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During the two years I spent in Taiwan and Hong Kong as a callow youth, I often walked along narrow back streets where windows remained open and you could hear the noise of Mah Jongg tiles and enthusiastic players of the ancient game.

I remembered that clicking sound the other day when the following e-mail popped up on my computer:

“Four women are eager to learn how to play Mah Jongg this summer and are looking for someone to teach them the basics. They have a great attitude and sense of humor, and possess not only terrific card sense but also a new Mah Jongg set with four 2007 cards!

“Please contact Renée at 474-4275. They live in town with a convenient location to play and will offer a stipend for the lessons.”

I wish them luck.

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PREVENTION: This is Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness month. The “Light of Hope Community Awareness and Recognition Luncheon” is to take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Carlson Center.

Tickets are $15 and must be purchased in advance. Call Jane Atkinson at 451-2812 for details.

The Community Cares Conference, focused on efforts to help children, takes place that same day at the center. Lunch is included with conference registration.

Fairbanks attorney Becky Snow is to give the keynote address at the luncheon, while Carol Brice, Howard Luke, Shayle Hutchison and others are to be recognized for their work in the campaign to stop child abuse. About 120 people are expected to attend.

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JAZZED UP: The West Valley library will host the Third Annual Evening of Jazz and Poetry at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the school library.

This is a collaborative celebration of the arts in honor of National Poetry Month, Jazz Appreciation Month and National Library week. Community members are encouraged to attend and participate. There will be a silent auction with proceeds to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters.

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HELP WANTED: Nathan Burgess is a wonderful and talented young Fairbanks artist, a West Valley High School student and the son of Andy Burgess and Lin Gale. He has been fighting a life-threatening illness with great resolve for more than a year.

His friends and his parents’ friends want you to know that the Nathan Burgess Donation Account is open at the Wells Fargo Bank branch at University Avenue and Geist Road.

The only purpose of the Nathan Burgess Donation Account is to help the family deal with ever-increasing expenses at this most trying time. They have insurance, but they are facing tens of thousands of dollars in uncovered expenses.

This young man has been dealt a most difficult hand and the family could use all the support and prayer they can get.

Deposits can be made at any Wells Fargo Branch or checks can be sent to: Wells Fargo Bank, 794 University Ave., Fairbanks, AK 99709.

Eric Troyer, a family friend, is handling the account. If you have questions, call him at 455-6641 or write to him at etcl@acsalaska.net.

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IN THE BAG: Skaidra Smith-Heisters of the Reason Foundation suggests that in the running battle over the relative merits of paper and plastic bags, 100 million plastic grocery bags require the expenditure of the equivalent of 8,300 barrels of oil.

“That sounds like a lot until you consider that the same number of paper grocery bags use five times that much total energy,” Smith-Heisters wrote.

“When the cashier rings up a purchase and bags it in a paper bag, the consumer doesn’t see that it took at least a gallon of water to produce that bag (more than 20 times the amount used to make a plastic bag), that it weighed 10 times more on the delivery truck and took up seven times as much space as a plastic bag in transit to the store, and will ultimately result in between tens and hundreds of times more greenhouse gas emissions than a plastic bag.”

Of course, this doesn’t address the option of reusable bags.

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LAND PLANS: If you are interested in the future rules regarding the White Mountains National Recreation Area, the Steese National Conservation Area and the Fortymile area, consider attending a public meeting Tuesday at the assembly chambers from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

There will be maps, other information and staff members to answer questions and receive comments about the planning process.

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G-MAN: I don’t know why Arctic Power thinks that enlisting G. Gordon Liddy is going to help open ANWR to oil drilling. He is “virile, vigorous and potent,” as Liddy likes to proclaim, but he can’t swing any votes in Congress.

Everyone who listens to the G-Man already supports ANWR drilling. It would be better to try and line up John McCain.

Arctic Power says it needs $50,000 in corporate sponsors to offset its costs for hosting the G-Man in Alaska. This is grounds for withdrawing at least $50,000 of the $250,000 bestowed upon Arctic Power by the Legislature for the next fiscal year.

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BEGICH ANNOUNCES: Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich plans to announce his decision today to run for the U.S. Senate.

Begich is scheduled to appear at the J.P. Jones Community Center at 5 p.m. to talk about the campaign.

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CLEANUP: At this rate the snow will be long gone by May 10, which is Cleanup Day. I was beginning to have my doubts.

Dermot Cole can be reached at cole@newsminer.com or 459-7530.