No Ban on Nudity in Seattle Parks
from the Seattle Times
The Seattle Parks and Recreation board has decided the city is large enough and diverse enough to include those who like to bare it all in public. Parks commissioners have dropped an effort to have those who go nude in the parks charged with criminal trespass, The Seattle Times reported. They even said they will ask officials to consider making one of the public beaches clothing optional. Bob Morton, the Texas-based executive director of the Naturist Action Committee, which advances and protects the rights of naturists, applauded the parks board. More

Friends Ready to Help Parks
from The Elkhart Truth
Middlebury, Ind., residents interested in Middlebury's parks and recreational programs can join a new organization called the Friends of the Middlebury Parks. The Friends of the Middlebury Parks is a group willing to help the Middlebury Parks and Recreation Department and board by contributing time, expertise and funds to help maintain, improve and expand the parks and recreation programs. Individuals, families, civic groups and businesses can join. More

Developing Friends Groups: A Guide for Citizens
from NRPA
Friends Group is a non-profit organization which is developed with the specific purpose of supporting the needs of one or a group of parks or associated sites. They are an excellent way for citizens to become engaged in support of parks and the places that they love. Though created to support a park or site which is already the responsibility of a specific park agency, the Friends Group functions independently from this agency. This course provides interested citizens with all the basic information, ideas and examples they need to get started in developing a new Friends Group, as well as best practices for working in synergy with the park agency which is responsible for the park(s) the Group supports. To learn more about this course More

Gaming Day Transforms Library
from The Greeley Tribune
Row after row of books sat empty Saturday morning at the Glenn A. Jones Memorial Library in Johnstown, Colo., as all the activity took place in a small room full of Nintendo Wii games. The dichotomy of video games in a library was thanks to National Gaming Day, a day where libraries across the country participate in a simultaneous national video game tournament and board games. More

Service through Scouting
from the Bowling Green Daily News
Charles Spice’s bent for community service runs in the family, and it was on display Saturday. Spice, a 17-year old senior at Bowling Green High School in Bowling Green, Ky., led his fellow Boy Scouts in Troop 79 in a community service project Saturday at Hills’ Bark Park, the section of H.P. Thomas Park for dogs, in an effort to earn the honor of Eagle Scout. On a cold, rainy morning, Spice and the other scouts planted a group of sugar maple and swamp oak trees throughout the park, and set concrete benches at various points to let pet owners rest while their dogs roam about. It took several months for Spice to plan and develop the service project, getting help from the Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Department along the way. More

2008 'Top Ten' Places to Take Great Outdoor Photos
from PR Newswire
With cool breezes, colorful foliage and fewer crowds, The National Park Foundation reminds Americans that autumn and winter are a wonderful time to visit one of our nation's national parks, historic sites, forests and public lands! To kick off the fall/winter travel season, the National Park Foundation is releasing its annual 'Top 10' list, a photography guide highlighting the very best fall photo experiences in America's national parks and public lands. More

City Program 'Empowered' Family
from The Toronto Star
"Imagine in a situation, where you don't know where to turn, and someone comes knocking on your door, and says, we're here to help you," said Dayo Mlendough, who has 9-year-old twins and two teens, 15 and 17. It started last year when she went to apply for welfare benefits, and case worker Jim Wynnyk called to tell her she was a good candidate for Investing in Families, a program in the Toronto area focusing on helping single parents on social assistance connect with existing city programs. In Mlendough's case, that meant Carol Calder, who works for the parks and recreation department, signed her boys up for soccer and swimming lessons as well as summer camp. More

Neighborhoods Can Bloom with City's Flower Program
from the Des Moines Register
Each year, the Des Moines, Iowa, Parks and Recreation Department grows and distributes more than 150,000 annuals at no cost to community groups. The flowers beautify public spaces including medians, street corners, parkways and land owned by nonprofit groups, including schools, within the city limits. More

Virginia County Embraces Sports Tourism
from the Richmond Times Dispatch
With the help of the Metropolitan Richmond Sports Backers, Chesterfield County, Va., is banking on sports tourism to boost revenue. Chesterfield has the largest youth population in the Richmond area and hundreds of adult-league sports clubs. The county's parks and recreation department oversees 15 large athletic complexes. More

Effort Launched to Develop Countywide Trails Plan
from the Daily Inter Lake
The Flathead County, Mont., Parks and Recreation Board is developing a countywide system of nonmotorized pathways to connect all the major population centers to each other, as well as Flathead Lake, Glacier National Park, Flathead National Forest and state and county parks. The pathway system will include on-street pedestrian and bicycle routes as well as separate off-street pathways, according to a news release from the board. More

IRA Rollover Extension Advances Local Philanthropy
from The Times Herald
Somewhat overshadowed by the magnitude of the $700 billion Economic Stabilization Act, President Bush signed into law in October was a provision to extend the IRA charitable rollover provision. As enacted, the IRA charitable rollover permits IRA owners who are 70-1/2 or older to make direct gifts from their IRAs to qualified charities of as much as $100,000 per year without any negative tax consequences because it does not have to be declared as income. More