Vol 21: #12 • The Great Olympic Marathon Disaster • (3-16-2025) Tidbits of Coachella Valley by Tidbits of Coachella Valley

by Janet Spencer

The first modern-day Olympic Games were held in 1896. In 1904, the Olympics competitions were still very new, which helps explain some of the problems that initially arose from inexperience and poor planning. However, some of these snafus transcended common sense and crossed into the realm of abject stupidity. So grab your water bottle and jog along with Tidbits as we take you back to the Great 1904 Olympics Marathon Fiasco!

NO GOOD VERY BAD RACE

• The 1904 Olympics debut was originally supposed to be held in Chicago, until someone pointed out that the World’s Fair was being held in St. Louis that year, and what a great idea it would be to combine both events. Everyone agreed.

• The first problem arose when it was realized that the World’s Fair sponsored many of their own sporting events, and confusion arose when was hard to distinguish one sponsorship from the other.

Rupi Mann, MD /

TRIVIA NEWSFRONT

(Answers on page 16)

1. TELEVISION: Which 1960s sitcom was about a TV comedy writer, his job and his family?

2. AD SLOGANS: Which candy slogan urges consumers to “Taste the rainbow”?

3. COMICS: Which superhero gets his power from a ring?

4. GEOGRAPHY: Which country has the most islands?

5. MEASUREMENTS: How many cups are in a pint?

6. MOVIES: Which scary 1980 movie contained the phrase “red rum” and what does it mean?

7. ANATOMY: What is the outermost layer of human skin called?

8. U.S. PRESIDENTS: Who was the first president to ride in a car to his inauguration?

9. HISTORY: When did India gain its independence from Great Britain?

10. CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: Who lives at 32 Windsor Gardens?

Operation Flagship

separate room in small groups. Their wives and girlfriends remained behind, being treated to brunch and entertainment.

• In their separate room behind closed doors, an emcee congratulated the winners, welcomed them to the game, and promised “a special surprise.” The FIST cameras were rolling.

• In the 1980s, the Washington Redskins (now the Washington Commanders) were a winning team, having recently become NFL champs. The waiting list to get season tickets was 25 years long. Every game was a sell-out. Needless to say, scoring free tickets to one of their games would be a major windfall.

• During the 1985 season, a new cable station dedicated to sports geared up for their first season. Called the Flagship International Sports Television, it was shortened to FIST. To celebrate, FIST advertised they were giving away 3,000 tickets to the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Washington Redskins game on December 15. Winners would be entered into a raffle to win a free trip to Super Bowl XX. It was a big deal.

• Winners were asked to call to confirm that they would be attending the game at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. They were instructed to bring a friend, arrive early, and come to the convention center connected to the stadium to receive their tickets and participate in pre-game celebrations.

• About 200 people showed up on game day. Arriving at the convention center, they were greeted at the door by an excited team of Redskin cheerleaders who gave everyone big enthusiastic hugs. The Redskin mascot entertained everyone. The whole place was decorated. Everyone got balloons. Videos from the Redskins’ first Super Bowl win played on convention center screens. The atmosphere was exciting and festive.

• As soon as they arrived, the individual ticket winners were asked to check in to confirm their identities. Once verified, they were issued color-coded name tags and were ushered into a

• At the mention of the “special surprise,” a set of doors to a connecting room flung open, and the room flooded with a fully armed SWAT team. Every “winner” was handcuffed and led out a rear door to an awaiting police bus in the adjoining garage. As soon as the room was cleared, the next set of lucky winners was ushered in, and the whole thing began again.

• All of the lucky winners were fugitives from justice. The entire thing was a setup, and the tickets were the bait on the hook. All 3,000 “free tickets” had been sent to a fugitive’s last known address. Of those, 167 responded, 119 showed up, and 101 arrests were made.

• There never had been a sports station, and its acronym of FIST also happened to be the acronym for the Fugitive Investigative Strike Team. The letters they received in the mail were signed by “FIST” president I.M. Detnaw, which is “WANTED” spelled backward. The business manager was Marcus Cran, which is NARC spelled backward. When the “winners” phoned the hotline to indicate that they would be attending, the “hold” music played “Bad Boys!.”

• All the cheerleaders were undercover cops who's hugs were patting down the recipients as they arrived. The color-coded name tags indicated how dangerous they were. A total of 166 police were involved, posing as ushers, cheerleaders, caterers, mascots, and janitors.

• The entire setup had cost only $22,000 (equal to about $63,500 today). Operation Flagship has been hailed as one of the largest and most successful collective-capture, mass-arrest stings of fugitives in U.S. law enforcement history.

• As they were being led away, one of the criminals asked, “You mean I don’t get to go to the game?” 

“The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

Skittles.

The Green Lantern.

• But the biggest problems arose with the planning of the marathon itself. The length of the event was set at 24 miles (38.6 km) because marathons had not yet been standardized at 26.2 miles (42.195 km). During these 24 perilous miles, almost everything that could go wrong did.

