F R E E

VOL.2, NO.6

I N F O C U S F O R P E O P L E O V E R 5 0JUNE 2012More than 30,000 readers throughout Howard County

I N S I D E …

FITNESS & HEALTH 4k A way to predict heart attacks?k Don’t overdose on vitamins

THE SENIOR CONNECTION 16k Howard County Office on Aging Newsletter

LAW & MONEY 18k Reliable investment advice k The risks of Treasury bonds

PLUS CROSSWORD, BEACONBITS, CLASSIFIEDS & MORE

ARTS & STYLEWhy are public sculpturessprouting across HowardCounty? Plus, singer Melaniefinds a brand new audience

page 26

The Howard County

By Robert FriedmanDeanna Bogart has often had to battle

her way into playing music the way shewanted in a genre dominated by men.

As a middle school student, she yearnedto wail on the saxophone like Charlie Park-er and Ben Webster. Instead, she washanded a clarinet and told, “This is whatgirls play.”

“I was 11 years old and I knew that wasn’tright,” Bogart said. “But I couldn’t say why.”

What she could do is prove them all sowrong, building a successful career as ajazz and blues pianist, vocalist, songwriter,band leader and, yes, award-winning saxo-phonist who has played with such luminar-ies as Ray Charles and BB King.

A promising beginningBorn in Detroit and raised in Queens,

N.Y. and Phoenix, Ariz., Bogart’s musicalvoyage began just a few years after birth,when she was “climbing on any availablepiano bench to plunk and play with preter-natural panache,” as her website puts it.

Such panache apparently was too un-orthodox for the Brooklyn Conservatoryof Music which, she said, “gently removed”her from the school because she insistedon playing piano by ear rather than learn-ing to read those stodgy written notes.

None of it stopped her from deciding tomake music her career. Bogart moved toHoward County in her early 20s to join thewestern swing band called Cowboy Jazz.

Four years later, still with the band, shemarried the road manager, who hailedfrom an “old Howard County family.” Afew years later, she formed her owngroup, the Deanna Bogart Band. She hasbeen a resident of Howard County since1981, living for the last eight years inWoodbine.

Surprisingly, she didn’t start playing thesax until she was 26 years old. Now 52,she’s a three-time winner of the nationalBlues Music Award’s Horn Instrumental-ist of the Year Award (2008, 2009 and2010) for her saxophone playing. She hasalso won 22 Wammies — the musicawards given by the Washington AreaMusic Association for “significant careerachievements.”

Bogart brings down house after house

wherever she and her eponymous bandplay, whether in area music clubs, festivalsaround the country, for U.S. troops in Iraqand Kuwait, on rhythm-and-blues cruisesto the Caribbean, or at the Great Pyramidsin Egypt, as she did during a “Blues on theNile” tour.

DownBeat, a leading jazz and blues mag-azine, has called her “an extravagant enter-tainer.”

She has also been described as a femaleJerry Lee Lewis, which Bogart says is fine,even though she owns no Jerry Leerecordings and feels her piano playing ismore from the old Kansas City swing jazz

and boogie woogie school. Her keyboard influences, she said, start

with Kansas City great Jay McShann andmove on to boogie woogie innovator PeteJohnson, modern jazz masters TheloniusMonk and Dave Brubeck, and classicalphenom Glenn Gould.

Her style is to combine the blues, boo-gie woogie, rock, country and jazz as sheworks out on the piano, wails on the tenorsax, and sings her soulful songs. She callsher blending and bending of the musicalgenres “bluesion.”

Nationally renowned jazz and blues musician Deanna Bogart, who lives in Woodbine,will give a concert at Howard County’s WomenFest on June 16. Bogart, one of thecountry’s leading saxophone players, also plays piano, sings, and writes many of herown songs.

See DEANNA BOGART, page 28

Deanna Bogart and all that jazz

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LEISURE & TRAVELDay trips back to early Ameri-can history; plus, credit cardsthat stretch your travel dollar

page 23

By Leslie A. Morgan, Ph.D.Social scientists contend that we most

typically engage in stereotyping and dis-crimination against groups to which wedon’t (and won’t ever) belong. The one major exception is ageism. We

all will grow old, if we’re lucky, and facepossible prejudice and discrimination be-cause of our old age — we may even evalu-ate ourselves more negatively based onthese views. Consider: If you’re on the road behind a

slow-moving silver-haired driver and youimmediately label that behavior as due tothe driver’s age, you are reacting in anageist way. You’re not alone. Much of our thinking

about old age is negative, focusing on de-cline, dependency, dementia and, increas-

ingly, the demand being placed on the gov-ernment and economy by the growingnumber of recipients for Social Securityand Medicare. Our culture encourages us to think about

life in specific stages, and attributing traitsand characteristics to each of those stages.We have the “terrible twos” and expecta-tions about the behavior of “teenagers,” aswell as notions about those in middle age orlater life that become stereotypes. The stereotype for old age includes poor

health, bad memory or (worse) dementia,holding outdated ideas, and being asexual,unable to learn new things and unproductive. We learn these ideas from our culture,

reinforced by the ageist humor in birthdaycards, public discussion about older peo-ple, media and marketing images, and our

daily interactions with others. So it’s not surprising that we hold nega-

tive attitudes toward this group, seeminglyseparating ourselves from “them.” People in the United States have high

levels of “age anxiety,” or fear of grow-ing/being old. But what we fear is thestereotype, not the reality of aging. While many think of this stage as a drea-

ry, unhealthy, sad and isolated time of life,research consistently shows that mostolder people are living independently, mar-ried, able to support themselves financial-ly, and socially engaged — even whiledealing with chronic health conditions andperhaps a lower income. So while the reality of aging differs from

our stereotypes and anxieties, both themedia and all of us persist in our negativeviews of later life. We sometimes exempt specific individu-

als from this stereotype, insisting that ourAunt Barbara or Grandpa Ken somehoware distinct from other “old people.” Thisexception arises because we know them as

individuals, with specific histories, talentsand experiences, or sometimes becausewe’ve known them before they became old.So perhaps the key to breaking our

ageist world view is to learn to see eacholder person as an individual. Social scien-tists suggest that we become more distinctfrom each other as we age, rather thanmore alike. Rather than persist in grouping old peo-

ple into one stereotype that is negative andrightfully feared, we need to understandthat we all are growing older and that hold-ing onto an ageist view will constrain eachof us in our own futures. Having a “better old age” isn’t just about

health and money. It involves older people— all of us — having a positive place in so-ciety, meaningful things to do, and fewernegative attitudes directed at us by others— and by ourselves — as our hair grays,our years climb, and we all eventuallyenter the ranks of the old.Dr. Morgan is a professor of sociology &

gerontology at UMBC.

2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

BeaconThe

I N F O C U S F O R P E O P L E O V E R 5 0

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

• Associate Publisher..............Judith K. Rosenthal

• Vice President, Operations........Gordon Hasenei

• Director of Sales ................................Alan Spiegel

• Assistant Operations Manager ..........Roger King

• Managing Editor............................Barbara Ruben

• Graphic Designer ..............................Kyle Gregory

• Advertising Representatives ........Doug Hallock,

...................................................................... Steve Levin

The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915(410) 248-9101 • Email: info@thebeaconnewspapers.comSubmissions: The Beacon welcomes reader contributions. Deadline for editorial and advertising isthe 1st of the month preceding the month of publication. See page 31 for classified advertising details.Please mail or email all submissions.

© Copyright 2012 The Beacon Newspapers, Inc.

The Beacon is a monthly newspaper dedi cated toinform, serve, and en ter tain the citi zens of HowardCounty, and is pri vate ly owned. Other editionsserve Greater Baltimore, Greater Washington, andthe Coachella Valley in California.Subscriptions are available via third-class mail

($12), pre paid with order. Maryland residents add6 percent for sales tax. Send sub scrip tion order tothe office listed below.

Publication of advertising contained hereindoes not necessarily con sti tute en dorse ment.Signed col umns represent the opinions of thewriters, and not necessarily the opinion of thepublisher.

Letters to the editorReaders are encouraged to share their opinion on any matter addressed

in the Beacon as well as on political and social issues of the day. Mail

your Letter to the Editor to The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring,

MD 20915, or e-mail to barbara@thebeaconnewspapers.com.

Please include your name, address and telephone number for verification.

Dear Editor:A round of applause to Stuart Rosenthal

for pointing out how politics and blame aregetting in the way of this country’s abilityto remedy its weaknesses and to listento voters about real problems (“No pa-tience for politics,” May). We all need to work toward solutions

that are for the good of the country, notthe good of one party getting elected. Let’sbring back some substance to decision-making and work together to move for-ward in a positive direction.

Beth HaydenColumbia, Md.

RELAY FOR LIFE Relay for Life of Western Howard County is sponsoring a freeovernight event to celebrate cancer survivorship and to raise

money for the American Cancer Society on Friday, June 8 starting at 6:30 p.m. atthe Western Regional Park, 14800 Carrs Mill Rd., Woodbine. Teams of volunteerswill camp out and take turns walking around a track throughout the night, symbol-izing that “cancer never sleeps.” For more information, email claudia.klahre@can-cer.org or call (410) 781-4316.

WALKATHON FOR DOGS AND THEIR OWNERSA benefit walk for the Marshall Legacy’s Institute, which providesmine detection dogs to search and clear land mine-infested areas

around the world, will be held on Saturday, June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. atGlenelg Country School, 12793 Folly Quarter Rd., Ellicott City. The day includes a9K walk through the school’s 87-acre campus, dog agility courses, canine mas-sage therapy, and games, raffles and food from local restaurants. Registration is$15 for students, $25 for adults; children five and under are free. For more infor-mation, visit www.mli-k9-9k.org or call the school at (410) 531-7336.

KUTZTOWN FOLK FESTIVAL TRIPTake in a full day of Pennsylvania Dutch crafts, food and music ona bus tour sponsored by the Department of Recreation & Parks on

Saturday, June 30 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets are $78. For more information orto register, call (410) 313-7279 or (410) 313-7275.

BEACON BITS

June 8

June 16

June 30

How we see ourselvesThis month, I am pleased to cede my

usual “From the Publisher” space to aguest columnist. Please feel free to share with us your

thoughts about this topic through a letter,

email or phone call. Thank you.

Ageism affects everyone

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com 3

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GENE SCANS FOR EVERYONE?Mapping your own genome will onlyoffer vague health predictions at best

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HealthFitness &

By Matthew PeronneA panel of arthritis experts recently rec-

ommended that the federal governmentallow continued testing of an experimentalclass of pain drugs for arthritis, despitelinks to bone decay and joint failure.

The Food and Drug Administration’s 21-member panel of arthritis experts votedunanimously that research on the nerve-blocking drugs should continue, with cer-tain safety precautions. Reports of jointfailure led the agency to halt studies of thedrugs in 2010 before any of the medica-tions could be submitted for U.S. approval.

Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Re-generon Pharmaceuticals have asked theFDA to lift the moratorium on testing oftheir drugs. The FDA will weigh the ad-vice of its panel before making a final deci-sion.

“There’s clearly a worrisome safety sig-nal, but in spite of that, I think there’s anunmet need in certain patient populations,”said panelist Dr. Sherine Gabriel, of theMayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn.

Blocks nerve signalsPanelists noted that not all patients re-

spond to medications currently on the mar-ket, like Aleve and aspirin. The expertsalso said that the drugs could prove usefulin treating a variety of other chronic painconditions for which there are few options.

“Anything that has the hope of helpingpain patients is worth pursuing,” saidSusan Broyles, the patient representativeon the panel.

Drugmakers have touted the drugs,known as nerve growth factor inhibitors,as a potential breakthrough for treating os-teoarthritis, back pain and other chronicpain conditions.

They’ve pointed to strong results inearly testing and shortcomings of familiarpainkillers like aspirin and Advil, as well aspowerful opiate-based drugs. Anti-inflam-matory painkillers like Advil can causestomach bleeding, while opiates carry ahigh risk of addiction.

The injectable nerve-silencing drugs offera new approach, by blocking proteins that

control pain sensations throughout the body.

But it can backfire Experts said more study is needed to

determine why some patients taking thedrugs saw their arthritis worsen, in somecases to the point of joint failure. One in-dustry theory is that patients becomemore active after their pain subsides, lead-ing to increased damage at their mostproblematic joints.

Data analyses by the FDA showed ahigher rate of joint problems among pa-tients taking nerve-inhibitors and anti-in-flammatory drugs at the same time. How-ever, there were also cases of bone deteri-oration in patients taking the newer drugsalone.

The FDA’s panel said the new drugsshould not be mixed with older medica-tions in future studies. Additionally, pa-tients should be warned of the safety risksin a detailed informed consent waiver. Thedrugmakers should also take X-ray andMRI images to track the strength of pa-

tients’ bones throughout the trial. Problems with nerve growth factor in-

hibitors first emerged in the summer of2010, when the FDA asked Pfizer to haltstudies of its experimental injectiontanezumab in patients with osteoarthritis,low back pain and diabetic nerve pain. Theaction came after Pfizer researchers report-ed that osteoarthritis actually worsened incertain patients, requiring joint replace-ments in some cases.

In December that year, the FDA put aresearch hold on all drugs in the classafter similar problems emerged, haltingstudies by Johnson & Johnson and Regen-eron Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Regeneron was developing a compoundcalled REGN475, in cooperation withSanofi-Aventis. Johnson & Johnson wastesting its drug fulranumab in several painconditions.

The FDA lifted its hold on a trial of thedrug for cancer pain last summer, thoughstudies for osteoarthritis remain on hold.

— AP

FDA panel supports new painkiller study

By Lauran NeergaardToo often, people pass a cardiac check-

up only to collapse with a heart attack dayslater. Now scientists have found a clue thatone day may help doctors determine if aheart attack is imminent, in hopes of pre-venting it.

Most heart attacks happen when fattydeposits in an artery burst open, and ablood clot then forms to seal the break. Ifthe clot is too big, it blocks off blood flow.

The problem: Today’s best tests cannotpredict when that is about to happen.

“We don’t have a way to get at whetheran artery’s going to crack, the precursor toa heart attack,” said Dr. Eric Topol, direc-tor of California’s Scripps TranslationalScience Institute.

Recently, Scripps researchers reporteda new lead — by searching people’s bloodfor cells that appear to flake off the liningof a severely diseased artery.

Topol’s team measured high levels ofthose cells, deformed ones, floating in theblood of 50 people who’d just had a heartattack. The research is reported in thejournal Science Translational Medicine.

Next, Topol said his team will soon beginneeded studies to learn how early thosecells might appear before a heart attack,and if spotting them could allow use of clot-preventing drugs to ward off damage.

Some San Diego emergency rooms willstudy an experimental blood test withchest-pain sufferers whose standard examsfound no evidence of a heart attack, he said.

Much more study needed Do not expect a test to predict heart at-

tacks any time soon — a lot more researchis needed, caution heart specialists not in-volved with the study. But they are in-trigued.

“This study is pretty exciting,” said Dr.Douglas Zipes of Indiana University andpast president of the American College ofCardiology. It suggests those cells areharmed “not just in the minutes prior” to aheart attack, he said, “but probably hours,maybe even days” earlier.

“It’s a neat, provocative first step,” addedDr. William C. Little, cardiology chief atWake Forest Baptist Medical Center. “But itis not a biomarker ready for prime time.”

About 935,000 people in the U.S. have aheart attack every year, according to gov-ernment figures. Doctors can tell who’s atrisk: People with high blood pressure andcholesterol, who smoke, have diabetes,are overweight or sedentary.

But there’s no way to tell when a heartattack is imminent. Tests can spot that anartery is narrowing, or if a heart attack isunder way or already has damaged theheart muscle. They can’t tell if the plaqueinside arteries is poised to rupture.

So it’s not that uncommon for someoneto suffer a heart attack shortly after pass-ing a stress test or being told that theirchest pain was nothing to worry about.

Looking for abnormal cells The published study, funded by the Na-

tional Institutes of Health, investigatedcells shed from the endothelium, or thelining of blood vessels, into the blood-stream. They’re called “circulating en-dothelial cells.”

First, Topol’s team paired with VeridexLLC, a Johnson & Johnson unit that makestechnology used to find cancer cells float-

ing in blood. Could it find these cardiovas-cular cells, too?

The team took blood samples from 50heart attack patients — before they hadany artery-disturbing tests or treatments— and from 44 healthy volunteers. Theycounted lots of the endothelial cells float-ing in the heart attack victims’ blood, andvery little in the healthy people’s blood.

The big surprise: The cells in the heartpatients were grossly deformed. “Sickcells,” is how Topol describes them.

The study couldn’t tell when those ab-normal cells first appeared — and that’skey, said Wake Forest’s Little. It’s not clearhow many heart attacks happen too sud-denly for any warning period.

But Topol theorizes there are plaques thatbreak apart gradually and may shed thesecells for up to two weeks before the heart at-tack. He cites autopsy studies that found peo-ple’s arteries healed several plaque rupturesbefore the final one that killed them.

Topol said Scripps and Veridex havefiled for a patent for a blood test to detectthe abnormal cells.

— AP

Blood test may help predict heart attacks

Dr. Paul B. Rizzoli, director of the John R.Graham Headache Center at Faulkner Hos-pital, Boston, Mass., is an expert on mi-graines. Co-author of The Migraine Solu-tion: A Complete Guide to Diagnosis, Treat-ment, and Pain Management (HarvardHealth Publications/St. Martin’s Press),Rizzoli shared some of his expertise witheditors of the Harvard Health Letter.

Q: What is a migraine headache?A: Migraine can be defined as a limiting

headache — a headache that stops youfrom functioning. The pain is not a mild, in-significant thing you can ignore; you mustactively decide what to do about it. Nauseais also a common symptom.

More and more, it seems like migraineis a separate illness. In the future, it’s likelythat we’ll be able to define migraine by itsdistinct genetic pattern.

Q: Where does the pain come from?A: We think that migraine “lives” in the

brain. The brain doesn’t have pain recep-tors, but it processes pain signals from otherparts of the body. It’s the pain processingnetworks, or centers, in the brain that areoverly reactive or dysfunctional in migraine.

Q: Isn’t there a theory that the paincomes from the dilation — widening— of blood vessels in the brain?

