FOR YOUR HEALTH: Health Services And Screenings Every Woman Should Know About

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(NAPSI)—Eating a healthy diet, exercising, getting a regular Pap smear and mammogram—these are just a few of the many steps women can take to help ensure they live longer, healthier lives. However, it can be tough to figure out what to do, given the mountains of information that are available. So, how can women determine which services and screenings are right for them—and when? You can start by being aware of what the science says about preventing certain health conditions and by having an open and honest conversation with your doctor about your values and preferences.

Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death for women. Fortunately, you can help prevent CVD by addressing important risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity. For example, if you are age 40 to 75, talk to your doctor about your CVD risk and whether a low- or moderate-dose statin may be right for you. Statins are medications that lower your cholesterol, prevent buildup of cholesterol and fats in your arteries, and reduce your chances of having a heart attack or stroke.

Depending on your age and risk factors, taking a low-dose aspirin daily can also potentially help prevent CVD. When blood clots form in narrow blood vessels, such as the ones in your heart and brain, it can cause a heart attack or stroke. Aspirin can help keep these blood clots from happening, lowering your risk. There are some risks associated with taking low-dose aspirin every day, so make sure you talk to your doctor about whether aspirin is right for you.

Taking statins and aspirin to prevent CVD are effective but they are just one part of CVD prevention. You can reduce your risk of CVD by quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet, and becoming more physically active. If you smoke, talk to your doctor about ways to help you quit. If you are overweight and have other CVD risk factors or even if you are healthy and simply want to stay that way, ask your doctor about how you can develop heart-healthy habits.

Cervical Cancer

Screening for cervical cancer finds the disease when it is most treatable. Unfortunately, 12,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year. Most cases of cervical cancer happen in women who have not been regularly screened or appropriately treated. That is why it is critical for women to get screened regularly starting at age 21. There are several effective options for screening, depending on your age and preferences. The Pap test and the human papillomavirus (HPV) test are the most effective ways to screen for cervical cancer and are done during a visit to your doctor’s office. Talk to your doctor about which test is best for you and how often you should be tested.

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women; roughly 237,000 cases are reported in the United States each year. Breast cancer screening aims to find the disease early, when it is easier to treat. Mammograms, which are X-ray pictures of the breasts used by doctors to look for early signs of the disease, are the most effective method of screening for breast cancer. Evidence shows that the benefits of mammograms increase with age, with women aged 60 to 69 most likely to benefit from screening. Still, about one in three women who should get a mammogram regularly do not. If you are between the ages of 50 and 74, talk to your doctor about getting a mammogram regularly. Some women decide to start screening as early as age 40. Talk with your doctor about your individual situation and circumstances, when you should start screening, and how often you should be screened.

Screening for Osteoporosis

As people age, their bones begin to thin. For some people, their bones become very weak and can break or fracture more easily, a condition known as osteoporosis. Osteoporosis affects one in every four women age 65 or older in the United States. Bone measurement tests can be used to screen for osteoporosis and identify the likelihood of future fractures. For people who have osteoporosis, treatments are available to reduce the risk of a fracture. If you are a woman age 65 or older (or younger than 65 with certain risk factors), ask your doctor about being screened for osteoporosis and other ways to improve bone health.

Recommendations for Keeping Yourself Healthy

These recommendations were developed by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—an independent group of national experts in prevention. The Task Force makes recommendations, based on the latest science, about what works and what doesn’t work for preventing disease and promoting good health.

Learn More

For more information on these and other Task Force recommendations, visit www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org.

SOLON & BEYOND: Awards presented to bookmark contest winners

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Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percyby Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Good morning, my friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

On an assembly at Solon Elementary School on March 20, town librarian Megan Myers and library trustee Rich Roberts presented awards to the winners of the sixth annual Bookmark Contest that the school holds in conjunction with the Coolidge Public Library. Each winner received a certificate and a book from the library, and their bookmarks have been duplicated to pass out to library patrons. Bookmark winners are Charlotte Hamilton, Nevaeh Palmer, Katelyn DeLeonardis, Karen Baker, Olive Macdonald, Layla Andrews, and Lillianna McCoy.

