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Mountain View News Saturday, March 29, 2025

SENIOR HAPPENINGS


FREE ASSISTED LIVING PLACEMENT SERVICE

 

 Discover the perfect assisted living community with 
Safe Path for Seniors. Our compassionate advisors 
specialize in assisting individuals with unique needs. 
Benefit from our extensive network and affordable 
options. Plus, we offer personalized tours to help you 
explore each community firsthand. 

Call (626) 999-6913 or visit www.safepathforseniors.com for free assistance.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! …MARCH BIRTHDAYS*

Cathy Flammer, Clare Marquardt, Karen Blachly, Carla Duplex, Ella 
Guttman, Viky Tchatlian, Mary Cooper, Sun Liu, Helen Wallis, Nancy Fox, 
Martha Cassara, Rita Johnson, Sharon Murphy, Heather Sheets, Mercedes 
Campos, Dorothy Webster,Terri Elder, Carol Cerrina, Amy Putnam, 
Michael Murphy and Sally Contreras turn 100 this month!

 * To add your name to this distinguished list, please call the paper at 
626.355.2737. YEAR of birth not required 


EXCITING ACTIVITIES AWAIT 
GRANDCHILDREN VISITING 

SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

 With grandchildren visiting from out of town, finding 
fun and engaging activities in the San Gabriel Valley is 
easy. Whether they enjoy nature, hands-on learning, 
or thrilling adventures, the region offers a variety of 
attractions perfect for all ages.

Outdoor Adventures

For families who enjoy the outdoors, the Los Angeles 
County Arboretum in Arcadia provides scenic walking 
trails, lush gardens, and free-roaming peacocks. 
Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge offers a 
tranquil escape with Japanese gardens and seasonal 
floral displays. Meanwhile, the Santa Fe Dam Recreation 
Area in Irwindale is a great spot for picnicking, 
fishing, and paddle boating.

Educational and Interactive Fun

Curious minds will love Kidspace Children’s Museum 
in Pasadena, which features hands-on exhibits, climbing 
structures, and interactive water play. Older children 
and science enthusiasts can explore the California 
Science Center in Los Angeles, home to the space 
shuttle Endeavour. For those interested in California 
history, the San Gabriel Mission Museum provides a 
fascinating look at the region’s past.

Animal Encounters

Animal lovers can visit America’s Teaching Zoo in 
Moorpark, which offers close-up experiences with exotic 
wildlife. For a more hands-on experience, Reptacular 
Ranch in Sylmar allows children to interact with 
reptiles and farm animals.

Thrilling Adventures

For high-energy fun, Sky Zone Trampoline Park in 
Covina features obstacle courses and climbing walls. 
Families can also enjoy bowling and arcade games at 
Bowlero in Pasadena or West Covina. During warmer 
months, Raging Waters in San Dimas is a must-visit 
for water slides and wave pools.

Sweet Treats and Local Eats

No visit is complete without a stop at The Donut Man 
in Glendora, famous for its fresh strawberry-filled donuts. 
Bubble tea lovers can explore local boba shops 
such as Tiger Sugar and Half & Half, while Café 86 
in Pasadena and Monrovia offers unique taro-flavored 
desserts.

 From nature-filled escapes to interactive museums 
and delicious treats, the San Gabriel Valley has 
something to entertain visiting grandchildren and 
create lasting memories.


HOW SENIORS CAN SAVE ON 
AUTO INSURANCE


Dear Savvy Senior,

Can you offer any tips to help seniors save on their 
auto insurance? I recently turned 70 and got hit 
with a 25 percent premium increase on my car insurance 
and am looking for ways to save. 

Older Driver

 

Dear Driver,

As auto insurance rates across the country continue 
to rise for all drivers, seniors can face an even 
bigger price hike, once they reach their 70s and 
their driving skills begin to decline. Fortunately, 
there are ways you can reduce your premiums. To 
find out what discounts may be available to you, 
contact your auto insurer and inquire about these 
options. 

Increase your deductible: Paying a higher deductible 
could save you big on premiums. For example, 
raising your deductible from $500 to $1,000 
can bring your annual premiums down by 15 to 
20 percent, on average. 

Adjust your coverage: If you’re driving an older 
vehicle, you may want to consider dropping collision 
and/or comprehensive coverage if your premium 
is more than 10 percent of the car’s value. 
Collision insurance covers damage to your car if 
you’re involved in a crash (or if you’re the victim 
of a hit-and-run) and comprehensive covers damage 
caused by acts of nature (such as storm damage), 
vandalism, theft or fire. But if you’re scaling 
back to liability coverage, make sure you have 
enough to pay for damages out of pocket if you’re 
in an accident or your car sustains damage due to 
weather, theft or another non-collision event.

