Just For Seniors

PI_PROGINDEX/SPECIAL_SECTION/PAGES [T01] | 04/20/12 17:23 | SUPERIMPPB

PI_PROGINDEX/ADVERTISING/AD_PAGES [T02] | 04/20/12 16:35 | SUPERIMPPB

Springdale at Lucy Corr Village is a registered non-profit Continuing Care Retirement Communityoperated by the Health Center Commission for the County of Chesterfield.

6653 Roundabout Way | Chesterfield, VA 23832 | (804) 425-8280

Springdale at Lucy Corr Village is the value leader with the most square footage perresidence at the best price. Our fee-for-service continuing care retirement community

offers you the flexibility to choose a spaciousnew home with priority access to assistedliving and health care, if the need arises.Our garden cottages have two bedrooms,two baths, a spacious open floorplanand garage. However, only a few remain.Call us today to find out about ourexciting, value packed Spring Incentives,available for a limited time only. Visit usat www.SpringdaleAtLucyCorr.com.

Follow the Leader.

T2 Sunday, April 22, 2012 The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA


REGINA H. BOONE/DETROIT FREE PRESS/MCT

Robert Lee Burns, 73, of Clay Township, Mich., pictured Thursday, March 29, sufferedfrom a stroke earlier that week and received a procedure at St. John Hospital andMedical Center in Detroit, Mich., that saved his life. The Solitaire flow-restorationdevice, which gained federal approval in February, is used in the brains of strokepatients much like an artery-opening angioplasty procedure for heart blockages.

New way to treat strokes isa ‘game-changer,’ docs say

BY PATRICIA ANSTETT

DETROIT FREE PRESS (MCT)

DETROIT — A new gen-eration of devices could sig-nificantly improve care forpatients who have some ofthe most devastating typesof strokes.

The Solitaire flow-restora-tion device, which gained fed-eral approval in February, isused in the brains of strokepatients much like an artery-opening angioplasty proce-dure for heart blockages.

Robert Lee Burns, 73, ofClay Township, Mich., cred-its it with saving his life.

“I thought it was over,”

said Burns. “Maybe therewasn’t enough room upstairsfor me yet.”

A retiree who has workedon oil rigs and automotiveassembly lines, Burns wasone of the first five Michi-ganders to undergo the pro-cedure. His surgery wasMonday at St. John Hospitaland Medical Center inDetroit.

St. John is the first hospi-tal in southeast Michigan touse the device. The DetroitMedical Center and HenryFord Health System, bothbased in Detroit; the Oak-wood Healthcare System in

Dearborn and BeaumontHospitals, Royal Oak, areamong those planning to addthe technology soon.

“This is a very promisingnew technology,” said Dr.Sandra Narayanan, a DetroitMedical Center interven-tional neurologist. “I thinkit’s going to be a game chang-er.”

Doctors hope the newdevice proves to be moreeffective and easier to usethan the first generation ofproducts, which worked in asimilar way, but weren’t asgood at removing clots.

The Solitaire flow-restoration devicegained federal approval in February

Please see STROKES, Page 5

The Progress-Index, Petersburg, VA Sunday, April 22, 2012 T3


Don’t wait for Social Security check in the mail

BY STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Start-ing next year, the check willno longer be in the mail formillions of people whoreceive Social Security andother government benefits.

The federal government,which issues 73 million pay-ments a month, is phasingout paper checks for all ben-efit programs, requiringpeople to get payments elec-tronically, either throughdirect deposit or a debit cardfor those without a bankaccount.

The changes will affectpeople who get Social Secu-rity, veterans’ benefits, rail-road pensions and federaldisability payments. Taxrefunds are exempt, but theInternal Revenue Serviceencourages taxpayers to getrefunds electronically byprocessing those refundsfaster than paper checks.

About 90 percent of peo-ple who receive federal ben-efits already get their pay-ments electronically, theTreasury Department says.

New beneficiaries were

required to get payments

electronically starting last

year, and with a few excep-

tions, the rest will have to

make the switch by March

2013.

“It’s just that natural pro-

gression of moving to how

people are used to receiving

their funds,” said Walt Hen-

derson, director of the Trea-

sury Department’s electron-

ic funds transfer division.

Henderson said electronic

payments are safer and more

efficient than paper checks;

in 2010, more than 540,000

federal benefit checks were

reported lost or stolen. The

switch will save the govern-

ment about $120 million a

year. Social Security will

save $1 billion over the next

decade, according to the

Treasury Department.

“You think of that paper

check floating out there in

the delivery system, with

personal information on it,

it’s much more susceptible

to fraud versus an electronic

payment,” Henderson said.

Advocates for seniors say

they understand the govern-

ment’s desire to cut costs

and take advantage of tech-

nologies that most workers

already use. The food stamp

program switched from

paper coupons to debit cards

in 2004.

But they have raised con-

cerns about requiring theswitch for older retirees whomay not be used to electron-ic payments.

