Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/276751
Dear Mary: Mary, thank you for your service to America. I've en - joyed your column and books for more years than I can re- member. Unfortunately, I overlooked your advice on parents' paying for a college edu - cation, and we jumped in. Our daughter finished in 2007, and we've been pay- ing ever since. She is working, but not making much. We cur- rently owe $26,000 on her education and are paying $347 a month, which will repay the debt in 10 years. Other than continuing the long haul, do you have any suggestions? -- Barbara B., email Dear Barbara: I wish I had a great solution for you that would wipe out this debt much sooner and save you a lot of money. Had you written before your daughter enrolled in col - lege, I may have suggested that you steer her into a school that offers loan repayment as - sistance for grad- uates when they come out with stu- dent debt but can- not find a job earn- ing at least $38,000 a year. Houghton College and others are now offering this kind of safety net for both the students' and par - ents' college loans ("NY College Promises to Help Students Pay Loans" -- New York Post). And I'm a big fan. My best advice is that you do everything you can to increase your monthly payments on your loan. There is no prepayment penalty on parent (PLUS) loans. If you can possibly pay yours off faster, you'll avoid paying a lot of inter - est. I wish you and your daughter well. Dear Mary: I have been approached by debt con- solidation for them to con- solidate all my credit card debts into one lump sum with the promise to pos- sibly be out of credit card debt in as soon as two years. Is this a good op- tion? Is it something to pursue? -- Karen D., email Dear Karen: Run, don't walk, away from anyone who approaches you of - fering debt consolidation. These are scam artists. They will make all kinds of promises, tell you to stop making your monthly pay - ments and instruct you to send those funds to them instead. They'll promise to hold the money and use it to ne - gotiate with your credi- tors. Do not believe this! They'll disappear and you'll be left holding the bag -- and in default with all of your credit card com - panies. This is not a good option, and it is not some- thing you should pursue. Dear Mary: I made the detergent you published in your newspaper column and just love it. I've shared samples with my friends and have many of them making their own. Thanks again for your wonderful column. -- Valla C., Loui - siana Dear Valla: I'm so happy to know that you and your friends are enjoying the homemade laundry deter - gent. Isn't it just the best? And it's so cheap to make -- only about five cents a wash load! Here's a link to the recipe and photo tuto - rial (everydaycheapskate. com/detergent) in case there is a reader anywhere who has not given this a try. Thanks for your kind words. Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com, a personal finance member website. You can email her at mary@everydaycheapskate. com, or write to Everyday Ch ea ps ka te , P. O. B ox 2 099 , Cypress, CA 90630. EvEryday ChEapskatE Colleges begin to offer student debt safety net By dr. derrick adams Apparently about 50,000 years ago, a few amorous Homo sapiens gazed across the campfire at a few recep - tive Neanderthals and de- cided to mix genetic mate- rial. Out of all the early hu- manoids to walk this earth, we are the only surviving species. The prospect of in- terbreeding between the two species has long been debated and subject of sci- ence fiction. But now we have proof that not only did interspecies breeding oc- cur, but most of us carry Neanderthal genes. In fact every time you look in the mirror, more Neanderthal than Homo sapien may be looking back. If your ancestors came from Asia or Europe, up to 3% of your total genome is now known to be Neander - thal. If your ancestors are purely sub-Saharan Afri- can, you have little to no Neanderthal DNA; as your ancestors did not migrate out of Africa into Eur - asia (where Neanderthals roamed). Historical genetic sleuths have constructed models that suggest as little as 300 incidences of inter - breeding 50,000 years ago account for the ubiquitous mixed genes. These genes were amplified over subse - quent millennia. Life is the ultimate pyramid scheme after all. So why is a dermatolo - gist concerned with this? Because of that small 1-3 percentage, around 70% is expressed in your skin. As one researcher put it, "Ne - anderthal DNA in your skin punches above its weight class." Human skin is rich in Neanderthal DNA and it primarily codes for a thing called keratin. Ker - atin is the fibrous protein that makes up our skin, hair, and nails. It is the ba- sic building block of these structures and quite strong (a rhinoceros horn is made out of keratin also). It is theorized that the Neander - thals' genes for paler skin offered an advantage for generating vitamin D from sunlight in comparison to the darker African skin tones at higher latitudes. The idea proposed is that Eurasians owe their lighter sk in t on es p ar ti al ly t o t he se interspecies trysts. And since Neanderthals were well-adapted to brutishly chilly environments other beneficial skin adaptations will likely be identified. Geneticists are discov - ering that not all the Ne- anderthal genes are bene- ficial. Some gene correla- tions with diabetes, crohn's disease, lupus, and even the ability to stop smoking may be evolutionary Neander - thal stowaways. So what does it mean to be human? If you identify as Eurasia, you are a mutt of Homo sapiens, Neander - thal and … well who knows? If you are Native Ameri- can you still have about the same amount of Neander- thal, as the frolicking went down way before human migration to the Western hemisphere. We humans love to mate. And chances are if we were cozying up with Neanderthals, we were also having some hanky-panky with other early humanoid species as well. Another close ances - tor of modern humans and Neanderthals, named Den- isovans, make up as much as 6% of the DNA in Oce- anic cultures today. But not even sub-Saharan Africans can claim "pure" Homo sapiens status. There is emerging evidence of inter - breeding across all Homo sapiens with other early ar- chaic branches of the hu- man family tree. These ex- amples are probably just scratching the surface of with who, and what, our an- cestors mixed. Sexual be- havior is biologically funda- mental to who we are. After all, everyone reading this descends from thousands of years of beings who decided to have lots of sex--other - wise the lifeguard kicks you out of the gene pool. Ever wonder about all those silly little skin tags, lumps, and barnacles you make? Has a dermatolo - gist ever really given you a good answer as to why we grow them? We don't know when it comes right down to it. As benign growths they usually warrant lit - tle attention of research- ers and doctors. We just ac- cept them as part of grow- ing older. But upon learning of how much of our skin is Neanderthal in origin, I cannot help but to now ponder upon the true ori - gins of these growths. Skin is your interface with the world around you. Perhaps these seemingly insignifi - cant growths once repre- sented something more? Perhaps they served a func- tion 100,000 years ago and now linger as so-called ves- tigial appendages? How fun would it be to some- day learn that the un- sightly barnacle on your face was once a sign of vi- rility? Or even divinity? Imagine early Homo sapi- ens vying to procreate with those individual Neander- thals covered in barnacles. Or could many of these marks have never even ex- isted before in either spe- cies? Possibly they repre- sent a visible manifestation of a genetic mismatch or mutation? There are many so-called "mosaic" patterns in human skin where mul - tiple genetic cell lines exist where ideally there should be one. These mosaics give rise to bizarre wavy and whorled skin growths that give people a marbled skin appearance. We see these commonly in patients yet th e m ys te ry t he