A: That was the dominant theory in the1960s. But much of the evidence now isthat blood vessel constriction and dilationis an epiphenomenon — something thataccompanies the pain from migraine butdoesn’t cause it.

Q: Where do triggers fit in?A: The notion of triggers is central to

the diagnosis of migraine. We look for pat-terns of reactivity and for events or cir-cumstances that set off individualheadaches. The problem is that even whenyou identify triggers, there’s frequently

not a lot you can do about them. You can’tcontrol weather changes, for example.

I think triggers have often been overem-phasized in some of the self-help approach-es to migraine. Advice on managing trig-gers can suggest a sense of personal con-trol over migraines that often isn’t there.

Q: And dietary triggers?A: They exist, but I also think that peo-

ple can drive themselves crazy trying toidentify them. We frequently hear patientsreport that when they are adequately treat-ed, chocolate, alcohol and other dietarytriggers disappear.

Q: Have drugs like Imitrex made abig difference?

A: Imitrex (sumatriptan) is one of thetriptan drugs. The triptans have revolu-tionized treatment of migraine headachesonce they start to occur — what we callabortive treatment. They allow people totake a specific medicine to target a specificcondition and often get back to having afairly normal day.

Q: People also take medication on anongoing basis to keep the headachesfrom occurring, don’t they?

A: Yes, we have three major groups ofpreventive medications that we prescribe:anti-seizure medications, blood pressuredrugs, and the older tricyclic antidepres-sants. It is a diverse set of agents, and whythey work is not entirely clear, but theyseem to reduce headache reactivity — thetriggers may still be there, but they fail toset off the migraine event.

Botulinum toxin — Botox — injectionsinto various places on the head also seemto help reduce headache reactivity in somepeople.

Q: Is there one drug that you prescribemore than the others?

A: I have found amitriptyline (Elavil,

Endep, others), one of the older tricyclics, tobe particularly effective, often at a low dose:10 milligrams a day compared with the 100-to 150-milligram dose that was used for de-pression. Sedation and weight gain are sideeffects. Amitriptyline is long-acting, so I usu-ally recommend that people take it arounddinnertime so they don’t sleep too late.

Q: Are there any alternative approach-es that work?

A: Complementary and alternative ther-apies are usually not strong enough totreat a tough migraine problem alone, butthey might be helpful for a mild one. And alot of these treatments are very hard tostudy in a double-blind fashion.

The technique for which there is the

most evidence is biofeedback, but the prob-lem is that biofeedback is not widely avail-able and often isn’t covered by insurance.

My own personal favorite for patients isyoga, because it is so widely available and af-fordable, and it probably has other healthbenefits.

Q: How has your own understand-ing of migraine evolved over the years?

A: Certainly our knowledge about mi-graine has improved. But if I had to pickone thing, it would be my appreciation ofjust how much of an impact migraines canhave on people’s lives.

It took me 15 to 20 years to really under-

Understanding and managing migrainesHOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Fitness & Health 5

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By Anna Miller Recently, on “The Daily Show,” Jon

Stewart’s guest, David Agus, a physicianand author of the best-selling book TheEnd of Illness, fretted about what could becalled America’s vitamin abuse problem.

There have been 50 large-scale studieson supplements, Agus said, and not onehas shown a benefit in heart disease orcancer. “I don’t get it,” he said. “Why arewe taking these?”

Agus is not alone in his frustration. Otherexperts liken buying vitamins to flushingmoney down the toilet. In some cases, theymean it literally: If the body gets more ofcertain vitamins than it needs, it often ex-cretes the excess in urine.

That doesn’t stop Americans from spend-

ing about $28 billion a year on dietary supple-ments, including vitamins and herbal supple-ments. In some cases, people may be spend-ing money only to put their health at risk.

“As Americans, we think more is better,but that’s not the case with vitamins,” saidDee Sandquist, a registered dietician andspokesperson for the Academy of Nutri-tion and Dietetics, based in Chicago, IL.

Here are three popular vitamin supple-ments that prove you can, in fact, get toomuch of a good thing:

Vitamin ESupplement skeptics often point to the

story of vitamin E, which was once consid-ered a promising tool for cancer prevention.The National Cancer Institute was so hope-

ful that vitamin E supplements would de-crease rates of prostate cancer that in 2001 itfunded a study designed to test the theory.

Instead, the findings revealed that the menwho took vitamin E were 17 percent morelikely — not less — to develop the disease.

While vitamin E is a key player in im-mune function and cell communication, it’sbest obtained through diet — in foods likewheat germ, sunflower seeds, and broccoli— and worst when taken regularly as asupplement in high doses.

Like many vitamins, it appears to lose itsmain benefits when taken in excess.

Vitamin AVitamin A is what gives carrots their

good-for-your-vision reputation. Found inboth animal and plant-based products, it’salso important for reproduction, bonehealth and immune function.

Vitamin A supplements can be impor-tant for people with certain conditions thathinder fat absorption, including celiac dis-ease, Crohn’s disease, and pancreatic dis-orders. But vitamin A deficiency is uncom-mon among healthy Americans.

And partly because the nutrient canbuild up to toxic levels in the body, takingmore than you need over time can lead toserious liver problems, birth defects anddisorders of the central nervous system.

A form of vitamin A called beta-caroteneis thought to help prevent cancer — but per-haps only when obtained through the diet.In pill form, it seems to do just the opposite.

Much as the pivotal vitamin E study back-fired, so did the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study, whichfound that male smokers who took beta-carotene supplements were 18 percent morelikely to develop lung cancer, and 8 percentmore likely to die, than the ones who did not.

Gerard Mullin, director of integrative gas-trointestinal nutrition services at the JohnsHopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md., and au-thor of The Inside Tract: Your Good GutGuide to Great Digestive Health, has caredfor patients who developed liver fibrosis be-cause they overdosed on vitamin A. “A lot ofpeople don’t know it can be dangerous,” hesaid. “They think it fights infections.”

Vitamin CInfection-fighting prowess is often at-

tributed to vitamin C, as well. From or-ange-flavored chewables to Emergen-Cpackets, mega-doses of vitamin C are sta-ples in many American medicine cabinets.

While the natural form of the vitamin sup-ports immune function, there’s only a weakscientific link between regular use of vita-

An ‘overdose’ of vitamins can hurt you

stand what migraine patients are goingthrough and what a huge impediment mi-graine is on their lives. I’ve also come to un-derstand that it often takes a lot for peopleto come in for care. Many patients havesome level of shame about their migraines.

Q: Shame? Really?A: Shame is a strong word, but I think

it’s appropriate. They have shame becausethey think they should be able to handle iton their own. And shame because theyhave often made an effort to talk to doc-tors about migraine and have been passedoff as complainers.

— Tribune Media Services, Inc.

6 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

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By Lauran NeergaardGene scans for everyone? Not so fast.

New research suggests that for the aver-age person, decoding your own DNA maynot turn out to be a really useful crystalball for future health.

Today, scientists map entire genomesmostly for research, as they study which ge-netic mutations play a role in different dis-eases. Or they use it to try to diagnose mys-tery illnesses that plague families. It is differ-ent from getting a genetic test to see if youcarry, say, a particular cancer-causing gene.

But as genome mapping gets faster andcheaper, scientists and consumers havewondered about possible broader use:Would finding all the glitches hidden inyour DNA predict which diseases you’llface decades later?

Johns Hopkins University developed amodel using registries of thousands of identi-

cal twins, who despite their shared genes candevelop different diseases. They examined24 ailments, including different types of can-cer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

Under best-case scenarios, most peoplewould be told they had a somewhat in-creased risk of at least one disease, saidDr. Bert Vogelstein, a Hopkins cancer ge-neticist and the study’s senior author.

But a negative test for most of the rest ofthe diseases does not mean you will not getthem. It just means that you are at no morerisk than the general population. Those arethe findings Vogelstein’s team reported inthe journal Science Translational Medicine.

Why? Cancer, for example, typically doesnot result from inherited genes but from mu-tations that can form anytime, Vogelstein ex-plained. Many other common diseases are in-

min C supplements and shorter or less se-vere colds. There’s no good evidence thatvitamin C pills can prevent a cold altogether.

Unlike vitamin A, vitamin C is water solu-ble, which means that if you take more thanyour body can use, the excess is usually ex-creted without causing harm. However,Sandquist said, adverse reactions like diar-rhea, stomach cramps and nausea can occur.

“In high-enough doses, vitamin C cancause kidney stones,” added Mullin. Anyamount larger than 500 milligrams per daycan be enough to cause a problem, he said.

Sandquist recommends that healthy peo-ple abide by the Institute of Medicine’s“Tolerable Upper Intake Levels,” which in-dicates the maximum daily intake of a vita-min you should consume through a combi-nation of diet and supplements. Takingmore than that amount means the riskslikely outweigh the benefits. The recom-mended amount is often less than the limit.

“When the IOM makes their recom-mendations, they look at all the availableresearch,” she said, so its conclusions aremore reliable than any single study, evenone that gets a lot of publicity.

Because taking supplements is secondnature for many consumers, vitamins areoften overlooked as a potential culprit forsymptoms like headaches or diarrhea,Sandquist said. It’s important to be con-scious of what you’re consuming — in nat-ural, supplement and fortified forms — andto tell your doctor about every last one.

“The best strategy is to follow the ‘choosemy plate’ method,” she said, referring to theU.S. Department of Agriculture’s healthyfood guide. If people do that, she said, “thenthey probably wouldn’t have to worry abouta vitamin supplement unless they have aspecific medical condition.”

For the Institute of Medicine’s chartsshowing tolerable upper intake levels, visithttp://bit.ly/upperlimit.© 2012 U.S. News and World Report

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Fitness & Health 7

Columbia Associationis offering mature adults (Ages 65+) SPECIALDiscounted Rateson Memberships!

Sign-up now and receive 20% Off All One-Year Membershipsor Save25% on Multi-Year Memberships.

Enjoy CA’s fitness facilities, pools, the Member Advantageprogram, activities for mature adults and much more!

For more information or to sign-up, please visit CA’s Membership Service Center(10221 Wincopin Circle, Downtown Columbia on the Lakefront) any time Monday-Saturday from 10am-7pm or call 410-730-1802.

Offer is valid for CA Residents, ages 65+, and cannot be combined with any other special offer or discount. 20% discount applies to one-year Individual Facility, Outdoor Pool, Package Plan or Package Plan Plus memberships. 25% discountapplies to multi-year Individual Facility, PackagePlan or Package Plan Plus memberships. Discounts are valid on new memberships only. Additional fees and restrictions may apply forclasses, indoor tennis courts and greens fees.Offer expires July 31, 2012.

AttentionMature Adults!

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VitaminsFrom page 6

Is there benefit to mapping your genome?

See GENOME, page 8

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By Dr. Paul TakahashiDear Mayo Clinic:

Why do we lose our sense of tasteand smell as we get older? I’m 86 andvery much miss tasting food the way Iused to. Is there anything I can do toreverse the loss?

Answer: A decrease in taste and smellcommonly occurs with aging. But if youlose these senses suddenly, or if you noticea significant change in your ability to smelland taste, see your doctor, as certain med-ications or an underlying medical problemcould be to blame.

Although nothing can be done to reversethe process if it’s related to aging, there areways to make eating more enjoyable and en-sure you get proper nutrition, even if yourtaste and smell aren’t what they used to be.

Our senses of smell and taste are closelyrelated. The tongue has taste buds and

taste receptors that allow us to perceivesweet, sour, salty and bitter. In addition,when we eat, food releases odors that en-gage olfactory nerves within the nose.Those aromas combine with the tastes onour tongue to contribute to the overall en-joyment of food.

Nerve loss and other causesWith aging, nerves within the nose tend

to degenerate, decreasing the ability tosmell and taste. To some degree, nerve de-generation also affects the taste buds. Formost people, that is less of a problem,though, because the tongue has morenerves than the nose. So, quite a bit ofnerve loss would have to occur before younoticed a decrease in taste due to problemswith taste buds alone.

Age-related changes to taste and smelloccur gradually over time, and there’s no

way to reverse those changes. In somecases, however, loss of taste and smell maynot be a product of aging alone. Nasal andsinus problems — such as nasal polyps, al-lergies or sinusitis — can lead to a de-crease in these senses.

Dental issues, including an abscess,tooth decay or poor dental hygiene, mayalso interfere with your ability to taste andsmell. Cigarette smoking is another com-mon cause for a decrease in taste and smell.

In certain cases, a loss of these sensescould be a sign of a more serious underly-ing medical concern. For example, someneurologic diseases, such as Alzheimer’sand Parkinson’s, may cause loss of tasteand smell in their early stages.

If your ability to taste or smell changesabruptly, or if you notice a big decrease inthese senses, that should be evaluated byyour doctor.

Other steps you can takeIn addition, if you are taking medications

talk to your doctor about the possibility thatthey could be interfering with taste andsmell. Many drugs can affect those senses,particularly beta blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.

Sometimes a change in medication ortreatment for an underlying medical concernmay help relieve the loss of taste and smell.

For many people, though, these sensessimply fade with age and the loss is perma-nent. If that’s the case for you, take stepsto make eating more pleasant by eatingwith other people as much as possible.When eating is a social event, people oftenenjoy their meals more.

Also, experiment with different flavors.You may be able to taste some types offood, seasonings and spices better thanothers. Just be careful not to put too muchsalt on food, as excess sodium in your dietcould lead to additional health concerns.

As taste and smell begin to decrease, bemindful of your eating habits. Some peopleeat less or begin to eat in unhealthy wayswhen they lose these senses. Eating threenutritious meals a day, as well as healthysnacks, is important to staying healthy andpreventing some common health prob-lems associated with aging. Medical Edge from Mayo Clinic is an edu-

cational resource and doesn’t replace regularmedical care. For health information, visitwww.mayoclinic.com.© 2012 Mayo Foundation for Medical Ed-

ucation and Research. All rights reserved.Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

If your senses of taste and smell change8 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

fluenced by lifestyle and environment — soyou would still have to eat well, exercise andtake the other usual precautions.

The study examined just one possiblefuture use of genome mapping. It does notmean there are not other benefits from theeffort.

Make no mistake: This technology doeshave huge promise for customizing carefor certain people, especially children withotherwise undiagnosed illnesses, said Dr.James Lupski of Baylor College of Medi-cine, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Last year, Baylor researchers reportedone of the first examples of genome mappingdirectly benefiting a patient. It found a muta-tion that pointed to the right treatment for a14-year-old girl’s baffling trouble breathing.

But even if finding a genetic explanationdoes not lead to treatment, knowingwhether it was inherited can help parentsdecide whether to chance having anotherbaby, Lupski added.

“There are families where this can betransformative,” said Lupski. He had hisown genome mapped to identify the causeof a rare nerve disorder.

— AP

Genome From page 7

Abilities Network Senior Services Presents:Your Move Made Easy

Free Medicare counseling benefit

If you’re a Medicare beneficiary, youcan get one “intensive behavioral therapy”session aimed at preventing heart disease,and weekly sessions for a month or morefor help dealing with obesity — no co-payrequired.

Both benefits are available only in a “pri-mary care setting.” For Medicare’s pur-poses, that means the office of a general orfamily practitioner, internist or geriatri-cian. Cardiologists don’t seem to qualify asprimary care physicians according to thisdefinition, although some perform pri-

mary care functions. Medicare also won’t pony up if these

services take place in a hospital, outpatientsurgery center, nursing home or diagnos-tic testing facility.

Both programs focus on changing behav-ior to achieve agreed-upon goals. The car-diovascular program is a one-shot deal, andincludes counseling about healthful eating.

While it’s aimed primarily at people withcardiovascular risk factors, if you alreadyhave heart disease, no conceivable harmcould come from taking advantage of thisfree session.

The obesity program is more extensivebut is restricted to people with a body massindex of 30 or higher. It offers weekly visitsfor one month, followed by every-other-week sessions for another five months.

Medicare will pay for additional monthlysessions for up to a year if the beneficiary

loses at least 6.6 pounds during the firstsix months.

For more information about theseMedicare freebies, visit http://MyMedicare.gov, or call 1-800-MEDICARE.

— Harvard Heart Letter

Shrub’s secrets could fight agingA flowering Tibetan shrub that tricks

cells into thinking they are starving couldbecome a weapon against multiple sclero-

sis and even old age.The roots of the blue evergreen hy-

drangea (Dichroa febrifuga) have beenused in traditional Chinese medicine totreat malaria. Now Tracy Keller and col-leagues at the Harvard School of DentalMedicine in Boston have found thathalofuginone — a chemical based on theroots’ active ingredient — blocks immunereactions that can cause disease.

Cells stop the synthesis of non-vital pro-teins when amino acids are in short sup-

Health Shorts

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Fitness & Health 9

HT RIDE GENERAL PARATRANSIT ALERT!Beginning July 1, 2012, if you would like to register for

HT Ride General Paratransit service, please call HT Ride at 1-800-270-9553, option 3.

Thank you!

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See HEALTH SHORTS, page 11

LEARN ABOUT LONG-TERM CARE PLANNING

Get an overview of long-term care planning with a certified

long-term care (CLTC) specialist at a seminar on Thursday, June 28 from 5:30

to 6:30 p.m. at Somerford Place Alzheimer’s Assisted Living, 8220 Snowden

River Parkway, Columbia. A question and answer period will follow the presen-

tation. Food and literature will be provided. R.S.V.P. to Victoria Dudek at (410)

313-9744.

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You’re on top of your medications.But we make a good back up.You know it’s important to stay on your medications exactly as prescribed. However, if you miss a dose, want a lower-cost alternative, or experience any side effects, we can answer any questions. Speak to your local CVS Pharmacist to learn more.

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ply. Keller’s team discovered that halofugi-none mimics such a shortage by blockingan enzyme that feeds one amino acid to theprotein-making machinery.

Keller found that the drug triggers achemical cascade that responds to aminoacid scarcity. This inhibited the growth ofmalaria parasites, stopped blood cells frommaking proteins that cause inflammation,and stopped the development of specificwhite blood cells that trigger conditionssuch as inflammatory bowel disease andmultiple sclerosis, according to a study inNature Chemical Biology.

This could make the drug effectiveagainst autoimmune disease. But ashalofuginone mimics nutrient deprivation,there is another possible use.

Animals that receive only just adequatenutrition live longer because diseases thatinvolve inflammation are prevented. That,said Keller, means halofuginone mightwork as an anti-aging drug.

— New Scientist

Best meds forresistant high blood pressure

If you have resistant high blood pres-sure (hypertension), you’re probably al-ready doing a lot to lower it. But a studysuggests that people with resistant hyper-tension rarely get two particularly effec-tive drugs, and often they get a drug com-bination that’s not very helpful.

Resistant hypertension occurs whenblood pressure stays high despite takingthree or more drugs, or when a personneeds four or more drugs to reach blood

pressure goals. Colorado researchers reviewed insurance

claims for more than 140,000 such people.Only 3 percent were receiving chlorthali-done (Hydone, generic), a diuretic (waterpill) that several studies suggest is more ef-fective at reducing blood pressure and curb-ing bad cardiovascular consequences thanthe most-often-prescribed diuretic, hy-drochlorothiazide (HydroDiuril, generic).

Also, only 6 percent of the people wereprescribed an aldosterone blocker such asspironolactone, which guidelines recom-mend for resistant hypertension.

Meanwhile, more than 15 percent re-ceived an ACE inhibitor plus an an-giotensin-receptor blocker (ARB), a com-bination that evidence indicates is not veryeffective. In late 2011, the U.S. Food andDrug Administration approved the firstchlorthalidone-ARB combination (Edarby-clor), which could make taking this effec-tive combo more convenient.

If your blood pressure is stubbornlyhigh and you’re not taking chlorthalidoneor spironolactone, or if you’re taking theACE-ARB combination, ask your doctorwhy. There may be good reasons, but youshould know what they are.

Keep in mind that people who have bothkidney disease and high blood pressureshould take a loop diuretic like furosemide(Lasix), which is easier on the kidneys.

— Harvard Heart Letter

Tattoos take on amedical purposeTattoos have long served as fashion

statements, but a small number of Ameri-cans are now relying on them for a morepractical, potentially lifesaving purpose: towarn first responders about importantmedical conditions.

Some medical tattoos are being used to

take the place of bracelets that commonlylist a person’s allergies, chronic diseasesor even end-of-life wishes.

“Bracelets are nice, but something asstrong as a tattoo ... that is a strong state-ment,” said Dr. Ed Friedlander, a KansasCity pathologist who has “No CPR” tat-tooed in the center of his chest, where aparamedic would see it.

Friedlander, 60, got the tattoo to empha-size his decision to forgo CPR if his heartstops.

Medical tattoos don’t appear to carrymuch legal weight. It’s unclear whether anambulance crew racing to treat a gravely illpatient could honor a request such asFriedlander’s based on the tattoo alone.

But the markings do offer a simple andpermanent way to give rescuers importanthealth details.

Melissa Boyer, of Nashville, Mich., wore

bracelets for years to identify her as a dia-betic, but she kept losing or breaking them.The 31-year-old decided months ago to geta 3 1/2-inch tattoo on her left forearm thatincludes the medical symbol and identifiesher as a Type 1 diabetic. It also declares herallergies to penicillin and aspirin.

The American Medical Association doesnot specifically address medical tattoos inits guidelines. But Dr. Saleh Aldasouqi, anendocrinologist at Michigan State Univer-sity, hopes that might change.

Aldasouqi, who has written about thetattoos, has seen them among his diabeticpatients and feels they are becoming sopopular that the medical profession needsto help guide their development.

It would be helpful, for instance, if thetattoos were uniform or placed in the samearea of the body so responders wouldknow where to look, he said. — AP

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Fitness & Health 11

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Health shortsFrom page 9

Heartlands: a home that touches your heart

From the daughter of our resident Mr. Dell Bean...

Moving my dad to Heartlands has given my family the peace of mind toknow that he is being taken care of. It gives us a real sense of relief knowingthat he is eating well, having the opportunity to exercise in a safe environment, and being a part of a community. Everyone at Heartlands hasopened their hearts to him and it has been really great! -Lindsey Marks

At Heartlands Ellicott City, you will find:• Cottages with updated kitchens,

walk-in closet and three-seasonporch

• On-site medical services andwellness center

• State-of-the-art fitness and rehabcenter with indoor pool and spa

• Recreational and cultural events, trips and scheduled transportation

• Gazebo, patio, pond and fountain• Shopping and medical centers

nearby• And more...

For a complimentary lunch and personal tour, please call Natalia Burke at (410) 461-9494

By Barbara RubenColorectal cancer is often considered

the most preventable, yet least prevented,cancer. It is highly treatable if found early,but 40 percent of adults age 50 and olderdo not get screened as recommended.

As a result, colorectal cancer is the sec-ond leading cancer killer in the UnitedStates. About 51,000 people will die of thedisease this year, according to the NationalCancer Institute

Exact Sciences, a molecular diagnosticscompany focused on colorectal cancer, is

now studying a new screening test to de-tect colorectal cancer and pre-cancerousconditions.

The test works by detecting specific al-tered DNA sequences in cells that areshed from the lining of the colon into thestool. Stool samples are collected at homewith a test kit and returned via FedEx forevaluation.

“We hope to find that the home-basedstool sample test has strong enough pre-dictability to detect colon and colorectalcancer that this will become the gold stan-

dard for overall screening,” said ChristinePierre, president of RxTrials in Columbia,which is conducting a local study of thetest.

“We hope this will be a good alternativefor the vast majority of society, who sadlydo not undergo a screening colonoscopywhen they turn 50. Why not? One reasonis patients have some hesitancy about theprocedure. Sometimes it’s cost. Some-times it’s flat-out fear,” she said.

Pierre said that if the test gets FDA ap-proval, it could be on the market in abouttwo years.

Get a colonoscopy, tooThose taking part in the study will make

one 15- to 30-minute visit to RxTrials for apre-colonoscopy visit and to obtain a take-home stool sample collection kit. Studyparticipants will also make an appointmentto have a colonoscopy within 90 days.

Researchers will compare the results ofthe new stool test with the findings of thecolonoscopy.

Compensation of $100 is offered for col-lecting the sample and completing thecolonoscopy. In addition, RxTrials offerstransportation to and from its office and the

colonoscopy. (Patients are not allowed todrive themselves following the colonoscopybecause of the sedating effects of the anes-thesia used.)

Participants must use their own healthinsurance or Medicare to cover the cost ofthe colonoscopy.

Who can participate?To qualify for the study, participants

must be between 64 and 84 years old andbe at average risk for colon cancer. Thatmeans those with inflammatory bowel dis-ease, including chronic ulcerative colitis(CUC) and Crohn’s disease, cannot takepart, nor can those with parents, siblings orchildren who have had colorectal cancer.

Participants cannot have had colorectalcancer, adenoma or aerodigestive tractcancer. They cannot have had colorectalsurgery for any reason other than sigmoiddiverticular disease.

They also cannot have had a positive fecaloccult blood test within the last six monthsand cannot have had a colonoscopy withinthe past nine years. Those who have neverhad a colonoscopy qualify for the study.

To learn more about the study, or to vol-unteer, call (410) 964-8512.

12 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

Health Studies PageTHE PLACE TO LOOK FOR INFORMATION ON AREA CLINICAL TRIALS

Get paid to try new colorectal cancer test

Trouble Sleeping?Volunteer for a Sleep& Sensory Tes�ng Study

Approved04/5/2010

Michael T. Smith, Ph.D., Principal Inves!gatorProtocol: NA_00011802

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For informa�on, please call (410) 550-7906

� To par�cipate in this study,you must be:

• 50 Years of age or older• Have Trouble Staying Asleep• Be otherwise Healthy

� Compensa�on up to $330.00

� This study involves:• 1 Sleep study conducted in

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Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicineare looking for volunteers to par!cipate in a

research study examining the associa!on between sleep and sensory abili!es.

ARE YOUR EYES TOO DRY?Dr. Mahsa Salehi of the Wilmer Eye Institute will discuss thecauses of dry eyes and the care and treatment of conditions

affecting ocular surface disease in a lecture on Monday, June 25 at 7 p.m. at theHoward County General Hospital Wellness Center, Medical Pavilion, 10710Charter Dr., Suite 100, Columbia. For more information, call (410) 740-7601.

ELDER ABUSE AWARENESSInformational pamphlets dealing with elder abuse concerns andsources of assistance will be available during the week of June 10at the Ellicott City Senior Center, 9401 Frederick Rd., Ellicott City.

For more information, contact Officer PFC Holly Burnham at (410) 313-6089.

BEACON BITS

June 25

June 10+

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF AGINGThe Mental Health Players from the Mental Health Association ofMaryland will perform three thoughtful and humorous vignettes on

the challenges and demands of aging, with audience interaction encouraged. Thefree program, called “Life Keeps Blooming,” will be held on Thursday, May 31 at 6p.m. at the Bain Center, 5470 Ruth Keaton Way, Columbia. It will be followed bylight refreshments. For further information, call (410) 313-7213.

FATHER LOSS WORKSHOP A workshop for adults who have experienced the death of a father,grandfather or male guardian will be held on Tuesday, June 12 at6:30 p.m. at Gilchrist Hospice Care-Howard County, 5537 Twin

Knolls Rd., Suite 433, Columbia. The program is free, but pre-registration is required.To register, call (443) 539-4086 or email GHC_bereavement@gilchristhospice.org.

BEACON BITS

May 31

June 12

If interested call: 410-605-7179 & Mention code: LIFT atBaltimore VA/University of Maryland Gerontology Recruitment Line

*You must be at least 65 years old and in good health*Participants will be seen at the Baltimore VA Medical Center and

University of Maryland School of Medicine*You will attend approximately 41 visits for 1 to 4 hours each per visit

CALL TODAY!

Want to Prevent Falls in the Elderly?Seeking Men and Women to participate in a research study

at the University of Maryland &Veterans Affairs of Baltimore to better understand balance and the

prevention of falls in aging individuals.You will receive:

• Health evaluation• Balance, step, strength, and/or flexibility exercises

• Compensation for your time

By Maria ChengWomen who take estrogen after

menopause appear to have a lower risk ofbreast cancer even years after they quittaking the hormone, according to a newanalysis of a landmark study.

The results are reassuring news forwomen who have had hysterectomies anduse the pills to relieve hot flashes and othersymptoms of menopause, the researchersand other doctors say. Previous observation-al studies have suggested a possible connec-tion between estrogen and breast cancer.

The new research found women whohad a hysterectomy who took estrogen-only pills for about six years were about 20percent less likely to develop breast can-cer than those who didn’t take the hor-mone, and the benefit lasted for at leastfive years. The study was published in thejournal Lancet Oncology.

“If women are suffering from seriousmenopause symptoms and have had a hys-terectomy, then estrogen alone is a reason-able approach,” said Garnet Anderson, ofthe Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Cen-ter in Seattle and the study’s lead author.

Heart risk concernsDoctors have long prescribed hor-

mones for women after menopause to re-lieve symptoms like hot flashes and night

sweats. The pills were also believed to begood for bones, the heart and have otherhealth benefits.

In the 1990s, researchers began a large,U.S.-funded study, known as the Women’sHealth Initiative, looking at the effects ofestrogen-progestin combination pills andestrogen-only therapies.

The estrogen-progestin part of thestudy was stopped in 2002 when thecombo pill was linked to higher risks forheart attacks and breast cancer. In 2004,the estrogen study was halted after re-searchers detected stroke and blood clotrisks in that group.

Those results shook up conventionalwisdom about hormone replacement ther-apies and led women to stop taking themin droves. Now the advice is to take thehormones to relieve symptoms at the low-est dose possible for the shortest amountof time because of the potential risks.

Estrogen-only pills are recommendedfor the approximately 25 percent of womenin menopause who have had hysterec-tomies. Other women are prescribed thecombo pill: estrogen alone can raise theirrisk of cancer of the uterus.

In the new analysis, Anderson and col-leagues tracked more than 7,600 post-menopausal women aged 50 to 79 who hada hysterectomy. Roughly half took estro-

gen while the other half took placebo pillsfor about six years. Most women in bothgroups had yearly mammograms. Thewomen were followed for about 12 years.

In the group that took estrogen, therewere 151 cases of breast cancer versus 199in those on fake pills. That amounted to a 23percent lower risk of cancer, researcherssaid.

Lower cancer death rate, too In women who developed breast cancer,

there were six deaths among those whohad taken estrogen compared to 16 inthose who took placebos. The lower risk ofbreast cancer didn’t apply to women with afamily history of the disease or those whopreviously had benign breast lumps.

Doctors said women should not take es-trogen to lower their breast cancer risksince the hormone comes with slightlyhigher chances of stroke and blood clots.

Estrogen lowers breast cancer risk in someHOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Fitness & Health 13

See ESTROGEN, page 14

PREVENTABLE TREATABLE BEATABLE

You Can Beat Colon Cancer.But Only If You Know You Have It.We are currently seeking volunteers for a clinical research study toevaluate a colon cancer screening test. You may qualify if you are:

� 65-84 years old and never had a colonoscopy or� 65-84 years old and more than 9 years since your last colonoscopy

You will be compensated $100 for your participation in this study.Thank you for considering this volunteer opportunity.

Call: 410.964.8512

• Eye Care for All Ages • Specialists in Cataracts, Glaucoma, DiabeticRetinopathy and Macular Degeneration • Contact Lens Specialists

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Full In-House Optical DepartmentOutpatient No-Stitch Cataract Surgery • Laser Surgery

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410-997-9900

8860 Columbia 100 Parkway, Suite 101, Columbia, MD

Dear Readers:I attended the 2012 Natural Products

Expo West trade show in Cali-fornia to scout out new healthy,delicious or unique products.The companies mentionedbelow did not know that I waswith the media as I was sam-pling their goodies, and I re-ceive nothing from this.

Caveman Cookies: I likethe “Alpine” and “Original” fla-vors; they are gluten and grain-free (and therefore Paleo dietcompliant). Made with nuts,honey and berries. No preserv-atives or table sugar. These arechewy and delicious, and I grabbed a hand-ful of their samples when the rep turnedaround! www.cavemancookies.com

Earthpaste Amazingly Natural Tooth-

paste by Redmond: They mean it! Earth-paste only contains their famous “Real salt”

along with Redmond clay, xylitoland natural essential oils. That’sit. Their label even says, “Earth-paste is safe to eat. Rinse orswallow at your discretion, ei-ther way would be fine.” Earth-paste comes in three flavors,wintergreen, peppermint andcinnamon. www.earthpaste.com

Inner-Eco to Go: It’s co-conut kefir, so if you can’t han-dle dairy but still love kefir,here’s your dream come true.This is a 100 percent pure andnatural, dairy-free, sugar-free,

gluten-free, soy-free and certified vegan liv-ing food! This kefir product provides probi-otics. It tastes like coconut soda! www.inner-eco.com

All Purpose Cleaning Powder byPoppy’s: It contains only natural ingredi-ents, such as plant-derived surfactants,sodium bicarbonate, and essential oils oftea tree and peppermint. This companymakes toxin-free dishwashing soap, laun-dry detergent and more. www.poppysnatu-rallyclean.com

Mineral Sunscreen SPF 32 by Dol-phin Organics: This company makes aline of personal care products targeted atbabies and young children, but I believeeveryone should use toxin-free productson their body! This sunscreen containsnatural, organic ingredients to protect youfrom UVA and UVB rays. See their entireline: http://dolphinorganics.com

Bambooee Reusable Towels: This isa cleaning towel made from bamboo,which is a fast growing tree, and it re-quires no pesticides or fertilizers. You use

these all over the house; they are machinewashable. Best when slightly damp.http://www.bambooee.com

Yogavive Apple Chips: No sugar added,just USDA certified organic Fuji apples thatare dried and “popped” so the fruit is a littlecrunchy. These are addictive, with all sortsof fruity flavors. www.yogavive.com.

Maqui Berry Antioxidant Powder:Mix the powder with fruits, juice, yogurtor ice and make a smoothie. Containsmaqui berries, acai berries, vanilla flavor,stevia and brown rice (emulsifier). It’s or-ganic. www.organicmeetsgood.com.Dear Readers:

The most wonderful thing about ourplanet is that it grows good medicine. Mak-ing herbal teas is one of my secret passions.You can drink teas, and in some cases applythem to your skin.

I’ve been playing with herbs for years. It’sfun and I honestly think it’s a wonderful ad-junct to other medical treatments.

Here are the basics. Use 1 tablespoon ofherbs per cup of water. Consider brew time,as you will lose some health benefits overbrewing certain herbs.

An “infusion” is best when using delicateparts of the plant, like the leaves, flowers and

New all-natural products to try and enjoy

DEAR PHARMACISTBy Suzy Cohen

14 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

Research published last year found thoseproblems appeared to fade after womenstopped taking the pills.

“Estrogen on its own appears to besafe,” said Dr. Anthony Howell, professorof medical oncology at the University ofManchester, who co-authored a commen-tary in the journal.

Scientists aren’t sure why estrogen ap-peared to lower the risk of breast cancer,but Howell said altering the amount of es-trogen in the body might help stop tumorgrowth, since fluctuating levels could in-terfere with tumor development.

Other experts weren’t convinced. “It’sinconsistent with the totality of evidencethat finds estrogen increases breast can-cer risk,” said Valerie Beral, director of thecancer epidemiology unit at Oxford Uni-versity. She said the analysis was a subsetof a larger trial that wasn’t designed tospecifically look at breast cancer.

“If you want to take hormone replace-ment therapy, estrogen-only has a muchlesser effect on breast cancer than withprogestin,” she said. “But to say it protectsagainst breast cancer is wrong.”

Dr. Peter Bowen-Simpkins, medical di-rector of the London Women’s Clinic and aspokesman for Britain’s Royal College ofObstetricians and Gynaecologists, saidthe study was still reassuring news forwomen who had hysterectomies seekingrelief from menopausal symptoms.

“A lot of their suffering could bespared,” he said. — AP

EstrogenFrom page 13

See DEAR PHARMACIST, page 15

Directions: We are located at the corner of Rt. 40 and Rogers Avenue.

3305 Oak West DriveEllicott City, MD 21043855.446.1136

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• Movie theater• Billiards room• Business center• Incredible courtyard and meditation garden with koi pond and gazebo

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Regency Crest is an extraordinarily carefree community because of the convenient lifestyle enjoyed by those who live here. We go the extra mile toprovide our residents with distinctive amenities and service that cannot befound in ordinary active adult communities.

PLANNED ACTIVITIES SUCH AS WATER AEROBICS,RESIDENT MIXERS, COOKING CLASSES, ZUMBA,MOVIE NIGHTS, BBQ’S AND MANY MORE!

aromatic aerial portions (I’m thinking rosepetals or wood betony).

Infusing means you steep the herbs in hotwater for 20 to 30 minutes, as opposed to sim-mering them on the stove. Some herbs take acold water infusion versus boiled water.

Roots, bark or seeds are tougher partsof the plant and therefore require a “decoc-tion.” You simmer them for 20 to 45 min-utes in gently boiling water.

Experiment with combinations of vari-ous herbs to find the best taste and physio-

logical effect. Herbs are medicine, so do some research

on them first to make sure they are safe foryou. My favorite book on teas is RosemaryGladstar’s Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health.

It’s amazing that some herbal teas im-prove heart rhythm, reduce blood pres-sure, clear brain fog or ease hormonal con-cerns. Most herbal teas are safe for peoplewith kidney stones. Talk to your doctorabout any possible interactions with med-ications you are taking.

Health food stores sell herbs, or lookonline, or Google “herbal apothecary.” I in-sist on organic herbs.

This information is opinion only. It is notintended to treat, cure or diagnose your con-dition. Consult with your doctor before usingany new drug, herb or supplement.

Suzy Cohen is a registered pharmacistand the author of The 24-Hour Pharmacistand Real Solutions from Head to Toe. Tocontact her, visit www.dearpharmacist.com.

Dear Solutions: I’ve been divorced for some time

from a man I was marriedto for more than 20 years,so I was known as a di-vorcee. He recently died,and since I never remar-ried, I am entitled to someof his Social Security.

The Social Security officesays I am officially consid-ered a widow since neither ofus remarried. My questionis, can I now call myself awidow instead of a divorcee?

— AgnesDear Agnes:

Of course you can call yourself anythingyou choose, but the question to examine iswhy.

What does “widow” mean to you? Do youthink people may feel sorry for you? Bemore compassionate toward you? See you asa victim? Do you think men will be more in-terested in you and more protective of you?

The other side of the “poor me” widowis the “merry widow.” Do you think people

may see you as having more money (in-herited from your husband); more ready

to do things and have fun? On the other hand, what

does “divorcee” mean to you?Do you think people may seeyou as a failure at marriage?As a rejected woman? As anangry woman? Do you thinkmen will be afraid you couldn’tmake a man happy and sosteer away from you?

The other side of the “faileddivorcee” is the “gay divorcee.”Do you think people may seeyou as a woman who had choic-es; as a risk taker; as an inde-

pendent, adventurous, fun person? Think it over, Agnes, and let me know.

Also, how about honesty? If you’re di-vorced, you’re not really a widow, eventhough after that long marriage you mayfeel like one. What do you think?

P.S. Readers: I’m interested in your opin-ion about this. Let me know what you think. Dear Solutions:

A woman who was an acquaintance of

mine while I was married will be at a din-ner party I’m invited to. I’ve heard fromothers that she keeps asking some ofthem how my former husband is doing.

I know she used to be very fond ofhim and sort of gloated when he leftme. I’m sure she’s going to ask meabout him. We’ve been divorced for acouple of years, and he’s remarriedand I’m fine.

I’m not in touch with him any more,and I really don’t want to get into anydiscussions about him. Even thoughI’ll probably resent her questions, Idon’t want to be nasty or impolite orthrow any cold water on the party.

How can I avoid getting into hot waterwith a nasty answer and still be pleasant?

— The FormerDear Former:

It’s hard to get into hot water whileyou’re throwing cold water on the party, sodon’t do either. Just say, “I’m really not intouch with him. All I know is that he’s re-married. I hope he’s happy because I cer-tainly am” — and move on.Dear Solutions:

I still live in the same house I livedin before I got divorced. My childrengrew up here, and they like to comeback to it on holidays and wheneverthey have time. They don’t want me tosell it because they like the memories.

It makes me very sad, though, andkeeps reminding me of better times.I’m afraid if I sell it I won’t see mychildren much, and that scares me. Ikeep going back and forth with this.What do you advise?

— UndecidedDear Undecided:

Sell! Your children’s memory lane runsright through your ghost town. It may bepleasant for them to look backward once ina while, but looking backward all the timehas got to cause a pain in the neck!

Explain to them how difficult this is foryou, how it keeps you from moving on withyour life, and how important their visitsare to you no matter where you live.

Tell them to leave the ghosts there andtake their memories with them. Move outand move on! © Helen Oxenberg, 2012.

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Fitness & Health 15

How do you see yourself after the divorce?

SOLUTIONSBy Helen Oxenberg,MSW, ACSW

Dear PharmacistFrom page 14

Scooters • Lift Chairs • Stair LiftsRamps • Accessories and more!

Call us for more information at410.480.8360

We come to you to show you what we offer.Or visit us at www.scooterequipment.com.

We sell and service all brands of scooters.

LAUGHTER CLUB A mind-body-spirit program that incorporates 40 minutes of laugh-ter exercises and group sharing will be held every Monday begin-

ning June 4 at 9 a.m. at the Bain Center, 5470 Ruth Keaton Way, Columbia. Forfurther information, call (410) 313-7213.

BEACON BITS

June 4+

www.homecarehowardcounty.com

When you need assistance with a family member, we are committed to providing compassionate home care through our experienced, trained and screened caregivers. Services include:

Personal Companion Care Meals, Transportation & EscortMedication Reminders Light Housekeeping & LaundryDementia Care Specialist

Let our family care for yours.

Call our team today for your customized care solution

410-715-9175

Free Initial Assessment and One Free Shift(ask for details)

16 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

VOLUME 2, NO. 6 • JUNE 2012

The Senior Connection is published monthly by the Howard County Office onAging, Department of Citizen Services.

We welcome your comments and suggestions. To contact us, or to join our email subscriber list, email

seniorconnection@howardcountymd.gov with ‘subscribe’ in the subject box. Howard County Office on Aging

6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, MD 21046410-313-6410 | www.howardcountyaging.org

www.Facebook.com/HoCoCitizenDayna Brown, Administrator

Advertising contained in the Beacon is not endorsed by the Howard County Office on Aging or by the publisher.

By Dayna Brown,Office on Aging Administrator

I want to begin this month’s messagewith an invitation to join us onSaturday, June 16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.at the Gary Arthur Community Centerfor WomenFest, a day designed to inspirewomen to live more balanced, healthy

and fulfilled lives. This year, a free jazz concert by DeannaBogart rounds out the day — I hope to see you there! Visitwww.howardcountyaging.org/womenfest for details.I want to also take this opportunity to share a very

important message with you. Each year in the United States,1 to 2 million reports of elderly and vulnerable adult abuseare made, yet the real number of victims is even higherbecause most cases are not reported. In fact, it is estimatedthat only 1 in 14 cases of elderly and vulnerable adult abuseis reported. In Maryland alone, the number of cases ofsuspected abuse or neglect reported in 2011 is sobering:• The Maryland Department of Human Resources’ Adult

Protective Services Program received 6,579 reports of abuse,neglect, self-neglect and exploitation of vulnerable adults. • The Maryland Department of Health and Mental

Hygiene, Office of Health Care Quality, received 866 reportsof alleged vulnerable adult abuse regarding residents/patientsin licensed and/or federally certified facilities.• The Maryland Department of Aging, Long Term Care

Ombudsman Program investigated 2,392 complaints, ofwhich 159 were alleged resident abuse cases. • The Maryland Attorney General's Office, Medicaid

Fraud Control Unit receives between 250 and 500 referralsregarding abuse and neglect of vulnerable persons every year.And the list goes on. The Office on Aging and Howard

County Police have joined forces to spread awareness of elderabuse. This is a growing problem not just in Howard County andin Maryland, but across the country and throughout the world. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is June 15, and I urge

you to join me in wearing purple on this day in support ofour most vulnerable citizens. But more importantly, take amoment to learn how to identify the signs of abuse andneglect among older adults in your own community byvisiting www.howardcountyaging.org/eldersafety. To report acase of suspected abuse, call 9-1-1 or contact one of theMaryland agencies listed above.

A Message from the Administrator !" #$%&'( $

%)%# * ((+,-.$,$/011.2.34.5$$+,-.$67.$4,885

Emotional. Sexual. Financial. Physical. Abuse isn’t always visible.

#.9:26$%;<=.$6:$>?@?@#.9:26$%;<=.$6:$>?@?@

www.howardcountyaging.org/eldersafety

Many older adults in our countryand throughout the world enduresuffering every day. As victims offinancial exploitation, neglect, andphysical or emotional abuse, they maybe afraid to speak out because theirabuser is often a family member,caregiver or other individual whomthey rely on for assistance.World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is

June 15. To spread awareness in HowardCounty, the Office on Aging andHoward County Police Dept. havejoined forces to educate residents aboutElder Abuse and highlight the importantrole that citizens can play in recognizingand reporting suspected abuse.Throughout the month of June,

Howard Transit buses will feature ads

identifying various types of abuse andencouraging people to make adifference by calling 9-1-1 to reportabuse or neglect. In addition, postersand brochures will be availablethroughout the county withinformation, resources and contactnumbers. To obtain information andresources regarding elder abuse andsafety online, visitwww.howardcountyaging.org/eldersafety. Raising awareness in Howard

County involves not only teachingcitizens how to spot abuse, but alsohelping to change attitudes andbehavior. Join us to show the worldyou care about ending elder abuse andneglect by wearing something purpleon June 15.

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Fitness & Health 17

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.– Kindred Spirits, Glenwood 50+ CenterOur social program for those with an early stage memorydisorder features speakers, yoga, art therapy, support andmore. A $30 daily fee includes snacks, lunch, coffee ortea. Contact Judy Miller at 410-313-5441.

Wednesday, May 30, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Game Day at Glenwood, Glenwood 50+ CenterJoin us for basketball, table tennis and horseshoes, or enter our chip and putt contest. Free; call 410-313-5440 for details.

Wednesday, June 6, 10 a.m. – From SlaveShip to Harvard: Talk and Book Signing,Glenwood 50+ CenterAuthor Jim Johnston will discuss his new book, From SlaveShip to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an AfricanAmerican Family. Free. Call 410-313-5440 for details.

Wednesday, June 6, 10 a.m. to noon –Genealogy: Bizarre Family Stories, Ellicott City Senior CenterJoin Bill Amos to explore genealogy through unusualfamily stories. Free. Call 410-313-1400 for details.

Wednesday, June 6, 11 a.m. – Medicare 101, Kiwanis-Wallas Rec Center,3300 Norbert’s Way, Ellicott City Learn how Medicare works, what the benefits are, how itrelates to supplemental health insurance, and getinformation about Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage.Sponsored by the Senior Health Insurance AssistanceProgram (SHIP); call 410-313-7391 to register. No fee.

Thursday, June 7, 10 a.m. to noon – Home Repair Scams, Elkridge Senior CenterPFC Officer Holly Burnham will share tips on how toavoid being a victim of a scam. Get the facts; knowledgeis protection! Call 410-313-5192 for details.

June 7, 11, 14, 28 – Brain Fitness, North Laurel 50+ Center Robin Zahor, R.N. teaches brain stimulating exercises toimprove memory retention. Cost: $12. Call 410-313-0380for class times and details.

Thursday, June 7, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. – SPRING Wellness Seminar: Our Mind, Our Body, North Laurel 50+ CenterDr. Andy Lazris looks at the connection betweenphysical wellness and mental well-being. Free; contactKaren Hull, 410-313-7466 for details.

Tuesday, June 12, 6:30 p.m. – Orlando Phillips, East Columbia 50+ CenterWelcome summer with the music, flavors andmovement of the Caribbean. Free; donations welcome.Call 410-313-7680 for details.

Wednesday, June 13, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. –Father’s Day Cookout, North Laurel 50+ CenterJoin us in the North Laurel Park Pavilion for a summercookout just in time for Father’s Day. Cost varies by age.Call 410-313-0380 for reservations.

Wednesday – Friday, June 13-15, Bain CenterCouncil Book & Bake Sale, The Bain CenterDonate books, CD’s and DVD’s in good condition byFriday, June 8; call Barbara Woodard, 410-730-3341 to volunteer at the sale, or call Jeane Evans at 410-730-9093 to donate home-baked goods.

Thursday, June 14, 10 a.m. – Flag DayCeremony, North Laurel 50+ CenterHonor our country as veterans from the AmericanLegion present a Flag Ceremony. Free. For moreinformation, call 410-313-0380.

Friday, June 15, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Vascular Screening, Ellicott City Senior CenterThe Maryland Vascular Center at BaltimoreWashington Medical Center will offer free screenings forcarotid artery disease, abdominal aortic aneurysms(AAA), and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) for thoseage 50 or older who have hypertension, diabetes, afamily history of vascular disease, high cholesterol orwho smoke. Call 410-787-4367 for reservations.

Monday, June 18, 11 a.m. – 1812: Musically Singing, The Bain CenterCelebrate the War of 1812 Bicentennial with a musicaljourney back to the 19th century, featuring songs thatinspired a nation. Register at Bain, or call 410-313-7213.

Wednesday, June 20, 11 a.m. – Medicare 102, Kiwanis-Wallas Rec Center,3300 Norbert’s Way, Ellicott City Learn about the gaps in Medicare coverage, ways tocover them, and which insurance plan best suits yourneeds. Discussion includes information on MedicareSupplement Policies (Medigap) and MedicareAdvantage Plans (Part C). Sponsored by SHIP; call 410-313-7391 to register. No fee.

Thursday, June 21, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. – The Dahlia Flute Duo, The Bain Center Mary Matthews and Melissa Wertheimer, the DahliaFlute Duo, will perform live chamber music. Free. Call410-313-7213 to sign up.

Wednesday, June 27, 10 to 11:30 a.m. – CreativeFlower Design, East Columbia 50+ CenterColumbia Garden Club returns to guide your creativityin floral design. Cost: $5. Call 410-313-7680 fordetails.

Thursday, June 28, 10 a.m. – Easy as Pie, Glenwood 50+ CenterJoin us for a cooking demonstration featuring three simplesummer pie recipes. Make and take home mini pies. Call410-313-5440 to pre-register (required). Cost: $6.

Friday, June 29, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. – Atlantic City Bus Trip, Elkridge Senior CenterTravel on a comfortable coach bus to Atlantic City.Walk the boardwalk, shop, get a bite to eat, enjoy thebeach, or try your luck in the casino. Cost: $35/person,includes bus & FREE slot play. Call 410-313-5192 fordetails.

Thursday, July 19, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. –SPRING Luncheon at Timbuktu Restaurant,1726 Dorsey Rd., Hanover, Md.Celebrate summer with SPRING! Choose your entrée:Crab cake, Chicken Timbuktu or Pasta Primavera;price varies with selection. Seating is limited. CallElaine Widom, 410-313-7283, or stop by the BainCenter or Ellicott City Senior Center by July 12 toregister.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Gary J. Arthur Community Center at Glenwood2400 Route 97, Cooksville, MD 21723

Don’t Miss this Year’s Exciting Changes!

Now a weekend event by popular demand!

For more info: 410.313.5440 www.howardcountyaging.org/womenfest

Lunch available for purchase Bring a lawn chair for the Deanna Bogart concert

AN INTERACTIVE DAY DESIGNED TO INSPIRE YOU TO LIVE A MORE BALANCED, HEALTHY AND FULFILLED LIFE!

PHOTO BY BETTE BITTING

NEW for 2012... Deanna Bogart in Concert!

Plus, a great offering of...• Dynamic Vendors & Exhibitors

Jewelry; Fashion; Home Decor; Health & Fitness; Arts & Crafts; Financial Services; Home Goods; Travel and MORE!

• Relevant & Engaging Seminars The Benefits of Wine & Chocolate; Cool Tips for Hot Flashes; The Power of Caring for Yourself; Clearing Clutter to Create Calm; Myth Busters: Health Facts & Fiction and MORE!

• Important Health Screenings Blood Pressure; Dental; Hearing; Osteoporosis; Vein and MORE!

PREMIER SPONSORS

SIGNATURE SPONSORSADVANCED RADIOLOGY • BATH FITTER • CAREFIRST BLUECROSS BLUESHIELD • CURVES OF GLENELG • ELIZABETH COONEY CARE NETWORKHOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE • HOWARD COUNTY COMMISSION FOR WOMEN • LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE • PHYSIOTHERAPY ASSOCIATES

MEDIA SPONSORSHER MIND MAGAZINE • HOWARD MAGAZINE • WOMEN’S JOURNAL • THE BEACON

Coming EventsThe Senior Connection

MoneyLaw &Money18 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

By Elliot Raphaelson Readers ask me all the time for reliable

sources of information on personal financialtopics. So many books and periodicals areavailable that it would be impossible for any-one to read everything. It can take a lot oftime just to figure out what is worth reading.

I have spent more than 25 years in thepersonal finance field in various capacities— as a faculty member, a consultant, and awriter of books and articles. I read as manynew books as I can, as well as all the majormagazines and newspapers that cover per-sonal financial planning. Below I cite theones I have found the most reliable.

Every individual and every family has dif-ferent investment objectives, and not everysubject is equally interesting to everyone.My list doesn’t include every worthwhilebook or subject area, but I believe these se-lections are reliable — and readable.

Comprehensive guidebook: Making theMost of Your Money Now, by Jane BryantQuinn (Simon and Shuster, 2009). Thisbook, a revision of Quinn’s 1991 best-seller

of a similar title, has more than 1,200pages and covers every important person-al financial planning topic. Quinn writesclearly and accurately on a broad range oftopics, including how to get the most out ofa bank while avoiding fees, the simplestways of getting out of debt, and how to se-lect a competent financial planner.

Investment primer: A straightforwardinvestment primer with a sense of humoris The Only Investment Guide You’ll EverNeed, revised ed., by Andrew Tobias(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011). Hehas good advice about how to outperformmost stock market investors and how toprepare for a comfortable retirement.

I also recommend his daily blog,“Money and Other Subjects” (andrewto-bias.com/column), in which he suggestssome speculative short-term investments.Tobias clearly states that these recommen-dations are speculative and should bebought only with money you can afford tolose. If you are a conservative politically,you may not like his blog.

Retirement planning: If you have sig-nificant retirement savings, you shouldread the books written by Ed Slott. A goodone is Your Complete Retirement PlanningRoad Map (Ballantine Books, 2007). Hisbooks are readable and informative.

His advice can save you thousands of dol-lars in taxes. He points out common mistakesinvestors make regarding naming beneficiar-ies. He also makes a persuasive case thatmany attorneys are not sufficiently knowl-edgeable about retirement account issues. Ican’t recommend his books highly enough.

Index fund investing: Most investorsdon’t have the time or the expertise tomake individual selection of commonstocks and bonds. I am a strong believerthat most investors will be better off with aportfolio that consists primarily of no-loadindex funds of common stocks and bonds.

If you want to learn how to follow thisstrategy, and how to do periodic rebalanc-ing, I recommend A Random Walk DownWall Street, 10th ed., by Burton Malkiel(Norton Press, 2012). Other excellent

guides are Winning the Losers Game, 5thed., by Charles Ellis (McGraw Hill, 2009),and The Only Guide to a Winning Invest-ment Strategy You’ll Ever Need by LarrySwedroe (St. Martin’s, 2004).

Diversified investment: David Swen-son managed Yale University’s endowmentvery successfully for many years. His booksdiscussing diversified portfolios are excel-lent, and I recommend Unconventional Suc-cess: A Fundamental Approach to PersonalInvestment (Free Press, 2005). Swensonprovides sample portfolios to suit differentinvestors’ objectives and stages of life.

Buying individual stocks: I recognizethat many investors prefer to select theirown individual investments rather than usemutual funds. For common stock investors,I recommend Stocks for the Long Run, 4thed., by Jeremy Siegel (McGraw Hill, 2007).For investors who want to concentrate oncommon stocks that pay significant divi-dends, I recommend The Strategic Dividend

Reliable and readable investment advice

By Mark JewellTake a close look at your bond portfolio,

and you might be in for an unwelcome sur-prise. The Federal Reserve’s attempt to re-vive the economy by buying up govern-ment debt has left many mutual fund in-vestors with huge stakes in Uncle Sam’sIOUs.

Owning more Treasurys is sticking in-vestors with disappointing recent returns,and in some instances losses.

To be sure, Treasurys are super-safe in-vestments that can help minimize losseswhen stocks decline. So they have a placein any well-diversified portfolio.

Yet yields remain so low that investorswith substantial Treasury stakes could suf-fer modest losses when interest rateseventually creep up from their currentsuper-low levels.

Higher interest rates pose riskWith the economic recovery regaining

momentum, that risk is growing. When in-terest rates rise, bond prices decline be-cause investors can get newly issuedbonds paying higher interest.

A recent uptick in rates is one reasonwhy the worst-performing mutual fund cat-egories this year are those specializing ingovernment debt. Funds primarily invest-ing in short- and intermediate-term gov-ernment bonds are earning a paltry 0.2percent on average this year, while thosespecializing in long-term government debthave lost 5.5 percent, according to Morn-ingstar.

It’s also been a rough year for broadlydiversified index funds that passively trackthe Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate BondIndex. Most are barely breaking even, re-turning about 0.3 percent.

The Barclays index, the most widelyused bond benchmark, has undergone amakeover in recent years, with Treasurysmaking up an increasing share of theindex.

At the end of 2007, just before the finan-cial crisis, Treasurys made up about 22percent. That’s the Treasury weightingthat index funds tracking the Barclays Ag-gregate sought to maintain.

Fast-forward to the end of 2011, and theindex’s Treasury component jumped to

more than 35 percent. Consequently, high-er-yielding corporate bonds make up acomparatively smaller piece of the index.

The main reason? “It’s the Treasurymarket that has been the most manipulat-ed by the Fed,” said Warren Pierson, co-manager of the Baird Core Plus BondFund (BCOSX).

The Federal Reserve has spent trillionsof dollars buying government bonds sincethe financial crisis, hoping to stimulate theeconomy and encourage investors to ven-ture into higher-risk investments.

The purchases, and the government’sincreased issuance of Treasurys to keepup with its growing debt, have kept Treas-ury yields artificially low. They’re so lowthat it’s hard to get a decent return unlessyou accept more risk and invest in stocksor riskier categories of bonds.

Plenty of investors have done that, andstocks have recovered most of their lossessince the market peaked in late 2007. YetTreasurys continue to hold appeal formany nervous investors seeking refugefrom stock volatility. That high demandhas also kept yields low.

Index or managed funds?Modest exposure to Treasurys is appro-

priate, but Pierson said an index approachisn’t wise now. It risks leaving bond in-vestors overexposed to investments thathe believes are likely to underperform,and possibly suffer losses.

Of course, index funds offer cost advan-tages over managed funds like the one thatPierson helps run. For example, VanguardTotal Bond Market Index charges an ex-pense ratio of 0.22 percent, compared with0.55 percent at Baird Core Plus Bond.Those are the ongoing charges for opera-tions, expressed as a percentage of assets.

The Baird fund recently held about 16percent of its portfolio in Treasurys —about half the Treasury weighting in theBarclays Aggregate index.

That’s not unusual. Actively managedbond funds held an average 14.5 percentweighting in Treasurys at latest count, ac-cording to Morningstar. Many managers,like Pierson, are discouraged by the mea-ger Treasury yields.

Don’t overdo Treasury bonds in portfolioSee GOOD INVESTING, page 19

See TREASURY BONDS, page 19

There’s a huge gulf between three- andfive-year stock mutual fund return ratesbecause of the market meltdown in 2008.How to evaluate the rates? See p. 21.

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Law & Money 19

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Periodicals: I always read Barron’sweekly. I especially like the issues when in-vestment experts from various disciplinesare interviewed together, and make specif-ic recommendations of individual commonstocks, bonds and mutual funds. I also readthe Wall Street Journal daily, and especially

like the Saturday issue for its additionalsection on personal finance topics.

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Losses can occur when a fund generatesless interest income than going marketrates. A fund’s returns will vary becausethe fund manager must continually rein-vest as bonds mature. A recent modestrise in Treasury yields means previouslyissued bonds paying lower interest areworth less than they once were. A fundwith too much invested in those olderbonds can end up with losses.

While the Fed continues to keep short-term interest rates near zero, pressure toraise them is mounting. Recent economicstrength has pushed Treasury yields upslightly higher. For example, newly issuedTreasurys maturing in 10 years are yield-ing around 2.2 percent, up from 1.8 per-cent a couple months ago.

Of course, Treasurys aren’t the only

types of bonds that could deliver disappoint-ing returns, or losses, when the Fed eventu-ally raises rates, or if inflation begins tospike. Plenty of other lower-risk, lower-yieldbond categories share that vulnerability.

But the Treasury components of manyinvestors’ bond portfolios deserve specialscrutiny now, and may be in need of somecareful trimming. Treasury yields remainhistorically low, and the Treasury compo-nent in the overall bond market has spiked.

The bottom line: Take a look at the latestholdings data for your bond funds, andcheck how much is invested in Treasurys. Ifit’s substantial, be aware you could be facinglosses if the economy continues its recovery.

They won’t be as painful as the hit youcould see from a sharp decline in the stockmarket. But any loss from a supposedlysafe investment like Treasurys is a disap-pointment.

— AP

Good investingFrom page 18

Treasury bondsFrom page 18

LONG-TERM CARE COSTS Representatives from the Senior Health Insurance Assistance Pro-gram of the Howard County Office on Aging will discuss facets of

long-term care insurance, including the question of whether or not to buy the in-surance. The free workshop will be held on Wednesday, May 30 at 11 a.m. at theKiwanis Wallas Recreation Center, 3300 Norbert’s Way, Columbia. For further in-formation or to register, call (410) 313-7391.

BEACON BITS

May 30

HOME REPAIR SCAM ALERTHoward County Executive Ken Ulman and the Office of ConsumerAffairs and Police Department are notifying residents of recent re-

ports of scams involving door-to-door sales for driveway repaving and other homeimprovements. Before signing a contract, homeowners can check the contractor’slicense online at www.dllr.maryland.gov/license/ or call the Maryland Depart-ment of Labor, Licensing and Regulation at (410) 230-6309. For questions aboutlicenses of door-to-door solicitors, homeowners can call the Howard County Officeof Consumer Affairs at (410) 313-6420 or email consumer@howardcountymd.gov.

LEADERSHIP AWARDS NOMINATIONSThe Howard County Commission on Disability Issues is seekingnominations for its 2012 Leadership Awards program that recog-

nizes outstanding efforts in advancing full participation in community life for allresidents, and promoting both the spirit and intent of the Americans with Disabili-ties Act (ADA). The deadline is Tuesday, July 31. For further information, call (410)313-6400.

LIBRARIES LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERSVolunteer opportunities are available at libraries throughout theHoward County system in a variety of areas. To check out the

possibilities, visit www.hclibrary.org or call the Volunteer Coordinator at (410)313-7750.

B&O RAILROAD MUSEUM SEEKS VOLUNTEERSThe Ellicott City Station of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Muse-um is seeking volunteers of all interests, abilities and skill levels.

Positions are available for greeters, docents and interpreters. The station is a liv-ing history site, and volunteers are invited to dress in period clothing. The stationis located at 2711 Maryland Ave. in Ellicott City. For more information, call (410)461-1945 or visit www.ecborail.org.

HONORING LOVED ONESDeborah Rollison, Ph.D. from Loyola University will lead a programof reflection to honor significant people in our lives who are no

longer with us, including a time of quiet reflection with music by Kathy Lilley, indi-vidual sharing time, and a group commemorative activity. The program is on Fri-day, June 1 at 10:30 a.m. at the Bain Center, 5470 Ruth Keaton Way, Columbia.For further information on “A Moment to Honor” or to RSVP, call Elaine Widom at(410) 313-7283 or email ewidom@howardcountymd.gov.

BEACON BITS

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By Mark JewellThe news keeps getting better for divi-

dend investors. But can it last? The latest sign of a dividend renaissance

is Apple’s decision to begin sharing someof its profits with shareholders for the firsttime in nearly two decades. The world’smost valuable company will start paying adividend later this year, rather than contin-ue to stockpile cash from iPhone and iPadsales.

That announcement came a week aftermajor banks moved to restore their divi-dends, after cutting them during the finan-cial crisis to conserve cash. At least ninetop banks plan to raise their payouts or areconsidering doing so after the governmentconducted stress tests to ensure the bankscan survive another crisis.

It adds up to better times ahead for divi-dend investors. Payouts by companies inthe Standard & Poor’s 500 index are ex-pected to climb 15 percent from last yearto $277 billion, according to S&P Indices.That amount would top the previousrecord of $248 billion, set in 2008. Three-quarters of the S&P 500’s dividend-payingcompanies are making higher payoutsthan they did last year.

Interest is so intense that hedge fundsand many other Wall Street pros who nor-mally avoid dividend stocks have been

rushing into them lately, and Apple’s ac-tions can only add to the frenzy, said ana-lyst Howard Silverblatt of S&P Indices.

Dividends delivered best returnsIn fact, dividend stocks have been among

the market’s strongest performers the past12 months, a fact that hasn’t been lost on in-vestors. Over that period, they have de-posited a net $25 billion into mutual fundsspecializing in dividend stocks — usually la-beled “equity income” funds — accordingto industry consultant Strategic Insight.

That number wouldn’t normally be im-pressive, except that the cash came in asinvestors pulled out of nearly all othertypes of stock funds. A net total of $136 bil-lion was withdrawn from all other stockfund categories, reflecting investors’ con-tinuing fear of market volatility.

It’s fueling talk that a dividend stockbubble might be developing. In one sce-nario, the economy hits another roughpatch, companies conserve cash again bycutting dividends, and dividend stockshare prices tumble.

Reasons to invest in dividends It’s dangerous to invest in a hot segment

of the market, expecting the rally will con-tinue — just ask anyone who lost big in thedot-com era. But here are five reasons that

dividend stocks are still sound investments. 1. Dividends are a long-term ap-

proach, not a trading strategy: The in-come that dividend stocks generate ac-counts for more than 40 percent of thetotal return of the S&P 500 since 1926, ac-cording to a study by Ibbotson Associates.The rest of the market’s return came fromrising stock prices.

Companies can cut or eliminate divi-dends, as many did in 2009. But payoutsusually are restored to their old levels intime. Dividends among S&P 500 compa-nies are back to record levels now, thanksto the moves by banks and Apple.

2. Dividend-paying stocks are lessvolatile: Dividend-payers tend to risemore slowly during market rallies, but suf-fer smaller losses when stocks decline. Soif a market downturn is around the corner,dividends will offer some protection.

That’s why they’re so appealing to re-tirees, and any investor wanting to limitrisk. “In the stock market, dividends aresort of the kids’ end of the swimming pool.They’re not too volatile for the average in-vestor,” said David Kelly, chief marketsstrategist at JPMorgan Funds.

3. Boomers will remain yield-hun-gry: Expect demographic trends to contin-ue fueling demand for income-generatinginvestments. Baby boomers are beginningto retire in large numbers. That trend isstill young, and those retirees will needregular cash flow. Many will rely on divi-dends, creating demand that could helpdrive dividend stock prices higher.

4. Corporate cash is at record lev-els: Profits have risen so sharply the pastcouple years that the cash held by S&P

500 companies totaled a record $1 trillionin the fourth quarter. With such a bigstash, the ratio of dividends being paid rel-ative to cash on balance sheets remainshistorically low, Silverblatt said.

That puts companies in a good position toincrease dividends, or follow Apple’s exam-ple and initiate payouts. Last year, a record22 companies initiated dividends, and Applebecame the fourth to do so this year.

5. Dividends can survive possibletax hit: Since 2003, tax rates that investorspay on dividend income have topped out ata historically low 15 percent. PresidentObama’s latest budget proposal wouldraise the rates on top earners to as high as39.6 percent. That means the wealthiestcould lose a quarter on every dollar of div-idend income, compared with their tax hitunder current rates.

Yet it’s hard to say whether Obama’sproposal can clear Congress in an electionyear. Current rates are due to expire atyear-end, unless Congress extends them.

Higher rates would make dividends lessappealing to many investors, but wouldn’tnecessarily cause dividend stock prices todecline. A study this year by Nuveen In-vestments and Santa Barbara Asset Man-agement found no link between pastchanges in dividend tax rates and dividendstock prices.

It all points to a dividend comeback thatstill has momentum. Said S&P’s Sil-verblatt: “In the late 1990s, when techstocks were the hottest thing, nobodywanted to touch dividend stocks. Now,people can’t get enough of them, and it’snot likely to let up soon.”

— AP

The stock dividend boom is here to stay20 Law & Money | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

FREE VASCULAR SCREENING The Maryland Vascular Center at Baltimore Washington MedicalCenter is offering free screening for carotid artery-related diseases

for persons age 50 or older who have risk factors of hypertension, diabetes, familyhistory or vascular disease, high cholesterol, or smoking. The screening will beheld on Friday, June 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Ellicott City Senior Center,9401 Frederick Rd., Ellicott City. Reservations are required; call the Medical Cen-ter at (410) 787-4367.

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By Mark JewellInvesting is all about numbers. Portfolio

returns are critical, details about how theywere achieved secondary. But numberssometimes confuse more than they inform.

Understanding that reality is essential tomake sense of current 3- and 5-year re-turns for stock mutual funds.

Current gaps between those commonperformance benchmarks are so huge thatthey don’t seem credible. For example,most index funds tracking the Standard &Poor’s 500 have delivered 3-year annual-ized returns around 28 percent a year —phenomenal, if those numbers could besustained.

Yet over five years, returns averagedless than 2 percent, roughly keeping pacewith inflation.

The index fund results are on par withthe 26 percentage-point difference be-tween 3- and 5-year returns for diversifiedstock funds, the type that make up thebulk of most investor portfolios.

5-year returns include meltdown The reason the numbers are so dis-

parate? Funds are now wiping their 3-yearrecords clean of the stock meltdown thatended March 9, 2009. Five-year recordslook comparatively awful because they in-clude the market’s 57 percent plunge fromOctober 2007 to March 2009.

The gaps are even larger at many fundsusing high-risk strategies unsuitable formost investors. Among more than 5,000 di-versified stock funds, the biggest gap is 92percentage points, belonging to DirexionMonthly Small Cap Bull 2x (DXRLX).

Its annualized 3-year return is a dazzling75 percent per year, while it has lost an av-erage 17 percent over five years. The fundtracks an index of volatile small-company

stocks, delivering double the averagemonthly gains — or losses — of the Rus-sell 2000.

And there’s no shortage of mainstream,large funds whose volatile returns have re-sulted in 3- vs. 5-year gaps far wider thanthe 26 percentage point average. For ex-ample, Legg Mason Capital ManagementOpportunity (LMOPX) has a 48-point gap,while Vanguard Capital Value (VCVLX)has a 42-point spread.

The bottom line for investors is that it’scrucial to put current 3- and 5-year returnsin context. They’re a quirk of the calendar,and an illustration of the market’s bust-to-boom cycle the past few years.

The huge gaps are mostly noise forlong-term investors who stay on track witha well-designed plan. But over a volatilestretch like the past five years, the damagecan be long-lasting for investors who gotscared and sold investments as the marketwas hitting bottom, missing the recovery.

How to choose a fund Here are a few tips for keeping current

3- and 5-year fund returns in proper con-text:

• Seek steady returns: Funds withunusually volatile returns frequently out-perform peers over brief periods, and insome cases for several years.

But such volatility can often bring outthe worst in investors prone to makingshort-term moves based on emotion. Fearbred by market declines often causes in-vestors to miss eventual recoveries, andgreed during rallies can lead to buying intoa market that’s near its peak.

Consider a low-volatility approach. TomRoseen, a Lipper Inc. fund analyst, puts itthis way: “Find a fund with a good steadymanager at the helm who can hit doubles

and triples, even if they don’t hit manyhome runs.”

Several funds that aim to deliver smoothreturns currently have small 3- vs. 5-yeargaps, with strong overall returns. One ex-ample: Forester Value (FVALX), with a 3-year average return of nearly 17 percent,and a 5-year average of 3 percent.

Credit manager Tom Forester’s defensivestyle, emphasizing stable dividend-payingstocks. This fund also frequently maintainsa large cash position in its portfolio, provid-ing a cushion when stocks are declining.

• Be mindful of the difference a yearcan make: Many funds with the bestrecords of recent years stand out becausethey limited their losses in 2008, whenstocks plunged 38 percent. Outperfor-mance during market declines can be cru-cial, because losses have a bigger impact onlong-term results than comparable gains.

If stocks lose 50 percent in value, it’s im-portant to remember that you’ll need a 100percent gain — not 50 percent — to getback to where you started.

It’s a reality that led to standout per-formance from Reynolds Blue ChipGrowth (RBCGX). Sensing trouble in thehousing market, manager Frederick“Fritz” Reynolds began selling stocks andholding on to cash as subprime mortgagetroubles rippled into the stock market.

His fund lost just 5 percent in 2008,among the smallest losses that year forlarge-cap growth funds. As the marketturned in March 2009, Reynolds was shift-ing back into stocks. Reynolds’ 5-yearrecord, with an average annualized gain of14 percent, is best among hundreds offunds in its category. Reynolds achievedthat distinction with just 9 percentagepoints separating its 3- and 5-year returns.

• Invest based on performance overlong periods: Quirks like the current 3- vs.5-year gaps crop up from time to time afterthe market has gone through a volatilestretch. Volatility is likely here to stay, sodon’t overemphasize those 3- and 5-yearnumbers when assessing a fund’s record.Give more weight to a fund’s 10-year record,or even a longer period if data are available.

• Diversify: For most investors, diver-sification — spreading holdings amongseveral types of investments, across abroad swath of the stock and bond mar-kets — pays off.

It means an investor will rarely outper-form the market by a significant margin.But diversification can limit losses in down-turns, and usually results in stronger long-term returns. To stay truly diversified, re-balance holdings periodically to restore anappropriate balance of stocks to bonds.

— AP

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Law & Money 21

Recent mutual fund returns can mislead

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TravelLeisure &TravelLeisure &

By Victor BlockIn 1733, a Quaker named Amos Janney

moved from Pennsylvania to an isolatedcorner of northern Virginia, where hebuilt grist and saw mills along the banks ofa narrow creek.

About a decade later, a group of Germanimmigrants established a frontier commu-nity in Maryland that became a place ofrest and provisioning for hardy pioneersdriving wagon trains to the West.

In 1761, English colonist Robert Harperlaunched a ferry service across the Po-tomac River, and a settlement graduallyevolved at the site that still carries hisname and that of his ferry.

Today, each of the historic towns thattrace their birth to those modest begin-nings provides an inviting day trip destina-tion from the Howard County area. Thestories of Waterford, Va., Frederick, Md.and Harper’s Ferry, W.Va. relate chaptersof American history, some well known and

others less so, that are filled with fascinat-ing tidbits from the past.

Waterford, Va.Waterford, the hamlet that grew around

Janney’s Mill, is now a bucolic settlementof about 300 residents. The entire town,and farmland surrounding it, is designatedas a National Historic Landmark District,and visitors to this quaint site in nearbyLoudoun County soon learn why.

The community has changed so little insize and shape since its founding that wereAmos Janney to miraculously return, hewould feel right at home.

Within several decades of its founding,Waterford had grown into a bustling com-mercial center, one whose future wasgreatly impacted by the Civil War. Becauseits largely Quaker population remainedloyal to the Union, the town suffered ha-rassment from Confederate troops as wellas from Union forces, which sought to de-

stroy anything thatcould be of value totheir enemy.

After the war, a west-ward extension of therailroad bypassed Wa-terford and carriedbusiness, and expan-sion, to other towns. Inthe long run, the stagna-tion that resulted turnedout to be a blessing indisguise.

Because the commu-nity remained undis-turbed for decades, it re-tained not only its archi-tectural treasures butalso its atmosphere andoriginal character. Since1943, the WaterfordFoundation has spear-headed renovation ofbuildings and preserva-tion of the area.

While most housesin Waterford date backto the first quarter ofthe 19th century, build-ings in a variety ofstyles form an eclectichodge-podge of archi-tecture. Modest stone

and log houses contrastwith more elaborateVictorian and QueenAnne structures. A littleone-room school housebuilt with Quaker sup-port was erected aboutthe same time as abrick Gothic-RevivalBaptist church.

Wandering along thehandful of streets thatcomprise the town, visi-tors encounter varioustraces of life as it usedto be. Miniscule smoke-houses and icehousesstill stand in some backyards. A small stonestructure that was builtin the early to mid-1700s now serves asthe kitchen of a large19th-century brickhome.

The names of severalbuildings serve as re-minders of their formeruse. These include theBank House, the Doc-tor’s House, with a small addition thatserved as a medical office, and WilliamsStorehouse, a diminutive structure onceused by a Quaker merchant.

The Waterford Market fills several roles.Antiquated soft drink machines in front,which dispense beverages for a somewhatantiquated 50 cents, set the stage. Inside, afew shelves are stocked with a sparse sup-ply of canned goods and other basics.

Linda Landreth, the jovial proprietor,often is on hand, either spinning wool pro-vided by sheep she raises or knittingsocks, ear warmers and other items thatare for sale.

The laidback lifestyle of the tiny towngreets visitors in other ways as well. Dur-ing my recent outing, only occasionallywas the constant sound of birds chirpingdrowned out by a passing car.

The sign identifying the little post office,which has been in operation since 1897,lacks a zip code because it was installedbefore they came into use. Among hand-written notices on the bulletin board justoutside it are ads for services like horse

boarding and horse hoof trimming.When a resident pointed me in the di-

rection of what she called “New Town,” Isomewhat fearfully anticipated comingupon a discordant enclave of recently builtcontemporary houses. I was relieved tolearn that the term applies to a mini-neigh-borhood that was given the name when itwas originally started, back in 1815.

The way to WaterfordWaterford is about an hour and 15

minute drive from Columbia. The post office and store, but not private

homes, are open to the public throughoutthe year. However, a number of historichomes are open for touring during the an-nual Waterford Homes Tour & Crafts Ex-hibit, taking place this year Oct. 5-7. Dur-ing the 3-day event, more than 150 artisansdemonstrate traditional craftsmanship, aRevolutionary War militia establishes anencampment, and Civil War soldiers reen-act a battle.

Harper’s Ferry, W. Va., about 65 miles from downtownWashington, is most famous for the story of abolitionistJohn Brown, but was also home to a 19th century inventorwho helped pave the way for industrialization.

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Frederick County, Md., was the site of both Revolutionaryand Civil War military action. Each year, the area’s history iscelebrated at the Middletown Heritage Days Festival, featur-ing historic encampments from the 18th century, live musicand great food. After the annual heritage parade, shownhere, visitors can meet local artisans and crafters whilelearning about this area, home to several Civil War battles.This year’s festival will take place on Saturday, Sept. 22.

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Day trips back to early American history

Which credit cards help make yourtravel dollars go farther? See story onpage 25.

For more information about Waterford,or to purchase tickets to the event ($15,with discounts for multi-day visits), logonto www.waterfordfoundation.org or call(540) 882-3018.

While there are no restaurants in Water-ford, a good place to have lunch during aday trip is Magnolias, located a short driveaway in Purcellville. It occupies a mill build-ing constructed in 1905, and old millingequipment overlooks the tables from above.

The full menu ranges from beet salad

($7) and fried green tomatoes ($9) to com-fort food like hickory grilled meatloaf($12.75). For more information, see mag-noliasmill.com or call (540) 338-9800.

Frederick, Md.Many Americans believe that the

Boston Tea Party was the first act of rebel-lion against Great Britain that eventuallyled to the Revolution. Many Americans arewrong!

Eight years before that well-knownevent in December 1773, citizens of Fred-erick, Md., bravely repudiated the StampAct, which imposed a tax on legal transac-

tions and printed material in the colonies. Frederick County Court judges de-

clared the hated law to be null and void,and angry residents reportedly hung thetax collector in effigy and buried a copy ofthe act in a mock funeral.

That often-overlooked fact is one ofmany that come to life during a visit toFrederick. Originally laid out in 1745, thecommunity was settled by German andPennsylvania Dutch immigrants.

Located along a natural migration route,it served as a major crossroad beginningin colonial times. To exert control duringthe American Revolution, the British sta-tioned a Hessian regiment in town, andtwo stone barracks where they were gar-risoned still stand as reminders of theirpresence.

The Civil War also played a major role inFrederick’s story, as both Union and Con-federate troops marched through. Thisyear marks the 150th anniversary of theMaryland Campaign, and a number of spe-cial events will commemorate GeneralRobert E. Lee’s first advance into theNorth. Frederick was the largest northerncity that he occupied during the fighting.

As a number of Civil War battles ragedin the area, the many churches in down-town Frederick became temporary hospi-tals. They served as the site of innovationsin handling the wounded that were imple-mented for the first time.

That tale is told at the National Museumof Civil War Medicine. Exhibits depict anumber of advances in medical treatmentthat date from the war, including triage,evacuation and lifesaving improvements inbattlefield care.

Stories of real people put a human face onthe medicine of the time. So do interactiveexhibits, which extend beyond the mainfocus of the museum to introduce Civil Warcamp life, African-American life, and the roleof women and children during the war.

However, one of the best known andmost beloved anecdotes relating to theCivil War in Frederick is most likely fic-tional. Many people are familiar with thepoem by John Greenleaf Whittier thatlauds the bravery of Barbara Fritchie, afrail 95-year-old Unionist, as ConfederateGeneral “Stonewall” Jackson marched histroops through the town in 1862.

Most historians doubt that, as Whittierwrote, Fritchie waved the Stars and Stripesfrom an upstairs window and uttered thememorable challenge to “Shoot if youmust this old gray head, but spare yourcountry’s flag.” Nevertheless, a replica ofthe house where this incident did, or didnot, occur continues to be a favorite siteamong visitors.

Whittier’s poem also describes how the“clustered spires of Frederick stand green-walled in the hills of Maryland,” and thosewords remain true to this day. The skylineof church steeples and towers that watchesover the town continues to attest to the reli-gious diversity for which it became known.

Given this rich past, it’s not surprisingthat Frederick became only the 13th city inthe country to establish a local historic dis-

trict. Many of the 2,500-plus historic prop-erties in this area have been meticulouslyrestored, and visitors encounter astreetscape that remains relatively littlechanged from its early days.

Frederick is about a 45-minute drivefrom Columbia.

For more information, visit www.freder-icktourism.org or call 1-800-999-3613.

A favorite restaurant among locals, es-pecially for seafood and overstuffed sand-wiches, is Griff’s Landing at 43 S. MarketStreet. A “fresh catch” sandwich costs$10.99, and a jalapeno lime shrimp tacogoes for $8.99. For information, see griffs-landing.com or call (301) 694-8696.

Harper’s Ferry, W.Va.While most closely associated with the

quixotic story of the abolitionist JohnBrown, Harper’s Ferry played a starringrole in other chapters of the nation’s histo-ry and development.

The town was the site of a number ofCivil War skirmishes, it is a treasure-troveof stories relating to African-American his-tory, and it is associated with little-knownbut important advances in American man-ufacturing.

Harper’s Ferry National Park, which in-cludes part of the town itself, extends intoWest Virginia, Virginia and Maryland atthe point where the Potomac and Shenan-doah rivers meet. At the park visitor cen-ter, and museums and exhibits throughouttown, information about several themesthat run through the area’s history are in-troduced.

Each is interesting enough alone to war-rant a visit. Together they present a multi-layered introduction to aspects of not onlythe town’s, but also the nation’s, past.

Of course, it is the story of John Brownthat most people know. In October 1859,he led a band of 21 men in a raid on theHarper’s Ferry arsenal, hoping to use cap-tured weapons to launch a slave uprisingthroughout the South. Most of the raiderswere killed or wounded, and Brown wasconvicted of treason and hung.

While his short-lived plan failed, it wasone of a number of incidents that focusedthe nation’s attention on the issue of slav-ery and became catalysts for the Civil War.

Brown’s raid and the Civil War are partof the story of African-Americans in Harp-er’s Ferry, which began before the Revolu-tion. At one time, the town had 150 slavesand an equal number of free blacks, andduring the Civil War it provided refuge torunaway slaves from the South.

Because of its key location along an im-portant rail line, Harper’s Ferry switchedbetween control by Union and Confeder-ate troops eight times. The Battle of Harp-er’s Ferry in September 1862 pittedRobert E. Lee against Stonewall Jackson ina tactical game of troop movements, at-tacks and counter-attacks. Many historiansconsider the result to have been Jackson’smost brilliant victory.

As a sucker for little-known historical

24 Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

Day tripsFrom page 23

See DAY TRIPS, page 25

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facts, I found the story of a man named JohnHall equally intriguing. He was an inventorwho devised the concept of making rifleswith interchangeable parts, and using ma-chinery to replace workers with hand tools.

The novel methods he implemented inan old saw mill at Harper’s Ferry set thestage for transforming the United Statesfrom an economy of workshop craftsmento one of industrialized mass production.

Harper’s Ferry also delivers light touch-es for the entertainment of visitors. For ex-ample, a plaque identifying a mid-19th cen-tury tavern near the Armory notes thatworkmen would “raise a glass or two — orthree” during breaks. Their supervisorscomplained that the practice “ruinedmorals, work ethic, and even threatens Ar-mory production.”

A very different aspect of life awaits atCool Confectionaries, where shopkeeperSusan Benjamin turns out recipes forcandy as close as possible to those made

some 150 years ago. She also enjoys sharing factoids such as

that the first known candy was a honey treatfrom Mesopotamia, and tells visitors whichconfections on her shelves were once includ-ed in military rations. A stop at her shop pro-vides a sweet ending to an interesting day.

Harper’s Ferry is about an hour drivefrom Columbia. For information, see

www.nps.gov/hafe or call (304) 535-6298.The Coach House Grill at 160 High St. is

one of the better full-service restaurantsthat serves lunch. Along with the usualhamburgers ($9.99-$11.99) and salads,choices extend to baked brie with honeyand almonds ($8.99) and a tasty crab cakesandwich ($13.99). For more information,call (304) 535-1257.

Deciding between a cash-back card anda travel rewards card?

Cash-back cards, such as Chase’s Free-dom card, may let you redeem your pointsperiodically for cash, travel, gas or mer-chandise, or post a credit to your account.Or you could select, for example, the Fi-delity Investment Rewards American Ex-press card, which automatically depositsthe cash in your brokerage account.

Travel rewards cards, such as the Sim-mons First Visa Platinum Rewards card andthe PenFed Premium Travel Rewards Amer-ican Express card, generally require at least22,000 points for a round-trip ticket to fly any-where within the contiguous 48 states.

A cash-rebate card is probably a betteroption if the travel card has an annual feeand you don’t spend enough to accumu-

late the points you need for a flight withina year or two. And if you tend to carry abalance on your card, note that the extracost of paying interest would probably off-set any rewards you’d earn on your pur-chases.

Rewards points and cash back aren’t theonly goodies that come with credit cards.Your card may also offer valuable perksthat you may not know about.

• Warranties. Gold and platinum Mas-terCards, Visa Signature cards, and Amer-ican Express cards all extend the manufac-turer’s warranty by up to one year whenyou purchase an item with your card —even for products you buy overseas.

• Purchase protection. If, for exam-ple, your iPad is stolen from your hotelroom, MasterCard and American Express

will reimburse you if you paid for the roomwith a gold or platinum card. Drop thatnew iPad, and Visa Signature cardholderscan have it repaired or replaced at a cost ofup to $500 within 90 days from the date ofpurchase. Citibank and American Expressoffer protection up to $1,000.

• Luggage protection. Was your lug-gage lost or damaged by the airline onyour last flight? If you paid for your ticketwith a Visa Signature card, you can be re-imbursed for up to $3,000.

• Rental-car coverage. Most Visa,MasterCard, American Express and Dis-cover cards cover damage to a rental car(if you use the card to reserve and pay forthe vehicle) that your primary auto insur-ance doesn’t. That means you probablydon’t need the rental company’s collision

damage waiver (CDW) insurance.• Concierge services. They’re avail-

able 24 hours a day for Visa Signature,World and World Elite MasterCard cus-tomers, as well as American Express plat-inum cardholders, to help you get ticketsto sold-out events, book travel, make din-ner reservations and find unusual gifts.

• Travel assistance. If you become illwhile traveling or your passport is lost orstolen, Visa, MasterCard and American Ex-press will provide referrals to medical care,legal aid, and help replace your passport (youpay the costs of the services you receive).

Send your questions and comments tomoneypower@kiplinger.com. And formore on this and similar money topics,visit www.Kiplinger.com.

© 2012 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

Credit cards that stretch your travel dollarHOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Leisure & Travel 25

Day tripsFrom page 24

TRIP TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ARTEnjoy the George Bellows exhibit and others at the NationalGallery in Washington, D.C. on a Department of Recreation &

Parks bus trip leaving at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 20 and returning at 4 p.m.Tickets are $45. For more information or to register, call (410) 313-7279 or(410) 313-7275.

A VISIT TO THE HILLWOOD ESTATE A bus tour to the Marjorie Merriweather Post mansion inWashington, D.C., built in 1926 and housing her extensive

Faberge egg collection, will leave on Wednesday, June 27 at 9 a.m. and return at4:30 p.m. Lunch is included. Tickets are $71. For more information or to register,call (410) 313-7279 or (410) 313-7275.

BEACON BITS

June 20

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date: Wednesday, June 27, 2012time: 8:00-10:00 a.m.

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Speaker: Dayna Brown, Administrator, Howard County Office on Aging

topic: “The ABCs of Getting to What’s Possible: A Vision for Aging in Howard County”

*Reservations required and can be made online at www.cogsmd.org. Tickets = $35 each.

