April 2013 Howard County Beacon Edition by The Beacon Newspapers

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Michael Feinstein’s lucky break

At Gershwin’s Beverly Hills home, Feinstein met many of the legendary members

WIN TICKETS TO MEET Michael Feinstein! PHOTO BY GILLES TOUCAS

Learning from the masters

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL FEINSTEIN

By Carol Sorgen On a summer day in 1977, 20-year-old Michael Feinstein had a life-changing encounter: He was introduced to Ira Gershwin, the 80-year-old lyricist brother of George Gershwin, the famous American composer who had died years earlier at the age of 38. The present-day Feinstein, now 56, says he always felt like “an old soul,” even as a child growing up in the 1960s. From the time he was 5 and started playing piano by ear in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, Feinstein began listening to his parents’ recordings of Bing Crosby, Al Jolson and Rosemary Clooney. “While I couldn’t tell you the names of the hit songs on the radio, I was a kid who could rattle off the name of every hit song written by George and Ira Gershwin, as well as many arcane facts about their lives and career,” he writes in his critically acclaimed memoir, The Gershwins and Me. Feinstein had met Ira Gershwin through June Levant, the widow of the concert pianist Oscar Levant, whom Feinstein calls “the greatest interpreter of Gershwin music of his generation.” Ira and his wife Lee asked Feinstein to start working with them, and he spent the next six years, until Ira’s death, taking care of their archive of Gershwin memorabilia. “Those formative years shaped the direction of my career and taught life lessons I never could have gotten in college, had I the grades to get in,” Feinstein told the Beacon in a telephone interview. Of course, today Feinstein himself is a world-renowned entertainer — a pianist and singer, not to mention author, known for his interpretations of what has become known as “the great American Songbook.” That Songbook comprises the best of American music — principally from Broadway, musical theatre and Hollywood musical film — from the 1920s to 1960. It includes dozens of songs of lasting popularity by such composers and lyricists as Harold Arlen, Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter, to name just a few.

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Singer and pianist Michael Feinstein recounts working with Ira Gershwin in his recent memoir, The Gershwins and Me. He will share those stories and his enthusiasm for the songs of Broadway and film known as “the Great American Songbook” in a program on April 20 at the Music Center at Strathmore in N. Bethesda. He will perform at Baltimore’s Lyric Theatre on May 9 in a benefit for the Myerberg Center there.

of Hollywood’s old guard, such as Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Rosemary Clooney, Roddy McDowall, Henry Mancini and many others. A number of them became his friends as well. “It was as if I had arrived in Beverly Hills in the nick of time,” Feinstein recalled, “because only a few years later they were all gone....But they taught me much of what I know about performing, interpreting a song, and about why it’s important to pass on what we learn. “They planted the seeds that have bloomed into a lifelong mission of sharing the classic era of music and culture by

finding a way to make it relate to contemporary audiences.” Ira Gershwin, in particular, was a great teacher and mentor who shared much that otherwise would have been lost long ago, Feinstein said, adding gratefully, “I have a very strong career because of this music.” Many of the tunes are timeless, as seen by their continued popularity, even among today’s pop artists. “I gain such joy seeing the music go on and on,” Feinstein writes in his book. “Whether it’s Lady Gaga singing “Someone See FEINSTEIN, page 28

A reprise of Fiddler on the Roof at Toby’s Dinner Theatre; plus, winners of the annual Howie awards for the arts page 26

FITNESS & HEALTH k Wake up to sleeping pill risks k Outsmart your appetite

THE SENIOR CONNECTION 14 k Howard County Office on Aging Newsletter LAW & MONEY 18 k Annoying companies, great stocks LEISURE & TRAVEL k Cruise bargains

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Driven by technology Your broke your glasses (or your foot)? solutions exist, ranging from public paraYou had surgery recently? Your car’s in transit systems for those unable to use the shop? public transit (MTA Mobility Getting from here to there in Baltimore; Metro Access in — to the doctor’s office, to Greater Washington), to volthe grocery store, to a conunteer drivers, subsidized cert, to the hospital — can taxis and the like. These are become a problem for all of helpful (but often far from us at one time or another. ideal) options we have written The solution? Call a cab. about in the Beacon many Call a friend. Take the bus. times over the years. We can usually work around But today I want to write it for awhile. about a futuristic solution that But getting around can be- FROM THE is, amazingly, almost ready come a daily struggle for PUBLISHER for prime time — namely, those who can no longer safe- By Stuart P. Rosenthal “self-driving cars.” ly drive, either due to poor viPerhaps you’ve read about sion, a chronic or permanent disability, or these cars, enhanced with self-driving the lack of a car (or of access to the keys). technology by Google (yes, the Internet That’s why, for a number of years now, search engine people). There are about a the most common concerns raised by dozen such computer-run vehicles on the those calling aging and disability services road today, mostly in California, following hotlines tend to be transportation-related. programmed instructions and rooftop A number of more-or-less satisfactory radar that control their route, turns, speed,

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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. • Publisher/Editor ....................Stuart P. Rosenthal

braking and parking. A person sits in the driver’s seat, but only in case of emergency (and probably to keep other folks from driving off the road at the sight of a driverless car). They are still being tested and improved, but so far, we are told these vehicles have driven more than 300,000 miles without a single accident — that is, without a single accident they have caused. Vehicles driven by people have run into them from behind on occasion. Google says its research has shown the automatic cars have outperformed professional drivers in accident simulations. Take a look at the self-driving car doing its thing on a three-minute YouTube video, in which nearly blind Steve Mahan, a resident of Morgan Hill, Calif., is driven from his home to a taco drive-through and his neighborhood dry cleaner and back again (www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgQpa1pU UE). Three states have already passed legislation permitting such cars on their roads: California, Nevada and Florida. It is probably no coincidence that California and Florida also happen to have more residents 65 and over than any other states in the Union. Given the higher rate of accidents per mile among older drivers, and the greater risk of fatality that older adults experience in auto crashes, the promise of an accident-free and totally independent mode of transportation for those no longer able to drive on their own would be a dream come true — not only for otherwise homebound people themselves, but for their families and indeed everyone else on the road. Of course, such a solution, while possibly accident-free and driver-free, is not

free. At present, the computer and radar components that make Google’s customized cars autonomous cost a reported $150,000 per car. But most people will not need to own such a car themselves. I envision companies with a small fleet of them using an online reservation system that keeps its cars taking people back and forth pretty much 24/7 (once they teach the cars how to fill themselves at a gas station!). In the meantime, car manufacturers including Lexus and Ford are already selling a number of models that can parallel park themselves, have “adaptive cruise control” (which maintains a safe distance from cars in front), and “lane keep assist” systems that, with cameras and automated steering control, keep cars safely within their lane when the driver fails to do so. These existing technologies — plus new ones in development that will allow cars to communicate with each other on the road and maneuver safely in crowded conditions, such as Ford’s “Traffic Jam Assist” — will transform both public and private transportation. And I don’t mean in the distant future, either. Reportedly, Ford envisions selling a self-driving car by 2017, building on currently available technologies. Yes, our demographic realities will mean rapidly increasing numbers of older drivers (and non-drivers) in the coming years. But fortunately, inventive and daring engineers are crafting what appears to be a solution in tandem with the problem.

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.

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

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 31 for classified advertising details. Please mail or email all submissions.

Dear Editor: I am sharing my thoughts on the Publisher’s column “Sober Reflections,” from March. My husband died in 2005 at the age of 76. We had previously filled out all of the forms that would be necessary to prevent others from prolonging “the act of dying.” He died at home, peacefully, and aware that I was with him. My concern is that my daughter will not

abide by the decisions, already in place, when I reach the end of my life. She changes the subject. Can you offer advice in a future article about the indignities seniors face when pain and illness prevent them from caring for themselves? The shame? The embarrassment? Jeanne White Baltimore, MD

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You may win TWO TICKETS TO MEET Michael Feinstein About this survey: TWO LUCKY READERS will each win A PAIR OF TICKETS to hear Michael Feinstein speak and perform, and then meet him at a dessert reception on May 9. Value: $250. The event takes place at the Lyric Theatre in Baltimore, Md. The drawing will be held on April 26.

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Health Fitness &

OUTSMART YOUR APPETITE The color and size of your plate can affect how much you eat ZAPPING ALZHEIMER’S Researchers are testing brain ‘pacemakers’ that may improve Alzheimer’s IN A NEW LIGHT New adjustable LED bulbs may help you read and sleep better SOOTHING TUMMY TROUBLES Try taking probiotics and slippery elm to improve your digestive health

Common sleeping aid boosts accident risk By Matthew Perrone The Food and Drug Administration is requiring makers of Ambien and similar sleeping pills to lower the dosage of their drugs, based on studies suggesting patients face a higher risk of injury due to morning drowsiness. The agency said that new research shows that the drugs remain in the bloodstream at levels high enough to interfere with alertness and coordination, which increases the risk of car accidents. Regulators are ordering drug manufacturers to cut the dose of the medications in half for women, who process the drug more slowly than men. Doses will be lowered from 10 milligrams to 5 milligrams for regular products, and 12.5 milligrams to 6.25 milligrams for extended-release formulations. The FDA is recommending that manufacturers apply these lower doses to men as well, though it is not making that a requirement.

Zolpidem is drug of concern

Impaired driving

The new doses apply to all insomnia treatments containing the drug zolpidem, which is sold under brands including Ambien, Edluar, Zolpimist and in generic forms. It is the most widely prescribed sleeping aid prescribed in the U.S. The changes don’t affect other popular sleeping medicines like Lunesta and Sonata, which use different ingredients. FDA officials pointed out that all sleeping drugs carry warnings about drowsiness. “All sleep drugs have the potential to cause this, so health professionals should prescribe — and patients should take — the lowest dose that is capable of preventing insomnia,” said Dr. Ellis Unger, a director in FDA’s Office of Drug Evaluation, on a teleconference with reporters. Unger added that the FDA will begin requiring developers of sleep drugs to conduct driving simulation studies going forward.

Ambien has been blamed for several high-profile driving accidents in the past year, including Tom Brokaw in September and Kerry Kennedy in July. The FDA has received more than 700 reports of driving-related problems connected to zolpidem over the years. “But in most cases it was very difficult to determine if the driving impairment was actually related to zolpidem,” Unger said. “Usually the reports did not contain information about when the accident happened or how much time had lapsed since taking the drug.” The agency decided to take action after recent driving simulation studies showed that, in some patients, drug levels remained high enough to cause difficulty driving. The data came from company studies of Intermezzo, a new form of zolpidem that was approved in 2011 for people who wake late at night and can’t get back to sleep.

The data showed that 33 percent of women and 25 percent of men taking extended-release zolpidem had enough of the drug in their blood to interfere with driving as much as eight hours later. When the dose was cut in half, only 15 percent of women and 5 percent of men had those same drug levels. FDA analysis was unable to determine why women metabolize zolpidem so much more slowly than men. According to FDA staff, the difference cannot be accounted for by usual factors like size and weight. For now, patients should continue taking their currently prescribed dose until they can talk to their doctor about the best way to proceed. “We really don’t want people to change the dose they’re on. We want them to talk to their healthcare provider,” Unger said. Ambien is marketed by Sanofi, Intermezzo by Purdue Pharma LP, and Zolpimist by NovaDel Pharma Inc. — AP

Retooled Pap test may spot more cancers By Lauran Neergaard For years, doctors have lamented that there’s no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. But recently scientists reported encouraging signs that one day, there might be. Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too. How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors in the ovaries or the lining of the uterus, and float down to rest in the cervix, where Pap tests are performed. These cells are too rare to recognize under the microscope. But researchers from Johns Hopkins University used some sophisticated DNA testing on the Pap samples to uncover the evidence — gene mutations that show cancer is present. In a pilot study, they analyzed Pap smears from 46 women who already were diagnosed with either ovarian or endometrial cancer. The new technique found all the endometrial cancers and 41 percent of the ovarian tumors, the team reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

More testing needed This is very early-stage research, and women shouldn’t expect any change in their routine Paps. It will take years of additional testing to prove if the so-called PapGene technique really could work as a screening tool to spot cancer in women who thought they were healthy. “Now the hard work begins,” said Hopkins oncologist Dr. Luis Diaz, whose team is collecting hundreds of additional Pap samples for more study and is exploring ways to enhance the detection of ovarian cancer. But if it ultimately pans out, “the neat part about this is, the patient won’t feel anything different,” and the Pap wouldn’t be performed differently, Diaz added. The extra work would come in a lab. The gene-based technique marks a new approach toward cancer screening, and specialists are watching closely. “This is very encouraging, and it shows great potential,” said American Cancer Society genetics expert Michael Melner. “We are a long way from being able to see any impact on our patients,” cautioned Dr. Shannon Westin of the University of

Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She reviewed the research in an accompanying editorial, and said the ovarian cancer detection would need improvement if the test is to work. But she noted that ovarian cancer has poor survival rates because it’s rarely caught early. “If this screening test could identify ovarian cancer at an early stage, there would be a profound impact on patient outcomes and mortality,” Westin said. More than 22,000 U.S. women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and more than 15,000 die. Symptoms such as pain and bloating seldom are obvious until the cancer is more advanced, and numerous attempts at screening tests have failed. Endometrial cancer affects about 47,000 women a year and kills about 8,000. There is no screening test for it either, but most women are diagnosed early because of postmenopausal bleeding.

