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"Very, very pleased, the extra bit of personal touch was so appreciated." -Joanne J. "Very, very pleased, the extra bit of personal touch was so appreciated." -Joanne J. Visit us at 3016 75th St. Kenosha SR120122 Your Eye On Kenosha... Both City & County! Volume 21 - #19 September 21, 2023 NEW STUDY ANSWERS THE QUESTION... DO OPPOSITES ATTRACT?

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Cover photos credit: Waynes: Mike Wallace & Chad Greenway; Gordon: UPI Smart Reader is published bi-weekly by Carmichael Communications Editor & Publisher/Frank J. Carmichael • Assistant to the Publisher/Reanna Stockdale • Sales/Kim Carmichael, Donny Stancato Editorial Manager/Jason Hedman • Ad Design & Layout/Glen Kelly, Kristin Monticelli • Reception/Sarah Coleman Carmichael Communications 1420 63rd Street, Kenosha, WI 53143 September 21, 2023 - Volume 21 Number 18 262-564-8800 • 1-800-568-6623 • www.hap2it.com There's an adage that in romantic relationships, opposites attract. Now, a large, new study confirms that just like many old sayings, it's wrong. In an analysis of about 200 studies involving millions of couples, researchers came to the conclusion that there is little behind the claim that opposites attract. If anything, the one about birds of feather flocking together is much closer to the truth. When it came to the hundreds of "traits" the study analyzed -- from political leanings to smoking and drinking habits -- partners were almost always more alike than different. It was only in relation to 3% of traits that people tended to pair off with someone who had different inclinations, according to the findings published recently in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. To be fair to the adage, the findings do not mean that people rarely find themselves attracted to someone who is much different from them. "We looked at cohabiting and co-parenting couples," explained lead researcher Tanya Horwitz, a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder. "So, this study speaks to longterm relationships." On average, the findings show, long-term partners are similar in a host of ways -- from religious and political beliefs, to educational background and certain aspects of intelligence, to lifestyle habits. The results are based on data from 199 published studies involving millions of male-female couples, dating as far back as 1903. The researchers also did their own analysis of data from the UK Biobank, an ongoing research project that is collecting health and genetic information from about 500,000 British adults. In all, the researchers looked at over 150 "traits," assessing how often couples were in step on each. And for 82% to 89% of those traits, partners were clearly more likely to be similar than different. Among the traits where couples were most strongly aligned were political and religious beliefs, education level, certain IQ measurements, and smoking and drinking habits. Then there were personality traits -- where, Horwitz said, there's been less certainty as to whether opposites attract or repel. Overall, the study found, partners did tend to be more alike than different on the "big 5" personality traits (extroversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism). But the correlations were not as strong as those for factors like political or religious attitudes. Extroverts, for example, were only slightly more likely to pair up with a fellow extrovert rather than an introvert, Horwitz said. The finding was similar when it came to neuroticism. There were only a few traits where, in the UK Biobank study, partners were somewhat more likely to be opposites than in lockstep. One was "chronotype" -- that is, night owls more often paired with early risers than fellow night owls. Horwitz had no ready explanation for that, and said it's possible it was a chance finding. Where did the notion that opposites attract originate? Horwitz noted that research in the 1950s, by psychologist Robert Winch, suggested that some traits are "complementary." So a person might choose a mate who has "opposing" qualities that complement some of his or her own. But there has been little scientific data to back up the idea that opposites attract. "It's basically folk wisdom," said Angela Bahns, an associate professor of psychology at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Bahns, who was not involved in the new research, has studied the topic. In a 2016 study, she found that in both romantic pairings and friendships, people are typically drawn to like-minded individuals. And there was no evidence that partners or friends changed over time to become more in sync; the similarities were there from the get-go. Part of the story is "structural," Bahns explained. If you're a college graduate, for instance, you're more likely to be around a lot of college graduates, versus someone with only a high school diploma. But there's also the fact that similarities can be very attractive: It's "validating," Bahns said, when someone shares your beliefs. Interestingly, Bahns has found that in a bigger, more diverse environment -- a large university, versus small college, for example -- people tend to be even more similar to their romantic partners and friends. Bahns said that may be because when you have a large pool of potential mates and friends, you can -- however consciously or unconsciously -- be more selective. No one, though, is saying that people cannot have close relationships just because they are dissimilar in some ways. "This does not mean that people can't be, or shouldn't be, attracted to someone different from them," Horwitz said. "We're talking about what's observed in relationships, on average." This study did not include same-sex couples, who've been the subject of much less research. If data on those couples had been included, Horwitz noted, any findings specific to them might have gotten lost in the ocean of data on heterosexual partners. Instead, the researchers are doing a separate analysis focusing on same-sex pairs. By Ann Norton Study of millions of couples debunks adage that opposites attract Two-thirds of romantic couples started as friends, study finds Some think that romance begins when two strangers catch each other's eye across a crowded room. Others seek it out by swiping right. But new research suggests that more than two-thirds of all romantic relationships begin as friendships. It's a question that Danu Anthony Stinson and her collaborators have been asking for a long time while studying relationship initiation. "We started asking that question in a lot of the studies that we were running, and over time it became really obvious to us, as we show in the paper, that most people are friends with their romantic partners before they become romantic," said study author Stinson, a psychology professor at the University of Victoria in Canada. "And yet we had observed from our own research that we had done and from our understanding of the literature that most theories about relationship formation were not looking at that kind of scenario," she added. For the new study, Stinson's team analyzed data from nearly 1,900 college students and crowd-sourced adults. The investigators found that for 68%, their current or most recent relationship began as a friendship. Those numbers were even higher among people in their 20s and in people who identified as LGBTQ+, with about 85% of couples beginning as friends. The investigators said this friends-first initiation of romance is often overlooked by researchers. They reviewed a sample of past studies and found that 75% of them focused on a spark of romance between strangers. About 8% of past studies in the sample looked at romance developing among friends over time. "Relationships are super important for people's lives. People want to choose good partners. They want to make choices that are going to help support their wellbeing, their goals, all these kinds of things," Stinson said. "Social psychologists want to help them do that. We want to understand how to do that. So, I think we need to start studying this way of relationship initiation that we've been ignoring for a really long time," she said. Much about how this happens is unknown because there is so little research on it, Stinson said. However, among university students asked this question by this research team, many were friends for one to two years before becoming romantic. This suggests they were genuinely platonic friends first, according to the study. Most said they did not enter the friendships with romantic intentions or attraction. Nearly half said they preferred developing a romantic relationship in this way. Exactly what friendship means can also be wideranging and quite different from person to person, Stinson said. It is possible that proximity may play a role, she said. Also, people who study long-term relationships and what makes them successful have found that those relationships can be built on something called friendshipbased intimacy. "That kind of friendship bond between romantic partners is the foundation of a good romantic relationship," Stinson said. "I think if we understand that, then you pull back and you say, well, if partners have established some of the characteristics of a good friendship -- like mutual responsiveness, like equality, story continues on next page 2 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800

y f , Compatibility, popularity may shape romantic pursuit When it comes to love, first impressions matter. But what exactly fuels the flames of romance? It turns out that compatibility and popularity are two of the key factors shaping who people pursue as potential partners, a new speed-dating study suggests. "Although we expected that compatibility would be an important factor, we were amazed to find that compatibility was just as strong of a predictor of romantic pursuit as popularity was," said study author Alexander Baxter, a PhD candidate in the psychology department at the University of California, Davis. For the study, researchers analyzed romantic first impressions among more than 550 speed-daters, including some men who date men, to rate their romantic interest in potential partners. There were more than 6,600 speed-dates in total during the experiment. The research team looked at three factors that affect how romantic first impressions form: selectivity, popularity and compatibility. "If Daniel liked Rose because he tended to like everyone, this would be selectivity," Baxter explained. "If Daniel liked Rose because everyone liked her, this would be popularity, and if Daniel uniquely liked Rose above and beyond his own flirty disposition and her general popularity, this would be compatibility." After the speed-dating events, the researchers asked folks if they dated anyone they met and how their feelings changed over the next two to three months. They used a statistical model to test whether patterns of initial desire during the speed dates predicted what happened next. The bottom line? People were particularly likely to pursue a romantic relationship with those suitors who were popular and who they were most compatible with, the study found. "Our findings suggest that although it helps to be popular when it comes to getting a second date, having a unique connection with a potential partner can be just as important," Baxter said. The study was published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. First impressions matter, but they aren't necessarily the be-all and end-all, said Pepper Schwartz, a professor of sociology at the University of Washington in Seattle. "A person may not be immediately appealing, but relationships can grow depending on compatibility effects, such as a sense of humor or how well he or she gets you," Schwartz said. These things won't obliterate first impressions, but they can change them, she said. "When you dig deeper, you can get over surface selectivity," she noted. The opposite is true as well: Someone can make a great first impression and it can go downhill from there, Schwartz said. "Fireworks do not always happen on the first date, and many people start out as friends and fall deeply in love," agreed Lori Zaslow, co-founder of Project Soulmate, a matchmaking service, and the star of Bravo's "Love Broker." Everyone's reasons for attraction are intricate and unique and include temperament, personality, family history and chemistry, she explained. "Much of attraction and what leads to long-term relationships is intangible," added Zaslow. "Attraction is initial and instantaneous, and often for reasons we don't understand relating to hormones or timing or scents or who reminds us of people we've previously loved or hated." Zaslow shared some tips for successful dating. • Do what you love, and you will meet the right person while doing it, so if you enjoy outdoor activities join clubs and groups. • When going on a date, don't stare at your phone. • Be yourself always. • When looking for the one, be realistic.Zaslow said: "Think about the things that you need and cannot live without, [and] prioritize your deal breakers and have a clear understanding of what you are flexible about." By Denise Mann egalitarian values or norms, caring, each person being important -- if they've already established those things before they become romantic partners, then it could potentially set them onto a good track for having a long-term relationship that's satisfying to them," she said. "We don't know that yet, but I think that's a good possibility," Stinson said. The findings were published online in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. It makes complete sense that this is how most relationships start, but that also makes it odd that not much research has been done on the subject, said Gary Lewandowski Jr., a professor in the department of psychology at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J. He was not involved with the study. "I think that speaks to our misperceptions of relationships in general, where we focus too much on the passion and the sexual elements of relationships. And that's actually not what's best or most important, I should say, for long-term relationships," Lewandowski said. "And the fact that more relationships, according to this study at least, start from friendships not only makes sense, but it's also good for relationship longevity in the future," Lewandowski said. When a relationship starts in a bar, on a dating app or a similar context, it is based first on a person's appearance, he said. In relationship science, experts often say that passionate love will get people married, but what keeps people married is companionate love, Lewandowski said. Companionate love is two people who enjoy spending time together and get along well. It's based on mutual respect, trust, kindness and caring, he said. Stinson would like to further research how platonic friendships shift to romantic relationships, as well as how people decide to pursue the change in their relationships. "I think how people do that math is really interesting," Stinson said. "Are some people more cautious about that? Are some people not willing to take that chance? We're not sure." 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The Google search engine s so dominant that its name s a verb recognized by dictionaries: to “google.” Competitors’ names, such as Bing and Yahoo, don’t have a similar popular meaning. That lexical edge reflects something else, according to the U.S. Department of ustice: an illegal grip on the search engine market. On Tuesday, the largest U.S. antitrust suit in 25 years kicked off in federal court, with prosecutors charging that Google has used its market power to intimidate ts industry partners, block ts direct competitors, and stifle innovation in a foundational internet technology. The lawsuit comes as cons of American Big Tech – Google, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon – are grappling with the vast technical challenge of ChatGPT and other artificial ntelligence advances. Ripples from the suit’s outcome could help shape the tech business landscape as it enters the new AI era. “It’s potentially very big,” says Daniel Rubinfeld, a professor of law at New York University who was an assistant attorney general and consultant to the Justice Department during its Microsoft antitrust suit in the late 1990s. What do prosecutors accuse Google of doing? Google’s market position s not just dominant – it is overwhelming. Currently, Google accounts for around 90% of the search engine market worldwide. The ustice Department, along with state allies, charges in ts lawsuit that Google reached and maintained this position by abusing its market power and becoming a monopoly in its corner of the online world. Specifically, prosecutors in federal court on Tuesday claimed that Google unlawfully stifled competition by paying upward of $10 billion a year to Apple and other business partners to ensure its search engine would be the default setting on most phones and web browsers. Prosecutors alleged these deals were designed to be “exclusionary” – in other words, intended to block consumers from even gaining access to competing search engines. From the start, Google was aware of the marketwarping power of these arrangements, said prosecutors, citing an internal company document that called them an “Achilles heel” for Microsoft, Yahoo, and other search engine producers. Prosecutors say Google further rigged the market by requiring its search engine be bundled with its Android smartphone software if manufacturers of phones or other devices want full access to the Android app store. “This case is about the future of the internet and whether Google’s search engine will ever face meaningful competition,” Kenneth Dintzer, the Justice Department’s lead litigator, said at the opening of the trial in Washington. What is Google’s defense? In contrast, Google says that its business practices are unremarkable and accepted, akin to cereal or soda companies’ paying for shelf space at local supermarkets. Google lawyers on the trial’s first day also emphasized that the company does indeed face competition, not just from deep-pocketed direct foes such as Microsoft, with its Bing search engine, but also from indirect competitors such as websites Amazon and Yelp, where consumers can find information, comparing products or even entire stores. Google may be the default browser on many devices, but it is easy to change that setting and opt for a competitor, the lawyers say. The reason more users don’t change is that Google is the best search product in the market, updated by constant tinkering, said the firm’s lawyers on Tuesday. What the government is trying to do is hinder Google’s ability to compete, “all in the hopes that forcing people to use inferior products in the short run will somehow be good for competition in the long run,” said attorney John Schmidtlein, a partner at the law firm Williams & Connolly, which is representing Google. What are the stakes? The Google court trial begins only a few weeks after the 25th anniversary of the first outside investment in the company, which provided founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin enough money to set up shop in a Silicon Valley garage. Today, Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet, is a giant of the Silicon Valley economy. It employs 182,000 people and is worth $1.7 trillion. Its main income stream is $224 billion in annual advertisement sales from a network of digital services anchored by its search engine. If Google loses, its wealth and stature would likely wane. The Justice Department and its allies say they are not seeking monetary penalties, but bans on what they claim are the company’s anticompetitive practices. This could hobble the firm at a time when some industry experts predict the entire ecosystem of the internet could change due to the rise of AI-generated content and services. The case more generally is also a wrestling match between Big Tech and Big Government. Many lawmakers from both sides of the aisle worry that a handful of giant corporations now have too much influence over our increasingly online lives. Can laws written for older eras help control the wild river of the internet? Or has technology progressed to the point where it is almost impossible for regulations to work? Could the past be prologue? In some ways, the Google case is an echo of an older lawsuit – the 1998 antitrust complaint filed by the Justice Department against Microsoft. That suit accused Microsoft of forcing computer makers that relied on its then-dominant Windows operating system to also feature Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser, just as internet traffic was exploding “They sound very similar when you look at them very broadly, from a legal point of view,” says Professor Rubinfeld of New York University. “In terms of actual substance, they’re quite different because the world has changed in 25 years.” Back then, Microsoft was by far the biggest redwood in the tech forest, while today Google is one among a number of giants. Microsoft founder Bill Gates was a household name in a way today’s tech CEOs generally are not, with the possible exception of Elon Musk. A federal judge found Microsoft guilty of antitrust violations. Eventually, the administration of President George W. Bush struck a deal with the firm, under which Microsoft agreed to allow more open competition for PC software providers. Among the small firms that took root in this newly open environment was Google. Now it is the established firm perhaps looking to maintain its position and defend itself from more flexible upstarts. “The fact that Google was, and I think still is, very creative, doesn’t mean they’re necessarily immune from antitrust liability,” says Professor Rubinfeld. By Peter Grier & Sophie Hills Is the ‘king of search’ too dominant? Inside US lawsuit against Google. Is Google using its clout to maintain a monopoly over internet search? An antitrust lawsuit has big implications for competition in the tech industry. 4 SMART READER SEPTEMBER 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 $28 Eye Exam 262 - 554 -1121 • 3701 Durand Ave. Racine $18 Eyeglasses Place SR090822 Eyeglasses exam $49 without purchase of eyeglasses. 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When Santa Ana police arrived to arrest her drunken older brother in the midst of a family dispute, Aimee Rivera recalls feeling confused and desperate. Still, amid the flashing lights, handcuffs, and tears, Ms. Rivera experienced a surprising level of support and empathy from the officers in her home – particularly the female officer who comforted her mother. Rather than treating her and her parents roughly, like stereotypical TV officers who barge in and badger victims and suspects, they were respectful. Instead of barking orders at the family, they were gentle. “Santa Ana PD was very helpful and professional during and after the arrest,” she explains today. “I appreciated their take on the incident,” as they gently separated family members and objectively questioned each one. The presence of that female officer, and the team’s softer touch, planted a quiet idea in the high schooler’s mind: She could be a police officer. That idea was in the background through high school and then college. Two years ago, it took new shape: Working in a vitamin shop, she met a customer who was impressed with her attention to detail and presentation skills. He was a Santa Ana police officer who told her bluntly, “You could be a great police officer.” And, through a national effort that the SAPD has signed on to – the 30X30 Initiative, sponsored by the New York University Policing Project, which aims to make 30% of sworn police officers female by 2030 – Ms. Rivera now expects to formally apply to the Santa Ana agency. Santa Ana’s approach has offered Ms. Rivera and dozens of other potential female recruits personalized training tips for passing the rigorous physical agility test and relationships with the department that help them envision roles for themselves in law enforcement. The department is intentionally engaging with women, creating direct and lasting contact long before they apply to become officers – even before they imagine the idea themselves, says the SAPD’s Sgt. Maria Lopez, who helps lead the program that starts contacts with girls as young as elementary school. Ms. Rivera’s upcoming application is recognition that police work is “more than writing tickets and riding around in a police car,” and can offer female officers outstanding careers in the male-dominated field, says Commander Rosa Ponce de Leon, the top woman in the SAPD. She’s helping create what law enforcement experts call an extraordinary nurturing program for female recruits. “Women bring a whole new important dimension to our work that should be acknowledged,” says Alex Gammelgard, president of the California Police Chiefs Association and chief of police in Grass Valley. The SAPD serves a largely Hispanic community. Violent and property crime rates range above national averages. One of more than 300 agencies committed to the 30X30 Initiative, the 356-member agency now has 35 female officers. Nationwide, just 12% of officers are female, with a mere 3% in leadership positions. Particularly after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police in 2020, public demands for reform have grown. Adding a distinct female approach is a rebalancing effort to improve the depth and scope of the force in the Santa Ana community, says SAPD Chief David Valentin. “There’s scientific evidence that women have a different skill set than their male counterparts,” he explains. “Women tend to be great communicators, and men can learn from that.” “I am on their radar” “Like most women who are committed, educated, and grounded, I didn’t see police work as an option,” says Commander Ponce de Leon. Only after serving in the Air Force and then interning with the Los Angeles Housing Authority did she recognize the connection that her knowledge of the law and a dedication to community service had to law enforcement. The SAPD is encouraging such recognition by “creating relationships” long before an applicant comes through the door, says Chief Gammelgard. Indeed, before Ms. Rivera’s formal application, she says the department’s sworn and non-sworn women enthusiastically rallied to support and encourage her. A 2020 California State University, Fullerton graduate with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, Ms. Rivera worked part time for the university police department before graduation. Since then, she’s attended several SAPD recruiting events, where she’s met female officers and police department leaders who’ve become guides, cheerleaders, and coaches. She recently was one of 30 graduates of the SAPD’s 11- week Community Police Academy. “I am on their radar,” Ms. Rivera says. “They’re on my side. I’m not just a number or statistic. They’ve really taken me through things and helped me.” That “radar” begins early and can take creative forms Police reform: Nurturing female recruits long before they apply Martha Toro nears the finish line in a 500-yard sprint during a March physical agility class offered to help ready women to apply to be officers in the Santa Ana Police Department. story continues on page 16 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 SMART READER September 21, 2023 5 DT2023-2

