President Ann Cushman of Aroostook County Habitat for Humanity wrote that tickets are on sale for Habitat’s Southern Gospel Benefit Concert beginning at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 10, at Presque Isle Middle School, located at 569 Skyway St., near Northern Maine Airport.

Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door and are available from all ACHH board members, Pieces of Eight the Knitting Store in Presque Isle, York’s Book Store in Houlton, Harvest Market in Fort Fairfield and Caribou One Stop.

Cushman reported “a local group,” High Meadows, “will open the program” and will be followed by New Beginnings of Farmington and Golden Harmony of St. Stephen, New Brunswick.

ACHH is holding the event to raise funds for its next housing project.

Cushman said ACHH “is a nonprofit, Christian ecumenical organization whose mission is to build simple, decent, affordable housing in partnership with those in need.

“The house is sold to the family at no profit and no interest. The mortgages are used to build more homes.”

For information about the work of ACHH or this benefit, call Adam Kohler evenings and weekends at 325-4620.

Charles Ridlon, Maine deputy of the Scottish Rite Valleys in Bangor, Augusta, Rockland, Auburn and Portland, has announced the Scottish Rite Masons are offering $93,000 in scholarships to graduating high school seniors and college students enrolled in an accredited college who have a minimum grade-point average of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale.

To qualify for application, a student must be a child, grandchild, niece or nephew of a Scottish Rite Mason; a member of a youth organization sponsored by the Masonic fraternity; or a graduate of one of the Masonic Learning Centers for Children in Maine.

Members of the Scottish Rite are also eligible.

The application deadline is Monday, April 2.

The scholarships are supported by the Scottish Rite Abbott Scholarship Fund and an endowment of $1.4 million from the estate of the late Bangor attorney and his wife, Arnold and Eleanor Veague.

During the annual meeting of the Scottish Rite Council of Deliberation this June in Augusta, 27 scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $6,500 each will be awarded.

Applications are available from: Guy Chapman, Valley of Bangor, P.O. Box 676, Bangor 04402-0676; Richard Dolby, Valley of Augusta, 317 Water St., P.O. Box 2177, Augusta 04338-2177; C. Herbert Annis, Valley of Rockland, 5 Annis Road, Rockport 04856-5505; Kenneth Richardson, Valley of Androscoggin, 21 Allen Ave., Lewiston 04240-4842; and Bradford Blake, Valley of Portland, 415 Congress St., Portland 04101-3500.

Applications also are available at www.supremecouncil.org by clicking on the “Abbott Scholarship” box.

For information, call Chapman at 947-3400.

In addition to the scholarship, Ridlon has announced that the two Masonic Learning Centers in Bangor and Portland each will receive $10,000 for their endowment funds.

It is not often that something I see while driving on the highway chokes me up and moves me to tears.

But that is what happened shortly after noon Wednesday, as I merged onto Interstate 95 from Ohio Street in Bangor and found myself being passed by two Maine State Police vehicles with blue lights flashing and a black hearse followed by an accompanying caravan.

I knew immediately the hearse contained the body of a young life lost: Staff Sgt. Eric Ross, a Maine native who was killed recently during his second tour of duty in Iraq.

The tears I shed as the caravan passed me were not only for this young patriot who gave his life in the line of duty, but also for his family and friends who will forever mourn him and feel the pain of his death.

As I turned toward Brewer and the caravan continued toward this soldier’s final resting place at the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Augusta, I said a silent prayer that this war would come to an end sooner rather than later.

I was so overcome with emotion, I forgot the car radio was on.

I had been listening to the high school basketball tournament being played nearby at the Bangor Auditorium and realized that, for the past several minutes, I had not been hearing it at all.

My attention then drifted back to the sounds on the radio: sounds of young people living life to the fullest, hoping for a caravan to welcome them home.

Let us hope and pray it is not of the type I witnessed Wednesday.

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