Kindergarten screening for students entering kindergarten in the fall of 2019 will be held on Tuesday, May 7, at Carrabec Community School. Please call Heidi Atwood at 696-3100 to make an appointment for your child to be screened.

Third Quarter Honor Roll: All A’s; Katelyn Deleonardis, Kaitlin Dellarma, Lane Frost, Cody James, Madyson Mckenney, Macie Plourde, Jillian Robinson and William Rogers. All A,s B’s: Isabella Atwood, Karen Baker, Kaylynn Clark, Amelia Cooper, David Dixon, Veronica Hoffman, Jayden McKenny, Ella Mckinnon, Aiden McLaughlin, Joseph McLaughlin, Riley Pelkey, Annabell Roderick, Thomas Roderick, Asron Soosman, Kaitlyn Soucie and Fisher Tewksbury.

Dates to remember: Public Hearing on the budget on April 25, at 6 p.m., at Carrabec High School. Budget referendum vote Tuesday, May 7.

Career Days Scheduled: RSU #74 will be holding three Career Days for K-5 students in May. Each Career Day will be held at the Garret Schenck School for students from all three elementary schools. Each student will hear three speakers talk about their jobs so that students begin to learn about career options when they’re young.

Career Days will be May 2 for grades K-1, May 16 for grades 2-3, and May 23 for grades 4-5. The timeframe will be 8:30 – 10:15 each day. Parents are welcome to join them for Career Day activities.

The following e-mail was sent to me about the April meeting of the Solon Pine Tree 4-H Club by the secretary. “Last meeting we had 14 members and four leaders. We had Cooper as president and Sarah did this report. Craig did lice spray, Devon and Mat did string art. Katelyn and Autumn made ambrosia.

April 27 has been set up for two members to give their demonstrations at Bingham Grange. There will be a supper at 6 p.m. for everyone.

After we had refreshments.

On May 4 we will have the Luck of the Draw. The kids will help by being runners. Hailey Dellarma will be making a basket for that.

Next meeting will be on May 11. We will be doing stepping stones.

Received the following e-mail with the words, “Support Local Yarn Store Day,” on April 27, 2019. Dear Yarn Friends, Next Saturday is LYS (Local Yarn Store) Day, an occasion for folks worldwide to step out and show support for their local brick and mortar yarn stores.

We think it’s a perfect opportunity for us to let you know how much we appreciate all of you. You truly are what puts the “Happy” in Happknits!

Any yarn purchase on that day will get your name entered into a drawing for a $25 Happyknits gift certificate. We will also be offering a free download of the yet-unpublished Magical Thinking shawl pattern from Ravelry designer Casapinka to anyone who purchases the yarn to make it.

We hope you can stop by between 9 a,m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 27.

Saturday, April 27: “Earth Day” Kennebec Banks Picnic Area Clean-up (April 28 rain date) from 1 to 4 p.m. Will you help us clean up our popular Kennebec Banks Picnic Area? Every year many wonderful volunteers help us get this beautiful river park ready for the summer. Please join us! With your help we hope to be even more ambitious by picking up litter from the east side of the Eddy to the picnic area and boat launch.

And now for Percy’s memoir:

Be glad that your life has been full and complete,
Be glad that you’ve tasted the bitter and sweet,
Be glad that you’ve walked in sunshine and rain,
Be glad that you’ve felt both pleasure and pain,
Be glad for the comfort that you’ve found in prayer…
Be glad of God’s blessings …His love and His care.

(words by Helen Steiner Rice)

ERIC’S TECH TALK: The 5G future and the fight with China

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by Eric W. Austin

There’s a new wireless technology being rolled out this year that promises to be the biggest technological revolution since the invention of the cell phone. Dubbed 5G NR (“fifth generation new radio”), this isn’t just an upgrade to the existing 4G cellular network, but a radical reinvention of wireless technology that will require an enormous investment in new infrastructure, but also promises massive improvements in bandwidth, speed and latency.

