Ex-convicts donate trees to prisons

A group of ex-convicts, many of them spending their first Christmas outside of prison in many years, went on a tree hunt a couple of weekends ago. With 15 permits donated by the Bureau of Land Management, they each cut a tree for themselves and donated one tree to Northern Nevada Correctional Center and three more to Nevada State Prison.

Elaine Voigt, founder of Friends and Family of Prison Inmates, went along with husband, Nelton.

"Some of the guys hadn't been out of prison very long and knew some guys in the yard," she said. "They asked what we were doing and when they told them we brought them trees, they all started to cheer. There were no dry eyes on our side of the fence."

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Kudos to the Sunset Rotarians. Earlier this year, the group gave away 718 dictionaries to each third-grade student in the Carson City School District and to third-graders at Bethlehem Lutheran School, Capital Christian School and St. Teresa of Avila.

The dictionary program is in its third year, according to Fiddyment, president of the Sunset Rotarian Club.

"Every child is encouraged to enjoy reading, enjoy learning new words and become a strong reader," he said. "The books are a special gift to the third-graders and that is confirmed by the smiles on their faces."

Inside the front cover, the dictionaries included a copy of the Rotary four-way test, used to promote high ethical standards. The test asks that in all that is thought, said and done: 1) Is it the truth? 2) Is it fair to all concerned? 3) Will it build goodwill and friendships? And 4) Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to 31,000 clubs worldwide. For information, contact Pam Anderson at 884-3456.

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Bethlehem Lutheran School eighth-grader Scott Banks, the winner of the school's Dec. 14 geography bee, has a chance for a $25,000 scholarship. After question upon question about geography, Banks defeated competitor classmate Jesse Walser-Castro for top place.

What's next for Banks is a written test. The top scorers on the test, about 100 students, will participate in a state bee on April 1, 2005.

From there, the state winner will be flown to Washington, D.C., May 24-25, to participate in the National Geography Bee. The first-place winner there receives a $25,000 scholarship and a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society, which sponsors the bee.

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The Carson High School yearbook Carneta is available for $60. Checks should be made out to Carneta and sent to Carson High school, 1111 N. Saliman Road, Carson City 89701 with a slip of paper with a home phone and mailing address written clearly.