y r ep re se nt often goes unappreciated. I spent three years in residency learning volumes about the protein keratin and myriad are the skin diseases that have their or - igin in keratin dysfunc- tions. How many of these diseases are Neanderthal based? It may not matter in the end. But in the increas - ingly technological bar- barism in the realm mod- ern of medicine, pondering questions like these is akin to gazing into the starlit night sky. Dr. Derrick Adams practices at Lassen Medical Group. hEalth Column The Neanderthal in the mirror The Sacramento River Discovery Center's program at 7 p.m. today will feature Perry Lebeouf, Environmen - tal Scientist for the Depart- ment of Water Resources an- swering the question, "how do we know our water is safe?" The meeting will take place at the Farm Bureau of - fices at 275 Sale Lane. Lebeouf will present in- formation on monitoring and testing efforts in this region of California to look for po- tential dangers. A question and answer period will fol- low the presentation and re- freshments will be available. The Discovery Center and Garden are within the Men- docino National Forest's Red Bluff Recreation Area, 1000 Sale Lane. The hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. lECturE Is our water safe? Mary Hunt Today Red Bluff California HEAT Chorus - Sweet Adelines: 7 p.m., Meteer School Room 26, 695 Kimball Road, 895- 0139 Childbirth Class: 6:30 p.m., St. Elizabeth Com- munity Hospital, Columba room, 529-8377 Fun Senior Aerobics: 8-9 a.m., $1, Community Center, 1500 S. Jackson St. 527-8177 Grief Support Group: 3 p.m., St. Elizabeth Commu- nity Hospital, Coyne Center, 528-4207 Imagination Train sto- ryhour: 4 p.m., Tehama County Library Kelly-Griggs House Mu- seum: 1-3 p.m., 311 Wash- ington St., group tours by appointment, 527-1129 or 527-5895 La Leche League: 11 a.m., Sunrise Bible Fellowship, 956 Jackson St., 347- 0562 or 527-6818 Live country music, with dinner: 5-7 p.m., Veterans Hall Painting session, Red Bluff Art Association: 10 a.m., Tehama District Fairground, 529-1603 PAL Martial Arts: 3-5 p.m., ages 5-18, 1005 Vista Way, Ste. C, free, 529- 7950 Penny Bingo: 10 a.m., Community Center, 1500 S. Jackson St. Phoenix Community Support Group: 11:30 a.m., Presbyterian Church, 838 Jefferson St., 945-2349 Pinochle for Seniors: 12:30-3:30 p.m., 1500 S. Jackson St., free, 527-8177 Red Bluff Exchange Club: noon, M&M Ranch House, 645 Antelope Blvd. #1 Red Bluff Lions Club: 6 p.m., Veterans Memorial, 527-8452 Rock Choir: 4 p.m., 601 Monroe St., free, all wel- come Senior Chair Volleyball: 1 p.m. Community Center, 1500 S. Jackson St. Sunrise Speakers Toastmasters: noon, 220 Sycamore St. Swinging Squares Square Dance Club: 7 p.m., Community Cen- ter, 1500 S. Jackson St., beginner or review classes, 529-1615 Tehama County Planning Commission Workshop: 9 a.m., 727 Oak St., 527- 2200 Widowed Persons Dinner: 5 p.m., Tremont Cafe Women's Domestic Violence Information and Support Group: call for group time and location, 528-0226. Corning Cal-Fresh and Healthy Family Appointments: 1-3 p.m., Family Resource Center, 1488 South St., 824-7670 Corning Friends of the Library: 2 p.m., 740 Third St. Dance with Juana: noon, Family Resource Center, 1488 South St., 824-7670 Degree of Pocahontas Silver Cloud Council #168: 7 p.m. Indepen- dent Grange 470, 20945 Corning Road, 824-1114 or 586-1065 Domestic Violence Information and Support Group: call for group time and location, 528-0226 Dual Diagnosis Group: 1:30-3 p.m., 1600 Solano St., 527-8491, Ext. 3309 Sewing group: 9 a.m., Family Resource Center, West and South streets. Soccer training: 4-6 p.m., Woodson School soccer field, 150 N Toomes Ave. Cottonwood Cottonwood Creek Wa- tershed Board of Direc- tors: 5:30 p.m., 3645 Main St., 347-6637 Friday Red Bluff Celebrate Recovery: 7 p.m., Bethel Assembly of God, 625 Luther Road, 527-0445 or 366-6298 Nutrition Classes: 12:30- 2 p.m, Northern Valley Catholic Social Service, 220 Sycamore #101, 528- 7947 Red Bluff Rotary Club Sunrise: 7 a.m., M&M Ranch Corning