| Seniors shop for comfort in new homes
State's retirement market huge, says housing expert
By LEE ANN O'NEAL
Staff Writer
When 91-year-old Ernest Backus moved to Tennessee from Ohio in 1994, he sought a home tailor-made for an older resident. His two-bedroom condo in the southeast Nashville community of Lenox Village has wide door frames to accommodate wheelchairs, electric outlets placed higher on walls, for people with back problems, and a one-floor design. .
Reaching out from the stage
The Bedford Youth Performing Company wants to entertain you so that a whole generation of youngsters can be introduced to music, dance and theater.
The BYPC is hosting a Mardi Gras Dinner Theatre to benefit Circle of Giving, their nonprofit program that gives disadvantaged and disabled kids a chance to enjoy the performing arts.
The dinner theater will be on Friday, Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. at the Manchester Country Club on South River Road. Featured will be BYPCs own jazz combo, playing songs from the 1930s and 1940s. Tickets are $40 and are on sale at BYPC, 155 Route 101.
BYPC is a school for the performing arts, offering instruction in all types of dance, voice, a dozen musical instruments, theater and broadcasting. It is also home to a fully licensed preschool.
Helping Out Guide 02/10
Volunteers needed. Community Care Clinic needs volunteers. Computer skills a plus, but not a must. Call 384-4733 and speak with Cheryl Russell or Iris Bundy. Cosmopolitan Club. The 50-year-old Cosmopolitan Club's free loan fleet has over 650 wheelchairs, walkers, canes, crutches, bedside commodes extensions, shower curtains, benches, etc. For loan items or for donations of items, contact any Cosmopolitan Monday or Tuesday evenings at the club or call 335-1700. SPCA. The SPCA of Northeastern NC is looking for volunteers. Please stop by the shelter at 100 Wilson St. for an application or call the shelter at 338-5222 for the many ways in which you may help. Hours are Monday thru Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
Medical expenses add up to tax deduction if you cast a wide net
WASHINGTON -- What do doctors' visits, Navajo healing ceremonies and clarinet lessons have in common? All can qualify, under the right circumstances, as tax-deductible medical expenses. It's not that easy to take the deduction -- medical expenses must exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income before they can be deducted. On the other hand, taxpayers can cast a wide net to reach that threshold, so it may be easier than you think. Costs for elastic hosiery, seeing-eye dogs, stop-smoking and weight-loss programs, lead paint removal, special mattresses for relief of arthritis or spine problems, reclining chairs prescribed by a doctor -- all have been permitted by either the Internal Revenue Service or the U.S. Tax Court, where tax disputes are heard. "If it was prescribed for a medical purpose or to alleviate a condition, you have a good chance of getting it through," said Donna LeValley, a tax attorney and contributing editor of the J.K.
LETTERS TO BUSINESS
Editor -- I wish to correct a statement by Wayne D. Gibb of Forestville ("Plastic water bottles present huge problem,'' Letters to Business, Feb. 4). The U. S. Food and Drug Administration, not the Environmental Protection Agency, regulates bottled water. EPA regulates tap water (i.e., the municipal water supply). JANET McDONALD Senior Public Affairs Specialist FDA/San Francisco District Alameda
Public universities have great credentials Editor -- I enjoyed your story on SugarCRM ("Open-source success is sweet," Jan. 30), though one sentence stuck out: "But dyslexia and his poor grades forced (John) Roberts to settle for a public university in Virginia." "Settle for" suggests that public universities are not as good as private schools. I suspect that thousands of students who attend the University of California and their parents wouldn't (rightly) agree with that idea, and it does a disservice to the students and educators in California's public higher-education system (not to mention all the other incredibly good public universities throughout the United States).
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