Scroll down to read what's in the news...

Sherborn Council on Aging Serving the needs of senior citizens and their families.          19 Washington Street                     Sherborn, MA. 01770           Phone: 508-651-7858   Fax: 508-651-7871 General Information: coa@sherbornma.org   .

Fiscal Year 2008 Property Tax Exemptions  The Town of Sherborn Board of Assessors has a pamphlet which outlines the eligibility requirements for exemptions from the obligation to pay all or a portion of taxes assessed on property.  Exemptions are granted only for the primary residence, and some exemptions are age dependent or means tested, including surviving spouse, elderly, veteran, blind person and hardship.  For additional information, please contact the Assessors' Office at (508)651-7857 or visit the Assessors" website at http://assessors.sherbornma.org/index.htm .

  Help With Taxes   Free tax-assistance and preparation services are available for low- and middle-income taxpayers, especially those age 60 and older.  This help is available fro AARP Tax-Aide, a program of the AARP Foundation in cooperation with the IRS.  To find a location near you, call 1 (888) 227-7669 or go to www.aarp.org/taxaide

Keep Your Button Batteries and Mercury Thermometers Out of the Trash  Button batteries are used in hearing aids, watches, calculators, cameras, remote controls, and some toys.  They contain either small amounts of mercury, which is highly toxic or silver, which is valuable and therefore should be recycled not thrown in the trash when they are replaced.  The Town of Sherborn has a collection program for button batteries. 

Boxes for collecting them are located at Woodhaven in the Community Room and at the Selectmen’s Office at Town Hall.  For more information on the dangers of mercury, please go to the Recycling Committee’s website, http://recycling.sherbornma.org or call 508-653-8794 to request that the information be mailed to you.

Mercury Thermometer Exchange  Did you know that if you still have mercury thermometers in your home you can bring them to the Selectmen’s Office and receive a free digital thermometer in exchange?  In an effort to prevent disposal of mercury thermometers in the trash, the Wheelabrator Company, which operates the incinerator where Sherborn’s trash is sent for disposal, has implemented this exchange program.  Mercury is highly toxic, and even more so when it is dispersed into the air by incineration.  As good as the “scrubbers” in the smokestacks are, there is still some release of the most toxic form of mercury after incineration.  Therefore, this thermometer exchange program is meant to minimize the possibility of mercury being released into the atmosphere. For more information about mercury go to  http://recycling.sherbornma.org .

Eating Lots of Garlic? Whew!   Consuming large amounts of raw garlic may be good for your heart, but not necessarily  for your social life. So how do we ingest these pungent little bulbs without losing their health benefits or our friends? According to the USDA we should crush them (the bulbs, not our friends) and then bake them slightly.

The Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter claims that "researchers have known for some time that garlic, like its cousin the onion, is a rich source of thiosulfinates. These sulfur compounds, best known for making the eyes water, may lower blood pressure and break up potentially harmful clusters of platelets in the blood stream. To maximize the thiosulfinates from garlic, experts thought you had to eat it raw. After boiling, baking, microwaving both crushed and uncrushed cloves of garlic and evaluating their antiplatelet activity, the scientists learned that lightly cooked, crushed garlic provides most of the health benefits of raw garlic. The only exception was microwaving, which stripped garlic almost entirely of its blood-thinning effects." So garlic lovers of the world, there you have it: healthy hearts and social graces. ~~Sonia Goldsmith      

Senior-Friendly Automobile Features  The American Automobile Association, in conjunction with the National Older Driver Research and Training Center at the University of Florida, has identified more than 30 features on new cars that can be particularly helpful to aging drivers.  These features include: active head restraints, adjustable pedals, power operated seats, large knobs and buttons, large and wide-angle mirrors, moderate step in height, keyless entry  and keyless ignition, brake assist, low trunk height, anti-lock brakes and more.  To view a comprehensive list of features and examples of vehicles with those features visit www.seniordrivers.org .