What an exciting ACC basketball tournament weekend.  Hope all our readers have joined the 40 million others and filled out brackets for March Madness.  First games begin today.  Final four?  Perhaps a vote for Carolina or Duke?  Won’t the next few weeks be fun as we watch the games on our laptops, iPods or televisions?

Between games, it’s important to take a few minutes to check DavidsonNews.net for all our local news and Around Davidson twice a week for special notes on your neighbors. (And now we have CorneliusNews.net, too!)  Today we share travel news to Cancun, Mexico, with the Molineks and to Louisville, Ky., with Cole Rasenberger and his environmental team.  There is also an item about an award for Libby Appel’s granddaughter and another Noteworthy Note about books.

Frank and Donna Molinek enjoyed a little R&R in Mexico

LIVING ON THE BEACH

Notice the tan faces on Frank and Donna Molinek recently?  They took advantage of Donna’s spring break from teaching at Davidson College to rent a cottage on the beach just south of Playa del Carmen.  Flying into Cancun, they soon found their way to their simple beach side bungalow and spent relaxing days swimming, soaking up the sun, catching up on their reading (including a little math department work for Donna), and taking long walks on the beach.

It was a wonderful getaway for Donna and Frank – especially being able to leave their teenage children at home alone.  Rudy and Sullivan got along just fine (under the watchful eye of neighbor Georgia Ringle) and probably are ready for mom and dad to take flight again soon!

KFC Bound are (from left) Kaela and Cole Rasenberger, Liam Donoghue and Nik Young

KFC, ARE YOU LISTENING?

Remember the name Cole Rasenberger?  We wrote about his efforts to get fast food restaurants to use recycled paper back last October.  We also reported when Cole appeared on WCNC’s “Charlotte Today” this past January.  This young man is on a mission.  With the help of good friend, fifth grader Nikoulaus Young of Lake Norman Charter School, fourth grade classmate Liam Donoghue of Davidson Elementary and his sister, second grader Kaela of Davidson Elementary School, Cole has been pushing for more use of recycled paper products to save our North Carolina Coastal forest.

On the plane for Louisville, KY, are Liam (left) and Cole

Using postcards with hand drawn art of wildlife in our coastal ecosystem, Cole mailed more than a thousand postcards to McDonald’s, resulting in their switching their bags to 100 percent recycled paper.  For his successful efforts and enthusiasm, Cole, the son of Kerry and Ken Rasenberger, was awarded a $2,500 Gloria Barron Prize last September.

Printing new postcards (using recycled paper of course), Cole encouraged students to sign these cards and enlisted the help of his team, Liam, Nik and Kaela.  With 7,000 signed postcards in hand, these four youngsters, accompanied by mom Kerry Rasenberger, boarded a US Airways flight on Thursday, March 3, bound for KFC headquarters in Louisville, Ky. – their newest “target” for using recycled paper products.  (Cole used part of his Barron prize money to pay for the postcards and also for the flight to Louisville.)

From left: Cole, Nik, Liam and Kaela

In Kerry’s words, “KFC was wonderful to the children.”  They were warmly greeted, toured the KFC museum, met with two KFC executives, hand delivered the 7,000 postcards and were made to feel very important with their project.  KFC now uses some recycled containers, including the tops of their fried chicken buckets, but government regulations stipulate that the rest of the buckets cannot be recycled material.

It was a wonderful “field trip” for these four determined young students.  (Be sure to read Liam’s assessment of the Louisville visit (PDF).) They were encouraged by their interview with KFC and delighted to explore Louisville touring the zoo, the Louisville Slugger Museum, a city park, book store and eating dinner at KFC (no doubt using the coupons provided by KFC).  Future plans for Cole, Nik, Liam and Kaela are uncertain at the moment but give these four young people a few months to strategize and it is certain they will be working with new energy on another environmental issue.  We are proud of them for their hard work.

[NOTE: Cole’s mom, Kerry, is a DavidsonNews.net sales representative.]

Mrs. Southeastern NC, Autumn-Skye Boothe

CONGRATULATIONS TO LIBBY’S GRANDDAUGHTER

Libby Appel is well known in Davidson and especially at The Pines, where she has been a resident for well over a decade.  Libby plays the piano by ear and entertains whenever needed at the retirement community.  In addition she published her memoir, “Dancing with GI’s,” at age 90 – and that was some years ago. (See our 2009 article “A few minutes with Libby Chitwood Appel, 95″)

Thus it was with great interest that we heard of a recent honor for her granddaughter, Autumn Skye Boothe.  Autumn was recently crowned Mrs. Southeastern North Carolina and will compete for the title of Mrs. North Carolina United States this June.  She lives with her husband, Carl, in the Richmond, Va., area but for this competition, your state of residence is not an issue.

Autumn is a graduate of Columbia College in Columbia, S.C., a prior Toastmasters Chapter President and a former Mrs. Queen City 2008.  She plans to promote her title through continuing her animal rescue work and also through her official platform, “Mentoring Marriage:  Putting Family First.”  She has spoken before groups about keeping her own marriage and blended family together despite the challenges of rising divorce rates and the economic uncertainties of unemployment.

Congratulations Autumn and we hope to hear of your success this June.

NOTEWORTHY NOTES

Books, Books, Books

Can’t seem to mention enough about book sales and book drives in the past weeks.  But in case you are considering spring cleaning and wanting to thin your book shelves, we have the perfect solution:  the Davidson Public Library Book Sale. This will be held May 7, during Town Day on the Village Green.  All proceeds will go to the library which we hope will continue to exist in 2011-2012.  Bring your gently used books (in sellable condition) to librarian Rosie Chapman at our library up until April 22.  Sorry, but magazines or textbooks older than five years cannot be accepted.  Donations are also tax deductible.  A win-win situation for your cluttered book shelves and for our beleaguered library.  Start a donation box today!

Send us your news

Have news for Around Davidson? Write to Brenda Barger at hbarger@bellsouth.net.