60 HAPPY TAILS WAGGED AT LAUREL RIDGE COUNTRY CLUB
Press Release
April 16, 2007
Cynthia Morris

Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation’s 1st Annual Happy Tails Golf Tournament at Laurel Ridge Country Club fielded 60 golfers on Thursday, April 12.

Dwayne Page, golf pro at Laurel Ridge, organized the Shotgun Start 4-Person Captain’s Choice and, according to Page, “For an inaugural tournament, I think the Sarge organization did a very good job at recruiting golfers. Many of our members came to play to support the group.”

Although no one scored a hole-in-one to win the 2007 Buick Lucerne, sponsored by Anderson Chevrolet-Buick, or the 2007 Chevrolet LTZ Tahoe, sponsored by Harbor Capital Management, there were 20 prizes awarded and 3 raffle winners.

John Roten, Program Director and Morning Host of AM1400 The Peak, was the official Emcee for the tournament. John welcomed the golfers in front of the Pro Shop before the 1:00 pm Shotgun start. He, Doyle Teague, Board President of Sarge’s, and Brandon Anderson of Harbor Capital Management , announced the winners and their prizes following the dinner at the Pavillion.

Brian J. Berman, award winning photographer, spent the day on the golf course and the evening at the Pavillion taking photos for publication and Sarge’s photograph album.

Raffles prizes were a Nike Sasquatch golf bag, two rounds of golf at the Maggie Valley Club and two rounds of golf at Laurel Ridge Country Club. The winners were Don Stevenson, Gary Hughes and Jeff Carpenter.

Other winners were:

  • Closest to the Pin: Jerry Lewis #17, Ray Ezell #8
  • Longest Drive: Jeff Carpenter #7
  • Most accurate drive: Don Stevenson #1
  • 1st Gross: Roy Greene, Don Stevenson, James Beasley, Buddy Beaty
  • 2nd Gross: Bob Holmquist, Steve Norman, Mike Stewart, Mark Reeser
  • 1st Net: Gary Hughes, J.R. Troyer, Larry Phillips, Mike McCluen
  • 2nd Net: Mike Deaver, Tom Nix, Sam Henson, Bill Jones


SARF voluntters Janette Miller, Erna Lundgren, Bettie McLeod, Nancy Rhoades, Doyle Teague at the registration table.
All of the golfers received goodie bags in their carts and drew numbers to claim gifts. The goodie bag items and gifts were donated by local businesses and community individuals. These generous supporters of Sarge’s were listed in the Program provided at the Pavillion.

Barbara Buck, Fundraising Chairperson of Sarge’s said “ We owe the success of the tournament to Brandon Anderson of Harbor Capital Management. I approached Brandon with this fundraising idea because I knew he had experience with coordinating golf tournaments. He led us through all the intricacies of the planning and execution.”

Home Builders Association of Haywood County custom built a miniature dog house to represent Sarge’s future Animal Adoption Center. It was on display for the first time and donations were dropped into the opening at the top. “We would like to thank Haywood Builders Association,” said Buck, “for building this beautifully constructed dog house and having it completed for the golf tournament. It will be on display during future events.”

“Special thanks also to our Tournament Sponsors,” said Buck. The Tournament Sponsors were: AM1400 The Peak and Rock 104.9 (Clear Channel Broadcasting), Harbor Capital Management, The Mountaineer, An-Ton Chevrolet-Buick-Pontiac, Anderson Chevrolet-Buick and Carolyn and Harvey Friedman. Buck added, “The Mountaineer was our advertising partner and kept news of the Tournament alive for Sarge’s for weeks.” Fun Things To Do In The Mountains supplied additional advertising support by printing the Sponsor Registration Form in the April 2007 edition. According to Cynthia Morris, publicity volunteer, “Our other local newspapers, The Haywood County News and Smoky Mountain News were also very supportive in spreading the word about Happy Tails. We are very grateful to them as well.”