• One major issue was that the director of the games, James Sullivan, decided that in the interest of science, it would be best to withhold water from competitors. He felt this would offer valuable insights concerning dehydration in human athletes. This turned out to be a very bad idea, especially because the race started at 3:00 p.m. on August 30, in the heat of the day when it was 92°F (33.3° C) and humidity hovering at 90%.

• Then there were issues with the competitors.

• The top-rated runners included Arthur Newton, the only one returning from the 1900 Olympics. Runners John Lordon, Sam Mellor, Michael Spring, and Thomas Hicks (all Americans) had previously run in the Boston Marathon. But the majority of the field was composed of assorted and relatively inexperienced contenders. All in all, there were 32 contestants representing seven nations.

• American runner Fred Lorz worked long days as a bricklayer and didn’t have time to train. He qualified for the Olympics by running (but not necessarily winning) a five-mile race sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union.

• Two men from the Tswana tribe of South Africa were recruited to participate in the South African World’s Fair Exhibit. They decided they might as well run in the Olympic marathon as long as they were there, becoming the first black Africans to participate in the Olympics. Both had served as long-distance message runners during the recent Boer War. One of them ran the entire Olympic marathon barefoot.

• Felix Carvajala was a mailman in Cuba who once ran the length of the island, a distance of 780 miles (1,250 km). He took a boat to New Orleans on the way to the games. He lost all his money in a card game before he even left town and had to hitchhike to St. Louis. He arrived at the starting line while still wearing the outfit he had left Cuba in: long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and heavy shoes. Someone took pity on him and cut the long pants into shorts before the race started.

• On August 30, at 3:03 p.m., the World’s Fair president fired the starting pistol, and the ragtag runners were off!

• Problems with the poorly planned race route started almost immediately. The course included rural roads that were deep in dust and brutally hilly. Where the dust had been washed away, loose stones and jagged rocks made each footfall perilous. Race monitors, coaches, team support members, and doctors also drove alongside the runners. Every car kicked up road dust. All the runners were soon racked with coughing spells.

1. Because Russia was still using the Julian calendar, their contenders arrived two weeks late. When did Russia begin using the Gregorian calendar?

2. When did most of the English speaking world switch to the Gregorian calendar?

• Race organizers had not thought to block off the city portion of the route, so the runners were constantly dodging crosstown traffic, train cars, trolleys, dog walkers, and delivery wagons.

• There was only one place where athletes could officially secure fresh water, exactly half way through the race. But soon the runners began dropping out from exhaustion and dehydration before any water was available.

• John Lordan, who had won the Boston Marathon the previous year, became violently ill after 10 miles (16 km) and dropped out.

• Sam Mellor, who won the Boston Marathon in 1902, was also overcome by dust and dropped out in spite of leading at the halfway point.

• William Garcia nearly died 16 miles into the race, collapsing with his mouth, lungs, and esophagus choked with dust. Only speedy medical care saved his life.

• Len Tau, one of the South African participants, was chased off course by vicious dogs.

• Felix Carvajal, the Cuban mailman, kept

a ride.

Thomas Hicks and Fred Lorz met up again at the 1905 Boston Marathon the following year. Lorz won the race, this time without the aid of

By Lucie Winborne

* When Katherine Johnson was little, she loved to count things. By the age of 10, she was in high school. In 1961, she calculated the trajectory of NASA’s first trip into space. She was so consistently accurate that when NASA began to use computers, they had her check the calculations to make sure they were correct.

* In Norse, the name Siri means “a beautiful woman that leads you to victory.”

* And speaking of Siri ... she will flip a coin for you if you can’t make a decision.

* Looney Tunes was created to promote the Warner Brothers music catalog in the 1930s, hence the name “Looney Tunes” instead of “Toons.”

* James Vernor put the basic components of a new beverage into a barrel in 1861 before heading off to serve in the 4th Michigan Cavalry during the Civil War. When he returned four years later, he tasted the barrel’s contents and, voila!, Vernor’s Ginger Ale was born.

* Norway’s Bouvet Island was discovered in 1739, then “lost” again for the next 69 years due to the original spotter’s mislabeling its coordinates.

* Canada has a strategic maple syrup reserve to ensure global supply in case of emergency.

* When President Donald Trump asked the Guggenheim Museum to loan the White House an original Van Gogh painting, they responded with the counteroffer of a solid-gold toilet.

* Elvis Presley wore a cross, a Star of David and the Hebrew letter chai because he didn’t want to “miss out on heaven due to a technicality.”

* Soccer player Mohammed Anas accidentally thanked both his wife and girlfriend in a post-match speech. ***

Thought for the Day: “The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.” -- Will Rogers

by Mary Hunt

What Is a Grace Period, and How Does It Work?

DEAR MARY: Is there a law that says how long the grace period must be? (And if you don’t mind, exactly what IS a grace period?) -- Justin

by Mary Hunt

Dear Justin: In the world of lending and borrowing, the “grace period” is the number of days between the time you make a credit card purchase and when you will begin to pay interest on that short-term loan.

Here’s how it works:

When you pay your credit card balance in full during the “grace period,” you don’t have to pay any interest -- the operative words here being “in full.” That means you pay the entire balance owing every month. If you don’t pay the entire balance and instead roll it over to the next month, you forfeit the grace period until your balance returns to $0.

