Lake Country This Month

Page 2A • FREEMAN & ENTERPRISE LAKE COUNTRY September 2016 Circulation Dept. To reach the Circulation Department call 542-2501 or go to www.gmtoday.com/wfhelp. MANAGEMENT Bill Yorth - Publisher & Editor-in-Chief..513-2671 byorth@conleynet.com Katherine Michalets - Managing Editor..513-2644 kmichalets@conleynet.com Jim Baumgart - Freeman Group Ad Director 513-2621 jbaumgart@conleynet.com Tim Haffemann - Circulation Director....513-2640 thaffemann@conleynet.com Patricia Scheel - Prepress Manager.....513-2690 pscheel@conleynet.com NEWS DEPARTMENT Local News - Katherine Michalets.........513-2657 kmichalets@conleynet.com Sports - Pat Neumuth............................513-2667 pneumuth@conleynet.com Death Notices - Shana Duffy................513-2618 obits@conleynet.com Newsroom Fax.............................(262) 542-8259 CLASSIFIEDS: 542-2211 Hours: M -F 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. PHOTO REPRINTS Color reprints are $25 each. 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To subscribe to the daily Freeman or weekly Enterprise, call 542-2500 Freeman subscription rates • By in-county mail 13 weeks...........$36 26 weeks...........$66 52 weeks.........$120 • Out-of-county mail 13 weeks...........$51 26 weeks............$99 52 weeks..........$192 Easy buy .....$10 a month with credit card Electronic edition ......$10 a month with credit card & ENTERPRISE Enterprise subscription rates • Oconomowoc ZIP code 6 months.....$21.00 1 year..........$35.00 2 years........$68.00 • Ashippun, Ixonia, Neosho, Rubicon, Okauchee, Watertown and Sullivan ZIP codes and other Waukesha County addresses 6 months.....$25.00 1 year..........$43.00 2 years........$84.00 • All other addresses 6 months.....$29.00 1 year..........$51.00 2 years........$99.00 OPEN M–TH 9–5:30 FRI 9–8:00 SAT 9–3:00 Little Swiss Clock Shop 270 W. Main Street • Downtown Waukesha 262-547-2111 www.LittleSwissClockShop.com 250939019 whimsical CLOCKS! fun, witty See Them All! BUTTERFLY, ROOSTER, SEA HORSE, GIRAFFE, BULL DOG, PINK POODLE, HORSE AND MORE! OPEN FRI. TIL 8PM $ 68 .00 each SATURDAY, OCT. 1st 4 pm until 10 pm Visit 20 Galleries and 175 artists! 248914002 251203012 ✦ Specializing in Diamonds & Fine Jewelry ✦ Expert Repair & Custom Design ✦ Appraisals by Graduate Gemologist 234 W. Main Street, Suite 4, Waukesha, WI 53186 262-547-7206 www.krumrichsjewelers.com Donna Krumrich-Manke Tues/Wed 9:30am-5:30pm Thurs/Fri 9:30am-7:00pm Sat 9:30am-3:00pm Sun/Mon Closed Submitted photo Robynn Horner, ULS Spanish teacher; and Jen Putnam, ULS sixth- grade teacher, in Havana, Cuba. University Lake School parents, alumni visit Cuba HARTLAND — The restoration of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States last year paved the way for a group of University Lake School parents and alumni to visit the country recently ULS Spanish teachers Ann Mocchi and Robynn Horner and sixth-grade teacher Jen Putnam led a group of 22 current ULS parents and recent alumni on a tour of Cuba. The tour was run under the auspices of an educational people- to-people visa and the itinerary included meetings with artists, musicians, community organizers and naturalists. "This trip enabled us to pierce the mystique that surrounds our forbidden neighbor and what we found was a gentle, vibrant culture — despite obvious hardships," Horner said. "I was sur- prised by the eagerness and warmth by which we, as U.S. citi- zens, were received by Cuban people." It also served as a scouting trip, as ULS plans to offer Upper School students the opportunity to visit Cuba in the spring as an intersession program. The program provides a concentrated, week-long study of a topic. Typically, there are multiple travel- abroad courses offered during intersession with at least one Spanish-speaking country option. ULS requires Spanish class starting in JK3 through 12th grade. "An intersession trip to Cuba offers an exceptional learning opportunity for our students," Head of School Ron Smyczek said. "Not only will our students practice their Spanish skills, they will experience history in the making as the barriers between Cuba and the United States continue to break down. " Among the goals for the intersession program are helping stu- dents learn about the international perception of Americans, build empathy, exposure to those with less wealth and the privi- leges of living in the United States. "Cuba is confounding and beautiful, at times tragic, often bewildering," said Mocchi. "Even as all of our questions were answered by our Cuban guide, more questions bubbled to the surface. "I look forward to bringing a group of ULS students to Cuba