Find out more about New Bern Now and our team by listening to this audio being aired on Radio Free ENC’s WNOS 105.9FM and 1450AM:

We are already working on the July – September 2013 Quarterly Publication of the New Bern Now Ledger. Please send us information about your organization or community group by June 15th to be included in the next edition.

Special thanks to everyone who have support New Bern Now’s website and Ledger that has grown into a 20 page publication. The Ledger is a mini-version of the website. The current April – June edition is available in color, online here:  http://www.newbernnow.com/NC/ledger-publication and hardcopies are distributed throughout the greater New Bern area.

You can make a difference by becoming a sponsor and help cover the cost of printing the hardcopies. This is a great way to reach thousands of people looking for local information. It only cost $100 per quarter which includes the online and hardcopy versions. Contact us today as the space is limited – first come, first serve!

We look forward to helping spread the word about the latest happenings throughout the greater New Bern area!

Tell us what you think by commenting below or sending us an email. Visit New Bern Now’s Facebook page or sign up for the latest updates by submitting your email address in the right margin on New Bern Now’s website.

Thank you,

Wendy Card

Wednesday, May 29, from 6:30pm – 8:00pm

Voice your concerns with Craven County Commissioner Steve Tyson, New Bern City Alderman Denny Bucher, and Board of Education Member David Hale.

Please come out and address your problems or concerns regarding local schools, County Government, and City Government.

Submitted by: Craven County Commissioner Steve Tyson

Grant Llewellyn Conducts “Concerts in Your Community: At the Movies” June 2

The North Carolina Symphony will give a free outdoor concert, Sunday, June 2, at 7:30 p.m., on the South Lawn at New Bern’s historic Tryon Palace. Symphony Music Director Grant Llewellyn will lead the orchestra in “Concerts in Your Community: At the Movies.” In the event of inclement weather, the performance will take place at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center.

Concert-goers can sit back and enjoy the early summer evening, accompanied by fantastic movie music including “Raiders March” from Indiana Jones and the swashbuckling excitement of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” along with “Diamonds Are Forever” from the James Bond film of the same name, the stirring theme from “Out of Africa,” and “Music from Titanic,” among many others.

The concert is presented by PotashCorp – Aurora, as well as the New Bern Chapter Board of the North Carolina Symphony as part of the Tryon Palace Performing Arts Series. The statewide partner of the North Carolina Symphony is Progress Energy.

The public is also invited to purchase tickets to a picnic dinner preceding the concert to support the North Carolina Symphony’s education concerts in Craven County. The picnic will be held at the North Carolina History Center at Tryon Palace beginning at 5 p.m. Picnic attendees receive dinner, reserved parking at the History Center and reserved seats at the Tryon Palace performance. Picnic tickets are $60 per person and only available by contacting the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center. For information on this opportunity to support the Symphony’s education concerts in Craven County, call 877-624-6724.

Tryon Palace is located at located at 529 S. Front St. in New Bern. Entrances to the concert will be through the main gate, located on the corner of Pollock and George Street, and the Eden Street gate.

Complete details on the Symphony’s outstanding 2013/24 season can be found online atwww.ncsymphony.org.

The 2013/14 New Bern Series includes three classical concerts: During the 2013/14 season, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Ravel’s Rhapsodie espagnole, and a special program of Strauss & Mozart. Concerts include guest pianist Joyce Yang, and conductors Grant Llewellyn and William Henry Curry. New Bern audiences will also delight in the Symphony’s annual “Holiday Pops,” including the orchestra’s popular Christmas carol sing-along.

Subscriptions to the Symphony’s 2013/14 New Bern Series, as well as concert series in Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, Southern Pines and Wilmington, are currently available online at www.ncsymphony.org/subscriptions or by calling the Symphony Box Office at 919-733-2750 or toll free 877-627-6724.

Submitted by: Craig Ramey, Marketing and Communications, Manager, Tryon Palace

Karen Monroe is an “Independent Associate” for LegalSheild and she markets high quality “Legal Service and Identity Theft Plans”.

Karen said, “After spending many years in construction office management, I was introduced to LegalShield. I liked the company philosophy that everyone deserves affordable legal protection and that I could market the plans anywhere in the US (except Alaska).  There are legal service plans for individuals, small businesses, and self-employed. The Identity Theft Plan also provides professional help to restore your identity.”

