Public invited to Sunkhaze refuge winter outing

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Perhaps you thought visiting the Sunkhaze Meadows Wildlife Refuge in Milford in the winter, with members of the Friends group, was an annual outing for members only.

If you thought that, you were wrong.

On behalf of The Friends of Sunkhaze Meadows Wildlife Refuge, Janet Alexander invites “nature lovers to explore the refuge with us” beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at the National Fish and Wildlife parking lot, which is located at 1168 Main Street, (Route 2) in Old Town.

From that site, you will “caravan out to the refuge,” Alexander explained. She urges you to bring “snowshoes, skis or boots and join us.”

Alexander pointed out that “if you have been meaning to visit the refuge, and have put it off because you didn’t know how to get there, or didn’t know any trails, now is your chance to visit part of it with people who know.”

She added that “depending on the snow, we will either ski, snowshoe or hike one of the trails out to an observation stand” with the hope that “we will see some wildlife, then we’ll head back for stew and biscuits at a real old-fashioned woods camp.”

Sounds like a great outing and a wonderful way to get to know the refuge and meet some of the folks whose goal it is to help preserve it.

I was very pleased that Marci Brier, assistant field hockey coach for Belfast Area High School, thought to write me about one of the players who’s following in the footsteps of fine young women such as Marci, who played for 33-year head coach Allen Holmes back in the days when I was covering girls’ and women’s sports.

Marci wrote that Kallie Aldus, a junior defensive player for the 2005 Class B State Championship Belfast Lions, “will participate in USA Field Hockey’s Futures Elite Netherlands Tour in April.”

Marci explained that Aldus is just one of 50 U.S. high school players invited, “and the only athlete from Maine.”

“Kallie is considered to be moving up the Olympic pipeline,” Marci added, citing Aldus’ involvement with the program since she was 12, among other notable athletic accomplishments.

But the main reason Marci wrote is to let our readers who believe in supporting the goals and aspirations of young Maine athletes know that “this tour is self-funded.”

“Kallie is currently fundraising with a bottle drive at Waldo Avenue Redemption Center” in Belfast, Marci said, adding that financial donations can be made to KeyBank in the name of Kallie Aldus.

Faced with the prospect of bad weather, The Next Step Domestic Violence Project’s Chocolate Fest with Live and Silent Auction planned for Feb. 12 was postponed.

That favorite, annual fundraiser is now scheduled for 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, at the White Birches in Ellsworth.

Executive director Laurie Fogelman reports “we will still have live music donated by the Fletcher’s Landing Philharmonic, tables full of chocolate, many wonderful things to bid on, including gift certificates, art, practical gifts and jewelry” which, she added is “always practical in my eyes!”

New to the event this year is the live auction with attorney James Collier calling for your bids.

Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children; tickets will be available at the door; and your previously purchased tickets will be honored.

Ruth Sumner White of Bangor is secretary of the Over 50 Brewer High School Class Reunion committee.

That event is Friday, Aug. 18, at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer.

“The purpose of this function is to raise money for scholarships for deserving graduating students” of BHS, she wrote.

Each year, more than 200 people from all across the U.S. “come back to renew old friendships,” White wrote.

And while “some people do keep records of their 50th reunions,” she added, “each year we do have to find a few” former students.

“They do not need to have graduated with the class they started with, only that they did attend” BHS “in a particular year,” she added.

This year, honored guests will be members of the Class of 1946, who will be celebrating their 60th anniversary.

The committee needs help in locating Sister Bernadette Hayden, Ruth Nadeau Cosseboom, Donald Henry Roberts and Arthur Lee Robertson.

If you have information about these individuals, call White at 942-9271; write her at 33 Elm St., Bangor 04401 or e-mail ruth513@yahoo.com.

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