St. Anthony Catholic High School collects donations for communities hit by tornadoes

The students and faculty of St. Anthony Catholic High School have teamed up with the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to host a donation station to collect much-needed items for the communities of Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Mexico, affected by the recent tornadoes.

The students and faculty are asking for donations of toiletries, blankets, pillows, non-perishable foods and personal and feminine hygiene products.

The Emergency Management Coordinator in Maverick County has asked that no clothing be donated because of large quantities that have already been donated.

People unable to donate any of these items, but who would still like to make a contribution, SACHS will be accepting monetary donations. Individuals can write checks payable to St. Anthony CHS with “Eagle Pass Relief” or “Piedras Negras Relief” written in the “memo” section. When all donations are in, the school will write checks to the relief agencies working in those areas.

All of the money and items collected will be sent to the disaster areas. Donations can be dropped off from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Friday at the high school’s campus at 3200 McCullough, and from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday.

For more information, visit the SACHS Web site at www.sachs.org or call 832-5632.

Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Brett Blackledge speaks at SAC

Pulitzer Prize winner Brett Blackledge, a reporter for Birmingham (Ala.) News who exposed corruption and cronyism in Alabama’s community college system, will speak at 7 p.m. tonight in the Visual Arts and Technologies Center, Room 120, located at 950 Lewis St.        

This is the 30th Annual Edith Fox King Journalism Lecture, sponsored by the San Antonio College Department of Journalism-Photography and the campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.  The event is free and open to the public, and seating is limited.  

Blackledge won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for ongoing coverage that led to the firing of the chancellor, removal of relatives from the payroll, and investigations of two college presidents.  In addition, the community college system dispatched investigative teams to its 26 colleges, and a federal probe has led so far to indictments, guilty pleas, three convictions, and the resignations or firing of several legislators.  Consequently, the governor has introduced legislation banning employment of legislators in community colleges. 

Blackledge is a native of Baton Rouge, La., and graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in journalism.  He began his career with The Associated Press in New Orleans, and later worked for AP bureaus in Jackson, Miss., and Tulsa, Okla. He worked for The Journal Newspapers in suburban Washington, D.C., covering crime, local government and the Maryland and Virginia legislatures. He then wrote about national education issues for Education Daily, covering the White House, U.S. Congress and U.S. Department of Education.

Three Alamo Heights grads scoring high in college

Three recent graduates of Alamo Heights High School were selected for honors at their respective colleges recently.

At Austin College in Sherman, Texas, Courtney Baker, daughter of Keith Baker, was accepted into the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history. Will Radke, son of Janine and Alan Radke, was selected for the Alpha Chi Scholastic Society. Both were recognized at the Austin College Honors Convocation April 26.

At Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, Elisa B. Garcia, daughter of Patricia Guerrero and Jose Garcia, was named a Summer Science Scholar for 2007. Garcia is a junior majoring in psychology and Spanish at the private liberal arts college.

The science program at Kenyon supports student-faculty research during the summer vacation, for which scholars are chosen in competition among student-faculty proposals. Working at Kenyon with Samuel B. Cummings Jr., professor of psychology, Garcia will conduct a meta-analytic review of second-language learning and socio-economically disadvantaged children.

Hill Country Run motorcycle rally in Fredericksburg set for Friday

Riders from across the state and beyond will roll into the Hill Country at the 11th annual Hill Country Run motorcycle rally at Fredericksburg’s Lady Bird Johnson Park Friday through Sunday. Billed as “more than just a plain ol’ motorcycle rally,” the Hill Country Run is three days filled with food, live music, people and miles of riding through the towns and vistas of the scenic Texas Hill Country.

“We’ve done this for 10 years and it just keeps getting better,” said Russel Immel, president of the Fredericksburg Optimist Club, host of the event. “It’s a laid-back, safe and friendly getaway with good music, nice scenery, and interesting people from all walks of life. It’s a small-town event that’s getting big.”

Strictly speaking, the Hill Country Run is not a competition, but more of a leisurely ride in the country. The Optimist Club has planned a route for Saturday’s Hill Country Road Trip, with detailed directions. The distance is less than 100 miles, so the entire trip can be completed in several hours. Along the way, riders will pull in to designated stops, where they can drop tickets in a box. At the end of the event, tickets will be drawn from each stop, with the winners receiving prizes.

Check-in and registration begins at 8 a.m. Friday. The events of Saturday start with a cowboy breakfast from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., and then the Hill Country Road Trip runs from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Following the trip, organizers have planned a bike show, games, and more live music and dancing from 2 p.m. until midnight.

On Sunday, the event closes out with a final cowboy breakfast and Sunday morning service. Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park has RV spaces and tent camping. For availability, call the park at (830) 997-4202. Fredericksburg also offers other campgrounds, RV parks, and motels.

Registration for the entire weekend is $42 per person, which includes: cowboy breakfasts, social at “Hondo’s on Main”, road trip, bike show, musical entertainment Friday and Saturday, bike games and vendors. For information, call local 830-997-8515, toll-free 1-(866) TEX-FEST (839-3378), or to register online via PayPal at www.hillcountryrun.com.