“This will affect somevery frail elderly people whoare living by themselves,many of them, and doingwell, but usu-ally within thecontext of thatold papercheck thatthey depositin the bank,”said Web Phil-lips, a seniorpolicy advisorfor the Nation-al Committeeto ProtectSocial Securi-ty and Medi-care.

“Thechange has tobe handledcarefully andwith a lot ofsensitivity sothat therearen’t peoplewho lose trackof a paymentor don’t understand thatthey have a card that camein the mail that’s the sourceof their payment,” Phillipssaid. “That’s our concern.”

The switch is mandatedby a Treasury rule issued inDecember 2010. Since then,the department has workedto educate the public. The

government has created awebsite, www.GoDirect.organd a toll-free phone num-ber, 1-800-333-1795, people cancall for assistance.

“Treasury acknowledgesthey have a lot of educationto do for people about how

these things work,” saidDavid Certner, legislativepolicy director for AARP.“We’re a bit concerned abouthow easy it’s going to be toprovide education, particu-larly for some in this olderpopulation who are not

Federalgovernmentphasing outpaper checks

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

How the changes in delivering SocialSecurity and other government benefitswill work:

— Starting last year, new beneficiarieswere required to electronically receiveSocial Security, veterans’ benefits, railroadpensions and federal disability payments.

— By March 1, 2013, nearly everyonewill be required to receive their paymentselectronically, mainly through directdeposit into a bank account.

— Those without bank accounts will beissued a Direct Express debit card, whichwill receive payments and can be used forpurchases at retail stores and for cash

withdrawals at ATMs.— There will be no fees for debit card

purchases but there will be fees for someATM transactions.

— Beneficiaries who are age 90 or olderwon’t be required to make the change.Others can apply for a hardship waiverbut they will be granted only in “extreme,

rare circumstances.”— The federal government issues 73

million benefit payments a month. About90 percent of the payments already aredone electronically, so about 7 million peo-ple will have to make the switch.

— For help or for more information, call(800) 333-1795 or go to www.godirect.org .

AP PHOTO/DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY, FILE

This two-photo combination image shows, at top, a Feb.11, 2005, file photo of trays of printed Social Securitychecks waiting to be mailed from the U.S. Treasury’sFinancial Management services facility in Philadelphia,and an undated photo provided by the TreasuryDepartment of a Direct Express Card. Starting next year,the check will no longer be put in the mail to millions ofAmericans who receive Social Security and other govern-ment benefits. The federal government, which issues 73million payments a month, is phasing out paper checksfor all benefit programs, requiring people to get paymentselectronically, either through direct deposit, or a debitcard for those who don’t have bank accounts.

Details of government switch to paperless payments

Please see CHECKS, Page 6

“The change has to behandled carefully and witha lot of sensitivity so thatthere aren’t people who

lose track of a payment ordon’t understand that theyhave a card that came inthe mail that’s the source

of their payment.”

— Web Phillips, senior political advi-

sor for National Committee to Protect

Social Security and Medicare



Studies of the new device inEurope and Canada showt h a t i t s i g n i f i c a n t l yimproved stroke outcomes.

“We hope to replicatesome of the results,” saidDr. Andrew Xavier, directorof interventional neurologyat Oakwood.

Just a littlemore than adecade ago, doc-tors had fewoptions forpatients withthe most devas-tating strokesthat causeblockages in thebrain. The addi-tion of a drugcalled a tissueplasminogenactivator (tPA)helped many people, butdoctors say that as much as40 percent to 50 percent ofthe time, the clot is too bigto dissolve with the drug,which ideally is given with-in the first hour of strokesymptoms and no morethan 4 hours later.

Earlier devices also weretechnically demanding touse and proved a challengefor all but doctors in high-volume practices who per-formed the techniques often,said Dr. Richard Fessler,chief of surgery for the St.John Providence HealthSystem .

The Solitaire device,made by Covidien of Dub-lin, Ireland, is minimallyinvasive. Doctors thread athin tube through an artery— typically in the top of theleg — up to the brain. Thenthey advance within thattube another instrumentwith a miniature, Slinky-like stent to the blockage.The stent expands and helpsdoctors remove the clotmore easily. To be sure theb l o c k a g e i s e n t i r e l yremoved, doctors take pic-tures of the arteries.

Burns, known to many in

the Algonac area as Scrap-

per Bob because he salvages

yards for scrap, was return-

ing home in his truck Mon-

day afternoon when he felt

his right hand and leg go

numb. He had not felt well

that day, he recalled.

“I thought, ‘My God, I’m

having a stroke,’” Burns

said.

He pulled over to get his

phone out of his right pock-

et, but he was too weak toretrieve it. A man who sawhim outside his homeresponded to his call forhelp.

A computer tomographyscan at St. John River Dis-trict Hospital in East ChinaTownship found that he hada blockage that was so big itwas unlikely it would behelped by tPA, Fessler said.An ambulance broughtBurns to River District’sbigger sister hospital, St.John in Detroit.