DNA analysis improves on Pap The Hopkins research piggybacks on one of the most successful cancer screening tools, the Pap, and a newer technology used along with it.

With a standard Pap, a little brush scrapes off cells from the cervix, which are stored in a vial to examine for signs of cervical cancer. Today, many women’s Paps undergo an additional DNA-based test to see if they harbor the HPV virus, which can spur cervical cancer. So the Hopkins team, funded largely by cancer advocacy groups, decided to look for DNA evidence of other gynecologic tumors. It developed a method to rapidly screen the Pap samples for those mutations using standard genetics equipment that Diaz said wouldn’t add much to the cost of a Pap-plus-HPV test. He said the technique could detect both early-stage and more advanced tumors. Importantly, tests of Paps from 14 healthy women turned up no false alarms. The endometrial cancers may have been easier to find because cells from those tumors don’t have as far to travel as ovarian cancer cells, Diaz said. Researchers will study whether inserting the Pap brush deeper, testing during different times of the menstrual cycle, or other factors might improve detection of ovarian cancer. — AP

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You may take it for granted that a loss of smell is just part of aging. And to some degree, you’re right. “After age 65, many people lose some sense of smell, and we don’t know exactly why,” said Dr. Eric Holbrook, assistant professor of otology and laryngology at Harvard Medical School. But if loss of smell lasts longer than a few weeks, it may indicate an underlying problem. Our brains detect smell through recep-

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Depression need not linger if a new class of drugs that can improve symptoms within hours becomes available. People with depression are often treated with drugs that increase levels of serotonin and other mood-enhancing chemicals in the brain. But these drugs typically take weeks, or even months, to work. Drugs that target receptors for a chemical called NMDA appear to take effect much faster. Ketamine is one example. It can reduce symptoms of depression within hours, but also has hallucinatory side effects. Now, Joseph Moskal and colleagues at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., have tested a similar drug called GLYX-13 that also targets NMDA receptors. Moskal’s team gave either GLXY-13 or a placebo to 116 people with depression who didn’t respond to other treatments. Those who received the drug reported that their symptoms got better within two hours, with no significant side effects. The drug also performed significantly better than the placebo. The team presented their results at a recent meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

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Moskal believes the drug works by boosting either the strength or number of connections between neurons, although it’s not yet clear why this improves symptoms. Gerard Sanacora at Yale School of Medicine thinks that people with depression may experience a slump in activity in the frontal cortex of the brain, and that the drug might reverse this. “I’m excited about this whole class of drugs,” he said. “It opens up a new vista for drug development for these disorders, although there’s still a lot of work to be done.” Moskal said he’s aiming to get the drug to market by 2016. — New Scientist

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Health Shorts

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A P R I L 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Five tips help you outsmart your appetite By Kerri-Ann Jennings A new study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, helps explain why the size of our plates affects how much we’re eating. Turns out, our behavior is directly influenced by what our eyes perceive, even when we know better. So, for example, you’ll serve yourself — and eat — less on a 6-inch plate than a 9inch plate because it looks more satisfying. The study, by Brian Wansink, Cornell researcher and EatingWell advisor, and Koert van Ittersum suggests the color of your plates, table and tablecloth matters, too: Using light plates on dark tablecloths helps you eat less. Having dark plates on dark tablecloths makes us take — and eat — more.

even nutrition experts — people trained in food and calories — are duped. One of Wansink’s previous studies involved his nutrition students and colleagues at an ice cream social. They were each randomly given a smaller or larger bowl and either a smaller or larger serving spoon to scoop out the ice cream into their dish. He and his colleagues found that nutritionists using the larger bowls served and ate 31 percent more ice cream than those with the smaller bowl. Nutritionists who used the larger serving spoon served and ate 15 percent more ice cream. Those who received a large bowl and a large serving spoon ate the most — 57 percent more than those with the smaller spoon and bowl combo.

Fooling the nutritionists

What you can do at home

Perhaps the most surprising of all is that

Karen Miller Executive Director 10 Years of Service

Before you reach for the measuring

cups or spoons and food scale, try these easy-to-use tips: 1. Change your place settings. Highly contrasting your plate color with the table by getting bold place mats (think white plates on black mats) will help you take less by tricking the eye. The opposite is true for plate and food colors — you want to match those as closely as possible (think red pasta on a red plate). 2. Learn to measure with your eyes. Take the “memorize-the-common-household items” approach. Remember that a healthy 3-ounce serving of meat (or other protein) looks like a deck of cards, a medium potato should be the size of a computer mouse, and a quarter cup of anything is about as big as a golf ball. 3. Try the “Rule of Thumb” method, which uses your hand as a reference. If you’re a relatively small-framed woman, 1

Morningside House Bragging Rights... Over the past 20 years, Morningside House Senior Living has earned the right to brag about quite a few things:

Anne Hutchinson Director of Employee Relations 14 Years of Service

Alice Spongberg Concierge 14 Years of Service

Jamie LeBlanc Director of Plant Operations 9 Years of Service

❖ Women Owned and Operated – We are one of the few women-owned and operated senior living companies in the nation and, as mothers and caregivers ourselves, we’re able to connect with our residents and families on an emotional level, creating a totally unique assisted living experience. The moment you walk through our front door, you feel there’s a magical connection between our employees and our residents. ❖ Longevity of Staff – Our loyal, long-term staff is not just impressive, it’s also extremely rare. The healthcare field is infamous for high staff turnover and lack of employee loyalty, which naturally results in inconsistent care. Our Directors have been with us an average of 8 years and our line staff has been with us an average of 5 years! Our devoted team is the key to our distinctive ability to provide residents with the highest quality of care and families with peace of mind. ❖ Medical Model of Care – Morningside House of Ellicott City is one of the only assisted living providers in Maryland to have a Board Certified Geriatrician on staff. As our Medical Director, Dr. Salazar oversees resident care, approves personal care plans, holds weekly resident review meetings with the wellness team and is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Behind our beautiful décor, we have a powerful healthcare team who provides the best care and service in the area.

Melissa Morrow Housekeeping Supervisor 8 Years of Service

❖ Word of Mouth Referrals – At Morningside House, our number one source of move-ins is referrals from our existing residents and families, physicians, hospitals and healthcare professionals. We are proud to be the top-referred assisted living and dementia care provider in the area!

Bill Shelton Director of Food Services 5 Years of Service

❖ High Level of Care – Morningside House of Ellicott City is a licensed Level 3 community in the State of Maryland, which means we’re able to allow our residents to age in place as their care needs increase. We offer on-site physical, occupational and speech therapies 5 days a week, as well as a full restorative therapy program. We also have an expansive list of visiting medical providers who provide on-site services to residents, which reduces stress for both residents and their families.

Brandi Smith Director of Life Enrichment 5 Years of Service

❖ Regional Company – Morningside is a private, regional provider, not a publically traded national chain. We have the unique ability to provide continuous management oversight to our communities and have personal relationships with our employees, residents and families. This results in a consistent, high quality product that is not financially driven by investors and equity partners, but instead driven by resident care.

With so many amazing reasons to brag, why wouldn’t you choose Morningside for your loved one? CALL OR STOP BY TODAY!! Tammy Sammons Director of Health & Wellness 4 Years of Service

5330 Dorsey Hall Drive • Ellicott City, MD 21042 410.715.0930 / www.morningsidehouse.com

teaspoon equals the tip of your thumb (to the middle joint); 1 tablespoon is the size of your thumb, and 1 cup is about the size of your fist. Obviously, this isn’t a precise way of portioning — and the margin of error is greater the bigger your hand is — but it’ll work in a pinch. It might be a good technique to try when you’re eating out or at a friend’s. 4. Measure your dishes. At home, find out how much your frequently-used bowls and utensils hold. One time only, measure out the amount of soup that your ladle holds. If it’s 3/4 cup, you’ll know forever that two scoops equal a satisfying 11/2-cup serving. On the flipside, you can measure out a given portion of a particular favorite food and serve it in the dish you’ll almost always use when you eat that food. Once you know that one serving of cereal reaches only halfway up your bowl, you’ll know to stop there. This is a good trick to try with beverages too: perhaps with your favorite juice or wine glass. 5. Choose portion-controlled foods. Look for single-serving packages of your favorite packaged foods so you know exactly how much you’re getting. You can doit-yourself at home by making entrees preportioned with ramekins and muffin tins, or portioning out and pre-packing snacks to take with you. EatingWell is a magazine and website devoted to healthy eating as a way of life. Online at www.eatingwell.com. © 2013 EatingWell, Inc. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

BEACON BITS

Mar. 25

ASK THE PHARMACIST

Consultant pharmacist Don Hamilton will meet with individuals to answer questions concerning their medications in a free session on Monday, March 25 at 11 a.m. at the Ellicott City Senior Center, 9401 Frederick Rd., Ellicott City. For more information, call the center at (410) 313-1400.

Apr. 3

PROSTATE CANCER SCREENING

Urologist Marc Applestein will offer prostate cancer screening, including PSA blood test and digital exam, on Wednesday, April 3 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Howard County General Hospital Wellness Center, Suite 100, 10710 Charter Dr., Columbia. The fee is $15. For advance registration and more information, visit www.hcgh.org or call (410) 740-7601.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

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

Health shorts From page 5 tors located high inside the nose and in a channel near the roof of the throat. A reduction in smell and taste may result when there is damage to the smell receptors or there are blockages in the nose. Blockages may be caused by colds, allergies, sinus infections, and growths in the nose or sinuses called polyps. Nerve damage can result from head trauma, radiation for head and neck cancers, nasal surgery, brain tumors, diabetes, obesity, smoking, exposure to air pollutants, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Parkinsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Especially for Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Parkinsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, loss of smell is one of the first symptoms,â&#x20AC;? said Dr. Holbrook. Some medications such as nasal decongestants used for long periods may also cause a loss of smell. A reduction in your sense of smell puts you in some danger. You may not be able to smell smoke from a fire, natural gas leaks, or spoiled food. A loss of smell may also affect your quality of life, since it can reduce your ability to taste food. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People still get hungry, but eating is not as enjoyable as it used to be,â&#x20AC;? said Dr. Holbrook. As a result, some people eat less and risk malnutrition. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t jump to conclusions about underlying causes of smell loss, Dr. Holbrook advised. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Just because youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve lost some of your

sense of smell, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean you have a neurodegenerative disorder,â&#x20AC;? he said. But anything that lasts more than a few weeks is worth investigating. To help your doctor make a diagnosis, report anything that occurred when the loss of smell or taste started, such as a change in medication, headaches or nasal obstruction. Treatment for loss of smell caused by inflammation or blockage might involve topical steroids, antibiotics or surgery. However, sometimes the sense of smell does not return. And when the doctor suspects neurodegenerative causes, brain imaging may be required. But the more serious causes are unusual. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Harvard Health Letter

Possible heart attack? Take an aspirin now Chewing an aspirin tablet during the first symptoms of what could be a heart attack can save your life. But in order for it to work properly, you must understand which kind of aspirin to take, and how to take it. Why? A heart attack is usually the result of a blood clot in a coronary artery that blocks blood flow. Aspirin inhibits the formation of a clot and helps restore blood flow. What? Chewing and swallowing one

regular-strength adult 325-milligram aspirin should be sufficient. Avoid coated aspirins, as they are absorbed slowly. If you normally take an 81-mg. aspirin (baby aspirin) as part of your daily aspirin therapy to prevent cardiac events, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll still want the full-size 325-mg. version to take during a heart attack. How? If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re over 50, and surely if you have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease, always carry an aspirin tablet in a small pillbox in your pocket or purse. Chewing an uncoated aspirin and swallowing it quickly will speed the medicine through your bloodstream.

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re wrong, and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not having a heart attack, the one aspirin wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hurt you. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re already taking low-dose daily aspirin, you still should chew a regularstrength aspirin at the first signs of a possible heart attack. When? Chew the aspirin as soon as you realize you may be having a heart attack. Also call 911. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ever try to drive yourself to the hospital if you think youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re having a heart attack. If possible, have a list available for emergency personnel detailing all the medications you take and other health information. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Harvard Health Letter

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A P R I L 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Brain ‘pacemakers’ may zap Alzheimer’s By Lauran Neergaard It has the makings of a science fiction movie: Zap someone’s brain with mild jolts of electricity to try to stave off the creeping memory loss of Alzheimer’s disease. And it’s not easy. Holes are drilled into the patient’s skull so tiny wires can be implanted into just the right spot. A dramatic shift is beginning in the disappointing struggle to find something to slow the damage of this epidemic: The first U.S. experiments with “brain pacemakers” for Alzheimer’s are getting under way. Scientists are looking beyond drugs to implants in the hunt for much-needed new treatments. The research is in its infancy. Only a few dozen people with early-stage Alzheimer’s will be implanted in a handful of hospitals. No one knows if it might work, and if it does, how long the effects might last.

