Exhibits continue at Southern Ohio Museum

The distant past will come alive as visitors cross the bridge in time to Art of the Ancients:

The Ohio Valley, the Southern Ohio Museum's new permanent collection features 10,000 Native American artifacts from 1,500 to 8,000 years old. Starting more than 3,000 years ago and lasting about 1,500 years, these ancient cultures lived throughout southern Ohio and northern Kentucky, settling primarily along the streams and rivers feeding the Ohio River.

While many details about the Adena and the Hopewell people remain unknown, articles crafted from stone, bone, shell and other durable materials managed to survive to offer important clues about the lives of their creators.

Another permanent exhibit is the Clarence Holbrook Carter exhibit. Carter was a native of Portsmouth.

The museum is located at 825 Gallia St., Portsmouth, and the galleries are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tues.-Fri. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Admission is $1 for students and children; $2 for adults, except on Fridays when it is free. For more information, call (740) 354-5629.

Masters of the Night bat attraction showing

Camden Park's newest attraction, Masters of Night-The True Story of Bats, is now open in the Discovery Center and will run through Sept. 3.

The 5,000 square-foot exhibit offers caves, a simulated rain forest and a gothic castle.

There are plenty of special effects and hands-on displays to take part in.

Visitors can listen through giant bat ears, fly a bat through the rain forest using a remote control and see the world the way that a bat does - upside down.

No only does the exhibit dispel popular myths and misconceptions about bats, it also shows how important bats are to the environment.

Camden Park, West Virginia's amusement park, has been operating for 103 years.

For more information, call (304) 429-4321, or (866) 8CAMDEN or visit the Web site at www.camdenpark.com.

The park is located on U.S. 69 West, Huntington, W.Va.

Cancer survivor finds comfort in humor

Motivational speaker and cancer survivor Christine Clifford Beckwith will be at Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital on July 20 at 6 p.m.

Diagnosed with cancer at age 40 and at the peak of a successful sales career, she treated it like another challenge and overcame it with a unique treatment - humor.

She has written several award-winning books including “No Now ... I'm Having a No Hair Day,” and “Our Family Has Cancer, Too” and “Cancer Has It's Privileges” among others.

She will be signing books in a meet and greet in the Banquet Room after her talk.

Cost is $20 for VIP tickets and $5 for general admission.

From PDT staff reports