Welcome to the Bisonalities, Again, a newsletter dedicated to the alumni (students, teachers, and administrators) of Waterford and Fort LeBoeuf High Schools. This newsletter will be issued quarterly. New issues will be posted for viewing on the Web site on, or about January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1.

The Bisonalities, Again Web site may be viewed by going to:

www.bisonalitiesagain.com

The success of this newsletter will depend on you. I need contributors. Do you have an interesting article, a nostalgia item, a real life story, or a picture you would like to share with other alumni? Do you have a snail-mail or an e-mail address of one of your former classmates? If you do, please send it to me at the following e-mail address: candoercat@gmail.com
or at my snail-mail address:
Robert J. Catlin, Sr.
2670 Dakota Street
Bryans Road, MD 20616-3062
Tel: (301) 535-9263
Fax: (301) 375-9250

Please, NO handwritten submissions.

The Bisonalities, Again Newsletter is available to any and all alumni, teachers, and administrators of Waterford or Fort LeBoeuf High Schools on the Web site, free.

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Cat's Corner

Well here it is October and another year three quarters gone. The years are flying by way too fast. At times it feels like it was just yesterday I was graduating from high school. At other times it feels like it was a hundred years ago. These golden years I am experiencing are truly golden. It has taken a lot of gold to get this far.

I have had a great year of fishing. It is now Stripper and Crappie season. I catch an occasional Bass, but this time of the year it is rare. Here in Southern Maryland I can get out on the rivers and creeks until around Thanksgiving before the cold chases me inside.

The FLBHS class of 1956 reunion was a great success. We had a total of 47 people attend, including 23 graduates, their guests and our special guests, Mrs. Lois Byers Hamilton, Dr. Earl Stubbe and Ms. Shirley Eliason (WHS class of 1954). The festivities started at 6:00 p.m. and broke up around 11:00 p.m.

We had one of our classmates, Dayle Wells and his wife Joyce, come as far away as California. We had several alumni who came in from Florida and other parts of the U.S.

We had four of our classmates who could not attend due to illness; Pat Weaver Walden Taha, Lillian Turley Barnes, John Scott, and Donna Campbell Falk Sharp. We all wish you a speedy recovery and hope to see you for the next class reunion.

FYI: Since the reunion one of the classmates who was unable to attend due to illness has passed - Donna Campbell Falk Sharp (RIP).

The reunion celebration was held at the Mill Village fire hall; an outstanding facility. If you are planning a class reunion you may want to consider this facility. It has plenty of parking and is handicapped accessible. We had the meal catered, buffet style. They did a great job. The food was delicious, very reasonably priced, and there was more than enough food for seconds.

The reunion committee did an outstanding job of planning and implementing our reunion. A big THANK YOU to Joan, Sally, Susie, Lura, Babe, Phyllis, Vera, Carol, and Janet.

Shirley Eliason invited Nancy and me to attend the WHS class of 1954's 57th birthday celebration on the 17th of July. The celebration was held at the home of Betty Jean and Roger Schwab on West Third Street in Waterford.

Nancy and I had a very enjoyable time. The food was outstanding and the company even more outstanding! Thank you Shirley for including Nancy and me in your annual celebration. We really enjoyed the company and the food!

For those of you who have computers and are Facebook users, there are three groups on Facebook that you may want to join:

You know you have lived in Waterford, PA if . . .
You know you went to FLB if . . .
and last, Fort LeBoeuf

The one-liners in this issue of the news are paraprosdokian sentences. A parapro-sdokian sentence consists of two parts where the first is a figure of speech and the second an intriguing variation of the first. They're used typically for humorous or dramatic effect. Example: Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

For both males and females of all ages cardiovascular disease is considered the number one killer. It kills more people than ALL kinds of cancer grouped together. If you're black or over sixty-five, your chance of heart disease is bigger. However, it's an equal opportunity destroyer.

Everyone, at any place, anytime may have a heart attack [1].

Myth #1: Solely older individuals need to be concerned about their cardiovascular system.

What may induce a heart attack build-up gradually? Being a couch-potato, boredom, over eating, and never doing exercises are typically bad habits that might begin when we are children. A lot more health professionals are starting to see patients of strokes in their 20's and 30's rather than patients generally in their 50's and 60's.

Simply being in good physical condition and at the proper weight does not make you protected from heart attacks. Although, both working out regularly and maintaining an ideal bodyweight helps, you still must check your cholesterol and blood pressure levels. The right cholesterol (or lipid profile) amount is below 200. A very good blood pressure level is 120/80.