Take a defensive driving course: Some insurance 
companies offer defensive driving discounts – between 
5 and 15 percent – to drivers who take a 
refresher course to brush up on their safety skills. 
Organizations such as AARP (aarpdriversafety.
org), AAA (aaa.com/stop) and The National 
Safety Council (nsc.org) provide these classes, for 
around $20 to $30 and they can be taken online. 

Report your milage: Most insurers offer discounts 
to customers who drive limited miles each year, 
which is usually beneficial to retirees who drive less 
because 
they 
don’t commute to work every day. These discounts 
usually kick in when your annual milage 
drops below 7,500 or 10,000 depending on your 
provider.

Bundle policies: If your auto insurance policy is 
issued by a different company from the one insuring 
your home, call each insurer and ask if bundling 
the policies would be cheaper. 

Sign up for driver monitoring: Some insurers offer 
discounts based on how and when you use 
your car. They will monitor things like your acceleration, 
braking habits, driving speeds and 
phone use, via smartphone app or a device that 
plugs into your car’s diagnostic port. Drivers can 
be rewarded anywhere from 10 to 30 percent for 
safe driving. 

In addition, many insurance providers also offer 
discounts to drivers who do not have any violations 
or accidents for three or more years. 

Ask about membership discounts: Many insurers 
offer discounts through professional associations, 
workers’ unions, large employers or membership 
organizations such as AAA, NARFE, AARP, etc. 
You could even qualify for savings based on the 
college you attended or the fraternity or sorority 
you belonged to decades ago.

Improve your credit: You may be able to lower 
your car insurance premium by paying your bills 
on time and reducing the amount of debt you carry. 
Insurers look at how their customers manage 
credit to get an idea of risk and to price policies. 
Better rates are given to those with good credit 
scores, typically 700 or above. 

Comparison shop: To find out if your current 
premium is competitive with other insurers, shop 
around through insurance marketplace websites 
like TheZebra.com, Insurify.com, Lemonade.
com or Policygenius.com. Or use an independent 
agent (see trustedchoice.com/agent) to help you 
compare. 


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, 

WHERE'S ALL THE MONEY?

I can’t keep count of all the phone calls informing me that I won millions 
of dollars and a brand-new Mercedes-Benz. All I have to do is 
send them $15,000 to cover the income tax and processing fee, and 
they will be able to send me millions of dollars.

I grew up in the Pennsylvania Dutch area, and I would be the last person to fall for 
that kind of scam. If I won money, why do I have to pay money?

Growing up, my father was very frugal with money. If you could get money out of 
him, you were a magician of the top order.

When we would go to a restaurant, he was very frugal, but he did tip the waitress. 
The only thing about that tip was it was only $0.25. He thought she earned every 
penny of that quarter.

He died in 2010, so he won’t hear about this, but many times after lunch, we were 
going out to the car; one of us would have to go to the bathroom, and so the rest 
would go out to the car. Actually, the guy going to the bathroom was the one we 
had assigned to put a tip on the table. All of us, except for my father, contributed to 
that tip. As far as I know, he never found out about that.

However, I learned a lot about money from my father. He never spent a nickel if he 
didn’t have to. He loved to get his monthly bank statement so that he could see his 
money and study it for days.

My father did have money. He was a successful building contractor, but very few 
people knew he had a dollar bill on him. If you met him, you would not know he 
had an extra dollar in his pocket. They would be a genius if they could scam him 
out of a dollar.

Money meant a lot to my father, especially in his pocket. He was never out to scam 
anybody or buy a lottery ticket. In fact, he thought lottery tickets were the worst 
scam in the world. I lean towards that thought myself.

One of the things I learned from my father was that it’s not so much how much 
money you have as what you do with it.

I was a small-town pastor in Maryland one year, and one of my friends spread a 
rumor my first year that I was the poster child for the baby Gerber. I’m not sure 
where he came up with that scam, but he did.

I didn’t know he did it, and all of a sudden pastors came to me and told about some 
of the ministries they were involved in and they needed to raise money to do them.

At first, I didn’t understand why they were telling me this. Why did I need to know 
what their ministry was and how much money they needed?

After several months of this, somebody spilled the beans and told me what my so-
called friend had done, why these people were telling me about their ministries, 
and how much money they needed for those ministries.

