AARP

AARP Chapter No. 2564 will meet Tuesday, April 21, at 10 a.m. at First Bank, 205 E. Broad Street, Southern Pines.

The speaker is Alvin Wilson, who will talk about hospice.

AARP meets the third Tues-day of the month with the exception of July and August.

Sandhills Club

Thursday, March 26, the Sandhills Club held its monthly luncheon at National Golf Club. In addition to the monthly luncheon, the Sandhills Club offers a variety of other activities such as needlepoint, bridge, book club, and mah jongg.

The next luncheon will be held at the Country Club of Whispering Pines on April 23 and is a spring fashion show featuring members modeling clothing from Lookin' for Linda.

Club membership is not restricted to any geographical area.

Health Resources

Health Resources Network, a forum for health care professionals that provide services for seniors, will meet Wednesday, March 25, at noon at Table on the Green at Midland Country Club.

Featured speakers are Lynne Drinkwater, sales director from HomeChoice Network Inc., giving a presentation about non-medical in-home services, and Mike Womble from Carolina Human Resources, presenting "Managing Your Labor Dollars in a Difficult Economy."

Those interested in attending should call Veronica Sanchez, at HomeChoice Network at (910) 944-1116.

Pinehurst Rotary

Gen. Lance Smith (U.S. Air Force ret.) spoke to the Pinehurst Rotary Club at a recent meeting.

Smith, who retired to Pinehurst in 2008, described to the club his areas of responsibility during the Iraq war and some of the issues they faced.

Smith served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and commander, U. S. Joint Forces Command from November 2005 to November 2007.

As Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Smith led the transformation of NATO's military structures, forces, capabilities and doctrines to improve interoperability and military effectiveness of the Alliance and its partner nations.

As commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command, he was responsible for maximizing present and future military capabilities of the United States by leading the transformation of joint forces in the areas of providing joint forces to combatant commanders, joint training, joint interoperability, and joint innovation and experimentation.

A native of Virginia and a graduate of Virginia Tech, Smith received his commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from Officer Training School in 1970.

He flew more than 165 combat missions in Southeast and Southwest Asia in the A-1 Skyraider and the F-15E Strike Eagle. A command pilot, he has more than 3,000 hours in the T-33 Shooting Star, T-37 Tweet, T-38 Talon, A-1, A-7 Corsair II, A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-111F Aardvark, F-15E and F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Smith's military decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, three Silver Stars, the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, three Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Purple Heart.

League Luncheon

On Tuesday, April 21, the League of Women Voters of Moore County will continue the study of the Electoral College, and the National Popular Vote by states compact. Chris Miller, an O'Neal teacher, will be the speaker and will discuss the Electoral College. Miller agreed to fill as the lunch speaker as the other announced speaker was unavailable.

Chris Miller was born in Greenwich, Conn., but moved to Southern Pines as a teenager, his father having fallen in love with the area when he was an Army Air Corps pilot at Maxton Air Base during World War II. Miller graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in English, but for the next two years worked as a journalist for the Moore County Citizen News Record and Sanford Herald newspapers, writing stories, taking and developing photographs, and laying out pages. He was also a correspondent for the Fayetteville Times, phoning in stories concerning the Moore County Board of Commissioners. As a reporter he covered such stories as county and municipal government activities, agricultural and business news, and the training maneuvers of the local National Guard Company.

Miller then earned a master's degree in English from N.C. State University and began teaching on the junior college level, first at Central Carolina College in Sanford and then at Sandhills Community College in Southern Pines. In 1998 he was hired by The O'Neal School, where he has been ever since, teaching British and world literatures as well as U.S. and comparative government. In 2005 he completed his doctorate in English at the University of South Carolina at Columbia.

There will also be short reports on the Sunshine Laws, and the Leagues' Observer Corp. After the lunch, speaker and League business, members will stay to participate in the National League of Women Voters Consensus Questions on National Popular Vote compact, an alternative to the Electoral College. This is a national League consensus, so Leagues from all over may participate in answering the same consensus questions.

The luncheon meeting will be held at the Table on the Green, at Midland Country Club. The public is invited to attend the luncheon, but must have a prior reservation. Check-in time is 11:30; the meeting will start at 11:45 a.m.

Reservations for the luncheon are obtained by calling Charlotte Gallagher at 944-9611 at least by April 17.The total cost for the lunch is $12, payable by check. The check should be made out to League of Women Voters of Moore County. As this is a catered lunch, prior reservations are necessary.

Seven Lakes Kiwanis

The March 31 meeting of the Seven Lakes Kiwanis featured a program by member Chuck Kersey, who gave a brief introduction to a televised lecture by a St. Louis resident who has become an expert on the keelboat, one of the main sources of transportation during the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Known locally as "Mr. Keelboat," Kersey gave a detailed picture of the history of the keelboat, and its importance to the success of the expedition.

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

MOCARS

The Moore County Amateur Radio Society will hold its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 16, on the lower level of the Moore County Emergency Operations Center, Carthage.

The meeting will focus on finalizing support for the Dressage in the Sandhills horse show, May 8-10, and other club activities. MOCARS is also planning a Technicians Class licensing course to be offered this spring. For information on the class, contact Charles Wackerman at ( 910) 947-2707.

"Everyone with an interest in amateur radio is welcome to attend the monthly meetings and the licensing course," says a spokesman. "Membership is not required."

For further information, contact James Johnson at (910) 400-3019.

Women of Weymouth

Book reviewer Karyn Joyner will present the program for the Monday, April 20, meeting of the Women of Weymouth.

She will be weaving the tale of three diverse authors consisting of Russian playwright and short writer, Anton Chekhov; English poet, John Keats, and American essayist-novelist, E. B. White.

"These three writers are my heroes not only because they are great writers, but because I admire the kind of person each was," says Joyner. "Although they are diverse, there is an interesting thread connecting the first two who led intriguing lives. Chekhov led an intriguing life, and if Keats had lived longer than his short 26 years, his life would have been as full. His philosophy and thoughts reflected in his enormous correspondence with friends and family provide remarkable insight to his brilliance. Chekhov's short stories set the standard for authors who followed although others fall short of his mark. The work of the modern author, E.B. White, reveals more about him as he is an essayist and more personal in what he wrote. Time will tell if he achieves the level of lasting fame as Chekhov and Keats, but his written work evokes the same kind of resonance in readers' hearts and minds."

Joyner did not major in English, but political science. Her hopes to join the Foreign Service were smashed by a professor who told her she would not be accepted because she was a woman. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and also received her master's degree in education there. She and her husband raised their family in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where she taught high school English. They recently moved to Hillsborough from Hendersonville where they were retired for 26 years. Joyner was a long-term member of Friends of the Library in Henderson county. An avid reader, she continues to write the book review column for The Link, a publication from the Henderson County Library System.

Women of Weymouth member and a sorority sister of Joyner, Rosie Ruggles, exclaims: "This is a fascinating talk of the tales of these three diverse authors that I think all members and their guests will enjoy."

The April 20 morning begins with a 9:30 a.m.coffee time, followed by the 10 a.m. program.