Councilwoman wins leadership award

Newspaper February 3, 2002 | Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)

Page: 16 | Section: SLIDELL PICAYUNE

482 Words | Readability: Lexile: 1370, grade level(s): >12

Slidell City Councilwoman Marti Livaudais was presented the Slidell RepublicanWomen's Club's Superior Leadership Award during a banquet held Dec. 7 at Pinewood Country Club.

Livaudais is vice president of Bank One in Slidell, where she is the business banking relationship manager.

She has served on the Slidell City Council since 1994 and the board of the SlidellChamber of Commerce since 1990.

Her community efforts involve East St. Tammany Rainbow Child Care Center, St. Tammany Association for Retarded Citizens advisory board and the governing board of the Slidell Heritage Festival.

She also is a charter member of Partners for Stennis and past chairwoman of the United Way Campaign for East St. Tammany.

She has worked for economic development in the St. Tammany area, both professionally and in her volunteer efforts.

Also named finalists for the award and recognized during the banquet were:

-- Joan Archer, a curriculum specialist for the St. Tammany Parish School Board. Archer develops programs for at-risk children and conducts staff development sessions that assist teachers in becoming more effective in their classrooms. Her community work includes longtime involvement with both the Leadership Slidell personal and professional development program and Slidell Little Theatre, for which she has written more than $100,000 worth of grants. She also helped to develop the day-care facility at Aldersgate United Methodist Church known as Angels Day Care Program for people with Alzheimer's, and serves on the Parish Arts Commission.

-- Deanna Hamilton-Lamz is a lawyer who has a special interest in domestic law and is vice president of Safe Harbor for battered women and their children. She also is president of the Slidell Business and Professional Women's Organization, adjunct professor at Baton Rouge College for Paralegals, a member of the Slidell RepublicanWomen's Club and an associate member of several Republican women's clubs throughout St. Tammany Parish.

-- Sue Rountree is a certified public accountant and is grants manager with the St. Tammany Parish government. Her responsibilities include finding and securing grants from federal and state agencies and other organizations as well as administering the money for the parish. She is a member of the St. Tammany Parish Executive Committee and a member and past treasurer of the Slidell RepublicanWomen's Club. She also is president of the board of the Northshore Unitarian Church, where she is currently leading the team working on the construction of a new facility for that congregation.

-- Tim Schneider is the assistant principal of Northshore High School and former director of bands at Northshore High. He is a member of the Louisiana Music Educators Association, is serving as its president and has served as its district director for many years. Schneider also is a member of the Louisiana Bandmasters Association. He is a founding board member of the Musical Arts Association of Slidell and is a member of the Slidell Community Concert Band and Jazz Ensemble, as well as being principal trombonist with the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra.

What’s a little ‘r’ between bee buddies

Newspaper May 2, 2002 | Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)

Author: Carol Wolfram | Page: 01 | Section: SLIDELL PICAYUNE | Column: Tammany Talk

674 Words | Readability: Lexile: 1470, grade level(s): >12

I love game shows and, at the risk of sounding boastful, am pretty darn good at them -- as long as I’m sitting on the couch in my living room.

Playing along or devising how you’d play along is half the fun of watching television game shows. I watch "Survivor!" and plot how I’d outscheme the people whose audition tapes were picked over mine to outplay, outwit, outlast one another. (I don’t hold a grudge -- not much.) I win big imaginary bucks on "Millionaire." I second-guess "Amazing Race 2" jet-setters. I fuss at whiny "Fear Factor" folks.

But every so often, I’m reminded that it’s easy to be, well, brilliant, until someone shoves a microphone in front of your face and says, essentially, "Prove it."

Calm in the hot seat

St. Margaret Mary Catholic School sixth-grade reading and English teacher Scott Osborn, eighth-grade reading and English teacher Kathy Bryant and school secretary Charlotte Cooper did just that during the St. Tammany Literacy Assistance Program Spelling Bee program held last week in Slidell.

