COUNTYWIDE : Volunteers Earn Run With Olympic Torch

By DEBRA CANO

Feb. 15, 1996 12 AM PT

Sheryl Chariton, a senior at Huntington Beach High School, has worked as a volunteer for four years in antidrug and gang-prevention programs.

During that time, she said, she certainly never thought of herself as a local hero.

But 18-year-old Chariton is just that, according to the committee that selected her as one of 20 people who will carry the Olympic flame as it passes through Orange County on April 28.

“I just try to think of myself as someone who wants to make a difference for youth in the community,” Chariton said.

Others chosen for the honor are just as humble. Fran Andrade, 61, a Latina born in Huntington Beach, has been instrumental for 27 years in helping to improve the quality of life for Latino residents of the Oak View neighborhood.

“I try to keep a link between the school, staff and the community,” said Andrade, community liaison for Oak View Elementary School. “I’m always searching for a better learning environment and way of life for students and their parents.”

The two Huntington Beach women and 18 others from Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties were selected from 400 nominees, said Jeff Urbaniec, senior marketing manager for United Way of Orange County, which coordinated judging of the entries.

In a ceremony at 10 a.m. today at Huntington Beach City Hall, the community heroes as well as 20 former Olympic competitors, will be formally designated torchbearers for the relay.

The 1996 Olympic Torch Relay begins April 27 in Los Angeles for an 84-day, 15,000-mile trek across 42 states to the opening ceremony of the Centennial Olympic Games on July 19 in Atlanta.

“I’m overwhelmed with excitement,” said Chariton, who was not aware that the Sheriff’s Department’s “Drug Use is Life Abuse” program had nominated her.

“It’s an incredible feeling to represent Huntington Beach, our country and, most of all, the youth,” she said.

Andrade said that she knew she had been nominated by Oak View school staff but was very surprised to have been chosen. “I’m real proud,” she said.

Nancy Porras Hein, who works with migrant families at the school, said Andrade “personifies the same tireless devotion that Olympic competitors have. She has that for this community.”

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Carrying the Torch

Twenty “local heroes” will join 20 former Olympic athletes to carry the Olympic torch across Orange County on April 28. Each torchbearer will cover about half a mile. The flame is expected to arrive in Seal Beach about 2 a.m., continue in Huntington Beach from 3:30 to 6 a.m. and move south, leaving San Clemente about 11 a.m.

“LOCAL HEROES” SELECTED

* Fran Andrade, Huntington Beach

* Richard Barker, Huntington Beach

* David Bennett, Agoura

* John Bisnar, Huntington Beach

* Neel Buell, Costa Mesa

* Sheryl Chariton, Huntington Beach

* Hillel Cohn, San Bernardino

* Joe Cucinotti, Huntington Beach

* Rob Alan De Bois, Pinon Hills

* Christopher Fielder, Costa Mesa

* Gabrielle Hass, Huntington Beach