Niagara Honor Roll / Achievers and achievements
• Ronald Parent, president of the Kiwanis Club of Lewiston, announced that Ernie Krell has been named the general chairman of the 51st annual Niagara County Peach Festival. This three-day event will be held Sept. 5-7 in Academy Park in the Village of Lewiston.
Krell has been co-chairman of the Peach Festival for the past two years and served as the chairman in 1987. He has also served in other festival capacities. He has been a member of the Lewiston Kiwanis since 1982.
• Orleans/Niagara BOCES digital media student Waylon Wilson, from the Niagara Wheatfield School District, was named winner in the 2008 statewide “Save Your Friend’s Life Over the Air Waves Contest,” sponsored by the New York State Association of Traffic Safety Boards.
Waylon created a 30-second radio spot about the topic of safety belts, which was one of seven entries chosen to be played on radio stations statewide, as well as featured on the Web site www.nysatsb.com . He also received a cash award of $200. • Opportunities Unlimited of Niagara, which has been assisting people with developmental disabilities across Niagara County for more than 50 years, recently elected its 2008-09 board members and officers.
Amy Freiermuth and Diana Henry, Nominating Committee co-chairwomen, announced the election of the following officers to one-year terms: president, Donald H. Smith, Smith Brothers Construction Co.; first vice president, Therese Mudd; second vice president, Steve Bertini, Wegmans; treasurer, James Woodruff, Christ the King Catholic Church; recording secretary, Marie-Therese Frieri; and corresponding secretary, Freiermuth, BeauDesigns, Graphic Design & Printing.
New directors elected to three-year terms are: Mark Barry, Lockport Memorial Hospital; Linda Conlin and Stan Janicki, HSBC Bank. Continuing directors are: Peter Greisler, retired, Bissell Healthcare Corp.; Betsy Higgins; James Kwasniak, Seneca Gaming Corp.; Steve LaRock, retired, Barker Central School District; Paul Masters, Dorothy Repetski and Melissa Tower, Wilson Central School.
Nominating Committee members elected for 2008-09 are: Ron Enzinna, Electronic Data Systems; Henry, Gaines Kriener Elliott LLP, Janicki, Kwasniak and Jeff Streb, Ingram Micro.
• Paul Monaco, a string instructor with the Royalton- Hartland School District, has been named coordinator of the Kenan Center’s new Music Arts Program, which will begin this fall.
Monaco holds a bachelor’s in educational studies from Buffalo State College and a master’s in education from Canisius College.
“This program will be a wonderful addition to the Kenan Center, as well as give students of the Lockport City School District more opportunities for musical enrichment,” Monaco said.
Designed as a partnership between the Kenan Center and the Lockport City School District, the first phase of the Music Arts Program will provide string instrument instruction, rehearsal and performance in schools starting at the third-grade level.
Funding is made possible by money from the Thelma and Milfred Beck Bequest, administered by the Niagara Area Foundation and by a grant from the Grigg Lewis Foundation.
For more information about the program, contact Paul Monaco at 433-2617.
• Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center has appointed Dr. Gunseli Sarpel head of its Division of Neurology. Her appointment was announced by Vice President & Chief Medical Officer Dr. Vijay Bojedla.
She replaces Dr. Mohammed Megahed, who recently retired.
Sarpel, a graduate of the Hacettepe University Medical School in Ankara, Turkey, has been an attending physician at Memorial since 1991. She previously served as an attending neurologist at hospitals in her native Turkey and in Chicago.
In addition, she was chairwoman of neurology at Cukurova University in Turkey, an assistant professor at Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine, Chicago, and an associate professor of neurology and radiology at Chicago Medical School.
She is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a fellow member of the American Academy of Neurology.
• The MarthaH. Beeman Foundation has made a $2,500 donation to both the United Way of Niagara and the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center Child Advocacy Center in memory of long-time board member Diana Palumbo.
“Mrs. Palumbo’s dedication and commitment to children, the community and the board warranted the foundation to honor her in such a manner,” said Donald H. Smith, president of the Beeman Foundation board of directors.
• More than 80 boys and girls participated in the Niagara County Fair Baseball/Softball Challenge. The event, open free to youngsters ages 7 to 12, is sponsored by Cornell Cooperative Extension, Niagara and Pepsi.
Each participant is given a bottle of Pepsi product, and each first-, second-and third-place finisher is given a trophy. First-place finishers in each category received a case of a Pepsi product.
This year’s winners, from first to third place, respectively:
Boys 7 to 8: Kyle Harrington, Lockport; Max Weber and Connor Hill, both of Newfane.
Girls 7 to 8: Shyenna Hildebrandt and Renee Edbauer, both of Lockport.
Boys 9 to 10: Garrett Pietrzak, Lockport; Eugene Bush, Gasport; and Zachery Sarratori, Wilson.
Girls 9 to 10: Mary Rounds, Rachael Rausch, both of Middleport; and Jamie Galloway, Pendleton.
Boys 11 to 12: Tyler Hill, Newfane; Jason Donorovich and Dakota Hildebrandt, both of Lockport.
Girls 11 to 12: Hannah Rausch, Middleport; Shelly Fedeson, North Tonawanda; Sam Walton, Gasport.
Bonnie Mosher coordinated the event.
• Air Force Reserve Airman Christopher A. Baker Zacher has graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio. During the six weeks of training, Zacher studied the Air Force mission, organization and military customs and courtesies; performed drill and ceremony marches; and received physical training, rifle marksmanship, field training exercises and special training in human relations.
He is the son of Jackie Zacher and grandson of Walter Robinson, both of Lockport.
