Honoring Bubba

MILFORD – The Milford Recreation Department will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony at Kaley Park on Saturday Sept. 27 at 8 a.m. to officially open the Robert “Bubba” Carson Memorial Field. This new softball field is named in memory of the late volunteer softball coordinator who organized the co-ed league for about 10 years.

Robert Carson died last year in a car accident and his friend. Keith Bernasconi, was in the car with him and died as well.

The ribbon cutting ceremony will kick off the department’s fifth Annual Co-ed Wooden Bat Softball Tournament & Home Run Derby, which Robert always organized. The tournament is held in memory of Robert and Keith.

New veterans group

MILFORD – A new chapter of Am Vets is opening in Milford, and the first meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4368 in Milford.

Am Vets is similar to the VFW and the American Legion, but members do not have to have served during times of war. Any honorably discharged veteran can join.

Those who sign up early can become charter members.

Interested and unable to attend the meeting? Call 673-9817 and ask for Doug.New bridge

AMHERST – Money from the state for a new Manchester Road Bridge is available, and Amherst is eligible for an 80 percent reimbursement of the $1.4 million cost.

Town Adminstrator Jim O’Mara told selectmen recently that the state will give the town 40 percent up front and 40 percent at the conclusion of the project

Town officials had originally understood that no money for the bridge, which was closed in 2012, would be available until 2018, but now the town may get it in the current fiscal year, O’Mara said.

Work is scheduled to begin in the spring.

– KATHY CLEVELAND

Playground swings find a home

AMHERST – An insurance inspector has told town officials that the swings from the Sarah Jeanne Roy Memorial Playground can be installed on the Bean Fields, near the town Recreation Department office, on the condition that they are monitored during lacrosse games to see if additional barriers are necessary to protect the children .

The playground was dismantled and removed in August as part of the turnover of Cemetery Fields to the cemetery trustees.

– KATHY CLEVELAND

MASH reunion

MILFORD – The MASH (Milford Area Senior High School) Class of 1974 is still looking for some classmates for their 40th class reunion, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 11, the weekend of the Milford Pumpkin Festival.

The reunion is at the Amherst Country Club, with golf, dinner, and the Bat Magoo Band Tickets are $50 per person.

Teachers are invited as guests.

Call Lou-Ann Poor at 582-0018 for more information or to sign up.Cancer activist

AMHERST – Amy Chapman, of Amherst, will meet with local members of Congress this week to discuss the need to support an increase in federal funding for cancer research and prevention. She also will ask them to co-sponsor legislation that supports patients’ quality of life, and to support legislation that would close a loophole in Medicare that often results in surprise costs for seniors when a polyp is found during a routine colonoscopy.

Chapman will join more than 600 cancer patients, survivors, volunteers and staff from all 50 states in Washington, D.C., as part of the annual American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Leadership Summit and Lobby Day. Advocates will urge Congress to take specific steps to make cancer a national priority and help end a disease that still kills 1,600 people a day.

Specifically, they will ask to increase funding for cancer research and for prevention programs and to co-sponsor legislation to improve the quality of life of cancer patients with better access to palliative care, and remove barriers to colorectal cancer screenings.