Locals urge community to remember veterans

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Today, I offer two items for your consideration before Memorial Day, which is Monday, May 30.

The first is a message from Amy L. Corbett, regional administrator for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s New England Region, which has been making the e-mail rounds of Bangor International Troop Greeters and, eventually, to us.

The subject is “National Moment of Remembrance.”

Corbett wrote that “on Memorial Day, Americans nationwide will be asked by the president to pause at 3 p.m. local time, wherever they are, for the National Moment of Remembrance that Congress established.”

“This is an act of national unity to honor our nation’s fallen, whose gift is our freedom,” she continued.

“The intent is to put memorial back into Memorial Day. The intent of the National Moment of Remembrance is not to replace existing ceremonies, etc., but to simply have a moment of remembrance.”

The second item is a reminder from World War II veteran Bob Kline of the VetSignia organization that this small group of retirees, with voluntary help and as a service to veterans, are still making shiny, silver, metallic film stickers that honor veterans from WWII to the present.

He wrote that the group now has 33 different stickers that serve as “a distinctive and attractive reminder to all” of a veteran’s service to the country.

VetSignias can be viewed at http://www.vetsignia.org.

They are $4 each or three for $10 and can be requested by writing Kline, Box 382, Blue Bell, Pa. 19422.

You should include your branch of service and war served, expeditionary or peacetime.

You can also call (610) 277-1171 or e-mail bobk.ww2usmc@vetsignia.org for more information.

Today is “to Serve & Protect” day, a day when law enforcement officers, Special Olympics athletes and coaches, and Irving Oil employees will be pumping gas, washing windshields and greeting customers to raise funds for Special Olympics athletes.

Now through Memorial Day, for every gallon of gasoline purchased, Irving will donate 5 cents to the Law Enforcement Torch Run to benefit Special Olympics.

The fund-raiser will be conducted at Irving’s Bluecanoe, Mainway and Big Stop locations in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts to benefit Special Olympics organizations in those states.

Last year, with your help, Irving Oil and law enforcement raised more than $180,000 for Special Olympics through this program, the most successful year to date, according to a release.

People are urged to bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating when they attend a Memorial Day Mass beginning at 8:30 a.m. Monday, May 30, at Mount Pleasant Cemetery on Ohio Street in Bangor.

In case of inclement weather, the Mass will be celebrated at St. Mary’s Church, 768 Ohio St.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

If you have questions, call Jody Chase at St. Mary’s Church, 945-5018.

Linda Colford of the Camden High School Alumni Association, which includes CHS graduates through 1965, reports that the alumni reunion begins with a social hour at 5 p.m. and dinner at 6 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 13, at the American Legion Hall on Limerock Street in Rockland.

Tickets are $22 each and can be obtained by calling Patricia Ayers, 236-3192. The registration deadline is Friday, Aug. 5.

Summer Festival of the Arts is hosting the Artist Showcase Gala at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 2, at the Deck House Restaurant in Southwest Harbor.

Admission is $30, and all proceeds benefit the festival, now in its 27th year offering an intensive, three-week arts camp for children ages 8-16 during July at Mount Desert Island High School.

The fund-raiser is expected to showcase vocalists Liza Rey, Frank Bachman, Rachel Henry and Josh Miller; feature jazz with Shane Ellis and friends; dance with Harold Philbrook, Annie Hewlett and Kim O’Brien; improv with Jennifer Shepard and Larrance Fingerhut; spoken word with Weslea Sidon and Laurie Schreiber; guitarist Bob Bowman, flutist Hawk Henries and a sneak preview of the rock opera “The Forest,” composed and performed by Fox Schwach, David Palazola, Chris Doyle and Wells Bacon.

A cocktail hour, with food donated by area restaurants, a silent and a live auction all will benefit the summer program.

Tickets can be purchased by calling SFOA, 244-3855, or visiting the office between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays at 137 Main St., Southwest Harbor.

More information about the festival can be found at www.sfoamaine.org or by e-mailing info@sfoamain.org.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.