Their team was cool as a cucumber as it triumphed round after round, finally clinching the win, the title and three golden crowns from 13 other groups with the correct spelling of "gauche."

Falling victim to the pressure and/or the lack of a dictionary (plus the order in which they finished and the words that did them in) were:

-- Second place, Sam’s Club’s Ann Bowman, Donna Fitzgerald and Mark Hartmann, ousted for the incorrect spelling of "accumbent."

-- Third place, St. Tammany Fire Protection District 1’s Ben Badon, Erik Kreppein and Pam Nash, sponsored by Bank of Louisiana, "bathysphere."

-- Fourth place, Slidell Republican Women’s Republican Club’s Deanna Lamz, Catherine Palmer and Elizabeth Schneider, sponsored by The Woodside Co., "graupel."

-- Fifth place, Alton Elementary’s Elizabeth Arthur, Patricia Buford and Vivian Garvin, sponsored by Aldersgate United Methodist Church, "beadledom."

-- Sixth place, Slidell Sentry-News’ Kevin Chiri, Debbie Stephens and Betsy Veach, "conscionable."

-- Seventh place, St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office’s Leslie Cooke, James Hartman and Joe Way, sponsored by Aldersgate Men’s Club, "sybaritic."

-- Eighth place, Rainbow Child Care Center’s Jane Alford, Charlotte Champagne and Gail Ledet, sponsored by Frank T. Harrod, "coercion."

-- Ninth place, Rotary Club of Northshore-Mandeville’s Debbie Pritchard, Al Autin and Kathy Smith, "necessitarianism."

-- 10th place, Slidell Symphony Society’s Anne Flotte, Suzette Ferrari and Christine Kennard, sponsored by Starlight Missionary Baptist Church, "capitol."

-- 11th place, Rotary Club of Slidell’s Courtney Bryan, Maxine Dammon and Verline Olinde, "ostentatious."

-- 12th place, defending champion-Latter & Blum Inc.’s Carol Charbonnet, Leslie Schmidt and Brenda Williams, "cemetery."

-- 13th place, The Times-Picayune’s Aesha Rasheed, Paul Rioux and myself, "erroneous."

-- And 14th place, Slidell Police Department’s Chief Ben Morris, George Phillips and Durel Yates, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Slidell-Northshore, "occurrence."

Reality spell check

If you had the patience to read that entire wrap-up, you’ll notice that our team, a former St. Tammany Literacy Assistance Program Spelling Bee champ, finished next to last, bumped in the second round after correctly spelling only a single word, "bureaucracy."

Although losing, miserably, was made worse by the gasps, shocked expressions and light-hearted yet loudly amplified condolences (thank you very much, Tom Schedler), there is a bright side to our team’s public humiliation.

First, we didn’t all spell "erroneous" erroneously; education reporter Aesha Rasheed had the correct number of "r’s."

Secondly, I’ve been informed that bureau chief Ron Thibodeaux may come out of spelling bee retirement in hopes of salvaging our reputation in the 2003 competition.

And lastly, I’d like to offer my living room as a possible location for the 2003 spell-off -- but I’ve got dibs on the couch.

. . . . . . .

Carol Wolfram can be reached at cwolfram@timespicayune.com or (985) 645-2857.

CLUBS

NewspaperJuly 11, 2002 | Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)

Page: 23 | Section: SLIDELL PICAYUNE

810 Words

REPUBLICAN GALA

About 20 members of the Slidell Women’s Republican Club and their spouses recently attended the Republican Gala sponsored by the Northshore RepublicanMen.

The event was held in honor of U.S. Rep. John Cooksey and state Rep. Tony Perkins.

Among those enjoying the festivities were John and June Erickson, John and Lynn Bowers, Susan Rountree, Pat Hedges, Jim and Deena Lamz, Sand and Wyatt Williams, Cathy and Phil Palmer, Rep. Pete Schneider and wife, Elizabeth, Paul and Gail Dillon, Lonnie Haas, Kristy Kennard and Laura Leonard, president of the Slidell Republican Women’s Club, and her husband, Mel.