If I had the money he was talking about, I would probably have given money to 
their ministries. But all those pastors were talking to someone who was simply 
broke. I didn’t have the money they thought I had, just enough to get by week by 
week.

What I do with my money is really important, but I won’t let my money, which I 
don’t have much of, define who I am.

There’s nothing wrong with being frugal. I’ve been pretty much frugal all my life 
because I’ve never made much money. I just tried not to spend money that I don’t 
have.

Money has a way of influencing people. If someone knows that someone has a 
lot of money, they’re going to approach them to see how much they can get for 
themselves.

I have no problem giving to charities and to people who really need help. But I’m 
very careful about that because I want to make sure I help people who actually 
need help. That’s a hard decision to make. Who really needs my money more than 
me? That’s the question.

Many years ago, a friend of mine wanted me to invest in some investment program 
that he was involved with. He had given them well over $65,000. According to the 
investment, he would be getting interest every month. The one thing that sort of 
ticked me off was that the $65,000 had to be in cash. If that isn’t a red flag, I don’t 
know what is.

It turned out to be one of those Ponzi schemes. I’m not sure how they work, but I 
guarantee they will never work with my money.

The only investment I have made was to good old Uncle Sam. Now, I get a monthly 
salary from my Uncle, of which I am thankful.

I couldn’t help but think of a verse of scripture that is ao often misquoted.

1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some 
coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with 
many sorrows.”

Money is NOT the root of all evil like so many people think. Rather, it’s the LOVE 
of money that is the “root of all evil.”

UNLOCK YOUR LIFE

Tips From Lori A. Harris


YOUR 
CHANCE 

AT BAT

Opening day for the Dodgers 
this week in Los Angeles 
reminds us of baseball's 
greatest lessons. Consider 
Hank Aaron and his legendary 
home run record of 755. What's often overlooked 
is that those towering achievements came from 
12,364 at-bats across 23 seasons. The Hammer didn't 
just swing for the fences a few times—he showed up 
day after day, season after season, taking his chance at 
bat thousands of times.

You know every day is your chance at bat!

Every day is a chance to step up to the plate. Aaron 
didn't hit a home run every time—in fact, most at-bats 
didn't result in homers. But he kept stepping up, knowing 
that each swing brought another possibility.

What day is this? It's a brand new day and a brand new 
year. Let's celebrate.

Gameday, it's time to leave it all on the field until the 
final whistle blows.

It is not a day for plans or resolutions. It is the day to 
set your intention.

We cannot change the world with a plan.

We must dream and dream BIG!

If you know how you will get to your ultimate dream, 
then dream BIGGER.

So what will you do with your one wild, beautiful life?

"If you could only see your beauty, for you are greater 
than the sun. Why are you so withered and shriveled in 
this prison of dust? A basket full of bread sits on your 
head, but you beg for crusts door to door. You are more 
precious than heaven and earth; you know how your 
own worth. Sell not yourself for a little price, being so 
precious in the eyes of God." ~Rumi

What is your intention? What do you stand for?

Do you stand for art, truth, beauty, justice, music, 
freedom?

We cannot live in a world without art, truth, beauty, 
justice, music or freedom. And we don't want to either.

Take a stand and set your intention. Make your life a 
beacon of truth. Stand in truth and stand for justice.

Be the WOMAN with a dream. Martin Luther King 
didn't have a plan; he had a dream. This day will never 
come again. So love boldly.

Start with a line today. The world is waiting for your 
book. Write your song. We need to hear from you. 
Take the stage. We miss you. We need your stories. 
The world is so much more beautiful because of any 
art made.

Are you a teacher? Continue to see the individual 
students sitting in their tiny chairs as special and 
unique gifted learners. There is no greater honor than 
touching the life of a child. It is a genuine chance for 
immortality.

Like Hank Aaron in the batter's box, persistence is what 
matters most. He faced pitchers who didn't want him 
to break Babe Ruth's record. He endured death threats 
and hate mail. But he kept stepping up to the plate, day 
after day, believing in himself and his purpose.

So let us be grateful that we are here on the planet at 
this time and on this day.

So what would happen if we all took what we love 
(art, science, or justice whatever ... And built our lives 
around it? We would change the world.

Today is your game and your day, so when the ball 
comes your way, take a swing. Are you up to bat when 
you get the chance? Remember Hank Aaron's 12,364 
at-bats—each one a statement of perseverance. The 
home runs only happened because he kept showing 
up.

Risking failure is a necessary component of success.

Want to know how to get started? I'm hosting a workshop 
to help people reconnect with their dreams. For 
information, go to loriaharris.com/workshop

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com