This new cellular technology achieves these incredible improvements by making fundamental changes to the way cellular networks function. Whereas the old 4G technology used radio waves in the microwave band between 700 MHz and 3 GHz to communicate, 5G will tap into previously unused radio frequencies in ranges from 30 Ghz to 300 Ghz, known as millimeter bands. In addition, the new 5G technology will transmit across wider frequency channels of up to 400 Mhz, compared with 4G’s limit of only 20 Mhz.

Now, that may sound like a lot of technobabble, but it has real world implications, so let me explain.

A radio wave can be imagined as a wavy line traveling through space at the speed of light. Information is transmitted by manipulating the crests and valleys that make up that wavy line, much like the dots and dashes in Morse Code. The number of crests and valleys in a radio wave that pass a point in space in a specific amount of time determines the quantity of information transmitted. This is called the frequency of a radio wave. Since you can’t increase the speed at which a radio wave travels (it will always travel at the speed of light), the only way to increase information transfer is to increase the number of crests and valleys within a single radio wave. This is done by increasing its frequency. You can think of this as the difference between a wavy piece of string and a tightly coiled spring. While both the string and the spring are made from material of the same length, the spring will contain a greater number of crests and valleys and take up considerably less space. This is the basic concept behind the move in 5G to transmit using higher frequency radio waves.

Since the higher frequency radio waves of 5G technology are capable of transmitting a much greater amount of data than earlier microwave-based 4G technology, one can reasonably ask, why aren’t we using it already? The answer is simple. These high-frequency waves are much smaller, with their crests and valleys more tightly packed together, and therefore require receivers which are much more sensitive and difficult to manufacture. While such receivers have been available for military applications for a number of years, it has taken time for it to become cost effective to produce such receivers for wider commercial use. That time has now come.

The ability to fit more information into smaller transmissions, in addition to the use of wider frequency channels, means a hundredfold increase in data transfer times, and lower power consumption for devices.

However, there are also some significant downsides to using these higher frequencies. While millimeter waves can pack more information into a single broadcast, their shorter wavelength means they can also be easily blocked by obstacles in the environment and absorbed by atmospheric gases. Although the antennas needed to receive these transmissions will be much smaller than the giant cell towers in use today, we will need more of them because 5G antennas require line-of-sight in order to receive transmissions. Instead of cell towers every few miles, as we have for our current 4G/3G cellular network, hundreds of thousands of smaller antennas will have to be installed on office buildings, telephone poles and traffic lights.

This new 5G technology couldn’t have been implemented earlier because it requires the existing fourth generation infrastructure already in place in order to make up for these deficiencies.

While the new 5G technology has some real benefits to human user experience, like having enough bandwidth to stream 50 4K movies simultaneously, speeds that are 20 times greater than the average U.S. broadband connection, and the ability to download a high definition movie in less than a second, the real excitement lies in how this upgrade will benefit the machines in our lives.

A confluence of technologies ripening in the next few years are set to revolutionize our lives in a way that promises to be greater than the sum of the individual parts: this new, high-speed 5G cellular upgrade; artificial intelligence; and the rapidly widening world of the Internet of Things (IoT). These three technologies, each with astonishing potential on their own, will combine to change our lives in ways that we can only begin to imagine.

I have spent this article talking about 5G, and you have likely heard a bit about the emerging field of artificial intelligence, but the final item on this list, the Internet of Things, bears a bit of explaining. The Internet of Things is an industry buzzword referencing the increasing level of sophistication built into everyday appliances. Your car now routinely has cameras, GPS locators, accelerometers and other sensors installed in it. Soon nearly every electrical device in your house will be similarly equipped. In the future, when you run out of milk, your refrigerator will add milk to a list of needed items stored in the cloud. On your way to the grocery store, your home A.I. will send a message ahead of you and robots at the store will prepare a shopping cart with the requested items, which will be waiting for you when you arrive. Stepping through your front door after a long day at work, your phone will ping you with a list of recipes you can prepare for dinner based on the items you’ve recently purchased.

