Rudyard
By Kerry Fountain 495-5533 kerrymariet@yahoo.com

Payton Mastaw was crowned queen and Nataly Obermiller was princess in the Kinross winter carnival queen and princess contest was held last week. Payton is 14 years old and was sponsored by H&H Construction. Her parents are Dawn and David Mastaw. Her talent is singing. She's involved in basketball, volleyball, track, and FCCLA. When she grows up, she wants to be a singer and actor for the Disney Channel.

Her court includes Danielle Petinglo and Alson Obermiller.

Nataly Obermiller won princess. She is 8 years old and in the third grade. Her parents are Tammy Neveau and Dennis Obermiller and she was sponsored by Superior Interiors, which does dry wall installation. For her talent portion, she sang "God Bless America." Her hobbies include drawing and writing stories. She is the team captain for project Earth Natural Resources- Water, and she wants to be a veterinarian.

Her court consists of Malorie McKechnie, Haylie Bergstrom, and Haley Wilkins.

The Easter bunny brunch will be at the Kinross Recreation Center Sunday, March 16, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Children age five and younger are admitted free, admission for ages six through 12 is $2.50, and admission for ages 12 and older is $3.50.

There will be a blood drive at the Rudyard Community Center Friday, March 7, from noon to 5:45 p.m.

There will be a Turkey Federation Sportsman Banquet Friday, March 14. Contact Kenneth Mills at 478-6631 for further information or reservations.

Rudyard's Easter party will be Saturday, March 22, at the Community Center in Rudyard. Prizes, goodies, pictures, and games will all be available from 10 a.m. to noon, including breakfast. The Easter Bunny will be there to pose for pictures with children.

Top spellers competed with words like "poltergeist," "ventriloquist," and "pseudonym" at the District Level Spelling Bee February 5 at the Rudyard Middle School.

Top spellers in grades five through eight from JKL Bahweting School, Rudyard Area Schools, and St. Mary Catholic School competed for the chance to go on to the Regional Finals. Students competing were:

Fifth grade: Nicolas Drake, Tanner Bradley, Andrew Meehan, and Johnny Reisener from Rudyard, Madeleine Rutledge and Connor Knowles (first place) from JKL Bahweting, and Anna Harrington and Andrew Hovie (second place) from St. Mary.

Sixth grade: Monica Malaski (second place), Kylie Coffey, Jamie Royer, and Michaela McLeod from Rudyard, Ryan Hopkins (first place) and Miles Misner from JKL Bahweting, and Henry Shackleton and Tasha Cook from St. Mary.

Seventh grade: Megan Trotter (second place), Andrew Alstrom, Adam Graber (first place) and Lucas Mattson from Rudyard, Isaiah LeBlanc and Blaine Noble from JKL Bahweting, and Macon Wooley and Adriana Schuurhuis from St. Mary.

Eighth grade: Carrie Berkompas (first place), Dolan Skow (second place), Dylan King, and Christopher Headley from Rudyard, Anna Krans and Catherine Santos Worley from JKL Bahweting, and Jeremy Hynes and Trask Reinhart from St. Mary.

First and second place winners went on to compete in the Regional Spelling Bee February 21 at the St. Ignace Middle School.

Top spellers from that Bee will compete at the Upper Peninsula Finals March 12, hosted by Ishp eming-Negaunee-Nice Community Schools. The overall winner of that competition will earn a spot at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

My little one turns two this week. We celebrated with family at Higgins Lake. It was nice to see family that lives so far away from us.