Participants show their creations in front of CAP airplane. The Pilot/Bill Schlichting

Two weeks ago, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) issued an invitation to the community to see if it could be done.

People who accepted the challenge gathered at the Brookings Airport Saturday morning for the first Egg Drop Contest. They arrived with an assortment of ideas – a variety of homemade parachutes, different kinds of padding, ranging from foam rubber to bubble wrap, to help protect the eggs.

Brookings Fire Department awards were given to, standing from left, Jose Contreras, Neil Watson, Katie Brisbin, Jeff Lee, Jan Miller, Derek Wood and, kneeling, Meagan Kohnert. The Pilot/Arwyn Rice

The event, held at Brookings-Harbor High School on April 23, was attended by more than 40 firefighters and their loved ones. Dinner was catered by Fabulous Food By Julie.

The department had a busy year in 2010, responding to 366 emergency calls, about 80 calls more than usual, Fire Chief Bill Sharp said. Of those, 25 were fire calls.  The combined damage caused by those fires caused only $15,000 in damage.

Rockabilly music will come alive in Gold Beach

For those old enough to remember, rock ’n’ roll was originally called rockabilly, a genre made famous by Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and other popular musicians of the 1950s.

When Holly died in a plane crash in February 1959, Texas singer and local radio disc jockey Naylor, barely out of his teens, did the unthinkable: He stepped up to the mic and into Holly’s shoes as the new lead singer of The Crickets.

Jillian McCool and Nicole Watterson show motorcycle riding gear during live auction. The Pilot/Bill Schlichting

It wasn’t the most successful of fundraisers, but last weekend’s Bruin Bash auction did raise a little more than $5,000 for the 2011 Safe and Sober Graduation Party.

The tally compares with previous auctions raising between $10,000 and $12,000, said Darla Moore, co-chair of the Safe and Sober Graduation Party planning committee.

Princess Liz Lindley aspires to earn a doctorate in psychiatry. Photo by Deanna Leigh Photography

She said she is excited and looking forward to the opportunity to actually be a member of the Azalea court preparing for the upcoming pageant.

She noted that she is having a wonderful time working with the other princesses, who have formed close relationships as they prepare for the upcoming Azalea Scholarship Pageant scheduled for Saturday, May 7, at Brookings Church of the Nazarene.