By: Vincent Marini (Moorings)

I was cleaning out files last week and came across “The Little Golden Book of Rules,” by Dale Carnegie. It was printed in 1959.

Times change, people certainly change, however, basic rules of decorum do not change nor should they. The foundation of the Dale Carnegie Institute was constructed with 2 agendas: “How To Win Friends And Influence People” and “How To Stop Worrying And Start Living.”

Mr. Carnegie suggested the following Fundamental Techniques in Handling People; Don’t criticize, condemn or complain. Give honest, sincere appreciation.

Arouse in the other person an eager want.

And 6 Ways To Make People Like You;

*Become genuinely interested in other people.

* Smile.

* Remember that a person’s name is to them the sweetest and most important sound.

*BE A GOOD LISTENER -Encourage others to talk about themselves.

*Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.

* Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely. He also lists his 12 commandments for winning people to your way of thinking:

*The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.

*Show respect for the other person’s opinion; never tell a person they are wrong.

* If you are wrong, admit it.

* Begin a conversation in a friendly way.

* Get the other person to say “yes, yes.”

* Let the other person do a great deal of talking.

* Let the other person feel the idea is his idea.

* Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.

* Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.

* Appeal to the nobler motives.

* Dramatize your ideas.

* Throw down a challenge.

Dale Carnegie was an American writer, lecturer and developer of famous courses in self improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking and interpersonal skills. Today, Dale Carnegie Training is represented in all 50 states and in 90 countries. More than 2700 teachers present Dale Carnegie courses in over 25 languages.

Three of Dale Carnegie’s most famous quotes are:

“Develop success from failure – discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”

“It isn’t what you have, or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy – It’s what you are thinking about.”

“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

Applying Dale Carnegie rules and or principles in our lives requires attention to detail and the latter mandates being A GOOD LISTENER.

Stay tuned, listen up; in next month’s issue of Aberdeen Times, we will discuss Dale Carnegie’s 7 Rules For Making Your Home Life Happier and his advice on How To Stop Worrying and Start Living.

Dr. Stuart Berger was diagnosed with a brain tumor in August of 2015 and as a result, had surgery to remove the tumor. The road to recover was nothing but lengthy, with its share of unexpected twists and turns. A three week stay in UF Health Jacksonville intensive care, a momentary inpatient rehab stay, and 2-3 months of outpatient rehab would be a true test of will and determination towards recovery.

After having the brain tumor removed, Dr. Berger developed memory loss, had difficulty paying attention, difficulty holding conversations with friends and family, decreased balance, strength, and endurance of his legs and arms. Dr. Berger participated in outpatient rehab services utilizing speech, occupational, and physical therapy. His personal goals were to return to the sport of golf and improve his short term memory. He was unwavering and diligent with his home program for each service and persevered to get to where he is today. Rehabilitation was not an easy task, but he rarely missed an appointment and would always come into the clinic with a smile, anticipating the next challenge.

Dr. Berger would never complain about challenging tasks and had the drive to continue even if he was frustrated. He exceeded all expectation for recovery and met all the therapy goals that were set for him.

Congratulation to Dr: Stuart Berger for graduating from Rehab Services!

Heather Barksdale, DPT, PT Sarah Mersch, MOT, OTR/L Christina Hampton, DPT, PT Stephanie Davis, MS, CCC-SLP

The New York Times started in 1851 and for 145 years it only had its print edition. When, in 1996, something called the “internet” starts to be used by the general public and the Times realized that it needed to be there as well. So it set up a website. Over the next 10 years, the paper would see a decrease in circulation as more people got their news online. In 2006 the Times reduced the size of the paper by 6” to save $12 million per year.

After 26 years of print-only publication, the Aberdeen Times has decided it is time to launch its own web site. This will allow you to read the Aberdeen Times wherever you are whether it is on your patio over a cup of coffee, up north during the summer or half way across the world while you are traveling.

With the gracious help of Philip Levine (South Florida Web Advisors), the Aberdeen Times is ready to enter the 21st century. On our new website you will be able to browse articles by community / column, view our advertisers’ directory, find out who writes the article for your community, and submit feedback / questions and perform a myriad of functions.

Philip worked with the staff of the Aberdeen Times to make sure we have a website that shines. Some of his local clients include the Aberdeen POA, Ashford Green HOA and COBWRA in addition to many other local organizations and businesses.

We look forward to this new era for the Aberdeen Times.

Please visit the new website today at http://aberdeentimes.org/.

Aberdeen Times Board of Directors

By: Dr. Patricia Williams (Muirhead)

I was shocked but not surprised when I received my auto insurance renewal notice. No accidents, no tickets and yet the premium was 25% higher. This is typical of most insurance companies. They reward good driving records with higher premiums. When you call and ask them why, their stock answer is, “our costs have risen.” If you believe this, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

Unless a premium is lower (and once this actu-ally did happen), anytime I receive an auto or home insurance renewal notice, I submit it to various agen-cies for the lowest bid. Currently, I work with 4 agen-cies. One of the agents who knows me well, will ac-tually shop the insurance policy before sending me the renewal notice advising me that such-and-such company will offer me a lower premium than the company I’m currently with.

This morning I contacted the 4 agencies to ask for an auto insurance quote. All 4 came in with quotes 25% to 27% lower than my current policy. Ironically, 2 of 4 quotes were from the same company I am with now.

Following are other lessons I learned that are part of the Insurance game.

1. Never leave your credit card on file with an insurance company. They will charge your card for the renewal premium and send you the receipt as a fait accompli.

2. Don’t sign up with a company that offers only 6-month policies. My experience is that for the second 6 months of the year, your auto insurance premium will be significantly higher. Go with a company that offers a 12-month insurance policy.

3. Check for duplicate coverage. For example, if your auto manufacturer or AAA covers towing charges, you can decline your insurer’s coverage for this service.

4. Check for unnecessary coverage. The agent for my new policy reviewed my old policy to make sure I would have equivalent coverage. She noticed I had been paying for coverage from work loss. Very interesting since my husband and I are both retired.

5. Ask your insurer if you can lower the premium by reducing coverage on certain items. For ex-ample, you might have “stacked” coverage on un-insured motorists. What does this mean? Let’s say you insure 2 vehicles and you have coverage if hit by an uninsured motorist of $250,000 each person and $500,000 each accident. If your insurance is “non-stacked” the coverage is as specified. If it is “stacked” and you’re insuring 2 cars, this increases the coverage to $500,000 each person (2 x $250,000) and $1,000,000 (2 x $500,000) each accident. You pay a higher premium for “stacked” insurance.

6. If you are a good driver and have not had any claims within the past few years, you might consider increasing your deductible (for example, from $500 to $1,000). This will lower your premium.

The take-away message: Treat insurance policies the same way you would if you purchase a car, a home or a pair of jeans. Shop around for the best deal.

On May 1, 1960, Francis Gary Powers piloted a U-2 spy plane on a mission planned by the Central Intelligence Agency to assess Soviet military strength before an east-west summit conference scheduled to be held in Paris. The 9-hour flight plan had Powers taking off from Peshawar, Pakistan, to Bodo, Norway, which included a 2,900 mile incursion into Soviet airspace. Russian ground radar system began tracking the U-2 15 miles before it even reached the Soviet border with Afghanistan. Thirteen MIG-19 Russian fighters were scrambled to intercept the U-2, but they were unable to come close in altitude because it was flying 70,500 feet above the Ural Mountains.

A salvo of 3 surface-to-air missiles fired from the ground battery produced a fiery display that prompted cheers from the ground crew. One missile had exploded just behind Power’s plane. The wings ripped off the plane causing it to spin out of control. Powers bailed out and was captured. He confessed and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In his prison journal, Powers wrote: “A tremendous orange flash lit the cockpit and the sky. I remember saying to myself, maybe aloud, I don’t know, Good Lord, I’ve had it now.”

What was the secret that enabled the Soviets to down a 13-mile high U-2 “spy-in-the-sky”? The secret was a device within the missile that contained a tiny radio transmitter and receiver that allowed the missile to explode in the proximity of the target rather than requiring the direct hit. The device is called proximity fuze. A fuze is a device used to detonate an explosive charge in an artillery shell, a missile, or projectile.  The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) invented the concept of the proximity fuze, designed  it, constructed prototypes, and field test them. The design proposal faced many technical challenges: one was that the fuze components had to be ultra-rugged enough to withstand the crushing acceleration force of being fired from a gun. The laboratory integrated the technical efforts of many contractors during its production and gave guidance to the Navy, Army, and England for its deployment.