The first patient Kathy Sanford was among the first to

sign up. The Ohio woman’s early-stage Alzheimer’s was gradually getting worse. She still lived independently, posting reminders to herself, but could no longer work. The usual medicines weren’t helping. Then doctors at Ohio State University explained the hope — that constant electrical stimulation of brain circuits involved in memory and thinking might keep those neural networks active for longer, essentially bypassing some of dementia’s damage. Sanford decided it was worth a shot. “The reason I’m doing it is, it’s really hard to not be able, sometimes, to remember,” Sanford, 57, said from her Lancaster, Ohio, home. Her father is more blunt. “What’s our choice? To participate in a program, or sit here and watch her slowly deteriorate?” asked Joe Jester, 78. He drives his daughter to follow-up testing, hoping to spot improvement.

A few months after the five-hour operation, the hair shaved for her brain surgery was growing back and Sanford said she felt good, with an occasional tingling that she attributes to the electrodes. A batterypowered generator near her collarbone powers them, sending the tiny shocks up her neck and into her brain. It’s too soon to know how she’ll fare; scientists will track her for two years. “This is an ongoing evaluation right now that we are optimistic about,” is how Ohio State neurosurgeon Dr. Ali Rezai cautiously puts it. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s or similar dementias, and that number is expected to rise rapidly as the baby boomers age. Today’s drugs only temporarily help some symptoms. Attempts to attack Alzheimer’s presumed cause, a brain-clogging gunk, so far haven’t panned out. “We’re getting tired of not having other things work,” said Ohio State neurologist Dr. Douglas Scharre.

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The new approach is called deep brain stimulation, or DBS. While it won’t attack Alzheimer’s root cause either, “maybe we can make the brain work better,” he said. Implanting electrodes into the brain isn’t new. Between 85,000 and 100,000 people around the world have had DBS to block the tremors of Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. The continuous jolts quiet overactive nerve cells, with few side effects. Scientists also are testing whether stimulating other parts of the brain might help lift depression or curb appetite among the obese. It was in one of those experiments that

Canadian researchers back in 2003 stumbled onto the Alzheimer’s possibility. They switched on the electrical jolts in the brain of an obese man and unlocked a flood of old memories. Continuing his DBS also improved his ability to learn. He didn’t have dementia, but the researchers wondered if they could spur memory-making networks in someone who did. But wait a minute. Alzheimer’s doesn’t just steal memories. It eventually robs sufferers of the ability to do the simplest of tasks. How could stimulating a brain so damaged do any good? A healthy brain is a connected brain. One circuit signals another to switch on and retrieve the memories needed to, say, drive a car or cook a meal. At least early in the disease, Alzheimer’s kills only certain spots. But the disease’s hallmark gunky plaques act as a roadblock, stopping the “on” switch so that healthy circuits farther away are deactivated, explained Dr. Andres Lozano, a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital whose research sparked the interest. So the plan was to put the electrodes into hubs where brain pathways for memory, behavior, concentration and other cognitive functions converge, to see if the jolts reactivate those silenced circuits, added Ohio State’s Rezai. “It’s like going through Grand Central Station and trying to affect all the trains going in and coming out,” he said.

Promising tests under way Lozano’s team found the first clue that it’s possible by implanting six Alzheimer’s patients in Canada. After at least 12 See ALZHEIMER’S, page 11

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Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

LED bulbs can help you read, sleep better Despite their vital role, light bulbs don’t often come to mind when we think of cutting-edge technology. That may be about to change, with a wave of tunable LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs that promise to not only keep out the dark, but help us concentrate, relax, read or even improve our sleeping habits. In October, electronics company Philips launched the Hue bulb, which can be tuned using a smartphone or tablet computer to bathe a room in almost any color of light. The firm is promoting the light as a fun technology, as it comes with features such as changing color when the phone is shaken, so party hosts can put on their own light shows. But the system, which costs around $200 and comes with three 50-watt-equivalent bulbs and a wireless hub, also has intriguing possibilities for improving the lives of its users.

scious vision system. A set of receptors in our eyes responds to blue light by suppressing production of sleep-inducing melatonin, so the naturally blue-rich light of daytime keeps us alert, while reddish evening light lets us ease into sleep. Fluorescent bulbs contain a lot of blue light, so being exposed to them late in the day or at night can contribute to sleep problems. Many LED bulbs perpetuate the problem, because they generate white light using blue LEDs coated in compounds that emit longer wavelengths when illuminated. The Hue bulb instead contains red, green and blue LEDs. That’s a more expensive way to generate white light, but the level of each color can be adjusted, meaning it’s possible to produce a broad gamut of colors, including white mixtures that contain very little blue light.

Helpful for astronauts and students NASA is developing similar lights for the International Space Station because astronauts have trouble sleeping more than 6 hours a night. The lights will switch from blue-rich to keep the astronauts alert during their working day to red-rich light when they are relaxing before bed. Start-up firm LIFX is also developing a color-tunable LED system, which has generated huge interest and received significant funds through the crowd-funding website Kickstarter. Philips’ approach is based on studies of how students performed in school rooms illuminated by different types of lighting: a red-rich “relax,” a blue-infused “energize,” a milder, yellowish “concentrate” and a “reading” blend. “Controlled experiments have shown that light at the right intensity and wave-

length can have alerting effects and that dimmer, long-wavelength light can help prepare for sleep,” said George Brainard, of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, who works on the NASA program. Brainard has not studied the Philips system and cautions that it’s hard to tell if it will provide therapeutic doses. Nonetheless, he adds, “these are exciting frontiers for the future potential of light”. “We were looking backward in time” by trying merely to exchange inefficient incandescent bulbs with more efficient alternatives, said Fred Schubert, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. “We can go beyond the replacement paradigm to make bulbs with new capabilities.” © 2013 New Scientist Magazine. Reed Business Information LTD. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Energizing and relaxing colors Research has shown that different colors of light affect more than just our con-

BEACON BITS

Apr. 9+

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Cedar Lane School, 11630 Scaggsville Rd., Fulton. Also, starting Wednesday, April 10 at 5:30 p.m., instructors will be available to help with warm water exercises on Wednesday evenings. Cost is $48 for either six-week course. To register, call (410) 313-7275. For more infor-

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Apr. 20

FAMILY AND FRIENDS CPR CLASS

The American Heart Association’s free “Family & Friends” CPR presentation for adults and children will be offered

Keeping your companion healthy.

on Saturday, April 20 at 9 a.m. at the Howard County General Hospital Wellness Center, Suite 100, 10710 Charter Dr., Columbia. This is a community course, not one for certification. For advance registration and more information, visit www.hcgh.org or call (410) 740-7601.

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Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Health Studies Page

A P R I L 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

Study looks at ways to quiet tinnitus By Barbara Ruben Do you hear a ringing, roaring, hissing or other near-constant noise in your ears that you would love to silence? You likely have a condition called tinnitus, which is not a disease, but a symptom of an auditory problem. The condition is estimated to affect about 10 percent of Americans to some degree.

Often it is the first sign of hearing loss in older adults, and makes itself heard after a lifetime of loud noise. But it can also be caused by ear and sinus infections, heart disease, hormonal changes in women and other factors. It can even be caused by something as simple as wax lodged in the ear canal. To help find ways to quell tinnitus, the

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, along with the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and other collaborators, are conducting a study at military hospitals across the country. Locally, the study is being done at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Called the Tinnitus Retraining Therapy Trial (TRTT), the study is looking at a nonmedical intervention that uses counseling and sound therapy to mitigate patients’ emotional reactions to tinnitus, its perception, and ultimately, its impact on the patient’s life.

For severe sufferers

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To participate in the study, you must have severe tinnitus, be over 18, and be eligible for care at a Department of Defense clinical center (for example, as a veteran). You must have had tinnitus for at least a year, but not had any treatment in the last year. You also cannot have been treated for a head or neck injury in the last two years or had chemotherapy in the last year. Study participants will be randomly divided into three groups. One group will be fitted with sound generators that are worn either inside or outside the ear. They generate low-level pleasant sounds that help mask tinnitus noise. These participants will also get a twohour counseling session in which they are given information about tinnitus and related problems, such as hearing loss and sound intolerance. In addition, they will get neuropsychological counseling about

how to live with the noise and make it less stressful. Those in the second group will be fitted with a placebo sound generator (similar to the real thing, but it produces no sounds), and will also get the counseling. The goal of the tinnitus management counseling is to reduce negative cognitive, physical and behavioral reactions to tinnitus and to improve the patient’s well-being and quality of life. Specific treatment recommendations will be individualized to reflect the participant’s concerns and abilities. The third group of participants will get the standard care treatment typically provided to patients with severe tinnitus at participating military medical centers.

18-month study Eligibility for the study will be determined at a baseline visit, which includes a medical and tinnitus history, physical examination and audiological/tinnitus evaluation. Study participants will also complete a series of quality of life and psychological profile tests. Study audiologists will administer the randomly assigned treatment. Follow up visits take place at three, six, 12, and 18 months, and include completion of tinnitus outcome questionnaires at all visits. Psychometric testing and audiological/tinnitus evaluation will take place at all but the three-month visits. For more information, contact April Hovanec at Walter Reed at (301) 400-0882 or email h0valap@verizon.net.

BEACON BITS

Apr. 23

SHOULDERING THE PAIN

Common shoulder injuries, arthritis and other causes of joint pain and limited motion will be the topic of a free talk by Johns Hopkins Medicine orthopedic surgeon Dr. Umasuthan Srikumarian on Tuesday, April 23 at 6 p.m. at the Howard County General Hospital Wellness Center, Suite 100, 10710 Charter Dr., Columbia. For advance registration and more information, visit www.hcgh.org or call (410) 740-7601.

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

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

Alzheimer’s From page 8 months of continuous stimulation, brain scans showed a sign of more activity in areas targeted by Alzheimer’s. Suddenly, the neurons there began using more glucose, the fuel for brain cells. “It looked like a blackout before. We were able to turn the lights back on in those areas,” Lozano said. While most Alzheimer’s patients show

clear declines in function every year, one Canadian man who has had the implants for four years hasn’t deteriorated, Lozano said, although he cautioned that there’s no way to know whether that’s due to the DBS. The evidence is preliminary and will take years of study to prove, but “this is an exciting, novel approach,” said Dr. Laurie Ryan of the National Institutes of Health’s aging division, which is funding a followup study.

BEACON BITS

Apr. 19

The Toronto researchers have teamed with four U.S. medical centers — Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, University of Florida, and Arizona’s Banner Health System — to try DBS in a part of the brain called the fornix, one of those memory hubs, in 40 patients. Half will have their electrodes turned on two weeks after the operation and the rest in a year, an attempt to spot any placebo effect from surgery. At Ohio State, Rezai is implanting the electrodes into a different spot, the frontal lobes, that his own DBS work suggests could tap into cognition and behavior path-

ways. That study will enroll 10 participants including Sanford. Surgery back in October was Sanford’s first step. Then it was time to fine-tune how the electrodes fire. She took problem-solving tests while neurologist Scharre adjusted the voltage and frequency and watched her reactions. Sanford was cheered to see her test scores climb a bit during those adjustments. She said she knows there are no guarantees, but “if we can beat some of this stuff, or at least get a leading edge on it, I’m in for the whole deal.” — AP

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the Great Room at Historic Savage Mill, 8600 Foundry St., Savage. Tickets are $125 per person by April 5 and $150 per person thereafter. For more information, call (410) 997-0304 or visit the events ticket and registration page at www.dvcenter.org.

Apr. 20

FLEA MARKET AND CRAFT SHOW The Laurel Senior Friendship Club will hold a flea market and craft show on Saturday, April 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Laurel-

• open directly to the public for private cremations only • caring & professional staff • memorial urns and merchandise available

Beltsville Senior Activity Center, 7120 Contee Rd., Laurel. To reserve a table at $20 each, or for more information, call Betty Mannas at (301) 953-2503.