Oregon’s bold drug policy isn’t working, yet Halfway into asking Portland police officer David Baer what he thinks has happened to his hometown over the past three years – why what used to be one of America’s fastest-growing cities is now rapidly shrinking and has become the right’s favorite laughingstock – I’m cut off. Mr. Baer had been biking ahead of me, pumping uphill in a downtown that feels eerily quiet for a city of 635,000. He cuts to the left and, in one fell swoop, pulls a spike strip out of its holster and plants it on the street in front of a parked car. Mr. Baer raps on the window, instructing the driver to get out. The man, bent over a straw and piece of foil, protests. “I saw you smoking fentanyl,” says Officer Baer. The man concedes. “Just ...” Mr. Baer hesitates before removing the spike strip and re-straddling his bike. “Please don’t do it in public,” he says, and pedals off. In November 2020, Oregonians overwhelmingly passed referendum Measure 110, the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, which decriminalized the possession of small amounts of drugs. Voters in the first (and so far only) state to do so believed they were leading America’s first drug policy overhaul since the war on drugs – an antidrug campaign initiated in 1971 by President Richard Nixon and expanded in the next decade by President Ronald Reagan. The war on drugs encouraged criminal punishment for drug-related offenses, including possession, and dramatically increased the incarceration of drug users. For decades, members of racial minority groups have been disproportionately targeted and jailed for drug possession, Measure 110 advocates argued, with nothing to show for these policies but an ongoing national drug epidemic. So Oregon, with its history of pushing bold social policy, decided to try something different. Under Measure 110, personal possession of controlled substances like fentanyl, heroin, and meth is now a Class E violation subject to a $100 fine – less than for driving without wearing a seat belt. Almost three years later, this statewide experiment hasn’t gone according to plan. The number of opioid overdose deaths in Oregon almost doubled between 2020 and 2022. Homelessness has skyrocketed. Homicides in Portland reached record levels in 2021 and 2022. Not all of these problems are traceable to Measure 110, and so far this year, violent crime is down almost 9% in Oregon’s big cities. But a recent local poll found that 63% of Oregonians would support reinstating criminal punishments for drug possession. “It’s been a lot harder than I think most of us anticipated,” says Tera Hurst, executive director of Health Justice Recovery Alliance, the nonprofit overseeing Measure 110’s rollout. “It was stuff that none of us had ever done. There wasn’t a playbook for it. And the pandemic is the period at the end of that sentence.” As this groundbreaking approach debuted in 2021, Portland, like the rest of the United States, was in the midst of a global pandemic demanding focus from the state’s leading health officials. Simultaneously, the pandemic fueled a nationwide uptick in drug use and overdoses, as Americans struggled with job losses and rising housing costs. Also simultaneously, the country – and particularly Portland – experienced a reckoning on race and policing, following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. On top of all this, fentanyl use started rising nationally, especially on the West Coast. Local officials say the drug has transformed opioid addiction because it’s so potent, cheap, and available. The question now is, can Oregon’s drug decriminalization effort be turned around? Opponents say Measure 110 was a well-intentioned policy experiment that ran into a buzz saw of outside factors, and by mid-2023 the only option is a massive overhaul or repeal. Supporters say Measure 110 has become a scapegoat. “What’s being sold to the public is ‘Everything is 110’s fault,’” says Ms. Hurst. “People haven’t given it proof of concept yet.” People on both sides of the measure have the same goal: reducing drug addiction. The struggle is over how to achieve compassionate care for those experiencing addiction – while preserving a stable sense of community for the city as a whole. “I don’t think there is one person thinking, ‘I want to eradicate people who use drugs, and I want them to suffer,’” says Ms. Hurst. Everyone wants “people living better lives. But it’s how you do that, and how you get to that.” When we’re a few blocks past the man in the parked car, I ask Mr. Baer what would have happened three years ago if we had come across a man smoking fentanyl in downtown Portland. “Three years ago,” he says, “this never would have happened.” In the “before times,” as officers refer to pre-March 2020, working the city’s bike squad was a different job. Their biggest concerns were people drinking beer in public or stealing tip jars off food carts. But that March, the start of the pandemic brought an influx of homeless people camping out downtown, followed by a summer of racial justice protests. Now, it’s citations and drug seizures from dealers all day long. It’s important to note, however, that the Portland scenes televised over the past few years, with block after block lined with tents, are no longer the reality, now that the city began regulating homeless camping earlier this year. Many neighborhoods surrounding downtown feel idyllic: young families on walks, diners sharing tacos on picnic benches, wildflowers pouring out of gardens attached to colorful bungalows. Still, the city center is struggling. With hardly any residential properties downtown, the area is void of everyday traffic. In addition, locals say, Portland took COVID-19 precautions seriously and still has a largely remote workforce. A recent study from the University of Toronto found that foot traffic in downtown Portland is 37% of what it was in 2019, before the pandemic. Businesses have private security guarding their doors, and some blocks have more people smoking fentanyl than not. Passersby periodically approach the bike squad to warn of trouble: a man on the sidewalk who doesn’t appear to be breathing, a naked woman chasing strangers. Some of the people using drugs don’t even know that what they’re doing is illegal. When the Julia Mines (left), executive director of The Miracles Club, and Larry Turner, co-founder of Fresh Out Community Based Reentry Program, received Measure 110 funding to expand their services. story continues on page 8 6 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 DELIVERY HELP NEEDED Part-time position available to deliver Happenings Magazine. Fill Out An Application At 1420-63rd Street, Kenosha, WI • Dependable individual w/ your own vehicle & automobile insurance • Available on Wednesday afternoons & Thursdays mornings • Able to lift & carry at least 50 lbs Monday - Friday from 10am-4pm 090723 REQUIREMENTS Published by Carmicheal Communications 1420 63rd St., Kenosha, 53143 in Partnership with the Downtown Lakeshore Business Improvement District and Visit Kenosha 083123 Next Issue Out Mid Nov. Want to Advertise Your Downtown Business? Contact Donny at [email protected] Pick up the current issue today or check it out online at hap2it.com or visitkenosha.com Does Print Advertising Work? It Just DID! Newest Issue Out Now! Do You Have The Itch To Make People Laugh? 092123 Bill Gorgo has been teaching standup comedy throughout the Midwest to people just like you for over 25 years and his next class will be available at the Kenosha Comedy Club from 10/18 to 11/29 (no class on 11/22)! Classes will be held on Wednesdays, from 6-8 pm and will culminate with a graduation show. You will learn: Methods for tapping into your personal creativity and style; The hidden structures inside a joke, a bit, and act; Surefire solutions for stage fright and memory worries; A wide range of performance secrets for getting the big laughs; And much, much more! Eight sessions (2 hours each) for the low price of $199 ! Call for more info (262)564-8800 Have you done the rounds of open mics without success? Have you been spinning your wheels trying to get real comedy gigs? 5125 6th Ave, Kenosha

The NEW Fall 2023 / Winter 2024 FUN 101 list is now posted on our website! A product of Visit Kenosha, this is a list of 101 Things to See & Do for $10 & Under – and many of them are FREE! Go to VisitKenosha.com/Fun101 to see the entire list. Discover – and/or rediscover – what affordable adventures await in the Kenosha Area! FUN 101 is part events calendar and part seasonal activity guide with recreation spots, attractions, and landmarks included. Visit Kenosha has been producing the FUN 101 list since 2010. It’s updated twice a year – for the fall/winter and spring/summer months. While FUN 101 was never intended to be more than just a one-time list, its popularity continues to this day. The list is evidence that our community offers Friendly. Affordable. Fun. While attractions across the price spectrum exist here, there are numerous free and budget-friendly ways to have fun! Be A Tourist In Your Own Town and use this list as a resource as you Shop, Dine, and Play Local! Have friends or family visiting you in the coming months? Use FUN 101 as an itinerary or to plan a fun scavenger hunt. Build a homeschool assignment around some of these items. Plan a date night. Or use the list to get ideas when arranging an outing for a scout troop, senior center, or school. We have this edition of FUN 101 divided into these categories: Fall In Love With The Outdoors, Fall Festivities & Halloween Happenings, Merry & Bright Holiday Events, CoolOutside-In-The-WinterKind-Of-Fun, Stay-WarmInside-Kind-Of-Fun, YearRound Sightseeing, and More #KenoshaFun. Here are just five of the items in the Fall Festivities & Halloween Happenings category: Enjoy one-of-akind hand-painted pumpkin displays (and much more) at Jerry Smith Farm. It’s free to view the displays. A longtime tradition in Kenosha, the Kemper Haunted House happens on Saturday evenings, September 30 to October 28. The cost is $10 & under. Also at Kemper Center, the Port of Fear Film Festival is taking place. Kenosha's only Horror film festival happens September 29-30 and October 1. The festival’s Spooky Market is FREE to attend. The City of Kenosha and the Lakeshore Business Improvement District present the Fall Into Fun Festival on October 14 at Veterans Memorial Park. It’s free to attend and free to participate in the Pumpkin Decorating Contest (registration deadline: October 9) and Costume Contest (no preregistration). The dinosaurs will come alive in the shadows during Dinos In The Dark at the Dinosaur Discovery Museum. The dates are October 6, 13, and 20. The cost is $8 to $10. Book your time now! The More #KenoshaFun category includes these cultural opportunities: See the Southport Quilters Guild Quilt Show, at Anderson Arts Center, through October 15. Admission is free; donations are appreciated. The 2023 edition of the free Kenosha Book Festival comes to a close on September 24 at Studio Moonfall. The inaugural Southport Literary Fair, a celebration of literature for all ages and interests, is September 30 at Southwest Library. Blue House Books and the Kenosha Public Library have planned this free event. Mark your calendars now for these two items: Enjoy the free Snow Daze Festival in Downtown Kenosha on January 27. There will be many ice sculptures to enjoy! And Kenosha Restaurant Week will take place February 24 to March 3. Each participating venue will have discounts or special offers (prices vary). Go to VisitKenosha.com to find more events, things to see and do, and places to eat and stay at. Visit Kenosha has been Kenosha’s official travel resource since 1986. New Fall/Winter FUN 101 by Meridith Jumisko, Visit Kenosha Meridith Jumisko is Public Relations Director at Visit Kenosha. Contact her at [email protected] FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 SMART READER September 21, 2023 7 AUTUMN 2 02 COMEDY 3 EVENTS 5125 6th Ave. Kenosha 5125 6th Ave. Kenosha If It’s Not Live, You’re Not Living! If It’s Not Live, You’re Not Living! FOR EVENT TICKETS & MORE ACTS VISIT HAP2IT.COM STOP IN 1420 63RD ST. M-F 10AM-4PM OR CALL (262)564-8800 M N in o Drink imum! MARSHA WARFIELD UPCOMING: NOV 3&4 MR SHOWTIME DAVID SCOTT NOV 17&18 TIM MEADOWS 27/28 GREG SCHWEM OCT 13/14 RICH GUZZI OCT 20/21 OCT KEVIN FARLEY 22/23 SEPT WITH VERY SPECIAL GUEST STEVE CASEY COMEDY HYPNOSIS SHOW LYNNE KOPLITZ 6/7 OCT 092123 29/30 SEPT BOB JAY COMEDIAN/MASTER IMPRESSIONIST