This is the Internet of Things. It’s every device in your life quietly communicating behind the scenes in order to make your life easier. Although this idea might seem a bit creepy at first, it’s coming whether you like it or not. According to statistics website Statista.com, there are currently more than 26 billion devices worldwide communicating in this way. By 2025, that number is expected to top 75 billion.

The upgrade to 5G, with its increases in speed and bandwidth, is not so much a benefit to us humans as it is an aid to the machines in our life. As more and more devices come on line and begin to communicate with each other, the demand for greater speed and bandwidth will increase exponentially. Soon the devices in your house will be using more bandwidth than you are.

There are also some significant security concerns arising from the need to build additional infrastructure to support the new 5G network. It will require the installation of billions of antennas and 5G modems across the world, in every town, city and government building. But who will build them? According to a February 2019 article in Wired magazine, “as of 2015, China was the leading producer of 23 of the 41 elements the British Geological Society believes are needed to ‘maintain our economy and lifestyle’ and had a lock on supplies of nine of the 10 elements judged to be at the highest risk of unavailability.” With this monopoly on the materials needed for high tech production, Chinese companies like Huawei, which is already the largest telecommunications manufacturer in the world, are set to corner the market on 5G equipment.

You may have heard of Huawei from the news recently, as the U.S. government has accused the company of everything from violating international sanctions to installing backdoors in the hardware they manufacture on behalf of the Chinese government. China’s second largest telecommunications company, ZTE, who is also looking to seize a piece of the emerging 5G pie, has been the subject of similar accusations, and last year paid more than $1.4 billion in fines for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran and North Korea.

Do we really want to build our communications infrastructure with equipment made by companies with close ties to the Chinese government? It’s a real concern for security experts in the U.S. and other western countries. Fortunately, European companies like Nokia and Ericsson, South Korea’s Samsung and California’s Cisco Systems are emerging as threats to this Chinese monopoly.

The new technology of 5G is set to revolutionize cellular communications in the next few years, but the real story is how the confluence of technologies like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, in combination with this upgrade in communications, will change our lives in ways we can’t possibly foresee. The 5G future will be glorious, exciting, and fraught with danger. Are you ready for it?

MESSING ABOUT IN THE MAINE WOODS: A real problem with someone in my life – Past Me

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by Ron Maxwell

I have a real problem with someone in my life: Past Me. He is an embarrassment and a nuisance and I wish I knew how to handle him. He always fools around and leaves me to do the work. Past Me even thought it a great idea to go camping last February break. I made ready all the food, double checked that I and my two teenage boys were packed. This camping trip even ran afoul of Herself as my wife worried about the temperature. I eventually had to gracefully accept her input and postpone the trip.

This week during April break the boys reminded me of Past Me’s promise and cowardice. I smoothed things over by letting them pick a day to spend in the woods. Once again I was planning and looking after Past Me’s task. Since he had already packed, I just grabbed the bag and the boys and I set out on the day they chose. Our early morning departure looked good, and it looked like the weather forecast would be right about today being the only day of partial sun and not rain this entire week. The only downside to the plan would be the outside chores neglected in our absence. Past Me had promised Herself a day of outside cleanup.

The good day turned bad in several ways. As we hiked to camp, an azure sky turned leaden. Gusting winds then thwarted most attempts at fire. Fleas, thousands of flocking fleas, made my sleeping on the ground not an option. Poor planning left us extra time which turned into a cold, windy walk. Food, started in the kitchen, failed in the field. An impending, frigid, sleepless night loomed as we huddled by our finally started fire.