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A P R I L 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

Slippery elm may soothe a troubled stomach Dear Pharmacist: It could help you with acid reflux, ulcerI’ve dealt with stomach problems all ative colitis, gastritis, chronic pancreatitis, my life. Sometimes it’s difficult to eat, constipation/diarrhea and ulcers. It may but I am under physician support tissue regeneration care. What natural remedy for people with leaky gut syncan soothe my tummy and drome (a.k.a. excessive intesallow me to eat? tinal permeability). A bad — W.C. cough or bronchitis may reDear W.C.: spond to the soothing properProbiotics are fundamental ties of slippery elm. to digestive health. And a diet Slippery elm is sold as free of common food allertablets/capsules, liquid gens is in order. herbal extracts and lozenges. But something like slipThe lozenges are nice for sore DEAR pery elm could help. Known throats. PHARMACIST as Ulmus fulva to herbalists, Health food stores carry By Suzy Cohen the mucilage from the inner powder which is basically just bark of the tree provides exground up inner bark of the tensive nutrition and easy-to-digest com- tree. There are coarse and fine powders. plex carbs. Slippery elm forms a slick gel Coarse is needed to make topical poultices coating and soothes everything it comes in that help cuts, bruises and achy joints, contact with, including your mouth, throat, such as come from gout. stomach and intestines. The fine powder can be turned into a Slippery elm contains calcium, man- gruel (something like cream of wheat) and ganese, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, eaten. The recipe for slippery elm gruel potassium, selenium, zinc, beta-carotene, consists of about one tablespoonful fine vitamin C and plenty of B vitamins. Chil- powder and enough hot water to make a dren, adults and the elderly can eat this thin, smooth paste. The amount of water when recuperating from an illness, having used is up to your personal taste. I use one trouble digesting or holding down food or half cup myself. wasting. Think of it as Mother Nature’s I’ll tell you right now, it’s slimy any way Ensure. you make it, but that’s the point! Sweeten it

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with organic honey, agave, maple syrup or stevia and flavor it with cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon rind or vanilla. Once made, the dosage varies tremendously. Some say eat the whole thing in one sitting. Other experts suggest a tablespoon every hour until you can eat solid food again. Perhaps consider your weight, age and severity of malnutrition as well as response. Ask your doctor if this wonderful remedy in any form is approved because there are individual considerations, such as your current health status and drug regimen. Some people are allergic to elm pollen, making this a no-no. Other naturally-occurring components

in slippery elm include beta-sitosterol, campestrol and a little tannin (which aggravates kidney stones). I couldn’t find documented interactions except a theoretical one that says it may render meds and supplements less active. So separate administration of slippery elm from important drugs by two hours. This information is opinion only. It is not intended to treat, cure or diagnose your condition. Consult with your doctor before using any new drug or supplement. Suzy Cohen is a registered pharmacist and the author of The 24-Hour Pharmacist and Real Solutions from Head to Toe. To contact her, visit www.dearpharmacist.com

BEACON BITS

Mar. 29

JOIN SOCIAL SERVICES BOARD

The Howard County Board of Social Services is seeking applicants for a three-year term on the board that provides advice on state polices, procedures and programs that apply to Howard County‘s services to low-income residents. Candidates must be Howard County residents. The deadline is Friday, March 29. For more information, call (410) 872-8700.

Ongoing

NEED A RIDE TO VOLUNTEER?

NeighborRide is a volunteer-based nonprofit providing transportation for Howard County residents 60 and over for volunteer activities as well as health and personal needs, such as shopping and business appointments. For more information, visit www.neighborride.org or call (410) 884-7433.

Ongoing

SHARE YOUR SKILLS

Opportunities may be available to develop courses and to teach art, cooking, dance, drama, languages and other subjects included in the wide range of Recreation & Parks programs. For an up-to-date listing of possible job needs within the department, visit www.howardcountymd.gov and click on Recreation & Parks or call (410) 313-4450.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

Asian chicken baked with honey & ginger With spring here, enjoy the wonderful taste of baked chicken marinated in honey, soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger. This combination blends perfectly to bring out the full flavor of the chicken. Produced in a natural factory, it’s no wonder that honey has been called nature’s perfect sweetener. Honey gives the dish a mouth-watering natural sweetness. As incredible as it seems, the bees in a colony must visit 2 million flowers and fly over 55,000 miles to make one pound of honey. The soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger give the dish a decidedly Asian taste. The earthy quality of the soy sauce softens the sweetness of the honey. When buying soy sauce, opt for the naturally brewed, reduced-sodium variety. Also, when purchasing fresh ginger look for a plump root, free of blemishes and wrinkles. A small amount of toasted sesame oil adds its unique nutty flavor. This recipe is easy to prepare. Marinating the chicken hours ahead allows it to absorb more flavor. For a great meal, simply pair the baked chicken with brown or wild rice. You also can serve baked winter squash and a green salad. Add some color to the salad with cherry tomatoes, perhaps some sliced cucumber and shredded carrots. Dress it with a light drizzle of olive oil and wine vinegar. This is an elegant and delicious dinner.

with sauce until well coated. Arrange breast side down, ensuring parts don’t overlap. Tightly cover pan with aluminum foil. Marinate 2 hours (longer is better) in refrigerator. Before cooking, remove pan from refrigerator and allow it to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place covered baking pan in oven and bake 30 minutes. Uncover pan and turn chicken over. Bake uncovered for an additional 30 minutes or until internal temperature is 165 degrees. Baste once with pan juices after 10 to 15 minutes. Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 178 calories, 2.5 g. total fat (<1 g. saturated fat), 11 g. carbohydrate, 27 g. protein, 0 g. dietary fiber, 375 mg. sodium. Courtesy of the American Institute for Cancer Research.

Asian Chicken with Honey & Ginger 2 Tbsp. honey 2 Tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce 1 tsp. plain or toasted sesame oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 green onion, chopped 2 tsp. fresh ginger root, peeled and grated 1½ lb. chicken breasts, with ribs, skinless In small skillet over low heat combine honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, onion and ginger. Stir until honey melts, about 1 minute. In medium baking pan, cover chicken

BEACON BITS

Ongoing

FIND THE PERFECT VOLUNTEER JOB

The Volunteer Center, a community-based organization that matches individuals and groups with volunteer opportunities throughout Howard County, lists current possibilities at www.volunteerhoward.org. The information is also available by calling (410) 715-3172.

Ongoing

VOLUNTEER AT COUNTY OFFICE ON AGING

The Office on Aging invites enthusiastic volunteers interested in sharing some of their time with older adults to contact Celene Steckel at (410) 313-5951 or email her at csteckel@howardcountymd.gov.

APARTMENT HOMES FOR ACTIVE ADULTS 62 OR BETTER Regency Crest is an extraordinarily carefree community because of the convenient lifestyle enjoyed by those who live here. We go the extra mile to provide our residents with distinctive amenities and service that cannot be found in ordinary active adult communities. COMMUNITY AMENITIES • Beautiful club room with fire place and demonstration kitchen • Salon • Indoor saltwater pool • Yoga studio and classes • Bingo, and many more planned activities

• Movie theatre • Billiards room – 24 hours • Business center – 24 hours • Incredible courtyard and meditation garden with koi pond and gazebo, gas grills • Guest suites

PLANNED ACTIVITIES SUCH AS WATER AEROBICS, RESIDENT MIXERS, COOKING CLASSES, ZUMBA, MOVIE NIGHTS, BBQ’S AND MANY MORE! Directions: We are located at the corner of Rt. 40 and Rogers Avenue.

3305 Oak West Drive Ellicott City, MD 21043

855.446.1136 www.RegencySeniorApts.com

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National Volunteer Week, April 21-27, is about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their communities. Here at the Office on Aging, we also see it as an opportunity to celebrate the scores of dedicated individuals whose service to others makes Howard County a much better place to live and work. And who doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t love a celebration? I think it is especially fitting that this year, the Office on Agingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 5th annual WomenFest falls on the final day of Volunteer Week, Saturday, April 27. WomenFest is a day of celebration in its own right, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a shining example of how our staff works collaboratively with a strong network of community volunteers to produce an event that inspires women to find balance in their personal and professional lives. I hope you will join us this year, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Gary Arthur Community Center, located at 2700 Route 97 in Cooksville, just a short ride from both Columbia and Ellicott City. Though many Office on Aging events benefit from the support of dedicated volunteers, one new program would not exist without them. Cycle2Health Howard County (C2H) is a non-competitive, peer-led bicycling club set to launch May 2 from the East Columbia 50+ Center. Adults of all ages and riding abilities will reap the benefits of exercise while exploring the natural beauty and sights of Howard County on weekday rides that vary in distance and intensity. Visit www.howardcountyaging.org/C2H for details. Lastly, I am sure you already know that Monday, April 15 is Tax Day, but I do want to remind you that if you are planning a home modification project to make your home more accessible, you may be eligible to receive a Livable Homes Tax Credit against your county tax bill for up to 50 percent of the cost of the work, up to $2,500. Visit www.howardcountymd.gov/livablehomes for more information and downloadable forms, or call Maryland Access Point at 410-313-5980 for assistance.

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Does your personal outlook need a boost? If so, mark your calendars to attend the 5th annual WomenFest, an all-day celebration just for women, on Saturday, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Gary J. Arthur Community Center, 2400 Route 97 in Cooksville. WomenFest will offer women of all ages a fresh perspective on topics ranging from health and wellness to fashion and beauty. Whether you just need a girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s day out, or simply want to indulge in some â&#x20AC;&#x153;meâ&#x20AC;? time, make WomenFest your one-stop adventure to discover great ways to create more balance in your busy life. Admission is free! New this year, WomenFest will feature a 1:30 p.m. keynote address by Glamour magazine beauty editor and How to Look Expensive author, Andrea Pomerantz Lustig. Andrea will share insider beauty tips, tricks and techniques culled from her long career, as well as advice learned from industry pros. In How to Look Expensive, she shows real women how to work within their beauty budget, and discover both drugstore finds and worth-it splurges. Prior to her address, Andrea will sign copies of her book, available for purchase onsite courtesy of the Ivy Bookshop. The event is free; however, because seating is limited, tickets are required and will be distributed beginning at 10 a.m., while quantities last. Also at WomenFest, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll also find lots of great gift ideas for Motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day, birthdays, graduations, weddings or a splurge for yourself. More than 90 vendors and exhibitors will offer a wide range of items for sale, including hand crafted jewelry, purses and fashion accessories, make-up and skin care products, home dĂŠcor items and home improvement services, health and wellness programs and much more. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got you covered for lunch as well, as Town Grill of Lisbon will have fresh box lunches available for purchase. Why not grab a friend or two and make a day of it? Free health screenings and fun,

informative seminars will round out the dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities. Screenings for blood pressure, body mass index, osteoporosis, vein, partial skin cancer and glaucoma will be available, and seminar topics include: â&#x20AC;˘ Trash To Treasure â&#x20AC;˘ Get the Skinny on Weight Loss â&#x20AC;˘ Make Every Moment Count â&#x20AC;˘ Red, White or RosĂŠ? Hear What The Pros Say â&#x20AC;˘ Got Chi? â&#x20AC;˘ From Day to Play: Accessories & Beyond For more information about WomenFest, call 410-313-5440 or email glenwoodsc@howardcountymd.gov. A full schedule of the dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s events is available online at www.howardcountyaging.org/WomenFest and will be posted on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/HoCoCitizen. Like us today to stay informed!

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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. 5<(7+ 5:49> --0*, 54 .04. 52:3)0( (9,<(> 70;, 52:3)0( <<< /5<(7+*5:49>(.04. 57. <<< (*,)551 *53 5 5 090?,4 (>4( 75<4 +3040897(957 Advertising contained in the Beacon is not endorsed by the Howard County Office on Aging or by the publisher.

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

Say you saw it in the Beacon

The Senior Connection

54+(> 6702 4554 A $(1, , :9 $5 ,49,7 9/, (22.(3, 2,4<55+ Kick off the 2013 baseball season with highlights of the 2012 Orioles season, popcorn, peanuts, hotdogs and more. Join us for a chance to win two tickets to an upcoming O’s game! Cost: $5; call 410-313-5440 to register. 95 $:,8+(>8 6702 ( 3 A 04(4*,8 $/, (04 ,49,7 Presented by Baltimore Cash Campaign, AARP and the Charles Schwab Foundation, this three-day workshop covers Goal Setting, Budgeting, Credit and Debt Management, and Financial Fraud Awareness. Free (gift raffle at first session); call 410-313-7213 to register in advance; seating is limited. $:,8+(>8 6702 A 95 6 3 A 5604. <09/ ,(704. 588 579/ (:7,2 ,49,7 Those with hearing loss and/or their families will learn about hearing devices, coping strategies and more. Sponsored by SPRING; presented by the UMD Speech & Hearing Department. Cost: $25 (scholarships available). Call 410-313-0380 to register or 410-313-7283 for information.

',+4,8+(> 6702 95 6 3 A !(<8 53-579 !,9 ;(2:(90548 $/, (04 ,49,7 Paws4Comfort fosters special bonds between pets, their owners and the older adults they visit. To schedule a free evaluation for your pet, contact Ingrid Gleysteen, 410-313-7461 or igleysteen@howardcountymd.gov. (3 A $/:78+(> 6702 7(04 094,88 220*599 09> #,4057 ,49,7 Robin Zahor teaches us techniques to keep our minds sharp to improve cognitive performance. Free; call 410-313-1400 for details. 54+(> 6702 ( 3 95 4554 A !,7-,*9 !599,7> (+, (8> 2170+., #,4057 ,49,7 Create a beautiful piece of pottery to keep for yourself or give as a gift. Cost: $25. Call 410-3135192 for more information or to register. ',+4,8+(> 6702 (3 A ,4,(25.> 220*599 09> #,4057 ,49,7 This month we will discuss the various ways to source your information when you are doing your family history, from the simple to the complex. Free; call 410-313-1400 for details.