8 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 police explain that drugs have been “decriminalized,” not “legalized,” people just put away their foil and move down the block, where officers will likely encounter them again. “You know that game whack-a-mole?” asks Sgt. Jerry Cioeta, an experienced police officer. “That’s what it’s like.” But before you can really grasp the state of Portland now, say locals, it’s important to understand what it was like before 2020. Portland’s population surged in the early 1900s as the state’s timber and salmon industries grew. But the Rose City really blossomed as a hub of environmentalism, LGBTQ+ acceptance, and quirkiness over the past two decades. As many young people were priced out of other West Coast cities such as Seattle and San Francisco, they flocked to Portland. A 2012 study by Portland State University found that more young, college-educated people moved to Portland between 2008 and 2010 than to any other metro area except Louisville, Kentucky. People came here not only for the relative affordability, proximity to both mountains and ocean, and smart urban planning, but also for the city’s unique sense of place. Portland is home to the world’s largest independent bookstore, a Gothic-themed doughnut shop with lines around the block, and the annual World Naked Bike Ride, a protest against dependence on oil. A hit comedy series, “Portlandia,” aired eight seasons in the 2010s with the city’s personality as a key “character” – all the while reinforcing Portland’s view of itself as one of a kind. But it’s not just Portland. “Oregon has a history of being on the cutting edge of social change,” says Tim Murphy, CEO of Bridgeway Recovery Services in Salem. “That’s why at the top of our Capitol building, there’s a pioneer that’s looking forward.” In keeping with that cutting-edge identity, Oregon was one of the first states to legalize medical marijuana and later recreational marijuana. In 2020, not only did voters pass Measure 110 by an almost 17-point margin, but also more than 55% passed Measure 109, making Oregon the first state to legalize psychedelic mushrooms. These types of far-left policies have long made Oregon a target of the right, which uses Portland as an example of what can go wrong with what it calls liberals’ increasingly extreme stances on social issues. But some Measure 110 opponents see the left using Oregon to its advantage as well – as a pawn in its efforts to end the war on drugs. The New York City-based nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance, “the leading organization in the U.S. working to end the drug war,” its website says, spent millions on the state’s “Vote Yes” campaign. After the measure passed, the executive director of the alliance said she hoped Oregon would start a “domino effect” of decriminalization. Even before Measure 110, though, Oregon had the second-highest rate of substance use disorder in the country and ranked 50th in access to addiction care. That made it the wrong place to start decriminalization, argue opponents like Mike Marshall, director of Oregon Recovers, a statewide coalition advocating for better recovery services. “They weren’t here to address Oregon’s addiction problem; they were here to address the war on drugs,” he says. “Politically, they needed a state where they could win decriminalization at the ballot box.” This law “would never have passed” the legislature, even in Oregon’s Democratic majority, says state Rep. Rob Nosse, who “absolutely” voted for Measure 110. “Legislatures, by their nature, are incremental bodies,” says Mr. Nosse at a picnic table outside Dot’s Cafe, a local bar in his Northeast Portland neighborhood. “To decriminalize all of this? That’s a big swing. Plenty of my progressive Democrat colleagues, I’m sure, were quietly ‘no’ votes.” The fact that voters passed the mandate, and so handily, means it should be taken “most seriously,” says Ms. Hurst. But that also makes it difficult to implement. “No lawmaker is owning it and saying, ‘I care; I want to make sure this thing happens,’” she adds. Under Measure 110, the process is supposed to look something like this: Police officers encounter someone using drugs (dealing is taken more seriously). Instead of arresting the person, the officer hands out a citation with a $100 fine along with a hotline number to call for a social services screening. During the call, the operator can make a referral to a nonprofit offering peer support or housing. (These service providers across the state can now apply for grants from cannabis tax revenue to boost their offerings.) If the person using drugs calls the hotline and participates in the health screening, the $100 fine will be waived. (If someone neither pays the $100 nor does the health screening, the citation remains on his or her record as an unpaid fine.) When Julia Mines first heard about this new system, she found it laughable. After all, it took Ms. Mines serving time in prison for drug possession for her to finally get sober and find support groups at The Miracles Club, a recovery center for Black Portlanders where she now serves as executive director. But the more she thought about how the war on drugs has harmed generations of Black Americans, she realized Measure 110 was something she could “get behind.” Supporters like Ms. Mines are asking for more time due to the troubled rollout. After its win in November 2020, Measure 110 took effect in February 2021. But not until July 2022 – a year and a half later – did cannabis tax funds start reaching nonprofits. During this time, the Recovery Center Hotline received 119 calls, an Oregon secretary of state audit found, costing over $7,000 per call because of the expense of keeping the line open 24/7. Of those 119 callers, fewer than 30 expressed interest in treatment resources, according to the audit. “It’s been a disaster,” says Democratic City Council Commissioner Mingus Mapps, who voted for Measure 110 and is running for Portland mayor in 2024. “It’s mortifying” that the number of people who have called the hotline could probably fit in here, he adds, motioning around his corner office in Portland’s City Hall. “It’s clear that the assumptions behind Measure 110 were fundamentally flawed. We assumed that people who are addicted to fentanyl, when presented with a ticket, are going to call a phone number and seek help.” To Measure 110 advocates, the whole point of Oregon’s new program is to give people addicted to drugs the autonomy to abate the problem themselves. But almost all of those advocates, with the exception of Health Justice Recovery Alliance employees like Ms. Hurst, say they would support adding some consequences if people don’t follow through on recovery services. A healthy balance, they say, of carrots and sticks. “Most people come into treatment because of some kind of pressure: pressure from their family, friends, a boss, police, a judge,” says Keith Humphreys, a psychiatry professor at Stanford University who has cautioned the state Senate about Measure 110. Even Portugal, he adds, which decriminalized personal possession of drugs in 2001 and is seen as a model for Portland, places social and legal pressure on people to seek treatment. “It doesn’t mean throwing people in jail, but there has to be some kind of consequence,” Dr. Humphreys says. More than two decades into decriminalization, however, Portugal is having second thoughts. Earlier this summer it was reported that, after a spike in drug use and crime, the country is rethinking its policy. Some people smoking fentanyl on Portland’s sidewalks tell the Monitor they’ve always lived here and have been using drugs for a while – they just used to be more secretive about it. But just as many say they came to Portland because they heard drugs were easy to get and they wouldn’t get in trouble. Portland Police Association President Aaron Schmautz knows the city is attracting drug users. “Any argument against that, to me, is just silly,” he says. Now that the city is in this situation, he adds, it has to ask, what is the compassionate solution? “Is it benevolent to hold people accountable and do something with them?” he asks. “Or is it OK to let them – I mean, I walked by five different people smoking fentanyl in the two blocks from my car to here, and most of them are in an alcove with cardboard covering them. One guy is just laying there. ... When society says, ‘I’m not going to say something because that person has a right to lay on that sidewalk dying,’ that to me is a cultural departure from what we have historically done.” Within a national conversation about how to involve police in issues like drug addiction, arguably no city is having a harder time than Portland. For more than 100 consecutive nights following the murder of Mr. Floyd, protests – which often turned violent – flooded Portland’s downtown. ThenPresident Donald Trump sent in federal forces, which further fueled the opposition. Officer Cioeta describes it as something that “no other police department in the history of the United States has ever gone through.” In the aftermath of that, along with subsequent funding cuts and high attrition, the force feels “demoralized,” he adds. Many also feel excluded. Portland police officers say they’ve never been included in conversations about implementing Measure 110. When asked about that, Ebony Clarke, the Oregon Health Authority’s behavioral health director, tells the Monitor that one of her “key goals” going forward is to have quarterly convenings that bring everyone to the table. Mr. Schmautz, the Portland Police Association president, says he hasn’t heard anything about this. “Both sides of the conversation agree that people need help,” says Mr. Schmautz. “But ... there are people in this conversation who feel like police are a part of the problem, and I don’t agree with that.” From this comes a vicious feedback loop of resentment that has hardened between police and some locals. “The police got passiveaggressive” after the 2020 riots, says Lisa Schroeder, owner of Mother’s Bistro, whose revenue is one-third of what it was in 2019. She adds that once she called the police to help with a customer’s broken car window, and they told her there was nothing they could do. “We are so far gone,” says Ms. Schroeder, her head in her hands. “I’m starting to get scared that we can’t come back.” She voted for Measure 110 but says if she had it to do again, she would vote against it. And she might get the chance. Several sources tell the Monitor that antiMeasure 110 activists will soon start collecting signatures for their own ballot initiative ahead of the 2024 election, although nothing has been officially launched. By Story Hinckley Oregon continued from page 6 “We are so far gone. I’m starting to get scared that we can’t come back.” – Lisa Schroeder, owner of Mother’s Bistro, whose revenue is one-third of what it was in 2019

FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 SMART READER September 21, 2023 9 health lifestyle community Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center news September 21, 2023 Your Kenosha ADRC Update Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center Presents Free In-Depth Training for Family Caregivers Six-week Course Offers Education on Caring for an Older Adult with Dementia The Aging & Disability Resource Center is offering a free, six-week program designed to provide family caregivers with clinical level education and training. “The Savvy Caregiver” will be held on six consecutive Tuesdays, beginning September 26, 4 – 6 p.m. The series will conclude on October 31. This workshop is open to those providing care for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. The Savvy Caregiver training program is a unique approach to family caregiver education. The central concept is the notion of strategy. Throughout the program caregivers are invited to learn, develop, and modify strategies for their particular caregiving situation. Participants will gain increased understanding of dementia and how it affects the person as well as the family, skills to assess abilities of a loved one with dementia, confidence to set and alter caregiving goals, strategies to manage activities of daily living, and perspective on the course of the diagnosis as it relates to the person they are caring for. Offered both virtually and inperson, Savvy Caregiver Training Program provides over 12-hours of face-to-face training, a caregiver manual and  access to community resources. To learn more and to register please contact Susan Johnson, Dementia Care Specialist with the Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center, at 262- 605-6602. You’re There for Them, We’re Here for You Kenosha County ADRC to Offer Powerful Tools for Caregivers Powerful Tools for Caregivers is a free, six-week, educational series, intended to teach skills on how to take care of yourself while caring for a loved one. The class helps family caregivers reduce stress, improve self-confidence, communicate feelings better, balance their lives, increase their ability to make tough decisions and locate helpful resources. The Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center is now accepting reservations for its next Powerful Tools for Caregivers course. The classes will be held virtually using Zoom, Wednesdays, October 25 – November 29, 4 – 6 p.m. Don’t know how to use Zoom? No problem! We can walk you through it. RSVP by October 18, 2023. To register, call 262-605-6646 or click the red registration button at http://adrc.kenoshacounty.org. The ADRC also offers classes in Spanish, call for dates and information! In-person or Virtual Caregiver Coffee Club ADRC offers support group for those caring for someone with dementia Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center (ADRC) offers a support group to help family caregivers who care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or other form of dementia. Join others engaged in helping their loved ones manage day to day living. Relax, chat and learn helpful tips and strategies. The Caregiver Coffee Club meets the first Wednesday of each month from 10-11 a.m., the next meeting will be on October 4, 2023. The support group is available inperson or virtually. Facilitated by Susan Johnson, Dementia Care Specialist with the Kenosha County ADRC. To register call 262-605- 6646. Be a Volunteer Guardian! Kenosha, WI. Are you looking for a volunteer opportunity? You could be a Volunteer Guardian! The Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center provides training for community members to advocate in health, welfare and/or financial issues for vulnerable adults. Volunteers are then court appointed as the legal decision maker. The program provides training, support and on-going assistance for the volunteer guardian to successfully and capably perform their responsibilities. In as little as one hour each month, you can positively impact the quality of life of an at-risk adult. For more information or to apply, call the ADRC at 262-605-6646.

10 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 Medicare Annual Open Enrollment Period for Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans ADRC offers free assistance beginning October 17 Medicare’s Annual Open Enrollment Period is October 15 - December 7. It’s an important time of year for those on Medicare to review current coverage and see if any changes are needed for the coming year. Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plan details often change every year. Sorting through all the options to find the right plan for prescriptions can be confusing but Benefit Specialists at the Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center can assist. There are four basic reasons to check your plan: • Your plan may cost more next year • Your plan may no longer cover all your medications • Your plan may have put restrictions on some of your medications • You may be taking different medications now ADRC Benefit Specialists offer objective and reliable information and assistance. There is no charge for this service. The Benefit Specialists do not sell or endorse any insurance plans. Benefit Specialists at the ADRC are trained to carefully review current coverage and compare plans with other options based on medications and other details. Benefit Specialists also check to see if beneficiaries qualify for programs or benefits that can save money. Workshops will be offered throughout Kenosha County beginning on October 17. Kenosha County Center, 19600 75th St., Bristol • Tues., October 17, 9:30 - 12:30 • Tues., October 24, 9:30 - 12:30 Salem Lakes Fire and Rescue, 11252 254th Ct., Trevor • Thursday, Nov. 2, 10:30– 1:30 Westosha Senior Center, 19200 - 93rd St., Bristol • Tuesday, Nov. 14, 10:30 – 1:30 Northside Library, 1500 27th Ave., Kenosha, Rm. A • Tuesday, Nov. 29, 9:30 - 12:30 Festival Foods Community Room, 2nd floor 3207 80th St., Kenosha • Thur., Nov. 30, 9:30 – 12:30 Southwest Neighborhood Library, Rm. A, 7979 - 38th Ave., Kenosha • Thur., Nov. 9, 9:30 – 12:30 • Tuesday, Dec. 5, 11:30 – 2:30 Job Center, 8600 Sheridan Rd., Kenosha, Door A • Thursday Oct. 19, 9:30 – 12:30 • Thursday, Oct. 26, 9:30 – 12:30 • Tuesday, Oct. 31, 10:30 - 1:30 • Tuesday, Nov. 7, 1:30 - 3:30 • Wednesday, Nov. 15, 9:30 - 12:30 • Tuesday, Nov. 28, 9:30 - 12:30 It’s recommended that participants bring their own laptop, tablet or smart phone if possible. For further information or to make reservations call the Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center at 262-605-6646. Someone in Your Life has Dementia A Roadmap for Care – Now offered virtually and inperson The Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center offers a regularly scheduled educational program, Someone in Your Life has Dementia: A Roadmap for Care. The presentation is for anyone caring for an individual living with a form of dementia and will be offered every other month, with the options for both virtual and in-person meetings. Dementia is a general term used to describe memory loss and the impaired ability to process information and make decisions which interferes with daily life. There are many subtypes of dementia, with Alzheimer’s Disease being the most common form, followed by Vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, Frontotemporal degeneration, mixed dementia and others. Dementia is not a part of normal aging; however, 50 million people worldwide are living with some form of this syndrome. Susan Johnson, Dementia Care Specialist with the ADRC, has developed and will facilitate this new presentation. Johnson has a master’s degree in Gerontology and has a passion for improving quality of life for caregiving families. She offers hope and understanding to caregivers, as well as those living with dementia. The presentation will help prepare and guide caregivers, while building confidence for the road ahead. It will address common caregiver concerns, such as: • Whether recently diagnosed or not, what do you need to know about caring for someone living with dementia? • How do you know what to expect and what your person needs, as the disease progresses? Someone in Your Life has Dementia: A Roadmap for Care, will be offered virtually and in-person, the second Wednesday, every other month, noon – 1 p.m. The next class will be offered on October 11, 2023. For more information and to register, call the ADRC, 262-605- 6646. October Medicare Minutes Changing Part D Plans Medicare Minute presentations are offered monthly by the Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center. These free programs provide information on a wide range of Medicare topics. October’s Medicare Minutes will focus on the Changing Part D Plans. The program will be offered virtually on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, from 10 – 11 a.m. Medicare Minutes are developed by the Medicare Rights Center as a State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) National Technical Assistance Center service. The Medicare Rights Center is a national, non-profit consumer service organization. They are one of the SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program) National Technical Assistance Center partners. To participate and for reservations call the ADRC 262- 605-6646. A Zoom link will be provided. Memory Cafe Six-week Course Offers Education on Caring for an Older Adult with Dementia Memory Café is a place for persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment, early-stage Alzheimer’s, or related dementia, and their care partners to socialize and have fun. Join the Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center’s Dementia Care Specialist on the second Tuesday of every month, 1-2 p.m. The next meeting will be on October 10, 2023, Kenosha Southwest Neighborhood Library, 7979 38th Avenue. Registration is required for new members. Call Kenosha County ADRC, 262-605- 6646. Your Kenosha ADRC Update

