Awards received
PLATTSBURGH — Georgia-Pacific recently announced the six winners of its 2009 Keystone Institute Award, which recognizes the hard work and dedication of middle-school teachers across the country. Among the winners was Northern Adirondack Central eighth-grade life science and chemistry teacher Deb Moldovan.

Of the 15 nationwide GP nominees, Moldovan was one of six selected and will represent North Country schools on an all-expense-paid trip to the Keystone Institute in Keystone, Colo., to attend the week-long environmental-training seminar "Key Issues: Bringing Environmental Issues to the Classroom." These hands-on sessions will instruct and encourage educators to investigate current environmental issues in their classrooms by promoting a new way of thinking that facilitates student inquiry.

The Keystone Institute is a non-profit organization that works with private, public and civic groups to solve environmental, energy and public-health problems. At their center for education, the Institute works with students, teachers and communities to stimulate critical thinking skills through hands-on, scientific inquiry.

Georgia Pacific has been sponsoring and participating in the Keystone Institute programs for the past decade; local winners from previous years include educators from the Beekmantown and Saranac school districts.

To be nominated, middle-school teachers must specialize in core subject areas, have creative and innovative leadership skills, have interest in teaching sustainability in their community and garner support from the local school's administration.

Moldovan recently accepted congratulations for the award from Joey Varin, HR manager of the Georgia-Pacific Plattsburgh Mill.

More information on the Keystone Institute initiatives can be found at www.keystone.org.

New news director
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Anson Tebbetts will become WCAX's news director at the end of May succeeding Marselis Parsons, who has been news director since 1984.

Parsons, who has been with WCAX as a reporter, anchor, program producer and news director since 1967, will be retiring as news director, although he will continue to anchor the 6 p.m. news through the summer. Darren Perron will succeed Parsons as anchor of the 6 p.m. news.

Tebbetts is stepping down as Vermont's deputy secretary of agriculture, a position he has served in since January 2007. He joined WCAX News as the Rutland correspondent in 1994, moving to Montpelier in 1995 to cover state government and the legislature.

"We are delighted to welcome Anson back to WCAX as leader of the News Department. He is a gifted reporter and storyteller with a deep love for and extraordinary knowledge of Vermont," Peter Martin, president of WCAX, said. "He was a farmer before he was a reporter, and even while he was a reporter. As our Montpelier correspondent, he demonstrated an extraordinary depth and breadth of knowledge about Vermont government and politics, even while producing delightful features about aspects of Vermont life off the beaten path."

"I look forward to building on the strong tradition of story telling and fairness that's been part of the Channel 3 newsroom for decades," Tebbetts said. A native of Cabot, Vt., Tebbetts was also news director of WDEV Radio in Waterbury from 1987 to 1989. He graduated from Emerson College in 1987.

Perron began his broadcast career in 1994 as an intern at WCAX News. He joined the News Department full time in July 1995. He was promoted to senior reporter in 2004. Perron has anchored WCAX's weekend broadcasts.

A native of Barton, Vt., Perron attended schools in Barton and graduated from Lake Union High School in Orleans and Castleton State College.

Excellence award
PLATTSBURGH — Sandy Duquette, chapter chair for Clinton, Essex, Franklin SCORE Chapter 0647, recently received the Chapter Performance Excellence Award for 2008 from Dick Hannis, district director.

SCORE is a volunteer organization dedicated to helping existing businesses or start-up businesses with free, confidential counseling. SCORE volunteers will help set up a new business or help existing businesses with business-related problems.

The Award of Excellence is awarded to chapters that meet workshop and counseling requirements. In the local district, upstate and central New York, two awards were presented this year.

Log-home line
PLATTSBURGH — Kuhns Bros. Log Homes recently announced they have added larger diameter Rustic Logs to their current product line.

The announcement was made by President Tom Kuhns during an unveiling ceremony held recently at the company's international headquarters in Lewisburg, Pa.

"After much deliberation and careful consideration, we are now pleased to be able to offer these larger-diameter Rustic Logs to our customers. We wanted to ensure that these new larger-profile logs met the high-quality standards that customers have come to expect from Kuhns Bros."

The new larger-diameter Rustic Logs are manufactured from Norway pine and are available in 10-inch, 12-inch and a 14-inch diameters. The new offering uses a double tongue-and-groove sealing system and comes in a saddle notch corner style. Other products available in the Rustic Style include round decorative floor and loft joists, collar ties, support posts and beams, railings and half-log stairs. When combined, these components add a distinctive appearance to any log home.

