Business
AgLife
B
Thursday, August 18, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
LIZ WESTON
ASK LIZ
New Adams Avenue
Barber Shop off to busy
start entering second
week of operation
Avoid
becoming
‘credit
invisible’
Dear Liz: I have a credit card issue
that I’ve not been able to resolve and hope
that you can provide some helpful sug-
gestions. I am a debt-free senior. I owe
nothing on my house or vehicles and I pay
off my one credit card each month. I’ve no
missing payments on utilities.
My credit card reduced my credit limit
last year saying that my credit scores were
too low. In fact they’ve fallen from 800s
to 600s over the last year. The bank that
issues my business credit card says they
use an algorithm that allows no human
interaction for adjustments for people like
me who are debt-free. Any suggestions?
Answer: Many people who once had
good credit become “credit invisible” if
they’ve paid off all their loans and stopped
using credit cards.
But regularly using a credit card or two
should be enough to stay visible to the
credit score algorithms and to keep good
scores. The problem may be the type of
card you’re using. Business credit cards
often don’t show up on personal credit
reports, so your use of the card wouldn’t
be included in credit score calculations.
If that’s the case, consider applying for
a personal card to start rebuilding your
scores.
The other possibility is that you’ve
become the victim of identity theft. Please
check your credit reports at the three
major credit bureaus. You can do so for
free by typing AnnualCreditReport.com
into your browser window or by calling
(877) 322-8228.
Dear Liz: I have about $16,000
in a Roth IRA that I plan to leave to
my daughter. When she collects this
on my death, does she pay tax on the
withdrawals?
Answer: No. She would have to pay
taxes on withdrawals if the money were
in a regular inherited IRA, but not if the
money is in a Roth. She will be required
to withdraw the money within 10 years,
though. Congress eliminated the so-called
“stretch IRA” for most inheritors, so non-
spouse benefi ciaries can no longer stretch
withdrawals over their own lifetimes.
Dear Liz: My ex-husband is 13 years
younger than I. We were married for 10
years and he earns more than I do. If I
start drawing my own Social Security
benefi t at age 70, can I switch to his ben-
efi t when I’m 75 and he is 62?
Answer: Normally when someone
applies for Social Security, they’re
“deemed” or assumed to be applying for
all the benefi ts for which they’re eligible.
If you’re eligible for your own retirement
benefi t as well as a divorced spousal ben-
efi t, for example, you would get the larger
of the two amounts. You wouldn’t be able
to switch from one to the other later.
There are a few exceptions to this rule,
however, and your situation is one of
them. You won’t be eligible for a divorced
spousal benefi t until your ex-husband
reaches minimum retirement age (62).
At that point, you would be eligible for
50% of his primary insurance amount, or
the check he would get at his full retire-
ment age, which is currently between 66
and 67. If that amount is larger than what
you’re receiving, you could switch.
If you’re going to switch, though, you
may not want to wait until 70 to apply
for your own benefi t. Delaying makes
sense for most people, because they’ll live
past the break-even age in their late 70s
when the larger value of the delayed ben-
efi t more than makes up for the smaller
checks they pass up in the meantime.
If you switch at 75, though, you won’t
have received your own benefi ts for long
enough to make up for bypassing the
smaller checks, says Dr. William Reichen-
stein, head of research at Social Security
Solutions.
Deciding when to start Social Security
can be tricky even in simpler situations
than yours, so consider using a site such
as Social Security Solutions or Maximize
My Social Security for advice on when to
claim.
█
Liz Weston, Certified Financial Planner, is a personal
finance columnist for NerdWallet. Questions may be sent
to her at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA
91604, or by using the “Contact” form at asklizweston.com.
Looking
sharp
Photos by Dick Mason/The Observer
Jim Wilson cuts the hair of Dustin Follett, of La Grande, at Adams Avenue Barber Shop on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022.
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The future appears bright
for a new La Grande barber shop which cele-
brates the past.
