Melissa Miller, daughter of Debbie and Dave Miller of New Castle and freshman at Rifle High School, will be competing at The New York International Independent Film, Video and Music Festival on April 2. Melissa’s mom searched the Internet for different events for Melissa to perform, and found this event. She sent a demo CD, and they picked her out of 300 entries in the world to perform at this prestigious event.This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be seen by New York Times media representatives, representatives from the music industry, production companies, record labels, and talent agents. The top 150 singers will be named selected talent and premiere on Talent on the Rise television show, as well as other opportunities.Melissa has sung all over the valley for several years. She’s won the Burning Mountain Pageant twice, once as Miss Burning Mountain and once as Miss Junior Burning Mountain. She has won the Carbondale Halloween talent show, the 2001 Jimmy Dean True Value Country Showdown, and performed as a special guest singer at many occasions.Melissa’s family needs your support to compete in this event. She will be making a new demo CD, and there will be expenses from spending five days in New York. She will be performing at The Buffalo Valley Restaurant on Tuesday, March 18, from 7-9 p.m., The Feral Book Cafe on Saturday, March 22, from 7-8:30 p.m., and The New Castle Community Center on Saturday, March 28, from 7-8:30 p.m. Please come and support this talented New Castle girl.If you cannot attend these performances, you can contribute directly by sending a check to Dave and Debbie Miller, 817 Mountain View Drive, New Castle, CO 81647. You support is truly appreciated. Go, Melissa!!The annual KMTS St. Patrick’s Day Drinking Awareness Show will be held Friday morning March 14 from 6-10 a.m. live at the 19th Street Diner on 99.1 KMTS. Gabe in the Morning will moderate as drinkers discover just how much is too much. Volunteers Kathlene Milbrath, Adam Eppler, Jeremy Castle and Brandon Wolpof will begin drinking alcoholic beverages at 6 a.m., under the supervision of law enforcement officers. The volunteers will undergo sobriety and breathalyzer tests throughout the program to demonstrate the mental and physical effects of alcohol. “It’s a very interesting and entertaining way to get this information out” said General Manager Gabe Chenoweth. Each volunteer will have a law enforcement officer assigned to him or her to keep track of the drinking statistics. Dan Bowen of the Carbondale Police Department, Officer Jeremy Rainwater of the Glenwood Police Department, as well as two Garfield County Sheriff’s Deputies and a Trooper from the State Patrol have offered their years of experience to conduct the testing. Dr. Pat Dietzgen of New Castle Family Health will conduct an informative and sometimes humorous talk about related health care issues during the broadcast.Sponsors of the program, including Coors, Roaring Fork Liquors, SDS Mortgage and Mothers Against Drunk Driving, stress the importance of educating the community on these issues. Check out this program on KMTS, 99.1 or 96.7 in Silt and Rifle, or stop by the 19th Street Diner in Glenwood for a peek at the activities. For further information, contact Debra Brainard at 945-9124.-A free program for the non-squeamish entitled, “Bagging Big Bugs, or Pests of the West,” presented by Professor Whitney Cranshaw, Professor of Entomology at CSU, will be presented at the New Castle Branch Library on Thursday, March 20, at 7 p.m.-The menu for the CMC Senior Nutrition Luncheon at the New Castle Community Center on Monday, March 17, will be corned beef and cabbage with parslied new potatoes, green beans, rye roll and pistachio. Includes milk or coffee.Please call me at 984-2308 if you have any New Castle news to share.