If you didn't catch a glimpse of the person who zipped by you on a bike wearing a training suit and helmet, you may have missed Mary Brown, widow of former Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals owner Paul Brown.

She is in training to join about 400 other cyclists from around the country in the Ride to Cure Diabetes 2004 in Death Valley, Calif., Oct. 21-24. The event benefits the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

"Cycling is what keeps my wheels turning," said the 74-year-old Milford woman. "This will be my fifth year in the Death Valley ride. It is very challenging. Last year the temperature reached 107 degrees."

Most of the time, Brown rides her bike on the Little Miami Trail, which starts about five minutes from her home in Miami Woods.

Mary Brown, 74, the widow of Cincinnati Bengals founder Paul Brown, rides her bike near Paul Brown Stadium Thursday. The Cincinnati Enquirer/CRAIG RUTTLE

"I can do about 12 to 15 miles an hour on the flat trail. But when you are on the Death Valley ride, you are climbing a lot of hills. My plans are to do 100 miles in one day in the Death Valley ride," she said.

Brown said she has so many wonderful friends and sponsors that help her in cycling for charity, which also has included cycling in a breast cancer fund-raising event.

"Each cyclists has a goal to raise $3,500," Brown said. "I get lots of contributions from football team owners and old friends. Cycling is a way of life with me. And I feel blessed to be able to do it for a worthy cause."

For more information about the Ride To Cure Diabetes, call 793-3223.

Lawyer gets volunteer award

Some people call Harry B. Zomow a lawyer for the poor.

He was among the first to sign up when the Volunteer Lawyers Project began providing legal services in Butler County.

On March 29, Zomow received the Volunteer Lawyer of the Year Award for 2003.

The award was presented by the Volunteer Lawyers for the Poor Foundation at the Butler County Bar Association's dinner.

Zomow has accepted volunteer project referrals in bankruptcy and Social Security.

He practices law in Hamilton. He is a graduate of Case Western Reserve Law School in Cleveland and was admitted to the bar in 1984.

He is a member of the Butler County Bar Association.

Students give for Easter

The Rapid Run Middle School Student Council put together 54 Easter baskets and donated them to children at Cincinnati Shriners Hospital on Thursday.

Shriners took the students on a tour and filled them in on the history of the hospital.

'Sibshops' to be April 17

A "Sibshops," an interactive session for brothers and sisters of children with special health and development needs, will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 17 at the Montgomery Assembly of God, 7940 Pfeiffer Road.

For more information, call 636-4601.

Many holidays marked

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP - Christians won't be the only members of the Greater Cincinnati community celebrating a religious holiday today.

Observers of the Jain religion will celebrate a major holiday at the Jain Center of Cincinnati with a talk and dinner celebration, said Ashwin Parekh, a member of the Jain Center.

The 183 families of the center will celebrate the birthday of Lord Mahavir, a reformer and philosopher in the Jain religion.

Mahavir is known as the 24th Tirthankara, a man born as a human being who attained enlightenment through meditation and self-realization.

"It's a very important holiday, one of two birthdays we celebrate," Parekh said.

For the celebration, the community will hear from Padmanabh Jaini, an author and Jain scholar based in San Francisco.

The Jain religion, founded in India, asks its followers to strive for five great vows: Ahimsa, non-violence; Satya, truthfulness; Asteya, non-stealing; Brahmacharya, chastity or not indulging in sensual pleasures; and Aparigraha, not forming an attachment to people, places or material things.

People of other faiths with their history in India are observing holidays this week all over the world as well. Early this week, Hindu and Sikh observers will celebrate Vaisakhi, the solar new year.

In the Sikh faith, the date has added significance as the birthday of its founder, Guru Nanak, and is the celebrated anniversary of a new era in the faith and outlining of important beliefs.