<bt>AWARD WINNER
"I like to help people because it’s the right thing to do,"says 10- year- old Nicole Alvarez, who was recently awarded the Taylor Run Civic Association’s Good Neighbor Award.
Every year the faculty at Douglas MacArthur School choose a fifth-grader to receive the award. Nicole was chosen because she is so helpful to others. Nicole, who was born in this country, speaks very good English, but she also speaks Spanish – her mother is from Honduras. She helps many students who have trouble comprehending English.
Every week she tutors a boy who comes from Annandale. She is a member of the Friendly Helpers, a MacArthur group which tutors younger pupils, Nicole plays the violin and plays soccer with a school team.
"I always remember the teachers who helped me so much – Miss Lanson, Mrs. MacCrary,Mr. Goodwin, and Mr. Pipke", says Nicole, who has been in MacArthur Since first grade.
Asked how she felt about receiving the award, she said "I was so surprised!"
DEATH OF A GIANT
Neighbors on North View Terrace and Linden Street joined last week in mourning the large and beautiful oak tree which former councilman Don Casey had defended against city staff for 15 years. Don sold his house and moved; the city arborist sent a crew, and the tree was cut down.
"I cannot imagine why they removed it," says Ellen Pickering. "The crown was perfectly healthy, and there were no dead limbs or roots. The roots grew over the sidewalk, but that’s what happens when you plant a tree in a space too small for it."
— Lois Kelso Hunt