As the flagship company of Kuhns Bros. Enterprise, Kuhns Bros. Log Homes Inc. remains a leading manufacturer in the log-home industry. The company has been manufacturing kiln-dried log homes for more than 25 years, annually delivering hundreds of homes across the country and abroad. Additional information regarding this and other new product offerings is available by contacting Michael and Wendy Parker at Beartown Log Homes at 566-7415, www.BeartownLogHomes.com, e-mail at beartownloghomes@hughes.net, or by attending the sales model during one of their open houses.

Museum donation
BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE — Caroline M. Welsh, director of the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, has announced the receipt of a donation from Stewart's. The $2,500 gift will support the museum's school-based oral history/video documentary program, "Adirondack Tales." The Adirondack Museum's "Adirondack Tales" project is currently underway at the L.P. Quinn Elementary School in Tupper Lake and at Indian Lake Central School in Indian Lake. A total of 16 students in grades five and six are participating.

The special project explores and preserves the significance of people who live and work in the Adirondacks by recording their personal stories. The program engages students in local history while enhancing their skills in English/language arts, communication and technology. Museum Educator Christine Campeau is the project director.

Stewart's has a long-standing commitment to giving back to the community. The company contributes approximately 5 percent of its profits annually and will donate $2,250,000 to regional organizations in 2009. Stewart's has a special interest in children, their education and their recreation.

The Adirondack Museum tells the story of the Adirondacks through exhibits, special events, classes for schools and hands-on activities. For more information, call 352-7311 or visit www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Health communications
PLATTSBURGH — In its new capacity as a private, not-for-profit corporation, CBN Connect Inc. is moving forward to bring a state-of-the-art, open-access fiber optic network to Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties and will seek construction funding through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

The concept for what would become CBN Connect Inc. began in the community.

"It was started by the Industrial Development Agencies of Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties and the Town of Plattsburgh," said Howard Lowe, director of economic development at the Technical Assistance Center at SUNY Plattsburgh and president of the new not-for-profit. "They asked TAC to manage the project." Over the course of five years, TAC documented the demand for better broadband service and secured funding to plan and design the network.

"Once some of the foundation work was done, it was time to return oversight of the initiative to the community," said Lowe. "In order to be certified as a telecommunications provider by the New York State Public Service Commission, CBN Connect needed to be a legal entity."

TAC worked with the Research Foundation of the State University of New York to set up the new corporation, which is governed by representatives from the communities it serves. CBN Connect was incorporated in December 2008.

One of CBN Connect's first objectives is to partner with the Research Foundation, which received $7.6 million to connect health-care providers, hospitals and colleges through the Adirondack-Champlain Telemedicine Information Network. Ideally, construction of the CBN Connect and ACTION fiber optic networks will be done cooperatively, allowing both initiatives to more efficiently and cost-effectively reach their objectives, according to Julie West, the former TAC project coordinator who is the executive director of CBN Connect Inc.

The Research Foundation funding was made available through the Federal Communications Commission Rural Health Care Pilot Program. The program's goal is to start building toward a national healthcare network that would link all providers together so rural hospitals can benefit from specialized expertise they might not have access to otherwise.

Rating achieved
PLATTSBURGH — The managed care plans of Excellus BlueCross BlueShield have again received the highest accreditation status available, a rating of "Excellent," from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The rating applies to the health plan's commercial, Medicare and Medicaid HMO and point-of-service (POS) products.

Excellus BCBS is also the first health plan in New York state to receive an Excellent Accreditation for its commercial and Medicare preferred provider organizations (PPO) products. Excellus BCBS received this "Excellent" rating under NCQA's new and comprehensive Health Plan Accreditation program that applies the same rigorous standards to PPO products as it does to HMO and POS products.

NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health-care quality. Employers and consumers use information from NCQA to make more informed health-care choices. "NCQA's Excellent Accreditation status is reserved for the best health plans in the nation," said Margaret E. O'Kane, NCQA president. "It is only awarded to those plans that meet or exceed NCQA's rigorous requirements for consumer protection and quality improvement and deliver excellent clinical care."

To become accredited by NCQA, a health plan must undergo a rigorous evaluation of more than 60 standards designed to evaluate its clinical and administrative systems. NCQA Accreditation evaluates how well a health plan manages all parts of its delivery system — physicians, hospitals, other providers and administrative services — in order to continuously improve the quality of care and services provided to its members. Full accreditation is effective for a three-year period.