Later, around that same fire, I realized my focus on the negatives was wrong. Our day contained all the fun parts of camping. Full packs and all, we had hiked and enjoyed it. We had tamed the wilderness to set up camp. We had overcome failure of the lighters with an emergency kit, my sleep system problem with an extra hammock, and our poor food choices with some good nature. We had wandered packless through the nearly springtime forest, played in streams and made pine mint tea (mint leaves we grow at home are always in my mess kit and the pine needles we picked made a welcome addition.) A safe, basketball sized fire completed our camp, with its small size made effective by adding flat rock reflectors and our microclimate tarp. We had also talked and ate and sat ourselves to that comfortable peaceful silence I love about family.

So, I suggested to the boys we could go home. This could be a new thing: theoretical camping. Camping joy without suffering the eternity of cold darkness until morning. We were only ten miles away, had experienced the best parts of camping and we could work tomorrow on the projects that were needed around the house. We could also, I added, get candy bars on the way home. Neither of them needed convincing past that, so we packed up camp. When we got home I had candy bars for everyone and all my wife said in the way of, “I told you so,” was “So you couldn’t stay away?” The smell of campfire hung about me as I nestled into the couch. I alternated between finishing a Snickers and dozing through a famous actor’s terrible British accent (he was singing some drivel about chimney sweeps, I think…) I also slept great that night.

Next day, as I was taking advantage of beautiful weather to work in the yard, it occurred to me that Past Me had finally done something right. He had shown discretion and coined a new hobby of theoretical camping, camping without the missing home part. So some things can change. But then it dawned on me that some things never do. He had messed about in the woods while I was stuck doing all the hard work at home.

Give Us Your Best Shot! Week of April 25, 2019

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To submit a photo for The Town Line’s “Give Us Your Best Shot!” section, please visit our contact page or email us at townline@fairpoint.net!

THREE’S COMPANY: Tina Richard, of Clinton, snapped these deer feeding in her backyard.

 

STORMY SKIES: Michael Bilinsky, of China Village, photographed this eery-looking sky above China Lake.

 

THE BIRDS!: Joan Chaffee, of Clinton, caught these crows, flying over Waterville, looking to roost for the night.

FOR YOUR HEALTH: Health Benefits Of Plant-Based Nutrition

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(NAPSI)—As people continue to look for ways to live healthier lifestyles, the plant-based diet continues to gain momentum. A plant-based diet describes a way of eating in which there is an emphasis on plant foods in the form of colorful fruits and vegetables, legumes and whole grains.

Supporting Your Health with Plant-Based Foods

Benefits of eating more plant foods are numerous. Plant foods are nutrient dense, which means that they provide an abundance of nutrients relative to their calorie cost. Fruits, veggies, beans and whole grains are terrific sources of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients and they’re naturally cholesterol-free. Most contribute a fair amount of fiber, too, so they help to fill you up and keep your digestive tract running smoothly. When you include plenty of these nutritious, filling foods in your diet, it leaves less room in your stomach for less healthy fare.

That said, as the proportion of U.S. consumers who adhere to a vegan diet grows, so does the desire for these people to get more protein. In fact, a Nielsen HomeScan survey recently found that 39 percent of Americans are actively trying to eat more plant-based foods and 60 percent want to get more protein in their diets.

Identifying Sources of Plant-Based Proteins

The major sources of plant-based protein include beans, peas and lentils but whole grains are also important. You may think of whole grains as more of a carb than a protein and that’s true–most grains have more carbohydrate calories than protein calories. But whole grains contribute important essential amino acids to the diet. Most vegans know that in order to get the full complement of essential amino acids (the building blocks of proteins in the body), it’s important to consume both legumes (beans, peas, lentils) and whole grains. Soy is one of the few complete plant-based proteins, meaning it contains the nine essential amino acids that your body cannot produce on its own.

How Much Protein Is Right For You?

Protein is important for maintaining lean body mass. Susan Bowerman, Registered Dietitian and Senior Director of Worldwide Nutrition Education and Training at Herbalife Nutrition says the Institute of Medicine recommends you eat 10 to 35 percent of your total daily calories from protein.

You can estimate your protein needs based on your current body weight. Simply, multiply your body weight by 0.7. The number you get is a reasonable target for the amount of protein, in grams, that you should eat each day. For instance, a woman who weighs 140 pounds should aim for about 100g of protein a day. A 220-pound man should shoot for at least 150g of protein.

