Eckerd College's new Cuban invasion: Students go to the island nation to study

Eckerd College photo from the trip last year.

Eckerd College students are invading Cuba this year in droves. Nearly 80 students are scheduled to visit the island nation to study photography, economics, the environment, and science.  Last year Eckerd College sent 18 students to Cuba, the first group from the college to go since the United States began normalizing relations with the Communist country. Here's an article about the trips that are planned.

Gulfport plans to plant a silver buttonwood

Have you ever seen a tree like the one on the picture. Probably. It's called a silver buttonwood. It's one of two varieties of mangroves that grow in brackish water throughout Florida. The City of Gulfport Recreation Department is planting one at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, January 15 on Gulfport Beach, west of the volleyball courts. They'll also have free sweet gum and red maple seedlings you can take home and plant in your own yard.

Why all the fuss? It's to mark Arbor Day, which is a traditional observance designed to call attention trees and their importance to us. It's a very old holiday, and is celebrated on several different dates around the world. The first recorded Arbor Day was in Spain in 1594, and they had a tree festival along with it. The first American Labor Day was almost 300 years later in Nebraska. It was the brainchild of a newspaperman named J. Sterling Morton, who later was named Secretary of Agriculture under Grover Cleveland.

Morton loved trees. Long before he went to Washington, he urged fellow Nebraskans to observe a tree-planting holiday where individuals and counties could win prizes for the largest number of properly planted trees.  The first American Arbor Day was on April 10, 1872. More than one million trees were believed to have been planted on that day. In 1855, Nebraska made the observance an official holiday and moved it to March 22, Morton's birthday.

Whatever day it's celebrated, we think Arbor Day is a good idea, and we think it's great that Gulfport is planting a mangrove tree. Mangroves filter pollutants, absorb excess nutrients from runoff, prevent shoreline erosion, trap sediments, and help increase the clarity and quality of our waters. Besides, they're home to all manner of fish and other sea critters.

John "Ribdog" Verville will barbecue at Hog Heaven event at FUMC in Gulfport

If you love barbecue, you're not going to want to miss this delicious event. For the ninth year, Hog Heaven Barbecue Dinner will be on the grill at First United Methodist Church in Gulfport on Saturday, January 16. John "Ribdog" Verville will be back again this year barbecuing great quantities of old-time barbecue pork. For those who don't know, "Ribdog" is well-known in barbecue circles. He's a Master Kansas City Barbecue Society competitor and judge. He teaches grilling in Brandon.

Tickets are already on sale. Expect generous portions of competition-quality hickory-smoked pulled port, hickory smoked baked beans, potato salad, bread, and dessert, all for just $9. Hot dog dinners for children under 12 are available for $3. Dinners will be served from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Takeouts are available. Purchase tickets at the church office at 2728 53rd Street S. Call (727) 321-3620 or (727) 488-9031 for information.