once they fled the American embassy on that terrifying day in 1979, Anders and four other embassy workers zigzagged through the streets of Tehran to Anders’ nearby apartment, where they holed up for the night. The next day, fearing his apartment was an obvious target and too close to the American embassy, they sought refuge at the British embassy. But they found demonstrators surrounding that compound as well, so they pressed on, wandering through an unfamiliar part of Tehran.

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Anders served in some respects as the defacto leader of the little group. He was 20 years older than the others and had previously been posted in Rangoon and Manila as a Foreign Service officer. Iran was the first posting for the others. “I am a World War II veteran, so I have some experience with people shooting at me,” he said. “Perhaps I had a little less surprise and shock with people who didn’t like Americans, with people who are shouting and yelling all sorts of uncom-

fortable things.” Anders also had more high-level Western contacts in Iran. “One of the lucky breaks was that I had brought my little address book with me, and I called my very good Canadian friend John Sheardown,” a high-ranking immigration officer with the Canadian Embassy, Anders recalled. “I said, ‘This is Bob.’ I didn’t even get to my last name, and I’ll never forget what he See ARGO, page 32

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MAY 4, 2013, 8 PM – MUSIC OF SPAIN AND LATIN AMERICA

Jim Rouse Theatre, 5460 Trumpeter Rd., Columbia 21044

Alison Gatwood

Columbia Pro Cantare performs Tedesco's Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Romance) with classical guitar. Alison Gatwood plays Lecuona’s Malagueña. Jared Denhard and Brass perform Piazolla Tangos and other favorites Pre-concert lecture 7 PM; Post-concert reception.

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Argo From page 31 said: ‘Where are you? Why didn’t you call sooner?’ I told him I didn’t know where we were. I said I had four other people with me, and he said to bring them all.” The five Americans were joined by Lee Schatz, who had been hiding at the Swedish Embassy. Unlike in the movie Argo, only two of the diplomats, husband and wife Kathleen and Joe Stafford, were secreted at the Canadian ambassador’s house, while the other four went to Sheardown’s ram-

Artists From page 30 as a model for his conviction that “We have 100 percent responsibility for our lives and our well-being. Creativity is paramount,” he added. Judith nodded in agreement. She tilted her head toward Roger. “He re-tooled, not retired,” she said with a big smile. “Age is self-determined,” he replied with a wide grin. Roger technically retired in 1998 after working 30 years as a social worker in the federal government. He spent most of that time at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda. Judith’s career included serving as a librarian, then a paraprofessional at Howard

bling home built into a Tehran hillside. While the hostage crisis unfolded, Anders and his colleagues lived out their days in relative comfort, playing Monopoly and Scrabble to pass the time. Anders exercised several hours each day in an interior courtyard and was in the “best shape of my life,” he recalled. He got word out to his wife, who was living with two of their five children in Athens, Greece, that he was doing OK. “We had to try to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. We said, ‘What’s the State Department going to do when we

Community College, as well as working with the Day Spring Conference Center in Germantown. And, of course, they didn’t really totally retire. Both are schooled in counseling and human relationships and have combined their accumulated experiences into a part-time psychotherapy practice. They meet clients in the comfortable and conversation-stimulating surroundings of their sales gallery, settling near the black iron wood stove for easy talk. There’s a lot of back and forth dialogue between the couple that puts clients at ease. A small black cat named Tootie, a stray who wandered into their lives some 20 years ago, may put in an appearance. On most Tuesdays and Thursdays, they open the gallery to the public for browsing and enjoying. Because of their occasional

M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

get back?’ Were they going to charge us annual leave because we were just sitting there enjoying ourselves?” The Staffords had to be more circumspect at the embassy, hiding in their bedroom when guests arrived. “At first we thought it will be over in hours or days, and then in a month. So our expectations were gradually stretching out and we were thinking, ‘Is this ever going to end?’” Anders recalled.

Plotting an escape

Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck in the movie) arrived. He gave the American diplomats three options to disguise their departure from the country: posing as agricultural researchers, teachers or movie executives. While Anders’ character in the movie, played by Tate Donovan, calls the Argo movie plan, “the theater of the absurd” and says, “We don’t know what the hell movie people do,” Anders recalls liking the movie idea much more in real life, saying it was the only viable alternative.

