Police Searching For Missing Elderly Woman

 

MISSING

Local law enforcement agencies this afternoon are seeking the public’s help in finding an elderly woman who suffers from dementia and short-term memory loss who was last seen at her residence on Carefree Lane in Berlin on Monday afternoon.

Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office received a missing persons report on Helen Stephanie David, 77, of Berlin from her son, Ryan Putney. David lives on Carefree Lane in the South Point area and was last seen at her residence shortly after 3 p.m. on Monday.

According to police reports, David suffers from dementia and short-term memory loss.

David is about 5’6” tall and around 142 pound with salt-and-pepper hair of medium length. When last seen, she was wearing a blue and white blouse with flowers, light blue Capri-style pants, two pairs of white socks and possibly tan Burkenstock sandals.

Anyone with information regarding David’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office at 410-632-1111.
 
Local law enforcement is currently asking for the public’s assistance in searching their property or any outbuildings on or near their property.

Several agencies are currently involved in the search including the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office, the Maryland State Police, Ocean City Police, the Ocean City Fire Department, Maryland Natural Resources Police and the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office.

96 -Year-Old Volunteer Still Helping Others

This gentleman seems to always have a wonderful day every day! Helping others and staying busy just seems to keep this 96 year old on the go. At the age of 96 he probably knows the days well enough to not need the alarm clock and goes to bed after "setting his agenda for the next day" in his head then wakes in the morning and seeks to meet his goal. Remarkable!


Charles Pollard offers advice on how he's lived to be 96 and remained so healthy: "I keep active, every day." That's another way of saying that he helps others.

Pollard, who never seems to stop moving, has been a volunteer at downtown Baltimore's Waxter Center for senior citizens since 1976. He holds the center's record for continuous service.

Most days of the week he drives his Buick to the Mount Vernon building, where he starts the coffee urns at 7:30 a.m. He also cleans the tables and has the dining area organized for the other seniors who begin their day here with breakfast at the center's Eating Together Meal program. Then he washes the breakfast trays and spruces the place up again for lunch. If he has the time, he'll shoot a little pool.

"He is always willing to jump in at any time," said Kenya Cousin, director of the senior center. "He is a proactive person. His answer is always yes."

Among his many roles, Pollard has also worked in adult day care. He rode a bus to their homes, assisted them as they rode to the center, then helped with meals.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging and MetLife Foundation recently honored him with its 2010 MetLife Foundation Older Volunteers Enrich America Award for his "exemplary contribution" to his community and his promotion of "volunteering among older adults nationwide."

Pollard does not look his age. Erect and slim, with unwrinkled skin, he says he keeps young by helping people. He also keeps his own house, rides an exercise bike daily and is an usher at the Enon Baptist Church, where he's been a member for more than 60 years. He's also an animated talker.

A native of Gloucester County, Va., he was the fourth of nine children who all grew up on a farm.

"I did a lot of hard work, but I was young then and it was fun," he said.

An uncle owned cars and Pollard learned to drive when he was 13. He practiced driving along rows of harvested corn. He quickly tells you his first car was a 1927 Chevrolet. He's owned and driven many more since then.

Because he could drive, Pollard found a job with a dairy. He picked up milk cans and later made home deliveries. By the 1930s, he had enrolled in a federal program, the Civilian Conservation Corps. He lived in a camp and cut trails through forests.

Pollard helped raise his siblings and after all had left the family home, he moved to Baltimore in about 1940. He joined the Army during World War II and served in an engineering unit.

"We landed at Anzio Beach," he said. "I saw plenty of action. I drove nearly every vehicle the Army had. And being a country boy, I could do practically anything I was asked to."

He drove trucks while under attack and also had the job of digging graves for the dead.

Pollard was called up again during the Korean War and served a second time.

He settled on being a bricklayer and then joined Procter & Gamble at its Locust Point plant in South Baltimore. He repaired the brick firewalls within the plant's furnaces and also wound up making the Ivory soap before retiring at age 62.

Not willing to do nothing, he walked into the Waxter Center and started a second career as a volunteer. That was more than 30 years ago.

