All event proceeds to benefit local charities

The 4th Annual Ruby Ride & Run is set for Saturday, May 12, in Franklin. Sponsored by the Franklin Daybreak Rotary, all proceeds from the event will benefit local charities in and around Franklin, including CareNet, Angel Medical Center, Community Care Clinic, and Franklin High School Interact Club. This year’s event again will include 5 and 10k runs beginning at 8:30 a.m., followed at 9 a.m. by three picturesque bicycle rides of 24, 40, and 63 miles.

Little yellow rubber ducks will race down the Tuckasegee River in a fun sporting event to raise money for Jackson, Macon and Swain county New Century Scholars.

The popular annual Ducks on the Tuck race will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 29. The ducks will be dropped into Scotts Creek at the train depot bridge in Dillsboro. A racing duck can be “adopted” at Greening Up the Mountains in downtown Sylva on Saturday or at the race for $5. This year’s grand prize is a 40” flat screen television. Ducks will also be racing for more than 70 other prizes, which will be awarded at the finish line.

Western Carolina University will present the 28th annual Tuckasegee River Clean Up on Saturday, April 21, and is looking for volunteers to help remove trash from part of the Jackson County river.

Registration for the event will be on the A.K. Hinds University Center lawn from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the first 500 to register receiving a free T-shirt. There is no early registration for the event.

A public-private partnership initiative that aims to provide cleaner and safer highways for travelers is formally underway with the installation of 11 new signs along Interstate 40 in North Carolina, each bearing the name or logo of a company. The signs, part of the new Sponsor-A-Highway program, indicate that a business is responsible for cleaning up litter along the adjoining one-mile section of highway.

The new program allows the N.C. Department of Transportation to ensure more efficient litter pickup along two of the state’s major interstate corridors – I-40 and I-95 – at no extra cost to taxpayers. Instead, two private companies have been awarded contracts to manage sponsored roadside litter removal along these highways.