Hmmm, a movie about ticks? Well, it doesn't seem like a topic with a lot of dramatic possibilities, but the fact is that ticks have quite an impact on life here in R.I. Talk to anyone you know who never gets outside to enjoy our beautiful natural assetts here, and you're likely to find that ticks are high on their list of concerns. Then again, talk to anyone who does spend a lot of time outdoors, and you're likely to find they worry about ticks too -- the difference is that they've learned how to cope with them.

Tom Mather, tick expert at URI, predicts a heavy infestation of ticks this year. He urges the use of insecticides, frequent tick checks, and other precautions to avoid the possibilities of Lyme disease and other illness. Click here for more info.

Back to the movie -- "Hidden In The Leaves," a 24-minute documentary by award-winning filmmaker Mary Healey Jamiel, exposes the hidden dangers that ticks represent and spotlights strategies to avoid ticks and their diseases. It tells the story of Prof. Mather and his team's efforts to educate people about ticks. You can catch it Wednesday night, June 4, at 7 p.m. at the URI Kingston campus, in Chafee Auditorium, Room 271. It will also show in Charlestown on Tuesday night, Warwick on Thursday, plus other venues to be announced, and it will air on RI PBS later this month, click here for details.

And to learn even more about ticks, you can catch the annual Tick Control Awareness Day at URI next weekend, Saturday June 7.  For more info about both the film and the URI event, go to www.TickEncounter.org or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .