Conejo Valley Chamber Presents Annual Awards

The Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce held its 37th annual installation of officers and awards banquet Sunday at the Civic Arts Plaza.

Special recognition was accorded Woodrow Fennell Brokenburr, project manager for GTE and the outgoing president of the chamber’s board of directors.

Other awards given were:

* Man of the Year to Rick Caruso, president of Caruso Affiliated Holdings.

* Woman of the Year to Maria Prescott, community leader and development process coordinator for the city of Thousand Oaks.

* Business Person of the Year, Rick Lemmo, general manager of Lite 92.7 FM.

* Rookie Business of the year, Frontpage Newsstand.

* Business of the Year, GTE California.

* Volunteer of the Year, Larry Baker.

* Secretary of the Year, Madeline Hess.

Thousand Oaks residents David Scalise and Robin Purves were named Humanitarians of the Year for intervening in a situation involving a suicidal man in March.

Dyan Sage, spokeswoman for the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the men tried to take the keys from an alleged drunk driver in Thousand Oaks. The man resisted and also fought with a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy who arrived. Scalise and Purves assisted the deputy, and the driver was taken into custody.

“The story gets more amazing, because the drunk driver wrote the deputy a six-page letter thanking them for helping him,” Sage said.

“He was going to commit suicide and they basically saved his life,” Sage said.

The chamber’s president for the 1997-98 term is Jerry Gross, superintendent of the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

Incoming board members are Robert Bianchi, Pat Jacobs, Phil Spurlock and Gary Wartik.

Each board member received a signed, limited-edition reproduction of an oil painting titled “Sierra Vista,” by Mary Ann Panopoulos, president of the Thousand Oaks Art Assn. The painting depicts a hiking trail at Wendy Drive and Potrero Road in Newbury Park.