Winner of Pageant Takes a Bow : Crown’s the Same, but Title Now Reads Miss Centinela Valley

The Lawndale Chamber of Commerce will hold a mixer tonight to give members and guests an opportunity to meet the new Miss Centinela Valley, 22-year-old Wendy Berry.

In past years, she would have been just plain Miss Lawndale. But the chamber took the Lawndale out of the pageant name and christened it the Miss Centinela Valley Pageant in September, after the Lawndale City Council cut the chamber off without a dime during budget deliberations.

The chamber had expected to receive $70,000 from the city, including $40,000 from business license revenues and a $25,000 reimbursement for putting on four community events, including the pageant.

The chamber had to broaden its financial base, and members say the Miss Centinela Valley Pageant eventually will attract applicants--and commercial sponsors--from throughout the South Bay.

Chosen Miss Centinela Valley in ceremonies last month, Berry won a $1,500 scholarship and an opportunity to compete for the title of Miss California. The daughter of Hawthorne business owners Mary Ann and Jim Berry, she lives in San Pedro and is a student at El Camino College. She will transfer to Cal State Long Beach in January.

Pageant runners-up were April Lynch, who won an $800 scholarship, and Jennifer Eckert, $500.

The Lawndale City Council showed no interest in conducting a counter-pageant in competition with the chamber’s. But had it wanted to, the city would not have been able to use the Miss Lawndale name because the chamber had registered it as a trademark.

The council has, however, decided to take over sponsorship of the spring Youth Day Parade, previously put on by the chamber with about $5,000 in city funds.

The parade decision split the council 3 to 2 at last week’s meeting, with Councilmen Harold E. Hofmann, Larry Rudolph and Dan McKenzie prevailing over Mayor Sarann Kruse and Councilwoman Carol Norman.

The three councilmen also overruled Kruse and Norman in September’s decision to cut the chamber out of the city budget. The three argued that the chamber should be self-supporting, while the minority argued that the chamber promotes business activity crucial to the city’s financial health.

At Hofmann’s suggestion, the council majority named Shirley Rudolph, a member of the city’s Recreation Commission, to head a parade planning committee. She is the wife of Councilman Rudolph.

Hofmann specified that the city should spend no more than the $5,000 it has given the chamber to sponsor past parades.

Chamber Manager Jerry Enis said that regardless of the city parade, the chamber will hold a fund-raising carnival April 21-24. In past years, the chamber has put on the parade and carnival concurrently. “It is immaterial to us” whether the city holds the parade on the April 21-24 weekend or at another time, he said.

In spite of the cutback, Enis said, the chamber this month is presenting the Santa’s Sleigh program for Lawndale youngsters with the help of volunteers from the South Bay 25 service club.

In addition, he said, the chamber is developing ideas for fund-raising events and increased membership to help make up for the loss in city funds.