Craig Brown, a Realtor with Realty Executives – Hedges Real Estate, has earned the Certified Residential Specialist designation by the Council of Residential Specialists. Realtors who receive the CRS designation have completed advanced courses and have demonstrated professional expertise in the field of residential real estate.

There are 35,000 Realtors in the United States who have earned the designation.

Brown is a member of the Lawrence and Kansas City Board of Realtors.

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Frank Male, Doug Clark and Shad Bloomberg, of Lawrence Landscape Inc., recently became certified landscape technicians. They passed the Certified Landscape Technician exam, a daylong event administered by the Professional Landscape Network that covers proper use of equipment, and handling of plants and other materials. Male, Clark and Bloomberg took a written exam and were judged on skills and knowledge needed to perform tasks required for 22 real-life situations in a time limit.

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Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters has appointed Becky Price as regional director for Northeast Kansas. Price leads new program development, and is responsible for fund raising, staff and board development and program administration.

Price’s area of responsibility includes Douglas, Miami, Franklin, Leavenworth, Atchison, Doniphan, Brown, Nemaha and Marshall counties.

Price has been with Big Brothers Big Sisters for more than 13 years. She began her career in 1992 as the executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County.

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Carey Bennett, hospital manager of Bradley Animal Hospital in Lawrence, is among 38 veterinarians and hospital managers who recently completed an intensive management program, the Veterinary Management Institute. The program is offered through Purdue University’s Krannert Graduate School of Management and the American Animal Hospital Assn.

Bennett studied human resource management, marketing management, financial management and strategic thinking. After completing the program, she received a certificate in veterinary practice administration in addition to 72 hours of graduate-level management education.

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Sunflower Bank’s “ABC’s of Being True To Schools” program raised $1,401.10 for the Lawrence Schools Foundation. The bank also wrote checks totaling $340 to Lawrence area students who earned A grades on their report cards.

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The Kansas Chamber of Commerce has named Jeff Glendening to the new position of vice president of political affairs. Beginning July 1, Glendening will be responsible for expanding the chamber’s Grassroots Action Network, managing ChamberPAC, and recruiting pro-business candidates for the Kansas Legislature.

Glendening was chief of staff for the Kansas House Majority Leader’s office. Before that position, he was government affairs director for the Speaker of the House. During his Statehouse tenure, Glendening worked with the chamber and many of its members on business issues. He also has worked on gubernatorial, U.S. Senate and U.S. House campaigns.

Glendening graduated from Kansas University with a degree in history and political science.

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Schmidt Design Group LLC, Lawrence, has opened at 4621 W. Sixth St., Suite C. The interior design studio specializes in corporate and business interiors, offering space planning, interior finish specification, furniture specification and purchasing. Kim Schmidt is the firm’s design director and has 20 years of experience in the commercial interior design field since graduating from Kansas University.

The company also operates a residential design division called SDG Home Collection, offering residential design services and features a retail show room.

Julie Stewart has joined the firm as a residential design and retail specialist, after having worked previously in retail at Halls and Ralph Lauren on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo.

Laura Johnson, former office manager for Anderson Interiors, has joined the firm as office manager.

Schmidt Design Group is a member of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and International Interior Design Assn.

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Lawrence Welding, 101 N. Mich., has added a mobile welding service for Lawrence and the surrounding areas. The company offers services such as stick welding and repairs for machinery, metal fabrication and installation of ornamental gates, repairs and fabrication on aluminum and stainless steel items and core drilling for items such as handrails.

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Headquarters Counseling Center, Lawrence, recently elected new offers for its board of directors: Nick Pedersen, of Hallmark Cards, president; Annette Musick, of XenoTech LLC, vice president; Dean Lebestky, of Security Benefit Group of Cos., treasurer; and Angie Gish, of Central National Bank, secretary.

Other board members are Jose Jimenez, of Honeywell; Clair Keizer, of GlynnDevins; Dana Judson, of Hallmark Cards; Diane Traiger, of Walgreens; and Sheldon Weisgrau, of Rural Health Consultants.

Departing board member Rick Trapp, former Douglas County sheriff, was recognized for serving 18 months as board president and his previous service as a board member.

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Marcia Epstein, director of Headquarters Counseling Center, Lawrence, recently participated in the annual conference of the American Association of Suicidology in Broomfield, Colo.

Meeting and workshop topics included prevention, intervention and treatment for suicidal crises; support for those who’ve lost a loved one to suicide; and research on the effectiveness of related strategies.

Headquarters is certified by the association as meeting national standards in suicide prevention and related services, and serves as the only Kansas center on the federally funded National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, (800) 273-TALK (8255).

Awards and honors

Lawrence Presbyterian Manor’s Sylvia Hemelrick and Emily Russell were honored as award nominees during annual spring convention of the Kansas Association of Homes and Services for the Aging in Wichita.