PLatinum SPonSorSHoward County General Hospital – Johns Hopkins Medicine • The Beacon

GoLd SPonSorSBeing There Senior Care • Howard County Office on Aging • Visiting Angels

SiLver SPonSorSBayada Home Health Care • Carney, Kelehan, Bresler, Bennett & Scherr LLP • Deborah L. Herman, CPA

Ellicott City Pharmacy • Gary L. Kaufman Funeral Home at Meadowridge Memorial Park

Bronze SPonSorSEarl Wilkinson, M.D., ENT • EverCare Hospice & Palliative Care • Homewatch Caregivers

Professional Healthcare Resources, Inc. • Transitions Healthcare Patron memBerS

Alzheimer’s Association – Greater MD Chapter • Brooke Grove Retirement Village • Elizabeth Cooney Care Network Gentiva Health Services • Home With You, LLC Ivy Manor Normandy • Meals on Wheels • Morningside House of Ellicott City

Premier Planning Group • Right At Home Russell Craig Witzke – Funerals & Cremations, P.A. Whaley Financial Services • Winter Growth • Wood Builders Collaborative

Thank You to Our 2012 Sponsors

We promote communication, cooperation and education among nonprofits, agencies, businesses and professionals

serving older adults in Howard County. Learn more by calling (410) 997-0610

or visit us at www.cogsmd.org.

By Robert FriedmanThere’s a gigantic pink rabbit in front of

the Elkridge Library, and a red daddy lon-glegs on steroids on the grounds of theGeorge Howard Building in Ellicott City. No, Howard County isn’t being invaded

by B-movie creatures.Rather, these and 10 other sculptures

now appearing in front of libraries, hospi-tals, government buildings and at othercounty sites have been placed by theHoward County Arts Council “to generateinterest in public art and make art moreaccessible to the community.”The year-long exhibit features a variety

of styles, ranging from pop art-like to ab-stract to kinetic. The sculptors use suchmaterials in their works as steel, copper,fiberglass, marble and reflective tape. Among the sites where the works are

displayed: the Howard County Govern-ment building in Ellicott City, the HowardCounty General Hospital in Columbia,community centers in Laurel andCooksville, and public libraries in Colum-bia, Elkridge and Cooksville.The 12 works were chosen by a county

panel from 73 pieces offered by artistsaround the country. Four of the chosenworks were created by local artists SamNoto of Silver Spring, Ed Kidera of Wood-bine, Paul Daniel of Baltimore, and TrishaKyner and David Friedheim of Gwynn Oak.The county-wide outdoor exhibit is in

keeping with a recent trend of mountingworks by serious artists in public spaces.

Now displayed in the “public realm” areworks by such modern masters as ClaesOldenburg, whose giant, “soft” sculpturesfront public buildings around the country.Local artists in other areas also have beencommissioned to enhance their communi-ty’s sense of culture and place.

Hopping by the library Husband-and-wife sculpturing team

Friedheim and Kyner are the creators ofthe six-foot-tall, eight-foot-long, powder-coated steel “Pink Rabbit” mounted in frontof the Elkridge branch of the HowardCounty Library on Washington Boulevard. The airy-looking hare, which seems to

have been caught at full gallop, couldmean many things to many people, ac-cording to Friedheim. “It’s Easter, it’s Harvey the giant rabbit of

the James Stewart movie, it’s the VelveteenRabbit — bring your own association,” saidthe sculptor, who teaches at the Maryland In-stitute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. Friedheim noted that the mounted rab-

bit, not yet painted pink, debuted someyears ago at the Kennedy Center, as one ofa series of giant pull toys on wheels that heand his wife created for the Galumpha ac-robatic dance troupe. He and his wife have also sculpted a

giant bat and a very large frog. Friedheimsaid his influences range from ancientMayan sculpture to Tex Avery cartoons(Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig,etc.), and from classical art to pop culture.

A moving sculpture“Rotors,” an installation of six steel and

aluminum, eight-feet-tall, blue-coloredcolumns that twirl in the wind has beenmounted at the North Laurel CommunityCenter on Whiskey Bottom Road. It is the work of kinetic sculptor Paul

Daniel, a Baltimore native, who has nu-merous public artworks in that city. His

outdoor movable pieces can be found at,among other locations, the Baltimore Of-fice of Promotion and Tourism on SaintPaul Street, and at the Hopkins BayviewMedical Center.While he works primarily in metal, he

has covered the Laurel rotors with

Outdoor sculptures make art accessible

A gigantic pink rabbit is one of a dozen sculptures placed outside public and privatebuildings throughout Howard County to interest residents in contemporary art. ArtistsTrisha Kyner and David Friedheim of Gwynn Oak created the rabbit, which perchesnext to the Elkridge branch of the Howard County Library.

CALIDORE QUARTET2012 Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition Gold Medal WinnerHaydn: String Quartet in G Major, Op. 76, No. 1Hindemith: String Quartet No. 4, Op. 22Mendelssohn: String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13

$15 Advance; $20 At the Door 410.997.2324

www.candlelightconcerts.org

Funded in part, by grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Howard County Arts Council through a grant from Howard County, The Columbia Foundation, and The Rouse Company Foundation.

JUST ANNOUNCED!Chamber Music at its Finest...

Candlelight Concerts®

Season FinaleSunday, June 17, 2012

3:00 PM

Monteabaro Recital Hall, Howard Community College

Columbia, MD

Outdoor sculptures are popping upacross Howard County.

Arts & Style

See PUBLIC SCULPTURES, page 28

(410) 465-8777 www.columbiaorchestra.org

Orchestral FireworksSaturday, June 2, 2012 • 7:30 .. • Jim Rouse ! eatre

Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3 • Zhou Tian: A � ousand Years of Good Prayers Marquez: Conga del Fuego Nuevo • Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol

plus the 2012 Young Artist Competition Winners!

26 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

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By Barbara RubenThe commercial begins with a wide-eyed

baby whizzing down the highway in a babywalker, accompanied by the stratospherical-ly high refrain of the song “Brand New Key.”(“Oh, I’ve got a brand new pair of rollerskates, you’ve got a brand new key.”) Kooky and catchy, the ad for Hewlett

Packard printers went viral on YouTube andcatapulted the 1971 hit song and its singerMelanie back into the spotlight 40 years later.Melanie, who sang at Woodstock and

has penned such other hits as “Look WhatThey’ve Done to My Song, Ma,” said thatwhile a new audience has discovered hermusic because of the HP commercial, shedoesn’t want to be defined only by thebreezy, whimsical song about roller skatesand young love.“When my husband first heard [me sing

it], he said, ‘We’ll speed it up a little bit, andthis will be a hit.’ But I said ‘Oh my God, ifthis is a hit, I’ll be doomed to be cute for

the rest of my life,’ she recalled about thesong’s first incarnation during an inter-view with the Beacon.Despite the fact that she has recorded

11 CDs in the last decade alone, Melanie,now 65, admits that a lot of people don’t re-member her or have never heard of hermusic. That’s why she called her newestCD “Ever Since You Never Heard of Me.” “I have pockets of absolute fame and

pockets of ‘Melanie who?’ And then youhave to sing a few lines of something andthen it’s, ‘Ah yes, that was her? Is she stillalive?’” she quipped.

Remembering WoodstockMany of Melanie’s songs are the an-

tithesis of her “Brand New Key.” Shewrote the powerful Woodstock anthem“Lay Down” (also known as “Candles inthe Rain”) after performing there in 1969when the throngs held candles following adownpour during her performance.

The New Jersey nativewith an earthy and raw, ifhigh-pitched, voice knewsome of the promotersplanning Woodstock andasked if she could be onthe program. No oneknew just how massivethe iconic rock festivalwould become. “Early on, I pictured

families with blanketshaving a picnic, and artsand crafts, and maybesome shopping for beadsand incense,” she re-called. With just one hit,

“Beautiful People,” on theradio at the time, Melaniehad a cult following, butwasn’t well known. Just22, her mother drove herto Woodstock. She re-called starting to panicabout performing in frontof the huge crowds whentheir car got stuck in themiles of backed-up traffic.“I get there and there’s Sly Stone walk-

ing across the hotel lobby and Janis Joplinslugging her Southern Comfort answeringquestions from people in a circle aroundher, and I knew it was big stuff,” she said.“Media trucks were everywhere. Thesewere big star people, and I was completelyunknown and very young.”It wasn’t until she was ushered onto a

helicopter taking her to the back stage areafor Woodstock performers that she reallyunderstood how many people were there.“I looked out the window at the field and

said to the pilot, ‘What is that?’ and he said

‘People.’ “‘No that can’t be people,’ I thought.

‘There’s too much of that. It must be someweird crop.’ But it was people. It was thetops of their heads as far as you could see,”she recalled of her first view of the half-mil-lion concert goers.Over the next year, Melanie starred at

major outdoor festivals around the world, in-cluding England’s massive Isle of Wight fes-tival, where she was introduced by theWho’s drummer Keith Moon. From there, she soared to the top of the

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Arts & Style 27

Saturday, June 16, 2012

9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Gary J. Arthur Community Center at Glenwood2400 Route 97, Cooksville, MD 21723

Don’t Miss this Year’s Exciting Changes!

Now a weekend event by popular demand!

Lunch available for purchase • Bring a lawn chair for the Deanna Bogart concert

AN INTERACTIVE DAY DESIGNED TO INSPIRE YOU TO LIVE A MORE BALANCED, HEALTHY AND FULFILLED LIFE!

NEW for 2012... Deanna Bogart in Concert!Plus, a great offering of...• Dynamic Vendors• Engaging Seminars• Important Screenings

PHOTO BY BETTE BITTING

Call 410.313.5440 OR Visit us at www.howardcountyaging.org/womenfest

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Singer Melanie finds brand new audience

Hits like “Brand New Key” and “Look What They’ve Doneto My Song, Ma,” propelled Melanie to fame in the early1970s. She has recorded dozens of albums since then.

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WILLOWBROOK ART SHOW OPENING A reception for the opening of an exhibit of works by the artistsof the Willowbrook Studio will be held on Friday, June 1 from 5:30

to 8 p.m. at Oliver’s Carriage House, 5410 Leaf Treader Way, Columbia. The showcontinues on Saturday, June 2 from noon to 3 p.m. For more information, call(410) 446-7584.

ORCHESTRAL FIREWORKSFor its season finale the Columbia Orchestra will present “orches-tral fireworks” with Beethoven and Rimsky-Korsakov classicsalong with selections of new works by Zhou Tian and Arturo

Marquez. Winners of the Young Artist Competition will also be featured. The per-formance will be held on Saturday, June 2 at 7:30 p.m., with a pre-lecture at 6:30p.m. by Bill Scanlan Murphy, at the Jim Rouse Theatre, 5460 Trumpeter Rd.,Columbia. Tickets are $20; $16 for those 60 and over. For more information, visitwww.columbiaorchestra.org or call (410) 465-8777.

BEACON BITS

June 1

June 2

28 Arts & Style | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

The woman on the busBogart and her husband had a daugh-

ter, and they separated when the child wasfive. Bogart’s now divorced, and she callsher 18-year-old daughter “the single bestpart of my life.” Because of her career, Bogart has lived

what she calls a hyphenated life as roadmusician and full-time-mom. Her formerhusband, also still a Howard County resi-dent, has taken care of their daughterwhen Bogart has been on the road. Whenthe girl grew older, she accompanied Bog-art on many of her trips.Bogart has racked up many miles on the

road during her musical career. It can belonely for any musician, but particularlyfor a woman. “I’m the only woman on thebus about 98 percent of the time,” she said. Despite the difficulties, the power music

holds over her keeps her going. “You keepplaying for those moments when you tran-scend where you are. You get in the zonewhere you forget everyone else is there; it’swhere the present and the past, joy and painmeet. You’re completely free,” Bogart said.Then there are times she revels in being

the only, or the first, woman in her posi-tion. When she became the first woman to

win the Blues Foundation award for hersaxophone playing in the instrumental cat-egory, she told the audience at the awardsceremony, “As an adult, winning this iswonderful. But I can’t tell you guys,” shesaid, tapping her chest, “how cool it is forthe 11-year-old girl in here.” She wasn’t alone in feeling the pride.

When Bogart was crowned queen of theblues horn, other struggling female musi-cians were “overjoyed,” she said. Until recently, women instrumentalists

in jazz and the blues felt looked down uponby the boys in the bands. There were someexceptions, for example, the great jazz pi-anist and composer Mary Lou Williams,who has an annual women’s jazz festival atthe Kennedy Center named for her. But in general, female instrumentalists

have seldom been recorded through theyears, Bogart said. Still, many womenhave made terrific music, which now is fi-nally being acknowledged because, shesaid, “Art will always find a way.”

Déjà vu at the check-outHer past and present often mesh in the

songs she writes, as what she observestaps into her life story — and the stories ofpeople she meets. One day Bogart was in a shopping mall

near her home, and a young cashier struck

up a conversation. The girl was a musicianwho played bass, and she poured out herfeelings to Bogart of being an outcast fromher peers. “She said she didn’t care if people made

fun of her,” Bogart recalled. The girl re-minded Bogart of herself as a youth.“When I was young, you could hurt me,but you couldn’t redefine me,” she said. So, recognizing her years-ago self in this

young woman, Bogart wrote a song abouttheir meeting. It’s called “Still the Girl inthe Band” and has become a signaturenumber for Bogart. She performs it with ahard-swinging beat: Time caresses as it flies, I feel its breeze from where I stand. New gray hairs bring out my eyes, I’m still the girl in the band.

She is sure that life won’t beat her,I say how nice it was to meet her. The future has many a doorand I walk through one from the store . .

.Suns will set and moons will rise,life will spring upon the land.I see clearly with these eyes,I’m still the girl in the band.

Growing older has only made Bogartmore excited about making music.“I woke up on my 50th birthday feeling I

was just getting up to bat,” she said. “I hada whole resurgence of interest and of oxy-gen. “No one ever told me this would hap-

pen. Getting older kind of works for me. Iguess it comes down to realizing who youreally are. Some people realize this at anearly age. Not me.” Since she hit the half-century mark, her

confidence in herself and her work hasdeepened, and Bogart said she is becom-ing “endearingly cantankerous.” “I only hope those feelings are 10-fold

when I reach 60!” she said.Deanna Bogart will entertain at this

year’s WomenFest — a one-day health andwellness event featuring health screenings,seminars and informative exhibits.

The event, which is presented annually bythe Howard County Office on Aging, will beheld Saturday, June 16 from 9 a.m. to 3p.m. at the Gary J. Arthur Community Cen-ter at Glenwood in Cooksville. Bogart’s con-cert will start at 2 p.m.

For more information, see box at top ofthis page.

Deanna BogartFrom page 1 WomenFest Schedule

In addition to the Deanna Bogart out-door concert (which will be moved in-side in case of rain) at 2 p.m., the follow-ing seminars and screenings will beheld during the day on June 16 at theGary J. Arthur Community Center atGlenwood, 2400 Route 97, Cooksville:

9:30 to 10:20 a.m. — “Spice it Up!Cooking with Herbs,” Eleonora Gafton,herbal medicine clinical intern, TaiSophia; “All the Best for Your Breasts,”Dr. Lisa K. Jacobs, Johns Hopkinsbreast surgeon and medical director ofthe Breast Center at Howard CountyGeneral Hospital; “Why Yoga? TryYoga!” Mary Garratt, yoga instructor;“Get the Look for Less,” MaryGontkovic, make-up specialist

10:30 to 11:20 a.m. — “The Bene-fits of Wine & Chocolate,” BarbaraGrose, master herbalist; “Cool Tips forHot Flashes,” Dr. William M. Mayer, gy-necologist, “Patapsco Myth Busters:Health Facts & Fiction,” Jade Connelly-Duggan; “The Power of Caring for Your-self,” Sue Bender and Carolyn Moore.

12:30 to 1:20 p.m. — “All StressedUp & Nowhere To Go,” Molly Dearstine,acupuncture clinical intern; “ClearingClutter to Create Calm,” Sue Bender andCarolyn Moore; “Keep Your Spine FeelingFine,” Dr. Oren Blam, orthopedic sur-geon; “Create a Kitchen Garden,” GinnyMatthias, master gardener; “Faeries AreReal Inside You: Let Them Help and HealYou,” Ballet Mobile, Inc.

Health screenings in the communitycenter gym and in the hallways willcheck blood pressure, cholesterol andglucose, dental health, feet, osteoporosis,veins, eyesight and glaucoma. There willalso be monitoring for body mass index,HIV testing, massage therapy, nutritionand general health counseling, and anexercise class for stroke survivors. Vendors and exhibitors will feature

jewelry, fashions, home décor, arts andcrafts, household goods, financial serv-ices and travel opportunities, amongother show-and-sell items.The Beacon, Howard County General

Hospital and the Howard County Com-mission for Women are some of theevent’s many sponsors.

Scotchbrite tape, all the better for passingmotorists to catch headlight rebounds atnight. Daniel does kinetic, or moveable, sculp-

ture. The stationary elements in his piecesare abstract, he said, “because I don’t wantto confuse the message.” He wants “to take people out of their

routine by making them aware of art beingmade by the environment . . . by the wind,light and sound.”The sculptor’s work is propelled by “the

transfer of air moving through space —the force of the unseen,” he said. Other works around the county include:

“A Carpenter’s Dream” by Kevin Vanek,“Ringii” by John Parker, both at the Corpo-rate Offices Properties Trust in Columbia;”Daddy Longlegs” by John Parker at theGeorge Howard Building in Ellicott City;“Eat the Rain” by Andrew Yff at theHoward County Library in Cooksville;“Homage to Pi” by Glenn Zweygardt at theCentral Library in Columbia; “Prism Arc”by Carl Billingsley at the East Columbiabranch library; “ “Summer Tree” by SamNoto at Gary J. Arthur Community Centerin Cooksville; “Swallowtail” by John Park-er at Howard County General Hospital;“The Cycle” by Hanna Jubran at HowardCommunity College in Columbia, and“Temple Bell” by Ed Kidera at WincopinCircle in Columbia.

Public sculpturesFrom page 26

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charts, and in 1970 garnered Top Female Vo-calist of the Year awards from Billboard and anumber of other music outlets. She also be-came the first pop solo artist to play CarnegieHall.

In addition to her own work, Melaniehad top 40 hits with covers of the RollingStone’s “Ruby Tuesday” and Carole King’s“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”

Conversely, Ray Charles had a hit singlewith his cover of Melanie’s “Look WhatThey’ve Done to My Song, Ma,” which shepenned in her dressing room at the “DickCavett Show” after being told network cen-sors wanted to alter the way she sang one ofher songs.

