The Wellness Community-South Bay Cities will honor...

The Wellness Community-South Bay Cities will honor Manhattan Beach resident Jean McMillan as the 1990 South Bay Citizen of the Year at a black-tie dinner Sunday at the Radisson Hotel in Manhattan Beach.

McMillan is a native of British Columbia, Canada. She and her husband of 37 years, James T. McMillan, are the parents of five adult children, Susanne, Brian, David, Kathryn and Mary.

Following a career as a research chemist with the Canadian Atomic Energy Project and USC, and as a faculty member of the chemistry department at Immaculate Heart College, McMillan became a full-time mother and community activist wherever her children were involved: church, school and community.

She is a founding member of the Wellness Community-South Bay Cities, a nonprofit organization offering free counseling and support groups for cancer patients and their families. In addition, she has served on the Manhattan Beach Planning Commission, Underground Utilities Commission and Capitol Improvement Committee. She is founding trustee of the South Bay Cancer Foundation and Hospital Foundation, and has served on the hospital foundation’s board of trustees as treasurer and president, and with numerous other community, school and church organizations.

Tickets for the Citizen of the Year dinner are $75. Proceeds from the event will be used to continue the work of the Wellness Community. For information or reservations, call 376-3550 or visit the facility in Pier Plaza, 109 W. Torrance Blvd., Redondo Beach.

Leron Gubler was named San Pedro Citizen of the Year at a dinner held in his honor by the San Pedro Lions Club at the Princess Pavilion. Gubler, executive director of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce for the past 11 years, has seen chamber membership grow from 400 to more than 600, with a more than six-fold increase in budget. Under his direction, numerous new programs have been implemented, such as San Pedro Clean Up, Breakfast Links, TriChamber Luncheon, Business Outlook Conference and the Western Avenue Networking Club. The chamber has also received accreditation and a major rehabilitation of its facilities has been completed.

Assemblyman Curtis Tucker Jr. (D-Inglewood) has been elected chairman of the California State Legislative Black Caucus. Tucker said his goals with the caucus are to work with his colleagues to address critical issues facing the African-American community. Elected to the Assembly in 1989, Tucker is a member of the committees on Health, Labor and Employment, Utilities and Commerce, and Ways and Means. He also chairs the Subcommittee on Minority Health Affairs.

Michael D. Lines has been elected president of the Hermosa Beach Firefighter’s Assn. Also elected were Vince Bruccolieri, vice president; Greg Dale, secretary, and Sheldon Osekowsky, treasurer. The association is made up of professional firefighters and paramedics employed by the city of Hermosa Beach and through it, they donate thousands of dollars to foundations for burn victims and to community projects annually.

Theresa Pendergraft of Harbor City is among 350 high school students from across the nation selected to attend the 1991 National Young Leaders Conference, held Jan. 29 to Feb. 3 in Washington. Throughout the six-day conference, the scholars met with key leaders and news makers from the three branches of government, the media and the diplomatic corps. Culminating the conference was the Mock Congress on National Service, during which scholars assumed the roles of U.S. representatives by debating, lobbying and voting on proposed volunteer service legislation.

Five South Bay residents have been certified to conduct mediations under auspices of the Los Angeles County Voluntary Mediation Services. They are Don deKay and Vergil Best of San Pedro, Christine Campisi and Phil Hodges of Palos Verdes, and Josephine Marquez, a staff member based at the San Pedro mediation site. The certification award recognizes 25 hours of training and many hours of apprenticeship in the art of mediation.

VMS offers to mediate, at no cost to the public, disputes as an alternative to the courts. Mediators assist in settling disputes involving landlords and tenants, neighbors and consumers, as well as employment issues.

The San Pedro VMS center serves the areas of San Pedro, Wilmington, Lomita, Harbor City and Harbor Gateway. For information or to request mediation assistance, call 519-6248 or visit the San Pedro Service Center at 769 W. 3rd St., San Pedro.

Shana Dennette Ross was crowned Miss City of Inglewood 1991 by the outgoing queen Dana Maye, after the Miss City of Inglewood Scholarship Pageant Feb. 2 at Crozier Junior High School. Ross is a 1987 graduate of St. Mary’s Academy in Inglewood and attends UCLA, where she is studying for a career in the legal profession. She has worked for various law firms as a trained paralegal. She is fluent in Spanish and works at Inglewood’s Warren Lane Elementary School as the school’s bilingual program coordinator.