Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/791244
Soon, many households will be doing their annual spring cleaning and the Te- hama County Solid Waste Management Agency is re- minding residents about proper disposal of common household products such as paint, engine oil, pesticides and herbicides, fluorescent lights, batteries and 1 lb. propane cylinders, just to name a few. These products and oth- ers, commonly identified by labels such as caution, toxic, flammable, poison, corrosive, or dangerous, are Household Hazardous Waste (HHW), meaning that they cannot be dis- posed of in the household trash or recycling and re- quire special handling to prevent exposure to people, pets, and the environment. Fortunately, there are free and convenient disposal op- tions available for Tehama County residents — small fees apply for businesses — to safely dispose of HHW. Items in good condition are handed back out to fellow Tehama County residents for reuse. Through the RE-use of Available Products pro- gram offered at the Te- hama County Solid Waste Management Agency's of- fice, products brought to regularly scheduled HHW collection events are evalu- ated for redistribution. The program gives cer- tain products such as paint, household cleaners, fertil- izers, and others new life, providing useful products to your friends and neigh- bors free-of-charge and sav- ing ratepayers money by re- ducing HHW management costs. Ensure products are in their original containers with labelling intact if you want the products evalu- ated for reuse. HHW is accepted from households free-of-charge during regularly scheduled HHW collection events at Tehama County and Red Bluff Landfill HHW Facil- ity, 19995 Plymire Road and the Corning Disposal HHW Facility, 3281 99W. Visit www.tehamacountyl- andfill.com for a calendar of upcoming collection events. Additionally, many Te- hama County retailers and other community partners now accept certain types of HHW for disposal as part of innovative public-private partnership collection pro- grams that make getting rid of your unwanted products easier than ever. Certain retailers, for ex- ample, now accept un- wanted household batter- ies and cell phones for re- cycling free-of-charge through the Call2Recycle battery and cell phone col- lection box program. To participate, simply bring your unwanted bat- teries and cell phones to one of the convenient col- lection locations during normal business hours and place them into the collec- tion box. Collection locations in- clude Alsco Inc., 535 Ante- lope Blvd., Red Bluff; Corn- ing Senior Center, 1015 4th Ave.; Gott Country Store, 18371 Bowman Road, Cot- tonwood; Lassen National Park — Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitors Center, 21820 Las- sen Peak Highway, Mineral; Latimer's Pharmacy, 7885 State Route 99E, Los Mo- linos; McCoy's Ace Hard- ware, 2060 South Ave., Corning; Nu Way Market, 8049 SR 99E, Los Molinos; Sears Hometown Store, 570 S. Main St., Red Bluff; Te- hama County Library — Corning Branch, 740 3rd St.; Tehama County Li- brary — Red Bluff Branch, 645 Madison St.; Z-Wireless Corning, 908 99W, Corning. Accepted items include single-use alkaline batter- ies, rechargeable batteries, and cellphones of any make, model, or age. For a full list of acceptable batteries, visit http://www.co.tehama. ca.us/toxics/batteries. The program requires items be specially pre- pared to prevent them from sparking inside the collec- tion box: batteries and cell phones must be placed in- dividually into plastic bags prior to deposit, or battery terminals can be taped in- stead of individually bag- ging. Similarly, unwanted paint can now be recycled at local participating retail- ers free-of-charge through the PaintCare paint prod- uct stewardship program. The paint types accepted by PaintCare include house paint and primers, stains, sealers, and clear coatings such as shellac and varnish tightly sealed in their orig- inal containers. The following Tehama County retailers partici- pate in PaintCare: Corning Ace Hardware, 2020 So- lano St., Corning; Los Mo- linos Ace Hardware, 7930 SR 99E, Los Molinos and Paint Mart, 435 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff. For more information on how to donate, recycle, or dispose of unwanted HHW and other products, visit www.tehamacountyland- fill.com or call 528-1103. TEHAMACOUNTY Pr og ra m se t to h el p wi th h ou se hol d ha za rd ou s wa st e CONTRIBUTEDPHOTOS Nicole Foutch, of Red Bluff