ADVERTISING PROOF

If you do not pay that credit card account balance right down to $0 every month before the due date, you forfeit the grace period, and interest commences the minute you make a pur-

chase with that card.

Your credit card’s grace period affects the interest you pay but does not change the due date. You’re still required to pay by the due date to avoid late payment penalties. Paying late also causes you to forfeit your grace period and triggers a late fee and possible damage to your credit score.

Credit card issuers are not required by law to grant a grace period in their terms and conditions, however, most do. Some card issuers give 30 days to pay without interest, but a grace period of 20 or 25 days is more common. Some have no grace period at all.

DEAR MARY: The ad promised a great interest rate, but when I got approved for the credit card account, my rate was much higher. Did I get scammed? -- Samantha

Dear Samantha: I don’t know if I’d call it getting scammed, but you’ve definitely experienced the old bait and switch ploy.

They drew you in with promises of a low interest rate (it was a tease) and got you to apply, and when they decided you didn’t qualify for the better deal, they made the switch.

These days, only an excellent credit score -- generally above 740 -- will get those advertised rates. If you have a lower score, your application will be rejected or you’ll be offered a card with a higher interest rate. It’s in the fine print.

DEAR MARY: Are credit card companies allowed to send you to collection, even though you’ve been making monthly payments, just not meeting the payment required? -- Ben

Dear Ben: They sure can. If you do not abide by the terms and conditions of your contract with the company, you are in default.

While a credit card company is required by law to accept any amount of money at any time and apply it to the customer’s account, if the amount received by the due date is less than required by the terms of the agreement, they’ll slap you with a late fee. And if that late fee pushes your outstanding balance over the credit limit, they’ll slap on an over-limit fee, too. If the account remains in default, they can and probably will send it to collection. Here’s something else to consider: As long as you are in default, they will continue to report you to the credit bureaus as late. Continual “past-due” entries will wreak havoc on your credit score.

Assuming you’re asking this for yourself and your account has gone to collection -- and even though you didn’t ask my advice, here it is -- call the issuer directly right now. Find out the status of your account and how you can bring it current to get it out of collection. If it’s possible, you’re going to need to come up with enough money to do that. It might mean selling assets, working extra hours or even getting a side job for nights and weekends. As rough as that might be for a season, it will be worth the effort. Good luck!

Mary invites you to visit her at EverydayCheapskate.com, where this column is archived complete with links and resources for all recommended products and services. Mary invites questions and comments at https:// www.everydaycheapskate.com/contact/, “Ask Mary.” This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually. Mary Hunt is the founder of EverydayCheapskate.com, a frugal living blog, and the author of the book “Debt-Proof Living.”

If you were living in the 1880s and were in the market for a good watch, would you know where to get one? The answer will likely surprise you. Read on to learn a few things you probably never knew about where folks would head for a reliable and relatively inexpensive timepiece during that era in our American History.

• The next logical question is why were the best watches found at the train station? The railroad company certainly wasn’t selling them, not at all. It was the telegraph operator!

• The telegraph operator was usually located in the railroad station because the telegraph lines followed the railroad tracks from town to town. This was usually the shortest distance, and the right-of-ways had already been secured for the rail line.

• Most of the station agents were also skilled telegraph operators and that was the primary way that they communicated with the railroad network. They would know when trains left the previous station and when they were due at their next station. And it was this same telegraph operator who had a good supply of watches to sell. As a matter of fact they sold more of them than almost all the stores combined for a period of about nine years.

• It’s a little known fact that for a while during the 1880s, the biggest watch retailer in the country was at the train station. It all started with a railroad telegraph operator named Richard Sears, and his partner, Alvah Roebuck! □

• You might logically assume the answer is to go to a jeweler or a store that sells them, right? Of course you could do that, but if you wanted one that was cheaper and actually a bit better than most of the store watches, you would instead go to the local railroad station!

• Sound a bit strange? But, for about 500 towns across the northern United States in the late 1800s that’s where the best watches were found.

• This was all arranged by “Richard,” who was a telegraph operator himself. He was on duty in the North Redwood, Minnesota train station one day when a crateload of watches arrived from the East. It was a large box of quality pocket watches. But no one ever came to claim them.

• So Richard sent a telegram to the manufacturer and asked them what they wanted to do with the watches. The manufacturer didn’t want to pay the freight back, so they wired Richard to see if he could sell them.

• So Richard did. He sent a wire to every agent in the system asking them if they wanted a cheap, but good, pocket watch. He sold the entire case in less than two days and at a handsome profit.

• That started it all. He ordered more watches from the watch company and encouraged the telegraph operators to set up a display case in their station offering high quality watches for a cheap price to all the travelers.

• And it worked. It didn’t take long for the word to spread and, before long, people other than travelers came to the train station from the surounding areas to buy watches.

• Richard became so busy that he had to hire a professional watchmaker to help him with the orders. That was Alvah.

• The business took off and soon expanded to many other lines of dry goods.