',+4,8+(> 6702 ( 3 95 63 A ,+0*(7, '/(9 95 =6,*9 -753 ,+0*(7, 0<(408 '(22(8 ",* ,49,7 57),79B8 '(> 220*599 09> Learn how Medicare Parts A (Hospital), B (Medical) and D (Prescription Drug) work, what the benefits are, and more. Free; sponsored by SHIP. Call 410-313-7391 to register. ',+4,8+(> 6702 95 63 A 20304(904. 9/, >9/8 5- .04. $/, (04 ,49,7 Phyllis Madachy addresses society’s myths of aging; features small group discussions and light refreshments. Free; call 410-313-7213 to register by April 1, or Karen Hull, 410-313-7466 for more information.

',+4,8+(> 6702 (3 A 54904::3 5- (7, 690548 753 4 53, 95 :7804. 53, (7, 579/ (:7,2 ,49,7 A Maryland Access Point Information Specialist will review types of available care and provide tips on how to decide what is right for you and your loved one. Free program; call 410-313-0380 to register. ',+4,8+(> 6702 4554 95 63 A $(89, (4+ #/(7, (89 52:3)0( ,49,7 Bring your favorite food item, along with the recipe to share with other foodies. Let’s test some items for our cookbook! Free; call 410-313-7680 for details.

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

Don’t miss out... There’s SOMETHING for EVERYONE at WOMENFEST 2013! Andrea Pomerantz Lustig BEAUTY EDITOR, GLAMOUR MAGAZINE AND AUTHOR OF HOW TO LOOK EXPENSIVE

Delicious box lunches available for purchase.

Keynote 1:30 pm (books available on site for purchase/author signing) FREE ADMISSION TICKETS available on site while they last for this feature PRESENTATION!

If you need a sign language interpreter or other accommodations to attend this event, call 410-313-5980 (voice/relay) or email: map@howardcountymd.gov by April 22.

PLUS, enjoy a Showcase of 90+ Vendors & Exhibitors, Engaging Seminars & Important Health Screenings!

Gary J. Arthur Community Center at Glenwood 2400 Route 97, Cooksville, MD 21723

PRESENTED BY

PREMIER SPONSORS

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ABSOLUTE ENTERTAINMENT • CORRIDOR PRINTING • HER MIND MAGAZINE • HOWARD MAGAZINE • ON PURPOSE WOMAN MAGAZINE THE BEACON NEWSPAPERS • THE BUSINESS MONTHLY • THE UMBRELLA SYNDICATE • WOMEN’S JOURNAL

410.313.5440

•

( 3 95 ',+4,8+(> 6702 6 3 A ,+0*(7, '/> ,+0*(7, 84B9 45:./ 0<(408 '(22(8 ",* ,49,7 57),79B8 '(> 220*599 09> Learn about Medicare Part C/Health Plans, Medicare Supplement Policies (Medigap Plans), and how to decide which plan is right for you. Free; sponsored by SHIP. Call 410-313-7391 to register. $:,8+(> 6702 95 6 3 A 7(04 (3, 0./9 (89 52:3)0( ,49,7 The taxes are done, come flex your brain with our awesome new board games. Bring a friend or meet some new ones. Free; call 410-313-7680 for details. $:,8+(> 6702 95 63 A %804. :7 533:40*(9054 $552)5= 2170+., #,4057 ,49,7 Join Karen Hull and Marsha Ansel for a fun, interactive program on communicating and being understood. Free; call 410-313-5192 to register. $:,8+(>8 $/:78+(>8 6702 95 (> 6 3 A ;,404. ,+09(9054 (89 52:3)0( ,49,7 Debbie Niver will guide you in a visual/verbal meditation to calm your mind. Cost: $43; call 410-313-7680 to register.

',+4,8+(> 6702 (3 A 6,7( 75(+<(> 54*,79 579/ (:7,2 ,49,7 Enjoy music from the golden age of operetta, performed by the Lyric Opera Baltimore. Free; call 410-313-0380 to register.

A BEAUTY EDITOR’S SECRETS TO GETTING GORGEOUS WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK

10:00 am - 3:00 pm

$:,8+(> 6702 ( 3 95 6 3 A (9054(2 #97,88 <(7,4,88 (> $/, (04 ,49,7 Enjoy a stress-free day full of relaxation, herbal teas, seated yoga, meditation, AcuDetox, and therapeutic laughter, all led by certified instructors. Call 410-313-7213 to register for individual sessions by April 9. Nominal lunch donations accepted.

',+4,8+(> 6702 (3 A $/, ,9/,72(4+8 2,4<55+ ,49,7 Jim Heinz from the National Park Service will present a photographical journey through this beautiful area. Call 410-313-5440 to sign up.

FEATURING KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Saturday, April 27, 2013

54+(> 6702 (3 A 08957> 5- !(9(68*5 ,3(2, 48909:9, 2,4<55+ ,49,7 Lee Preston, archeologist and historian, will be on hand to share the story of the women’s school and the preserved ruins. Free; call 410-313-5440 to register.

www.howardcountyaging.org/womenfest

#(9:7+(> 6702 ( 3 95 6 3 A 9/ 44:(2 '53,4 ,89 2,4<55+ ,49,7 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 hear a fabulous keynote speaker (see article, left). Free; call 410-313-5440 for more information. ',+4,8+(> (> 95 6 3 A 9/ 440;,78(7> ,2,)7(9054 220*599 09> #,4057 ,49,7 Save the date to join us for a celebration of the last 25 years, hosted by Director Carla Buehler. Call 410-313-1400 for details.

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A P R I L 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

Say you saw it in the Beacon

A P R I L 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Money Law &

All that data in your smartphone is like candy to identity thieves. Find out how to protect yourself. See page 21.

Annoying companies with great stocks By Kathy Kristof Consumers hate them. Investors love them. They’re airlines, insurance companies, cell phone providers and other companies that annoy us with high fees, rotten service and policies so abusive that you want to call the Better Business Bureau — or a lawyer. Take Spirit Airlines, the no-frills carrier based in Miramar, Fla., which recently hit the headlines for hiking carry-on baggage fees as high as $100 for those who don’t check in online. Spirit also charges for checked bags, drinks, snacks, and booking a ticket over the phone through its reservation center. Leg room? Forget about it — unless you’re willing to pay extra, of course. To say customers don’t like this kind of

treatment is an understatement. Negative reviews and complaints registered at ConsumerAffairs.com total more than 600. But, said Imperial Capital analyst Bob McAdoo, Spirit is one of the best firms for investors. Since going public in May 2011, the stock has soared 45 percent, yet still sells for just 8 times estimated profits, which are expected to jump 30 percent in 2013. That’s a bargain for a firm that analysts see delivering annual profit growth of nearly 20 percent over the next few years. Besides, McAdoo said, many passengers complain about Spirit because they don’t really understand how it works. “If you are expecting traditional airline service, Spirit is annoying,” he said. “It would be annoying if

you went to McDonald’s expecting to sit down in a restaurant with a knife and fork. Spirit offers a different product.”

Cellphone behemoths Telecom giants AT&T and Verizon Communications provide plenty of services — from landline phone service to Internet connections — that most consumers find seamless. But when it comes to their cell phone operations, consumers complain about everything from spotty reception to miserable customer service — not to mention exorbitant fees for getting out of a contract early. Yet rich dividends and near-captive markets have kept both stocks on recommend-

ed lists for years. Recently, several analysts, including UBS analyst John Hodulik, downgraded AT&T, partly because its share price has become relatively dear. But Hodulik does recommend Verizon. He notes that Verizon Wireless — owned by Verizon Communications and Britain’s Vodafone — is making so much money that it recently said it would pay its parents an $8.5 billion dividend. The cash helps fund Verizon Communications’ $2.06-pershare annual dividend payout. You won’t make a killing in Verizon, but with a lofty 4.7-percent yield, the stock need rise only a couple of bucks and change to See GREAT STOCKS, page 20

g n THE COTTAGES. i c n u o n n A IT’S ABOUT LOCATION. LOCATION. LOCATION. Homewood at Willow Ponds is a new monthly-fee only community for 55-plus active adults. Offering the charm of pond and mountain surroundings, the culture and history of beautiful Frederick City, and the comfort and quality you have come to expect developer, Homewood Retirement Centers.

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H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money

How to talk to your parents about money By Jill Schlesinger [Editor’s Note: Though this article is directed at adult children with older parents who won’t talk about financial matters, the issues cut both ways. Sometimes it’s the children who don’t want to have the discussion. Both can benefit from the techniques discussed below.] “How can I talk to my parents about money? Every time I try to bring up the topic, my mother gets paranoid and the conversation deteriorates quickly.” It is hard to balance being a responsible adult child, while not seeming like you are prying. Even if your loved ones appear to be financially self-sufficient, neurologists say that cognitive ability starts sliding in later life. Having a conversation with your aging parents about their financial situation can be difficult because it often touches on feelings of control (or lack thereof), privacy and dignity. Indeed, talking to parents about money can be intimidating enough to cause many people to avoid it altogether, which ultimately leaves them with a tangled mess after death. That’s why it’s important to have “The Talk” when your parents are still healthy and self-sufficient.

Breaking the ice When should you have the conversation? The easiest time is when your parents bring up something about money. Maybe it’s a complaint about low CD rates, how the markets are doing, or even a high utility bill. These are great opportunities to talk honestly about their current financial situation and explain that you can help by streamlining certain aspects of their financial lives, whether through automatic bill paying or consolidation of bank accounts. The early conversation does not have to be a forensic accounting of every last nick-

el of your parents’ finances, but you need to explain that an open dialogue will help them feel more in control and allow you to be prepared in case of an emergency. Remember, the goal is not to have your parents designate you as their power of attorney. It’s to help them see that you are there to assist them today and in the future, as needed. If your parent does not bring up the topic, talk about your own experience. Maybe you recently sent your children to college and had a money talk with them, or you hired a financial adviser, or consulted with an attorney to create your own will. A colleague of mine raised the topic after the death of a friend’s father: “Jen’s dad left such a mess that she can’t even mourn him properly because she is overwhelmed by paperwork!” Her parents opened up more when they realized that withholding information could exacerbate an already difficult time.

Encourage updating paperwork What information should you gather? Make sure that your parents have current estate documents in an accessible location. If the will has not been updated in many years, encourage them to schedule an appointment with an estate attorney. Drafting or updating estate documents will force your parents to track down bank and investment account statements, insurance policies and pension documents. You can offer to attend the meeting, but only if they want you there. Emphasize that this is an opportunity for them to make their own decisions and to make their wishes known. One important note: Your parents may choose to do something that you don’t like! Unless it is dangerous to their well-being,

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try not to argue for a different outcome. If your parents have an up-to-date will, encourage them to draft a detailed list of where various accounts and important documents are held so that, in the event of an emergency, you are not rummaging through their home to locate everything. This is an ideal opportunity to ask your parents the names of and contact numbers for brokers, advisers or CPAs. You should also remind them how financial salespeople can be very convincing. Ask them to talk to you before buying any financial products or opening any new accounts. You can also suggest they have duplicate statements sent to your address so you can be apprised of their investments. Keep notes of these conversations, espe-

cially if you have siblings. There are far too many stories about relatives who become estranged as a result of end-of-life financial decisions. Finally, you can only do what you can do. If your parents simply shut down or refuse to talk to you about their money, don’t fight it. They may not want to talk today, but at least they know that the door is open. Jill Schlesinger, CFP, is the Editor-atLarge for www.CBSMoneyWatch.com. She covers the economy, markets, investing or anything else with a dollar sign on her podcast and blog, Jill on Money, as well as on television and radio. She welcomes comments and questions at askjill@moneywatch.com. ©2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

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Great stocks From page 18 give you a double-digit total return.

Insurance companies Many consumers view homeowners policy providers as a necessary evil. Part of what makes them so unpopular is the na-

A P R I L 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

ture of their business: You pay them to reimburse you in the event of a disaster that you hope will never happen. But the other part of their unpopularity has to do with how hard they make it for you to cash in on your claims when you do get into trouble. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, for instance, many homeowners complained that

BEACON BITS

May 4+

SHEEP AND WOOL FESTIVAL AT FAIRGROUNDS The annual Sheep and Wool Festival will open on Saturday, May 4

from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday, May 5 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Howard County Fairgrounds, 2210 Fairgrounds Rd., West Friendship. Sponsored by the Maryland Sheep Breeders Association, the festival includes a sheep show, fiber arts workshops and other family activities. Admission is free, but organizers request that pets be left at home. For more information, call (410) 531-3647 or visit www.sheepandwool.org.

insurers had sneaked “hurricane deductibles” into their policies, requiring them to pay more before their coverage kicked in. But some of the very insurers that you hate for their surly service and avaricious policies often turn out to be great investments. Casualty insurer Travelers was caught in the Sandy maelstrom, with roughly 10 percent of the market share in hurricane-affected states, according to SNL Financial. However, risks such as hurricanes aren’t new problems for insurance companies, and insurance-rating firm A.M. Best said all of the big property companies were well prepared for the claims. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Dwelle said that even though Travelers is a big name in homeowners coverage, that line accounts for just one-third of its revenues. The rest comes from commercial lines and worker’s-compensation coverage, where growth prospects are better. In addition, the New York City-based insurer has been buying back billions of dollars’

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worth of its stock. Dwelle’s one-year price target: $85, or 20 percent above today’s price.