Myth #2: I'd feel sick if I had high blood pressure levels or high-cholesterol.

They name these "silent killers" basically because they show NO signs. 30% of all mature people have high blood pressure. Of those, one-third do not know they already have it.

High-cholesterol is a way of measuring the fats stocked through your blood stream. Fats may be dropped anywhere in your body, but tend to congregate around body organs, including your heart. This habit might run in families. So, even if you are at a good bodyweight and don't smoke, have your cholesterol levels and blood pressure examined on a regular basis. Once shouldn't be enough [2].

Myth #3: Both males and females DON'T experience the same symptoms.
Women and men CAN have precisely the same indicators and symptoms, however they generally will not. Ladies seem to have the subtler warning signs though males often have the kind of heart attacks you see in the films. But, either gender CAN have any signs or symptoms.

These subtler signs, which include jaw achiness, nausea, shortness of breath and excessive fatigue, are more likely to get described away. "My jaw hurt mainly because my lunchtime sandwich was on whole-grain bread and I needed to chew very hard," or, while clutching their stomach, "I probably should not have had that extra piece of pizza." "Half of women don't have chest pain at all," states Kathy Magliato, a heart physician at California's St. John's Health Center. Add all the little indicators and symptoms to each other and pay attention to your entire body.
Surely, both men and women could experience the "grab-your-chest-and-fall-down-gasping" type of cardiac event but now you fully understand that isn't the only way.

Myth #4: If my sugar level is in check, Diabetes is just not a heart risk.

Though continuing to keep your blood sugar level with a normal range (80 ml-120 ml) helps keep you healthier, just having the added blood sugar in your system takes its toll on arterial blood vessels. You'll need performing exercises and eating healthier to help take control of your diabetes, bear in mind to measure your blood pressure level and cholesterol levels, too.

Myth #5: My medical doctor would order tests if I were at risk for cardiovascular disease.

Typically, most of us forget to tell the physician the little pains we feel. The medical professionals, with no knowledge of the various things we think as insignificant, might pass over heart tests.

"Mammograms and Colonoscopies are regularly recommended," says Merdod Ghafouri, a cardiologist at Inova Fairfax Clinic in Virginia, [3] "and are important, but heart tests typically are not regularly conducted." A heart scan can discover plaque build-up within the arterial blood vessels before you even know you have a problem.

Do you have the oil pressure and transmission liquid examined in your car/truck? Have other precautionary repair done? Shouldn't your only heart have as much consideration as your automobile?

Links to additional information about heart disease:

- [1] Family Doctor by American Academy of Family Physicians features honest health and fitness data and resources for patients. They have a good guide covering blood cholesterol and arteries

- [2] Mediterranean Recipes is a free site managed by Trisha that gives her cooking interest to help people discover how to make healthy meals to avoid heart diseases. She provides a nice easy heart healthy recipes section

- [3] Health Central is considered the most trusted sources of health related information and facts and up to date news that include a doctor-authorized health encyclopedia of health issues and conditions. They have a good write-up about six steps to a better heart.

I remember when I went to school --- some of us walked; some of us had a ride. To that one-room school house upon a hill went Carl, Betty Lou and Shirley.
Our one teacher had 40 students; her monthly wage was $60. She taught eight grades from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., then banked the fire and swept the floor. Her subjects were not just two or three, she taught them all from A to Z and then she taught us how to spell in the one-room school we loved so well. Seated two in a seat, our faces red, we tried to grasp what the teacher said.
Lunch was as homemade sandwich or two --- no cafeteria to serve hot stew. We needed no gym to make us strong, the two-mile walk home was plenty long.
I'm told kids are learning more today from specialized teachers with higher pay; but I remember that one-room school where we all were taught the Golden Rule.

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of this advice!

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, write 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED,' in the place where your signature normally is placed.

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.

3. Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a Post Office Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a P.O. Box, use your work address. Never have your Social Security Number printed on your checks. You can add it later if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone has access to it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. (In case you did not know, most modern copy machines have a hard drive that records a copy of everything that is copied on the machine. So, it is best if you do this with you own scanner at home or have a GOOD friend with a scanner do it for you.) Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.

I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards, etc.

Unfortunately, I have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.

But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. This is the reason for the photocopy of both sides of your credit cards and documents.

6. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But here's what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)

7. Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name.

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by telephone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away (someone turned it in).

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:

1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
3.) Trans Union: 1-800-680 7289
4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271