Refuge to hold bird walk

Marian Frobe will lead a bird walk at the Turnbull Refuge Headquarters beginning at 8 a.m. on May 31.

No experience is necessary in identifying birds. Beginners to experts are welcome. The walk around the Pine Lakes area will conclude between 11 a.m. and noon.

Call 328-0621 or e-mail rrfrobe@msn.com to RSVP. Donations are requested for the class, and there is a $3 entrance fee at the refuge gate.

Party to aid rebuilding habitat

The Audubon Society and Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge will hold a work party on Saturday as part of an ongoing effort to rebuild habitat at the refuge.

Volunteers are going to plant 40 sapling trees and place wire mesh enclosures to protect them from animals. The event is from 9 a.m. to noon with a potluck to follow.

To sign up, call the refuge at 235-4723. The work party will begin at the refuge headquarters at 26010 S. Smith Road. Volunteers should wear appropriate clothing and bring tools.

Cheney

Ex North Korean prisoner to speak

Soon Ok Lee, a former North Korean prisoner, will speak about her experiences as part of Eastern Washington University’s inaugural International Week celebration May 12-17. Lee’s presentation will be from 4-5:30 p.m., Tuesday, in Showalter Auditorium on Eastern’s Cheney campus.

Lee was a member of the North Korean Communist Party working as a supervisor of a material distribution center in 1986 when she was arrested on unsubstantiated charges of embezzlement.

She was sentenced to 13 years of hard labor but was released after six years of torture in the North Korean prison system known as the gulag. She and her son escaped to South Korea in 1995, where they live today.

Lee wrote a book, “Eyes of the Tailless Animals,” published in 1999. She received the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington D.C. in 2003.

The event is free, but parking and seating are limited. For information, contact Ed Slack in Eastern’s History department at 659-7954.