Hemelrick, a certified nursing assistant, was nominated for the association’s Caregiver of the Year Award. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated exceptional service to older persons.

Russell, who volunteers to entertain residents of Presbyterian Manor’s skilled nursing unit, was nominated for the association’s Volunteer of the Year Award. The award recognizes a volunteer who has given exemplary service to a center and elders in the community.

Russell, a former Head Start teacher and social workers, plays entertains residents with the ukulele she learned to play while attending high school in Hawaii.

Also during the meeting, Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America – which operates the Lawrence retirement community – received the association’s Consumer Friendly Information Quality First Award for the company’s “55 Faces of Presbyterian Manors” project.

The award recognizes honors a not-for-profit retirement community for providing accessible and understandable information for older adults, families and caregivers while engaging them in care and services. It also recognizes exceptional practices in consumer satisfaction, publications, media relationships, consumer education, residents’ rights, decision-making tools and diversity outreach.

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Wes Bonner and David Nigro, of Kief’s Audio/Video in Lawrence, were honored by Klipsch Audio Technologies as two of the top 100 national salespeople for Klipsch during the second half of 2004, based on sales volume. Indianapolis-based Klipsch is a manufacturer of consumer speakers and home theater systems.

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CornerBank has announced that Beth Ann Mansur and Richard Heckler are Community Cornerstone Award recipients for May. In recognition of their service, CornerBank will contribute $100 to Women’s Transitional Care Services.

Mansur worked with Barb Michnor and Patty Dickenson to form LAUGH (Lawrence Area Unaffiliated Group of Home schools), an organization to provide support for parents and children involved in home-schooling. There are 18 families involved in LAUGH. Mansur also is involved with the Brook Creek Neighborhood Assn. and EBB, a coalition to address issues in the East Lawrence.

Heckler is involved in the Tenants to Homeowners Program; RRCAB, committee for recycling and energy issues; the Energy Fair; Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods; B-Cap, a committee that is involved in laying out the plans for a bicycle path from old Lawrence to West Lawrence; and the Traffic Safety Committee for both the City of Lawrence and Douglas County.

Coming events

A free seminar “Will I Outlive My Income?” will begin at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Lawrence Holidome, 200 McDonald Drive.

Speakers will be John Phillips, vice president of Fidelity Investment Institutional Services Co.; and Larry Glass, regional vice president of ING USA Annuity & Life Insurance Co.

Hosts are Douglas County Bank, Douglas County Financial Group, InterSecurities Inc., Fidelity Investments and ING. For more information or if you would like to attend, call Michael Carlisle, of Douglas County Bank, at 865-1010.

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Kansas University Continuing Education will be offering a noncredit course, “Writing for Business,” from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. June 24 at the Continuing Education Building, 1515 St. Andrews Drive.

During the course, professional writing genres, such as reports, memos, letters and e-mails, will be discussed and practiced. The course aims to provide an active learning approach using scenarios and actual examples to demonstrate the importance of understanding audience and purpose in creating effective documents.

For more information, call 864-5823 or visit www.kuce.org.

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The Lawrence Chamber of Commerce announces its schedule for upcoming ribbon-cutting ceremonies:

¢ American Family Insurance – Jenny Hohman, 11:30 a.m. June 7, 4830 Bob Billings Parkway, Suite 101.

¢ Cottonwood Inc., groundbreaking, 11:30 a.m. June 8, 2801 W. 31st St.

¢ Dreamscapes Landscape & Irrigation Inc., 11:30 a.m. June 14, Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, 734 Vt., Suite 101.

¢ G-Force Athletics LLC, 11:30 a.m. June 21, 801 E. 23rd St.

¢ American Family Insurance – Ron King, 11:30 a.m. June 28, 3010 Fourwheel Drive, Suite 2.

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James Stowers Jr., founder of American Century Investments in Kansas City, Mo., will present investment strategies during a lecture “Yes, You Can.” The free lecture will be from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. June 8 in the Polsky Theatre of the Carlsen Center at Johnson County Community College.

Stowers designed the comprehensive portfolio analysis system and wrote software programs used by American Century Investment Management to manage funds and track data on more than 18,000 securities.

Stowers is author of a book, “Yes, You Can … Achieve Financial Independence,” which was published in 1992.

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The deadline for filing applications for Emergency Disaster loans by farmers and ranchers is May 31. Eligible counties include Douglas, Franklin, Johnson, Miami, Osage and Shawnee. The loans are available for farmers who need credit as a result of storms, tornadoes and flooding that occurred from Aug. 27 to Aug. 30. To apply, visit the Farm Service Agency’s county office in Ottawa. For more information contact the office at (785) 242-3527.