Comision Femenil Honors 5 San Gabriel Valley Women

Comision Femenil de Rio Hondo presented the second annual Dolores Huerta Achievement Awards recently to honor women for their contributions to the Latino Community in the greater San Gabriel Valley area.

Honorees included: in business, Elena Valencia, better known as “Cha-Cha” the clown; community service, Maria Avila, youth coordinator for the Mid-Valley Manpower Consortium; education, Alexis Ruiz-Alessi, principal of Hutchinson Elementary School; government, Lupe Flores McClintock, member of the La Mirada/Norwalk Board of Education; health, Diana Bonta, director of the Long Beach Health and Human Services Department.

* Linda Halstead-Moffitt, of HCS Construction Supplies, is the new president of the Pomona Valley chapter of the National Assn. of Women in Construction.

* Steve Preston, community development director for the city of La Verne, has been elected president-elect of the California chapter of the American Planning Assn.

Preston has served as the association’s vice president of public information for four years.

* Judy Brown, executive vice president of the San Gabriel Chamber of Commerce, was honored recently by the women’s division of the chamber.

* Dr. Cary Presant of San Marino has been elected chair of the Service and Rehabilitation Standing Committee for the American Cancer Society’s California division.

* William Hager of Temple City will be recognized by the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum for contributing 10,000 hours of volunteer service.

A small garden statue will be placed in the demonstration garden and dedicated to him. Hager recently retired from active participation in Las Voluntarias y Los Ayudantes, the Arboretum’s volunteer support group.

* Georgia Grove of Pomona has been elected a delegate to this weekend’s National Federation of Republican Women’s 26th Biennial Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Grove is president of the Pomona Valley Federation of Republican Women.

* A sculpture by Andro Avendeno of Altadena is being dedicated in the Erwin Pedestrian Mall in Van Nuys. The work, “Three Dancing Figures,” was commissioned by the Valley Economic Development Center.

* Suzanne Berberian has been appointed by Pasadena City Councilman William M. Paparian as his District 4 field representative.

* Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park) presented awards to several El Monte business leaders Sept. 26 in connection with Minority Enterprise Development Week. Honored were businesswoman Dolly Lucero, salon owner Rachel Montes, flower shop owner Juan De Lira, jeweler Dan Martinez, clinical psychologist Irma Ferandell, El Monte Fashion Center owner Young Kim, dress shop owner Susie Hon and shoe store owner Ken Ur.

* Donald Hopper, Monrovia’s director of community development, and Joseph Santoro, the chief of police, spoke on Monrovia’s community policing program at the League of California Cities’ annual conference Tuesday.