Healthy investments If property insurers are widely reviled, health insurers may do them one better. ConsumerAffairs.com notes that people who have health coverage don’t like the terms, think they pay too much, and believe they get nickel-and-dimed at every opportunity. Of the 19 health insurers the site rates, none gets an average grade as high as two stars (out of a maximum of five). Humana has been cited in several ConsumerAffairs.com posts for denying claims and providing miserable customer service. But S&P Capital IQ analyst Phillip Seligman thinks the Louisville, Ky.-based insurer is a great investment. Although he also has “buy” ratings on other health insurers, he said Humana stands out because it specializes in Medicare Advantage plans — an alternative to traditional Medicare coverage offered by private companies — at a time when the baby-boom generation is creating a booming business for senior care. Although healthcare reform will lead to lower premiums for Advantage programs, Seligman believes the reimbursement rate will be sufficient to keep Humana’s profits growing. Seligman thinks the stock, $65 today, will trade at $90 within a year. Kathy Kristof is a contributing editor to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. © 2013 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

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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 — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

Smartphone scams By Susannah Snider Here’s how to detect, and deflect, IDtheft attacks on your smartphone. 1. Your phone holds a mother lode of data. Your smartphone may now even surpass your PC in the amount of valuable information it holds — from saved passwords to contact lists to GPS tracking data. As useful as that info is to you, it’s even more valuable to criminals. 2. Think before you click. A whopping four in 10 users will follow an unsafe link on a mobile device this year, said mobile-security service Lookout. A common scam is a text, purportedly from your bank, claiming that there’s something wrong with your credit card and asking you to call a number, said Bill Hardekopf of LowCards.com. When you phone in, you’re prompted to enter your account information. But you haven’t actually called your bank — you’ve handed over your personal information to bad guys. 3. Scammers cast a wide net. Malware developers “are in their basements with their bags of Cheetos and they’ve figured out what a gold mine smartphones are,” said John Sileo, an adviser on protecting your digital privacy and reputation. Text phishing (known as smishing) is one of the key tools in a scammer’s toolbox. QR codes (bar codes that direct you to a website when scanned with your phone) and URL shorteners (think tinyurl and bitly) make it even harder to identify suspicious links and websites.

Don’t click on text links

It’s bogus. Be wary of text messages claiming you’ve won a gift card from a popular store, such as Target or Walmart. The link to access the store’s website is likely to send you to a phony site. In some cases, clicking the link could install malware, which may take over your phone in ways you aren’t aware. 5. “Toll fraud” could hit the U.S. The most common scam worldwide, said Lookout, is malicious code that prompts your phone to order ring tones or wallpaper without your permission. Your carrier charges you for the purchase, and the scammers collect the cash.

Alert the FTC 6. You can fight back. If you’ve received unwanted messages or suspect fraud, register your complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov). When you receive a spam text to your phone, immediately forward it to 7726 (which spells spam) to alert your carrier. You could download free anti-malware protection, such as Lookout, which will scan apps and links. But your best protection is to use your street smarts and ignore unsolicited downloads and text messages. If you’re not sure whether a message is real, contact the sender independently before clicking through. Susannah Snider is a staff writer at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Send your questions and comments to moneypower@kiplinger.com. © 2012 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

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H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

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Travel

Leisure &

Spring “positioning” cruises offer big bargains. One of the best deals is on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas. See story on page 25.

Life in Dover, Del.’s fast and slow lanes wisdom of our plans faded as soon as we arrived in Delaware’s capital city.

Three centuries of history

PHOTO COURTESY OF KENT COUNTY TOURISM

The historic center of town retains the charm that William Penn must have envisioned when he laid it out in 1683. The Dover Green surrounds the more than 300-year-old Public Square. A Victorian District reflects the wealth that accompanied the arrival of the railroad in the 1850s. Attesting to Dover’s role as the state capital are street names like State and Federal streets and Governors Avenue. The Green is where a Continental Regiment was mustered during the Revolution, and where townspeople gathered in 1776 to hear the reading of the newly penned Constitution. It also is where, in 1787, Delaware’s delegates gathered at the Golden Fleece Tavern to ratify that document, an act recalled by the words “the First State,” which adorn vehicle license plates. History comes to life in the First State Heritage Park, an enclave that encompasses the Green and links a number of sites. Free walking tours combine a bit of both education and exercise. They focus on topics that include Stories of the Green, Dover’s Heroes of the Revolution, and Tales of Slavery and Freedom. The Old State House, completed in 1791, served as Delaware’s Capitol for more than 140 years, until it was replaced by the Legislative Hall in 1933. A five-minute audiovisual presentation followed by a guided tour of the Old State House brings to life the people who once deliberated within the walls of the graceful Georgian-style structure. That personal introduction continued as we read biographies of 21 members of the first House of Representatives in 1792. In contrast with many full-time politicians of today, they included farmers, an iron forger, and Historical interpreters dressed in colonial attire relate several men who fought in stories of historic Dover during lantern-lit tours of the the Revolutionary War. buildings at First State Heritage Park. Free walking Our next immersion in histours combine a bit of both education and exercise.

PHOTO BY VICTOR BLOCK

By Victor Block The lights and sounds of hundreds of slot machines vie for attention with the excited cries of winners at nearby gambling tables. Not very far away, silence reigns at farms where mechanized equipment gives way to horse-drawn tractors, kerosene lanterns and other reminders of life in a slower lane. Welcome to Kent County, Del., about a two-hour drive from Columbia, but worlds apart in terms of atmosphere. Touches of history that greet visitors stand comfortably near a collection of aircraft that ranges from rare relics to sleek, modern jets. Bustling farmers’ markets augment a year-round schedule of festivals that celebrate themes as diverse as chocolate, jazz and ladybugs. Embarking on an exploration of this nearby, but often overlooked, destination, my wife Fyllis and I were somewhat dismayed as we approached Dover, our base of operations. We were greeted by strip malls and residential neighborhoods that had seen better days. But doubts about the

Amish farms outside Dover, Del., use horse-drawn plows to ready their fields for planting. While the Amish remain true to their old-world ways, they easily engage with tourists who want to learn more about their traditions.

tory was provided by a costumed interpreter playing the part of James Booth, Jr., who was chief justice of Delaware from 1841 to 1855. He noted that while Delaware was a slave state, its residents were deeply divided over the issue. “Judge Booth” explained that he had been “accused” of having abolitionist sentiments, a claim he did not admit to. However, a description of his decisions in two controversial slavery cases led me to conclude, with relief, that the claim was valid. Located just around the corner from the imposing Old State House is the tiny John Bell House, which dates from the mid1700s. It was owned by three generations of a family that operated a series of taverns around the Green. The little wooden structure now serves as an interpretive center and the starting point for tours. Our costumed “historical interpreter” shared information ranging from facts and figures to interesting tidbits about life as it was when members of the Bell family lived there

Home of the Victrola After taking in our fill of early Americana, Fyllis and I set our sights on the eclectic offering of other attractions in and around Dover. A short stroll led us to the Johnson Victrola Museum which we found to be as fascinating in its way as our truncated history lesson.

That tale begins with a Delawarean named Eldridge Johnson, who founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901. After perusing collections of more than 100,000 old records, antique phonographs and memorabilia that trace the history of recorded sound, Fyllis and I were amused by an assortment of early hand-cranked “talking machines” with oversized listening horns. We also enjoyed stories recounted during our guided tour. These included the source of the popular sayings, “put a sock in it,” whose origin is traced back to when people literally stuffed a sock into the large listening horn of a Victrola to quiet the sound, and “put a lid on it,” which evolved when record players later were placed in cabinets whose lid could be closed.

Amish wares An introduction to a more contemporary chapter of history is available at several farmers’ markets that take place in and around Dover. Our stroll through Spence’s Bazaar combined the usual appeals of a sprawling open-air shopping experience with a first encounter with representatives of the Amish community that has found a home in the area. Dressed in their distinctive “plain people” attire, the Amish offered for sale a variety of fresh-baked breads and pies, See DOVER, page 24

Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Dover From page 23 homemade fudge and other hard-to-resist, diet-busting foods. Non-edible items that covered table after table included vintage clothing, antique model cars and pre-loved stuffed animals. Equally enjoyable were encounters with the Amish lifestyle during a drive in the countryside. We passed tiny shops and tidy farms that line narrow, winding roads, and encountered very pleasant people along the way. A young man guiding a six-horse team pulling a plow paused to chat with us. The amiable proprietor of Daniel Yoder Furniture proudly showed us hand-crafted wooden wares made by him and Amish artisan neighbors. The main feature at Shady Lane Selection is a large collection of quilts, one of

which Salina Yoder was working on when we arrived. After viewing the colorful assortment of bright coverlets and comforters, we weren’t surprised to spot a sign that suggested, “When life gives you scraps, make quilts.”

Speedways and byways Very different settings provide even more variety to the eclectic choice that awaits visitors to the area. Even though we aren’t car racing fans, Fyllis and I found a tour of the Dover International Speedway to be more interesting than we had anticipated. Known among followers of that sport as the “Monster Mile,” it hosts several major car races each year on what is billed as “the fastest one-mile car track in the world.” Guided tours include a stop at a garage where retired Sprint Cup race cars are per-

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A P R I L 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

manently parked for your inspection. Come evening, many visitors to the area join locals who head for two full-service casinos. Both the Dover Downs and Harrington casinos offer the complete range of table games of chance — serious gamblers would say skill — and the usual array of slot machines, plus dining and entertainment options. Even this long list of attractions and activities doesn’t exhaust the possibilities. The somewhat oddly named Air Mobility Command Museum, which is housed in a World War II hanger, is home to more than two-dozen aircraft. They include an open-cockpit biplane and a retired jumbo jet whose passengers included U.S. presidents and vice presidents as well as the Queen of England. The Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge encompasses 16,000 acres of habitat for waterfowl, song birds, shorebirds and other wildlife. Close-up animal encounters are available for those who set out on gentle walking trails, while others prefer drive-by sightings from their car. The section of the Coastal Heritage Scenic Byway that runs through Kent County meanders through marshlands that skirt Delaware Bay. It leads to small fishing villages, a personal favorite of which was Leipsic. At the tiny hamlet, working boats used for fishing, crabbing and oystering often are tied up at the dock. Fyllis and I received a lesson in crabbing from two wa-

termen as they unloaded bushel baskets of creepy, crawly crustaceans they had just retrieved from the traps they tend. Museums and history-rich buildings have much to offer those who visit Kent County. But for Fyllis and me, chatting with amiable watermen as they unload the day’s catch, and watching a young Amish man steer a horsepowered plow, were among experiences that provided the most lasting memories.

If you go For more information about Dover and Kent County, call 1-800-233-5368 or log onto www.visitdover.com. The Mainstay Suites hotel is well located for exploring Dover and Kent County. Amenities include a fitness center and heated indoor swimming pool. Current rates for double rooms begin at $94. For more information, call (302) 678-8383 or log onto www.mainstaysuites.com. Since 1954, the Hollywood Diner has been the most popular place to eat “scrapple,” if your heart desires and your stomach does not protest. Composed of pig parts perhaps best left unidentified, that local favorite may be prepared in a variety of ways. As our waitress somewhat mysteriously explained, “It’s sort of like its name sounds.” Specials at the diner for those 62 and older include roast beef and turkey dinners with sides for $10.99. For more information, call (302) 734-7462. Victor Block is the Beacon’s travel writer.

Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

Positioning cruises can be true bargains By Ed Perkins Over the years, I’ve pitched “positioning cruises” as one of the top travel bargains you can find, and this year will be no exception. The best rates will be for sailings in April, with several starting in the range of $30 to $35 per person per night. That’s about what you’d pay for a budget motel — and the cruise throws in meals and entertainment. In the spring, positioning cruises are transatlantic sailings from the United States and the Caribbean to Europe, as the big cruise lines reposition their liners for the seasonal summer peak in the Mediterranean. In the fall, they return for the warmweather Caribbean and Mexican season. The eastbound season runs from midMarch through mid-May, with the lowest prices in April. Departure ports range from Galveston to Florida to Puerto Rico, with a few from New York. Most terminate at a Mediterranean port, with a few heading for Southampton, England.