Car Show: 5-9 p.m., Bar- tels Giant Burger, 22355 Corning,Road, local car clubs welcome, 824-2788 Saturday Red Bluff Frontier Village Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., 645 Antelope Blvd. EBT accepted Red Bluff Relays foot race: 9 a.m., Sacramento River Diversion Dam, 529- 0133 The Secret Garden production: 2 p.m., State Theatre Tehama Tehama County Museum: 1-4 p.m., 275 C St., groups by appointment, 384-2595 Cottonwood Sidewalk Sale: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., sponsored by Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce. CalEndar The filing period is open for election to the California Senior Legislature, a non- partisan, grassroots body that proposes laws to meet the needs and concerns of California's 4.3 million se - niors. To get on the ballot for Senior Senator or Senior Assembly person, inter - ested residents of Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Plumas and Tehama counties must be 60 or older and registered voters. Petitions must be com - pleted and returned to Pas- sages Area 3 Agency on Aging by 5 p.m. on Monday, April 7. The council will elect the candidate at its regular meeting on Wednes - day, April 16. Prospective candidates will have an op- portunity to speak at the April 16 meeting. Candidate petition pack - ets are available at the Pas- sages Area 3 Agency on Ag- ing office, 25 Main St., Suite 202, Chico, 95928. Packets may also be obtained by calling Nancy at 898-6768 (Chico and Paradise) or 1-800-822-0109. sEniors Se ni or l eg is la tu re p et it io ns a va il ab le The Tax-Aide site in Red Bluff, which is sponsored by the IRS and AARP, has re- ported on its February re- sults. In February this site did 257 returns, which resulted in more than $250,000 in refunds, $146,000 in Earned Income Credits and $16,500 in Child Care & Tax Benefits. The site, at the Veter - ans Hall on the corner of Oak and Jackson streets, is manned by committed vol- unteers. In one month these volunteers have brought more than $400,000 back to Tehama County. The site is still accept - ing appointments by call- ing 530-727-8298 between 9 a.m. and noon. Potential clients can always drop by the site to talk with a coun - selor. The Corning site, at the Corning Senior Center, is also accepting appoint - ments by calling 530-824- 2531. In February they completed many returns, which resulted in money being brought back to the community. The TaxAide sites appre - ciate the cooperation of the Veterans Hall and the Corn- ing Senior Center in pro- viding accommodations for this free program, and the Red Bluff Rotary Club for underwriting the printing and mailing of the notifica- tion post cards. sErviCE Program brings dollars back to county COuRTESy A volunteer helps prepare tax documents at the Red Bluff site of the Tax-Aide program. www.redbluff.mercy.org /veincare Get a Leg up on Your Health With the St. Elizabeth Center for Vein Care. Call anytime 888-628-1948 for a referral for varicose vein treatment options redbluff.mercy.org/veincare Regular Haircut $ 2 00 off KWIK KUTS Family Hair Salon 1064 South Main St., Red Bluff • 529-3540 ANY RETAIL PRODUCT 20 % off with any chemical service of $50 or more Not good with other offers Expires 3/31/14 With coupon Reg. $13.95 2 Bud's BBQ 22825 Antelope Blvd. Red Bluff We seat 40 people inside M-F 11am-6pm Sat. 11am-3pm Closed Sunday (530) 528-0799 CATER COMPANY MEETINGS BBQ PORK ★ BEEF ★ CHICKEN 530 566 1966 Ask about cushy country boarding Free 10 minute phone chat. You decide to pay. Dog Behavior help is available now by phone! www.brainydog.com help@brainydog.com $35 for 45 minutes. 530-366-3166 545 Adobe Rd. Red Bluff www.redbluffdodge.com Servicing your disposal needs in Tehama County, and the City of Red Bluff including Residential, Commercial, and Temporary bin services. GREEN WASTE OF TEHAMA A WASTE CONNECTIONS COMPANY 530-528-8500 1805 AIRPORT BLVD. RED BLUFF, CA GreenWaste is a proud supporter of local events. | LIFESTYLES | REDBLuFFDAILyNEWS.COM THuRSDAy, MARCH 13, 2014 4 a