Burns already is takingsteps, has slight numbnessbut no major paralysis orother stroke complicationsand most likely will be ableto go home soon. He shouldbe able to get back to his lifewith a few weeks of physi-cal therapy, Fessler said.“He’s doing beautifully.”

STROKESContinued from Page 3

© 2012 MCT

Removing brain blocks

Source: St. John HospitalGraphic: David Pierce, Detroit Free Press

A new device is being used to remove stroke-causing bloodclots in brain arteries. How the instrument, called Solitaire FlowRestoration Device, works:

Blood clotBlood clot

Balloon

StentStent

Tube

Tube

Inner tube

Inner tube

Usually starting in the leg, a thintube is threaded to the area ofthe clot in the brain; smallerinner tube, containing a stent, ispushed forward through the clot

The inner tube is retracted;as the inner tube is removed,the stent expands into thesoft blood clot

A balloon is blown up to blockblood flow; suction starts and thestent is pulled back in to thetube, taking the clot with it

1

2

3

Brainartery

“We hope to replicatesome of the results.”

— Dr. Andrew Xavier, director of

interventional neurology at Oakwood.



familiar with debit cards

and don’ t have bank

accounts.”

Certner said AARP wants

the government to make it

easier to get an exemption.

Under the Treasury rule,

current beneficiaries who

are 90 and older won’t be

required to make the switch.

People can get a waiver if

using a debit card would

impose a hardship, but the

Treasury Department says

those would be “extreme,

rare circumstances.”

These waivers are not well

publicized on the govern-

ment’s website.

“There are several million

people who receive paper

checks today,” Certner said.

“Some of them do it because

they have worked out

arrangements for them that

work.”

AARP also has concerns

about fees asso-ciated with thedebit cards. TheDirect Expresscards are issuedby ComericaBank, Trea-sury’s financialagent. Eachmonth, benefitpayments areadded to thecards, which can be used tomake purchases or with-draw cash from ATMs.

There are no fees for usingthe debit card to make pur-chases. They can be used atany retailer that accepts Mas-terCard debit cards. If a cardis lost or stolen, the benefi-ciary is protected from unau-thorized use as long as themissing card is reportedpromptly.

Cardholders can make onefree ATM withdrawal eachtime a payment is registeredin the card. Subsequent with-drawals will cost 90 centseach, and all withdrawalsmay be subject to fees by the

owner of the ATM.The government’s switch

to electronic payments alsocomes with a side effect: lessbusiness for the U.S. PostalService, an agency that isalready facing big budgetproblems with the rise ofemail and electronic bill pay-ing. The private sector hasbeen migrating to electronicpayments for years, costingthe Postal Service millions ofcustomers, said Alan Robin-son, editor of the Postal Jour-nal, a trade publication.

“Normally, these thingshappen one customer at atime,” Robinson said. “Interms of payments, this isprobably one of the largest.”

CHECKSContinued from Page 4

“There are several millionpeople who receive paper

checks today.”

— David Certner, legislative policy

director, AARP

TSA touts pilotprogram for seniors

BY KEN KAYE

SUN SENTINEL (MCT)

FORT LAUDERDALE,

Fla. — The one-month-old

pilot program allowing

seniors to breeze through

security in Orlando and

three other U.S. airports is

“terrific,” moving them —

and other lines — more

quickly, according to the

Transportation Security

Administration.

If it continues to prove

successful, the new program

likely will be expanded to

Miami, Fort Lauderdale and

West Palm Beach, although

the TSA refused to speculate

on when.

For many of South Flori-

da’s 600,000 seniors, the day

can’t come soon enough

when they can largely avoid

patdowns and move through

checkpoints without taking

off their shoes or light outer-

wear.

“There are a lot of infirm

people who go through secu-

rity in a wheelchair,”and

they don’t need that hassle,

said Rochelle Koenig, 77, of

Weston, who’s planning to

fly to the Northeast in June.

Under the TSA’s program,

those 75 and older still must

g o t h r o u g h s c a n n e r

machines. If officers detect

something suspicious or

want a second look, they are

allowed to go though the

scanners a second time rath-

er than receive a patdown.

“A lot of older people arenot used to having anyonetouch them, and consider apatdown somewhat of aninvasion,” said Edith Leder-berg, 82, executive directorof the Aging And DisabilityResource Center in Sunrise.

About 600 people per daynow take advantage of thenew procedures at OrlandoInternational Airport, alongwith hundreds of others inChicago, Denver and Port-land, Ore., TSA spokeswom-an Sari Koshetz said.

“The pilot program has, infact, been expanded to alllanes at both checkpoints atOrlando International,” shesaid.

Please see TSA, Page 11





NC man among last to make tobacco basketsBY WESLEY YOUNG

AP MEMBER EXCHANGE

YADKINVILLE, N.C. —

Yadkin County was once

home to as many as six fac-

tories that made thousands

of baskets and shipped

them to any part of the

country where people were

growing and marketing

tobacco.