She went on to say, “We provide affordable access to an attorney where you can have your Will done, call them with questions, among other services. We cover you in 49 States and four Provinces in Canada. We also offer Identify theft protection. Did you know that there are over 300,000 victims in North Carolina, alone? They not only provide the monitoring of your identity, but they also restore it. LegalSheild’s motto is “Worry Less, Live More”.”

Contact Karen by calling her at 757-343-4312, or visit her website at: www.karenmonroe.legalshieldassociate.com.

Tell us what you think by commenting below or sending us an email. Visit New Bern Now’s Facebook page or sign up for the latest updates by submitting your email address in the right margin on New Bern Now’s website.

Check out Thea’s Ideas website and Facebook page to learn more about how promotional products can help your business grow!

Wendy Card

Greg Sager, store manager for U.S. Cellular in New Bern

By Greg Sager, store manager for U.S. Cellular in New Bern

When the skies threaten, people turn to their wireless device for weather updates. An Online Publishers Association report indicates that 47 percent of smartphone owners regularly use it to check the weather.

Your mobile phone helps make life simpler and easier. During severe weather, smartphones give you quick access to a host of apps, websites and emergency information that can help keep you and your family safe and connected

U.S. Cellular customers with select mobile devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S® 4, receive Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) – also called the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) – which was created by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Wireless Emergency Alerts provide customers with access to the most up-to-date emergency information at their fingertips. The free alerts are another way customers can stay connected while on-the-go.

U.S. Cellular also recommends the following tips and free apps to prepare you for severe weather:

Have important numbers handy and back them up: With U.S. Cellular’s free My Contacts Backup application, customers can safely store valuable contact information online for easy retrieval, even if the phone is lost or damaged beyond repair.

Break through with texting: If phone service is impacted by a high volume of calls during a storm, try sending a text message. Text messages take up less bandwidth on the network than calls and may work when phone service is intermittent.

Stay up to date with breaking news: There are many free apps available through Google Play – such as The Weather Channel, WeatherBug, MyRadar, GO Weather and AccuWeather for Android – that can provide you with the tools you need to stay on top of severe weather.

Store “ICE” (In Case of Emergency) contacts in your phone: Simply program “ICE” in front of a person’s name or title, such as “ICE Mom” or “ICE Dave,” to help first responders quickly contact these important people. Make sure the ICE contact knows about any medical conditions that could affect emergency treatment for an individual, such as allergies or current medication.

Stay charged up: Phones should be kept charged so that customers have sufficient battery life when they need it. If driving, keep a car charger with you to re-charge while on-the-go.

If you have any questions about downloading or using apps, stop by U.S. Cellular’s next Device Workshop in Clinton on Saturday, June 8 at 9 a.m. at 3180 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

4G LTE service is provided through King Street Wireless, a partner of U.S. Cellular. LTE is a trademark of ETSI.

Submitted by: Mellissa McIntyre, Public Relations Council, U.S. Cellular

Smartphones Help Keep Eye on Sky during Severe Weather

If you want to help out in different ways or in our downtime, there are so many ways you can get involved with the Habitat Mission. Raising funds is always a challenge for our affiliate. Please consider doing some kind of fundraiser for Habitat or use your talents to support Habitat in other ways.

Here are just a few ideas you or your group can do:

- Start of collection at your church

- Host a car wash

- Have a bake sale

- Volunteer to feed a meal to one of our Collegiate Challenge teams

- Have a BBQ Plate sale for us.

- Hold a spaghetti dinner

- Donate used items to our restore.

- Volunteer as a committee member (Resource Development, construction, family selection, or others) Demonstrate your talents!!!

We also have some events you many want to participate in or volunteer for:

- 4th Annual CHAIR-ity Auction & Artist Alley (November 2)

- Keller Williams, New Bern Cares, Golf Tournament

No matter where you put time in, you will a valuable part of helping families with a hand up in obtaining affordable housing.

As always, we thank you for your support of the Habitat mission.

Submitted by: Suzanne Stewart, Resource Coordinator, Habitat for Humanity of Craven County

Do you have an Advance Directive? If you don’t have one or don’t know what one is, mark your calendars for May 28thfrom 2pm – 6pm!

Please join us for a one on one clinic to assist you with the completion of your Advance Directive.

