It may still be chasing that elusive goal of bringing us all world peace, but the Miss America Pageant can now say it succeeded in bringing at least two people from competing backgrounds together.

Almost three years after meeting at a friend’s home for a Miss America party, Bangor sportscaster Keith Erickson of WABI (Channel 5) and former Bangor news anchor Amy McHugh of WVII (Channel 7) have become engaged.

McHugh, who left WVII a month ago to take a similar position with fellow ABC network affiliate WLNE (Channel 6) in Providence, laughed as she described how she met her fianc?e.

“Mary Wicks, the former meteorologist at Channel 7, had a Miss America party at her house. Nobody had anything to do so we all went over there, had a few drinks, and made fun of the contestants. I had a tiara on. It was just kind of a goofy thing,” she recalled with a chuckle. “I met Keith that night and we just started talking and it went from there, so I guess we kind of owe it all to Miss America, as weird as that sounds.”

Ironically, both Erickson and McHugh are natives of Massachusetts. Erickson is from Rutland and McHugh from Braintree.

“And we’d never met before. We had to move to Maine to meet and fall in love,” said Erickson, who earned his broadcasting degree from Syracuse University.

“Isn’t that weird?” McHugh asked. “We grew up an hour away from each other. Never knew each other or had any friends in common, and then I met him the first week I was in Bangor.”

Erickson, 28, popped the question last Thursday at home after finishing the 11 p.m. newscast. The couple hasn’t set a date yet, but has narrowed it down to either September or October of 2002.

“We’re not sure where we’ll have the wedding. We just can’t get married during ratings weeks, so November and February are out,” joked Erickson, who has been with WABI since 1995. “Although, maybe if we did it on camera we’d be bigger than Survivor.”

“Hey, I didn’t even think about that, but they would probably love that,” said McHugh. “Viewers could call in and get involved with suggestions. Hey, the Today Show’s doing it.”

McHugh, 25, is a graduate of Boston University. She recently began working as a reporter and weekend anchor at WLNE. Her switch to WLNE after almost three years at WVII moved her from the 158th-ranked television market in the country to the 49th.

Due to the geographic gulf now between them, McHugh and Erickson take turns visiting each other every weekend. This is Erickson’s weekend to be in Rhode Island.

McHugh’s move is beneficial in other respects as it’s no longer a problem for them to talk shop.

“We talk shop but we don’t swap stories,” said Erickson. “Sometimes it’s just a release to talk about sports to someone not involved in sports as much as I am, and sometimes it’s the same way for her. She can talk news to me and I’m interested because sometimes I’m not up on all the stories.”

“When Keith and I started dating, I think initially there was some concern, but I don’t know anything about sports, so it wasn’t like I was helping him out with anything,” McHugh said. “By our first Christmas, he came to my office party and everyone was pretty cool about it.”

Although neither envisioned staying in Maine for a long time, both are glad they decided to come.

“To tell you the truth, it’s been great here for me. I like to fish and play golf and you can’t go wrong in Maine either way with that,” Erickson said. “And Amy and I do a lot of hiking with our dog Molly, who’s a flat coat retriever.”

“Actually, Bangor was my first choice because I didn’t want to leave New England. That was the first tape I mailed out.”

“I really lucked out. I didn’t want to have to move to West Virginia or Kentucky where small markets are,” McHugh said. “Because of Keith, because of everything, coming to Bangor was the best decision of my life.”

WCKD gets more Patriotic

Better late than never? Bangor TV station WVII officials think so.

After an afternoon of phone tag with officials of the Patriots and Patriot TV flagship station WCVB in Boston, WVII director of sales and programming Mike Palmer was happy to report he had secured the rights to the Patriots’ final preseason game: Thursday night’s home date with the Washington Redskins.

The game will air on Bangor’s WCKD (Channel 30), which WVII programs and manages through a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Bangor’s WBGR (Channel 33).

There is one hitch. Due to NFL broadcasting and exclusivity rules, WCKD is only allowed to air the game on a three-hour, tape-delayed basis. Thus, the game will air tonight at 11 p.m., three hours after the 8 p.m. kickoff.