People

Spotlight on achievers

Scott Hamilton

Lieutenant, Garden Grove Police Department

Orange County Together, a group promoting racial harmony, gave Hamilton a Leadership Award for cultivating community policing in Garden Grove.

Hamilton, 43, headed the panel that drafted policies for “Community Policing- Garden Grove Style.”

A 20-year veteran of the force, Hamilton also took charge of education about the program’s new concept, which sees the community and the police working as a partnership.

In November, 1993, the Police Department was selected to receive federal money to hire more officers in part because of the success of the community-policing project.

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Brandon D. Birtcher

President, Birtcher Group

Birtcher has begun a three-year term on the St. Margaret’s Episcopal School Board of Trustees.

Birtcher is president of the Birtcher Group of Birtcher Enterprises, a Laguna Niguel corporation.

The San Juan Capistrano resident holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Claremont Men’s College. He was named Developer of the Year in 1987 by the Southern California Commercial Property Owners Assn. of Industrial and Office Parks.

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Don Blackman

Engineer, Huntington Beach

Blackman, who retired from the city’s engineering department after 30 years, will now devote all of his time to creating wooden sculptures.

Blackman managed to design streets and buildings for the city and also win awards for his sculptures at the Orange County Fair.

A resident of Santa Ana, Blackman, 59, makes three-dimensional figurines. His latest sculptures include wall hangings, but he has also made animal figures and toys for children. He said it takes a lot of time and patience, but the finished product, “makes you feel like you’ve achieved something.”

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Carolyn Griffith

Student, UC Irvine

Griffith, a junior, was awarded a Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious national award for students planning careers in mathematics, natural sciences or engineering, according to university officials.

The 20-year-old biological sciences major is a member of the UCI Honors Program and is studying Parkinson’s disease. Yolanda Zazueta

Police records supervisor, Brea

The city awarded Zazueta $1,000 for her contribution to the Employee Solution Program.

Zazueta had suggested streamlining the bail-fee processing system at the Brea Police Department, saving the city an estimated $6,000 a year.

COMPILED BY LESLEY WRIGHT, WITH JEFF BEAN, DEBRA CANO, ALAN EYERLY, BERT ELJERA AND RUSS LOAR