By modern standards, the

factories were small, but

each provided work for a

dozen or two local people

and extra money for the

farmers who would gather

wood and cut it into “splits”

during the winter.

Those factories turned

out baskets by the tens of

thousands every year, sell-

ing them to warehouses to

replace baskets that wore

out.

“The construction of

these things was a work of

art,” said Andrew Mackie, a

Yadkin County historian.

“The local men provided the

lumber. They would use a

froe — a cutting tool — to

cut strips of the wood. At

the factory they would soak

them, and they had a

machine that would bend

the wood into the shape

they wanted.”

At tobacco warehouses,

tobacco rolled into bundles

or “hands” would be

arranged on the baskets in a

circular pattern and sorted

according to grade. Holes on

the side of the baskets made

it possible to insert hooks

and carry the basket away

at the warehouse.

When people called Yad-

kin County the tobacco bas-

ket capital of the world,

they were telling the truth,

Mackie said.

“We were about the only

place in the world that made

these things,” he said.

“They are collectors’ items

now.”

An online search for

tobacco baskets today turnsup pictures of them hang-ing over fireplaces or adorn-ing bedroom walls. Decora-tors hang them square ordiagonally and display themface-up or bottom-up.

Some people hang themtattered and missing slats.Others get more creative,and use the basket as thecenter of a photo or folk-artdisplay.

In Yadkin County, thetobacco basket factories aregone — almost. Bud Miller,who is 80, still makes asmall number, in all differ-ent sizes, fromtime to time inan old buildingfull of rustingmachinery andwood splits stillstacked fromwhen they weregathered andcut years ago.

“We have notmade any sincethe summerbefore last,”Miller said.“There ain’tanybody making thesesplits. It used to be justabout everybody in thecounty would make splits.They were all rove out byhand. Up until 10 or 15 yearsago, people were doing thesplits.”

Miller is the son of J.Anderson Miller, who start-ed J.A. Miller Basket Co. in1945.

Tobacco historian BillyYeargin said the idea fortobacco baskets started inWinston-Salem about 1880when R.J. Reynolds TobaccoCo. decided it had to keep itsproduct cleaner.

This was a time of dirtroads and dirty floors. Oxenor horses brought the tobac-co to market on wagons.

“They had to have some-thing to protect the productfrom that filth on the floor

— not only from bringing itin, but the buyer had to havea way to get it out and storeit,” Yeargin said.

The baskets seemed theperfect solution, Yearginsaid.

But why Yadkin? Somesay the oak there was morepliable than in other localesand worked better for thebaskets. Yeargin thinks Yad-kin became the centerbecause the early basket-makers were from that area.

Basket-makers dependedon farmers to make thesplits that they used to

assemble the baskets, saidFelix McKnight, who withhis father and brother madebaskets from 1947 as J.M.McKnight and Sons Inc.

A farmer would cut anoak log in half, then quarterit. The thin splits they madefrom the log with the froewere bought by basket mak-ers at 2 or 3 cents per split.

“In the wintertime somefarmers would do it to makea daily living,” McKnightsaid. He and his wife wouldsometimes go out nightsand “hunt up splits.”

“We bought in a 100-milecircumference,” he said.“Those that could spend awhile doing it could make athousand of them.”

At the factory, the splitswere trimmed. Then amachine was used to liftalternate rows of splits so

that cross-rows of splitscould be interwoven. The

result was a square plaitedframework that had toundergo soaking.

“You had to get up at 4o’clock and get the waterboiling,” McKnight said.“There were metal tanks —two of them 5 feet by 5 feetfor the basket bottoms and a2-by-7 tank for the rims.”

It was hot work, but thesoaking in hot water madethe wood soft and ready forthe next step.

Working two at a time,workers would take a basketbottom from the vat and putit on a table with roundedsides. Pulling a lever, theywould lower a frame thatbent the wood down overthe sides of the table.

Two workers could turnout 200 baskets in a shiftthat ran from 7 a.m. to noon.To make assembly go faster,

“some of the boys would put

a bunch of nails into their

mouths and push them out

with their tongues,” McK-

night said.

Making $2.50 to $3 per

basket, he said, business

was good.Traveling in New Hamp-

shire during a recent year,McKnight and his wife sawa tobacco basket for sale at a

AP PHOTOS/WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, DAVID ROLFE

In a March 21, photo, Bud Miller takes a drag on his cigarette as he stands in the

old concrete block building in Courtney, N.C., where he and his father made

tobacco baskets for decades. Tobacco farmers no longer use the baskets to carry

their leaf to market, and the small factories that once made the baskets have

disappeared. Miller, who still has stacks of tobacco baskets of varying sizes

stacked in the crumbling building, still makes and sells small quantities of the

hand-made baskets to decorators and craft shops.

In a March 22, photo, tobacco baskets and stacks of

plaited basket bottoms were stacked in Bud Miller’s

tobacco basket factory in Courtney, N.C.