"What can I say? I like to be busy and I like to work," he said.

www.baltimoresun.com

Smaller Social Security Checks in 2010

Millions face smaller Social Security checks next year as rising drug costs diminish payments

August 24, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise.

The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975.

By law, Social Security benefits cannot go down. Nevertheless, monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly.

"I will promise you, they count on that COLA," said Barbara Kennelly, a former Democratic congresswoman from Connecticut who now heads the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. "To some people, it might not be a big deal. But to seniors, especially with their health care costs, it is a big deal."

Cost of living adjustments are pegged to inflation, which has been negative this year, largely because energy prices are below 2008 levels.

Advocates say older people still face higher prices because they spend a disproportionate amount of their income on health care, where costs rise faster than inflation. Many also have suffered from declining home values and shrinking stock portfolios just as they are relying on those assets for income.

"For many elderly, they don't feel that inflation is low because their expenses are still going up," said David Certner, legislative policy director for AARP. "Anyone who has savings and investments has seen some serious losses."

About 50 million retired and disabled Americans receive Social Security benefits. The average monthly benefit for retirees is $1,153 this year. All beneficiaries received a 5.8 percent increase in January, the largest since 1982.

More than 32 million people are in the Medicare prescription drug program. Average monthly premiums are set to go from $28 this year to $30 next year, though they vary by plan. About 6 million people in the program have premiums deducted from their monthly Social Security payments, according to the Social Security Administration.

Millions of people with Medicare Part B coverage for doctors' visits also have their premiums deducted from Social Security payments. Part B premiums are expected to rise as well. But under the law, the increase cannot be larger than the increase in Social Security benefits for most recipients.

There is no such hold-harmless provision for drug premiums.

Kennelly's group wants Congress to increase Social Security benefits next year, even though the formula doesn't call for it. She would like to see either a 1 percent increase in monthly payments or a one-time payment of $150.

The cost of a one-time payment, a little less than $8 billion, could be covered by increasing the amount of income subjected to Social Security taxes, Kennelly said. Workers only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,800 of income, a limit that rises each year with the average national wage.

But the limit only increases if monthly benefits increase.

Critics argue that Social Security recipients shouldn't get an increase when inflation is negative. They note that recipients got a big increase in January — after energy prices had started to fall. They also note that Social Security recipients received one-time $250 payments in the spring as part of the government's economic stimulus package.

Consumer prices are down from 2008 levels, giving Social Security recipients more purchasing power, even if their benefits stay the same, said Andrew G. Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.

"Seniors may perceive that they are being hurt because there is no COLA, but they are in fact not getting hurt," Biggs said. "Congress has to be able to tell people they are not getting everything they want."

Social Security is also facing long-term financial problems. The retirement program is projected to start paying out more money than it receives in 2016. Without changes, the retirement fund will be depleted in 2037, according to the Social Security trustees' annual report this year.

President Barack Obama has said he would like to tackle Social Security next year, after Congress finishes work on health care, climate change and new financial regulations.

Lawmakers are preoccupied by health care, making it difficult to address other tough issues. Advocates for older people hope their efforts will get a boost in October, when the Social Security Administration officially announces that there will not be an increase in benefits next year.

"I think a lot of seniors do not know what's coming down the pike, and I believe that when they hear that, they're going to be upset," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is working on a proposal for one-time payments for Social Security recipients.

"It is my view that seniors are going to need help this year, and it would not be acceptable for Congress to simply turn its back," he said.

http://www.wtkr.com

If Washington would stop worry about putting food into the mouths of people in other countries America might be able to take care of these retired adults. And if they would stop giving aid to those crossing our borders there might be money for an increase. As usual, the government just can't run anything and keep in functioning for long periods of time. For most retired seniors it is all they have to look forward to and all they have to spend......Though never intended to be an only source of income for the retired they were duped into believing it was until a few years ago.........when most had already believed they could trust it. Doesn't the government plan ahead? Do they honestly think taxpayers can keep pulling money for taxes out of their a*****? Stop spending so much money overseas to care for others and take care of the wonderful Americans we have here!! They, like the veterans of America deserve SO MUCH MORE. They aren't getting the care they need and deserve.