• Richard and Alvah left the train station, formed a company and moved it to Chicago -- and it’s still there.

by Dana Jackson

Q: How old is Goldie Hawn? She looked wonderful presenting at the Oscars. Is she still acting? -- M.E.

A: Beloved movie star and Oscar winner herself for “Cactus Flower,” Goldie Hawn will turn 80 years old this November! Her last two on-screen roles were as Mrs. Claus in “The Christmas Chronicles” and its sequel in 2020, with her real-life longtime partner Kurt Russell as Santa.

Fortunately, the couple’s Pacific Palisades home survived the recent Los Angeles fires, but they were forced to evacuate.

Hawn recently appeared as a presenter on the 97th annual Academy Awards, but she has a highly anticipated film on the horizon with Bette Midler and Diane Keaton. It’s the first time the trio has teamed up since their hit 1996 comedy film “The First Wives Club.”

There was a report of a planned sequel to the movie titled “Family Jewels.” However, according to an article in People magazine in 2020, Midler had given up on the idea of it ever coming to fruition. The IMDb page for a movie titled “A Childhood History Plan” has a plot that is identical to

“Family Jewels,” so whatever they decide to call the film, let’s just hope that it’s finally released this year and stars these three icons. ***

Q: I recently watched “Buried in Barstow” for the second time. Based on the ending, it feels like there should be continuing episodes. Does Angie Harmon have any plans to reprise this role? I loved watching her in “Law & Order” and especially in “Rizzoli & Isles.” -- D.S.

A: ”Buried in Barstow” was a Lifetime TV movie from 2022 starring Angie Harmon as a former assassin who tries to escape her past while running a small diner as a single mom. It ended on a cliffhanger, which seemed to indicate that there would surely be a follow-up in the form of another movie or even a TV series. In fact, Harmon herself told Smashing Interviews that she envisioned a franchise of up to eight movies in total.

Unfortunately, the Hollywood trade union strikes that took place since “Buried in Barstow” first aired have likely stalled any progress on a future installment. While Harmon doesn’t have any other upcoming acting projects listed at the moment, it likely won’t be long before she’s on our screens again. ***

Q: Is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, going to appear on the new “Suits” spin-off by any chance, or is she done with acting? -- K.L.

A: It’s very doubtful. Although she lives in the United States now with husband Prince Harry, Meghan retired from acting upon marrying him. She does, however, have a new lifestyle show called “With Love, Meghan,” where she showcas-

es her love of cooking and gardening with guests like actress/producer Mindy Kaling and chef Alice Waters. Hubby Harry also appears.

You’re able to watch all eight episodes on Netflix.

King Features News Syndicate

Goldie Hawn

Good Recipes from

Ham and Cheese Breakfast Bake

Pop this easy make-ahead dish in the oven for the perfect brunch!

2 1/2 cups low-fat milk

8 large eggs

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoons chopped thyme

1 large baguette, sliced

8 ounces Cheddar cheese

8 ounces thinly sliced deli ham

1 tablespoons snipped chives

1. Spray square 2-quart baking dish with nonstick spray.

2. In bowl, whisk milk, eggs, mustard, thyme and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper to blend.

3. Arrange half of bread, overlapping, in baking dish. Pour half of milk mixture over bread; sprinkle with half of Cheddar. Top with ham, then repeat layering of bread, milk and Cheddar. Cover dish; chill 1 hour or up to overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until golden and custard is set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with chives. Serves 6.

Classic Spaghetti Bolognese

End your day with a bowl of hearty and delicious classic spaghetti bolognese.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pound ground beef chuck

1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes 1/2 ounce grated Pecorino cheese, plus more for serving 1/2 cup milk

1 pound spaghetti Basil leaves

1. In large saucepot, heat olive oil on medium-high. Add onion, garlic and salt. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add ground beef chuck. Cook 5 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes. Simmer 10 minutes.

2. Stir in grated Pecorino cheese and milk. Toss with spaghetti, cooked. Garnish with basil leaves and Pecorino. Serves 6.

 Each serving: About 575 calories, 21g fat (7g saturated), 27g protein, 70g carbs, 6g fiber, 485mg sodium.

Chesapeake Bay Mac ‘n’ Cheese

Shake up the classic mac ‘n’ cheese with this easy gourmet crabmeat- and chive-stuffed version.

3/4 cup lump crabmeat

1/4 cup snipped chives

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

4 cup prepared macaroni and cheese

Crushed oyster crackers

Stir the lump crabmeat, snipped chives and Old Bay Seasoning into the prepared macaroni and cheese. Top with crushed oyster crackers. Serves 4.

By John Allen

DIAMOND LIL

by Brett Koth

Donald Duck by Walt

Family Dog Heroes

Holidays & Observances This Week

3/16 Freedom of Information Day

3/17 St. Patrick's Day

3/18 Forgive Mom and Dad Day

3/19 Swallows Return to Capistrano

3/20 Vernal Equinox (1st day of spring)

3/21 National Common Courtesy Day

3/22 Tuskegee Airmen Day

Dog Talk with Uncle Matty

By Matthew Margolis

You’re

Not the Don, and It’s Not Personal

“Daisy is a 20-pound mutt, female, somewhere between 2 and 4 years old. We also have 6-year-old Labradoodle. We rescued Daisy from a reservoir near our house 2 years ago in December. She was on her last leg and has recovered nicely except for one thing: She’s overprotective when anyone or any dog enters the house or yard. If she knows the person or dog, she’s fine once she recognizes them. Otherwise, we can’t settle her down.