“They had to havesomething to protect theproduct from that filth on

the floor ...”

— Billy Yeargin, tobacco historian

Please see BASKETS, Page 11



Tsunami survivor trades life in Japan for E. IdahoBY SVEN BERG

AP MEMBER EXCHANGE

ST. ANTHONY, Idaho

— Norimasa Abe sent his

daughter to Japan with two

return plane tickets and one

simple instruction: Bring

your grandfather back to

Idaho.

Norimasa Abe knew his

father would resist. Worried

about Norio Abe’s health

and faltering mobility, he’d

been trying to convince his

father to come live with him

in St. Anthony since long

before the March 2011 tsu-

nami struck Ishinomaki.

But while the home that

Norio Abe built on a hillside

in Ishinomaki, Japan, after

World War II survived the

disaster, it suffered signifi-

cant damage. With winter

coming, the family was con-

vinced their patriarch

should relocate to eastern

Idaho’s cold but tsunami-

free high desert.

So in December, Norimasa

Abe played the most persua-

sive card in his hand: his

daughter, Miyai Abe Griggs.

“If I went there, probably

he wouldn’t come,” Norima-

sa Abe said. “Miyai went

there, so that’s why he lis-

tened.”

Today, more than a year

after the tsunami killed

almost 4,000 Ishinomaki res-

idents, Norio Abe lives in St.

Anthony with his son and

daughter-in-law, Tsukiko

Abe. He likes being around

h i s f a m i l y, a n d h e ’s

impressed when he sees Abe

Griggs driving her hus-

band’s truck, which is big-

ger than anything he’s used

to seeing.

But even at 86, he’s a little

restless.

“It’s so quiet here, he’s

kind of bored sometimes,”

Abe Griggs said.

Norio Abe didn’t know

about the tsunami until he

saw fish in the streets.

At 85, he slept through the

disaster, only waking to

make sure a dresser in his

home didn’t fall over during

the earthquake that preced-

ed the deluge. Earthquakes

are common in Ishinomaki,

a coastal city with a popula-

tion of about 160,000, so Abe

didn’t think much of the

tremors.

He lived a secluded life,

alone on a wooded hill above

most of the city, in the same

traditional Japanese home

that he built a few years

after World War II. It was a

quiet home — quiet enough

that the wreckage happen-

ing below it didn’t disturb

an old man’s sleep.

When he awoke, he took a

walk down the hill to buy

some groceries. It was then

that he saw fish on the road-

ways, stranded when the

tsunami receded.“Where did these fish

come from?” he asked him-self, as interpreted last weekby Abe Griggs. “Did theycome from the river, or didthe ocean come really thisfar?”

A ‘command center’ in theliving room

Abe Griggs’ Decembertrip to Japan was her secondof the year. In October, shewent with her father andbrother to find Norio Abeand make sure he was safe.

Until they saw him withtheir own eyes, they’d heardprecious little of how he wasfaring in the tsunami’s after-math. In fact, for 10 daysafter the tsunami hit Ishino-maki, they didn’t knowwhether he was alive ordead.

Norimasa Abe moved tothe United States 30 yearsago, his career path ulti-mately carrying him to St.Anthony, where he works asa clinician for the IdahoDepartment of JuvenileCorrections.

The family still countsabout 30 close relatives inthe city, one of the hardesthit by last year’s disaster.Suddenly thrown into crisis,the family converted the liv-ing room in Norimasa andTsukiko Abe’s St. Anthonyhome into what Abe Griggscalled a “command center.”

They made phone calls.

They sent out messages onFacebook. They watchedtelevision. They worried.

One by one, they trackeddown each family member— amazingly, all alive. NorioAbe, who wasn’t a big fan ofthe telephone, much lessFacebook, was the last oneaccounted for. The Abe fam-ily finally talked to someonein a city office who con-firmed seeing him alive.

Still worried, the familylater decided they needed tosee Norio Abe for them-selves.

They just showed up.Norio Abe had no idea his

son and grandchildren werecoming to find him. He’dbeen living on a diet of gov-ernment-commissioned riceballs and groceries he couldfind at the nearest conve-nience store.

A government agency wascharged with providingbasic services to the elderly,but Norio Abe wasn’t reallyhappy about that, either.

“He’s a pretty indepen-dent individual, and so hedidn’t really appreciate thatassistance,” Abe Griggs said.“There were people to helphim, but he didn’t want thehelp.”

Isolated as ever, Norio Abehad given up hope of everseeing his son again. Thenthe man from Idaho was

AP PHOTO/THE IDAHO POST-REGISTER, MONTE LAORANGE

In this April 4, photo, at his son’s home in St. Anthony, Idaho, Norio Abe, right, talks abouthis experience after last year’s earthquake and tsunami hit. His grandaughter, Miyai AbeGriggs, center, was tasked with convincing Norio to move to the United States and livewith his son Norimasa Abe and daughter-in-law Tsukiko Abe.