Trained facilitators, notaries, and witnesses will be on hand. There is no charge to attend this clinic.

Open House starts at 11:30am with a complimentary Lunch. Guest Speaker, tours of Memory Care, and demonstration of Memory Care activities. Memory Care Open House with Guest speaker Mary Lou Infinito, Educator for United Hospice presenting “A Dialogue on Dementias” followed by a Q & A session for caregivers.

For more information and to RSVP for lunch call 252-633-1779.

This special event is sponsored by United Hospice and The Courtyards at Berne Village in collaboration with The Coastal Coalition for End of life Awareness.

Visit The Courtyards at Berne Village, 2701Amhurst Blvd., New Bern, NC.

Submitted by: Kristi Mason, Community Outreach Associate, The Courtyards at Berne Village – Senior Living Community

Tryon Palace, Craven Arts Council to Host ‘Milestones in Music’ Concert on May 31

Tryon Palace and the Craven Arts Council will sponsor the Voci Allegre vocal ensemble’s free concert, “New Bern: Milestones in Music.” This vocal journey through New Bern’s history will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 31, at Cullman Performance Hall.

Voci Allegre’s concert traces New Bern’s history through music with a sentimental journey that starts with the arrival of settlers and moves through the colonial and federal periods. Two of the program’s main highlights revolve around the tumult of the Civil War and the time in which Pepsi-Cola was first developed. Other stops along the timeline include: a madrigal, selections from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado,” the Marines’ Hymn and New Bern’s aptly named Racetrack Road.

Founding director Lorraine Hale and singers Brenda Parker Hardee and Yvonne Templeton will be joined by accompanist Barry Templeton for this musical memoir.

“New Bern: Milestones in Music” is a free concert that begins at 6 p.m. inside Cullman Hall, which is located in the North Carolina History Center at 529 South Front Street. For guests with hearing difficulties, special devices are available and should be requested at least 48 hours in advance of the performance.

For more information call Craven Arts Council and Gallery at 252-638-2577 or Tryon Palace at 252-639-3500.

Submitted by: Amy Hammond, New Bern Riverfront Convention and Visitors Center for Craig Ramey, Marketing and Communications, Manager, Tryon Palace

Since meeting Michael’s parents, Carolyn and Charles Peterson, last year and learning about their granddaughter, Natalie’s struggle with Neurofibromatosis, we’ve been on a personal campaign to spread their message! Their cause is New Bern Cares to Cure Neurofibromatosis!

We enjoyed meeting their son, Michael Peterson, along with his energetic wife, Kelly, and their beautiful daughter, Natalie! We’ve only seen a couple of pictures of Natalie when she was younger and immobilized by NF. It was refreshing to see that she was full of energy and wasn’t letting her disorder influence her childhood enthusiasm!

We joined Bones fans at Christ Church Ministry Center to learn more about this critical disorder that inflicts 1 out of 3,000 people each year and to find out more about the characters, plot, and interesting situations of the TV Series Bones.

If you didn’t already know, the TV series Bones is based on Kathy Reichs books. I’ve been reading Kathy’s books for 10+ years and was excited to learn that scenes from her books were transformed into a television series. I don’t watch a lot of television, but I have to admit that I’ve never missed an episode of Bones!

We hope a lot of folks turned out for this weekend’s events as Michael and Kelly Peterson plan to match up to $20,000 raised during the New Bern Cares to Cure Neurofibromatosis!

Tell us what you think by commenting below or sending us an email. Visit New Bern Now’s Facebook page or sign up for the latest updates by submitting your email address in the right margin on New Bern Now’s website.

Wendy Card

New Bern Parks & Recreation is hosting its annual Hook a Kid on Golf program. This program is for any child between the ages of 8-14 that would like to learn how to play golf.

The purpose of the Hook a Kid on Golf Program is to introduce the sport to youngsters in the community as well as encourage them to learn the rules, etiquette and history of the sport.

The program will run for Girls July 15-18 and Boys July 22-25th and will be held at Carolina Pines Country Club.

The cost of this program is $125.00 kids will receive a set of golf clubs along with 4 days of instruction.

Registration will be held at:  West New Bern Recreation Center, 1225 Pinetree Dr.  Space is limited.

Please contact Gus Hill at 252-639-2908 for more information.

Submitted by: Nancy Donahue, New Bern Parks and Recreation