“I was watching our neighbor’s dog today, and Daisy was lying next to me. She started growling, and as the neighbor’s dog came closer, Daisy’s growl escalated. I told her to relax, but she started to attack the other dog. I grabbed her -- making sure she knew it was me -- and she turned on me and bit me.

“I responded in anger and approached her with that mindset, which made her even more aggressive toward me. I grabbed Daisy and my pistol and headed toward the woods, but I was just venting. I could never hurt an animal. But I am concerned that Daisy’s aggression will get worse as she gets older. I don’t know whether it’s hereditary or abuse, but I need to help her if possible.”

For a minute there, I thought we were heading for an “Old Yeller” ending -- minus the fateful rabies outbreak as justification.

I called this guy to make sure he had talked himself down from the ledge.

I asked him, “Have you killed her?”

He told me no, she’s fine. “I was just so angry.”

Some people reading this will be ready to meet at the town square, tar and feathers in hand. But the truth is, a lot of people get irrationally angry with their dogs when things don’t go their way.

Why are we getting so angry? Why is it the dog’s fault that we don’t understand their behavior?

Were it not for this man and his family, Daisy would not be alive. She was seriously injured,

Corner: Turn to Page 10

Cody's

(CryptoQuip Solution on page 12)

SENIOR NEWS LINE

by Matilda Charles

Downsizing Help!

Sometimes we just don’t want to face the truth, so we ignore it as long as we can. But eventually it becomes clear: We need to downsize.

Just the word can be painful as we contemplate moving to a smaller place and likely needing to get rid of many of our belongings. And then there are all the details -- what to keep, how to pack, lifting those heavy boxes.

The good news is that we don’t have to do it alone. The National Association of Senior & Specialty Move Managers (www.nasmm. org) can steer you toward move managers in your area, people who are trained in all aspects of moving seniors. In the Find A Move Manager section of their website, put in your ZIP code to find people in your area.

In my town I found three companies. All of them advertise stress-free moves and help with organizing, downsizing and relocating. It seems they can do it all -- starting with the decluttering that will be necessary for any move to a smaller place. They organize which belongings go to which family members, arrange for the sale of valuables or donations to charity and even take

care of trash disposal. And that’s just the first step in the process.

They use a checklist to make sure you don't overlook important details that are easy to forget in the process. Have you notified Social Security of your address change? Credit card companies? Your bank? Their list goes on.

What I like best is that they’ll do the packing. Then on moving day, they’ll be there supervising the movers, dealing with the utility companies to get the power turned on in the new place and, surprise, they’ll even unpack on the other end and haul away the empty boxes!

Moving to a smaller place might not be what we’d like to do, but when it becomes necessary, it’s good to know that we don’t have to do it alone. That should make the whole process much easier.

Cody’s Corner (from page 9)

unable to walk and in grave danger of starving to death alone in a ditch. He rescued her, got her vital medical attention and nursed her back to health. And don’t think that’s not part of the problem. He did so much for her. Why won’t she just behave for him?

As with children, so it is with dogs. It just doesn’t work that way.

Daisy didn’t bite him because she’s ungrateful. She bit him because he inserted himself into an ongoing act of aggression, prompting her redirection onto him. She didn’t willfully ignore his earlier request that she “relax.” She has no idea what “relax” means because he hasn’t trained her.

In his 1969 book “The Godfather,” Mario Puzo wrote of the now legendary Don Corleone: “If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his, the old man would take it personal.”

For the Don, that philosophy fueled a strategy, one that allowed for no accidents, no misunderstandings, no unintentional slights -- which took all the stress out of deciding whether retaliation was appropriate. It was. Always.

For those of us not in the mafia, living this way makes no sense. And it’s wildly out of place in dealing with our dogs.

On that day, before the other dog and the pistol and after the other dog and the pistol, the story of Daisy and her knight was ongoing. He rescued her, he nursed her, he invited her to stay. Still to come: He deepened his insight into her behavior, he got her trained, and they lived happily ever after.

Woof!

* * *

Dog trainer Matthew “Uncle Matty” Margolis is the co-author of 18 books about dogs, a behaviorist, a popular radio and television guest, and the host of the PBS series “WOOF! It’s a Dog’s Life!” Read all of Uncle Matty’s columns at www.creators.com, and visit him at www.unclematty.com.

PonderBits

Why do they put Braille on drive-through bank machines?

Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down a beach with a bald head and a beer gut and still think they are sexy.

The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.

YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY

by Tom Margenau

Cutting Social Security Administration Staff

Has Consequences

Before I begin today’s column, which questions some of President Donald Trump’s planned staff reductions at the Social Security Administration, let me confess that at the end of the column, I point out that I might be dead wrong! So, let’s begin.