The first successful use of the proximity fuze in combat occurred on January 5, 1943 just south of Guadalcanal, when two Japanese dive bombers attacked the light cruiser USS HELENA (CL-50). Both were shot do by 5-inch (diameter) projectiles armed with the proximity fuze. Notable achievement of the fuze included (1) defense from Japanese kamikaze attacks in the South Pacific (2) neutralizing the German V-1 buzz bomb attack on England, and (3) killing Germans on the ground during the Battle of the Bulge in Dec. 1944. General George Patton remarked: “The new shell with the funny fuze is devastating.

How did the secret of the proximity fuze get into the hands of the Russians? American spy Julius Rosenberg, better known for his theft of the atomic bomb secrets, cleverly smuggled it out of the Emerson Electronics plant where he worked as an inspector for the Army Signal Corps. Emerson was contracted by JHU/ APL for manufacturing the fuze. Rosenberg handed the proximity fuze in a package over to his Russian contact, Aleksandr Feklisov, as a Christmas present in 1944. Feklisov, in turn, handed Rosenberg a package containing an Omega stainless steel watch for him, a crocodile handbag for his wife, Ethel, and a teddy bear for their only son at the time, Michael.

The U-2 incident and capture of Powers was a propaganda coup for the Soviets. At first the U.S. government tried to cover up the plane’s mission. However, it was forced to admit its military nature when the Soviets revealed the U-2’s intact remains and the captured pilot as well as photos of military bases in Russia taken by the U-2. The result was that the summit meeting was canceled between Soviet Premier Krushchev and President Eisenhower.

In 1962, two years after the U-2 was downed, Powers was released in a prisoner exchange for Colonel Abel, a Soviet spy, on the Glenicke Bridge in Berlin. This episode was dramatized in Steven Spielberg’s movie “Bridge of Spies.”

Unlike radar and the atomic bomb, the proximity fuze was truly the number one secret weapon of World War II. The story of the proximity fuze is one of the great classic achievements of America. It was placed in combat in less than one year from the time APL was tasked to develop it. The fact that the fuze was perfected and available by the time it was needed was the crowning achievement of APL’s contribution. [I retired as Principal Staff from the Laboratory after 25 years of service, but the work on the proximity fuze predated my stay.]

Yet, after the information on the proximity fuze became declassified, few people ever heard of it. Generals, politicians, and historians have described World War II in profuse detail but hardly mentioning the proximity fuze.

The ironic backlash to the success of the American secret proximity fuze is that it led to the destruction of the U-2 spy plane by the Russians in 1960, an event that occurred 17 years after the first successful combat use of the fuze in 1943.

Note: Major source of information is an article, A “Bridge of Spies Back Story,” appearing in the New York Times, Nov. 26, 2015.

This has been a very difficult time for me. My husband of 56 years, Stan Hyman, passed away. He was a “most happy fella” and a man with a love of people and animals. I thank, with my whole heart, all my friends and neighbors who have been there for me and my family.

Now for Sterling news: Happy Birthday to Ruth Rabinowitz, Sheila Hyman (me), Carol Finkel and Dot Shaker. We are not all the same age, just the same month.

I am sorry to report that Fran and Robert Lovett lost Fran’s father. They had to fly north for burial, but they are back at home now. I think we have had enough sadness in our community. We now need some happy news. If you have any happy news (or news) kindly e-mail me at [email protected].

A well-rounded physical-activity program that combines strength and weight-resistance training with aerobic activity is good for your heart and your overall health. Strength training gets results fast–do it twice a week for a few weeks and you’ll start to see and feel your body change, compared with three times a week with aerobics. Working out with weights can also reduce blood pressure, improve insulin risk of falls. Your quality of life will improve and you will be able to live independently for longer.

“The idea that people with certain heart conditions should completely avoid weight training is false,” says Kerry Stewart, director of clinical and research exercise physiology at Johns Hopkins University. “Exercise is for everybody. If you can do aerobic activity, you should be able to do resistance (weight) training.”

Strength training strengthens the heart as well as other muscles. The biggest benefit of strength training is that it dramatically increases muscle mass, which aerobic activity does not do. More muscle mass makes you stronger and increases your basal metabolic rate. Muscle cells, even at rest, burn more calories than fat cells.

