New management appointments in the South Bay...

New management appointments in the South Bay have been announced by the U.S. Postal Service.

Cynthia Heyert has been named postmaster of the Lomita station, 25131 Narbonne Ave. She is a 20-year postal veteran and previously served as superintendent of postal operations in San Pedro. She also was officer-in-charge in Topanga, Malibu, Pico Rivera, Lynwood and Pacific Palisades. She will supervise 40 employees, including two supervisors.

Thomas Jono is the new postmaster in Torrance. Before this appointment, Jono was postmaster in Gardena, where he started his career as a letter carrier in 1973. At Torrance he is responsible for management of about 400 employees and 70,000 possible daily deliveries. Jono grew up and attended schools in the South Bay.

Replacing Jono as Gardena postmaster is Joe Santana. He was sworn in by Postal Service operations manager Vincent Okumura at the Gardena main office, 1455 W. Redondo Beach Blvd.

Torrance resident Jerome Ryan has been appointed postmaster of the Venice office, where he supervises 174 employees, including seven supervisors, and is responsible for mail processing and delivery services operations in ZIP code 90291.

Airport Marina Counseling Service, 6228 Manchester Ave., Westchester, has launched its 1993 Annual Support Campaign and named the following new board members to leadership roles:

Dr. Robert Reiss has accepted chairmanship of the 1993 Annual Support Campaign. The counseling service provides affordable mental health treatment to those who might not otherwise receive it. Reiss is a clinical instructor in family practice and medicine at USC and volunteers for the school’s athletic department.

Pierre Basbous will lead the clinic’s supermarket program, through which the clinic receives a percentage of each sale of gift certificates for major market chains. Basbous is investment director with the Jon Douglas Co. and is active in numerous civic activities.

Other new counseling service board members are Dr. Maxine Junge, social worker, art therapist and associate professor and chair of the Marital Family Therapy (Clinical Art Therapy) Department at Loyola Marymount University, and former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Pat Russell.

Donations: AMCS, 6228 W. Manchester Ave., Westchester 90045-3864.

Elizabeth Szu of Rolling Hills Estates has been appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson to serve on the Small Business Development Board. The board advises the governor, the Small Business Advocate and the executive director of the Office of Small Business within the Trade and Commerce Agency on matters affecting small business in California. Szu is a South Bay businesswoman. She serves on the National Advisory Council of the U.S. Small Business Administration, and is a member of the League of Women Voters.

Christina Essex of Manhattan Beach is the 1993 vice president for Region 37, Conference of California Historical Societies. The region, Southwest Los Angeles County, includes seven historical societies: Catalina Island, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Rancho de los Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach and Torrance. Essex is a member of the Historical Society of Centinela Valley, which is in charge of the Centinela Adobe, the oldest house in all seven cities of Centinela Valley. It was built by Essex’s great-great grandfather, Ignacio Machado, between 1830 and 1834.

Westchester resident Dr. Cathy McElwain, assistant professor of biology at Loyola Marymount University, will receive a grant for $89,000 from the National Institutes of Health for her ongoing genetic research. McElwain is studying the mechanisms by which genes are regulated within the eyes of fruit flies in an attempt to better understand such diseases as cancer, which result from the body’s failure to regulate genes. McElwain’s was one of 36 applications accepted by the NIH out of 119 submitted.

Five Loyola Marymount University students have been named recipients of the 12th annual Riordan/Educational Participation in Communities Awards. The students are: marketing major Vickie Allande, biology major Anne Dionisio, marketing major Gail Hawkins, biology major Chris Stephens and psychology major Rola Yamini.

Gardena resident Richard Pierce has been appointed executive director of the Assn. for Retarded Citizens (ARC), South Bay. He has been employed at ARC-South Bay since 1983 and has been acting executive director since October 1992. His experience in the field of developmental disabilities includes employment with ARC-Marin, Easter Seals, and the state hospital system in Wisconsin.

Freda and Myer Badnin are recipients of a 1993 National Community Service Award from the American Assn. of Retired Persons. They are members of Torrance Chapter 1878 and were selected by that chapter’s board of directors for their volunteer contributions to the community.

Frances Kaji of Gardena has been named Citizen of the Year by El Camino Lions Club. Kaji has been involved in community work since 1960, as a volunteer with the PTA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA, South Bay Keiro Nursing Home and Gardena Valley Baptist Church. She also assists in fund raising for the Japanese American Museum, has been president and vice president of the Gardena Sister City Assn., and assists with cooking and serving food to needy Gardena citizens at the annual Gardena Ministerial Assn.’s holiday meals.

Two members of the Gardena Police Department have received awards for volunteer service from the Exploring Division of Boy Scouts of America, Los Angeles Area Council. Police Chief Richard Propster received a 1992 Exploring Award of Merit and Police Specialist Bill Kist was named an adviser of the year. Propster is charter representative for Law Enforcement Explorer Post 142, sponsored by the Gardena Police Benefit Assn. Kist has been involved in scouting for more than 20 years and is adviser to the Law Enforcement Explorer Post.

Torrance Police Department has announced that Theodore J. “Ted” Litvin is the 1992 Torrance Police Officer of the Year. Litvin is involved in community service as a member of the PTA and was the motivating force behind the development of the Bicycle Rodeo Program, a bicycle safety program for youngsters. He developed the concept of the “Bucklesaurus,” which has become the mascot for a child safety program in the Torrance school system.

When Litvin recognized a growing trend of homeless people living in their vehicles in city parks, he saw the need to do more than simply enforce the law and tell people to move on. Instead, he developed a warning and referral process which provides aid and support for the homeless. He has been with the Torrance Police Department for 25 years, 15 of them as a motor officer.

Twenty-four South Bay high school students received awards for their entries in the sixth annual high school art show sponsored by Los Angeles Harbor College.

Schools, winners and categories are:

Banning: Gabriel Gallardo, first in watercolor; Chris Vinvan, second in photography; Shirley John, third in India ink drawing.

Carson: Segundo Jay Pangan III(, first place in painting; Joel Gomez, second in pencil drawing; Richard Lillies, third in color photography.

Chadwick: Richard Chen, first in ink drawing; Jorge Luna, second in ceramics; Brian Wong, third in photography.

Gardena: Peilung Li, first in oil painting; Brian Beppy, second in ink drawing; Keiko Miyata, third in colored pencil drawing.

Narbonne: Yuki Kozu, first in mixed media; Tony Pulido, second in pencil drawing; Laura Rivas, third in painting.

Palos Verdes: Luke Lu-chia Yeh, first in ceramics; Mike Abelson, second in pen and ink drawing; Katherine Moriwaki, third in mixed media.

Rolling Hills Prep: Tamae Go, first in drawing; Amy Watson, first in poster; Seji Kurata, third in drawing.

San Pedro: Krista Winslow, first in drawing; Grady Williams, second in drawing; Ethan McDonald, third in drawing.

Hawthorne Police Chief Steve Port has been honored by the National Conference of Christian and Jews for his contributions to improving police-community relations and intercultural communication. Port has worked with volunteers from the justice system and with National Conference staff to sponsor human relations workshops and training programs for criminal justice professionals. The programs are designed to enable participants to understand and better relate to immigrants and people of ethnic and racial minority groups when they encounter them in their everyday work.