Wisconsin is ranked #1 in the nation for falls Wisconsin is ranked #1 in the nation for falls that lead to death among the elderly. More than 95% of hip fractures are caused by falling. The Kenosha County ADRC wants to change those statistics with Stepping On! Stepping On is a free, seven-week educational series, to help reduce falls in older adults. The Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center is hosting a Stepping On course, to be offered at Salem Community Library, 24615 89th Street, Salem, beginning on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 10 a.m. – noon. In Stepping On, participants learn how to build and maintain the physical strength and balance needed to walk confidently. From footwear to prescriptions, participants learn what increases the risk of a falling and how to avoid it. Participants also make an individualized action plan to stay on to help them stay on their feet, living life the way they want. If you have questions or wish to register, call the ADRC at 262-605-6646. Technical services offered at Redeemer Parkside Senior Dining Today using technology is a big part of connecting people with others, learning new information, education, local events, and socialization. Training seniors how to use the basics of technology. Offering support on laptops, tablets, and cell phones. Tech Support is offered the second Monday of every month, 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. The next class will be on October 9 at Redeemer Parkside Church, 2620 14th Pl. For more information call, Julie Sosa: 262-287-7469 or 262-658-3508 ext,134. Free Healthy Living with Diabetes Class offered! The Kenosha County Aging & Disability Resource Center is offering a free class for those want to learn more about diabetes. Healthy Living with Diabetes is a 6-week evidence-based program from Stanford University that has helped people world-wide: Be in control, Feel better, Have more energy, Use new tools to manage their diabetes, Create new goals Healthy Living with Diabetes will be offered, Thursdays, 5 – 7 p.m., October 12 – November 16, at Kenosha Southside Neighborhood Library, 7979 38th Avenue, Kenosha. Please call the ADRC at 262-605-6646 to learn more or to register. Your Kenosha ADRC Update FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 SMART READER September 21, 2023 11 YESTERDAY’S CHILDREN Saturday, October 7 • 7:30 pm YESTERDAY’S CHILDREN Saturday, October 7 • 7:30 pm For advance tickets visit hap2it.com, or stop in at 1420 63rd St., Kenosha between 10am - 4pm M-F 5125 6th Avenue Kenosha To be assured a good seat, purchase tickets early. However, limited tickets will also be available at the door the night of the show.092123 OCTOBERFEST! CTOBERFEST! Milwaukee icon Pat McCurdy has been entertaining audiences in Wisconsin, the Midwest, and across the nation for decades. He brings his unique style of improvisational comedy, music and audience interaction to venues large and small. Pat consistently fills up venues and festivals with his fans, known as "Patheads”. They are very enthusiastic, and many know every word of his songs. "Patheads" are fans that have seen him dozens of times, singing and dancing along to every song. It's a fun show for all. For advance tickets visit hap2it.com, call 262-564-8800 or stop in at 1420 63rd St., Kenosha • M-F 10am - 4pm 5125 6th Ave. • Kenosha 092123 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 • 7:30PM PAT McCURDY DT2023-2

Regular readers of this column know that one of the messages I preach is this: "You have every right to file a claim for any kind of Social Security benefit you think you might be eligible for." Even though I deliver that message often, I sometimes worry that it falls on deaf ears. But two emails I got this week helped me to realize that at least some readers are paying attention. And these emails really boosted my spirits. Here they are. "Dear Tom, I'd like to thank you for the article you wrote a while back concerning what divorced women need to know about Social Security. It gave me the idea to call the Social Security Administration to see if I qualified for benefits under my exhusband's account, since he had recently passed away and I'm over full retirement age. The phone rep told me I couldn't get anything more. But I took your advice from another column and insisted on applying anyway. It took two months for my scheduled phone interview. They asked me a lot of questions and then told me that I did qualify and that I would be able to get extra benefits on my ex's Social Security account, just as you had said. The day after the call, I brought my original marriage and divorce documents to the local SS office and signed some forms. And soon my extra benefits will be on the way. Your knowledge and willingness to share it are touching more lives and helping more people than you realize. Thank you again." Gosh, that email almost brought tears to my eyes. And then later the same day, I got this email. "Hi Tom, Thank you, thank you, thank you! Because of you, I'm now getting an extra $500 per month in widow's benefits. Here is the story. My husband died earlier this year. He was 80 years old. He had started his benefits at age 70, so he was getting the extra bonus for delaying his benefits until that age. I am 78, and my own benefit is smaller than his, so I thought I would get bumped up to his higher rate. But when I called the SSA's 800 number, I was told that I could only get his full retirement age benefit, not his age 70 rate. I told him that you had written a column in which you said that widow's get the age 70 benefit. He told me I can't believe what I read in newspapers. And the call ended. When I got home, just by coincidence, I saw one of your other columns that said I should insist on filing for benefits. So I called the SSA back and demanded to file a widow's claim. The phone rep reluctantly let me do it. And lo and behold, today I got a letter in the mail from the SSA telling me I am due an extra $502 per month in widow's benefits. If you are ever in Tucson, look me up and I will buy you lunch!" Geez, I'm almost tempted to fly to Tucson just to get that free lunch. And I'd like to hear more of this lady's story about her experiences with the Social Security Administration. Surprisingly, just a few weeks ago I wrote a column in which I pointed out that, based on reader feedback, most times people get good service from the SSA. However, I also pointed out in that column that I learned from readers' comments that SSA reps handle routine cases very well, but they sometimes mess up when a situation is a bit out of the normal. So, if you are ever in that situation where an SSA rep tells you one thing, but you are not sure he or she is right, let me repeat this message: INSIST ON FILING A CLAIM. It's your legal right. And by doing so, you accomplish two things. One, you will get a legal decision about your eligibility for benefits, and not just one Social Security clerk's opinion. And two, you will have appeal rights. In other words, if your claim is denied, and you still are not satisfied, you can ask that your claim be reviewed. When I started working for the SSA back in the early 1970s, it was drilled into us almost from day one of our training class that people had every right to file for any benefit they think they might be due and that it was our job to help them file such claims. And in fact, the staffing of any Social Security field office was determined, in part, by the number of claims taken. So there was that extra incentive to help people file claims for benefits: More claims meant more staff. It was as simple as that. But based on the number of complaints I get from readers who tell me that they are discouraged from filing for benefits, I'm guessing that staffing procedure doesn't exist anymore at the SSA. That's too bad. Before I end today's column, I'm going to address a related issue. Many readers are always telling me they don't like filing for benefits at a local Social Security office because they are worried the claims-taking rep (who possibly could be somewhat new in the position) won't do a good job calculating the correct benefit amount. But you don't have to worry about that. Social Security benefit calculations are not done in local Social Security offices. They are done by the SSA's national computer system, which has a remarkable record of accuracy when it comes to figuring out someone's proper monthly Social Security check. So, whether you file for benefits online, in person at an SSA office or via the agency's toll free number (800-772- 1213), your claim ends up in the same place -- once again, in the SSA's national computer system. And you can rest assured you will get the benefits you are due. This gets me thinking back to my own pioneer days (in the early 1970s) working for the SSA. Back then, we did calculate many benefits in the local SSA office. Fortunately, there was a category of employee whose job it was to know SSA benefit calculations inside and out. So, they would figure the benefit amount, transcribe the information onto a special "award" form, and we claims-taking personnel would sign the form confirming and authorizing the payment. I remember many times just crossing my fingers, saying a little prayer and signing the form. Fortunately, these calculation technicians were almost always right and 99% of our clients got paid correctly. social security When in Doubt -- File a Claim with Tom Margenau If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has the answer. Contact him 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. 12 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 OPPORTUNITY 061523 Comfortable Housing Pay Only 30% of Gross Income for Rent! 1 Bedroom, Heat, Appliances Call Reilly-Joseph Company for an application today! (414) 271-4116 www.lowincomerentalsmilwaukee.com Washington Court Apartments Ages 62+ 5101 Wright Avenue Racine, WI 53406

Dear Amy: I’m writing about my 20- year-old granddaughter. She didn't get along with her father at home, and asked to move in with me. She was having emotional problems and even at one point tried to end her life. She was also diagnosed with juvenile arthritis. You can't really tell except once in a while, when she says she's in pain. Because she cried that she was having problems with her dad, I allowed her to temporarily move in. She promptly quit college and her job. She sleeps away most of the day. She has been here for a year. She uses every excuse you can think of not to do anything with her life, although she recently did get a parttime job. She only comes home when she feels like it (a few nights a week). Her bedroom is wall-towall clothes, dirty dishes, etc. I always used that room for my other grandchildren to stay over. Now, none of them want to stay with me. I'm 71 years old, have worked all my life, and am now retired and struggling to get by. I love my granddaughter, but I don't know how much drama and negativity I can take. Since I have lived alone for the past 20 years, I have gotten used to being alone. I enjoy my privacy. I've told my daughter all of this, but she still doesn't want her daughter to move back home. She doesn't seem to care. Am I wrong in wanting her to move out? Please help me know how to handle this? – Concerned Grandmother Dear Concerned: You are not wrong to want your granddaughter to move out. It’s your house, your life – and her mess. I think you should take a careful and dispassionate look at how this arrangement has benefitted your granddaughter. Since living with you, she has quit college, quit her job, and is living in her own filth. I’d say that it’s not going very well. You’re the functioning adult, here. Your granddaughter has two parents she may need to bounce back to for housing. She is not without resources. Sit down with her. Tell her that you love her and that you were happy to provide her with a place to lay her head when she needed it. And tell her that it is time for her to develop a plan to move out. Give her a reasonable and firm deadline, discuss housing solutions with her, let her parents know that the clock is ticking, and very calmly endure whatever temporary drama she introduces into the process. Tell her, “You can do this.” And then make sure she does. Dear Amy: I am 82 years old, in fairly good shape, independent, and retired from a nursing career. My children are adults. My son and one of my daughters each have a dog. I am the official dogsitter, and it clouds my happiness. I don't want to be selfish, but I want peace in the years I have left. I have been visiting one dog every day for the past six years while my daughter is at work. She is afraid the dog will be lonely! I have also visited my son's dog very often. They both travel a lot for leisure and here I am, ready to watch the little critters. My question is: how do I stop the run-up sitting and get my life back? Please, help me! – Helpless in Montana Dear Helpless: Six years of daily visits? So the dog won’t be lonely? Sigh. I assume that at one point, many years ago, you agreed to this. Perhaps you even enjoyed your daily commitment for a while, or pretended that you did. You are 82. One of the privileges of age is the right to live your life the way you want to, and to truthfully state your preferences. Try a version of this: “I’m letting you know that I’m retiring at the end of the month. This should give you time to arrange for daycare for the dog.” If you can plan a twoweek vacation starting at that time, it would drive the message home. ask amy Granddaughter’s life is too messy You can email Amy Dickinson at [email protected] or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook. seniors edition FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 SMART READER September 21, 2023 13 $ 20 OFF SR091423 YOUR CERTIFIED GM SERVICE CENTER... WE USE GENUINE GM PARTS WE ALSO SERVICE ALL VEHICLE MAKES AND MODELS PALMEN BUICK GMC CADILLAC Cannot be combined with any other coupons. See advisor for details. Expires 10/21/23. 7110 74th PL, Kenosha, WI • (262) 694-1500 “Located next to Menards” SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN’S LARGEST TIRE DEALERSHIP! Transmission or Coolant Flush 10% OFF PALMEN BUICK GMC CADILLAC Cannot be combined with any other coupons. See advisor for details. Expires 10/21/23. Parts & Labor on any add-on GM Accessory $ 10 OFF PALMEN BUICK GMC CADILLAC Cannot be combined with any other coupons. See advisor for details. Expires 10/21/23. Oil Change & Lubricant $ 2495 PALMEN BUICK GMC CADILLAC Cannot be combined with any other coupons. See advisor for details. Expires 10/21/23. 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14 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 books Laura Meckler never intended to write a book, but then she stumbled on a story about racial equity that she didn’t want to stop reporting. The narrative unfolds in her Ohio hometown of Shaker Heights – a Cleveland suburb that over the decades has been lauded for its racial integration efforts. Did that lead to racial equity within the city’s public schools, though? Ms. Meckler, a national education reporter for The Washington Post, started to explore that question in a story published in 2019. “When I was done with that, I just had this feeling like there was more to say,” she says. “Even though the story that ran in the Post was quite long, I still felt like I was barely scratching the surface on so many elements.” Her first book, Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity, finishes what she started with the initial newspaper story. Ms. Meckler spoke recently with the Monitor. Your book digs deep into how housing policies shaped Shaker Heights and, in some cases, encouraged residents to band together for the sake of racial integration. Why is that so important? Where we go to school depends on where we live, and the diversity of our schools very often depends on the diversity of our neighborhoods. So these two things cannot be separated. I think, innately, people understand how tightly those are tied. The way it usually works is a couple gets married, and maybe they’re living in the city or they’re living in an apartment somewhere. Then they decide that they’re going to move. They’re thinking about having kids or they have young kids. Where they decide to move is always informed, for most people, by what the schools are like. You write about two school systems within one: “Black and white students were together – but also apart.” Given that scene, what would true racial equity look like in practice? In Shaker Heights, you have something that most of the country does not, which is this economic diversity and racial diversity within one school district. Some people are paying much higher taxes, and that’s benefiting people who have higher needs. That is a huge step toward equity. But what this book tries to do is look at it the next level up, which is what’s happening inside those walls once everybody gets into the school system together. And true equity looks like everybody having the same opportunities for success. There are a lot of systemic barriers built into schools everywhere – and in Shaker – that have stood in the way of that happening. What are examples of those barriers? There are issues of implicit bias. I heard so many stories from Black parents and students who had tales of assumptions being made about them. Not knowing about an advanced class that was an option. Being discouraged Looking for a mystery this fall? These whodunits will charm. Ever since four friends grabbed a Great Dane and a box of Scooby Snacks, and took off in a green van, part of the fun of mysteries has been solving them together. No one says “Jinkies!” or wears an ascot, but the Thursday Murder Club did adopt a dog named Alan. The club of retirees – “a former nurse, a former spy, a former trades union official and an occasionally still-practising psychiatrist” – has totally charmed readers over four books now. When an officer scoffs that real policing is not like Netflix, Elizabeth, the former spy, replies, “Oh, I’ve lived a life that would make Netflix blush.” In “The Last Devil To Die,” Richard Osman’s fourth in the “Thursday Murder Club” series, it is just after Christmas. (The retired nurse, Joyce, received the gift of a flask from her daughter, engraved with the words, “Merry Christmas, Mum! Here’s to no murders next year.”) Alas, the antiques dealer who helped them with their last case has been shot, and a box with heroin worth $100,000 is missing. “First rule of the antiques game,” a professor tells them. “Never fall in love with things.” “Sound advice for life,” says Ibrahim, the psychiatrist. The officer in charge appears far more concerned about the missing heroin than about their murdered friend, and so Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron, and Ibrahim are on the case to ensure that justice will be done. The cause of justice also requires saving another resident of Cooper’s Chase retirement community from an online romance fraud, even though the gentleman in question very much does not wish to be saved. While crimes can be solved, some life situations are beyond easy resolution. Elizabeth and her husband, who’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, are traveling the path of his diminished memories side by side. I cannot think of another series with a more moving exploration of love after a lifetime together, and “The Last Devil To Die” reduced me to tears at more than one point. “Our memories are no less real than whatever moment in which we happen to be living,” one character observes. Two other series that also keep getting stronger with every book are the Perveen Mistry series by Sujata Massey and the Sparks & Bainbridge mysteries by Allison Montclair. Both authors delve into women’s rights in two different eras: India in the 1920s and Britain after World War II. O x f o r d - e d u c a t e d Perveen Mistry is based on India’s first female solicitor. As a woman, she cannot legally appear before a judge in court. However, she has built a career helping other women whose faith or circumstances keep them in isolation. In “The Mistress of Bhatia House,” Perveen finds herself championing two women: a nanny, who has been jailed for drinking tea someone claims is an abortifacient, and India’s first female obstetriciangynecologist, both of whom find themselves suspected of poisoning a rich man. Perveen’s parents have been her stalwart support, but as she grows in independence, she finds herself at odds with her beloved father and sister-in-law. While the book is rich in historical detail, it also has immense resonance in a post-Dobbs United States. Gwen Bainbridge, meanwhile, has traveled a lonely road since her husband was killed in World War II and her upper-class in-laws had the grieving widow declared insane. She and Iris Sparks, a former spy grappling with her wartime role, have worked to build their matchmaking service. “We’re all a little bit lost,” Gwen tells someone. “We help people find each other again.” When “The Lady From Burma“ opens, Gwen’s case before the Court of Lunacy is a week away – the one that will allow her to regain control of her finances and custody of her cherished son. Her lawyer, meanwhile, is acting peculiarly, and the duo’s sideline in solving murders appears to harm Gwen’s sanity in the eyes of the Master of Lunacy. “Who could be afraid of me? Other than me?” Gwen thinks when a legal secretary eyes her in horror and leaves. “The Lady From Burma” is so tied to Gwen’s fate and events from previous books that I would not recommend starting the series here. However, that gives readers the pleasure of several books’ worth of witty banter between two stalwart women working to repair their lives after war took so much from them. Appealing crime-solvers come in all shapes and guises. Author Ann Cleeves already created two indelible detectives with Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez, and two unforgettable settings in Northumberland and the Shetland Islands. To that, she adds a third, Matthew Venn and the North Devon coast. The prematurely gray and usually besuited Matthew notes that “one of his annual appraisals had said he lacked charisma. He’d seen that as a compliment, almost a badge of honor. ... He thought that policing was about intellectual rigour and honesty, not personality.” Jeremy Rosco, on the other hand, made a point of charming everyone – until he ended up stabbed in the bottom of a boat. “He was a hero. Well, almost,” Matthew says of the dead sailor and adventurer in “The Raging Storm.” As with “The Long Call,” the detective’s first outing, the case brings Matthew back in contact with the religious sect that cast him out, and the mother who repudiated him for being gay. Gary Thorn in “The Clementine Complex,” by Bob Mortimer, is also aware that he is not the life of the party. “I often think it must be nice to believe that your company entrances people. Must be a great confidence builder,” the shy legal assistant tells readers. Gary, whose closest friend is Grace, a retiree who is even lonelier than he is, avoids social media. “I don’t see the point of it; I’ve got enough strangers in my life as it is.” He also doesn’t see the point of books – although he makes an exception for the novel left behind in a pub by a young woman with impressive bangs. The book’s title is “The Clementine Complex,” and it features a squirrel riding a bike with tangerine segments for wheels. Squirrels and ducks are occasional motifs in the comedic noir in which Gary is trapped. While the animals don’t talk, Gary does occasionally give himself sage advice – “I would think around that decision a bit deeper than you obviously have” – through a squirrel living near his apartment. Clever, if occasionally selfconsciously so, “The Clementine Complex” allows Gary’s good heart to win us over. By Yvonne Zipp more on next page Hometown help: What one author discovered about racial equity in schools

FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 SMART READER September 21, 2023 15 when somebody else might have been encouraged. There are also institutional barriers. Some parents have jobs that allow them to stop by the school more often. Other people might be working more than one job or be so exhausted from being on their feet all day that they just don’t have the energy to go into something at school. The book also examines the school district’s more recent “detracking” efforts, which put students of mixed abilities in the same classroom. From your observations, what was the key to making that work? I’m not sure we yet know whether it was successful or not. Truthfully, I think that the detracking initiative was pretty poorly implemented. One of the lessons actually from the detracking initiative is that if you’re going to try to do some hard things like this, you really need to do it very carefully and in a way that communicates with people and brings people along. You’re never going to win over everybody. To the extent that it did work, though, ... it was because of the commitment of those teachers, I think, who were working really hard to do differentiated teaching. So, for instance, one person might reflect on a novel by making a podcast about it. Somebody else might write a paper. Somebody else might deliver a speech. Someone else might do a graphic novel-type drawing. You note that Shaker Heights is far from perfect, but it’s still trying. What can other communities learn from the city’s racial equity efforts? If this is something that’s important to you – to try to create a more equitable community and a more equitable system – it takes work and it takes commitment. You have to sustain that commitment over a long period of time. There is no one magic bullet, perfect solution. I concluded that this is really a story that’s more hopeful. Even if these problems don’t get solved, the fact that they’re still working on them and pushing the ball forward ... that is meaningful, and it puts them ahead of a lot of this country. By Jackie Valley New in bookstres: 'The Longmire Defense' Author Craig Johnson has announced his next Wyoming-set mystery novel, The Longmire Defense, has been released Sept. 5. "Involved in a search & rescue in the Bighorn Mountains, Walt Longmire finds himself on a rock outcropping where he remembers his father telling him about the first time he saw a man die," the writer said in a synopsis shared to social media. "In the late forties, Bill Sutherland is killed but the investigation is stymied because no member of the elk camp was carrying the caliber rifle that killed the Wyoming State Accountant," the summary continued. "When Dog discovers the weapon, it catapults the Sheriff of Absaroka County on an investigation with ties to a hidden mineral fund that may be worth billions. The embodiment of the fair-minded detective, Walt is pushed to his ethical boundaries when he discovers the rifle in question belonged to none other than Lloyd Longmire, his grandfather." Johnson's best-selling Walt Longmire books inspired the TV series, Longmire, which initially ran 2012-17 and remains popular in re-runs. Robert Taylor played the titular lawman. Longmire Days, a festival celebrating the novels and TV show, is held every year in Wyoming. Dream Town continued from page 14 The fall of Saigon split families apart. Hers was among them Beth Nguyen was 8 months old when her father, uncles, and grandmother whisked her and her sister out of Saigon, Vietnam, the day before the city fell to the North Vietnamese army in 1975. After stops in three refugee camps, they eventually settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In her new memoir, Owner of a Lonely Heart, Nguyen marvels that “so much of my life hearkens back to a time that I can’t remember and didn’t choose.” The powerful, searching narrative probes two momentous consequences of her quick exit from Vietnam, during which her mother was left behind: She grew up as a refugee in America, and she didn’t see her mother again until she was 19 years old. “Over the course of my life I have known less than twenty-four hours with my mother,” the author explains at the outset. Those hours elapsed during six visits in 26 years. They took place in Boston, where Nguyen’s mother was resettled after she herself became a refugee, a decade after her daughters did. Nguyen remembers her father abruptly telling her when she was in fifth grade, that her mother, about whom they rarely spoke, had come to America. She reflects upon why she and her sister asked so few questions about this unexpected mention of their absent parent. Part of it had to do with Nguyen’s distant relationship with her father, a taciturn and quick-tempered man with whom the author had difficulty connecting. But Nguyen believes that there was another reason as a child she didn’t pursue more information about her mother. “It was troublesome enough being Vietnamese in our conservative white town,” she notes. “There was already so much to conceal from our white friends, so many ways to pretend that we were just like them.” Being a refugee was an isolating experience for the author. “Refugees don’t fit the romantic immigrant narrative that’s so dominant in America,” she observes. “They are a more obvious, uncomfortable reminder of war and loss.” She felt, as she elegantly puts it, “both too seen and unseen.” In an especially penetrating chapter, a version of which appeared in The New Yorker, she describes how her given name, Bich – common in Vietnam but an albatross for her in her adopted country – exacerbated feelings of shame that she came to associate with the refugee status she could not shake, even after becoming an American citizen. “As Bich, I am a foreigner who makes people a little uncomfortable,” she writes. “As Beth, I am never complimented on my English.” (The author’s earlier books – a memoir, “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner,” and two novels – were published under the name Bich Minh Nguyen; she started going by Beth in her 30s.) As a child, Nguyen didn’t lack mother figures. When she was 3, her father married a woman whom she is close to and calls “Mom”; it was her stepmother who helped foster her love of books with regular trips to the local public library. Her indomitable grandmother lived with the family, providing the stability and love that Nguyen didn’t get from her father. She was, Nguyen writes, “the life force of our family.” But it is Nguyen’s cautious and halting connection to the woman she calls her “Boston mother” that gives this aching memoir its shape. Their visits are always brief; the author often spends considerably more time getting to and from her mother’s apartment than she spends inside it. Nguyen asks her mother about Vietnam, her past, and, especially, how she felt on the day in 1975 when she discovered that her children were gone. Most often, Nguyen’s questions are dismissed with clipped responses or a wave of the hand. They aren’t close. As the author writes, “Our histories had separated long ago and had never truly met again.” By Barbara Spindel PRINT & E-BOOKS NONFICTION PRINT & E-BOOKS FICTION 1. Holly (King) 2. Things We Left Behind (Score) 3. Payback in Death (Robb) 4. Fourth Wing (Yarros) 5. The River We Remember (Krueger) 6. Tom Lake (Patchett) 7. The Longmire Defense (Johnson) 8. Tom Clancy: Weapons Grade (Bentley) 9. The Housemaid (McFadden) 10. Assistant to the Villain (Maehrer) 1. Killers of the Flower Moon (Grann) 2. Outlive (Attia/Gifford) 3. The Body Keeps the Score (van der Kolk) 4. The Coming Wave (Suleyman/Bhaskar) 5. Why We Love Baseball (Posnanski) 6. The Last Politician (Foer) 7. The Wager (Grann) 8. American Prometheus (Bird/Sherwin) 9. Necessary Trouble (Faust) 10. I’m Glad My Mom Died (McCurdy) NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLERS Craig Johnson South Vietnamese refugees arrive at a Saigon dock in March 1975, following a mass exodus from the northern provice as the North Vietnamese army advanced.

16 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 Staying up late comes naturally to some folks, whether they're working or relaxing deep into the night. But being a night owl might come at a cost to one's health. People who are night owls have a higher risk than early birds of becoming diabetic, a new study has found. "We found that night owls were at 72% increased risk of developing diabetes when we compare them to early birds," said lead researcher Dr. Sina Kianersi, a postdoctoral research fellow with Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. A large part of that is lifestyle, the researchers found. "We found that night owls are in general more likely to have an overall unhealthy lifestyle," Kianersi said. "They were more likely to have a poor diet, to have an unhealthy weight and be less physically active. They were more likely to be current smokers or to drink alcohol in high quantities or even have poor sleep." But even when taking those lifestyle differences into account, night owls continued to have a higher diabetes risk, Kianersi said. "This increased risk dropped from 72% to 19% when we adjusted and accounted for their lifestyles," he said. "There's 19% that's not due to their lifestyle, and this could have public health and clinical implications." For this study, the investigators analyzed data for nearly 64,000 female nurses who participated in the long-term Nurses' Health Study, which collected their health data from 2009 to 2017. The data included the nurses' self-reported chronotype, or the extent to which they perceived themselves to be an evening person or a morning person. About 11% of the nurses said they were night owls, while 35% were early birds. The rest fell somewhere in between. The results showed that, in general, a healthy lifestyle will take a hit from being a night owl. Only 6% of nurses with the healthiest lifestyles were night owls, but 25% of those with the unhealthiest lifestyles were evening people, the study found. However, the research also found that if a person's work schedule matched their night owl proclivities, the increased risk of diabetes declined. In fact, the increased diabetes risk was only apparent in those night owls who had worked less than 10 years of night shifts in the past, the investigators found. "The association between being a night owl and having an increased diabetes risk is stronger among people who have done less night-shift work," Kianersi said. The results could mean that there are some people who have a genetic predisposition to being night owls, and that trying to go against that proclivity could be bad for their health, he added. "For instance, we could come up with policies that advocate and are more suitable for flexible work hours or personalized work hours," Kianersi suggested. There are around 350 genetic markers that have been tied to the chronotype of humans, he noted, and this research suggests that understanding those genetics could help protect the health of night owls. "This is something that that needs further research to see and understand if these genes are really playing a part in diabetes development," Kianersi said. The study findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. On top of the genetics, more research needs to be done regarding the lifestyle impacts of a person's chronotype, said Kehuan Lin, a doctoral student in epidemiology with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston. The findings "may imply that lifestyle may act as a potential mediator in the c h r o n o t y p e - d i a b e t e s association," said Lin, who co-wrote an editorial about the new study. "However, we hope to emphasize that it still remains unclear why there are such strong associations between chronotype and lifestyle. In other words, is chronotype a causal risk factor, or does it simply reflect the clustering of lifestyle and other factors?" she said. "For example, students experiencing heavy workloads might report an evening chronotype because they tend to work and are more alert at night. Simultaneously, they might also experience increased stress and feelings of being semi-depressed, have trouble sleeping and adopt a bad lifestyle," Lin continued. "Years down the line, if these stressful conditions ease, they may transition towards morning or intermediate chronotype and have improved lifestyle behaviors," Lin said. "It is possible that life course circumstances serve as a common cause for both chronotype and lifestyle." If someone's worried about the health effects of being a night owl, Kianersi said, some clinics and doctors do offer chronotherapy, "which basically is modifying one's chronotype to be more suitable for their environment, to be more suitable for their life schedule." However, it's a lot harder to change your chronotype than it is to eat better, exercise and get plenty of good sleep, Kianersi noted. "Chronotype definitely needs a doctor's attention," he said. "It is more complicated, and I think one of the implications or one of the general messages of our work for night owls is that now that they understand that they might have increased risk of diabetes, they might want to make sure that they stick even harder to maintaining a healthy lifestyle." By Dennis Thompson Staying up late may raise risk of diabetes A new study found that night owls were at 72% increased risk of developing diabetes when compared to early birds. as police officers visit high school career fairs, college softball tournaments, community meetings, and various local and regional events. Ms. Rivera was one of over 100 prospects attending the SAPD’s first hiring expo for women in October 2022. The event – scheduled again this fall – introduces women to the department and application process. Several months later, Ms. Rivera participated in the department’s first female training class. The event was a critical step, says the SAPD’s Sergeant Lopez, because potential female recruits often cite physical agility as their key barrier in the application process. Designed to help future female officers pass the department’s agility test, the spring event drew nearly 50 women. The training event – including a 165-pound dummy drag and a sprint to a 6-foot wall climb – was a vital step for Ms. Rivera. “It was an important way ... to give me a gauge, showing the things I need to work on,” she says. She needs to concentrate on mastering a 1 ½-mile run in under 14 minutes and upper body workouts to succeed at an obstacle course and wall climb. Not just recruiting but changing culture In Santa Ana, commitment to the 30X30 Initiative is three-pronged, with education, recruitment, and retention as top priorities. Educating women to see themselves in policing roles is key. Female Santa Ana officers at the job fair and training class discussed careers oneon-one with potential recruits. “We have our department ... addressing any hesitation, answering questions from women,” Sergeant Lopez says. “They get to know us and some of our backgrounds, and we help them address certain characteristics they may possess that are useful in law enforcement.” Meanwhile, notes Chief Gammelgard, “you can’t just recruit – you must design a culture where women are an important part of the whole.” With that in mind, the SAPD is revising recruitment materials, says Commander Ponce de Leon: “We want you to be who you are and remain who you are. So we must transition to a more modern way of describing what we do for a living.” The SAPD also positions its officers as role models. “They need to see that this female officer ‘grew up just like me and is a police officer today – and that could be me,’” says Commander Ponce de Leon, who had few role models herself when she joined the force 21 years ago. Ms. Rivera, for example, says she’s been impressed with Sergeant Lopez’s determination and strength of character in their many interactions. Sergeant Lopez, in turn, says Ms. Rivera exhibits the grit and motivation necessary to complete the extensive application and review process, which for Ms. Rivera is a bit longer now because she’s recovering from a hip flexor procedure. The recruitment team recently spoke to competitors at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, a Southern California softball tournament attended by the nation’s top women’s teams. Officers often speak to Marines stationed at nearby Camp Pendleton, visit commercial gyms, and pursue career fairs and classroom speaking opportunities. The department offers a QR Code to potential recruits via social media that connects them to recruitment officers, beginning a dialogue that continues online and in person. “They begin to see police not as the enemy, but people who are here to help,” says Commander Jose Gonzalez. “It plants a seed that there’s a career option there, that being a member of law enforcement is an honorable and notable profession.” As a future SAPD officer, Ms. Rivera says she hopes to help change the department’s culture – and to treat citizens with the professionalism, respect, and objectivity her family experienced from the lone female officer who assisted that difficult night of her brother’s arrest. By Cathi Douglas continued from page 5 Police reform health