Muscle strengthening can help prevent and limit heart disease by reducing some risk factors. There is good evidence that resistance training reduces total body fat. Weight training increase lean muscle mass and maintains body strength, so you’re able to do more or perform higher levels of aerobic activity. Multiple studies show that strength training lowers blood pressure an average 3mm of mercury, which is enough to reduce your risk of a stroke or of dying of a heart attack. Blood pressure does increase slightly just as you lift a weight, but this fleeting stress on the heart is less than it would be with aerobic activity, Stewart says. A bigger metabolic engine allows you to process glucose better or, if you have diabetes, to control blood sugar levels.

Research shows that muscle strengthening will protect you against bone loss and reduce your risk of dying from all causes. “Muscle strengthening helps prevent frailty and falls,” says Stewart. “Most people think weak bones cause fractures, but actually, its falls.” Weight training can help prevent falls and improve bone mineral density so that your bones are less susceptible to osteoporosis.

Resistance training can help improve your quality of life and allow you to maintain your independence. Stronger muscles, for example, will make it easier to climb stairs or lift a bag of groceries.

To maintain your health, exercise guidelines suggest you do two days of strength training each week, in addition to moderate aerobic activity for 30 minutes, five days a week. A regular regimen of 8 to 10 resistance exercises using the major muscle groups, on two nonconsecutive days, allows time for your muscles to adapt, which reduces the potential for excessive muscle soreness and injury. Once you start lifting weights, you will gain self-confidence and be able – and want – to do even more, Stewart says.

Author: Mark Fuerst is a Brooklyn-based health and medical writer

The American Legion Magazine -Apr. 2011

Pete Adkins is the greatest football coach you’ve never heard of. When I tried to tell that to the people who knew him best, boy, did I get in a lot of trouble. The time was 45 years ago. The place was a town in central Missouri not south of any border called Mexico. The population today is close to what is was (about 11,000) and it once proudly called itself “The Saddle Horse Capitol of the World.”

As sports editor of the Mexico Ledger, I wrote stories, headlines and captions, took photographs, edited my own stories and pasted the offset printing type on the sports page 6 mornings a week. It’s also where I invented my nom de plume: Mexico Moe.

Moe predicted NFL games every Friday and held a contest to see if Mexicoans (that’s what they called themselves) could outguess him. Moe’s post-weekend wrap-up would lament each of his losses squarely blaming a player, coach or referee for his imperfections. Each Mexico Moe story had a picture of me, shot from behind, sitting with my feet stretched high on the desktop, wearing a fedora to hide my head that was turned slightly to the side so my face wasn’t visible but the long stogie in my mouth was. My mother hated that picture.

Mexicoans loved Moe. What I didn’t know was how much they hated me.

Mexico High School was a medium-sized school that played in a conference with many bigger schools. They had talent, a small-town, farm-area attitude of not giving up and wonderful coaching, but couldn’t compete with perennial state champ Jefferson City, which was bigger, badder and coached by Adkins.

As a preview to the Friday night game, I sought out Adkins, got an interview, put together a story and even got a picture of him from his mother, who lived a half- block away from the newspaper office. Yes, Pete Adkins was a born and bred Mexicoan. It was a nice article detailing his many accomplishments, his nice thoughts about Mexico and how we wanted to coach there earlier in his career. He said many complimentary things about the Mexico football team and coaching staff.

What could go wrong? By 8 AM the day of the game, less than 3 hours after Ledgers landed on driveways, I knew. The town hated Adkins with a passion. Many readers called the managing editor to complain and alleged Adkins smacked his players on the helmet when coaching nearby Centralia High School earlier in his career. He’d wanted Mexico, but Mexico proudly wanted no part of him.

In the supermarket later that morning and the football field when I arrived at the game, all my small-town friends turned cold. They pretended not to see me. The supermarket’s owner, whose son was the team’s best lineman, approached me and told me to buy my food quickly and get out of his store.

Jefferson City defeated Mexico that night, but not soundly. The Bulldogs fought proudly and gave the winners a challenge for the first time in 2 decades. As the teams left the field and I went to the Jeff City school bus to interview Adkins after the game, several Mexicoans let me know what they thought of me. At least, I thought I knew.