in the spring so they, too, have a glimpse of what it means to live in a communist country in the 21st century." — Lauren Anderson, Freeman Staff By Chris Bennett Special to The Freeman WAUKESHA — It is human nature to believe the unthinkable will never happen to us or our loved ones. No one we know will fall victim to a scam that robs them of their hard-earned money — especially not our grandma, grand- pa or our elderly parents. The phenomenon is known as optimism bias, and it is the idea that others are more vulnerable to schemes and scams and harm than we are. Common thinking states that lit- tle old ladies knitting in a nursing home, or the elderly gentleman feeding pigeons in the park are each too naive to avoid losing their money to a trickster. As the Better Business Bureau recently learned, common thinking is wrong. "Seniors are doing their home- work to become educated about con artists and their tactics," said Lisa Schiller, director of Investigations and Media Relations for the Better Business Bureau in Wisconsin. "Even more surprising, young peo- ple — despite their tech-savvy nature — are more vulnerable to scams than seniors." Put simply, the members of the generation that is the richest in human history know how to keep the money they amassed over the last 40 to 50 years of their working lives. According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 10,000 baby boomers will turn 65 today. Anoth- er 10,000 will cross that threshold every day through 2030. Members of the baby boom are loosely defined as those born following World War II — between 1946 and 1964. What that generation is going through is already being referred to as "The Great Wealth Transfer." In 2014 the consulting firm Accen- ture released the results of a study that estimates roughly $30 trillion will be transferred by baby boomers to younger generations over the next few decades. Seniors targeted Seniors are smarter, but are still targets. The FBI lists a number of reasons why seniors and their fam- ilies must remain vigilant to scam artists. Senior citizens typically have a nest egg, own their home or have excellent credit, which makes them attractive targets. According to the FBI, those who grew up in the 1930s and 1940s were raised to be polite and trusting. Con artists exploit this by working to keep seniors on the phone, knowing it is difficult for their targets to hang up or say "No." Schiller, who is based in Milwau- kee, said some of the more common senior scams she's seen and that are being perpetrated on the elderly right now are the grandparent scam, computer tech scam and var- ious investment scams. In the grandparent scam a con artist calls a senior target and claims to be a grandchild in need of money. The con artist talks until the senior says the name of a grandchild. The swindler then claims to be that grandchild and claims to be in distress and in need of cash. The swindler then asks for pay- ment through an untraceable method — Western Union, Money- Gram, Money Pak or otherwise. In the computer tech scam, swindlers call claiming to be from Microsoft or another company's tech support department. The con artist informs the senior his or her computer is infected with a virus and offers to fix it remotely, for a fee. Instead, the con artist gains remote control access of the com- puter, making the computer pro- grams inaccessible. Investment scams range from Bernie Madoff-like pyramid schemes to investments promising quick and plentiful returns, or advance-fee schemes and foreign letter fraud schemes. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. According to the FBI, seniors are also suscep- tible to scams that promise the Fountain of Youth in the form of increased cognitive function, virili- ty, physical conditioning and more. The FBI also said seniors are most likely to not report the crime out of a feeling of shame, and often make poor witnesses when they do contact authorities due to the effects of age on memory. Schiller strongly urges seniors be registered on any state and nation- al Do Not Call lists. Schiller said reporting any fraud to the BBB and to the local police department is of utmost importance. It is also impor- tant to report any attempts some- one might make to initiate a fraud. "Reporting the situation to the proper authorities and agencies can prevent others from losing money and can help start an inves- tigation into the scam," Schiller said. "It will prompt agencies to properly alert others and work toward getting the scheme shut down." Protect yourself from being ripped off Seniors increasingly savvy to scams

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