A Sergeant Christopher T. Griffin Scholarship Concert that will take place at the Rudyard School multi-purpose room Sunday, January 3. Sgt. Griffin died in combat in Afghanistan October 3 and a scholarship at Rudyard High School has been established in his honor. Various local talents will perform to honor this brave soldier. What a wonderful opportunity for some student to receive a scholarship to go to college with the memory of someone who defended our country.

I found out that Danielle Petingalo, a 14-year-old student, was in charge of the whole thing. She sang at Christopher’s funeral and has bonded with his family. She called all the local talents in the area, made up the flyers that you may be seeing around town, and got the Fraternal Order Orioles Nest 311 to sponsor the concert, which she named “International Idol 2009”

Tickets are on sale for $7 and $10 at the door the night of the event. Danielle has set up singers, bands, and the cheerleading group from Pickford to come and raise money. Make sure you get a chance to see this event. The concert begins at 4 p.m.

Rudyard Area Community Foundation is sponsoring a Talent Night and they are looking for all kinds of talent, singers, bands, magicians, comedians, jugglers, dancers, and musicians. The event will be Saturday, January 16, at Rudyard Middle School. To sign up, call Margaret LaPonsie at 478-5591 or Chari Fischer at 478-4191.

New student section T-shirts are available at home basketball games. The $8 shirts are orange and have “Dawg Pound” on them. They are a wonderful way for students to show their school pride at games. At the last basketball home game Friday, December 11, there were many people in the crowd wearing them. It was nice to see so many out that night supporting our fine athletes.

If you would like to donate to the Diane Peppler Resource Center, there is a bag in the high school office. They are in need of household items, including shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and soaps.

Have you noticed that there are new owners for the Northern Country Inn? Dean and Jennifer Besteman purchased it November 13. It has four rooms that are beautifully designed. The largest room can hold up to six people and is a great location near snowmobile trails. Stop in and say hello to the new owners and see what they have to offer.

I would like to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. I will be going downstate, where I hear that they don’t have any snow.

Until next week, keep sending me those letters and calling me on the telephone with your news.