Introducing Other Plant-Based Proteins

While most plant-based diets place an emphasis on whole foods, other plant-based foods that are derived from these whole foods can be included. So, in addition to legumes and whole grains (brown or wild rice, oats, quinoa, millet and the like), other sources of plant-based protein include soy milk, soy cheese, soy yogurt, tofu, tempeh, and protein powders made from plant sources such as soy, pea, rice, hemp, oats or quinoa.

To help, Herbalife Nutrition’s Formula 1 Select and Protein Drink Mix Select are two new plant-based nutrition mixes specially formulated with a high-quality blend of pea, quinoa and rice proteins. Formula 1 Select is specially formulated to provide an excellent balance of protein and other key nutrients for optimal nutrition, is an easily digestible source of high-quality plant protein and fiber, and contains no artificial flavors or sweeteners.

Learn More

For more facts, go to www.herbalife.com.

I’M JUST CURIOUS: Interesting trip to Panama City Beach

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by Debbie Walker

Many of you are aware I had moved back to Florida in January. I lived here for 30-plus years before I went back to Maine for a few years. Last month I went on a car trip with my girls, daughter Deana and granddaughter Tristin, to my grandson Blake’s new home of Panama City Beach.

Blake moved from Tallahassee to Panama City Beach in June. He and his girlfriend, Sam, had settled in just a few months before the storm. Their apartment is 7/10ths of a mile from the beach, a beautiful beach, the day I was there. However, I doubt it looked that way during Hurricane Michael this past October. (Hurricane season is considered from June till the end of November.)

I am not going to try to put together the days and hours that storm harassed the west coast of Florida. It’s all been done. This is about six months beyond the actual storm. Friends asked me to take pictures of what I saw. I couldn’t do that. Those sights are embedded in my memory and I am not needing pictures to review the devastation.

On the drive up on Hwy Florida 20 West and US 231S and then onto US 98W we began to notice fallen trees and trees bent way over, lower than was ever intended. For quite a number of miles we only saw forests with like damage. When we changed roads and began seeing homes there were a few with trees down all over the properties. Then we began to see roofs covered with those blue tarps. Even more devastating are the scenes of homes destroyed. You really couldn’t ignore what was becoming more damage to homes. Trees on roofs still, all these months later.

Can you imagine the comfort or lack of, of living in these homes or in the yard in a camper? Imagine, the heat of the summer fast approaching, and these poor people are not going to be prepared for it. Now imagine that area is heading into new storms and a possible problem with wild fires.

Driving into the city and seeing a large number of stores, shops and businesses devastated, and some who have no plans to reopen. Jobs lost, employees who had to relocate to find other employment and even homes to live in.

You continue driving into the city and seeing life going on as if never disturbed. We were there during Spring Break and things were hopping. Of course, all these visitors bring money that guarantee future employment. The area will grow back and once again prosper. After all we are a determined and resilient country.

I’m just curious what I will see for changes the next time I visit that area. Contact me with comments or questions at dwdaffy@yahoo.com. Thank you for reading!

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Heckle and Jeckle

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Peter Catesby Peter Cates

Heckle and Jeckle

4 cartoons, posted on YouTube.
From 1946-1952.

Paul Terry

Among the funniest animated characters, right up there with Foghorn, Wiley and Bugs, were two blisteringly arrogant magpieish partners in crime, Heckle and Jeckle. These semi-birds/buzzards of too many feathers were among the creations of animator Paul Terry (1887-1971); he launched Terrytoons, which included Mighty Mouse and Farmer Alfalfa, with his lazy dawg, and a host of other such beings. I remember some of these from my 1950s childhood, when they and other such suitable, syndicated programs were scheduled during the Monday through Friday children’s hour between 5 and 6:30 p.m. and on Saturday mornings.