Please see SURVIVOR,Page 10

P rearrangem ent doesn’t have to cost anything.W hat m any people don’t know is that you need not prepay w hen youprearrange.W e’re happy to record yourw ishes and hold them on file

at no charge.C allourfuneralhom e fordetails.

If you’ve been putting off prearranging becauseof the expense, we have good news...

w w w .ealvinsm all.com3935 S.C raterR oad

P etersburg2033 B oulevardC olonialH eights

(804) 526-3400



BY FRANK WALLIS

AP MEMBER EXCHANGE

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark.— Art Gregory, 87, squirmslike a restless youth in astraight-back chair as hetalks about his World War IItour of duty on board thelight cruiser USS Birming-ham.

His stomach growls. Hiseyes dart to and away from alarge book lying open on atable top the official U.S. Navybook of the Birmingham.The ship’s World War II casu-alty list is printed on the backpages of the book. Checkmarks by many names iden-tify the shipmates he knew.

“I saw our men piled thishigh,” Gregory said as heraised a hand four feet abovethe floor. “The force of theexplosion pushed them upinto piles.”

Sixty-eight years after theBattle of Leyte Gulf, Gregoryhas a heavy heart. The heavi-ness is for the day the USSPrinceton exploded, instantlykilling more than 100 on thePrinceton and more than 200on his ship, the light cruiserBirmingham, that had pulledalongside the Princeton forrescue.

Manyof theBirmingham’screw of more than 1,000 weretopside as the ship extendedgangways to the burning air-craft carrier, Princeton. Shehad been hit between towersby a bomb and the Japanese

plane that released it.The kamikaze attack came

at 10 a.m. Oct. 24, 1944. Firehoses from the Birminghamtrained on the Princeton fireseemed to help control thegasoline-and-oil fueled blaze,Gregory said. But at 3:24 p.m.the fire found a store ofbombs and fuel in the ship’shold and detonated with forceenough to drive unprotectedBir mingham crewmenagainst the port-side rail oragainst any other unyieldingobject in the way of the blast.

Gregory was tending hosesat the time of the blast andshielded somewhat at thebase of a 150-mm gun turret.It was one of four strokes ofluck that kept Gregory’sname off a list of WWII deadnearly 417,000 names long. Aplug of shrapnel buried inGregory’s left thigh andremained there several dayswithout treatment.

“We didn’t have a medicaldoctor on the ship,” Gregorysaid. “We had a dentist.”

Earlier in his WWII tour,Gregory was at work in aboiler room in the ship’s bellywhentwoJapanesetorpedoesfound the ship’s port sidenear the bow and stern and abomb hit the ship’s deck. Theaerial attack came fromRabaul in the SolomonIslands.

“Just a few seconds fasteror slower and it would havebeen me,” Gregory said.

Impact of the torpedoeswas strong enough to send astore of salt tablets stored inpaper cups in the boiler roomflying.

“The salt tablets flew likesnow,” he said.

The boiler room was thehottest place in the ship,Gregory said, and the salttablets were a required sup-plement to keep the boilerroom men from become salt-washed during the sweatywork. Gregory said he did notask for the boiler room jobthat offered only heat andsuspense and no views fromtopside.

The torpedo-bomb attackNov. 8, 1943, happened a littlemore than three months intothe 18-year-old’s tour. Repairsto the Birmingham at MareIsland, Calif., took until Feb.18, 1944, providing opportuni-ty for leave.

“I got home Dec. 22 (1944),”Gregory said. “My parentshad no idea I was coming.”

It was a glad reunion, hesaid, tempered by the Novem-ber attack and the prospectfor much more war in thePacific, Gregory said.

Uncle Sam’s postcard invi-tation to the nation’s servicecame to the Gregory family’sinner-city Chicago home onMay 10, 1943. He reported to aprocessing center a week lat-er where an intake officerwith a cold rubber stampmarked the back of his left

hand in black ink “U.S.

Navy”.

Training at the Great

Lakes Navy Training Center

in Chicago was mostly

uneventful for the Schurz

High School graduate who

had excelled in ROTC activi-

ties.

Gregory and hundreds of

other seaman boarded the 6-

month-old Birmingham at

Norfolk Naval Operating

Base, Va., in August 1943. She

sailed through the Panama

Canal on Aug. 22 en route for

the Pacific in support of near-

ly all major island battles and

many smaller ones.

By September 1943, Bir-

mingham screened for carri-

ers Lexington, Princeton and

Belleau Wood and the Navy’s

Task Group 15.1. The group

launched air strikes against

Japanese gunboats and air

defense positions on Tarawa,

Makin and Wake Island.

Those were some of the

earliest island battles in the

Pacific, and Gregory felt

bumps in them all. Gregory

and the Birmingham crew

would also serve with Navy

Task Force 57 and 38 in the

battle of Saipan, the Battle of

the Philippine Sea, battle of

Tinian, battle of Guam, Phil-

ippine Islands Raids, Iwo

Jima, the Okinawa Raid and

raids on northern Luzon and

Formosa.