Imagine that you owned a successful business that was gaining 10,000 new customers each day, with all the market projections saying that trend would continue for many more years. Would you be hiring new staff and opening new outlets to keep up with the demand? Or would you be cutting back on employees, reducing office hours and closing facilities?

If you were in the private sector, I guarantee you would be doing the former. But in the wacky world of government funding and operations, the latter is the norm.

Take as an example my former employer: the Social Security Administration. In each of the last 10 years, around 10,000 people a day have been retiring and signing up for Social Security benefits. That is expected to continue for another dozen years or more. In other words, SSA workloads are booming!

What has been our government leader’s response to that? Budget cutbacks and staffing cuts. During Trump’s first term, he ordered a 15% across-the-board cut in government staffing, including the SSA. And now, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency are mandating another huge reduction in staff.

If you think that these cuts are merely reversing all the growth in government that happened during years when Democrats were in power, well, you are simply wrong. Let’s use the SSA as an example. Throughout the 2000s, no matter which political party was in power, the agency’s operating budget dropped by about 20% while workloads continued to increase dramatically.

And if you also think that the SSA, just like any other government agency, has a bloated administrative budget that could stand some trimming, well, think again. Out of every dollar collected in Social Security taxes, less than one penny goes toward running the agency that maintains earnings records for almost every worker in this country and pays monthly benefits to about 69 million Americans. I think it would be darn near impossible to find one single successful business in the private sector that works with a 1% overhead.

When I started working for the SSA in the early 1970s, I was one of about 82,000 relatively happy and proud employees working for one of the best-run agencies in all of government. The SSA consistently won awards for public service and administrative responsibility. I liked the phrase one of my co-workers always used: “The SSA is an honorable institution engaged in a noble public purpose.”

Local Social Security offices were well-run, clean and efficient. I worked in several of those offices in small towns and medium-sized cities across the country. They were pleasant places to work and pleasant places to visit. I enjoyed the

time I had to sit down with the people who came in who were filing for any of the various kinds of Social Security benefits. I was able to take the time to not only explain all the (often complicated) Social Security rules that applied to them but also to simply chat and ask them how their day was going. I always kept in the back of my mind that even though this was just an everyday job for me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the customer. I tried -- and maybe more importantly, I was given the opportunity -- to make sure it was as pleasant as possible.

Unfortunately, now it’s a different world and a different SSA. Those 82,000 employees I worked with in the ‘70s and ‘80s have been trimmed down to about 60,000. The Trump/Musk cuts are planned to reduce SSA staffing to 50,000. Of course, the catchphrase for staff reductions is “work smarter, not harder.” Well, catchphrases can only go so far.

With reduced staff and resources, it’s all about numbers, efficiency and time management. Walking in off the street to visit a pleasant local Social Security office to maybe ask some Social Security questions and possibly file for benefits while having a little chat with a happy employee has become a pipe dream. Now you must call the SSA’s toll-free number and wait on hold for a long time (some readers have told me for two hours or more) to make an appointment. Then, you will probably wait weeks or even a month or more for that appointment. And sadly, the SSA rep you finally get to talk to has neither the training nor the time that I had and probably does not have the esprit de corps that I had either.

(Let me quickly note here that you, as a potential SSA customer, can “work smarter, not harder” by using the agency’s website to conduct much of your Social Security business.)

Other SSA workloads are also suffering. For example, the disability story is a pretty bleak tale. It takes the SSA six to eight months to process a claim for disability benefits. About 65% of those first-time claims are denied, meaning hundreds of thousands of people appeal their claims to a Social

1. The book of Jeroboam is found in the a) Old Testament b) New Testament c) Neither

2. From 1 Kings 20, when Benhadad gathered all his forces together, how many kings were with him? a) Three b) Eleven c) Twenty six d) Thirty two

3. According to John 18, what priest was the first to interrogate the arrested Jesus? a) Annas b) Haggai c) Abiathar d) Eliashib

4. From Revelation 21, how many angels will be at the gates of the New Jerusalem? a) 7 b) 9 c) 12 d) 24

5. In Jeremiah 8:7, what in the sky knows her appointed times? a) Raven b) Stork c) Dove d) Eagle

6. From Acts 2, about how many thousand were baptized on the day of Pentecost? a) 100 b) 300 c) 1,500 d) 3,000

(Answers on page 16)

comments or more Bible Trivia go to www.TriviaGuy.com

Security judge. The average wait time for that hearing is about 15 months. Those numbers keep getting worse as the SSA’s budget and workforce are continually reduced.

Having said all that, let me now reverse course. Maybe I’m wrong! Maybe these are just the musings of an old codger (I’m 75) pining for the “good old days” that just aren’t anymore. Maybe Trump and Musk are not out to do permanent damage to the SSA. Maybe, as a recent agency press release pointed out, they are merely shifting resources from administrative positions to field office positions. Maybe a leaner and more targeted workforce is the way to go. Who knows -- maybe artificial intelligence bots will do a better job of consoling an old woman who just lost her husband of 50 years while helping her file for widow’s benefits than I ever did.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. But gosh, I sure do miss those good old days!