Not your typical cruise The experience on a positioning cruise is not the same as on a typical peak season cruise. They take a minimum of 11 nights, and many take up to 20 days, compared with the popular one-week period for peak season cruises. And unlike peak season cruises, which

typically stop at a different port every day, positioning cruises entail periods of several days in the open sea. The relatively few port calls are either early, in the islands, or toward the end of the cruise, in the Mediterranean. A typical “short itinerary” of 12 nights starts at Ft. Lauderdale, followed by eight nights at sea, then one-day calls at Lisbon and Cadiz en route to Barcelona. Other cruises stop at some combination of San Juan, St. Maarten, Tortola, Antigua, the Azores, Madeira, Gibraltar, the Balearics, Valencia, Genoa and Marseilles, then terminate in Rome or Venice. A few more expensive cruises take a more northerly route, stopping in the UK, Germany and Scandinavia.

Seas, Mariner of the Seas, Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Star, and Nieuw Amsterdam. Often, last-minute promotional rates include cabin upgrades from inside to ocean view and ocean view to balcony. Upscale lines also run positioning cruises, but their rates are considerably higher, starting at around $80 per person per night on some lines, and starting at more than $200 a night on Seabourn and Crystal. Cunard, of course, runs the Queen Mary 2 both ways over the summer, but prices are higher with few, if any, port calls. And the Norwegian Epic makes a nonstop westbound trip at rates just a tad under Cunard’s. If you would like a really northerly trip, calling at such ports as the Faeroes, Iceland, Greenland and Maritime Canada, you

have to wait for fall westbound positioning trips. Prices posted so far are higher, but you’ll see some cuts by late summer. Most cruise lines or cruise agencies can arrange one-way air returning from Europe. But you might find better deals on your own. Obviously, $100 a day or less for a couple, including accommodations, food and most entertainment, is a pretty good buy by just about any standard. Even though the massmarket cruise lines are adding fees for services that were once “free,” a positioning cruise is still hard to beat as a vacation value. Check with your travel agency or any of the big online cruise agencies such as cruisesonly.com or cruise.com or cruisesnmore.com. © 2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Cheap rates to Europe The best rates I could find for this spring season are for trips on the big mass-market lines’ megaships leaving in April. One of the lowest prices is for a 12-night itinerary on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas, leaving Ft. Lauderdale-Miami for Barcelona on April 8, with stops at Lisbon and Cadiz. Inside cabins start at $399, or $33 per person per night; ocean-view cabins start at $499, balconies at $799. Other ships where you can get an inside cabin for $50 or less per person per night are the Independence of the Seas, Liberty of the

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Style Arts &

Pat and Steve Teller are the recipients of this year’s Howie Award for Special Legacy in the Arts. See story on page 27.

No need to fiddle with Fiddler at Toby’s By Stuart Rosenthal It’s been a decade since Fiddler on the Roof was last presented at Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia, and the return of David Bosley-Reynolds, once again playing Tevye, is a welcome one. The musical revolves around the set-upon Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman living in Czarist Russia at the turn of the 20th century. His village, Anatevka, and family, including his wife and five daughters (“five daughters!” Tevye exclaims, looking heavenward) were the main foils in a series of Yiddish short stories by Shalom Aleichem chronicling not only growing anti-Semitism in Russia, but also the increasingly devastating impact of modernity on the traditional family. Bosley-Reynolds, who made an excellent Tevye a decade ago, has grown further into the role, giving us a very loveable bear of a character with whom it is easy to identify. Whether he is having one of his periodic arguments with G-d, or engaging in a tortured “on the one hand this, on the other hand that” debate within himself, or exercising his decision-making “rights” as the leader of the house (often ineffectually), he engagingly conveys the struggles we

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all encounter at times in our lives. Jane C. Boyle, who plays Tevye’s wife, Golde, is well-matched to him. Not one to be pushed around physically or otherwise, she rules the household, but with a loving strength. Speaking of which, the topic of love is a key one throughout the play, with eldest daughter Tzeitel insisting she marry for love, and not accept a match struck by her father with a wealthy older merchant. That leads to the touching duet between Tevye and Golde, “Do You Love Me?” when Tevye wants to know if Golde has come to love him since they were matched and married 25 years before. It’s one of the show’s best-performed numbers. Both of Tzeitel’s suitors, the gregarious, hard-drinking butcher Lazar Wolf (played by Andrew Horn, whose character makes Tevye look trim in comparison), and the shy, stuttering Motel the tailor (David James) are standouts among the supporting cast.

Pros and cons of closeness Perhaps the most striking difference between a production at an intimate dinner theater like Toby’s and one at a typical the-

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In Fiddler on the Roof, now showing at Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia, Jewish residents of Anatevka find themselves celebrating an engagement with the young Cossack soldiers who will later lead a pogrom at the wedding. The beloved musical is based on Yiddish stories by Shalom Aleichem that depict the turmoil affecting Jewish families in Russia around the turn of the 20th century.

ater is that there is no striking distance between audience and actors. Patrons are anywhere from 5 to 30 feet from the action throughout the performance. The benefits are many. No opera glasses are required to see even the most subtle changes of expression on the faces of the actors. And any strong passions reverberate immediately through the audience. On the other hand (as Tevye would say), that also means stage makeup (such as Tevye’s highly artificial beard) and the wireless mics protruding along every character’s cheek or peeking out from the hair at the top of their foreheads are al-

most impossible to ignore. Those mics, by the way, are wonderful in many instances, allowing all to hear even Tevye’s whispered asides. But they dismally fail us during the famous dream sequence, in which Golde’s grandmother returns from the grave to warn against Tzeitel marrying the butcher. The many ghosts wear plastic masks that interfere with their mics, causing us to miss much of what Grandma Tzeitel had to say in the production I saw. Of course, many of us know the words to all the songs by heart, so we could fill in the gaps to ourselves. See FIDDLER, page 27

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

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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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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 — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

Howie winners are dedicated to the arts By Robert Friedman Whether working backstage or acting in front of an audience, “You can feel the magic of the theater coming to life,” Pat Teller said. “It has always been incredible to me how so many people can come together to produce that magic, then go on their own ways.” Pat Teller and husband, Steve, have stayed the community theater course for more than four decades. For their dedication and work in helping to make the magic, they will be recipients of this year’s Howie Award for Special Legacy in the Arts. The Tellers have been cited for their 27 years of onstage and behind-the-scenes work with the Howard County theater community. The awards will be presented Saturday, March 23, as part of the annual Howard County Arts Council ceremony recognizing lifetime achievements in the arts by area residents. The event will take place at Howard Community College in Columbia. Howies will also be presented to actorteacher Bruce Nelson for Outstanding Artist, Shawn Costello for Outstanding Arts Educator, and Kevin Kelehan as Outstand-

Fiddler From page 26 The choreography was not up to Toby’s usual standards. Former resident choreographer Ilona Kessell has apparently withdrawn from most such work in recent years, and her absence was evident throughout — especially in the somewhat stilted opening number, “Tradition,” and the bottle dance portion of “To Life.” But Toby’s deserves kudos for maintaining a live orchestra in this day and age. In some past years, music was produced on a synthesizer. Now, we’re treated to the incomparably rich tones and lively sounds of a real violin, clarinet, trumpet, keyboard and percussionist. The theater also makes effective use of the screened-in orchestra area (and two similarly screened “porches” jutting out from the side walls of the space). In those we see other families in the village lighting candles during the moving “Sabbath Prayer” number, and again at the end, in “Anatevka,” when we see families packing up their worldly goods in preparation for the Jews’ mass eviction from the town.

The dinner theater experience Not everyone is a fan of dinner theaters. And though it’s different from traditional theater, there are many aspects that add to the experience more than they take away. First, there’s the fact that an all-you-caneat meal immediately precedes the performance and is included in the price of your ticket (which, by the way, is already less than most local theaters charge for seats alone). The food is plentiful, including a large salad bar, a variety of cold salads and hot

ing Community Supporter of the Arts.

Theater at home and abroad The Tellers, who live in Elkridge, say they were both bitten by the show biz bug more than 40 years ago. Pat, 71, took to the stage during her college years in California — she grew up in Yuba City — while Bronxborn-and-bred Steve, 69, began backstage chores 42 years ago in Frankfurt, Germany. The Tellers met in 1968 in Washington as members of D.C.’s Up With People troupe. Pat sang and Steve played the banjo. At the time, Pat was a serving in the WAVES, the women’s branch of the U.S. Navy, and was stationed at the Naval Photographic Center in Anacostia. Steve worked for Defense Department as an electrical engineer. In 1970, they married, and were soon off to Frankfurt, civilian Steve’s new Pentagon assignment. It was at the Frankfurt Army Playhouse that the couple’s in-tandem show biz careers began. Pat took to the stage for a production of The Subject Was Roses, while Steve worked on the lighting and other backstage crafts. Their four years in Germany also saw them playing, if not the Palace on Broadside dishes and entrees, a carving station for roast beef, ham and turkey, and concluding with a choice of rich desserts and a do-it-yourself ice cream sundae bar. Specialty drinks of all types (alcoholic and not) can be ordered for additional cost. Many come with souvenir glasses. The show’s actors also function as your waiters/waitresses, both before the show and during intermission, when more coffee and drinks are available. This provides the opportunity to interact with them from both perspectives — as the people they are, and as the characters they play. This can be especially engaging for young people who might accompany you to the performance. Also, while the stage area (set up for the buffet carts when you arrive) is being cleaned up for the performance, a member of the cast welcomes the many groups and families who have come for special occasions. The often humorous banter between the actor and the many patrons celebrating anniversaries and birthdays, as well as spirited school groups, makes for a pleasant diversion. All in all, the evening (or afternoon, if you attend a matinee with brunch) offers entertainment for all ages. Fiddler on the Roof runs seven nights a week (plus Wednesday and Sunday matinees) at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia through April 28. It will be followed by the Tony-award winning musical In the Heights, opening May 3. Tickets range from $49 to $54 for adults, depending on the performance. Children 12 and under are always $35.50. Patrons are expected to tip the wait staff based on the full price of their ticket plus any additional items ordered. In fact, tips are the

way, then at least the Castle in Heidelberg, when a production of Man of La Mancha that they were involved in was staged at the historical one-time home of kings. Back in the states in 1975, they moved to Maryland and became involved with the Laurel Stagecrafters and the Gingerbread Players. Steve moved from backstage to the proscenium as Fagin in the latter’s production of Oliver! Pat, meanwhile, honed her singing skills with several choruses and in chapel services. They were overseas again in 1980 to Turkey, where they joined the Anatolian Players, an international community theater group of English speakers in the Turkish capital of Ankara. Finally, in 1985, they settled in their current home, where they have become an integral part the Howard County theater community.

Moving offstage The parents of two children, both had decided several years ago that their true show biz rewards would be coming from working behind the scenes. Steve, who retired from government service in 2009, is now the technical director chief source of income for most of the cast members, so you know they are performing for love of the theater!

of the Slayton House Community Center in Columbia, which has the only fully equipped theater of the 10 villages of Columbia. Both also work with Silhouette Stages in Columbia, where Pat handles ticketing and Steve serves on the board of directors. The Tellers seem more than content in their supporting roles offstage. “As an electrical engineer, working backstage with the lighting, helping paint the sets, were things I could do,” said Steve. “I was helping put on a show. People appreciated it. “My experiences over 42 years on three continents have shown me that theater people are wonderful,” he added. Pat Teller said it was nice getting the applause for her onstage performances, but now “I don’t mind taking reservations for shows [her current gig for the Slayton House Community Theater] and being ignored” by the theatergoers. She never wanted to be Broadway-bound, Pat said. For her, like many community theater participants, the theater is part-time, though also an integral part of her life.

See HOWIE, page 29

For more information, visit www.tobysdinnertheatre.com or call the box office at (301) 596-6161.

BENEFITING THE EDWARD A. MYERBERG CENTER

An evening of anecdotes and melodies

MAY 9 . 7:30 PM MODELL LYRIC

Sandra R. Hittman . Honoree

410547SEAT MODELL LYRIC BOX OFFICE lyricoperahouse.com 410-685-5086

INFO: 4103586856 . MYERBERG.ORG

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Feinstein From page 1 to Watch Over Me” or hearing Beyonce sing “At Last,” I know I’m part of a tradition that will never die. And I was there to learn it from the masters.” In 1995, Feinstein wrote an earlier memoir, called Nice Work If You Can Get It: My Life in Rhythm and Rhyme. But he more recently came to realize he should capture those years with the Gershwins in a separate book. “As time has evolved and I’ve seen changes in the world, I realized I needed to set down, in a somewhat more perma-

A P R I L 2 0 1 3 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

nent form, stories I had learned firsthand, because otherwise they could disappear and get lost,” Feinstein said. “Setting it down was cathartic,” he continued. “I enjoyed it — for the most part. It’s something that I think, like all creative processes for me, veered between wildly ecstatic moments and moments of frustration. But it’s something that, when completed, is really a wonderful feeling.”

