There is little consensus on what constitutes safe

There is little consensus on what constitutes safe cholesterol levels for most people. Perhaps you saw the study that came out within the last year, which discovered that people with higher cholesterol (not sky-high, but at the levels where most doctors would prescribe statins) actually live LONGER than people with low cholesterol. Likewise, people who are slightly heavy live longer than people who are thin. The current conventional "wisdom" will be mocked in future decades, the way we are horrified at the then-common practice of bleeding patients to cure infections.

In fact, I know someone who tells her older female patients she wants them to have cholesterol at a minimum of 180, to protect against Alzheimer's.

Just as an anecdotal story, I know someone who was prescribed blood pressure meds and statins in her early 70's. They made her feel rotten so she threw them out. Her doctor warned her that she would suffer dire consequences. She lived to be 91, with all her marbles to the end -- and in fact outlived her doctor, who was much younger than she.