Eight South Bay area high school seniors...

Eight South Bay area high school seniors have been recognized as Good Citizens by the El Redondo Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. The award is based on dependability, service, leadership, patriotism and an extemporaneous essay. The students and their high schools are Carolyn Griffith, Torrance; Jane Song, North; Julie Olson, Mira Costa; Monica Enriquez, Bishop Montgomery; Cynthia Bullock, West; Monica Devesa, South; Margaret Alley, Palos Verdes, and Dylana Blum, Rolling Hills. Blum also won first place in the District IX California State Society NSDAR Good Citizens Contest.

John Hales, former Hermosa Beach planning commissioner and designer of the city seal, has been elected president of the Friends of the Hermosa Beach Library. Hales has lived in Hermosa Beach for more than 35 years. The library support group has authorized $1,500 for gift purchases for the library in 1991.

Elaine Shallenberger is the new president of the Drum Barracks Society in Wilmington. The state-owned Drum Barracks is the only intact U.S. Army building from the Civil War era in Southern California. It is located at 1052 Banning Blvd., Wilmington.

John M. Wilson, president of San Pedro Peninsula Hospital, has been appointed to the 1991 California Assn. of Hospitals and Health Systems Public Affairs Committee. The association establishes public policy priorities for 460 California hospitals. Wilson has served as president of San Pedro Peninsula Hospital for more than two years, has had a 22-year career in health care administration and has been a San Pedro resident for 14 years.

Edmond J. Russ, general chairman of the Gardena/Carson Family YMCA’s fund-raising Capital Campaign, has announced that the YMCA’s first-phase goal of $2.25 million has been exceeded. Among major donors to the fund are Russ Miller, owner of the Normandie Club, and his son and partner, Gregory Miller, who recently donated $50,000, bringing their total gift to $100,000. Major contributions have also come from individuals and businesses, including the late Kay Adley, who donated her office property on Gardena Boulevard, according to Russ. The new YMCA will be located near the intersection of Artesia and Vermont boulevards and will feature a large indoor swimming pool, aerobic center, weight training areas and a child-care center.

Rancho Palos Verdes resident David M. Brudney has been elected to the board of directors of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants. The society is composed of consultants for owners, representatives, developers, and managers of hotels, motels, resorts, restaurants and tourist attractions. Brudney’s firm, David Brudney & Associates, specializes in marketing, research and litigation support.

Manhattan Beach City Manager Bill Smith has announced the appointment of Neil Miller as the city’s new public services director. As maintenance manager for the city of Santa Monica, Miller supervised a staff of 160 with an annual budget of $14 million. He was instrumental in developing a recycling program for that city that currently diverts paper, metal, glass, waste oil and construction debris from the waste stream into useable products. In his new position as public services director for Manhattan Beach, Miller will oversee the work of about 50 employees in street, vehicle, sewer line, electrical, building and general public works maintenance. He will also be responsible for the city’s water system and the department’s environmental efforts, including recycling, urban forestry and drought-resistant landscaping.

Rancho Palos Verdes Councilwoman Jacki Bacharach has been selected to represent Los Angeles County on the High-Speed Ground Transportation System Advisory Committee created by Senate Bill 1307, effective Jan. 1. Bacharach is a member of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. The 12 members of the new advisory committee are experts who will provide guidance to the California Department of Transportation for a feasibility study of high speed rail throughout the state.

Redondo Beach resident Phyllis Van de Braak is the recipient of the Candlelight Award, presented by the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Red Cross in recognition of outstanding volunteer service. Van de Braak, a former librarian, has reorganized the blood pressure screening program at the Del Amo Service Center, which screens more than 300 clients each month. She has been a volunteer for two years.

Coast Christian School’s first Man of the Year award will be given to George Post of Torrance at a dinner banquet to be held on board the Queen Mary on Feb. 15. Featured entertainer will be Pat Boone.

Katada Kikusa of Redondo Beach is the recipient of a $2,120 apprenticeship grant from the California Arts Council. The grant recognizes Kikusa as a master in the art of tsuzumi and shimetaiko, percussion instruments played in Noh, Kabuki and Japanese dance. The traditional dances and instruments have been practiced for at least 500 years, according to Kikusa. The fund is for the time, materials and travel for a master who is passing along a specific artistic practice to an apprentice of the same culture. Kikusa’s grant is one of 23 made by the arts council to individual artists and sponsor organizations who practice, assist, or help to preserve the folk arts of the cultures throughout California.

Brenda Widener of Gardena has been presented the American Red Cross Tiffany Award in recognition of employee excellence. Widener is director of Social Services and associate director of Emergency Services for the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Suzanne Rivera has been appointed executive director of South Bay Free Clinic’s board of directors. Before her appointment, Rivera served as finance officer for the clinic. The free clinic, headquartered in Manhattan Beach with facilities in Gardena and Redondo Beach, has been delivering health and human services to the South Bay community since 1969.

Lee Barr of Manhattan Beach is a recipient of the U.S. Olympic Festival-’91 Volunteer of the Month award for the month of January. He is a data processing expert and a member of the festival’s data information support staff.

Milton Wolf has been elected president of the 3,000-member California Jewelers Assn. for 1991. Wolf has been in the jewelry industry for more than 50 years and is owner of Jan’s Jewelers in Hawthorne.

Palos Verdes resident Frederick J. Lower Jr. was recently sworn in as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge by a fellow alumnus of Loyola Law School, Victor E. Chavez, class of 1959. Lower, who received his juris doctorate from Loyola in 1964, served as dean of Loyola Law School from 1973-79, and as interim dean from July, 1990, through Jan. 4, 1991. While on the Loyola Law School faculty, Lower served as professor of constitutional law, developments in tort law, insurance law and torts.