Stetson Ranch is a juvenile rehabilitation facility, explained Jan Hartwell of Deseo Farm, who serves on a local advisory committee for that institution.

She said the young people are living there for violations of “minor criminal issues or mental health issues.”

“It is a lockdown facility,” Hartwell emphasized. “The kids are there for a reason.”

However, many community members are doing what they can to help with the rehabilitation process, and they are looking for even more community comment.

“Our Community Integration Committee is going to do some public, get-to-know-the-kids type things,” she told me.

For example, Stetson Ranch will host an informational meeting from 10 a.m. to noon, and again from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at the Meeting House in Stetson.

Any community member who would like to become involved with the program and the young people it serves is invited to attend.

Refreshments will be served, and children are welcome.

Information will be provided about the facility’s purpose and operation, and a brief presentation will give attendees insight into ways that they could make a positive difference in the lives of those who now reside at Stetson Ranch.

Hartwell said the hope is that many community members will step forward and become mentors for these young people, taking them into their homes for opportunities ranging from learning to make a cake to helping around the house or doing volunteer work.

“They’re great kids for the most part,” Hartwell said. “They simply need a lot of direction, and a ton of love!”

If you have questions about participating in this project, call Stetson Ranch director Rick Wickens at 296-2487.

Steven Haynes of Mount Desert, co-founder of the Maine Granite Industry Historical Society Museum on Mount Desert Island, will be the featured speaker at the Franklin Historical Society meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 4, at the museum on Hog Bay Road, Route 200 in East Franklin.

Museum co-founder Juanita Sprague said Haynes would give the same Power Point presentation he delivered, by invitation, last May at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.

The MIT conference, sponsored by Massachusetts-based Technology and Conservation, was titled “Building with Stone, Granite and Marble for Architectural Exteriors and Monuments.”

It also included an intensive conference-training program.

“The presentation includes all of Maine’s quarries, a few Canadian and several in Massachusetts,” Sprague said.

The public is invited to attend.

It’s always a pleasure hearing from Glynn Porter of New Limerick, because she is always involved in something interesting.

This time, Porter wants readers to know that the annual Patten Pioneer Days Celebration runs from Thursday, Aug. 12, through Sunday, Aug. 15, in Patten.

What she considers one of the more exciting happenings during Pioneer Days is the Katahdin Valley Health Center’s Second Frank Peltier Memorial Log Drive River Run, which begins at 2 p.m. at Fish Stream in Patten.

Similar to what many of you will recognize as fund-raising “duck races” – where one “adopts a duck” for an entry fee – this fund-raiser involves adopting one of 1,000 numbered, 6-inch logs that will be dropped into the stream, Porter explained.

Whoever “adopts” the first log to cross the finish line wins $500.

The second-place log-holder wins $250, and the third-place log fetches $100.

Proceeds benefit Health Services Foundation’s Pediatric Campaign for the expansion and renovation of its facilities at Houlton Regional Hospital, the Patten Lumberman’s Museum and the Patten Fire Department.

To reserve your log, and support this worthwhile effort on behalf of children and Greater Patten, call KVHC, 528-2285, ext. 302.

The fund-raiser is named for the late Frank Peltier, first president of the Patten Lumberman’s Museum.

Pathfinders: Support for Grieving Children is preparing for its fall 2004 session and is seeking volunteer facilitators.

The program is conducted 6-7:30 p.m. Mondays, Sept. 20 through Dec. 6., at Bangor Christian Schools.

Pathfinders coordinator Linda Boyle believes this is an excellent opportunity for anyone who has a desire to help children, especially those ages 3 through 18 who have experienced the loss of a loved one.

A comprehensive training program is provided to volunteer facilitators, and that program begins Saturday, Aug. 21.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer facilitator, and want more information, call Boyle at 973-8269.

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