Announcments
Links of Love available
The SPCA of the Kenai Peninsula reminds people that there are still "Links of Love" available for $1 each for the animals that were "Born to Die" in the year 2000.
Call the SPCA of the Kenai Peninsula at 262-8800 or Michele at: 262-8550 to pick up a link. You may also submit a tax-deductible contribution to the SPCA of the Kenai Peninsula, P.O. Box 231, Sterling, AK 99672-0231, for any amount, and the SPCA will add whatever you choose to have written on your link or links -- for example, "In remembrance of Tasha."
Make-A-Wish to recruit volunteers in Anchorage
The Make-A-Wish Foundation has a growing need for wish-granting volunteers throughout Alaska, and its trainers are holding a volunteer orientation in Anchorage on Sept. 25 for anyone in the community interested in practicing the art of wish-granting.
Each year, the Make-A-Wish Foundation serves hundreds of children with life-threatening illnesses throughout the Northwest by granting their one favorite wish, at a time when their lives are in need of hope, strength and joy.
Volunteers are needed to help make each wish come true -- like the wish of 7-year-old Ezra of Craig, who received his wish in March to have his own rain-proof play set in his back yard.
Throughout Alaska, teams of volunteers work with several children at a time to grant their wishes, so the need for volunteers is constant. They find volunteer wish-granting to be incredibly gratifying and uplifting for themselves as well as the wish children and families.
Make-A-Wish carefully trains each volunteer in all aspects of wish-granting. Once trained, a team of two volunteers per wish is assigned to work with the family and the Make-A-Wish staff to make all the necessary arrangements for each wish. A criminal background check is required of all volunteers for the safety of the wish families.
To attend, contact Heather Robinson at (800) 304-WISH (9474), or heather@makeakwishwa.org.
Plays sought for theater conference
The Prince William Sound Community College Last Frontier Theatre Conference, featuring Edward Albee and the Edward Albee Last Frontier Playwright Award, is preparing for the 10th annual Last Frontier Theater Conference, June 15-24, 2002.
Plays are being sought for the Play Lab at the conference. The lab is a workshop for the staged readings of new works. Approximately 16 new works (eight full-length and eight one-act plays) will be selected for the lab. Three plays will receive the Last Frontier New Play Award.
The awards will be presented at a gala event June 22. Additional plays will be recognized with Panelists' and Audience Choice awards. Authors of accepted plays must be registered for the theatre conference and be present at the play lab for the public reading. Playwrights may bring their own readers, or readers will be provided at no charge. Playwrights are expected to introduce the play and set the scene for the audience before the reading.
Full-length play submissions must include a 50-word synopsis, a cast list with brief character descriptions, an estimation of reading time, the playwright's name on the title page only, three copies of the script, and a 100-word biography and a photo for publication in the program booklet (after acceptance).
Submissions may have had staged readings or amateur/college productions but no professional productions. Full-length plays will be considered and read but reading spaces for full-length plays will be limited in order to hear the maximum number of new voices. No children's plays or musicals will be accepted, no reading fee is charged and scripts will not be returned. The postmark deadline is March 1, 2002.
Plays are also sought for the 10-Minute Play Development Workshop of the conference. These plays will be presented in a workshop of staged readings. Panelists' and Audience Choice awards will be presented at the gala event June 22. Full-length play submission guidelines apply.
Kenai Community Library schedule
The Friends of the Library group will meet today at 5:45 p.m. Toddler story time is Wednesday at 11 a.m. and preschool story time is Thursday at 10:30 a.m.
The Writers' Group will meet Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the library conference room. Anyone interested in writing for pleasure or profit is invited to attend.
Community council meeting held today
The North Peninsula Community Council will hold its next regular meeting today at 7 p.m. in the Nikiski Senior Center. All residents of the North Peninsula are invited. Mike Gilliland with Cornell will talk about the prison project.
Family support program offered
The Kenai Peninsula Community Care Center Family Support Program is offering a video-based program titled "Active Parenting of Teens" starting Sept. 28 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. and meeting each Friday for the following eight weeks.
The program will include scenarios relevant to teen issues, professionally led group discussion and support, and practical and effective ideas for raising teens in today's world. It will address the issues of effective communication, the importance of relationship development between parents and teens, and alcohol, substance abuse and sexual behavior.
Home and Garden Show set at Sullivan Arena
The Anchorage Home and Garden Show will take place from 4-8 p.m. Friday, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. Admission and parking are free.