In January, CIA spy and “exfiltrator”

See ARGO, page 33

traveling, they suggest that before coming visitors call ahead at (301) 854-6797. Most sales, however, are made via their

website at www.RoarkPhotography.net, where all of their photos, paintings and note cards for sale are displayed.

BEACON BITS

May 29

HELP SHAPE PLAN TO SERVE OLDER ADULTS

The Columbia Association (CA) will hold a public meeting to discuss its Comprehensive Plan for Serving Older Adults on Wednesday, May 29. The open house public meeting will share the plan’s purpose and process, provide background information, and solicit ideas from participants. The meeting will take place at the Owen Brown Community Center at 6800 Cradlerock Way, Columbia, Md. from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Participants will be able to move between information “stations,” where they can inquire about specific topics and provide input. There will also be a presentation that will highlight demographic trends, share information about current CA facilities and programs, and illustrate their planning process. For more information, visit www.columbiaassociation.org/content/getinvolved/adults/olderadults/index.cfm.

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Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

Argo From page 32 Anders was assigned the role of movie location manager in the guise of Robert Baker, born in Ottawa and educated at McGill University in Montreal. Mendez drilled the Americans on their new Canadian identities and provided everything from Canadian passports to credit cards to business cards. Anders still carries that business card of his alter ego, now laminated, in his wallet. He decided to really play the part. Because they escaped with literally only the shirts on their backs, the Canadians provided clothing. Anders was given a shirt two sizes too small that he could only button partially up his chest, ‘70s style. He added a gold chain and sunglasses, having fun morphing into a Hollywood mogul. But getting through the airport security and onto a Swiss Air flight was less than fun, although not nearly as filled with anxiety and near-misses as portrayed in the film. The group left their Canadian friend’s home at 4 a.m. for the airport. “Waiting was nerve wracking. You worked up a little sweat, hoping everything was going to work out OK,” Anders said. Only Schatz was questioned about his identity because his mustache didn’t match the one on his newly issued Canadian ID. The Americans thought they were almost home free — until there was an announcement that their flight was delayed. Initially told the flight would be three hours late, the delay ended up being only a half hour. Anders had one more moment of comic relief before leaving Iran. Walking out on the tarmac to the plane, he noticed that the real name of the type of jet they were boarding was Aargau. “I said to Tony [Mendez], you CIA guys really think of everything, don’t you?” Anders recalled. “The last, final moment of relief was when we crossed over the border. That was portrayed pretty accurately in the movie. We all looked at each other and had a drink and said, ‘Cheers.’” Anders went on to Foreign Service posts in Norway (Oslo), Jamaica (Kingston) and Austria (Vienna). He retired, moved to London for 12 years while his son was at Cambridge, and worked part time as a “glorified clerk” in the customs section of the American Embassy. He returned to the United States to house-sit for his daughter in Silver Spring when her husband, also in the Foreign Service, was posted to Latin America. Anders now lives in Silver Spring’s Leisure World retirement community with his partner. He has seven grandchildren. While the escape from Iran happened more than 30 years ago, it’s never been far from his mind. He initially toured the U.S. for several months after returning from Iran, sharing his story. But the public story was that the Canadians planned the escape, as the CIA’s role remained classified until 1997. “Between 1980 and 1997 interest gradually died out and people, especially

younger people, said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ and even if they did, they’d say ‘It’s ancient history.’ “But then it got more attention in 1997 [when it was declassified], and a lot more with the Argo film. It’s like when Andy Warhol said everybody gets their 15 minutes of fame. My 15 minutes have sort of stretched out over 30-some years. I get a minute or two every few years.”

Going Hollywood But these last two years, he’s gotten more than a few minutes. Anders even had a role as an extra in the Hollywood film. You can spy him in the scene near the end when the newly returned Americans visit the State Department. He’s the one in the crowd holding the sign “Welcome back Bob Anders.” Of course, Anders had a much larger role than that in the making of the film, although when he heard about the plan to make a movie of his adventure about five years ago, he was less than star struck.