The Birmingham was at

Mare Island for repair and

Gregory was assigned to the

new Franklin D. Roosevelt

aircraft carrier when the warended during FDR’s shake-down voyage off Brazil.

A leave in Rio de Janeirooffered a major memorableevent. Gregory shared abirthdate with Americanfilm star Lana Turner, whowas celebrating at the samehotel in Rio where Gregorycelebrated his birthdaywith shipmates. When theactress found a U.S. sailor,Gregory, was celebratinghis 21st birthday in thesame hotel, she found theseaman and kissed himsquare on the lips.

“No. There was no photo-graph,” Gregory said. “Butshe kissed me.”

there, unannounced, on his doorstep.

“Oh, am I dreaming?” he asked Norimasa

Abe. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

Abe Griggs said her grandfather’s home

was still in disarray seven months after the

tsunami. The roof was damaged and leak-

ing badly. Worse, the weather was turning

cold, and Norio Abe didn’t want to use a

heater for fear it would cause a fire.

When they returned to the United States,

the Abes grew more worried about Norio

Abe’s well-being. But he still wanted to stay

in Japan. It was his home.

All he knew about his son’s home in St.

Anthony was that it was cold and far away.

Eastern Idaho didn’t sound like the kind of

place he wanted to live.

“It seemed like a very scary, faraway

place, so he wasn’t really too keen on the

idea,” Abe Griggs said. “But he didn’t have

anybody else to take care of him, either.”

Finally, Abe Griggs’ persistence paid off.

“He probably just realized I wasn’t going

to give up,” she said. “Finally, he was just

like, ‘I give up. You win.’”

Norio Abe arrived in St. Anthony just in

time to celebrate Christmas. The whole fam-

ily is looking forward to the warm season

and a chance to show him Yellowstone

National Park, the Teton Mountains and

some of the area’s other gems.

Thanks to Tsukiko Abe, he eats regular,

healthy meals now. He’s gained weight, and

Abe Griggs said he seems to be moving

much better.

He’s getting to know his grandchildren

and great-grandchildren. He’s adjusting bet-

ter than expected, even though he’s a little

frustrated because he’s used to finding

stores and activities within walking dis-

tance and not very many people speak his

language.

“Anyway, I’m glad he’s here,” Norimasa

Abe said.

SURVIVORContinued from Page 9

Arkansan Art Gregory recallswar on USS Birmingham

AP PHOTO/THE BAXTER BULLETIN, KEVIN PIEPER

In this photo taken March 21,Art Gregory,87,of Mountain Home,Ark., reflects on his WorldWar II experience. Gregory served in the Pacific aboard the USS Birmingham.

Please see WAR, Page 11



On average, about 92,000travelers depart from SouthFlorida’s three airports eachday. As many as 10,000 ofthose might be 75 or older,according senior citizenagencies.

For many elderly people,who are frail or have medicalissues, such as hip replace-ments, the hardest part aboutflying is getting throughsecurity. Many have a hardtime bending over to take offtheir shoes. Others have dif-ficulty standing in long lines.Most are uncomfortablereceiving a pat down.

“Fear of getting throughthe lines can kill their travelplans,” said Lederberg, add-ing that South Florida over-all has the third largest popu-lation of seniors in the coun-try, close to a million over age65.

Ruth Sherman, 89, of Sun-rise, was one of three womenwho alleged that TSA officersmade them disrobe duringsecondary screenings priorto a flight at New York’s LaGuardia airport in Decem-ber. She said she is still angry,but happy the new proce-dures are in place.

“I couldn’t go through thatagain,” she said.

Yvonne Boice, owner ofFugazy International Travelin Boca Raton, doesn’t thinkthe new TSA rule will be ofmuch benefit to seniors andsaid it might anger those tooyoung to take advantage ofit.

“It’s so nominal to takeyour shoes off,” said Boice, asenior and a seasoned travel-er. “It’s not a big deal.”

Marvin Simon, 88, ofDavie, said the TSA’s top pri-ority should be to ensure nodangerous items are sneakedonto airplanes, and it’s possi-ble a senior citi-zen could dothat.

“To me, I just

look for securi-

ty,” he said.

The TSA

doesn’t ask

seniors to prove

their age but

rather makes a

“visual assess-

ment” to deter-

mine if they are

eligible to take

advantage of the new rule,

Koshetz said. The agency

also posts signs at participat-

ing airports that travelers

born in 1937 or earlier quali-

fy for the program.

Local airport officials said

the senior program would

shorten lines, making travel

easier for all passengers.

“We would welcome any-

thing that would assist our

passengers,” said Casandra

Davis, spokeswoman for

Palm Beach International

Airport.

“Ultimately, we want the

traveling public’s experience

to be as good possible,” said

Greg Meyer, spokesman for

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood

International Airport.