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has two books with all the answers. One is called “Social Security -- Simple and Smart: 10 Easy-to-Understand Fact Sheets That Will Answer All Your Questions About Social Security.” The other is “Social Security: 100 Myths and 100 Facts.” You can find the books at Amazon.com or other book outlets. Or you can send him an email at thomas.margenau@comcast.net. To find out more about Tom Margenau and to read past columns and see features from other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Follow-Up Biopsies Help Confirm Healing for Celiac Disease

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’ve been diagnosed with silent celiac disease at the late age of 62, but I’ve probably had it for decades. (It may have led to my serious osteoporosis.) A biopsy revealed totally flattened villi.

I am gluten-free and will be getting celiac-antibody, nutrient and other regular lab work from now on. But my doctors stated that no further scopes are needed unless my blood work reveals a problem, or I get symptoms while on a gluten-free diet. But for asymptomatic people like me, there are no symptoms, and blood work doesn’t show whether the small intestine has physically healed. I tried to ask my doctor this follow-up question but never received an answer.

Should I get a second opinion? I hear from other patients that their doctors did schedule a follow-up scope one to two years after their diagnosis to check their physical healing. For senior patients who can tolerate a scope and have had major villi destruction, is a follow-up scope prudent or unnecessary? -- W.C.S.

ANSWER: People with unexpected osteoporosis should be considered for celiac disease testing. Celiac disease is a condition of damage to the small intestine due to gliadin sensitivity. Gliadin is a protein that is found in gluten, wheat and other cereals, and it is thought to directly damage the lining of the intestine. This causes flattening of the villi, which is the absorptive surface of the

small intestine. The only treatment for celiac disease is strict avoidance of gluten in the diet.

The inability to absorb nutrients can lead to symptoms such as diarrhea and weight loss, but symptoms can also be very subtle. Some people have mild abdominal discomfort after eating, but the symptoms usually disappear once they’re on a glutenfree diet.

People with celiac disease often have low calcium levels, the reasons for which are complex and involve parathyroid hormone and vitamin D, in addition to the direct malabsorption of calcium.

I had one colleague with undiagnosed celiac disease who woke up after yet another colonoscopy, and she was unable to move her muscles due to low blood calcium levels. Since the major reservoir of calcium in the body is the bone, calcium is taken from the bone to preserve blood calcium levels, which can lead to severe osteoporosis over the years.

Blood tests can be highly suggestive of a celiac disease diagnosis, but small bowel biopsies remain the definitive way to diagnose celiac disease. Blood tests can turn out negative if a person is on a glutenfree diet, so the blood tests must be done while a person is consuming gluten.

Your question about getting another biopsy after being on a gluten-free diet is debated. However, the consensus of opinion as published by the American Gastroenterological Association is that people like you with severe celiac disease should get another biopsy within 12 months to confirm the original diagnosis and establish that your diet has allowed the intestine to heal.

In your case, carefully monitoring your vitamin D, parathyroid hormone and calcium levels, as well as keeping up with your bone density, will be important ways of confirming whether your treatment was successful. Unfortunately, bone is slow to change, and it will take years to be sure that your osteoporosis is improving through bone density tests.

You can read a lot more about celiac disease at celiac.org

Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual questions, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu.

The

VETERANS POST  

by Freddie Groves

VA in

the News

So much is going on right now. With the new administration making many changes on a daily basis across the federal government, some of those changes were sure to affect the Department of Veterans Affairs. Here is one thing that has happened: The VA let go 1,000 employees.

For the most part they were probationary employees (deemed non-mission critical) with less than one year on the job or those in another employment category who had worked for less than two years.

This 1,000 is out of the 43,000 probationary employees they didn’t fire because they were mission critical and out of a total of 473,000 employees at the VA.

One year ago the VA had planned to reduce their numbers by 10,000 employees in 2025. Then there are the many thousands who took the deferred resignation offer, which will allow them to stay home and still be paid through September. So the 1,000 fewer employees isn’t a massive number.

The financial bottom line from this recent move is that $98 million was saved, money that will be plowed back into services and benefits for veterans, per Secretary Doug Collins.

While this move was effective immediately, there is a catch: Management can ask that certain employees not be terminated to ensure that the work can go on, that benefits and services aren’t effected.

Rumor has it that some of the employees who were let go had handled the phones at the suicide crisis line. A senator stepped in and asked that two of the employees be reinstated.

While it might be a bit unnerving to see cuts at the VA for the benefits and services we depend on, I say we should just wait it out and not let panic set in.

We have a new VA secretary, and for now we should trust him to fight for what’s right for us, despite all the loud naysayers who excel at stirring up anxiety. I think it will all be OK.

Freddy Groves regrets that he cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Send email to columnreply2@gmail.com.

