Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/713226
Igrewupasapreach- er's kid in the era of the all-church potluck, a rit- ual event that took place regu- larly in the basement of the church. The food was bland, at best. That is until the ad- vent of lemon Jell-O, when things took a turn for the worse. To this day, I don't know where it came from, but my father became the proud owner of two 55-gal- lon drums of lemon Jell- O powder, divided up into small, unlabeled, nonde- script packages. We knew it was lemon Jell-O be- cause he told everyone it was. You would have thought the man struck gold for the joy it brought him. Imagine two gigan- tic, industrial-strength drums of free lemon Jell- O. The assignment for all the church cooks was to take as much of this stuff they could handle and come up with amazing potluck dishes using it. Not wanting to disappoint the preacher, everyone ac- cepted the challenge. They dutifully made lemon cakes and lemon puddings and lemon pies and lemon drinks. The re- sults were not good, even though my father declared each lemon Jell-O offering to be better than the last. The truth is that no mat- ter how hard these cooks tried, whatever they made was not fit for human con- sumption. I don't know who even- tually came up with a plausible explanation, but it went like this: Appar- ently, a food manufacturer had created some kind of boxed meal of lemon-gar- lic chicken, and this savory lemon packet was part of the preparation. Subse- quently, the product was taken off the market (I wonder why?), leaving the company with what I'm sure were millions of pack- ages of lemon-garlic mix. Even that discovery did not deter my father. Long after I left home (we're talking years later), he was still hawking lemon Jell- O to anyone he could con- vince to take a few pack- ages to see if they could make something at least marginally edible with it. To my knowledge, he never achieved the success he dreamed of, but I'm pretty sure no one died in the attempts. Potluck meals have come a long way since the days of little packets of lemon Jell-O. By planning the menu and assigning specific dishes to those in attendance, the luck fac- tor is removed. What more economical way is there to have a wonderful meal with friends or family? If you want to pur- sue planned potlucks, take a look at a terrific new book that will help you out with recipes, menus and general pot- luck planning. "Modern Potluck: Beautiful Food to Share" has more than 100 make-ahead reci- pes that are perfect for a crowd. It's reasonably priced on Amazon, too — about $19. Emailmary@ everydaycheapskate.com. EVERYDAYCHEAPSKATE Take the luck out of pot luck Sacred Heart is pleased to offer Dual Language Im- mersion for the 2016-17 for transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, first and sec- ond grades — ages 4-7 — in English and Spanish. Heidi Mendenhall will be providing ongoing training and technical assistance on Tuesday, Aug. 9. She has presented at national and state education conferences on the topics of Dual Lan- guage Learners. The training will focus on how to remodel lessons to support two languages in a classroom and to provide time and opportunities for teaching staff to individual- ize for each child. If the teacher plans the environment and routines to include these times it naturally happens and language development flourishes in both lan- guages. In Dual Language Im- mersion, students spend half the day learning in English and half the day learning in Spanish. By being taught not just language fundamentals but academic subjects, they gain both languages while not losing a step in their studies. In addition, by speaking English and Spanish at an early age, students are more likely to remember both languages forever. Dual Language Immer- sion addresses the needs of the 21st century world. Sacred Heart is one of the only Catholic elemen- tary schools to offer Dual Language Immersion as well as one of the few to do so in California. Benefits of Dual Lan- guage Immersion include language proficiency in both English and Span- ish, improved communi- cation ability, enhanced listening skills, exceed performance standards of solo language learn- ers, increased problem solving skills, greater cultural appreciation and being more prepared for global culture and mar- ket. EDUCATION Schooloffersduallanguage learning environment The Internal Revenue Service recently warned taxpayers to stay vigi- lant against an increase of IRS impersonation scams in the form of automated calls and new tactics from scammers demanding tax payments on iTunes and other gift cards. The IRS has seen an increase in "robo-calls" where scammers leave urgent callback requests through the phone tell- ing taxpayers to call back to settle their "tax bill." These fake calls generally claim to be the last warn- ing before legal action is taken. Once the victim calls back, the scammers may threaten to arrest, de- port or revoke the driver's license of the victim if they don't agree to pay. "It used to be that most of these bogus calls would come from a live-person. Scammers