The TSA said the senior

program is part of its efforts

to shift to risk-based, intelli-

gence-driven screening pro-

cedures, rather than subject

all travelers to the same level

of scrutiny, according to TSA

Administrator John Pistole.

“These initiatives are

enabling us to focus our

resources on those passen-

gers who could pose the

greatest risk, including those

on terrorist watch lists,” he

told the National Press Club

last month.

Last fall, the TSA began

allowing children 12 and

younger to pass through a

security program similar to

the new senior policy.

The agency also has imple-

mented the PreCheck pro-

gram in Miami and several

other airports, allowing

trusted frequent fliers to be

channeled into express lanes

without taking off shoes or

removing laptops. The pro-

gram is be started in Fort

Lauderdale, Orlando and

Tampa by the end of the

year.

Will the new rules prompt

more seniors to fly? Probably

not, Lederberg said.

“I don’t know if they’ll

travel more,” she said. “But

they’ll travel more happily.”

TSAContinued from Page 6

“I don’t know if they’lltravel more, but they’ll

travel more happily.”

— Edith Lederberg, executive director

of Aging And Disability Resource Center

in Sunrise, Fla.

shop for $75.The bottom fell out of

the tobacco basket busi-ness in 1966, said Yeargin,who has done extensiveresearch on the historyof tobacco warehous-ing.

Warehouses changedthe way they handledtobacco. Formerly, farm-ers would gather theircured tobacco into bun-dles wrapped in a leaf oftobacco. These bundlessorted the tobacco intovarious grades of quality.

When the tobaccocame to the warehouse toawait auction, the bundleswould be stacked in a cir-cular pattern on a tobaccobasket.

“In 1966, the companiessaid: ‘We don’t care whatthe grade is. We have ourown grades,’” Yeargin said.“The farmer said that elim-

inated that much more inlabor.”

So a new system began,bringing bundles of loosetobacco tied in sheets tothe warehouse. The tobac-co basket was not needed.

By the late 1960s, the bas-

ket factories were shuttingdown or shifting produc-tion to other wood productssuch as pallets.

The Miller factory shutdown in 1969, but itreopened in 1976 to makebaskets for the burleytobacco market. By 1986,Miller’s father was telling

a Winston-Salem Journalreporter that the burleymarket was going away,too. By 1990, the businesswas through.

Today, Miller reckonsthat he might be the onlyperson in the world who

still makestobacco baskets.He can makefull-size basketsor smaller-scalemodels, butthere’s no mon-ey in it, he said.People buythem to resell asdecorating piec-es.

“After the big

ones played out,

I started making these lit-

tle ones,” he said.

When McKnight no

longer had a market, he

simply stopped making

the baskets.

“We had about 300 left

when we stopped,” McK-

night said. “Someone

bought them all.”

BASKETSContinued from Page 8

“We had about 300 leftwhen we stopped.

Someone bought them all.”

— Felix McKnight, former basket

maker

Gregory took an accu-

m u l at i o n o f w a r t i m e

points, an honorable dis-

c h a r g e a n d a P u r p l e

Heart home to Chicago.

He found work with Jew-

el Food Stores and made

a career with the chain

at the store management

level. He met his wife

Clyra Deck Gregory also

employed by Jewel Foods

and working on a college

degree.

Clyra still marvels today at

how her husband and other

WWII veterans have coped

over the years with the hor-

rible experiences from the

war.

“I remember when we

were dating, we were driv-

ing somewhere and he had

on a new pair of leather

gloves. He pulled them off

suddenly and just threw

them out the window,”

Clyra said.

The smell of new leather

and the fires of the Princeton

and Birmingham. “That’s

what it was,” she said.

WARContinued from Page 10



Greenfield of Petersburg590 Flank Road • Petersburg,VA 23805Phone #804/861-6977an assisted living communityApril Special: $59/day on select companion suites*

O ther A rea C om m un itiesGreenfeld Refections of Petersburg550 Flank Road • Petersburg,VA 23805Phone #804/861-4358a memory care assisted living communityGreenfield of Fredericksburg1001 Northside Drive • Fredericksburg,VA 22405Phone #540/374-8200an assisted living communityGreenfield of Stafford30 Kings Crest Drive • Stafford,VA 22554Phone #540/288-9353a memory care & assisted living community

W e have m ade itourm ission to provide personalizedquality care in a hom e-like setting.T he heartbeatofourfam ily isourdedicated and experienced staffthatdaily enrichesthe livesofeach ofourresidents.

PROGRAMS• Independent Living• Assisted Living• Memory Care• Hospice Care• Short-term Stays

www.greenfieldseniorliving.com* Restrictions apply/rate includes room charge only and not care fees

SERVICES• 24-hour Personal Car Staff• Delicious Meals Served Daily• Individualized Care Plans• Social & Recreational Programs•Weekly Laundry & Housekeeping• Mediction Management


Documents

Just For Seniors