September 2016
Volume 4 • Issue 8
‘Fun and excitement’ on tap at annual All Senior Picnic in Pasco BY KRISTINA LORD editor@tcjournal.biz
Richland barber celebrates 50 years
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Ducks to be dropped Oct. 8
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Prosser assisted living facility remodeled
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save the date
Oct. 18 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Senior Times Expo Red Lion Hotel 2525 N. 20th Ave. Pasco
Longtime Pasco resident Joseph Diaz looks forward to the All Senior Picnic every year. “It’s a day of fun and excitement. It’s a day to see friends you haven’t seen in years,” the 74-year-old said recently during a break from playing cards at the Pasco Senior Center. Diaz will be one of about 1,000 other Tri-City senior citizens and their families expected to attend this year’s 23rd annual All Senior Picnic. All ages are welcome at the annual indoor event, held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 15 at the TRAC facility, 6600 Burden Blvd., in Pasco. The picnic rotates around the Tri-Cities, and this year is Pasco’s turn to play host to the event that relies on more than 100 volunteers and city staffers to put it together. Next year Richland will host and in 2018 it will be Kennewick’s turn again. The event includes a meal, live entertainment and door prizes. “We have seniors who come from all over to attend,” said Vince Guerrero, Pasco’s recreation specialist. This year’s menu will feature pulled chicken, potato salad, baked beans, an ice cream bar and Coca Cola beverages. The Seattle-based Funaddicts, a fourperson cover band, will provide the music. The group plays rock, country, oldies, blues and contemporary pop music spanning generations, from 50s to 60s, to modern hits. “We want to encourage everyone to get out on the floor and dance,” Guerrero said. And that includes the kids. The familyfriendly event is aimed at all ages, he said. uPICNIC, Page 8
Mary Blomberg of Kennewick, clockwise from left, Betsy Deane of Pasco, Dottie Lassiter of West Richland, Bev Hernandez of Kennewick, Christine Nichols of Richland and Carol Sue Perkins of Pasco, meet at the Richland Community Center to discuss ways to promote Initiative 877 that would allow grandparents to petition the courts for visitation of grandchildren. This is their second attempt to collect signatures to get an initiative passed.
Grandparents continue effort to change state law BY KRISTINA LORD editor@tcjournal.biz
A group of Tri-City grandparents and supporters hasn’t given up efforts to change the state’s law on grandparents’ rights. They collected almost 150,000 signatures in support earlier this year, but it wasn’t enough to get Initiative 1431 on the November ballot. The initiative would give grandparents legal standing to petition a court for visitation rights if they are being unreasonably kept from their grandchildren. The grandparents and other supporters now are back with Initiative 877 and “a
lot more confident” they’ll be successful in collecting the required 247,000 signatures by Dec. 30 so it can head to the 2017 Legislature, said Mary Blomberg of Kennewick, who is helping to lead the effort. “We have to keep the pressure on,” she said, saying 5,000 signature collection forms have been handed out to volunteers. An initiative is a way for the people, rather than the state Legislature, to enact new laws. The Legislature may enact the initiative into law, or may send it to the general election ballot for a vote of the people. uGRANDPARENTS, Page 2
Elder abuse cases on rise across state, nation BY JEFF MORROW for Senior Times
The number of state and national adult abuse cases continue to climb at an alarming rate. And many more cases aren’t even getting reported, officials said. “The National Adult Protective Services Association website states that only 1 in 44 cases of financial exploitation are actually reported,” said Kathy Morgan, chief of field operations for Department of Social and Health
Services’ Home and Community Services. Many senior citizens may be too scared to complain to anyone because they depend on their caregiver. “I believe the full extent of elder abuse is not known. It’s the ones that linger along that we don’t know about,” said Phil Lemley, a Richland city councilman who serves on the board of the state Council on Aging and as a member of the Southeastern Washington Aging and Long Term Care Council of Governments. uABUSE, Page 14
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