Sears, shows how to use the battery and cellphone box. Paul Gilmore at Red Bluff Paint Mart. By Justin McCuin SocialSecuritymanagerin Redding Every worker's dream is having a secure retirement to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Social Security is here to help you secure to- day and tomorrow. Part of that commitment is ensur- ing you have the most up- to-date information when you make your retirement decisions. "Full retirement age" re- fers to the age when a per- son can claim their Social Security benefits without any reduction, even if they are still working part or full time. In other words, you don't actually need to re- tire from your work to claim your full benefits. Also note that waiting until you're 70, if you can, will bring you a higher monthly benefit. The choices you make may affect benefits your spouse or children can receive on your record, too. As the bells rang in a new year, they also rang in changes in 2017 for people considering claiming Social Security retirement bene- fits. For people who attain age 62 in 2017 (i.e., those born between January 2, 1955 and January 1, 1956), full retirement age is 66 and two months. Full retirement age was age 65 for many years. How- ever, due to a law passed by Congress in 1983, it has been gradually increas- ing, beginning with people born in 1938 or later, until it reaches 67 for people born after 1959. You can learn more about the full retirement age and find out how to look up your own at www.socialsecu- rity.gov/planners/retire/re- tirechart.html. There are some things you should remember when you're thinking about re- tirement. You may start receiv- ing Social Security bene- fits as early as age 62 or as late as age 70. The longer you wait, the higher your monthly benefit will be. Your monthly benefits will be reduced permanently if you start them any time before full retirement age. For example, if you start re- ceiving benefits in 2017 at age 62, your monthly bene- fit amount will be reduced permanently by about 26 percent. On the other hand, if you wait to start receiving your benefits until after your full retirement age, then your monthly benefits will be permanently increased. The amount of this increase is two-thirds of one percent for each month — or eight percent for each year — that you delay receiving them until you reach age 70. If you decide to receive benefits before you reach full retirement age, you should also understand how continuing to work can af- fect your benefits. We may withhold or reduce your benefits if your annual earnings exceed a certain amount. However, every month we withhold or reduce in- creases your future bene- fits. That's because at your full retirement age we will recalculate your benefit amount to give you credit for the months in which we reduced or withheld ben- efits due to your excess earnings. In effect, it's as if you hadn't filed for those months. You can learn more at www.socialsecurity.gov/ planners/retire/whilework- ing.html. If you pass away, your re- tirement date can affect the benefit amount your sur- viving loved ones receive. If you started receiving re- tirement benefits before full retirement age, we cannot pay the full amount to your survivors. Their benefit amount will be based on your reduced benefits. You can learn more by visiting our Retirement Planner at www.socialse- curity.gov/planners/retire. SOCIAL SECURITY Ne w ye ar b ri ng s cha ng es t o 'f ul l re ti re me nt a ge ' What to do with three extra coffee grinders and a charming needlepoint "Puppies in a Basket" throw pillow — gifts that are much- appreciated but not quite right in your midcen- tury mod- ern pad? Here are eight tips to help make sure that all of your returns are happy. 1. Find the receipt. If this return is a gift you re- ceived, get the gift receipt from the gift giver if pos- sible. Things will go more smoothly if you can. 2. Do not dawdle. Re- turn the unwanted item ASAP. Wait too long, and that lovely $55.97 de- luxe mahjong set might be marked down to $7.99, and that's what you'll get in return. 3. Return the item in its original packaging. It should look exactly the way you received it. If you're returning a sweater, for example, points are de- ducted for any signs you actually wore it. 4. Make the choice. You may get a choice between a greatly reduced value in cash or the full value in store credit. Take the credit. 5. Take the right card. If it's a gift you bought (Chartreuse? What were you thinking?!), make sure you have the credit card you used for the pur- chase. 