Business has been brisk at Adams Avenue
Barber Shop as it enters its second week of
operations after opening in early August.
“We have had 50 to 60 customers a day. It is
more than we expected,” said Aaron Hutchison,
one of the shop’s three barbers with Betty
Trotter and Jim Wilson. All three are co-owners
of the business.
Hutchison said that on Monday, Aug. 15,
business was so brisk that he did not get a break
after the shop opened at 8 a.m., until 12:30 p.m.
The new shop with almost one dozen mir-
rors, two widescreen televisions for watching
sporting events and colorful decor will never
be mistaken for a museum, but links to the past
are as easy to spot as its cordless razors. Its
blast from the past features include an ornate
1927 barber’s chair, a barber’s pole made in
Aaron Hutchison, right, Betty Trotter and Jim Wilson,
shown here on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, are the owners
and barbers at the new Adams Avenue Barbershop.
1955 and photos of popular haircuts from the
1950s, including professional contour and for-
ward-combed boogie cuts.
The staff at Adams Avenue delights in pro-
viding cuts from any era.
See, Barbershop/Page B3
Wallowa farmer suff ers losses due to hailstorm
Storm leaves 150
Cornish Cross
chickens dead
By ANDREW CUTLER
The Observer
WALLOWA — Mary Haw-
kins was outside washing
crates when she noticed a storm
building up on the horizon.
“When the hail started I was
like, almost giggly, like ‘Ha
ha, it’s hailing. I’m gonna hop
inside,’” said Hawkins, who
owns Hawkins Sisters Ranch
with her sister, Nora.
Within moments her deci-
sion proved to be correct as
one of the worst hailstorms in
modern Wallowa County his-
tory suddenly descended on her
chicken processing facility on
Bear Creek Road.
Hawkins said the outside
work at the processing facility
was over by the time the storm
hit and much of her stock of
chickens was under cover.
Still, she had several hundred
chickens still outside, under the
deluge of hail. About 300 of her
Cornish Cross chickens were
out in a pasture.
The chickens, said Haw-
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Mary Hawkins, along with sister Nora, manages Hawkins Sisters Ranch in
Wallowa. The sisters raise Turkeys and Cornish Cross chickens to butcher
and also off er custom butchering for many local hobby farm breeders in the
county.
kins, tend to sit and wait out
inclement weather.
“If anything, they pile up a
little bit,” she said.
When the storm passed,
Hawkins and her employees
immediately went into damage
control mode. Hawkins check
her horses and vehicles and
equipment and the trotted out to
the pasture. What she saw was
carnage.
Hundreds of dead chickens
littered the fi eld. Many of the
chickens were grouped together
where they died as the hail
hammered them.
“In addition to getting
crushed by the ice, they prob-
ably got smacked, smothered
by one another,” Hawkins said.
As she stared at the fi eld lit-
tered with dead chickens she
“my fi rst reaction was to just
turn around and walk away.”
Over the next hour, said
Hawkins, many other chickens
died from the injuries sustained
by the hail.
Some, though, she thought
might be dead were up and
about.
“Half of them is up and
fl uff y again,” she said.
Still, by the end of the day
Hawkins said she composted
150 dead chickens.
As Hawkins and her
employees began to clean up —
clearing broken glass and other
debris — she slowly began to
take stock. She realized the
hailstorm meant a signifi cant
fi nancial loss to her business.
The dead chickens were no
longer viable products for sale,
she said.
“Can’t process them. There
is just no way to dress them out
and get them cold. The body
condition would be grotesque,
and they were laying out in the
fi eld for two hours. They’re not
really edible,” Hawkins said.
Most of the chickens, she
said, were “nearly fi nished.”
“I have several thousand dol-
lars into those chicks and their
feed. I like to raise them until
they dress out at a 4-pound
average,” Hawkins said.
The image of a fi eld covered
in dead chickens still lingers for
Hawkins.
“It’s just the emotion of like,
wow. They just got pummeled
to death,” she said.