FROM PAGE 34

ANSWERS TO SCRABBLE

“I didn’t really know who Ben Affleck was. I’m not a real movie buff,” he said. And he certainly didn’t recognize actor Tate Donovan’s name. Donovan called Anders to help get a better sense of the person he was to portray in the movie. “I did a little Googling and as far as I know, his claim to fame was he was engaged to Jennifer what’s-her-name and some other actress,” he said. (Anders was referring to Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock, whom Donovan dated.) Before the movie began production, Anders and the other American diplomats were given the script to look over. He also met both Affleck and George Clooney, one of the producers. Anders remembers thinking, “’They’re leaving out the Canadians, and especially John Sheardown.’ To us that was a key factor. If I didn’t have John Sheardown’s phone number and he wasn’t so open in saying, ‘Come on and stay with me,’ the whole thing wouldn’t have happened.” Anders wasn’t alone in criticizing the minimizing of the Canadians’ role in the escape, but the script went unchanged. That oversight garnered more criticism as the film racked up awards: Movie of the Year from the American Film Institute, a Golden

Globe for Best Picture, and a second-place People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival, where Argo debuted. In addition to not including Sheardown in the movie, Anders found a number of other errors, large and small. For one, the Americans never scrambled through a trap door to hide when visitors came to the Canadian ambassador’s house. They also never dressed up as their Hollywood characters and walked through Tehran’s open air bazaar. Another difference is the cascade of closecalls that ended the movie — from the plane tickets being canceled, to being detained by the Iranians at the gate, to the plane being pursued by Iranian police as it took off. None of that happened, Anders said. Despite these qualms, Anders said, “It’s really a great film, and I like being a part of it and everything. It’s wonderful.” He says he’s glad his little role in history has been recognized. “We get a lot of hero treatment, but actually we didn’t really do anything. It was the Canadians and the CIA who were the real heroes of the thing — and also the people who were really hostages. “We were just lucky. We made a couple of good guesses and good decisions and [took] the right fork in the road. It’s nice to have all this attention, though.”

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M AY 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

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Crossword Puzzle Daily crosswords can be found on our website: www.TheBeaconNewspapers.com Click on Puzzles Plus Ward Words by Stephen Sherr

3. Group meet-ups 4. EMT’s procedure 1. Holder for a Tall Decaf Mocha Frappuccino 5. Congressional page, for example 4. Atkins diet no-no 6. Shine back 8. Sample scents 7. Rather not; Jennings not 13. “What have I done?” 8. Sun. speech 14. Santa Monica landmark (not on land) 9. Unprecedented 15. ___ meenie miney mo 10. Ironic peace/time divider 16. TËEËTËRËA 11. Who’s position 19. Erupts 12. Govt. employees 20. Fraternal group 13. Words in 10 Steinbeck titles 21. Enterprise-ing start 17. Pet in The Thin Man movies 22. Parking places 24. Be vanquished 18. ìGod doesn’t require ___ succeed, he only requires that you try.î (Mother Teresa) 27. “Canoe”, for example 23. Signs of theatrical success 30. Performs at a dinner theatre 25. Unit of a snowman’s demise 31. Snack bit for mares and does 26. Driver’s lic. and passport 32. Small dots of land 27. Not tacit 36. Intense anger 28. Light beige shade 37. Buffoon 29. Prosecutors (abbrev.) 38. Spice measure (abbrev.) 33. Citrus producer 40. 50% of the population of 56 Down 34. Bedtime story penultimate word 41. Fellas 35. Transmit an e-mail 43. Response to a doctor 37. Egyptian snakes 44. “We agree” 38. Scintilla 45. RISE 39. “It’s freezing, ___ the door” 49. Least wordy 42. Its westernmost pt. is in Portugal 51. Not now 43. Where to pick up easels and paint 52. Rejections 44. Mind-blowing 53. Looks through the scope 55. Lauder, the only woman on TIME magazine’s 46. Have on list of the 20 most influential business geniuses 47. Stage whispers of the 20th century 48. “That was a close one!” 58. “CAW! I’m busy; I’ll have to caw you back later” 49. Burgs 62. Rap producer Sam, named almost like the golfer 50. Gravelly ridge 63. Cubemeister Rubik 52. Letters on a weather satellite 64. Track and field competition 54. Letters on a weather vane 65. ___ as a beet 56. Word in only one Steinbeck 66. Dance maneuver novel title 67. It can conclude cant 57. Bragger’s suffix 59. Tiny Down 60. Insert a rider 1. Karate maneuver 61. Keystone ___ 2. Like non sequiturs

Across

Scrabble answers on p. 33.

