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A mobile “fair” of rail cars is coming to Healy on Saturday to provide families and professionals with information on emergency preparedness.

The Alaska Railroad hosts the special rail tour, which will feature information on fire safety, track and train safety, crime prevention, natural disaster preparedness and more.

It’s called the 2008 Emergency Response Whistle Stop Tour, and it is stopping at Railbelt communities from Seward to Fairbanks.

Hands-on training and classroom time will be offered to emergency service providers and first responders, including firefighters. But there will be activities for the general public as well. Train cars open at 9 a.m. at the Healy siding.

Look for information about Neighborhood Watch, Operation Lifesaver, Firewise Alaska, Homeland Security, Environmental Conservation and basic health information.

Wilderness and the human spirit

Longtime Alaska pilot and wilderness “specialist” Roger Kaye will make a special presentation at the Murie Science and Wilderness Center tonight at 7 p.m.

Kaye has worked with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for more than 20 years and is an affiliate professor of northern studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has researched peoples’ perception of wilderness and recently wrote the book “Last Great Wilderness: The Campaign to Establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”

His presentation will draw upon research in the fields of history, psychology, symbolism and wildlands recreation, to provide a secular understanding of spirituality as it relates to wilderness and its effect on people.

Skiing accident

Send get well wishes to our friend and neighbor Ben Johnson, 34, who was seriously injured Saturday at the World Telemark Free-Skiing Championships in Girdwood.

Ben was skiing to raise money for Challenge Alaska, a nonprofit ski program that helps people with disabilities.

On his second run, he skied over a 100-plus-foot cliff, landing in only 18 inches of powder.

He was airlifted to Providence Hospital. At last report, his fourth, fifth and sixth vertebrae were fused, and he required surgery for a broken ankle.

To keep tabs on Ben and/or to send him a get well wish, see www.LifeMoreNatural.com, a Web site created by another Denali friend, Allan Warren.

According to Warren: “He’s got his legs, he’s got his life. He’s also got a long road to recovery.”

Many an Alaska visitor has traveled down Alaska rivers with Ben as their guide — including a group of local students last Fall, in the Alaska Scientists of the Future program.

Sledding victim

Friends of April Cole have opened a fund at First National Bank of Alaska to help pay her medical bills.

April was injured in a sledding accident March 22, along with longtime McKinley Village resident Karen Weiner, who manages all the gift shops for Denali Park Resorts.

April broke five ribs and her scapula.

Weiner, recuperating from a broken pelvis, had this to say about her injured friend: “For those of you who don’t know April, you should know that she is a very special, kindhearted woman. This will be her third summer working with us. She has been an active supporter of various employee events, volunteering to help with the Moose Scat Scoot and the Pygmy Tundra Buffalo Run. April is always the first to volunteer to baby-sit, dog-sit, run errands or help people in other ways.

“When I first met April, she had long pretty hair. When she came back to work this season, she had a short bob. She cut off her hair to donate to the cancer group that provides human hair wigs to cancer patients.”

April’s response to this kind gesture: total shock.

To make a donation, contact the Healy branch of First National Bank of Alaska, account No. 3070-650-1.

AHTNA permits

If you want to renew your AHTNA Inc. Land Access Permit for 2008, come to the McKinley Community Center on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

These permits are required to hike, ski or otherwise recreate on Ahtna land. For more information, see www.mckinleycommunitycenter.org.

Brooks baby

When it comes time to deliver a baby, soon-to-be moms in our area usually head to town early, so they are close to medical help in plenty of time.

But sometimes, the baby doesn’t cooperate.

That is why Cathy Brooks missed a fabulously successful, well-attended baby shower in her honor last Saturday.

Soon-to-be big sisters Abby and Molly were on hand, but Mom was in labor in Fairbanks — long before her actual due date. Baby No. 3 has not arrived yet.

Perhaps the baby is waiting for his dad to return to Fairbanks. As of Monday, according to friends, Ramy Brooks was still trying to fly out of Nome.