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I just turned 40 and had my annual physical, which included a large panel of blood tests. I was told that I have metabolic syndrome and could develop diabetes. I was told to limit my sugar intake. Can you explain more about the condition and how I can avoid diabetes? ANSWER: When a person is diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, it means he or she has several conditions that, if left untreated, significantly raise the risk of developing diabetes. Metabolic syndrome also increases the risk of heart and blood vessel problems. Treatment for metabolic syndrome typically focuses on healthy lifestyle changes. Although the specific definition health care professionals use may vary somewhat, metabolic syndrome generally includes having three or more of the following characteristics: a larger waistline, high triglyceride level, low HDL cholesterol (also called “good” cholesterol), high blood pressure and a blood glucose level that is higher than normal. High blood sugar, also known as blood glucose, is the hallmark sign of diabetes. When a blood sample is taken after a person fasts overnight and his or her blood sugar measures 80 to 100 milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dL, that level is considered normal. A fasting blood sugar measurement of 126 mg/dL or higher on two separate tests is considered diabetes. The range between the two — 100 to 125 mg/dL — is referred to as prediabetes. The blood sugar level of people who have metabolic syndrome often falls into the prediabetes range. Treatment for metabolic syndrome usually focuses on three areas of lifestyle modification: • Weight loss • Exercise • Dietary changes Many people who have metabolic syndrome are overweight. Getting to and staying at a healthy weight can make a big difference in reducing the risk of health problems associated with metabolic syndrome. Losing weight also may help lower blood pressure, blood sugar and triglyceride levels. But weight loss that results in a reduced waist size is important, too, as studies have shown that carrying a lot of weight around your abdomen raises the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and other complications of metabolic syndrome. To reduce the risk, doctors generally recommend a waistline of less than 35 inches for women and less than 40 inches for men. Regular exercise can help with weight loss, as well as improve some of the medical concerns associated with metabolic syndrome. A good goal is 30 minutes or more every day of activity that is moderately intense, such as brisk walking, swimming or biking. Long term, healthy eating is a crucial component of treatment for metabolic syndrome. It may be worthwhile for you to speak with a dietitian about a specific diet. Two diets that often are recommended for people with metabolic syndrome are the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and the Mediterranean diet. These diets limit unhealthy fats and focus on fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains. Beyond weight loss, studies have shown that both diets offer essential health benefits for people who have components of metabolic syndrome. Finally, do not smoke. Smoking cigarettes can make many of the health complications of metabolic syndrome worse. Smoking also can significantly raise the risk for other illnesses and diseases. Depending upon your personal situation, if lifestyle changes are not enough to control metabolic syndrome, medication also may be part of your treatment plan. Medicine to control blood pressure, manage triglycerides and lower blood sugar can be useful in treating some cases of metabolic syndrome. I would recommend that you follow up with your health care specialist on an annual basis and repeat blood work to monitor your progress and adjust your approach as necessary. — Robert Rizza, M.D., Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota Mayo Clinic Metabolic syndrome and lifestyle changes health Bolstering the notion that a strong body equals a strong mind, new research indicates that the more inactive seniors are, the higher their risk for dementia. The finding stems from a look at the onset of dementia among nearly 50,000 Brits. All were at least 60 years old when information about typical daily activity routines was entered into the UK Biobank database at some point between 2006 and 2010. Their risk for dementia was then tracked for an average of about seven years. "We looked into whether sitting too much can increase the risk of getting dementia," said lead author David Raichlen, a professor of biological sciences and anthropology at the University of Southern California. "Turns out, if you're sedentary for over 10 hours a day, there's a higher risk." Compared to spending nine hours a day on the proverbial couch, 10 hours of inactivity were associated with an 8% higher risk for dementia among seniors. And more inactivity was even riskier: Seniors who clocked 12 hours a day of inactivity -- be it at one stretch, or over 24 hours -- saw their risk for dementia spike by 63%. Those who sat around for 15 hours a day had a stunning 320% increase in dementia risk. The study doesn't prove inactivity causes dementia, Raichlen stressed. It could be that other issues that might lead to inactivity -- such as poor physical health or even the undiagnosed early stages of dementia itself -- could be the true culprit when it comes to the increased dementia risk. But if inactivity is linked to higher dementia risk, why might that be? "It is possible that reduced blood flow to the brain can help explain these results," Raichlen said. Or it could owe to the fact that inactivity is also associated with a higher risk for cardiometabolic illnesses, including heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and/or liver disease. "[There is] definitely more work to do to better understand the mechanisms underlying these associations," he said. Participants in the study were residents of England, Scotland and Wales (average age: 68). None had signs of dementia when basic health information was gathered at enrollment. Between 2013 and 2015, they wore an activity tracker on their wrist around the clock for three to seven days. By 2021, just over 400 men and women had been diagnosed with dementia. The team pointed to prior research indicating that, on average, Americans are sedentary for about 9.5 hours a day. This study found no evidence that this typical American inactivity is linked to any uptick in dementia risk. But once sedentary behavior averaged 10 hours or more, seniors did appear to have an increased risk of dementia. After years of inactivity, might getting moving turn that around? "It's hard to say based on our dataset," Raichlen said. "In my opinion, it is never too late to sit less and move more. But we do not have the data yet to say whether there are key times in life where sitting is more strongly linked to dementia risk." Claire Sexton is senior director of scientific programs and outreach at the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago. She expressed little surprise after reviewing the findings. "There have been a number of studies that have previously reported an association between sedentary time and risk of dementia," Sexton said. "However, reports that did not find an association have also been published. Therefore, additional research on possible associations is welcome." She cautioned that while the pool of participants enrolled in the study was large, it may not be representative of all American seniors. And, she added, while regular physical activity is key to overall health, it "cannot be viewed in isolation." The role that activity may play in terms of dementia risk "must be considered in combination with one's total behavior and lifestyle," Sexton said. That includes "healthy diet, education, head injury, sleep, mental health and the health of your heart/cardiovascular system and other key bodily systems." By Alan Mozes Sedentary behavior linked to higher risk of dementia Compared to spending nine hours a day on the proverbial couch, 10 hours of inactivity were associated with an 8% higher risk for dementia among seniors, a new study found. FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 SMART READER September 21, 2023 17

18 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 At least most people are conscientious enough to preface an unqualified medical diagnosis with, “Well, I’m not a doctor, but…” What follows is generally their personal take on a range of ailments related to aging that have zero credibility, based on assumption, mere guessing. Expect and brace yourself to hear this more often. Because America is getting older, faster and without a broad-based understanding of gerontology in the public consciousness. Just think about the American reliance on driving and what that means for the future, with so many communities lacking public transportation options. How will our elderly get around, to the grocery or drug store, to a doctor’s appointment? After all, not everyone has a chauffeur or family members at their beck and call. Consider how much our housing stock is split level homes, often without a bathroom, bedroom and kitchen on one floor. It’s a numbing proposition when you start to consider the multitude of ways that the country is out of kilter with what demographers have been warning of for decades, “the silver tsunami.” What does this mean for politics? In July and again last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell froze while speaking. This happened on camera, which meant the episodes were widely disseminated and then discussed relentlessly. At 81, McConnell is an elder statesman, to say the least. It’s not that the incidents aren’t concerning. He did seem incredibly frail and unable to momentarily perform as one is expected, as the leader of a major party. The senator’s insistence that he plans to finish both his term at the helm of the Senate and also his term in the chamber didn’t calm anyone’s fears for the state of his health. His statement seemed more of a dodge, the type of thing that a crisis consultant likely scripted, along with careful instructions not to take any follow-up questions. But aside from McConnell’s personal situation, it’s past time to underscore the inescapable. Aging is a bi-partisan matter. And while it is McConnell in the glare for The ‘silver tsunami’ hitting our society and politics with Mary Sanchez Readers can reach Mary Sanchez at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @msanchezcolumn. “When people lack teachers, their tendencies are not corrected; when they do not have ritual and moral principles, then their lawlessness is not controlled.” (XunZi – ancient Chinese philosopher) Walking along a street in Madrid in the 1970s after a late-night supper, I asked a local resident if there was much crime in the city. When he replied, “hardly any,” I asked why? “No repeaters,” he said. Dictator Francisco Franco was still running Spain and dictatorships can get away with things a constitutional republic cannot, but Franco was on to something the U.S. seems to have forgotten. Swift and certain punishment is a major deterrent to people who might be thinking about breaking laws. Of all the explanations for the rise in crime in America, none may be more accurate than the lack of swift and certain punishment. The Daily Mail has summarized some of the bigger stores that have closed due to looting and the failure of district attorneys to punish them and other criminals. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned last December that thefts were at record levels. With thieves undeterred, McMillon ordered the closing of 17 stores in nine states. Target CFO Michael Fiddelke has said he expects the company will have lost $600 million to theft by the end of the year. Four of its stores in three cities have closed with more likely to come. Macy’s, one of America’s oldest department stores, is also suffering from retail thefts. It closed four stores in the first quarter of this year. Executives have been forced to develop a plan that will close 125 locations because of shoplifting that has seriously reduced company profits. Many small businesses attacked after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers three years ago have not reopened. Most rioters avoided arrest and punishment. On Sept. 9, 1971, at the Attorney General’s Conference on Crime Reduction, John Mitchell, Richard Nixon’s soon to be disgraced attorney general, said this: “I do not hesitate to use the term war, for that is exactly what it is. There is nothing controversial about this war. There is the side of law, justice, honesty, and public safety. And there is the side of lawlessness, dishonesty, human exploitation, and violence. … Through the decade of the 1960s the crime rate in the United States soared. It not only increased, but the increase kept increasing. In the 10 years from 1960 to 1970, serious crime as measured by the FBI Uniform Crime Index rose 176 percent. In some of our largest cities, including the capital of our nation the streets in the heart of the business district were considered by many to be unsafe at night.” That statement is as valid in 2023 as it was in 1971 and yet neither politicians, nor anyone else has been able to reduce it. Why? Part of it, in addition to the lack of swift and certain punishment, is the documented loss of trust in institutions. Then, it was cynicism caused by the Vietnam War and accompanying lies told by military and civilian leaders. The Watergate scandal further eroded trust. Richard Nixon became the only president to resign the office. A larger part is the failure to teach the kind of values, respect and patriotism that were once taught in schools, reinforced by parents and much of society. To paraphrase an ancient biblical proverb, where there is no restraint, the people run wild. We are constantly told almost anything goes, that big corporations are evil and don’t pay their “fair share” in taxes, and that certain people are “entitled” to things they otherwise might not be able to afford, and that others, equally entitled, are presumed to be above the law and free to commit as many crimes as they wish. The result is what we see on the TV news and in newspapers. Mayor Eric Adams recently said New York City is being “ruined” by waves of migrants. The rest of the country may soon follow if lawlessness is not dealt with swiftly and there are no immediate consequences for those who break our laws, including laws pertaining to immigration. What to do about the crime wave with Cal Thomas Readers may email Cal Thomas at [email protected]. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America" my turn Mary Sanchez joins Happenings Q&A on Tue. Oct. 3rd at 9:20am on AM1050 WLIP continues on next page Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) arrives at the U.S. Capitol Building on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Looting and rioting broke out on April 27, 2015, at North and Pennsylvania Avenues where a CVS store was set on fire.

FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 SMART READER September 21, 2023 19 In 1962, the redoubtable Herman Kahn released his follow up to On Thermonuclear War. This book was called Thinking the Unthinkable. Then, the consequences of thermonuclear war were unthinkable. A thermonuclear weapon is 1,000 times more powerful than a nuclear one as fusion produces that much greater energy than fission does. Warheads made of plutonium and not uranium would have made much of the planet uninhabitable for about 24,000 years -- its radioactive half-life. As a thought experiment, what are some of the "unthinkable" scenarios that might be pondered, not merely as an out-ofthe-box exercise, but in discarding the entire box? A just published biography of Tesla/X owner Elon Musk reported that last September, Musk limited Ukraine's use of his Starlink satellite system to prevent Ukraine from attacking Russian targets in Crimea. The book alleged that after speaking to Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, Musk was warned Russia would retaliate with nuclear weapons. Ukraine is entirely dependent on Starlink for GPS, Internet and satellite communications. Certainly for the first time in modern history, a civilian has had the ability to determine the outcome of battles and tactical operations in a war. But Musk does and did. Thinking the unthinkable, are there other areas in which an individual can have such leverage? The U.S. Senate is one such place. Alabama Sen. and former football coach Tommy Tuberville is preventing confirmation of over 300 flag and general officers. Tuberville is trying to end the Pentagon policy of providing out-of-state transportation for service personnel requiring access to reproductive medical care. Aside from the obvious national security implication of not having confirmed officers in positions of authority, the internal damage done to morale when families cannot move to new duty stations and the overall promotion system will be vast. Imagine a collapsing house of cards. That is what is happening to the chainof-command hierarchy. Regarding the service chiefs and the chairman of the joint chiefs, deputies will become "acting," meaning temporary, as the principals retire. The Federal Vacancies Act limits acting status to 210 days. Months from now, the joint chiefs may not be a legally constituted organization. This is absurd, but not even the worst case. Suppose a senator filibusters the budget or the use of a stop-gap continuing resolution. The government would be forced to shut down. Or, by exercising the right of exerting "holds" on appointees, specific defense programs could be halted. The unthinkable here is the prospect of a member of Congress becoming a "useful idiot" manipulated by a foreign government to take action that would harm the United States. The Manchurian Candidate movies portrayed this. However, the Tuberville holds suggest this is no longer unthinkable. Other unthinkable scenarios affect politics. Suppose Donald Trump is convicted and sentenced to jail in the Atlanta case and re-elected president. Georgia law precludes pardons for convicted felons until at least five years have been served. And presidents have no pardon authority for state cases. Everyone knows Joe Biden would be 82 at the time of his re-election. Many are worried about a President Kamala Harris should Biden not be able to serve. But here are some unsettling facts. Eight of 46 presidents have been assassinated or died in office. One, Woodrow Wilson, was incapacitated by a stroke and the Spanish flu for well over a year before his term expired. The unthinkable is if Biden is incapacitated. 2024 is not 1918. Ubiquitous and instantaneous coverage would follow. Imagine the political chaos and turmoil. And think how Trump will react, claiming a second stolen election if he wins the party nomination and loses again. Unthinkable? Finally, the third unthinkable relates to the greatest U.S. economic boom in history occurring from 1922 to '29. Suppose, given the trillions of dollars allocated to infrastructure and other domestic programs, a powerful economic transformation is unleashed in 2024. Stock markets soar; prices contract; wages grow faster than inflation; and the mood in America grows optimistic about the future. Would that automatically elect Biden, despite his age, his son and questions about the fitness of Harris to serve? How would the Republicans respond, given a scenario in which the party could lose both houses of Congress? Would that give Biden a mandate to make even greater changes? Or suppose the reverse occurred. The economy tanked and Republicans won both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Still, one wonders in that case how Trump could govern from prison. Elon Musk, Donald Trump necessitate mulling the unthinkable with Harlan Ullman my turn Dr Harlan Ullman is senior adviser at Washington's Atlantic Council, the prime author of "shock and awe" and the upcoming book "The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD: How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large." Harlan Ullman joins Happenings Q&A on Thu., Oct. 5th at 9:20am on AM1050 WLIP Suppose Donald Trump is convicted and sentenced to jail in the Atlanta case and reelected president. Georgia law precludes pardons for convicted felons until at least five years have been served. And presidents have no pardon authority for state cases. the moment, the next time and there will be another, it could be any number of politicians who fall – some quite literally – under this type of scrutiny. President Joe Biden has begun taking the shorter set of stairs to Air Force One. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein has appeared in a wheelchair for well over a year. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley decided to take a swipe at the elderly in office, definitely an immature move on her part. After McConnell’ second freeze just recently, she made a quip about the Senate being “the most privileged nursing home in the country.” But maybe we can forgive her – she is a longshot in the race for the GOP nomination. And Haley is running in a field of male candidates who often try to out boast or slam one another, as if that is a strength for a politician. Haley’s attitude is the opposite of the thoughtful consideration needed. An equally important consideration should be that some people will never be mature enough for public office, no matter how many decades they live through. Conversely, others are more suitable for political leadership, especially after honing their skills elsewhere in a career. It’s a dangerous contention to base suitability for office on one factor alone – age. As if a mandatory retirement would solve everything. Many politicians have successfully served well past the general retirement age of 65, and more often, Congress has been a model for finding value in people who are into their 70s and even 80s. Again, concerns about McConnell and several other members of Congress are valid. But one of the biggest mistakes that America can make right now is to continue discounting older people, their talents, insights and experiences. Virtually every industry has felt the impact of gutted workforces, when the institutional knowledge of a business is shown the door via cost-cutting measures or early retirements. Younger people are plopped into roles that literally should be above their pay grade, then left to flounder. It’s incredibly unfair to workers who deserve to be mentored by more experienced employees and allowed to grow into skill levels, with time to hone and develop their personal strengths. The negative impact on customers is even greater. Few executives will admit this. Instead, there’s often a lot of flowery language about being “transformative, dynamic and aligned with our audiences.” We don’t need that model of disinvestment in human capital to play out in our politics as well. Sanchez continued from page 18

20 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 It’s the last of the summer mail bag, and this week, I’m focusing on the ever-popular topic of Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). As a reminder, the 2019 SECURE Act and its 2022 follow up, the Secure Act 2.0, changed the RMD ages from 70½ to 73 for individuals who turn 72 on or after January 1, 2023. Seventy-three remains the age until 2033, at which time the age rises to 75. (To estimate your future RMD amounts, I suggest using this handy calculator from the SEC: www.investor.gov) Question: I am in my mid-60’s and always thought that I should wait to pull money from my retirement account. Now I hear from many of my friends that waiting can create a problem. Can you explain why I should pull money before RMDs kick in? Answer: For years, the idea was to delay withdrawing money from pre-tax accounts as long as possible. But as tax rates dropped and tax brackets expanded, there emerged a new thinking around the issue. In fact, there can be a benefit of taking distributions before Uncle Sam forces you to do so. As an example, if you are waiting to claim Social Security until age 70, you might use your 60s as a time to slowly withdraw money from your retirement accounts, thereby keeping your highest marginal bracket at 12 or 22 percent. If you wait until RMDs, the amount of the distribution plus your Social Security benefit, may push you into a higher bracket and there is no guarantee that tax rates will remain at the current historically low levels. Question: I have been retired for a number of years and have started taking RMDs from my 401(k). I have three funds within the account, and I’m wondering if I should take the RMD amounts equally from the three funds or spread it out? Answer: I would take equal amounts from each fund that way you maintain your asset allocation. That said, if you know you’re going to have an RMD, you should make sure that the RMD amount is in the money market account at the beginning of each year, that way you don’t get burned if the markets tank. Question: I am converting funds from my traditional IRA into my existing Roth IRA, so I can lower my future RMDs. Will the transferred funds be taxed as ordinary income? Is there a way to do this with no additional tax liability? Answer: The government must be paid on untaxed money, therefore there is no way to avoid the tax on a Roth conversion. Therefore, whatever you take out of the traditional IRA will be treated as ordinary income when you file your taxes. Do make sure that you have some cash on hand to pay the taxes that will be due on the converted amount. Question: I’m 46 years old and have just inherited a Roth IRA from my father. Dad’s broker just told me that I had to take distributions from the account. I thought that the whole point of my father using a Roth was that there would not be any required distributions. What gives? Answer: While Roth IRAs are not subject to RMDs during the owner’s life, the rules change for nonspouse beneficiaries. For Roth IRAs inherited after 2020, you have to withdraw the money within 10 years of the owner’s death. The good news is that unlike traditional IRA withdrawals, withdrawals of contributions from an inherited Roth are tax free, though the IRS notes: “Withdrawals of earnings may be subject to income tax if the Roth account is less than five-years old at the time of the withdrawal.” Summer Mail Bag — RMDs with Jill Schlesinger jill on money Jill Schlesinger, CFP, is a CBS News business analyst. A former options trader and CIO of an investment advisory firm, she welcomes comments and questions at [email protected]. Check her website at www.jillonmoney.com The 2019 SECURE Act and its 2022 follow up, the Secure Act 2.0, changed the Required Minimum Distributions ages from 70½ to 73 for individuals who turn 72 on or after January 1, 2023, writes Jill Schlesinger. September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, an opportunity to discuss the very un-sexy, but essential topic. The core concept is easy: You agree to pay a certain amount of money to a company, in exchange for the company’s obligation to pay out a lump sum of money to your designated beneficiaries in the event of your death. But many get tripped up by the details, which is why it’s time to peel back the layers and help you get on track with one of the core aspects of a financial plan. Life insurance starts with an obvious hurdle: It is an emotional issue because it forces us to contemplate the impact of death on our loved ones. But NOT dealing with it or pushing it to the back burner is not going to make it any easier. In fact, the longer you wait, the more expensive it might get. So, let’s dive in! To understand if you need coverage, ask yourself a basic question: If I were to die now, would anyone suffer financially? If the answer is yes, you must determine the amount of coverage that you need. Rules of thumb do not work well for this topic because the size of your family, and what you want to cover, varies dramatically. For example, some people want life insurance proceeds to cover ongoing living expenses and the payoff of debt, while others may also want to include future college costs for kids or a surviving spouse’s retirement needs. To pinpoint the coverage amount, go online to lifehappens.org and use their free calculator. You will be prompted to plug in the variables that apply to you, like how much money you spend monthly, how much you have already saved, how much coverage is already in place, and the amount of debt you want to pay off. Once you determine the amount, it’s time to figure out the type that works for you. Most people have a specific insurance need for a defined period, which is why term life insurance is the goto coverage. Here’s how it works: During the stated term of a policy (a certain number of years), if the insured dies, the insurance company pays the face amount to the named beneficiary. The cost is reasonable for those in good health up to about age 50. After 50, term gets more expensive, but hopefully, at that time, your insurance need will be reduced (i.e., kids will be grown and launched) and/or your savings and investments will be sufficient to cover your needs. To shop for term, start with your employer’s benefits. Many companies offer term that is equal to a multiple of salary, with an opportunity to purchase additional coverage beyond the base amount. If that extra coverage is portable (meaning you can take it with you if you were to get another job), it is worth considering buying for you and/or your spouse. Otherwise, go online to find competing quotes. On the other end of the spectrum from term is permanent life insurance (whole, adjustable, and universal life policies fall under the permanent umbrella). Permanent coverage is more expensive because the death benefit remains in place for your entire life, which is why it’s most often used for estate planning purposes, to fund a special needs trust, or to facilitate small business buy-sell agreements. Permanent policies also have savings or investment components. If you are getting a hard sale for permanent coverage, consult a fee-only financial adviser, who can evaluate your needs, determine the right type of policy, and refer you to a reputable agent, if the more expensive coverage is warranted. Life insurance is unsexy, but essential with Jill Schlesinger Life insurance starts with an obvious hurdle: It is an emotional issue because it forces us to contemplate the impact of death on our loved ones, writes Jill Schlesinger.

FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 SMART READER September 21, 2023 21 Dear Cathy, A friend asked me to take a cat that was formerly homeless because her other cats were fighting with him. That cat is now a year old. This week I planned to take him for vet care. He had to fast from 9 p.m. until we saw the vet at 7 a.m. He wanted food and kept me awake nearly all night. When it was time to leave for the vet’s office, he hid where I couldn't get to him. As I prepared to go, he again demanded my attention because he was hungry. He was completely out of control. I phoned the vet and rescheduled the appointment. I know that fasting is necessary in prep for anesthesia, but this is hard to deal with. He settled down as soon as I fed him. I live alone and am 75 years old. Your insight on how to deal with this would be very helpful. — Fran, Montana Dear Fran, Cats can be very demanding when they’re hungry. But fasting is essential to ensure your cat has an empty stomach before surgery. Anesthesia can make him vomit, which is not just messy for the vet techs to clean up, but dangerous as he can choke or asphyxiate on the vomit. If he can't eat after 9:00 p.m., feed him at 8:45 p.m. You might have to rearrange his eating schedule a few days beforehand to ensure he is hungry at 8:45 p.m. and then take him to the vet's office at 7 a.m. as planned. Another approach is to arrange for him to spend the night at the vet’s office the night before. There might be an additional charge, but it’s worth it if you want to sleep. If that’s not in your budget, you can leave him in another room and turn on some white noise for him (and for you in your room as well). Drugstore ear plugs for you also can help mute his demands. Don't feel bad about any of these choices. He doesn't understand what you are doing is for the best and that he will eat again very soon. All will be forgiven once he returns home and returns to his routine. Dear Cathy, Several years ago, my family adopted an outdoor kitten. We trapped her and had her spayed, fed her, and now, six years later, she lets us pet her and enjoys spending some time in our house. We live in Tucson, so I try to coax her inside whenever temperatures are extreme. Here's the problem: She will not use a litter box. I have tried providing one for her outdoors (for odor control — I can tell she uses our yard as it smells strong when the rains come!) and indoors, to no avail. A couple times, I found her sleeping in the litter box. Do you have any recommendations? — Janet, Tucson, Arizona Dear Janet, Try mixing some of your outdoor soil with the litter so there is a whiff of what she is used to smelling outside. Then sprinkle some litter box attractant (available at pet stores) on the litter to lure her to use it. I also would provide her with a comfortable bed in a cozy place since she seems to like to sleep in small rectangular spaces. I usually tuck cat beds under end tables or beds, so they have a place to hide, out of the way of traffic. Make sure the litter box is in a quiet area too. Dear Cathy, As a long-time cat mom, I recommend Nature's Miracle for urine. I started with the spray bottle, but now I buy it by the jug. It will cost more than baking soda (to eliminate odor), but it really works. However, the baking soda might work as psychological warfare with the dog owner who lets her dog pee in the street in the same spot every day. Sprinkle some baking soda on this spot, and the owner might wonder what that "white stuff" is and, not wanting her dog to be poisoned, will move on. — Vicki, Douglaston, New York Dear Vicki, I had been thinking of ways you could deter the dog from going in the same spot daily when the solution really was to find ways to deter the owner from walking over to that spot. Indeed, seeing a white blotch of powder in the middle of the street would make any dog owner walk around it, so the dog isn't walking through this unknown (albeit safe) substance. This is cunning and humane. I like it! Thank you for sharing. Pet World with Cathy Rosenthal Cat loudly demands food, but needs empty stomach before surgery As well as being a recuring guest on Happenings Q&A, Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, author, columnist and pet expert who has more than 30 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to [email protected]. Cathy Rosenthal joins Happenings Q&A on Thu. Oct. 5th at 10:20 on AM1050 WLIP. Most unusual pet insurance claims of 2023 include folding couch incident Insurance firm Nationwide announced the finalists for its 2023 Hambone Award, which highlights the most unusual pet insurance claims of the year. The Hambone Award, named in honor of a dog that ate an entire holiday ham while stuck in a refrigerator, highlights the unique situations that pets find themselves in each year and calls on members of the public to vote for strangest of the bunch. This year's finalists include Giles, a New York cat who was closed into a folding couch; Josie, a California dog who ran into a set of metal bleachers while chasing a ball; and Sunny, a Labrador who managed to shimmy his crate 5 feet across a room so he could eat three phone charger cords. All of the 12 finalists made full recoveries from their injuries, the insurance company said. The winning pet will be awarded the Hambone Award trophy, as well as a gift card and a donation in its name to a pet charity chosen by their owner. The second and third place finalists will receive a prize and a charity donation, the company said. Voting is open through Sept. 22, and the winners will be announced Sept. 28. Loose wallaby captured after five days in Chicago suburb A wallaby on the loose in a south suburb of Chicago for several days was safely reunited with his owner. Josie Hange said Rupert the wallaby, who escaped from her family's Monee home, was caught on camera three days later outside nearby resident Ken Zeilstra's home. "All of sudden I looked out the window and there he was," Zeilstra told WLS-TV. "We don't see things like that out here. It doesn't happen." Hange said the footage gave her and volunteer searchers, including members of animal rescue group Tinley Park PAWS, an idea of where to look, and they were able to track Rupert's movements over the course of the next 24 hours. Hange said she caught up with Rupert the following evening and was able to wrangle him into a neighbor's garage. "I think that's the most relief I've ever felt," Hange told Patch. "We lose people to death, we lose people to weird circumstances. When it comes to animals -- I know not everyone thinks the same way, but they become part of your family. You grow attached to them, you raise them. He is my baby. I have children, but he is my baby as well." Hange said Rupert is now safe at home and recovering from his ordeal. She said the wallaby is not injured but he appears to have lost some weight and is exhausted. Cyclist faces down herd of oncoming cows A British cyclist has been branded the "cow whisperer" online after a viral video showed his encounter with a herd of wayward bovine on a narrow roadway. Andrew O'Connor said he had paused to change the batteries on his GoPro camera on his way to ride his bicycle up Great Dun Fell, near the small village of Knock, England, when he spotted a herd of cows ahead. O'Connor said he turned the camera on to record video of the cows, but he suddenly found himself in an unexpected situation when the herd breezed past the gate they had been intended to go through. "They went past the open gate," O'Connor told Cycling Weekly, "and the farmer at the back just started screaming. I didn't have a clue what to do." O'Connor said he feared he might be in danger from the cows, as he was on a narrow road between two stone walls. The cyclist's video shows the farmer shouting instructions to O'Connor, showing him how to hold his hands up to give instructions to the cattle. "A bit out of my comfort zone here," O'Connor says in the video after the cows comply with his calls to "stop." O'Connor's video went viral, and the farmer's daughter reached out to him on social media to say her father was amused by the fame of his cows and grateful for the cyclist's help. He said he learned a valuable lesson from the experience. "Fake it until you make it, just put a brave face on," he told ABC News. Police find pig wandering loose on Bacon Creek Road Police in Kentucky are trying to find the owner of a small, stray pig found wandering loose on the appropriately named Bacon Creek Road. The Corbin Police Department said in a Facebook post that officers came across the pig wandering loose on Bacon Creek Road while they were on patrol. The department shared a photo of the pig riding in the back seat of a patrol cruiser. "Seriously, if you own this pig. He is in custody at the Corbin Police Department. Please hurry before the Corbin Fire Department gets hungry," police wrote.

22 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 We know that what we eat matters. The right foods can also help promote a healthy pregnancy. That's because proper nutrition has a key role in the healthy development of a fetus. Folic acid, for example, is important to help prevent abnormal development of the spine and brain. Because of that, many foods are now fortified with folic acid because it's needed in the early stages of a fetus' life, often before a woman even knows she's pregnant. Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate found in fortified foods and supplements. Food sources include fortified cereal, spinach, beans, asparagus, oranges and peanuts. Calcium and vitamin D are other important nutrients for normal development of the skeletal system in the mother and developing fetus. Sources of calcium include milk, yogurt, cheese, fortified cereal or orange juice, salmon, spinach, broccoli and kale. Vitamin D regulates the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, needed for healthy bones and teeth. Sources include fatty fish, eggs and milk and juices fortified with vitamin D. The body also makes vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Many pregnant women are often short in iron and become anemic. Iron is used to make hemoglobin in red blood cells to carry oxygen to various tissues. A pregnant woman needs twice the amount of iron as a nonpregnant woman because her body needs to make more blood to supply the baby with oxygen. Good sources include fortified cereal, beef, poultry, spinach and beans. There are also foods to avoid when pregnant -- alcohol; caffeine; certain fish high in mercury; deli items which may contain listeria bacteria that can cause premature birth; and raw foods, such as raw eggs, sprouts, meat, seafood and unpasteurized dairy, which also pose a risk for foodborne illness. And for all of us -- pregnant or not -- it's best to choose a diet that includes whole grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy and lean protein. Q and A Q: What are polyphenols? A: Polyphenols are compounds found in plant foods, including fruits and vegetables, herbs, spices, dark chocolate, tea and wine. There are more than 8,000 types of polyphenols, broken down into four types: phenolic acids found in whole grains and seeds, flavonoids found in onions and apples, polyphenolic amides found in chili peppers and oats, and other types found in flax and whole grains. Polyphenols are antioxidants and may help neutralize free radicals that cold be harmful to cells and increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Charlyn Fargo is a registered dietitian with SIU Med School in Springfield, Ill. For comments or questions, contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @NutritionRd. food & recipes Healthy Diet, Healthy Baby Nutrition News with Charlyn Fargo Servings: 6 1 tablespoon refined coconut oil 3 cups cubed butternut squash 2 cups chopped carrots 2 medium Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped 1 cup chopped yellow onion 1 tablespoon minced garlic 3 cups vegetable broth 1 tablespoon ginger paste 1 tablespoon red curry paste 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon ground cumin Garnish: Coconut cream; sweet Thai chili-flavored almonds, chopped; Granny Smith apples, cut in matchsticks; cilantro; black pepper In 5-quart Dutch oven, melt coconut oil over medium-high heat. Add squash, carrots, apples, onion and garlic. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until onion is softened, stirring occasionally. Add broth to vegetable mixture. Bring to boil; then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes or until squash and carrots are tender. Stir in ginger paste, curry paste, smoked paprika and cumin. Using immersion blender, blend mixture for 2 to 3 minutes until smooth. To serve, ladle soup into serving bowls. Drizzle with coconut cream, garnish with apple matchsticks, almonds, cilantro and black pepper, if desired. Per serving: 140 calories, 2 g protein, 27 g carbohydrates, 3 g fat (2 g saturated), 5 g fiber, 12 g sugar (1g added), 540 mg sodium. Ginger Apple Butternut Squash Soup Serves 4 1/2 cup sour cream 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint 2 tablespoons water 1 teaspoon ground cumin Salt and pepper 1 pound ground pork 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 head Bibb lettuce (8 ounces), leaves separated 1 avocado, halved, pitted, and sliced thin 1 mango, peeled, pitted, and chopped fine 1. Whisk sour cream, mint, water, and 1/4 teaspoon cumin together in a bowl; season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. 2. Cook pork in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until no longer pink, about 4 minutes, breaking up meat with a spoon. Stir in Sriracha, garlic, remaining 3/4 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to 1 side of a large serving platter. Arrange lettuce, avocado, and mango on the empty side of the platter. Serve, passing sour cream mixture separately. When the school year starts, a quick and easy recipe that’s a hit with the whole family will make your weeknight that much more enjoyable. To avoid sogginess and ensure crisp wraps, we serve them deconstructed on a platter so each person can build their own wrap when and how they like. Plus, this meal is easily customizable; so you can use another meat instead of pork and also change the spice level to suit your tastes. Spiced Pork Lettuce Wraps

FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800 SMART READER September 21, 2023 23 Not too long ago, Philip reached out to me. I’ve mentioned in past columns that each week I solve countless problems for homeowners just like you. For me, it’s similar to putting together a jigsaw puzzle or playing the board game Clue. You present me with all sorts of jumbled data that make no sense to you, and it becomes my challenge to solve the problem. Believe me, it keeps my tiny gray cells limber! In Philip’s case, he had a three-season room constructed up off the ground about 30 inches. It had composite decking for the floor with the requisite quarter-inch gaps between the decking boards. Philip and his wife wanted to install solid luxury vinyl plank (LVP) flooring. As you may or may not imagine, this presents all sorts of problems. In a typical three-season room, if it rains through open windows and the decking gets wet, it’s no big deal. The water can drain through the gaps in the decking to the ground below. No harm, no foul. LVP flooring interlocks. There are no gaps. Add to this, most manufacturers require a solid underlayment of some type under the LVP. I just installed some LVP at my own home and used a thin foam underlayment that had a waterproof coating. Can you see where this is headed? Water is your biggest enemy when it comes to a three-season room. The best ones are constructed like a four-season home. If your home is built properly and you have generous roof overhangs and closed windows, rainwater rolls harmlessly off the windows, doors and siding to the ground. The issue is some threeseason rooms are not built like your home. The exterior walls of your three-season room may rest on top of the finished flooring and pass under the wall to the outside. Your three-season room may be on a slab and the slab is wider/longer than the exterior walls. This is very common in warmer climates. I’ve seen countless photos of situations like this. You never want water to get on the flooring in your home, for all the obvious reasons. Imagine in Philip’s case if water or snow enters his room and gets under the LVP flooring. While most, if not all, LVP is waterproof, as well as most brands of underlayment, where will the water drain to? Will it get trapped under the LVP and start to create mold? Fortunately, Phil’s room is built like his home and the only danger of water getting on the new LVP flooring is from a window left open by mistake during a rainstorm. That can happen to anyone at any time even in a regular home. One of the biggest conundrums you’ll face is with your exterior door or exterior sliding doors. In Phil’s case, his existing composite decking runs under the exterior door to a landing outside the room. This is a huge problem. If you’re building a new three-season room that might become a four-season space, be sure exterior decks, landings, etc. are always 2 or 3 inches lower than the interior finished floor to prevent water from getting inside. Make sure your contractor builds the room just as you would a normal home so it’s impossible for water to enter inside a wall or flow under a wall. If you think this might happen, perhaps you should frame your walls with treated lumber to prevent future rot. You can also purchase treated plywood to sheath the exterior walls. Don’t forget to raise the pre-hung exterior door so the bottom of the metal threshold is at the same level as the top of the finished floor. This allows you to install a proper flashing under the door and gives you plenty of room for a thick throw rug or mat on the interior floor next to the door. Give serious consideration to a hip roof if possible. You’ll enjoy the spaciousness of a vaulted ceiling in the room with a slow rotating paddle fan on those warmer days. Plan ahead for how you’ll heat the room should you transform it into a yearround room. I’m happy to help you if you get flummoxed! Three-season room challenges Ask the Builder with Tim Carter Subscribe to Tim’s FREE newsletter at AsktheBuilder.com. Tim offers phone coaching calls if you get stuck during a DIY job. Go here: go.askthebuilder.com /coaching Tim Carter joins Happenings Q&A on Tues., Oct. 17th at 9:20am on AM1050 WLIP Three-season rooms, if not built correctly, can create many problems you’d never imagine. REMINDER: PLEASE RESUBMIT AD TO RUN FOR EACH ISSUE. Maximum 3 Listings Per Person. MISC G E R M A N CONVERSATIONALIST GROUP - KENOSHA/RACINE If you speak German or are enthusiastic about the German language and culture, come and join us. There are no membership fees and attendance is whenever you are available to join. Meetings will be held in the Kenosha and Racine area. This is an excellent group to practice speaking German as members' language skills are from beginners to advance and we all have a good time. Please contact me if you are interested in joining - Susan Blust at [email protected]. LIONS CLUB BINGO Come have some fun! Doors open at 4:00. Raffles, pull-tabs and pregames start at 6:45. Bingo 7:00-9pm. Wednesdays. 2700 9th St., Schlader Building, Winthrop Harbor. Food Sales. FOR SALE INDOOR FOR SALE ITEMS: VANCE'S BAR GYM BAG-$8; GENUINE HARLEY BIKE COVER- $10; LADY REMINGTON SHAVER- $2; MINI INDOOR BASKETBALL HOOP-$3; TURNTABLE-$11; DOG/CHILD GATE-$5; STAR TREK VIDEOS-$5 EACH; CAT LITTER BOXES X 2 AND SCOOP- $5; RCA TV-$25; HANDS FREE CPR-$2; THROW PILLOW-$2; FELT-LIKE MAT-$2; NEW BRAUN HEAD REFILLS X2-$8; CHILD'S PLAY MAT-$5; PLANT LAMP-$5; DINING TABLE-$550; CALL/TEXT-262-902- 5663. OUTDOOR ITEMS FOR SALE: LARGE BIRDFEEDER ON A POLE- $15; MANY TEES & GOLF BALLS- $5; MUD FLAP-$5; MANY MONGOOSE BIKE PARTS-$5; SKI TOTE-$10; BOY'S FIGURE SKATES- $10;MEN'S FIGURE SKATES- $10; PINNACLE WOOD BAT-$25; 2-SETS CROSS COUNTRY SKI POLES- $10; CEMENT CURE & SEAL-$5; CATCHER'S MIT & 11 BALLS- $10. CALL/TEXT 262-902-5663. LADIES ITEMS: LADIES O'NEIL WET SUIT-$100; EDELWEISS SKI PANT $60; A SECOND SKI PANT- $25. CALL OR TEXT 262-902-5663 MEN'S SALE ITEMS: WET SUIT- $200; BOOTS-$10; GENUINE LEATHER HARLEY JACKET-$500; HARLEY SCARVES-$5; SUIT JACKET $50. CALL OR TEXT TO 262-902-5663. SAVE 50% ON BURIAL PLOTS! PRIVATE OWNER OF TWO (2) (SIDE BY SIDE) SECTION H SUNSET RIDGE MEMORIAL PARK KENOSHA, WI. DONT’ PAY $11,390.00... I’ SELLING FOR $5,695.00 OBO! (262)914-5977 ED AIR FRYER, BRAND NEW $55 ALL (262) 771-8764 BARBIE DOLL, REMOTE CONTROL CORVETTE, THAT FITS TWO BARBIE DOLLS, ABOUT 25 IN LONG X 10 IN WIDE, BEST OFFER. OTHER SMALL AUTO MODELS AVAILABLE FROM CLASSIC DAYS. RON 847-340-3446. BEANIE BABIES - LARGE INVENTORY, INCLUDES MCDONALD'S LINE, PRICE VARIES. CALL 262-654-6485 - PLEASE LEAVE MESSAGE SONY REEL TO REEL TAPE DECKS! TC-630 & TC-580 $200 OBO FOR BOTH. CALL KENT 262- 960-0621 [email protected] TWO SIDE-BY-SIDE BURIAL PLOTS AT SUNSET RIDGE MEMORIAL PARK, SECTION H, PRIVATELY OWNED. WILLING TO NEGOTIATE ON PRICE. PLEASE CALL ED - 262-914-5977 V.F.W. VINTAGE BANNER VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS BANNER WITH LOGO, PROFESSIONALLY FRAMED UNDER GLASS. VERY LARGE & IN GREAT CONDITION. $175. LEAVE MESSAGE IF NO ANSWER. 262- 914-4767 VIPER GOLF CLUBS, GREAT SECOND SET $100 OBO PLEASE CALL 262-960-0627 COMPOUND MITER SAW 10" $50 OBO PLEASE CALL 262-960-0627 SEARS RADIAL ARM SAW $50 OBO PLEASE CALL 262-960-0627 CIRCULAR SAW BLADE 32" DIAMETER $60 OBO 262-654-6485 QUILTS, HANDMADE. FIVE, VARIOUS COLORS TO CHOOSE FROM. $54.00 EACH. PHONE 262-657-6049. JASON/EMPIRE MODEL 218 7X35 BINOCULARS. FIELD 358 FT AT 1000 YDS. FULLYCOATED OPTICS, & CASE. NEVER USED. CASE HAS SHELF WEAR. $25.00262-620-4301. IF NO ANSWER PLEASE LEAVE MESSAGE. WANTED. EXPERIENCED GRILL COOK FLEXIBLE HOURS, FUN ATMOSPHERE. LAKESIDE DECK AT THE WYNDHAM HOTEL CALL KIM 262-496-7182 SINGER AND NARRATOR WANTED FOR ROGER MILLER TRIBUTE.CALL 262-554-8205. ASK FOR MARV. STREET PAVER BRICKS wanted Please call 262.697.3545 and leave a message. WANTED TO BUY: Vintage Movie Posters, Comic Books, LP Records, Vintage Toys, Horror VHS, Horror Memorabilia, Science Fiction Pulps & Magazines, Video Store Promotional Items. PH 262- 237-0318. WANTED TO BUY: Old Post Cards, B&W Photos, B&W Photo Albums, Vintage Advertising, Old Hunting Licenses & Advertising, Scrapbooks, Old Misc.Paper, Old Automobile Advertising, Fountain Pens, Gillette Razors & More. Local Collector/Neutral Safe & Secure Site to meet if desired. Cash Paid. Call or Text Stan 262- 496-1822 ARCADE DRIVERS SCHOOL is looking for classroom & driver instructors. Starting pay $17.00 per hour. If interested please call 262- 637-9193 or email us at [email protected]. LOOKING FOR NURSES Aid for in home care. Call Barbara 262- 455-3953 SERVICES. APARTMENT FOR RENT: 2 BDR LOWER, SHARED BASEMENT, LAUNDRY HOOK UP, GARAGE. $950 + UTILITIES +SECURITY. CALL 262-654-1869 LEAVE MESSAGE WITH FULL NAME AND PHONE NUMBER. NO EVICTIONS, NO PETS, NO SMOKING. ONE YEAR WORK HISTORY. I WILL DO SEAMSTRESS WORK, RUN ERRANDS, DO SHOPPING & DR. APPOINTMENTS., ETC.IF INTERESTED PLEASE CALL GAYLE AT 262-748-4748 I'M LOOKING FOR house to share for reasonable rent in exchange for household needs for a senior vet consideration. 847-340-3446 Ron. Kenosha/Union Grove area. LAWN MOWING SERVICES RELIABLE LAWN CARE SERVICES IN KENOSHA & PLEASANT PRAIRIE. CALL/TEXT 262-914-9796 [email protected] TAX & MEDICARE EXPERT. Appointments only. Se Habla Español. 262.833.7070 CHINESE LANGUAGE / CALLIGRAPHY LESSONS: Fun, fascinating and very cool. Beginning and advanced - all ages! Text Dr. Tim at 520.704.3832. FOR RENT Finished Suite private, in-home entrance, in Kenosha. For details call between 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM, 262-843-1630. DRUM LESSONS Private instruction. Band, orchestra, marching and drum set. Rock and many other musical styles. Learn to read music. Call Tom for details. 262- 818-2869. PROFESSIONAL LED TEETH WHITENING for a fraction of the price! $99 at cabana tan spa. call to book: 262-843-2411. 20 minute session = a bright white smile! mycabanatan.com NURSING CARE /CONSULTATION: $35.00/hour. Call or text to (262)758- 1974 FAST COMPUTER SERVICE including network support, spyware removal, upgrades and PC repair. For friendly service with a smile, call Vikkex today! Phone (262-694-7746) BABYSITTING YOUNG LADY good with kids can watch 1 or 2 children call 262-620-4745 House cleaning woman + a bucket - reliable, dependable. Also clean vacant houses. Call for estimates - Sandy 262-221-2289 HOUSES AND OR business sun shine klean is having a special this month for first time customers free upholstery cleaning with at basic cleaning for only $39.95 262-287-5103 CNAS TO JOIN wellness team at Barton of Zion, five star assisted living. Send resume [email protected] apply within at 3500 Sheridan Road Zion, IL 60099 847- 872-1500 FREE HOME HEATING Fuel Oil Removal I will remove your unused home heating fuel oil for free..clean and safe . Inquire about tank removal also ... 262 818 1967 ..ask for Dave TYPING. I am an experienced legal secretary with excellent typing skills wanting to type for you at home. Please contact Alicia at 256- 658-4484. TAX & BOOKKEEPING. 30 Years experience Audits handled enrolled agent appointment only call 262- 595-8242 CAREGIVER SELF-EMPLOYED live-in caregiver with 20 years experience giving 24 hr. care references. Looking for job. If you need me, please call Teresa 262-497- 0502. VEHICLES0 2003 soft tail Harley Davidson 18000 miles $5000 worth of chrome added in 2006. Perfect condition Asking $7500 Call Lloyd at 262 694 7359 or 262 515 1366. Located In Pleasant Prairie 95 CAMERO convert green/tan top. many newer parts best offer will trade for other vehicle, negotiate price. 847-340-3446 Ron - dealers welcome to participate. 1997 Jaguar XK8 Convertible 75K in great condition Contact Bob: 2 6 2 - 4 8 4 - 4 8 4 8 or text 262-945-9224 1973 Ford F250, CAMPER SPECIAL2WD,CALIFORNIA ORIGINAL, REBUILT MOTOR/TRANS, AUTO, AC, NEW INTERIOR, CAN SEND PICS. $13,500 OBO. 630- 945-8320. 2007 HYUNDAI SONATA SEE IN KENOSHA AT 4121-7TH. AVE. 53140 262-237-1343 RUSS CALL OR TEXT 212K MILES $2950 2012 DODGE GRAND CARAVAN SEE IN KENOSHA AT 4121-7TH. AVE. 53140 RUSS 262-237-1343 CALL OR TEXT NICE CAR AT A NICE PRICE $5450 174K MILES 2016 CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY $6950 184K MILES SEE IN KENOSHA AT 4121-7TH. AVE. 53140 RUSS 262-237-1343 CALL OR TEXT NICE VAN AT A NICE PRICE. FREE CLASSIFIEDS! E-mail your 170 character classified to: [email protected] Please include your contact information in the classified. (Name and Phone number / e-mail address) First 3 words will be boldface type. NO ANIMALS. • NO PERSONALS ALLOWED. CLASSIFIED DEADLINE IS MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2023 AT 12 NOON FREE CLASSIFIEDS! Employment/Opportunities • Lost & Found • Miscellaneous Real Estate • Rentals • Rummage Sales • Vehicles • Wanted

24 SMART READER September 21, 2023 FOR ADVERTISING RATES CALL 262-564-8800092123 061523 AFFORDABLE INVESTMENT MADE EASY! AFFORDABLE INVESTMENT MADE EASY! Ask about our investment loan program that allows you to use 100% rental income to qualify. Great for owner occupied first-time buyers or investors. Senior Citizens Receive a 10% DISCOUNT SR121720 Never Pay Retail! Wholesale Discount Prices Paints and Carpets 2415 - 60th Street • Kenosha, Wisconsin Next to Andreas • 654-5328 Mon. - Fri. 8am - 5pm, Sat. 8am - 4pm Buy where the professionals buy their paint at discount prices. Your Ticket to Local Events GGlloriaoria && JJaayy Our Family has been serving great food and offering warm hospitality here for 50 years. Yes, it’s true the building is for sale... but we are absolutely here to serve you well into 2024. Please stop by & cozy up to the fireplace for a delicious meal, or give us a call to book your next gathering or holiday party! The Tradition Continues - 090723