COMMUNITYHERI

TAGE

www.heritage.com November 25, 2010

1-BPAGE

CALENDAR

Now through Dec. 12.Traditional Holiday Pageant tickets will be available at Saline

Community Education. At the Dec. 12 event, local students will reenact a one-room school holiday program for the community. Purchase tickets in advance at Saline Community Education, located in Liberty School. For more information, call 429-8020.

Saturday, Nov. 27The Indoor Winter Farmers’ Market at 199 W. Michigan Ave. in

Saline is open from 8 a.m. to noon.

Wednesday, Dec. 1Decorating of the official Saline Christmas tree will be held 7

p.m. in downtown Saline in front of KeyBank.

Thursday, Dec. 2 through Sunday, Dec. 5“How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” a production of the Saline

Area Players, will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 2 and 3 and at 1 and 3:30 p.m. Dec 4 and 5 at the Stone Arts Arch and Events Center, 117 S. Ann Arbor St., Saline. Tickets are $5 or $25 for immediate family. Seating is general admission. For more information, visit www.salineareaplayers.org or call 677-3727.

Friday, Dec. 3 A tree lighting ceremony for the official Saline Christmas

tree will be held 7 p.m. in downtown Saline in front of KeyBank.The “Saline Moonlight Madness Craft Show” will be held from

5 to 11 p.m. at Saline Middle School. The event will feature more than 150 juried crafters, plus a variety of family activities, includ-ing cookie decorating and cookie walk, child care and movie, a caricaturist, a gingerbread contest and a quilting corner for kids. There is a $2 admission. At 8 p.m., Saline school administrators will take the stage in the second annual charitable event in 2010 called “Schools of Rock.” Tickets are available at the Community Education center.

“Fun Day Mini Camp will be held at the Saline Recreation Center from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Children ages 5 to 12 are eligible to participate in the program on their day off of school. There will be games, sports activities, swimming, crafts and more. Participants should bring a sack lunch, athletic shoes, swimsuit and towel. For more information or to register, contact Saline Parks and Recreation at 429-3502.

Saturday, Dec. 4The Saline Holiday Parade will be held 5:30 p.m. in downtown

Saline, with the theme “A Saline Christmas Story,” based on the movie of the same name.

A cookie walk will be hosted by St. James United Church of Christ, 11005 W. Michigan Ave. in Saline, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. The building is handicapped accessible. Cookies, baked goods and crafts will be available.

Friday, Dec. 10Two Twelve Arts Center will host a kickoff reception for its

holiday sale from 7 to 9 p.m. Handmade gifts by local artists will be on sale, and the center will offer free gift wrapping on items purchased at Two Twelve. The center is located at 212 W. Michigan Ave. in Saline. For more information, visit www.twotwelvearts.org or call 944-2787.

Friday, Dec. 10 and Saturday, Dec. 11“A Holiday Hop,” a musical celebration of 50s-style diners, juke-

boxes, singing and dancing, will be presented by Saline Varsity Blues at the Saline Middle School Auditorium. Doors open at 7 p.m., with shows beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are being sold in advance for $8 and will also be available at the door for $10. For advance ticket locations or other information about this perfor-mance, visit www.salinevarsityblues.com.

Saturday, Dec. 11A workshop with Saline Fiddlers will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

at the Saline Middle School orchestra room. The workshop is free to currently enrolled students in sixth through 12th grades inter-ested in learning to fiddle. To register, call 1-866-257-5333, ext. 1. For more information, visit www.salinefiddlers.com.

“Kids’ Night Out” will be held at the Saline Recreation Center from 5:30 to 10 p.m. for children ages 5 through 12. Kids will be making crafts, watching movies, playing games in the gym and swimming. A pizza dinner is included, and participants should wear athletic shoes and bring their bathing suits and towels. The cost is $25 for recreation center members, $35 for non-members. Register by Dec. 4 and save $5. For more information or to register, contact Saline Parks and Recreation at 429-3502.

“Family Night Out” will be held at the Saline Recreation Center from 6:30 to 9 p.m. The entire facility, including the fitness rooms, aquatics center and gymnasium, will be open. There will be a holiday movie, moonwalk and games. The cost is $2 for recreation center members, daily admission for non-members. For more information or to register, contact Saline Parks and Recreation at 429-3502.

Monday, Dec. 20 through Friday, Dec. 24The first week of “Winter Kids Camp” will be offered by Saline

Parks and Recreation. Campers ages 5 through 12 will play games, make crafts, go swimming and much more. Camp is held at the recreation center, and parents can drop off their children as early as 7 a.m. and pick up as late as 6 p.m. The field trip on Wednesday will be to Maplewood Lanes. For more information or to register, contact Saline Parks and Recreation at 429-3502.

