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COTTONWOOD Bella Vista Farms Animal Sanctuary will hold its second annual fundraiser dinner, auction and raffle on May 1 at the Win River Event Center. The farm, owned and operated by Bob and Chic Miller since 1990, is at 4301 Lower Gas Point Road in Cottonwood. The Miller's hard work and dedication ensures hundreds of in- jured and unwanted ani- mals have a safe and per- manent home for the re- mainder of their lives. This year's fundraiser theme is "It's All About the Animals" and truly cap- tures the essence of life at the farm. Of course, the good work of the farm would not be possible with- out the direct assistance of individuals and businesses within the community. As a recognized non- profit organization, the farm welcomes all financial donations to help cover the cost of feeding and caring for so many animals. The masters of cere- monies for the event will be Shasta County Su- pervisor Les Baugh and Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko. For more information, visit www.bellavistafarm. org. BELLA VISTA Cottonwood sanctuary to hold fundraiser Medicare helps to pay for a wide vari- ety of health services, from flu shots to hos- pital stays to hospice care. But it doesn't cover everything. And it doesn't cover all your out-of-pocket costs. Many services covered by Medicare require co-pay- ments, coinsurance, and de- ductibles. You can purchase supplemental insurance to cover these "gaps" in Medi- care. Such insurance is called Medicare Supple- ment Insurance, or Me- digap. Some Medigap poli- cies also cover certain ben- efits that Medicare doesn't, like emergency care in a for- eign country. If you have Medicare and you buy a Medigap policy, Medicare will pay its share of the Medicare-approved amount for covered health services. Then your Me- digap policy pays its share. You have to pay for Me- digap yourself, and it's sold through private insurance companies. You can buy it only if you have traditional Medicare, not Medicare Ad- vantage, which is managed care provided by private in- surers. Every Medigap policy has to follow federal and state laws designed to pro- tect you. Medigap insur- ance companies can sell you only a "standardized" Medigap policy identified in most states by the let- ters A through D, F through G, and K through N. Each standardized policy must offer the same basic bene- fits, no matter which com- pany sells it. So beware when you're shopping for a Medigap policy: Cost is usually the only difference between Medigap policies with the same letter sold by differ- ent companies. And there can be signif- icant differences in how much various insurers charge for exactly the same coverage. Here are some of the costs that Medigap policies often cover: Medicare Part A (hospi- tal) coinsurance and hospi- tal costs for up to 365 days after Medicare benefits run out; Medicare Part B (medi- cal) coinsurance or co-pays; Blood (first three pints); Part A hospice care coin- surance or co- pays; Skilled nurs- ing facility co- insurance; Part A and Part B deduct- ibles. M e d i g a p policies gener- ally don't cover long-term care (like care in a nurs- ing home), vision or dental, hearing aids, eyeglasses, and private-duty nursing. The best time to buy a Medigap policy is dur- ing your six-month Me- digap open enrollment pe- riod, because you can buy any Medigap policy sold in your state, even if you have health problems. This pe- riod automatically starts the month you both turn 65 and are enrolled in Medi- care Part B, and once it's over, you can't get it again. Medigap insurance com- panies are generally al- lowed to use medical under- writing to decide whether to accept your application and how much to charge you for the Medigap policy. However, if you apply dur- ing your Medigap open en- rollment period, you can buy any Medigap policy the company sells, even if you have health problems, for the same price as peo- ple with good health. Some other points to keep in mind: You must have Medicare Part A and Part B to buy a Medigap policy; A Medigap policy only covers one person. If you and your spouse both want Medigap coverage, you must each buy a separate policy; You pay the private in- surer a monthly premium for your Medigap policy, in addition to the monthly Part B premium that you pay to Medicare; Any standardized Me- digap policy is guaran- teed renewable even if you have health problems. This means the insurance com- pany can't cancel your Me- digap policy as long as you pay the premium. DavidSayenisMedicare's regional administrator for Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific Territories. You can get answers to your Medicare questions by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). DAVID SAYEN Protectyourself against Medicare gaps DavidSayen PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thank you! Are flimsy contrivances keeping you stuck in a big-debt, small-savings situation? It's easy to find ex- cuses that let you off the hook, but it's only a tem- porary re- prieve. One excuse just leads to another and an- other and eventually to a way of life. Perhaps it's time to explode your ex- cuses. Excuse: I don't have time to learn to manage my money. The truth is we all have time to do what matters most to us. It makes no sense for you to work as hard as you do only to end up with no solid as- sets to show for it. Excuse: I can't stick with a budget. Perhaps you've been trying to cram yourself into a budget that doesn't fit. Here's the way to cre- ate a plan that will fit you perfectly: For the next 30 days, keep a written re- cord of every dime you spend. At the end of a month, categorize your spend- ing including a total for each. Now multiply each by 12 to see what you will spend in a year if you keep this up. No one will have to point out the problems once you have the truth right there in black and white. You'll see immediately where you need to make adjustments. Now look for ways to reduce every area of spending by a lit- tle bit. Continue tracking your spending, adjust- ing where necessary to get it below your income. It takes time to get a spending plan just right, so be patient and don't give up. Excuse: This purchase will only add a small amount to my credit card balance. I owe so much now anyway, this small amount won't matter. That $50 out when added to a typical credit card balance of $1000 immediately turns into a $106 outfit and adds a full three months to the time it will take to repay the balance. Keep