AARP

AARP chapter No. 2564 meets Tuesday, June 17, at 11 a.m. at Penick Village in Southern Pines.

The program will be presented by First-Health Hospice and Palliative Care.

A meal will be served for $8.50.

Kiwanis of the Pines

Dr. William Johnstone Jr., of Pinehurst Surgical, made an informative presentation to the Kiwanis of the Sandhills.

Johnstone mentioned that he is the sixth generation in medicine in his family, which mostly resided in the low country east of I-95 in South Carolina.

Pinehurst Surgical Center was founded in 1946 as a physician-owned facility. It has been serving the community in conjunction with Moore County Hospital, now known as FirstHealth; and is considered in the top 100 surgical centers in the nation. There are more than 32 physicians, and 17 mid-level non-surgical support staff, with a total staff of approximately 300.

There are over 110,000 active accounts seen in six satellite offices in Moore, Hoke, Richmond, Scotland, Montgom-ery, and Sanford Counties.

In 1995, the partners realized that their existing offices were getting too crowded without room for expansion, so they began working with a committee to develop the present-day surgical center.

In 2003, an agreement was set up with FirstHealth, ground was broken in 2005 for the building, and in October 2006, eight weeks ahead of schedule and within budget, the building opened to the public. The cost to construct, furnish, equip the labs and technical areas was close to $38 million.

Johnstone's practice is in the "Women's Center," but there are numerous other areas, vascular and veins, bariatric, neurological and spine, orthopedic and spine, ears, nose and throat, facial plastic surgery, audio logy, urology, and sleep disorder areas.

Computer Club

The Computer Club of the Sandhills meets Monday, June 9, at 4 p.m. in the lower level of the Whispering Pines Village Hall.

Jim Anderson will present "Optimizing Your Windows XP Computer." Anderson is an expert on computer and Internet-related technologies. Currently, he is professor and coordinator of Networking Technology at Sandhills Community College.

He will explain how to speed up, tune up, and clean up an XP system. His advice will also be helpful for those using Vista.

The Computer Club meets on the second Monday of each month, and visitors are always welcome.

For additional information, contact Art Reetz at 949-3733 or George McNally at 949-2294.

Pinehurst Rotary

As part of the observance of Memorial Day, the Pinehurst Rotary Club invited Swede Boreen to address the club.

Boreen was aboard the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor that fateful morning of Dec. 7, 1941. He stated that his day began with the usual processes and in the "blink of an eye" the world around him changed dramatically. He was in the paymaster's office when the attack began, and he felt the first torpedo strike the ship.

He was heading to "man his battle station" when the second torpedo struck. This hit caused the ship to begin to list, and the order was given to abandon ship. He narrowly escaped the USS Oklahoma only to turn and see the USS Arizona take a direct hit, which lifted the massive battleship out of the water. USS Oklahoma was struck by a total of nine enemy torpedos and never sailed again. He recounted the morning in vivid detail.

The Pinehurst Rotary Club meets at the Pine Crest Inn at noon Tuesdays.

Eureka ECA

The Eureka ECA met in the home of Grace Horne Tuesday, May 20, at 2 p.m., with nine members present.

Mary Ruth Whitaker and Patti Burke were in charge of the program. They gave each member small cuts of dried Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Members selected colors they wished to paint them, then strung them on a string with small silver beads or pearls between the cubes. Everyone finished with a uniquely designed necklace.

The club will be preparing packages of homemade cookies as well as needed supplies to send to the troops in Iraq and Afganistan. The club also purchased sunscreen to send as well. The project for the month of June is donating school supplies for students starting school in the fall.

Next month's meeting will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 17, at the home of Nellie Greene.

Seven Lakes Kiwanis

Vicki Lefler, family risk manager for BB&T Insurance, spoke to the Seven Lakes Kiwanis Tuesday, May 20.

She discussed specifics about identity theft, giving suggestions to help prevent it.

On Tuesday, May 27, the Seven Lakes Kiwanis Club heard from Terri Prots, director of the Department of Aging in Moore County. She presented an informational program on what the department does, which includes home health care for shut-ins, Meals on Wheels, and the management of the Senior Enrichment Center.

The Seven Lakes Kiwanis Club meets every Tuesday at noon at the Seven Lakes Country Club.

NARFE

The National Active & Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) Sandhills Chapter No. 1895 will hold its quarterly "eating meeting" Monday, June 9, at 11 a.m. at the Days Inn, U.S. 1 and Morganton Road, Southern Pines.

Chapter No. 1895 welcomes all Federal (including U.S. Postal Service) active employees, retirees, spouses and surviving spouses to monthly meetings. Additional information about NARFE is available by contacting: Vilma Geisert at (910) 215-5898 or George Sandoval at (910) 246-9881.?