Dr. Raonak Ekram and Dr. Eston James Schwartz have joined the staff of Lawrence Memorial Hospital Regional Oncology Center. They join Drs. Ron Stephens, Matthew Stein and Sharon Soule in offering medical oncology and hematology care to patients from Lawrence and surrounding communities.

Ekram and Schwartz received their undergraduate degrees from Kansas State University and medical degrees from Kansas University School of Medicine. After serving internal medicine residencies at the University of Oklahoma at Tulsa, they went on to complete fellowships in hematology/oncology at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. They are both board certified in internal medicine and board eligible in oncology.

Ekram and Schwartz, who are married, previously practiced in Jefferson City, Mo.

¢ Aquila employee Gayland Gillaspie, pressure and regulation technician in Lawrence, recently was recognized by the company for 25 years of service. He joined Aquila in 1980 in Lawrence as a pipefitter, and now is responsible for operation and maintenance of the natural gas distribution system in the Lawrence area. Aquila’s Kansas natural gas headquarters are in Lawrence, where it serves about 30,000 customers.

¢ Lawrence attorney Todd Thompson was elected president of the Kansas Association of Defense Counsel at the group’s annual meeting Dec. 2. The KADC is an organization of more than 300 Kansas trial attorneys who devote a substantial part of their practice to defending lawsuits against businesses and individuals. Thompson will continue to serve as a member of the association’s board of directors.

Thompson is managing attorney at Thompson Ramsdell & Qualseth in Lawrence. The firm provides legal services in commercial, real estate, insurance, bodily injury and estate planning matters in northeast Kansas.

Thompson is admitted to practice in Kansas and Missouri state courts as well as federal district courts in Kansas, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.

¢ The Delta Dental of Kansas Foundation donated $70,000 to the Smiles Change Lives program, operated by the Virginia Brown Community Orthodontic Program, to help provide orthodontic treatment for 35 low-income children from Douglas, Shawnee, Johnson and Sedgwick counties.

The Smiles Change Lives program was created in 1997.

¢ BG Consultants Inc., Lawrence, announces the addition of several employees.

Jay Zimmerschied is manager of architectural services and a project architect in the Lawrence regional office. He received his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Kansas University in 1991. He has been practicing in the field of architecture in the Lawrence area for the past 14 years.

Alicia Roberts, an architectural intern, received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Kansas State University in May.

Jason Hoskinson provides civil and traffic engineering services out of the Lawrence branch of BG Consultants. He graduated from KU in 2002, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering. Hoskinson previously worked for the Kansas Department of Transportation in the Bureau of Traffic Engineering.

Brad Johnson works in the civil engineering branch. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 2004 from KU. He worked for the Fort Riley Public Works Department for two summers and was a teaching assistant for surveying at KU.

¢ Chuck Banks, state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, announces the opportunity to submit applications for financing under the agency’s Solid Waste Management Grant Program and Technical Assistance and Training Grant Program.

USDA Rural Development Solid Waste Management Grant Program objectives are to reduce or eliminate pollution of water resources in rural areas, and to improve planning and management of solid waste sites in rural areas.

Fiscal Year 2006 grant funds, estimated at $3 million, are available to private, nonprofit organizations that have been granted tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service; public bodies, including local governmental-based multi-jurisdictional organizations; and federally recognized Native American tribal governments.

The agency’s Technical Assistance and Training Grant Program objectives are to identify and evaluate solutions to water and waste disposal problems in rural areas; assist applicants in preparing applications for water and waste grants made at the state level offices; and improve operation and maintenance of existing water and waste disposal facilities in rural areas. Fiscal Year 2006 grant funds, estimated at $17 million, are available to private, nonprofit organizations that have been granted tax-exempt status by the IRS.

Applications will be accepted through Dec. 31. Information about program requirements and the application process can be found on online at www.fedgrants.gov or by calling the agency in Topeka at (785) 271-2742.

¢ Dr. Steve Martino, of Yale University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, explained motivational interviewing and how to use this model effectively to more than 80 Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center employees in his three-day series Nov. 9-11. The training is the first in the Nancy Shontz Educational Series.

Dr. Franklin C. Shontz donated a $10,000 gift to establish the Nancy Shontz Educational Series in memory of his late wife, a former Lawrence city commissioner and a lifelong advocate of promoting mental health education. The purpose of the series is to promote educational excellence in the area of community mental health.

The seminar included information sharing, live demonstrations, experiential activities and role-play practice.

¢ The Douglas County Dental Clinic, a nonprofit clinic providing comprehensive general dentistry to uninsured residents of Douglas County, is moving Dec. 30 from 4920 Bob Billings Parkway to 316 Maine.

The clinic will expand its services from four treatment operatories to six. Clinic officials estimate to have 5,000 patient visits by year’s end. They hope the move will help accommodate 500 more patients in 2006.

Delta Dental of Kansas Foundation presented a $30,244 grant in November to Douglas County Dental Clinic to help finance the expansion.

¢ Landlords of Lawrence Inc. recently elected new officers and a board of directors for 2006. The officers are James Dunn, president; Robert Ebey, vice president; Jo Scannell, secretary; Robert Eggert, treasurer; and M. Elaine Nelson, newsletter editor. Members of the board of directors are Anne Garlinghouse, Marilyn Lynch, Theresa Pippert, JoAnn Qandil and Panta Rhei.

¢ Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, Lawrence, announces several promotions:

¢ Mark Gabrick, formerly new business development manager, is now senior manager for corporate sales and marketing, responsible for sales and developing sponsorship packages. Gabrick, a Kansas University graduate, came to the association in December 2004 and has 25 years of experience in prime account sales.

¢ Heather Gerber, formerly online product manager, is now senior manager for online products, overseeing development of Web-based products and applications that support association operations, member programs and services. She came to the association in 1999.

¢ Becky Gonzales, who came to the association in June 2005 as a temporary human resources manager, is now full-time senior manager for human resources. The KU graduate administers recruitment, staff development and training programs.

¢ Jeff Graham, formerly manager for golf championships and communications, is now senior manager for golf championship and communications. Graham, who came to the association in 1999, manages the association’s members-only golf championship and supports outreach efforts.

The association also announces the hiring of Greg Stacey as market research and data manager, having worked previously as a marketing research analyst for Capitol Federal Savings. Stacey has a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, with an emphasis in marketing, from KU.

Honors and awards

Jim Elder, Linwood, was honored during the Hawkeye Hybrids’ 2005 Championship Yield Club awards weekend. The event highlights farmers who achieve high corn yields using a hybrid from Hawkeye Hybrids. Elder’s crop produced 178.3 bushels per acre on dryland.

Coming events

The New Linwood Cafe is having a grand opening and its first Christmas Open House from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. today at the restaurant, 19700 Linwood Road. The event will feature music of Johnny B, a variety of door prizes and refreshments.

¢ Hope Housing Counseling Center will have a free first-time homebuyer and financial seminar from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the conference room at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt. Financial and real estate specialists will be present to answer questions.

¢ The Kansas University School of Social Welfare Office of Aging and Long Term Care, with financing from the Institute for Geriatric Social Work at Boston University, has developed online modules with free CEUs.

The modules include:

¢ Basic Issues in Aging: The Strengths Perspective.

¢ Diversity and Cross Cultural Competence in Assessment and Intervention with Older Adults: The Strengths Perspective.

¢ Legal and Ethical Issues in working with Older Adults: The Strengths Perspective.

Links to all modules can be found at www.bu.edu/igsw.

For more information call Sarah Landry, research assistant in the KU School of Social Welfare, at (785) 864-3823.