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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 2018)
April 27, 2018 T he C olumbia P ress This Week in Aboriginal History Senior Moments by Carl A. Ellis Sand Creek Massacre site is memorialized in Colorado April 27, 1763: Pontiac holds council with a large group of Ottawa, Wyandot and Potawatomi Indians. He tells them of his plans to at- tack Fort Detroit and extols the virtue of returning to the old Indian ways before Euro- peans arrived. April 28, 2007: Sand Creek Massacre Nation- al Historic Site in Colorado is dedicated as a memori- al to the 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who were slaughtered at the hands of a militia led by Col. John Chiv- ington. April 29, 1700: Lemoyne d’Iberville visits a Pascagou- la Indian village a day’s walk from the French outpost at Biloxi. The Pascagoula have been hit hard by disease brought by Europeans. D’Iberville is impressed by the beauty of the Pascagoula women. April 30, 1961: The Menominee tribe of Wis- consin is terminated from its trust status as a federally recognized sovereign Indi- an tribe. The tribal rolls are closed, all federal services ended and the tax-exempt status of reservation lands eliminated. A decade later, the Menominee regain feder- al recognition from Congress. May 1, 1945: Singer/ songwriter Rita Coolidge, a Cherokee from Tennessee, is born. She’ll enjoy a career in rock, pop, R&B, country, folk and gospel spanning three decades. In 2000, she was awarded the Native Ameri- can Music Association’s Life- time Achievement Award. May 2, 1871: Indians raid settlements near Fort Seldon in southern New Mexico. According to U.S. Army re- cords, cavalry troops chase them for 280 miles, but don’t catch them. May 3, 1806: Lewis and Clark meet Nez Perce Chief Weahkoonut. Volunteers needed to help visitors The Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Com- merce seeks volunteers to assist with greeting and helping visitors who come to the Visitor Center. Regardless of how long one has lived in the area, volunteers will be able to use their knowledge and learn the rest. Visitor Center volunteers also help restock shelves, mail brochures and help prep supplies for chamber events. There are openings on Monday mornings, Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday afternoons, plus on-call volunteers are needed to fill in when oth- er volunteers are sick or on vacation. Shifts usually are three hours. To help, contact volun- teer coordinator Barbi En- gland at 503-325-6311. 9 with Emma Edwards Paperwork purge: The new spring cleaning Spring cleaning. Unneces- sary clutter. When I find it, I don’t need it. When I need it, I can’t find it. Ever feel that way? I decid- ed to get serious lately and dive in. I can no longer haul all the boxes and bags out of my Fibber McGee & Molly closet. So the “kids” (who are seniors themselves) came to my rescue, unloading the first of my three closets. It took up half my living room space. The “easy” part was the clothes. I know I should give to a worthwhile charity what- ever I have not worn in two years. Some say only one year. Anyway, I invited the kids to be here when I sorted the stuff into bags, tubs and box- es in case there was a treasure they wanted. But they were not the least bit interested in any of my treasures. More than a few tubs con- tained “important papers” dating to 2004, 1969 and 1978 and on and on. We dis- cussed how long to keep pa- perwork. That’s debatable, I learned, but settled on the following suggestions. One of my sources suggest- ed we “protect our identity by shredding anything that con- tains more personal informa- tion than you can find in the phone book.” Upon further research, I found I could re- Senior lunch menu Monday, April 30: Spaghetti, Italian sausage in red sauce, broccoli, romaine salad, ice cream. Thursday, May 3: Parmesan chicken, Spanish rice, mixed Ital- ian vegetables, spinach salad, bread pudding. The Warrenton senior lunch program is at noon (doors open at 10:30 a.m.) Mondays and Thursdays at Warrenton Community Center, 170 SW Third St. Suggested donation is $5 for ages 55 and older; $7 for those younger. For more information, call 503-861-3502. duce my “must save” papers to one black file box covering all my many years. We can toss (shred) ATM receipts, credit card receipts, state- ments and utility bills after paying them. In summary, the things to keep one year are paycheck stubs, bank statements, bro- kerage paperwork, 401(k) and IRA statements and other investment paperwork. Also keep health care receipts. Things to keep seven years include papers supporting your tax returns, including W-2s, 1099s and deductions. Papers to keep indefinite- ly are tax returns, IRS forms filed, receipts for capital im- provements (until seven years after you sell the house), in- vestment statements, pen- sion plan papers, savings bonds until redeemed, loan documents till paid off, ve- hicle titles and registration papers for cars, boats, trucks, etc. Keep paperwork for ac- tive insurance policies as well as warranties and receipts for big purchases you still own or until the warranty expires. Those things to keep for- ever aren’t hard to figure out. These include personal and family records such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, divorce papers, Social Security cards, mil- itary discharge papers and estate-planning documents (power of attorney, will, trust and advanced directive). Jim Miller, author of “The Savvy Senior” book, from which I obtained some of these nuggets of wisdom, also says to keep these for- ever items in a fireproof safe or safe-deposit box. Miller also includes instructions for computer savvy people. Some of us may remember how we used to lay in bed at night in the ‘40s and listen to Fibber McGee & Molly. I can still remember his famous line, “ ‘Tain’t funny, McGee.” That’s how I feel about all this sorting!
