Business
AgLife
B
Thursday, June 2, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
LIZ
WESTON
ASK LIZ
Keep
some
fi nancial
records
on paper
Dear Liz: You’ve
advocated for going
paperless. My preference
for paper fi nancial doc-
umentation over elec-
tronic versions is that
paper provides “proof”
in the event something
compromises online or
email reporting. What
am I missing?
Answer: Proof of
what, exactly?
That’s not a rhetorical
question. If you don’t
understand why you’re
retaining a document,
and what the alternatives
are, you risk burying
yourself in paper.
Consider your bank
statements, for example.
Your paper document is
just a reproduction of the
digital fi les that the bank
securely stores and reg-
ularly backs up. If you
do the same, regularly
downloading statements
and backing them up to
secure storage, there’s
no reason to convert the
fi les to paper. Paper is
in fact more vulnerable,
since it can burn up in a
house fi re, be destroyed
in a fl ood or simply have
its ink fade to illegi-
bility. In the rare cir-
cumstance where you
actually need to provide
a paper document, you
can simply print it out.
Many people don’t
even bother down-
loading their statements.
Many fi nancial institu-
tions allow you to access
fi ve or more years’
worth of statements for
free, which is as long
as you’re likely to need
such access.
There are a few doc-
uments you should
keep in physical form
either because they’re
most useful that way
(passports and driver’s
licenses, for example)
or because accessing
or replacing them can
be a hassle (birth cer-
tifi cates, citizenship
certifi cates, divorce
degrees and military dis-
charge papers, among
others). Even these doc-
uments, though, should
be scanned and stored
securely in case they’re
lost or destroyed.
‘Joe Beans
2.0’
D
n/The
ick Maso
er, File
Observ
Colleen and Al MacLeod, right, the owners
of Joe Beans Coff ee, are all smiles on
Tuesday, May 31, 2022, as they prepare
to reopen their downtown La Grande
coff ee and sandwich shop. Kody Guentert,
shown above in 2020, operated the
Brother Bear Cafe in the location over the
past two years. When the space became
available again, the MacLeods welcomed
the opportunity to come out of semi-
retirement and again run the popular
downtown gathering spot.
Al and Colle
en MacLeo
d/Contrib
uted Pho
to
Familiar faces set to take over downtown coffee shop
By DICK MASON • The Observer
L
A GRANDE — Change is brewing in La Grande. Joe
Beans Coffee, a coffee and sandwich shop owned and
operated by Colleen and Al MacLeod from
2010 to 2020, is opening again at its former site,
1009 Adams Ave.
“We should reopen next week,” Colleen MacLeod said on Monday, May 30.
The MacLeods’ old shop has been run by Kody Guentert over the past two
years after he became its owner in 2020 and operated it under the name Brother
Bear Cafe. Guentert is moving out of the coff ee shop business to pursue other
career opportunities, a move that has allowed the MacLeods to come out of
See, Beans/Page B2
123RF
Can Roth
conversions
reduce mandatory
withdrawals?
Dear Liz: It appears
required minimum dis-
tributions will force me
to take an additional
$3,500 per month from
my retirement funds
starting in four years at
age 72. This added tax-
able draw will greatly
impact my income tax
liabilities as I’m now
fully retired. Are there
any strategies at this
time to reduce the hit?
As my current income
tax rate is 12% federal
and 9% state, perhaps
I should convert some
of these funds to Roth
IRAs?
Answer: Partial Roth
conversions when your
tax bracket is low can
be an excellent way to
reduce future mandatory
withdrawals and save on
taxes in the long run.
See, Liz/Page B2
Working to get the ‘lead’ out of aviation fuel
FAA indicates ban
coming on leaded
gas for small planes
By FARRON BROUGHER
Columbia Insight
PORTLAND — Ear-
lier this year, the Envi-
ronmental Protection
Agency issued a statement
that many felt was long
overdue.
In January, the fed-
eral agency announced it
would “evaluate whether
emissions from piston-en-
gine aircraft operating on
leaded fuel contribute to
air pollution that endangers
public health and welfare.”
Jurgenhessphotography/Contributed Photo
Flying through a loophole: Unlike automobiles, small aircraft still
rely on leaded fuel.
The EPA said it would
issue a proposed “endan-
germent fi nding” for pis-
ton-engine aircraft that run
on leaded fuel. The public
review and comment pro-
cess will take place in 2022
and fi nal action will be
taken in 2023.
The decision was
more than a decade in the
making.
In 2012, Friends of the
Earth and Earthjustice
fi led a lawsuit against the
EPA, challenging the agen-
cy’s failure to respond to a
2006 petition from Friends
of the Earth asking for the
regulation of lead emis-
sions from general aviation
aircraft under the Clean
Air Act. In 2014, the same
groups, along with Oregon
Aviation Watch, a public
advocacy group based in
Hillsboro, petitioned the
EPA to make an immediate
endangerment fi nding.
The agency denied the
petition.
While levels of airborne
lead in the United States
have declined 99% since
1980, according to the
EPA, small piston-engine
aircraft that still operate on
leaded fuel are the largest
remaining source of lead
emissions into the air.
“Protecting children’s
health and reducing lead
exposure are interlocking
priorities at the core of
EPA’s agenda,” said EPA
Administrator Michael
S. Regan in the January
statement. “EPA has been
investigating the air quality
impact of lead emissions
from piston-engine aircraft
near airports for years,
and now we’re going to
apply that information to
See, Avgas/Page B2