Memorial benches have gained in popularity as a way to honor an individual. Now some towns are offering memorial picnic table programs

Memorial benches are becoming increasingly popular as a way to honor an individual and now there's a trend toward adding a commemorative message to picnic tables as well.

In fact, the City of Ravenswood in West Virginia recently received an award for a new memorial picnic table program they started.

What a great way to honor a loved one or popular public figure in a town!

Like adding park benches with a plaque or laser-cut inscription, memorial

How parks receive the IDA's Dark-Sky Certification

Most people don't realize that when they look up into the sky at night, they only see part of the picture.

What picture? The Universe.

As civilization has advanced, so has our tendency to attempt to light up every corner of the world.

There are a number of reasons why this is important.

However, there is one very negative side effect - light pollution.

When most people peer up into the night sky, they are not able to view the true sky as earlier inhabitants of the planet were able to do.

If you can find a place far away from the light, the view of a dark sky is spectacular.

You not only see prominent planets and stars in the foreground, you soon realize there is a mosaic of a gazillion points of light behind them that make up our incredible and infinite universe.

The stars and the expanse never ends.

Constellations pop out everywhere.

The big shocker

July is Park and Recreation Month and a time to celebrate and appreciate all the programs offered and maintained by the employees at your local parks

July is Park and Recreation Month and a great time to salute the people who work hard at your local, state and national parks all year long to create appealing spaces and programs for the public.

According to a recent study by the National Recreation and Parks Association, park workers cover a lot of ground. Literally.

The number of programs offered by local parks and their responsibilities might surprise the average citizen. It should certainly impress them.

The study reports on data obtained from 1,069 park and recreation agencies across the US from 2015 to 2017.

Survey reveals typical workload of parks and rec departments

Here is an overview of what parks

Picnic tables today are made with different materials that can be effective in reducing vandalism

Picnic tables are a popular destination for family gatherings, children's parties and sometimes bored delinquents who have nothing better to do but to tear them apart and wreck the experience for everybody.

Warm weather is now here, and people are heading outdoors, including these hooligans.

Scan the national headlines, and you will see incidents here and there where a bunch of misguided miscreants met at a park and then at some point in the evening, thought it was a good idea to destroy the picnic tables on the premises. By the way, probably the same picnic tables their families or friends use during daylight hours.

These scoundrels either bust the tables up. Carve their names into the wood or even worse,

rotary club

The Bar Harbor Rotary Club in Maine donated recycled plastic benches and other outdoor furnishings to a local playground. Community projects such as these provide a highly visible example of the great contributions groups like this make to their communities

If your charitable organization wants to make a major impact on the community, just take a look at your local playgrounds and see if they need improvements.

That's what the Bar Harbor Rotary Club did recently in Maine when the group pulled up its sleeves, raised money, gathered