Relay for Life raises awareness, big money
Over $86,000 was raised over the weekend for the Cancer Society in the Homer Relay for Life at the high school track in the biggest turnout ever for the event, organizer Marilyn Parrett said. There were over 200 registered participants and more showed up. At the height of the event there were about 250 participants in 19 teams.
Johnny B accompanies Daniel Zatz ‘wild’ video
Pier One Theatre patrons who attended Johnny B (Bushell) and fellow musicians’ performance in late May also enjoyed a preview of the show slated for Friday and Saturday this weekend, “Johnny B’s Fabulous Fauxchestra featuring Alaska’s Coolest Animals.” The end of the Daniel Zatz amazing video of animals filmed in the wild was shown, accompanied by Bushell’s energetic piano performance.
Homesteaders in the Headlights wins award
In the spring of 1954, George Harbeson Sr. applied for an Alaska teaching post and found one in Wasilla. The salary was $4,940 a year. The Harbeson family, composed of George, mother Katherine, aunt Louise, sister Lee Anna and brothers, Richard and George Jr., set off across country and then Canada in a new 1954 Chevy Carryall.
Hall wins national medal
One of the first challenges on Alicia Hall’s way to the national pony championships in Kentucky was navigating her horse across a flooding roadway.
The Homer High School senior, along with her dad and mustang, Sugar ‘n’ Spice, departed for Nationals during a strong Alaska coastal storm that raised the Portage River to flood stage and blocked the road.
Alzheimer’s still a mystery to all doctors
A controversial theory based on new research on Alzheimer’s is gaining ground in the scientific community. The research appears to indicate that the brain is not destroyed by sticky plaques, but by free-floating clumps of protein.
The ongoing study, done by the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, found that amyloid beta protein called oligomers are the main players in robbing the brain of memory.
Two otters, seal found dead on local beaches
Sea mammal rescue volunteers were busy this past weekend in what was otherwise one of the fairest spans of summer in Kachemak Bay. Volunteers found two sick sea otters on local beaches and an ailing seal at China Poot beach.
Taking the ‘hands-on’ approach to help out
Instead of heading for a warm beach or an amusement park this summer, Homer residents Kirsten Swanson and Casey Parrett spent two weeks in July as volunteers on a construction project in the Northern Nicaraguan village of LaRioja.
“It was quite an experience,” Parrett said. “The work was hard, but it was rewarding because we were helping the people here in the area. All the members of the team were great and it felt like family. I loved the kids, and I brought home the happy memories of their laughter and smiles.”
Young actors hone talents at Pier One
Capping three weeks of training with the Youth Theatre Skills Conservatory, nine thespians, ages 10-12, will showcase their talents in three Pier One performances Friday and Saturday.
“This theatre skills camp is a sampler course,” Co-director Clara Noomah said. “Most of the kids have some experience and this gives them a taste of a variety of things.”
Tracking Todd
Todd arrived early this morning in Miami, Florida where it was a steamy 96 degrees. He spent most of the day at Peterson’s Harley Davidson, where, while they were racing to get Todd’s bike together, they also went overboard in outfitting Todd with T-shirts, motorcycle cleaner and other paraphernalia free of charge.
A modern band of gypsies
hey come from a world steeped in tradition and offer an art that is as much a celebration of the past as it is revolutionary. Brothers Olivier and Eric Slabiak, virtuosic violinists, stand at the helm of Les Yeux Noirs, a six-piece explosion of gypsy jazz, klezmer and Yiddish music from Paris. The group performs at the Down East Saloon next weekend, and — aside from profound talent — what stands to make the group so electrifying is their defiance of genre lines and an extraordinary ability to combine traditional sounds with an exploratory rock spirit.