-- by Jim Miller

How to Replace Important Lost Documents

DEAR SAVVY SENIOR: How do I go about replacing some important documents that were lost when our home of 50 years completely burned down? We lost everything including our property deed, car titles, old tax returns, Social Security and Medicare cards, birth certificates, marriage license, passports and other important records. -- Suffering in SoCal

Dear Suffering: I’m very sorry to hear about the loss of your home, but you’ll be pleased to know that replacing most of the lost documents you mentioned is pretty easy once you know where to turn. Here are the resources to help you get started.

Birth certificates:

If you were born in the United States, contact the vital records office in the state where you were born (see w2w/index.htm for contact information). This office will give you specific instructions on what you need to do to order a certified copy and what it will cost you – usually be tween $10 and $30.

Vehicle titles:

Most states offer replacements through a local department of motor vehicles office. You’ll need to complete a replacement title application form and pay the applica tion fee, which varies by state. You’ll also need to show ID and proof that you own the car, such as your vehicle registration or your license-plate number and VIN (vehicle identi fication number).

Property deed:

Marriage certificate:

Contact the vital records office of the state you were married in to order a copy (see CDC.gov/nchs/w2w/index.htm). You’ll need to provide full names for you and your spouse, the date of your wedding, and the city or town where the wedding was performed. Fees range from $10 to $30.

Social Security cards:

In most states, you can request a replacement Social Security card online for free at SSA.gov/myaccount. When you get there, click on “Replace your Social Security Card” and answer a few questions to verify your identity.

Medicare cards:

If you’re enrolled in original Medicare, you can replace a lost or damaged Medicare card by calling Medicare at 800-633-4227, or by logging into your MyMedicare.gov account, where you can print or request a new card to be mailed to you for free. If you’re enrolled in a Medicare Advantage Plan, such as an HMO, PPO, or PDP, you’ll need to call your plan to get your card replaced. And, if you get Railroad Retirement Board benefits, you can get a replacement card by calling

or call 800-829-3676 and ask them to mail you a copy. The cost is $30 for each return requested.

And to get copies of your state tax returns, contact your state’s department of revenue who will also require a request form. See TaxAdmin.org/fta-members for state contact information.

Passports:

If your U.S. passports were valid, you’ll need to first report them as lost or stolen so they can be canceled. You can do this online at PPTform.state.gov or in person when you apply for a new passport at a Passport Application Acceptance Facility, which are located in many U.S. post offices. See iafdb.travel.state.gov to locate one near you. You’ll also need to submit Form DS-64 and Form DS-11. The replacement fee is $130 per passport.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior. org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

To access your house deed, contact your county clerk’s office, where deeds are usually recorded. You may be charged a small fee to get a copy.

apples from an orchard next to the race route. Subsequently suffering from stomach cramps, he laid down for a nap.

• Also suffering from stomach cramps, brick layer Fred Lorz decided he’d had enough and hitched a ride in a car that went by.

• At the ten-mile (16 km) mark, Thomas Hicks begged his crew for water, which was refused. Only a damp sponge was offered. Ten miles later, he was about to collapse when his handlers fed him a weak tincture of strychnine, which acts as a stimulant in small doses. This was before performance-enhancing drug use in athletes was outlawed.

• The car that Fred Lorz was riding in broke down after carrying him 11 miles. By then, he was near the finish line. He decided to finish the race on foot, and was subsequently the first to cross the finish line.

• Word that the race had been won flashed through the area. Thomas Hicks, now ashen, limp, and hallucinating, heard the news and gave up.

• Just as Lorz was posing for photos and about to receive the gold medal, someone in the crowd called out that he had cheated. He admitted to the fraud, insisting it had been “just a joke.” He was quickly disqualified. It was 15 minutes before the real winner crossed the finish line.

• Thomas Hicks revived when he heard that the race was still open and that he was now in the lead. His handlers gave him a second dose of strychnine, splashed his dusty body with water, and forced some brandy down his gullet while refusing him the tea that he begged for.

• By the time he approached the finish line, he was barely able to stagger. His team members grabbed him under the armpits and hauled him across the finish line, where he collapsed. It took the help of four doctors working on him for a full hour before he was able to stand on his own and walk off.

• Cuban mailman Felix Carvajal finished in fourth place in spite of his bad apple nap.

• The South African entrants finished 9th and 12th despite the run-in with angry dogs.

• Only 14 out of 32 contestants – 44% – finished the race. It was the worst finish rate in Olympic history. 

Staying in posture, pivoting correctly, or keeping your body height in the swing are common mantras heard by pros and amateurs alike. The need for the body to turn and unturn in a simple, repeatable manner is often an overlooked part of consistent ball striking. Decades ago, Ben Hogan wrote about swing planes in the golf swing and related one of them to the shoulders. He felt like a plane of glass went through his neck down to the ball, and his shoulders would turn on that plane. While it’s a powerful image, it’s not a correct plane of movement for the shoulders.

When bent over with any club in hand, the body will turn so that the shoulders will turn on a slightly down tilted plane. This plane would bottom out ten to twelve feet in front of you. Try taking your golf posture with arms outstretched, then attempt to coil your body like the backswing. Your arms and shoulders would be tilted downward. They would neither point to the ball nor be level with the horizon, but be somewhere in between.