West Side News & Notes
By Stephanie Kist
Girl Scouts appoint new CEO
NORTHEAST OHIO — Five regional Girl Scout councils realigning into one new council known as Girl Scouts of North East Ohio have appointed their first chief executive officer.
Daisy Alford-Smith was selected to helm the council, which is headquartered in West Akron. The newly formed Girl Scouts of North East Ohio serves 45,000 girls and 15,000 adult volunteer members throughout an 18-county region.
“I’m extremely excited
about this new opportunity,”
Alford-Smith stated in a press release. “The realignment
is more than jurisdictional and personnel changes. It’s
all about the girls and preparing them to be tomorrow’s
leaders. This movement, guided by our members and volunteers,
will also ultimately provide an increased level of consistency,
financial stability and greater flexibility, which will
enhance our ability to impact girls throughout the region
even more powerfully.”
Alford-Smith earned a bachelor’s
degree in nursing from the State University of New York,
a master’s in technical education from The University
of Akron and a doctorate in urban education from Cleveland
State University.
She most recently served as the
chief operating officer with the Commission on Graduates
of Foreign Nursing Schools and the International Commission
on Health Care Professions in Philadelphia. She also
served for six years as director of the Summit County
Department of Job & Family Services.
Alford-Smith has served as a
consultant to the country of Slovakia, assisting two
major cities develop citywide health plans. She also
taught Leadership and Administration at the University
of Zimbabwe in Africa and was a health consultant to
the South African government. Her honors and awards
include the Joan L. Andrews Professional Service Award;
Crain’s Cleveland Business Leaders of Today Award;
the YWCA Greater Cleveland Women of Achievement
Award; the Plain Dealer’s Outstanding Accomplishments;
and the Harold K. Stubbs Humanitarian Award.
For details on Girl Scouts of
North East Ohio, call (330) 864-9933 or (800) 852-4474.
ODOT to close I-77 ramps
FAIRLAWN — The Ohio
Department of Transportation (ODOT) will close the Interstate
77 southbound exit ramp and northbound entrance ramp
to and from Miller and Ridgewood roads Oct. 15. The
ramps will be closed until Oct. 25.
The detour will be I-77 southbound
to White Pond Drive to I-77 northbound.
For information, call Mark Walker
at (330) 786-3148.
County sponsors Adam Walsh
Act information session
DOWNTOWN AKRON — On Oct.
19 from 1 to 3 p.m., the Summit County Sex Offender
Management Committee, a subcommittee of the Summit County
Criminal Justice Advisory Board, will sponsor an “Implementation
of the Adam Walsh Act and Its Impact on Ohio”
information session in the auditorium of the Akron-Summit
County Main Branch Library, 60 S. Main St.
The session will be facilitated
by Erin Rosen, a senior assistant attorney general in
the Special Prosecution Section of the Ohio Attorney
General’s Office.
Topics to be covered include
the differences between adult and juvenile offenders,
implementation, proposed
legislation, registration charges, registry changes,
retroactivity and tier structure.
This event is free and open to
the public. For more information or to make a reservation,
call (330) 643-2558 or e-mail clange@summitoh.net.
Frank Family Trust aids
Orrville youth
COPLEY — The Frank Family
Trust, a local nonprofit foundation created in memory
of Revere High School graduate Brian Frank, who died
a year ago from multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer,
will host a fund-raiser Nov. 3 at St. George’s
Antiochian Church, 3204 Ridgewood Road.
The evening will feature a reverse
raffle and auction. Tickets are $60 each and include
dinner, drinks and a $1,200 grand prize. Doors will
open at 6 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m.
Part of the evening’s proceeds
will be donated to help the Peppard family, of Orrville,
whose 16-year-old son, David, is facing his second bout
with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
Originally diagnosed in February
2005, David went into remission until he relapsed July
9. He has spent many weeks in the intensive care unit
at Akron Children’s Hospital; plans are for David
to be moved to Columbus Children’s Hospital for
a bone marrow transplant, according to event organizers.
David has reached his insurance
cap and no longer has insurance coverage, according
to organizers. He lives with his parents, Carl and Peggy,
and three brothers, Greg, Bobby and Eric. Connecting
the Frank and Peppard families is Phil Hatton, principal
of Orrville High School, where David is a sophomore.
Hatton previously had been with Revere Local Schools,
most recently as its athletic director, and coached
Brian Frank during his first year of wrestling. Bob
Frank, Brian’s oldest brother, was friends with
and graduated from high school with Hatton.
Proceeds also will benefit Stewart’s
Caring Place and contribute to the college fund for
Kenna Frank, Brian’s young daughter.
For information, to purchase
tickets or to make a donation, contact frankfamilytrust@ya
hoo.com,
Laura Lea Frank at (330) 666-5364 or Janice Gabel at
(330) 336-9796.
Veterans burial information
requested by genealogical
society
GREATER AKRON — The Summit
County Chapter of the American Genealogical Society
is asking for assistance compiling a database intended
to include all veterans known to be buried in Summit
County’s cemeteries.
To date, the group has almost
50,000 names but has learned that many sources of veteran
burials are either unavailable or incomplete. In an
effort to avoid missing veterans, the chapter is appealing
to the general public to submit names and information
to be included in the database, which will be available
to the public next year and will be searchable and sortable.
The chapter is seeking name,
conflict served in (if applicable),
rank, branch of service and Summit County cemetery of
burial. If the service person was killed in action,
is missing in action or was a prisoner of war, or if
the respondent can supply section, lot or grave information,
that information is welcome as well.
The database is intended to include
all veterans buried in Summit
County, whether they served in a war or during peacetime,
and is not limited to those who died in service.
Information can be submitted
to the chapter at P.O. Box 2232, Akron, OH 44309 or
e-mailed to jadavis41@hotmail.com.
Dann, postal inspectors
join forces for initiative
CLEVELAND — A new partnership
spearheaded by the U.S. Postal Service, Ohio Attorney
General Marc Dann’s office and the Postal Inspection
Service is bringing together financial institutions
and credit unions to help fight the onslaught of “fake
check” scams.
“Once someone has cashed
a fake check and spent the money, it is almost impossible
to recover,” said Dann. “We have found that
our best line of defense is a good offense, and that
means education. We will educate financial institutions
and credit unions on how to identify fake check scams
and provide them with information to give consumers
at the point of transaction (deposit/withdrawal), telling
the risks of completing the transaction.”
The initiative is kicking off
in Cleveland. Businesses interested in joining
should call (877) 244-6446 or (877) 876-2455.
For more information, the U.S.
Postal Service, working with public and private organizations,
has put together a Web site to help people recognize
the warning signs of possible fake check scams. The
Web site is www.fakechecks.org.
Some scenarios that usually indicate
fake check scams include foreign business offers, sudden
riches notifications, work-at-home schemes and overpayments.
For more information about fake
check scams, call (877) 244-6446.
|