Multifaceted career Feinstein tries to inject all his personal appearances with humor and with stories that offer the audience a personal sense of the experiences that brought him to the

BEACON BITS

Apr. 20

JEWISH FILM SERIES CONCLUDES

The last movie in Columbia Jewish Congregation’s film series, Nicky’s Family, will be shown on Saturday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Jewish Congregation, Room 255, 5885 Robert Oliver Pl., Columbia. Tickets are $9 and available only at the door. Refreshments and a discussion afterwards are included. For more information, call Tom Laufer at (410) 997-0694.

Arp. 5

TOUR LINCOLN’S COTTAGE IN D.C.

The Howard County Historical Society will host a bus tour to the cottage where Lincoln and his family lived a number of months during the Civil War on Friday, April 5, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tickets are $59 for historical society members and $65 for non-members. For more information, call the Howard County Historical Society at (410) 480-3250 or visit http://hchsmd.org/events#Lincoln.

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career he has today. And quite a career it is. Feinstein’s 200plus shows a year have included performances at Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House and the Hollywood Bowl, as well as the White House and Buckingham Palace. In addition to his live performances, Feinstein appears on numerous PBS television broadcasts. A new season of his show, “Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook,” starts this spring and will include never-before-seen footage of Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Liza Minnelli, an extensive interview with Angela Lansbury, and footage from the original cast of Follies. His previous series and CD celebrating the music of Frank Sinatra have garnered top ratings and numerous awards. He has stayed current by collaborating with TV star Cheyenne Jackson of popular television shows “Glee” and “30 Rock,” while staying true to his musical roots with his recording of “Cheek to Cheek,” with Broadway legend Barbara Cook. His recent recording, “We Dreamed These Days,” features the Carmel Symphony Orchestra; Feinstein co-wrote the title song with poet Maya Angelou. In addition to his performances and recordings, in 2007 he founded the Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative, dedicated to celebrating the art form and preserving it through educational programs, master classes, and the annual High School Vocal Academy and Competition, which awards scholarships and prizes to students across the country. He also serves on the Library of Congress’s National Recording Preservation Board, an organization dedicated to ensuring the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America’s sound recording heritage. Feinstein says he enjoys the many and

FROM PAGE 30

ANSWERS TO SCRABBLE

varied aspects of his career. He finds singing before a live audience “exciting,” for example, because “the shared experience becomes a communal moment unlike any other means of performing,” he said. But he also finds making recordings both “intimate and personal…one-on-one in an odd way because I’m singing to the microphone,” he said.” It’s like talking to an individual.” Feinstein’s schedule remains jam-packed and includes a recording with Andre Previn coming out in April, as well as a regular series on NPR called “Song Travels,” now in its second year, which keeps him busy recording 39 shows a year. There’s also a series at New York’s Lincoln Center, and a film project about the Gershwins. Howard County residents will have a chance to hear Feinstein when he performs “The Gershwins and Me” in concert at the Music Center at Strathmore in N. Bethesda on Saturday, April 20. Feinstein will also give a benefit performance for the Edward A. Myerberg Center on Thursday, May 9, at the Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric in Baltimore. General admission is $50, but VIP tickets at $125 include a post-performance dessert reception and book signing with Feinstein.

Homes, sweet homes Still “young at heart,” Feinstein has no intention of slowing down, despite the fact that he may not often get to kick back at the three locations he calls home. These include: Indiana, where he spends part of the year serving as artistic director of the Center for the Performing Arts, a $170 million, three-theatre venue in Carmel, Indiana, which opened in 2011; New York, where his Manhattan nightclub, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, presents the top talents of pop and jazz, and where Feinstein himself appears there for a sold-out holiday engagement every year; and Los Angeles, where he has scored the original music for the film Get Bruce and performed on such hit television series as “Better With You,” “Caroline in the City,” “Melrose Place,” “Coach,” “Cybill“ and See FEINSTEIN, page 29

ANSWERS TO CROSSWORD

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 — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

Howie From page 27

Dazzling on numerous stages Bruce Nelson, this year’s honoree for Outstanding Artist, has been a professional actor and teacher in the BaltimoreWashington area for the past 25 years. He is a member of the acting company at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore. Winner of a Helen Hayes Award in the Rep Stage production of The Dazzle, he has performed for the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, as well as in productions at the Folger Theatre, the Olney Theatre Center, the Shakespeare Theater and in other area theater companies. Nelson’s teaching credits include adjunct faculty assignments at Stevenson University, Howard Community College, and the University of Baltimore. In

Feinstein From page 28 “7th Heaven”. Yes, it’s hectic, but it’s not likely to change anytime soon. ”There’s not much reason to slow down,” said Feinstein. “I believe that everything ebbs and flows in life. I want to take the opportunities while they exist, to be able to do what I do, because nothing is forever.” Feinstein will perform “The Gershwins and Me” concert at the Music Center at

Howard County, he works with Project Access and All County Improv. He recently founded Stage Presence, LLC to help business leaders improve their presentation skills through acting techniques. He is a 1988 graduate of the Theatre Program at Towson University. Shawn Costello, the 2012 honoree for Outstanding Arts Educator, has taught art in Howard County Public Schools for 24 years. Her art classes feature puppets, clay, weaving, portraits, animals, storytelling, nature and landscapes, and are enhanced with music and a study of the diversity of famous artists. A graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, she received her master’s in art education at Towson University where she founded and became the director of the Community Art Center on campus.

Kevin Kelehan, the Howie honoree for Outstanding Community Supporter of the Arts, is a partner with the law firm of Carney, Kelehan, Bresler, Bennett & Scherr. As part of his commitment to making art accessible to the public, Kelehan has represented the Columbia Festival of the Arts, the county’s premier two-week summer arts festival, for nearly a decade. He also worked pro bono to draft a memorandum of understanding stipulating the number of days the Jim Rouse Theatre for the Performing Arts is used for community events. He serves on the Howard Community College’s Educational Foundation Board and co-chaired the recent Capital Campaign, which helped support the college’s art programs. The Howies event will begin at 6 p.m. on

March 23 with a reception and silent auction of artwork by Howard County artists. There will be performances from the finalists of the Rising Star Performing Artist Competition. Ten young performers will vie for a professional development award of $5,000, as chosen by the audience, with the winner announced from the stage. Tickets can be purchased via the Howard County Arts Council website, www.hocoarts.org; by phone at (410) 313ARTS (2787); or at the HCAC office, 8510 High Ridge Rd., Ellicott City. Tickets also will be available at the box office on the day of the event. The $100 tickets include the reception, silent auction and reserved seats in the Smith Theatre. The $50 admission includes the reception, silent auction, and general seating in the Studio Theatre for the simulcast.

Strathmore’s Spring Gala on April 20 at 9 p.m. Tickets range from $40 to $105 and include a party after the concert. Strathmore is located at 5301 Tuckerman Lane, N. Bethesda. For tickets, call (301) 5815100 or go to www.strathmore.org. To see Michael Feinstein present “The Gershwins and Me” at the Myerberg benefit, order tickets online at www.ticketmaster.com, call (410) 547-SEAT, visit the Modell Lyric box office, call the Myerberg Center at (410) 358-6856 or email tickets@myerberg.org.

The program begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 9. The Lyric is located at 140 W. Mt. Royal Ave. in Baltimore. For more in-

formation, visit www.myerbergseniorcenter.org or call (410) 358-6856. Additional reporting by Barbara Ruben.

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Apr. 4

NATIONAL SYMPHONY OPEN REHEARSAL

The Department of Recreation & Parks is planning a bus tour to an open rehearsal of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., leaving on Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 a.m. and returning at 4 p.m. Tickets are $45 per person. For more information and to register, call Ginny Russ at (410) 313-7279.

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.

April Membership Meeting & NETWORKING EXTRAVAGANZA Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 Time: 8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Location: Gary L. Kaufman Funeral Home at Meadowridge Memorial Park 7250 Washington Blvd, Elkridge, MD 21075

Speakers: Round-table networking — bring plenty of business cards and marketing materials Special Presentation: COGS Partnership Awards 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

SILVER MEMBERS Carney, Kelehan, Bresler, Bennett & Scherr, LLP • Deborah L. Herman, CPA Ellicott City Health & Rehabilitation Center (Communicare) • Ellicott City Pharmacy • EMA-Copper Ridge

BRONZE MEMBERS Earl Wilkinson, M.D., ENT • Gentiva Health Services • Home Instead Senior Care HomeWatch Caregivers • Lighthouse Senior Living at Ellicott City • Sterling-Ashton-Schwab-Witzke Funeral Home of Catonsville, Inc. • 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 • Morningside House of Ellicott City Right At Home – In Home Care & Assistance

A P R I L 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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Puzzle Page

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

29 38

Answers on p. 28.

49 53

1. Establish a point spread 4. Chevy from the 70’s 8. Scrub for surgery 12. Earth Day subj. 14. “Zounds!” 15. Ingredient in banana bread 16. Go for a long-lasting grassy flavor (with 20 Across) 18. From yesteryear 19. Home to Sans Diego & Bernardino, but not Jose 20. See 16 Across 22. Eligable to be served in a bar 25. Common soccer result 26. Have a bug 28. Four cups, or more 30. Enhances 35. TV static 37. Suit to ___ 39. Gushed over (or solved this puzzle) 40. Bright red elk 43. Hockey hall 44. Columbus’ favorite ship 45. ___-Rooter 46. Contemporary 48. Unyielding 50. Transgression, to sin, e.g. 51. Jeans maker, founded in 1889 53. Pass into law 55. Urban underground transit (with 64 Across) 60. Where to find Seoul food 63. Elite crust 64. See 55 Across 67. Knight’s transport 68. Silk shade 69. Henry VIII’s first wife (alphabetically) 70. Trade for cash 71. Non-fat 72. Jupiter, basically

50 54

Down

45 48

31 39

Across

Scrabble answers on p. 28.

18 20

8 15

66 69 72

2. Come back at you 3. Excessively vibrant 4. Victory sign 5. ___ salad 6. France, in Caesar’s time 7. Acknowledge 8. Judge’s request 9. Military campus grp. 10. Continental coin 11. Ship’s front 13. Lounge around 15. Word on New York’s state quarter 17. Serving of ribs 21. Car company whose name roughly translates as “rising out of Asia” 23. ___ bag 24. Used by zombies 26. Northeastern Indian state 27. Econ 101 class, for example 29. Typeface feature 31. Way out 32. Toodle-oo, twine 33. Almost ready to snap 34. Ancient Greek theater 36. Wax off 38. Character voiced by Jim Henson 41. Unaccountable military leader 42. Crocheter’s purchase 47. Classical beginning 49. Earn 52. Novel endings 54. First half of the world’s most known logo 55. 41st or 43rd in a series 56. ___ no good 57. On ___ (without a contract) 58. Emulate a monkey house 59. Darned item 61. Sicilian source of heat 62. Often, they have it 65. One of the T’s in TNT 66. Operate efficiently

1. Stopwatch clicks (abbrev.)

Answers on page 28.

H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N — A P R I L 2 0 1 3

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

Caregivers SKILLED NURSING / PERSONAL CARE SERVICES AT HOME Clearview Medical services is committed to providing compassionate skilled nursing & personal care services. We have a pool of experienced health professionals (RN, LPN, CNA, & Companions) with a track record of excellence. Call us today, for all your nursing & companion needs on 410-779-9162.

For Rent/Sale: Real Estate $1195 Monthly, $1,000 security deposit, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, garden apartment, private balcony, carpet, washer/dryer, central air, near Columbia Mall, I95, 29, bus stop, NO PETS, 301795-5330, Ms. Brown.

Say you saw it in the Beacon

For Sale 2 SALVADOR DALI woodblock prints from Dante’s Divine Comedy. Signed and framed. Asking $900 for the pair. Can email pictures if desired. Call Steve 410-913-1653.

Home & Handyman Services RICHARD YOUNG PLUMBING * Master plumber * Over 30 years experience * locally owned and operated husband and wife team * Contact us about our discounts 301-562-9100, richardyoungplumbing@gmail.com. MPL#21098. SANFORD & SON HAULING Trash removal, house & estate clean-outs, garage cleanouts, yard work & cleanups, demolition, shed removal. 410-746-5090. Free Estimates. Insured. Call 7 days a week 7am - 7pm. ARTISTIC SLIPCOVERS – UPHOLSTERY COMPANY. Steve Gulin. Your fabric or mine. 45 years experience. References available. 410655-6696 – Cell: 410-207-7229.

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

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 @ 443-514-8583 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. 410-746-5090. Free estimates. Insured. Call 7 days 7am 7pm. HELP YOU SELL we help you sell any type of large item. Don’t lose the sale – we’re there when you can’t be. 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.

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Personal Services

Wanted

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.

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.

Personals

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.

TRYING TO LOCATE PATTY DODD from West Inverness, had a friend named Gloria & Brenda. Reward for info 410-238-4167, 443-418-6329.

Wanted $$$$$ WE PAY CASH FOR ITEMS $$$$$ 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.

a es ift! k a M at g e gr

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. 410655-0412. 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. 410284-4440 Open daily at 10AM.

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