As the seasons change, homeowners may be dreaming of upgrades and remodeling to make their homes more beautiful, comfortable and ultimately more valuable. With that in mind, the timing is perfect for
the third annual home and garden show. This year's edition of this traditional fall show will have interesting exhibits, friendly people and more pure fun than any home show before.
An educational and entertaining program of seminars will be held all three days of the show. There will be remodeling advice from experts, decorating tips and gardening topics from master gardeners.
Numerous exhibitors will fill the arena main floor with products. The show has become a favorite place to get ideas on hundreds of products and services for the home, its surroundings and leisure living. Many exhibitors are offering show specials on their products or are conducting drawings for free merchandise.
Alaska SeaLife Center Update
ASLC Rehab Program releases final two seals
The ASLC Rehabilitation Program released its two final seal pups, Cinco and Margarita. The harbor seals were released at Northwestern Glacier south of Resurrection Bay. Cinco, rescued from the King Salmon area, was the fifth harbor seal to come to the center in the 2001 rehabilitation season. Margarita, an abandoned seal pup from Egegik, was fitted with a satellite tag. The device will transmit a signal when Margarita is at the water's surface or hauled out on a beach, rocky outcropping or ice floe.
Satellite telemetry allows research and education staff to track her whereabouts. Starting in October, anyone with Web access will be able to follow Margarita -- as well as other satellite-tagged animals -- on the ASLC Web site.
Rehabilitation staff also recently released two sea birds in the Seward Boat Harbor. Emu, a black-legged kittiwake fledgling from Middletown Island, was released following treatment and therapy on his wing. Emu developed an abscess on his shoulder after being attacked by a gull. Staff also released Phillip, another black-legged kittiwake, which had been rescued wet and emaciated from a Dumpster near Nome.
Although a number of animals have been released from rehabilitation back to their natural environments, the rehabilitation program staff and volunteers are still busy caring for Elfin, the sea otter pup. The staff is optimistic that the Vancouver Aquarium will eventually become his permanent home, but until the proper permits are completed, Elfin will continue to reside at the center. Staff estimates the permitting process could take as long as two months. With a number of ASLC interns returning to school, even more long days could be in store for the center's rehabilitation staff and volunteers.
Avian Department lands new species
The ASLC Avian Department has been inundated this summer with a variety of eggs and newborn chicks. Its new challenge, a black oystercatcher, will arrive from the Seattle Aquarium this month. Unlike chicks that are housed at the center temporarily, the ASLC will be the shorebird's permanent home.
The oystercatcher is a 9-year-old mature male that garnered a bully reputation in the Seattle Aquarium. During a period of a few years, the oystercatcher developed a penchant for harassing other shorebirds, behavior that led to its move to the center. The vocal, red-billed bird may require some changes to the existing bird habitat. Altering boulder-sized rocks or replacing them with dune-like terrain, will allow the exhibit to be more oystercatcher friendly.
Plans are also being finalized to construct an area for a freshwater pool for bathing and for a specialized shorebird feeder in the sea bird habitat. Avian staff is also arranging for a mate for the new oystercatcher. The Oregon Coast Aquarium has offered to send the center a female oystercatcher, an acquisition that could be completed by next year.
While the Aviary welcomes the new oystercatcher, it is saying goodbye to two spectacled eider chicks. The chicks were hatched at the center in July. On Sept. 11 the eiders will be flown to Seattle to become part of a waterfowl breeding farm. The ducks may not be gone long though. Since the center has received funding to study spectacled and steller eiders, tentative plans are being made to bring the eiders back to the ASLC following the construction of a permanent pool for them.
ASLC gears up for annual AAUS Symposium
The nation's foremost scientific divers are coming to Seward Sept. 18-22. ASLC will host more than 80 diving scientists and dive safety officers attending the annual Symposium of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences. The meetings will begin with a two-day technical forum entitled "Cold Water Diving for Science." Eleven renowned diving experts will offer their tips, techniques and training for scientific diving in sub-Arctic and Antarctic conditions. Then, 22 dive scientists will present papers on a broad array of underwater science projects during the two-day symposium. The event is not limited to members of
AAUS. Nonmember registration for the technical forum is $175. Nonmember registration for the Symposium is $250. Phone ASLC Dive Safety Officer Bob Hicks, or visit www. aaus.org for more information on registrations.