Snow starts a flurry of calls about charity ride

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NASCAR and snowmobile enthusiasts alike will gather in Greenville on Saturday for the 10th edition of the Ricky Craven Snowmobile Ride for Charity.

What a difference the recent snow makes.

“[Registration] hasn’t gone as quick [as past years] because of no snow,” said ride organizer Nancy Craven, the former NASCAR Nextel Cup driver’s mother. “But now I’m getting calls. I had 16 calls on my answering machine when I got home tonight.”

Over the past 10 years, the ride has raised more than $1.1 million, including $135,000 last year and a record $253,500 in 2004.

“It’s such a good feeling, just to realize what we’re doing for someone, and we’re having fun doing it,” Nancy Craven said.

Not that there’s not a lot of work involved: As soon as this year’s ride is completed, Nancy Craven will begin planning for the 2008 ride.

“It’s like a wedding,” she said. “I work all year on it and [the actual ride] is my final day.”

For $125, snowmobile riders will receive a credential that lets them into Greenville High School and out on the course for the ride, and provides them coffee and donuts, a goody bag and a post-ride lunch. Ricky Craven will speak to attendees after lunch, sign autographs and gifts will be given out.

Nancy Craven said that after waiting nervously for snow a year ago, she was confident that riders would love the ride planned for this year.

“Last year we went toward Monson because there was a railroad bed that they had kept groomed. I was really worried,” she said. “But we’ve been blessed with [snow this year] and I think it’s going to stay.”

The result: A 40- to 50-mile circuit ride is planned, rather than an out-and-back ride dictated by snow conditions.

The ride benefits the Children’s Miracle Network, Give Kids the World, the National Marrow Donor Program, Make-A-Wish and the Travis Roy Foundation.

Nancy Craven said that with just days remaining until this year’s ride, interested snowmobilers need not call to register.

“A lot of people are trying to register, but at this late date they can just come up to [Greenville High School] and see me and register right there,” she said.

Nancy Craven said she’d be at the school at about 6 a.m. on Saturday to accommodate those looking to register. The ride will begin at about 8:30 a.m.

Trucks on ice

At the risk of offending my friends in Aroostook County, I was among those who were amazed to see the scene depicted in Monday’s editions of the BDN.

Mushers staged a race that began on Eagle Lake, and in the background, three trucks – including one hauling a huge trailer – were clearly visible.

This is the same lake, by the way, where two locals dunked their pickups into 50 feet of water just a week ago.

You may think that would send a crystal-clear message to others.

Apparently, you’d be wrong.

Driving trucks on frozen lakes, of course, is not a uniquely Aroostook County phenomenon. The same photo could have been taken anywhere in Maine at this time of year.

Mainers love their ice. And they love to get out to their ice-fishing (or mushing) grounds in their trucks.

Unfortunately, no matter how many people die (or barely escape dying) while driving large vehicles on unexpectedly thin ice, there’s still a line of trucks waiting their turn to drive onto the lake the next week.

And unfortunately, no matter how much the media covers tragedies and near-tragedies, and warns of the danger, there’s a sizeable part of the population that barges onward, figuring that they’re not making the same mistakes “the other guy” did.

CCA chapter to meet

Back in December Ian Burnes, the executive director of Coastal Conservation Association Maine, headed to Bangor to meet with a group interested in starting up a Down East chapter.

At that meeting, a number of issues were tossed around, and attendees seemed to agree that further work toward establishing that chapter would be worthwhile.

Before real conservation work can proceed, however, the fledgling chapter needs to be organized.

That organizational process will continue tonight, as Burnes and CCA Maine hold another meeting at the Sea Dog Brewing Company in Bangor. The meeting is set for 6 p.m. in the River Driver’s room.

Burnes has said that adding a unified local and statewide voice to the discussion of regional and national coastal conservation issues can have a huge impact.

The CCA is a national group consisting of 15 state chapters. Its stated mission is to advise and educate the public on conservation of marine resources while conserving, promoting and enhancing the present and future availability of coastal resources for the benefit and enjoyment of the general public.

Recreational saltwater anglers interested in learning more about CCA and helping form the Down East chapter are invited to attend the meeting.

Princeton dinner on tap

The Princeton Rod & Gun Club will hold a fund-raising dinner for the Greenland Point conservation school on Feb. 3.

The roast beef dinner will be served at 5 p.m., and a Scottish auction will follow.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.