Answers on p. 33.

Answers on page 33.

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — M AY 2 0 1 3

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Say you saw it in the Beacon

Personal Services $$$$$ NEED CASH $$$$$ We help clear out and conduct sales for: Estates, Down Sizing, Clutter Clearing, Divorce, Moving, Rental Properties, and More. We Buy, Sell, and Trade Items. Free Estimates. Call David @ 443-5148583 davidbalt7@aol.com. ESTATE SPECIALIST Experts in estate clean-outs and preparing your house for sale. Trash removal, house cleanouts, light moving, demolition, yard work, cleaning. 410-7465090. Free estimates. Insured. Call 7 days 7am - 7pm. NEED HELP WITH PAPER MANAGEMENT or checkbook balancing? Overwhelmed by medical claims/bills? Vision or Health Impairment? Call Bonnie Blas – The Organizer (over 20 years) 410-358-9290. HELP YOU SELL we help you sell any type of large item. Don’t lose the sale – we’re there when you can’t. We run the ad, meet with clients, and Help with the transaction. Automotive, Motorcycles, RV’s, large vehicles, and Equipment, Boats, and More. Call Dave @ 443514-8583.

Wanted MILITARY ITEMS Collector seeks: helmets, weapons, knives, swords, bayonets, webgear, uniforms, inert ordnance, ETC. From 1875 to 1960, US, German, Britain, Japan, France, Russian. Please call Fred 301-910-0783, Thank you. Also Lionel Trains. VINYL RECORDS WANTED from 1950 through 1985. Jazz, Rock-n-Roll, Soul, Rhythm & Blues, Reggae and Disco. 33 1/3 LPs, 45s or 78s, Larger collections of at least 100 items wanted. Please call John, 301-596-6201. CASH BUYER for old costume jewelry, pocket and wrist watches (any condition). Also buying watch maker tools and parts, train sets and accessories, old toys, old glassware & coins. 410-655-0412. $$$$$ WE PAY CASH FOR ITEMS $$$$$ We buy the following items and more: Toys, Collectable Glassware, Dolls (Barbies, Ceramic), Automotive and Motorcycle Parts and Related Items, Electronics, Musical Instruments, Trains, Items of Any Kind – Just Ask – Vintage or Current Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles, RV’s and More. Call Dave @ 443-514-8583. Davidbalt7@aol.com. BUYING OLD BASEBALL CARD COLLECTIONS Baseball Card Outlet at 7502 Eastern Ave near Eastpoint Mall is always in the market for buying vintage sports card collections & memorabilia from 1975 & older. 410-284-4440. Open daily at 10AM. WANTED: YOUR HOUSE! Get a fair price and fast cash. Estate sales, fixer-uppers, any house in any condition. Call David at 410-274-3295. WE BUY JUST ABOUT ANYTHING – Jewelry to coins, watches to tools, silver to toys, & clocks to artwork. Call Greg, 717-6587954. No middle man, no wasted calls. Call me, talk to me, deal with me personally. One piece through entire collections or whole & partial estates! Let me help you, give me a call 717-658-7954.

Thanks for reading!

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

Send your classified ad with check or money order, payable to the Beacon, to:

The Beacon, Howard County Classified Dept. P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915-2227 BEACON BITS

May 11

FREE CHAMBER CONCERT Music by Johannes Brahms and Maurice Ravel will be featured in a

free chamber concert by pianist Brenda Anna, violinist Nancy Smith and cellist Jason Love on Saturday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church, 6800 Oakland Mills Rd., Columbia. For more information, call (410) 465-8777 or visit www.columbiaorchestra.org.

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BEACON BITS

Apr. 29+

GALLERY SHOW AND RECEPTION Local artists Rana Geralis and Nancy Davis share their variations

on the concept of “Motion” in a show of paintings opening Monday, April 29 through May 31 at the Artists’ Gallery in the American City Building Lobby, 10227 Wincopin Circle, Columbia. The opening reception will be held on Friday, May 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. For further information, call (410) 740-8246 or visit the website www.artistsgallerycolumbia.com.

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