Monday, Dec. 27 through Friday, Dec. 31The second week of “Winter Kids Camp” will be offered by

Saline Parks and Recreation. Campers ages 5 through 12 will play games, make crafts, go swimming and much more. Camp is held at the recreation center, and parents can drop their children off as early as 7 a.m. and pick up as late as 6 p.m. The field trip on Wednesday will be to the Quality 16 movie theater. For more information or to register, contact Saline Parks and Recreation at 429-3502.

Sunday, Jan. 30A workshop with Saline Fiddlers will be held from 2:15 to 3:30

p.m. at the Saline Middle School orchestra room. The workshop is free to enrolled students in sixth through 12th grades interested in learning to fiddle. To register, call 1-866-257-5333, ext. 1. For more information, visit www.salinefiddlers.com.

Saline High School freshman and Boy Scout Stephen Amori kneels beside one of the waypoints on the orienteering course he created at Curtiss Park in Saline for his Eagle Scout project. It is the only one of its kind in the city of Saline, offi cials said.

WingsWingsScout creates orienteering courseBy Sheila PursgloveSpecial Writer

Lace up your shoes and head

out for a new exercise experi-ence called orienteering in Curtiss Park.

The sport is considered quite the rage in many coun-tries, especially across Europe, and is growing in popularity in the United States.

Saline High School freshman Stephen Amori, a member of Boy Scout Troop 457, led by Scoutmaster Gary Marquardt, designed, planned and led a team in August to construct an orienteering course for his Eagle Scout project in co-opera-tion with the Saline Parks and Recreation Department.

“Stephen did a great job with his Eagle Scout project –– very well organized and easy to work with, great ideas –– and implemented the project flawlessly.” said Saline Parks and Recreation Director Carla Scruggs.

“The orienteering course is a great low-maintenance amenity for the park, and individuals and groups can participate. The Parks Commission is considering offering ‘Intro to Orienteering’ programs at the park this coming spring.”

Instructions for using the course are on a sign at the park. Each person is given bear-ings and distances, and uses a compass to navigate through 12 checkpoints, scattered over a mile-long trail that covers all the features Curtiss Park has to offer, from the Saline River to the Max Adler trail.

Compasses also can be checked out from the Saline Recreation Center on Woodland Drive.

While the course fulfills Boy Scout requirement of the first class rank, orienteering isn’t only for Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts. It’s for anyone

who would enjoy exercise and nature in the park –– youth groups, school classes, families, friends and more.

Amori, who has been orien-teering at several Boy Scout events, picked the project because Saline didn’t have an orienteering course for Scouts to use.

“And it’s a great outdoor skill that Scouts and people in general should try. Who knows, it may save my life someday,” he said.

Amori will be the 69th Eagle Scout for Troop 457 since it started in 1970, and he serves as assistant senior patrol leader. He has been in Scouts for eight years, since first grade. It’s a family interest as his father, Rick, was in Scouts and his brother, Robbie, is a First Class Scout.

“I enjoy all of the new people you meet through Scouting,” Amori said. “I always look forward to our troop summer camp, which is a giant week-long campout.”

The teen, who also enjoys competitive swimming, piano, science and math, and has set his sights on a career in medicine, is the son of Rick and Chris Amori. The family moved to Saline from Dearborn Heights 11 years ago.

Several family members and Scouting friends lent a helping hand to create the course, and many local businesses and the Harold West Fund supported in financially.

“I had over 51 people vol-unteer their time to help me build my project,” Amori said. “It’s been a great way for me to learn about leadership and planning for a large event.”

How to Orienteer1. Find the length of your

stride (directions are on the Orienteering sign at Curtiss Park).

2. Read the bearing and dis-tance on the first checkpoint labeled ‘1-2’. This will tell you what direction to follow, and how far you need to walk to

reach the second checkpoint.3. On the compass, rotate the

dial so the desired bearing lines up with the direction-of-travel arrow.

4. Hold the compass in front of you, so the direction of trav-el arrow is pointing forward. Rotate your entire body until the compass needle is point-ing at the north mark on your compass dial. The direction-of-travel arrow is now pointing at your destination.

5. Divide the distance by your stride length, to calculate the number of steps you’ll need to take. Keep your stride length consistent while you walk, or your actual traveled distance may be incorrect.

6. Begin walking forward toward your destination, always keeping the compass arrow pointing toward north.

For information on orienteering, visit www.us.orienteering.org.

Sheila Pursglove is a free-lance writer. She can be reached at bingley51@yahoo.com.

Boy Scouts Brian Diefenbach (left), Tyler Santos, Kevin Davison of Troop 457 helped are pictured with Stephen Amori’s Eagle Scout project, an orienteering course at Curtiss Park in Saline.

Getting his