Today's Features

Put together a frosty Saturday morning, a placid lake with the sun glinting off the water, a dozen canoes and dozens of “morning people,” and what do you have?

A crew of exuberant volunteers all set to clean up Lake Shelby by canoe, of course.

The volunteers, consisting of Collins Army ROTC members, Clear Creek Trailblazer volunteers, and some individuals, braved a chilly morning, rain gorged waterways and muddy creek banks to participate in the annual Clear Creek Cleanup, which also included a cleanup by Boy Scouts who policed along the banks.

Temperatures may have not been up to par, but the rest of Mother Nature’s arsenal cooperated enough on Saturday to enable visitors to the Earth Day celebration at Red Orchard to enjoy a variety of outdoor activities.

Although there were very few children taking advantage of the spacious playground, because of muddy conditions, a crowd began collecting rapidly after the opening of the event at 10 a.m.

Rebecca Marrilla is 26 years old, an age during which most people don’t stare death in the face.

But in September, two days after celebrating her first wedding anniversary, the harsh reality of cancer shattered her world, when she learned she had Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer.

“When I went in [to the doctor’s office] that today, I was not prepared to hear that,” she said. “I don’t think you can ever be prepared to hear that.”

Each day – every day for nearly 16 years – Tania Williams awoke in the orphanage in Ukraine.  Sixteen – the dreaded age that orphans in this Eastern European country “age out” to the streets, often thrown into a life of prostitution, drugs and crime. For Tania, it was a time of fear and anxiety, faced with no family and no physical or emotional support.