6. Befriend the sales staff. Niceness counts. Employees sometimes use their discretion on whether to allow return/ exchange transactions. 7. Avoid peak shop- ping hours so employees are less frazzled and more willing to work with you. If you hit a brick wall of resentment, try a different location. And remember to smile! 8. Do your homework. Know the retailer's re- turn policy and guidelines ahead of time. Take Ama- zon, for example: If you want to return a gift that you bought on Amazon or a gift that was given to you and pur- chased through Amazon, the steps are very specific and quite user-friendly. Just make sure that you go online to the "Return a Gift" page and follow the step-by-step instructions. You may return most new, unopened items sold and fulfilled by Amazon within 30 days of deliv- ery for a full refund. (This past holiday season, how- ever, items shipped by Am- azon between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2016, were able to be returned until Jan. 31, 2017.) Whether you purchased the gift or received it, you will need the17-digit order number (order ID) found on the left side of the packing slip. If you don't have the packing slip, con- tact the Online Returns Center. It will ask for infor- mation to help locate the order, such as the send- er's name, email address and phone number, and information about the item. If after following all of these tips and suggestions, you are for some reason unable to exchange, get store credit or get cash back, don't fret. There's al- ways the fine art of regift- ing. Would you like to send a tip to Mary? You can email her at mary@ everydaycheapskate. com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Ste. B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE Tips to help make sure all of your returns are happy Mary Hunt Laugh until you fall out of your seat at Shasta Col- lege's Spring play, "The Foreigner," a hilarious and heartwarming comedy run- ning March 10-19 at the Shasta College Theatre. "The Foreigner," writ- ten by Larry Shue, is an in- spired comic romp, equal in hilarity to the author's clas- sic comedy "The Nerd." Winner of two off-Broad- way awards as well as the Outer Critics Circle Awards, "The Foreigner" opens at 7 p.m. with a Friday premier on March 10 and Saturday, March 11, followed by an early weekend on Thurs- day, March 16 through Sat- urday, March 18. Two matinee perfor- mances are scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, March 12 and 19. Tickets are $10 for gen- eral admission and $7 for students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased at shastacollege.edu/the- atre. Questions can be di- rected to the box office, 242- 7573. The show is set in a fish- ing lodge in rural Geor- gia often visited by Froggy LeSeuer, a British demo- lition expert who occa- sionally runs training ses- sions at a nearby army base. This time Froggy has brought along a friend, an incredibly shy young man named Charlie who is very overcome with fear at the thought of making conver- sation with strangers. SHASTA COLLEGE Spring comedy production of 'The Foreigner' will run March 10-19 STOVEJUNCTION The TheNorthState'spremiersupplierofstoves 22825 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff 530-528-2221 • Fax 530-528-2229 www.thestovejunction.com Over 25 years of experience Tues-Sat9am-5pm• ClosedSun&Mon Now Carrying! GreenMountainGrills & Accessories Serving Butte, Glenn & Tehama Counties Smog Check (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. starting at $ 29 95 + $ 8 25 certificate CERTIFIED AUTO REPAIR CENTER Patrick's Pumping SepticPumpingServices Red Bluff, CA Garet Patrick Owner/Operator 530-366-6899 4patricks@att.net Available 24/7 FACTORYMATTRESS OUTLET 3650MainSt.inCottonwood 347-3646 Open7Days(since1920) • FREE Delivery • FREE Take-Out SAVEFROM $ 100 $ 250 OFF With This Coupon TO QUALITY 2-SIDED FLIPPABLE MATTRESSES 734MainStreet 530-690-2477 11am-9pm Mon.-Thur. 11am - 10pm Fri. & Sat. 11am-8pm Sun. 9 CRAFT BEERS ON TAP Pizza Restaurant RUNNINGS ROOFING and CONSTRUCTION SheetMetalRoofing ResidentialCommercial • Composition • Shingle • Single Ply Membrane ServingTehamaCounty 530-527-5789 530-209-5367 NoMoney Down! "NoJobTooSteep" " No Job Too Flat" FREE ESTIMATES CA.Lic#829089B&C39 LIFESTYLES » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, February 24, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B2