this up and you'll never get out of debt. Excuse: I can save only $10 a week, and that's not enough to do anything. Are you kidding? Weekly deposits of $10 added systematically to an account with an aver- age return of 6 percent will grow to $7,118 in 10 years. Ten dollars a week is very significant. Just imagine if you could dou- ble that. Sure, rates aren't at that level right now, but they'll come back. So get started saving now so you will be able to benefit from the next upturn in the economy. Excuse: I'm using all the credit I can get so I can enjoy life while I am young. Statistics indicate you will live a very long life. The short-lived "joy" of your youthful credit pur- chases will surely be- come the enduring bane of your mature years. Old age and poverty shouldn't show up in the same sen- tence. Excuse: I don't earn enough to participate in my employer's retirement plan. Do you earn enough to turn down a raise and a tax deduction? That's what you're doing if your employer offers a tax-de- ferred retirement plan and you don't participate. The money put into these kinds of plans is free of current taxes, and most employers match at least part. That's like getting a tax-free raise. Would you like to send a tip to Mary? You can email her at mary@ everydaycheapskate.com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2099, Cypress, CA 90630. EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE Finances: Enough with the excuses, already The Sacramento River Discovery Center's Thurs- day evening program March 12 featured Linda Angerer, biologist with the Mendocino National Forest, bringing infor- mation on the importance of bats to the agricultural community. Angerer spent the first part of her presentation busting myths about bats and providing a number of fascinating facts. Here are just a few: fossils of bats have been dated from 40 million years ago; there are 1,300 spe- cies of this mammal; bats can adjust their metabo- lism from a heart rate of 900 beats a minute to only 20 beats per min- ute when hibernating; and bats can see as well as you and but have per- fected a sonar system to help them hunt for insects at night. In this part of Califor- nia there are 17 different bat species. Bats benefit agricul- tural production because they will eat more than their weight in insects ev- ery night. Attracting bats can help control species like aphids, mosquitoes and white flies. Building a bat house can be as simple as put- ting a band of corrugated metal around the trunk of a tree or building a simple box structure and attach- ing it to the north side of a tree. Angerer provided several patterns that are available at the Discovery Center. Rather than using pes- ticides, building some bat habitats is better for the environment and, for those who garden, there is the added benefit of hav- ing a supply of nitrogen rich guano to use as a fer- tilizer. To learn more about bats and to hear the pre- sentation, mark your cal- endar for the fourth week- end in January during the Snow Goose Festival in Chico. The April Thursday Evening Program will be "Bikeways of Tehama County" with Adam Han- sen, 7 p.m. April 9. The center is within the Mendocino National For- est's Red Bluff Recreation Area at 1000 Sale Lane. It is open 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. or by appointment Tuesday through Satur- day. You can contact the center at 527-1196, email bhughe1@tehamaed.org or visit www.srdc.tehama. k12.ca.us. DISCOVERY CENTER Importance of bats to the ag community COURTESY PHOTO Forest Biologist Linda Angerer presents a program on bats for the Sacramento River Discovery Center. Mary Hunt The DMV is now using TouchScreen technology to administer the driver knowledge exam. How is it different from the writ- ten version? Instead of using a pa- per and pencil to the take the exam, you now simply touch the cor- rect answer on moni- tor screen. The Touch- Screen system guides you through the testing process and gives you immediate feedback if you answer a question incorrectly. It is currently offered in both English and Spanish. Additional lan- guages will be added. This technology reduces test times, improves field office wait times, mini- mizes fraud by randomiz- ing test questions and an- swers, and provides easier maintenance of test ques- tions, currently conducted manually. Make sure you review the California Driver Handbook. You can find it at www.dmv.ca.gov. Do not forget to make an appoint- ment. Good luck. Do I need to visit a DMV office in order to renew my driver license? Most drivers are not re- quired to visit a DMV of- fice each time they need to renew their driver li- cense. Most of the time, a driver license can be easily renewed online at www.dmv.ca.gov, by mail or by calling 1-800-777- 0133. However, the DMV gen- erally mandates individ- uals, with a clean driver record, to visit a DMV of- fice once every 15 years in order to provide an updated driver license photograph and a vision test. You should carefully check your DMV notice to find out if you must ap- pear in-person. If you are required to visit a DMV office, you are encour- aged to schedule an ap- pointment. The DMV recently ex- panded the number of appointment opportuni- ties available. Please be considerate of others. If you do not show up for your appointment, you prevent someone else from being able to use that time slot. Are you required to make an appointment at the four Driver License Processing Centers to ap- ply for an AB 60 driver li- cense? Appointments are not required, but strongly rec- ommended, if you plan to visit one of the four Driver License Processing Cen- ters located in Granada Hills, Stanton, San Jose, and Lompoc. These cen- ters only process driver li- cense transactions. They are open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Remember, that if you are applying for an orig- inal California driver li- cense and plan to visit one of the other DMV field of- fices, and not a Driver Li- cense Processing Cen- ter, appointments are re- quired. The DMV lists sev- eral passports as accept- able documents to be used when applying for a Cali- fornia driver license under the AB60 law. Why is the country of Colombia not on the list? The DMV continues to work with countries and their consulates not iden- tified on the current regis- tration list. This list is not final. The DMV must go through the regulatory process to add docu- ments to the current list of acceptable documents. 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