It wasn’t the first time Melanie experi-enced meddling by producers. She wassurprised when her first album was print-ed with just her first name on the cover.Producers thought that her last nameSafka was too “ethnic.”

Melanie continued to have hits throughthe ‘70s and in more recent years per-formed in a Woodstock reunion tourthrough the U.S. and Europe and hasheadlined the “Hippie Fest” tours of musi-cal stars from the ‘60s and ‘70s.

All in the familyThrough the years, Melanie has record-

ed more than 50 albums, most producedby her husband Peter Schekeryk. She wasdevastated when he died in 2010, aftermore than 40 years of marriage.

“It’s just such an adjustment and a lossin so many ways. Besides being my hus-band and friend, he did everything. It’s a

different universe now because he drove,he booked things, he was the manager, theagent, the producer of every record I everdid,” she said.

“The first year was very hard. The firstyear we kept working and kept the dateshe booked. I don’t even know how I didthis, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

Melanie’s son Beau Jarred, 32, contin-ues to work with her, as he did when his fa-ther was alive. He accompanies her on gui-tar at her shows and has also recordedCDs of his own. In addition, Melanie’s twodaughters, Leilah and Jeordie, are fea-tured on her newest album singing back-ground harmonies.

Melanie lives in Nashville, as doesLeilah, who has three children. Melaniesaid she loves doting on her grandchildren.

Growing older has changed her voice abit, she said, causing it to lose some of itstrademark quiver. She says age has alsohelped refine her songwriting skills.

“When I was young, it was verging onmagic when a song would come to me. Iwas channeling. I didn’t feel like I wasdoing anything, except that it was comingthrough me.

“Now I have that aspect, but I also canobserve and create on top of it, so I can re-fine it a greater extent and articulate evenmore than I did,” she said.

Because she skyrocketed to fame atsuch a young age, Melanie said she alwayswanted to appear more mature. “It was aneffort on my part to sound like an older,wiser woman when I was young — and Igot my wish.

“Watch what you wish for,” she laughed.Read more about Melanie at her website,

www.melaniesafka.com.

ANSWERS TO CROSSWORD

From page 30.

ANSWERS TO SCRABBLE

S T A E G G C H A C H AM I C A C R O Z E B R A SO M A N T I L A R C A N ER I N G O O F F I R E F D AE N O L A F L A S E TG E O R G E O N M Y M I N D

E E Y O R E M E C OI M P O R T D R Y R O TL A O S U R B A N EL O L L A P A U L O O Z A S

L O T S R I R O B O TI F S J O H N B . G O O D EM E T E O R T A N M U I RP E E W E E A B E S T U NS T R E S S S A T A M S

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com | Arts & Style 29

MelanieFrom page 27 ART CLASSES

Experienced or not, area artists are encouraged to explore theircreative potential in a drawing and painting class taught by Carol

Zika. The six-week course costs $51 and begins on Thursday June 7 from 1:15 to3:45 p.m. at the Bain Center, 5470 Ruth Keaton Way, Columbia. For further infor-mation, call (410) 313-7281.

COLUMBIA FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS A free three-day celebration of the arts will open on Friday, June 15from 5 to 11 p.m. at the Town Center lakefront in Columbia withperformances by the Crique Carpe Diem aerial acrobats from

Montreal and the MarchFourth Marching Band. Festivities continue on Saturday,June 16 from 5 to 11 p.m., and on Sunday, June 17 from noon to 7 p.m. The festivalalso includes a juried invitational show of artisans exhibiting and selling original art-work including jewelry, leather, ceramics, photography, mixed media and textiles.For more information, visit www.columbiafestival.com or call (410) 715-3044.

CALIDORE STRING QUARTET The Candlelight Concert Society presents the Calidore StringQuartet on Sunday, June 17 at 3 p.m. at the Horowitz PerformingArts Center in Monteabaro Hall on the campus of Howard County

Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. Tickets are $15 inadvance, $20 at the door. For further information, visit info@candlelightcon-certs.org or call (410) 715-1327.

ART EXHIBIT AND IMPROV The Howard County Arts Council will participate in the ColumbiaFestival of the Arts on Thursday, June 21 with a free reception forexhibits by local artists from 6 to 8 p.m. and performances by the

“All County Improv” and “What Improv Group” in the black box theater from 6:30to 7:30 p.m. at the Howard County Center for the Arts, 8510 High Ridge Rd.,Ellicott City. For more information, visit www.hocoarts.org or call (410) 313-2787.

BEACON BITS

June 7+

June 15+

June 17

June 21

TAKING CONTROL OF ACID REFLUXLearn the causes of acid reflux and how to manage the conditionat a free lecture presented by Kester Crosse, M.D. on Tuesday,

June 19 at 7 p.m. at the Howard County General Hospital Wellness Center,Medical Pavilion, 10710 Charter Dr., Suite 100, Columbia. For more information,call (410) 740-7601.

DO YOUR MEDS CAUSE FALLS?Learn about elder safety and making the right decisions aboutmedications in a free seminar presented by Dr. Anirudh Sridharanand nurse practitioner Francie Black on Tuesday, June 12 at 7 p.m.

at the Howard County General Hospital Wellness Center, Medical Pavilion, 10710Charter Dr., Suite 100, Columbia. For more information, call (410) 740-7601.

BEACON BITS

June 19

June 12

Do you provide a product or service of interest to people over 50? (And today,what business doesn’t?)Reach hundreds of thousands of customers throughout the Greater Washington area by advertising in

TheF R E E

VOL.2, NO.6I N F O C U S F O R P E O P L E O V E R 5 0

JUNE 2012

More than 30,000 readers throughout Howard County

I N S I D E …

FITNESS & HEALTH 4k A way to predict heart attacks?k Don’t overdose on vitamins

THE SENIOR CONNECTION 16k Howard County Office on Aging Newsletter

LAW & MONEY 18k Reliable investment advice k The risks of Treasury bonds

PLUS CROSSWORD, BEACONBITS, CLASSIFIEDS & MORE

ARTS & STYLEWhy are public sculpturessprouting across HowardCounty? Plus, singer Melaniefinds a brand new audience

page 26

The Howard County

By Robert FriedmanDeanna Bogart has often had to battleher way into playing music the way shewanted in a genre dominated by men. As a middle school student, she yearnedto wail on the saxophone like Charlie Park-er and Ben Webster. Instead, she washanded a clarinet and told, “This is whatgirls play.”

“I was 11 years old and I knew that wasn’tright,” Bogart said. “But I couldn’t say why.”What she could do is prove them all sowrong, building a successful career as ajazz and blues pianist, vocalist, songwriter,band leader and, yes, award-winning saxo-phonist who has played with such luminar-ies as Ray Charles and BB King.

A promising beginningBorn in Detroit and raised in Queens,N.Y. and Phoenix, Ariz., Bogart’s musicalvoyage began just a few years after birth,when she was “climbing on any availablepiano bench to plunk and play with preter-natural panache,” as her website puts it. Such panache apparently was too un-orthodox for the Brooklyn Conservatoryof Music which, she said, “gently removed”her from the school because she insistedon playing piano by ear rather than learn-ing to read those stodgy written notes.None of it stopped her from deciding tomake music her career. Bogart moved toHoward County in her early 20s to join thewestern swing band called Cowboy Jazz. Four years later, still with the band, shemarried the road manager, who hailedfrom an “old Howard County family.” Afew years later, she formed her owngroup, the Deanna Bogart Band. She hasbeen a resident of Howard County since1981, living for the last eight years inWoodbine.

Surprisingly, she didn’t start playing thesax until she was 26 years old. Now 52,she’s a three-time winner of the nationalBlues Music Award’s Horn Instrumental-ist of the Year Award (2008, 2009 and2010) for her saxophone playing. She hasalso won 22 Wammies — the musicawards given by the Washington AreaMusic Association for “significant careerachievements.”Bogart brings down house after house

wherever she and her eponymous bandplay, whether in area music clubs, festivalsaround the country, for U.S. troops in Iraqand Kuwait, on rhythm-and-blues cruisesto the Caribbean, or at the Great Pyramidsin Egypt, as she did during a “Blues on theNile” tour. DownBeat, a leading jazz and blues mag-azine, has called her “an extravagant enter-tainer.”She has also been described as a femaleJerry Lee Lewis, which Bogart says is fine,even though she owns no Jerry Leerecordings and feels her piano playing ismore from the old Kansas City swing jazz

and boogie woogie school. Her keyboard influences, she said, startwith Kansas City great Jay McShann andmove on to boogie woogie innovator PeteJohnson, modern jazz masters TheloniusMonk and Dave Brubeck, and classicalphenom Glenn Gould. Her style is to combine the blues, boo-gie woogie, rock, country and jazz as sheworks out on the piano, wails on the tenorsax, and sings her soulful songs. She callsher blending and bending of the musicalgenres “bluesion.”

Nationally renowned jazz and blues musician Deanna Bogart, who lives in Woodbine,will give a concert at Howard County’s WomenFest on June 16. Bogart, one of thecountry’s leading saxophone players, also plays piano, sings, and writes many of herown songs.

See DEANNA BOGART, page 28

Deanna Bogart and all that jazzPH

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LEISURE & TRAVELDay trips back to early Ameri-can history; plus, credit cardsthat stretch your travel dollar

page 23For demographic information and advertising rates, call Alan at

(301) 949-9766.

30 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON

Puzzle Page

Scrabble answers on p. 29.

JUMBLE ANSWERS

Jumbles: CRACK TESTY BARREN PUNDIT

Answer: Training for submarine duty has to be --

UNDERTAKEN Crossword Puzzle

Daily crosswords can be found on our website: www.TheBeaconNewspapers.com

Click on Puzzles Plus

Answers on page 29.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31 32

33 34

35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45

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Down1. Campfire treat2. Comedian’s forte3. An outdoorsman’s purchase4. Prefix meaning “outer”5. Reds All-Star6. Facility at the British Open7. Presidential advisor8. Blasphemous opinion9. Where The Love Boat could be found10. More like Martha Stewart than

Jimmy Stewart11. Hokey Pokey offering12. Where The Love Boat could be found14. WASP part21. Member of a rowing team22. Scattered RAIN27. Award Susan Lucci won on her 19th try29. Stop hitting the snooze bar30. Rx identifier31. Sgt., for example32. First square in 59 Down35. Nauseated36. The only person named in Revolution37. Questioning one38. Site of the Nobel Peace Prize award40. Shuffle the office chairs43. Diaper difficulty44. ___ a witch (executed)45. He said “Open Sesame”47. “Eat ___”48. Streaks ahead49. “How ___ nice game of chess”

(The War Games computer’s last line)50. Half a portion of salt54. Endearing seabirds55. Brats56. Pool measure58. Miner quest59. Web address ending61. “___ and Me” (story about Dolly and

her clone)

Across1. Acela stopping pt.4. Future turtle7. Cuban dance13. Flaky mineral15. ___-Magnon16. Refs17. Easternmost part of the Arabian

Peninsula18. “Shop ___ you drop”19. Esoteric20. Fab song recorded the same year as

I Want to Hold Your Hand23. Tobacco regulator, since 200924. Word painted on a famed B-2925. Closest state to St. Thomas26. Complete group of baseball cards28. Fab song that hit #1 9 years before and

9 years after Come Together33. Pooh pal34. Group that recorded the Star Wars theme35. Bring across the border39. Decay41. Cambodian neighbor42. Sophisticated46. Fab festivals that debuted 22 years afterthe Beatles’ rooftop concert51. Park place52. ___ Lanka53. C3PO, for one55. Partner of “ands” and “buts”57. Fab song released a decade before

Back in the U.S.S.R.60. Dinosaur decimator62. Bather’s reward, in 25 Across63. Sierra Club founder64. Youth sports division65. Grampa Simpson66. Phaser setting67. Emphasize68. Humpty Dumpty’s first verb69. Breakfast times

Fabulous by Stephen Sherr

HOWARD COUNT Y B E A CON — J UNE 2 0 1 2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com 31

AIRLINE CAREERS begin here - Become anAviation Maintenance Tech. FAA approvedtraining. Financial aid if qualified - Housingavailable. Job placement assistance. Call AIM(866)453-6204.

DRIVERS! Driver Resource Services acceptingapplications 16 day company paid CDL training.No experience needed. 1-800-991-7531 www.Dri-verResourceServices.com.

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ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A JOB near yourhome that is fun and rewarding? Are you person-able, dependable, trustworthy, and have good com-munication skills? Richcroft, Inc., a non-profitagency, is seeking to fill a part-time CSLA positionin the Howard County – Woodstock area workingwith a woman with an intellectual disability. Payis $12.36 an hour. Wed, Thurs, Fridays 6-9 pm andevery weekend, Saturday 10 am-8 pm, and Sun-day 10 am-8 pm. We are looking for someone withexperience who is good at setting limits, yet fun.You must have reliable transportation and a validdriver’s license w/less than 3 pts. If interested,please contact Malisa Fulks, 410-316-9562 orapply in person M-F 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Richcroft,Inc. Executive Plaza IV, 11350 McCormick Road,Suite 700, Hunt Valley, MD 21031, or visit us onthe web at www.Richcroft.com Richcroft is anequal opportunity employer.

OWNER WILL FINANCE. Bank or Sellerwon’t finance? We Help! No qualifying. No cred-it! Low Down. Call Today! 1-800-563-2734. kan-thony@cigrealty.com.

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2 SALVADORE DALI woodblock prints fromDante’s Divine Comedy. Signed and framed.Asking $900 for the pair. Can email pictures ifdesired. Call Steve 410-913-1653.

STEEL BUILDINGS: 4 only 25x30, 30x38,40x52, 45x82. Selling For Balance Owed! FreeDelivery! 1-800-462-7930x131.

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FINISH HIGH SCHOOL at home in a fewweeks. First Coast Academy, 1-800-658-1180x130. www.fcahighschool.org.

PREGNANT? CONSIDERING ADOP-TION? You choose from families nationwide.LIVING EXPENSES PAID. Abby’s One TrueGift Adoptions. 866-413-6292, 24/7 Void/Illinois.

DIVORCED BLACK FEMALE, 55, average,5’2”, Christian, independent, educated, caring,creative, love the arts. Friendship/more of a sin-gle, divorced or widowed black male. Email meat: byzyb@aol.com.

WE BUY QUALITY BOOKS, CDs, DVDs,Records. We come to you for certain collections.For more info, call 443-864-2280. SecondEdi-tionBooks.com.

VINYL RECORDS WANTED from the 20sthrough 1985. Jazz, Rock-n-Roll, Soul, Rhythm& Blues, Reggae and Disco. 33 1/3 LPs, 45s or78s, Larger collections preferred. Please callJohn, 301-596-6201.

$$OLD GUITARS WANTED$$ Gibson,Fend-er,Martin,Gretsch. 1920’s to 1980’s. Top Dollarpaid. Toll Free: 1-866-433-8277.

CA$H PAID- up to $26/Box for unexpired,sealed DIABETIC TEST STRIPS. HablamosEspanol. 1-800-371-1136.

CASH FOR CARS, Any Make or Model! FreeTowing. Sell it TODAY. Instant offer: 1-800-864-5784.

TOP CASH FOR CARS, Any Car/Truck, Run-ning or Not. Call for INSTANT offer: 1-800-454-6951.

WANTED UNEXPIRED DIABETIC TESTSTRIPS UP TO $26/BOX. PAID SHIPPINGLABELS. HABLAMOS ESPANOL! 1-800-267-9895 www.selldiabeticstrips.com.

WANTS TO PURCHASE MINERALS andother oil and gas interests. Send details to P.O.Box 13557 Denver, Co. 80201.

YEARBOOKS “Up to $15 paid for high schoolyearbooks1900-1988. yearbookusa@yahoo.comor 972-768-1338.”

CLASSIFIEDSThe Beacon prints classified advertising

under the fol low ing headings: Business &Employment Opportunities; Caregivers;Computer Services; Entertainment; ForSale; For Sale/Rent: Real Estate; Free;Health; Home/ Handy man Services; Miscel-laneous; Personals; Per son al Services; Va ca -tion Opportunities; and Want ed. For sub -mis sion guide lines and dead lines, see thebox on the bottom of this page.

A National Trade Association we belong tohas placed some of the above classifieds. De-termining the value of their service or prod-uct is advised by this publication. In order toavoid misunderstandings, some advertisersdo not offer employment but rather supplythe readers with manuals, directories andother materials designed to help their clientsestablish mail order selling and other busi-nesses at home. Under NO circumstanceshould you send any money in advance orgive the client your checking, license ID, orcredit card numbers.

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ob scene, of fen sive, harmful, or fraudulent ad-vertising. How ev er, we do not in ves ti gate anyad ver tis ers or their prod ucts and can not ac -cept re spon si bil i ty for the in teg ri ty of either.Re spon dents to clas si fied ad ver tis ing shouldal ways use cau tion and their best judg ment.

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ENJOY THE MUSIC MAN ON D.C. TRIPTony Award nominee Kate Baldwin stars in the popular musical atthe Mead Center, part of the Arena Stage complex in

Washington, D.C. The Department of Recreation & Parks is sponsoring a bus tripto the matinee on Saturday, June 16, leaving at noon and returning at 6 p.m.Tickets are $99. For more information or to register, call (410) 313-7279 or(410) 313-7275.

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June 16

HC6/12

Makes a

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32 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com J U N E 2 0 1 2 — H O WA R D C O U N T Y B E A C O N

“We couldn’t be more proud of our staff.

It is an honor to work with such a dedicated

team and to witness our mission, “We Touch

People’s Lives,” being demonstrated [every day].”

– Keith Gibb, President, Brooke Grove Foundation

We’re #1 in Montgomery County & #6 in Maryland

301-260-2320 or 301-924-2811

www.bgf.org

AAt Brooke Grove, we know our staff is dedicated to the individuals we serve. It’s easy to notice, since many of them have been with us for more than 20 years. We see their compassionate commitment and the positive patient outcomes every day.

But it was wonderful to hear it from you. The new pay-for-performance standards are high. So being ranked as the top facility in Montgomery County—and #6 in the state out of over 208 others—is worth celebrating.