I found out the whole truth a year later. When I finally got a new job in Bucks County, Pa., the first person I called to tell the good news was a man who was like a father to me in town. His name was Bud Hotop. He was a kind, jovial man who sold insurance. His two sons, Doug and Chris, were among the better players on the team. Bud immediately asked me to come to his office.

I’d never been there before. I’d been the basement in his house on many, many Saturday nights while his children were out roaming the town square. We watched “Mary Tyler Moore” and drank Harvey Wallbangers. For introducing him to HWs, as we called them, Bud would drive me to all the away football and basketball games so that I could claim the driving expense money. Most of Mexico’s road trips were really long and this helped supplement my $105 (pre-tax)-a-week paycheck.

In the office, Bud got right to the point with me. “Remember the weekend of the Jeff City game last year?” he began, “well, you don’t know how close you came …” And his voice trailed off.

“You were going to be tarred and feathered. Really tarred and feathered. I’m not exaggerating. The night after the game there was a quickly called town meeting. It was like a lynch party. Many of them wanted to get you. They finally settled on tar and feathering you. That’s when I got up and spoke. Several of the other football fathers (including the supermarket owner) backed me up and everyone settled down and nothing happened.”

I was so in shock that I’m sure the magnitude of what almost happened never really settled in my mind as Bud was talking. Before it did, he continued. “I’ve lived my entire life in small towns,” Bud continued, “in fact, Mexico is by far the largest town I’ve lived in. And if I learned something about life in a small town it’s that once your name is mud, once you’ve made your way into the gutter, no one gets out. I mean no one. “Until you,” he said. “You are the first person who got a bad, bad reputation in a small town and within a year did so much that the people in this town love you. Many are going to be upset when they hear that you are leaving. I can’t wait to go to the coffee shop tomorrow morning and tell the people who wanted to tar and feather you and see the sad looks on their faces. You earned their trust by writing about their children with warmth and appreciation like we haven’t seen before and we’ll never see again. “You did something I never thought I’d see happen. You should be really proud.”

Bud hit me with a gut punch that almost floored me and followed with a blow to the head that woke me up. Looking back at it I wonder what kind of a reporter I was to not know that I was a) hated so much and b) admired so much. (Aside: I did call Adkins the week after the game and said the Centralia story was a lie that grew out of proportion because he went to Jefferson City instead of Mexico.)

What might have changed the tide was a couple of weeks after the Jeff City loss, Mexico went to Columbia Hickman High School and pulled a major upset. After the game, Hickman students threw eggs at the school bus as it pulled away. I included that in the game story and the headline was: “Mexico upsets Hickman; the yolks on them.”

After I left Mexico, I didn’t go back until a baseball stadiums trip I took with my son in 2006. On our way from St. Louis to Kansas City we spent an afternoon in Mexico. At the office, a football field from the former home of Pete Adkins mother, I stared in awe at the place that hadn’t changed and met the current sport editor who had replaced me 35 years earlier. He told me the stories about all the players and coaches I could remember and some that I didn’t. Bud had moved away about 8 years earlier to live with his older son, and died a couple of years later.

But Chris, who I got named to the All-State team, was managing the Sears store next to the Dairy Queen we’d already chosen for lunch. We stopped by and told Chris the whole story. He’d never heard it. He promised to tell it to his brother and sister and to let them know that for 3 decades I’d carried the goodness of their father within me.

My son and I went to the Dairy Queen, ordered and sat down in a booth opposite each other. A minute later we were both sobbing, just like I am now.

Pete Adkins facts: retired as winningest high school coach in U.S. history with a record of 405- 60-4. Currently he’s eighth all-time. Centralia 51-12-2; Jefferson 341-18-2 from 1958-93 with 14 perfect seasons, one losing season and eight state titles.

Mexico, Mo., facts: Founded as New Mexico in 1836 as a stop for settlers heading to Texas. My boss at The Ledger was Robert M. White, who was MacArthur’s press liaison during WWII, one-time editor of New York Herald Tribune and accompanied Nixon on ground-breaking trip to China. His father said this about the naming of the town: “The first settlers found a wooden sign along the trail. It pointed southwest and on it had been painted Mexico. To avoid unnecessary labor, the sign was left in place. “It was easier to call their town ‘Mexico’ than to take down the old sign.” Let’s talk sports! Contact me at [email protected].