are evolving and using more and more automated calls in an ef- fort to reach the largest number of victims pos- sible," said IRS Commis- sioner John Koskinen. In the latest trend, IRS impersonators are de- manding payments on iTunes and other gift cards. The IRS reminds taxpayers that any request to settle a tax bill by putting money on any form of gift card is a clear indication of a scam. Some examples of the varied tactics seen this year are demanding pay- ment for a "Federal Stu- dent Tax," demanding im- mediate tax payment for taxes owed on an iTunes or other type of gift card, soliciting W-2 informa- tion from payroll and hu- man resources profession- als, "verifying" tax re- turn information over the phone and pretending to be from the tax prepara- tion industry. Since these bogus calls can take many forms and scammers are constantly changing their strategies, knowing the telltale signs is the best way to avoid be- coming a victim. The IRS will never call to demand immediate payment over the phone, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill; threaten to immedi- ately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you ar- rested for not paying; de- mand that you pay taxes without giving you the op- portunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe; require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer or ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone. If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and ask- ing for money and you don't owe taxes, do not give out any information, hang up immediately and visit https://www.trea- sury.gov/tigta/ to report the call. Use the "IRS Im- personation Scam Report- ing" web page or 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 think you might owe taxes, call the IRS di- rectly at 800-829-1040. ALERT IRS warns taxpayers of summer surge in automated phone scams By Julie Zeeb jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Zeeb on Twitter RED BLUFF From tragedy has come a positive influ- ence in the loss of then 5-year-old Gunner Lan- genderfer with the third annual memorial soft- ball tournament held Fri- day and Saturday at Tosh and Frey Fields at Trainor Park. Coming from Orland and Chico to Anderson and throughout Tehama County, a total of 10 teams played in the event, which hosted a balloon release in Gunner's honor at 2 p.m. Saturday. The 2016 event was special for A.J. Poni, Gunner's older brother who was finally old enough to play in the event, at 16. "It's really fun," Poni said. "I enjoy playing for my brother Gunner. He was a good little brother and I loved hanging out with him." Poni gathered up his friends and the high school athletes formed a team called Gunner's Young Guns. "They were really close despite the age gap," said Katie Ramsey, Gunner's mother. "Playing today shows he's still here with us and it helps keep his memory alive." The 2015 event brought in about $2,000, which was split between First Church of God Preschool where Gunner was a student and Red Bluff Little League where he played for two years, Ramsey said. Those two organizations will be recipients of the proceeds from the 2016 event as well, which will be given out on the Tehama County Superior Courthouse steps in a few weeks. "Today's event was awe- some," Ramsey said. "I'm overwhelmed by the tre- mendous community sup- port and we have had a good turnout. It's all for Gunner and it doesn't get much better than that. It's awesome to give back to the community that helped us when we needed them. It gets bigger and bigger each year and the commu- nity really pulls together for it." Gunner was killed in a July 24, 2013 collision, in which Ramsey was seri- ously injured, after their Nissan was hit from be- hind and pushed into the path of a semi truck. The driver that struck the Nissan was texting at the time. Ramsey said she hopes people learn from what happened to her family to not text and drive. Community turns out for memorial so ball tourney JULIEZEEB—DAILYNEWS Family and friends of Gunner Langenderfer release balloons on Saturday at the third annual Gunner Langenderfer Memorial So ball Tournament. GUNNER LANGENDERFER "They were really close despite the age gap. Playing today shows he's still here with us and it helps keep his memory alive." — Katie Ramsey, Gunner's mother Mary Hunt 750DavidAvenue,RedBluff•527-9193• www.tehamaestatesretirement.com findusonFacebook • Utilities Included (except phone & cable) • Transportation • Fun Activities and Events TehamaEstatesProvides: CallForRentSpecial Tehama Estates The areas #1 Senior Housing Provider Senior Retirement Apartments • 3 Delicious Healthy Meals Each Day • Daily Housekeeping • 24 Hour Staffing, 365 Days of the Year 7875 HWY 99E LOS MOLINOS, CA 384-1265 VisitoursecondlocationinChico•540MainSt.•Open24hours ORDERS TO GO ServedAllDay No substitutions ChickenFried Steak 2 Eggs HashBrownsor Home Fries, Toast $ 4 99 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 7am to 2pm Augustis Tehama County Customer Appreciation Month Newpatientsalwayswelcome! 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