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Myadultchildrenare big on borrowing stuff from their parents. And from time to time they (you know who you are, son) fail to men- tion having borrowed something, like a Mil- waukee Tool Sawzall Reciprocating Saw in its big, bright, red case. This prompted their fa- ther, after searching the garage high and low for the saw on a day he had an urgent need for it, to assume the tool had been stolen, further prompting him to reluctantly make a trip to Home Depot to buy a replacement. This little blast from my past illustrates — in an odd way — how not ev- eryone needs to own the same things. My husband uses his Sawzall so fre- quently that he routinely replaces the blade. But my son, Jeremy? He hardly ever uses it — like maybe once a decade. He is bet- ter off borrowing it, but Harold needs to buy his own. (All is forgiven, by the way). A recent story in TIME ("Finally, an App That Lets You Borrow a Corgi") made me smile. It seems you can now borrow a dog (in this case, bor- row means renting by the hour) if you can't afford to own one, don't have room for one, lack the commit- ment to own one or want to take a particular breed for a test drive as part of the doggy decision-making process. Besides apps, many pub- lic libraries are becoming a fantastic source for bor- rowing unusual items you may need only once a year, or even less frequently. Why buy when you can borrow for free? The Ann Arbor Dis- trict Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, offers lots of un- usual stuff to lend to its patrons. AADL lendables include: art prints ready for hanging; Sizzix Big Shot die-cutting kits; Book Clubs to Go for kids and adults (with 10 copies of a featured book, a DVD to go with if available, and a resource folder with sum- maries, reviews and dis- cussion questions); games of every imaginable size and type; home tools (I'm not sure if they have added a Sawzall to the collection yet), music tools (unusual and fun musical instru- ments); science tools (the kind that help students do cool science projects); and a variety of telescopes. The Marvin Memorial Public Library in Shelby, Ohio, lends its vast col- lection of character cake pans. With a library card, a patron can borrow a pan for one full week at no charge. That should be plenty of time for a couple of practice runs making the best birthday cake ever — plus, you'll keep the $25 it would cost to own (and store) a cake pan you may never use again. The Blasco Library in Erie, Pennsylvania loans out fishing poles and tackle boxes, while both the Chicago Public Li- brary and New York Pub- lic Library provide dig- ital hotspots so patrons can access mobile broad- band internet at home or on the go. The Pima County Pub- lic Library in Tuscon, Ar- izona, has seeds of hun- dreds of types of vegeta- bles, herbs and flowers that patrons can take home and plant in their garden. You can't return them like books, of course, but the library encourages borrowers to keep and donate seeds from their grown plants. The Oakland Public Li- brary in California has a variety of carpentry, ma- sonry, plumbing, electrical and landscaping tools to lend out, including — you guessed it — a Milwau- kee Tool Sawzall Recipro- cating Saw in a big, bright, red case. Wouldyouliketosend 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. EVERYDAYCHEAPSKATE Whybuywhenyou can borrow for free? Whiskeytown National Recreation Area will offer a variety of ranger-guided activities during the Me- morial Day weekend, Satur- day, May 28 through Mon- day, May 30. Activities will include the everpopular kayak tours, as well as "Walk-in- Time" excusrions at the Tower House Historic Dis- trict with gold panning for the entire family. Kayak tours require a reservation and can be made by call- ing 242-3462. Descriptions of the Memorial Day Week- end and summer season programs are available at http://www.nps.gov/whis/ planyourvisit/rangerpro- grams.htm. The Visitor Center will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 8 miles west of Red- ding at the intersection of State Route 299 and Ken- nedy Memorial Drive. It of- fers exhibits on the history and development of the Whiskeytown area, Junior Ranger Program as well as information on summer in- terpretive programs, camp- ing, and other local infor- mation. Annual and weekly passes, books, maps, post- cards and other publica- tions can be purchased at the Visitor Center. In addition to the ranger-guided activities, the Whiskeytown Sailing Club will be holding the 52nd Annual Memorial Regatta on Whiskeytown Lake, May 28-29. More information about the regatta can be found at http://www.whiskeytown- sailing.org. For more information, call 246-1225 or visit www. nps.gov/whis. WHISKEYTOWN Ra ng er -g ui de d activities offered Me mo ri al D ay w ee ke nd Mary Hunt Aggressive and