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River group celebrates
1st year
Published February 20,
2007
CHURCHILL — Friends of
the River San Bernard will celebrate its
first year as an organization Saturday night
during its second annual town hall meeting.
The event will begin at 6 p.m. at Dido’s
Restaurant, 2922 CR 519, with a social hour,
followed by dinner, entertainment,
presentations and a guest speaker. The event
is to celebrate the organization’s
accomplishments in its first year and
discuss plans for 2007, said Pat Webb, the
group’s president.
One accomplishment Jan Edwards, a
spokeswoman for the organization, said they
were very proud of was their establishment
as a 501(c)3 nonprofit group.
“We became a 501(c)3 in nine months,”
Edwards said. “The people who are doing this
are so committed to getting it done.”
The organization has several activities
planned, including four boat parades, a
spring river cleanup, a second “Can You Dig
It?” beach event to simulate the opening of
the river’s mouth, a dock hop on National
Night Out and a fundraiser in October, Webb
said.
“We believe in staying busy,” he said.
At the town hall meeting, the organization
will hand out its most prestigious award,
the Ralph Primeau Memorial Award, Webb said.
Primeau was the founder of the San Bernard
River Foundation, which worked to prevent
Phillips Petroleum Company from transporting
petroleum coke on barges down the San
Bernard River. The company eventually chose
a different transportation method.
Primeau died a few years ago, and the
organization presented the award last year
to his widow, Arlene, in recognition of
their work and for helping the organization
get its start, Edwards said.
The river foundation became inactive and
ended last year. When the Friends of the
River San Bernard developed, the foundation
handed its resources to the group Feb. 24,
2006, to help them get started.
“We give the award to the person or persons
that the San Bernard River group feels has
helped the river the most in the last year,”
Edwards said.
The event’s guest speaker will be Peter
Lavigne, an environmental attorney and
co-founder and a board member of the Rivers
Foundation of Americas, a Friends of the
River press release states.
“He’s been following our work and he feels
we’re moving in the right direction,” Webb
said. “He’s got kudos all over the place for
river work. We’re very lucky and honored to
have him speak to us.”
Lavigne also has been instrumental in giving
the organization advise, members said.
“We’re still not sure how to approach a lot
of things,” said Edwards, who called Lavigne
a nationally recognized organizer for river
groups. “We thought we’d get someone with
some experience to help us.”
About 200 people are expected to attend the
meeting, Edwards said. It is open to the
public, and dinner costs $8.95 per plate.
“People want to do this,” Edwards said.
“People are getting really into helping the
river or seeing what they can do.”
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