The four very hilarious examples of their unique scorched-earth humor were the following:

The Uninvited Pests – 1946. Farmer Alfalfa and his lazy, good-for-nothing, very loyal and endearing dawg are trying to have a family picnic but the two pestulants are fighting hard battles to keep them derailed.

King Tut’s Tomb -1950. Arguably the funniest visit to Tut’s underground museum of Egyptian mummified cadavers. The choreography of the magpies and mummies are worth the time spent .

Bulldozing the Bull -1951. H and J see huge profit potential for their homemade hot tamales inside the food court of a bullfight astrodome; unfortunately, they don’t have enough pocket change for admission from the beer-bellied ticket seller. And his personality might seem nice upon initial acquaintance but, once they connive at getting in for free, his true colors are quickly seen in all their deadly glory.

Ned Sparks

He even uses the bull as an agent of his wrath. But the giftedly manipulative birdbrains convince the bull to deploy his wrath towards the ticket seller.

Off to the Opera -1952. Heckle and Jeckle deliver a comic rendition of Rossini’s Barber of Seville that holds its own with the one of Bugs Bunny and his arch nemesis, Yosemite Sam.

Actor Ned Sparks (1883-1957) did captivating voices for both conbirds from the mid-’40s to early ‘50s.

 

 

VA CORNER: New blog available for veterans questions

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Photo credit: The Veterans Blog.

Gary Kennedyby Gary Kennedy

For those of you who aren’t aware we have a new “BLOG SITE”. On your computer or smartphone if you put in our Blog address, maineveteranstalk.wixsite.com/vets, then we will be able to answer your questions very quickly.

For those of you who need help with a claim we would be happy to take a look and offer our opinion/advise on the matter. I have heard many of you say that you have applied for VA medical help and were turned down. Well, that happens to many Vets who have applied for benefits for the first time; sometimes even the second time. I notice that some make application without having the assistance of a veterans advocate. Well, that is a sort of like going into a court room without a lawyer. Don’t go it alone; don’t try to be your own doctor or lawyer; your chances of success will be very slim to nothing. Also, you will be just mudding up the water so to speak, for future claims. Once you have lost, the information you supplied becomes used and can’t be revisited unless you have “new and material” evidence to add to it. It is much wiser to go into the system with a veteran’s representative with you. Veteran’s representatives have been doing these things for many years and have been well trained. Also, we have volunteers such as myself who can look at your problem and help guide you through the process.

For those of you who would like just to be heard, you can write an article for print or just give your opinion on a particular VA related situation. Keep in mind if you would like to discuss something it must be tasteful and to the point. Freedom of speech goes only so far. If your article is too long then it probably won’t fit in the paper.

God bless.

INside the OUTside: Natalie Terry chalks up another milestone

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Natalie Terry

Dan Cassidyby Dan Cassidy

Begins 50th year of ski instructing at Sugarloaf

Natalie Terry began another year at Sugarloaf as she has done over the last 49, however, this year has a special meaning. This is the 50th consecutive year that she has been teaching skiing at Sugarloaf since 1951. “I have never missed a year,” she said.

Natalie has received the highest number of requested private and group lessons of any staff member.

“Skiing has been a passion in my life,” she said. She and her late husband, Tim, lived and skied in Waterville with their two children at the Colby Outing Club in the late 1940s and at Baker Mountain, in Bingham, well before any lifts were cut at Sugarloaf.

She began her long skiing career at Sugarloaf around 1951, and has worked with 11 directors at Sugarloaf. “I climbed with Amos Winter to the top of Winter’s Way. We would seal skin up the mountain and ski down,” she said. “It was the only trail that had been cut.”

Natalie is certainly respected by her colleagues at Sugarloaf. “The past few years have been magical for me, three quarters of my life has been on this Mountain,” she said. She was inducted into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame in 2012.

“She is known as a celebrity on the Mountain,” Bob Trip, manager of the Ski and Snowboard School said. “Every coach considers her as a celebrity here. She is considered as family, She never expects anything from anybody he said.

Ski and ride safely, use your head and wear a helmet.