New general manager

LAKE PLACID — AdWorkshop, the North Country's largest marketing communications company, has announced Darcy Norfolk has been appointed general manager. Founded in 1977 by Tom and Adele Connors, the Lake Placid-based agency has grown from a staff of two to more than 30.

Norfolk brings to AdWorkshop 14 years of diverse marketing experience. While born and raised in the North Country, she has lived and worked in major cities throughout the world.

Prior to moving to Lake Placid in 2003, she worked for Fortune 500 technology companies including Symbol Technologies (now Motorola.) She was involved in software mobile computing marketing and product development, mergers and acquisitions, as well as business development in the healthcare, retail, education and hospitality industries. In addition, she was the Asia-Pacific Business Development Manager in Tokyo, Japan, for one year.

Most recently, she was the vacation rental director at Merrill L. Thomas Inc. and a member of the Lake Placid Essex County Bureau Board of Directors. In addition, she was public relations director of Inphorm from 2005 to 2007.

"Over the past six years, Darcy has built relationships in the region and knowledge of tourism in the Adirondacks," Adele Connors said. "Her insight combined with leadership capabilities will impact all facets of AdWorkshop and make us stronger going forward."

Norfolk holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Canisius College plus a master's degree in business administration from Hofstra University, where she graduated magna cum laude.

More information can be found at www.adworkshop.com and www.inphorminc.com.

Certification earned
SARANAC LAKE — A Lake Clear resident recently earned professional certification from North America's leading Real Estate property-staging training provider, Certified Staging Professionals (CSP). Gloria Volz, owner of Adirondack Organized Solutions, acquired her Home Staging Certification in April 2009.

Home staging is not interior design. Home staging makes a home more appealing to the broad market of potential buyers whereas interior design appeals to the family currently living in a home. Staging is a tool home sellers and real-estate companies are successfully using throughout the world to sell property, even during the current economic downturn.

As a professional organizer, Volz helps people eliminate clutter and open up their home or office space. Organizing is only part of what she will offer with the home-staging services. "While watching the slowdown in real estate, I wanted to learn how I could help," Volz said. "The CSP certification course gave an in-depth understanding of how and why it is important to prepare your home for the market." Home staging gives the homeowner an edge over the competition. The easier the house is to look at, the easier it is to show and sell. The proven CSP process is a blend of techniques and skills to effectively market a house for sale.

Volz also plans to attend the Eco-Staging Course offered thru CSP this summer.

Volz lives in Lake Clear and is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and the National Study Group for Chronic Disorganization.

Builders' event
PLATTSBURGH — The Adirondack Builders Association would like to announce a new format for their monthly events. They will start at 5:30 p.m. and will be holding them at a member's place of business. The first Member Showcase Event will be held on Wednesday from 5:30 until 7 p.m. at Lake Champlain Pools, 106 Boynton Ave, Plattsburgh. Hors D'ourves will be served and a cash bar will be available. This event is open to both members and those interested in joining the ABA or those interested in learning more about Lake Champlain Pools.

The principal goal of the association is to provide all members with as many opportunities as possible to expand their business associations and to provide services that promote professional training and development. It is composed of members that range from building and specialty contractors to suppliers and other related services such as banks and government agencies. For more information, visit www.adirondackbuilders.org or call 643-0828.

Life-saving program
PLATTSBURGH — Kinney Drugs, the leading healthcare organization in New York and Vermont, will introduce Life Vial Mobile. The new program was developed so people have their life-saving information with them wherever they go.

Like the traditional Life Vial, the packet will act as a person's voice when they are unable to communicate for themselves in the event of an accident or on-road emergency. The packet contains a form that outlines a person's medical conditions, allergies, current medications including dosages and frequency, treating doctors, emergency contacts and insurance information. When completed, this form is placed inside a plastic sleeve and is stored inside the person's glove box of their vehicle.

To ensure that responding paramedics are aware that a person in need of emergency care has Life Vial Mobile, the kit includes stickers for the vehicle's rear back windows. All EMTs within the organization's communities will receive a letter and a poster explaining the new program.

Kinney Drugs is bringing this program to every community it serves to help save lives.

"When medication information is communicated correctly during an emergency, it allows emergency responders to act more quickly," said Jim Wuest, vice president marketing, Kinney Drugs. "We are trying to save lives by educating our communities regarding this program and by giving people the tools to communicate critical information to paramedics and EMTs when they respond to an emergency."

Anyone can obtain a free Life Vial Mobile packet or traditional Life Vial for the home at the pharmacy counter or drive-thru window of any Kinney Drugs. It is especially useful for the elderly who may be unable to communicate to paramedics during a medical emergency.