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Show Standard-Exarmner MORIZONS ay. ‘Grey Avengers’fiction but has point Author tackles topic of crime against seniors IN YOUR PRIME | Bard Lindeman How angry and upset are you over violent rime in your neighborhood? Your city? Your Tribune Media Services nation? Are you provoked to the degree that you could pick up a weapon yourself? — and join a group ofvigilantes? Author Marvin Karlins, 53, a psychologist, essential point. college instructor and independent business consultant, believes it’s possible, not probable, that senior Americans — say, veterans of the Korean War — could band together to In effect, it asks: Who is going to ride to the rescue of the senior adult? Earlier this year, the American Association of Retired take revenge for the incessant, often cruel in- which showed 34 percent — more than a third — ofall those 75 and older “are highly justices heaped upon aged women and men. Theresult of his disgust and outrage is a thin volume titled: “The Grey Avengers” (Gollehon Books, $22) and thejacket copy says it all: “A retired militaryintelligence officer puts his skills back to work, and his squadron back together, to rid the nation of the scum who prey on the elderly.” In what now seems like another life I was a police reporter for a New York City newspaper hanging around precinct houses and detective squad rooms in Brooklyn. Mybest pal at the time was a lieutenant who headed a homicide squad. This was the mid-1950s and while I no longer pretend to have any exper- women in their 70s and 80s then set fire to their beds t cover all evidence of his crime.” “Gruesomecrimes terrorized a communi ty.” was the subhead under a four- cohen story heralding the capture of a handyman Edwin Kaprat, 29, for the four murders in Brooksville, Fla., a “retirement community” Persons (AARP) released results of a survey vulnerable to fraud,” because “they are more trusting ... (and as such) easy targets, (moreover) the scam artists know it. Speaking for the AARP, board member Jack Perkins explained that “Consumer fraud costs American consumers $100 billion a year -- and much of it comes from the pockets of older people on fixed incomes.” Yes, I thought, the victims of that ogre and real estate swindler Charles F. Keating understand too well just what Perkins is saying for the record. Yet, the threat to the senior pocketbook is count, carried in The New York Times said the slayings “spread panic” and “many elderly there are two homicides, but the violence takes place, by and large, out ofsight. In fact, both scoundrels are killed in what are made to seem accidents. The actual weapon is an automobile. Thus, the reader is spared gore and other unpleasantness. In a telephone interview, Karlins explained that he didn’t want “Grey Avengers” to be turned into a screenplay that Arnold Schwarzenegger or some other karate-chopper could exploit. not nearly as well-crafted and compelling as it should have been. Too much ofthe narrative reads like the hyperbolic jacket copy (“fighters past their prime, but tireless and tough, rise up from within their own ranks and strike was one from Florida that described “a vicious serial killer who preys on elderly widows living alone.” This Miami Herald story said four times, back at those why preyon their kind.”) None- within just seven weeks, the killer “slipped in- dumbest idea you've ever heard about? Write please to: Posse c/o Bard Lindeman, 3374 Az- theless, it must be said this unheralded book, to homes where he assaulted and murdered tec Road, Doraville, GA 30340. nior Americans. Among the worst examples Howard News Service Q. Myproblem is with “Where is he at?” You hear this more and more. Is it becoming acceptable usage? — Katherine H. A. No. it’s wrong — hasbeen, is, and will continue to be. Not, as A. That’s one of the mysteries wrong to end a sentence with a no source or explanation, so they preposition, she was wrong. Q. I read about somebodyventing his spleen. How do you do that? — Armando M. A. One definition of spleen is ill temper. and one definition of venting is releasing or discharging. So finally surmised that it refers to a eration. “Hell in a handbasket”certainly is more memorable than, need is “Where is he?” I have to make this point repeatedly, because venting one’s spleen means unload- say. “perdition in a briefcase.” so manypeople were misinformed back in their formative years, but ly. In short, blowing one’s stack. the fact remains that when a preposition is needed at the end of a sentence, there’s no reason not to use end a sentence with a preposition, some mistakenlybelieve, because it ends with a preposition, but because there’s no earthly reason for the preposition to be there. All you person “already so shattered that someone had to pick up the pieces before sending him, her or it on their way.” The phrase. they noted, owes some of its popularity to allit- ing one’s ill temper. often forcefulPeople who aretold it’s all right to for example. often vent their spleens on those who told ‘em. Q. A character in a comic strip told someone “There ain't nothin’ you could do to phase me!” Let's keep trying to work on correct us- age. even in the comics.’ ng @%@ 800dness But. first. find a frog stone 50%OFF | Davis County’s Favorite Boutique With A Great Location. While Space Lasts e¢ Earn Extra Money! © Sell Your Crafts! ¢ Ensure Your Holiday Space Now! 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If she said it’s ” as ocnpps . - contain secrets. which the spint your viewon crime vs. the aging American? Have you been a recent victim of a violent crime? ... or a scam? Can you envision a Q. Could you give me the derivation and meaning of “going to hell in a handbasket”? — Charles C. By LYDEL SIMS 2.95 ucky. and should be kept. for they ran It is OK to = sentence with preposition However, the word often is unneeded § Press Wisdom next-best thing to a real frog. she says. 18 a frog stone. “Theseare once a television cop working to keep San Francisco safe, has purchased an option on “Grey Avengers.” Meaning Malden and friends have a year in which to raise money in order to make a movie — a film in which “the classic underdog battle” (scum vs. older Amenica) is played out on the big screen. “Grey Avengers” is a good cop story, yet » Nehoned in "tGar- : Socksanting Collec- Running In truth, Karlins confided, Karl Malden, far outweighed by the far too commonthreat to life. 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