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Winter comes early to Gas Valley

Life shifted into a different, slower gear last Tuesday morning as winter, real winter (you remember winter, don’t you?) announced itself a little early, transforming Gas Valley overnight with five inches of wet, heavy snow. There had been no wind. The sticky snow stacked itself thin on every tree branch and twig. Our car and trucks sported big white hats. The clutter of tires, tools and trash in front of the garage were anonymous white bumps. The yuccas were frozen white explosions; the forsythia, ocean waves stopped in mid-crest. Even the weeds and briars pretended elegance, ...

Time should not diminish the impact of Dec. 7, 1941

It was the most profound and cowardly sneak attack in the history of man. At exactly 7:55 a.m., on Dec. 7, 1941, the United States was suddenly plunged into a great conflict that would become World War II. The Imperial Japanese Navy struck at Pearl Harbor. And struck hard. The United States’ Pacific Fleet was ravaged. The Japanese sank four battleships, three cruisers and three destroyers. Destroyed were 188 American aircraft. Wounded were 1,282 service personnel. The American death total numbered 2,402. What took the Japanese mere minutes to do on a beautiful Hawaiian Sunday morning ...

Activities that keep you motivated in winter: A guide for seniors

Winter can sometimes feel like a time of hibernation, where the cold weather and shorter days lead to less physical activity and a sense of isolation. However, with a little creativity and planning, seniors can stay active, engaged, and motivated throughout the season. Participating in various winter activities not only helps keep the body healthy but also supports mental and emotional well-being. In this article, we outline some enjoyable and safe activities that can help you stay active and motivated this winter: Indoor Exercise and Yoga Cold weather can make it difficult to get ...

Overcoming the ‘holiday blues’

Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published Dec. 13, 2019. Thanks to breakthroughs in medicine and nutrition in recent years, we are living longer than ever before. But this increase in life expectancy also brings an increase in the number of diseases, injuries and impairments that affect older adults. With this in mind, we at the local Visiting Angels office in Salem have created this series of articles to keep our older population and their families informed and to offer some practical advice for meeting the challenges faced by seniors and those who care for them. ...

Why change a law to take away a freedom?

U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, is proposing a change in U.S. law that would eliminate a freedom that has been cemented since 1967. His proposed Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025 would eliminate dual citizenship and “establish that citizens of the United States shall owe sole and exclusive allegiance to the United States.” Moreno was born in Colombia. His family immigrated to the U.S. when he was 5 years old. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen at 18, and at that time, renounced his Colombian citizenship. “One of the greatest honors of my life was when I became an American ...

Be vigilant against utility scammers

Nearly all of us have been on the receiving end of an attempt to scam us out of our hard-earned money — particularly in the digital age. Utility scams are fairly common, and many of us probably think we know how to sniff them out. Particularly our seniors — who can remember fondly those days when we left doors unlocked, trusted those on the other end of our rotary telephones and believed honesty was inherent in most people — the sheer goodness of others. According to AEP Ohio, more than 2,000 scam attempts have been reported to that company alone so far this year. That’s 2,000 ...