threat- ening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents remain a ma- jor threat to taxpayers, but now the IRS is receiving new reports of scammers calling under the guise of verifying tax return infor- mation over the phone. The latest variation be- ing seen in the last few weeks tries to play off the current tax season. Scam artists call saying they have your tax return, and they just need to verify a few details to process your return. The scam tries to get you to give up personal information such as a So- cial Security number or personal financial infor- mation, such as bank num- bers or credit cards. "These schemes con- tinue to adapt and evolve in an attempt to catch peo- ple off guard just as they are preparing their tax re- turns," said IRS Commis- sioner John Koskinen. "Don't be fooled. The IRS won't be calling you out of the blue asking you to ver- ify your personal tax in- formation or aggressively threatening you to make an immediate payment." The IRS reminds tax- payers to guard against all sorts of con games that continually change. The IRS, the states and the tax industry came together in 2015 and launched a pub- lic awareness campaign called Taxes. Security. Together. to help educate taxpayers about the need to maintain secu- rity online and to recog- nize and avoid "phish- ing" and other schemes. The IRS continues to hear reports of phone scams as well as e-mail phishing schemes across the country. "These schemes touch people in every part of the country and in every walk of life. It's a growing list of people who've encoun- tered these. I've even got- ten these calls myself," Koskinen said. This January, the Trea- sury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) announced they have received reports of roughly 896,000 phone scam contacts since Octo- ber 2013 and have become aware of over 5,000 vic- tims who have collectively paid over $26.5 million as a result of the scam. Just this year, the IRS has seen a 400 percent increase in phishing schemes. Protectyourself Scammers make unso- licited calls claiming to be IRS officials. They de- mand that the victim pay a bogus tax bill. They con the victim into send- ing cash, usually through a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. They may also leave "urgent" call- back requests through phone "robo-calls," or via a phishing email. They've even begun po- litely asking taxpayers to verify their identity over the phone. Many phone scams use threats to intimidate and bully a victim into paying. They may even threaten to arrest, deport or revoke the license of their victim if they don't get the money. Scammers often alter caller ID numbers to make it look like the IRS or an- other agency is calling. The callers use IRS titles and fake badge numbers to ap- pear legitimate. They may use the victim's name, ad- dress and other personal information to make the call sound official. Here are some things the scammers often do but the IRS will not do. Any one of these five things is a tell-tale sign of a scam. The IRS will never call to demand immediate pay- ment over the phone, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you several bills; call or email you to verify your identity by ask- ing for personal and finan- cial information; demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe; require you to use a spe- cific payment method for your taxes, such as a pre- paid debit card; ask for credit or debit card num- bers over the phone or email or threaten to imme- diately bring in local po- lice or other law-enforce- ment groups to have you arrested for not paying. If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and ask- ing for money or to verify your identity, here's what you should do. If you don't owe taxes, or have no reason to think that you do, do not give out any information. Hang up immediately. Contact TIGTA to report the call. Use their "IRS Im- personation Scam Report- ing" web page. You can also call 800-366-4484. Report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the "FTC Complaint As- sistant" on FTC.gov. Add "IRS Telephone Scam" in the notes. If you know you owe, or think you may owe tax call the IRS at 800-829-1040. CONSUMER ALERT Scammers change tactics once again COURTESYPHOTO Psycho Fitness & MMA, Inc. held an open house and fundraiser April 23. Organizers were able to raise $450, which helped pay the liability insurance for the non-profit. Pictured are six participants in the tire-flipping contest and the five participants in the rope-climbing contest. FUNDRAISER NON-PROFIT SUPPORT 25yearsprofessional experience. Quality Work Very Reasonable Rates Red Bluff Transmission • Automatic • Manual • Computer Diagnosis • Clutches • Transfer Cases • CV Axles CALL TODAY! 529-4493 440 Antelope Blvd. #6 Bob's Youcantmissus... 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