Folks about town

The Jackson- Dawson Marketing Solutions team poses with Tom and Juanita Duke at the annual Mercury Awards. Duke retired on April 30, 2007, after more than 50 years in the public relations profession. He was honored with the naming of the state's highest award The W. Thomas Duke Public Relations Practitioner of the Year Award. Pictured are (l-r): Ansley Welchel, David Jones, Juanita Duke, Tom Duke, Melea Mauldin, Ryan Fisher and Brett Turner.

Paul Willis , dean of libraries at USC, will retire June 30. Willis oversees the operations of the Thomas Cooper Library and the South Caroliniana Library; the business, film, mathematics, and music libraries.

James Lee , a senior at the South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics, has been named a finalist in the 2007 sanofi- aventis International BioGENEius Challenge.

The S.C. State Senate will honor Bishop Preston W. Williams II , presiding prelate of more than 600 AME Churches throughout S.C.

Kelly Jackson Davis with the award's namesake, Tom Duke.

Chernoff Newman took home eight awards at the 2007 Mercury Awards Banquet, which was sponsored by the S.C. Public Relations Society of America.

Stephanie Watkins joined Congaree State Bank as Branch Manager of the Bank's Cayce on Knox Abbott Drive.

Kelly Jackson Davis , is this year's recipient of the S.C. Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America's (SCPRSA) highest individual honor, the W. Thomas Duke Distinguished Public Relations Practitioner of the Year Award.

The S.C. Public Relations Society of America named its highest individual award after William Thomas Duke at the annual Mercury Awards banquet. The award is now the W. Thomas Duke Distinguished Public Relations Practitioner of the Year Award.

Rachel Thomas

Jukayla Johnson will represent Richland One at a national after- school conference in Washington, D.C.

Rachel Thomas is the winner of Pine Grove Elementary's 2007 Governor's Citizenship Award.

Mary Frances Flanders , Tiffany Talley , Krystal Harrell , Shavone Gadsden , Tiffany Jordan, and Brittany Goodwin

competed in the S.C. Speech and Theatre Association College Festival and won the Team Sweepstakes Award.

Individual team members placed in the following categories: Mary Frances Flanders , First Place in Persuasive Speaking;

Tiffany Jordan ,Third Place in Persuasive Speaking and Third Place in Impromptu Interpretation; Brittany Goodwin , Second Place in Poetry Interpretation; and

Cheryl R. Holland

Krystal Harrell's Audition Monologue was selected for the Final Four Competition.

Cheryl R. Holland , president of Abacus Planning Group, Inc. has been named to the Schwab Institutional Advisory Board.

Christine L. Sellers recently joined the law firm of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. as Senior Research Librarian.

Sheila Gatch, cardiovascular clinical educator for Providence Hospitals, and Tabitha Soderstrom, the new graduate development coordinator for Providence Hospitalswere recognized for excellence with a Palmetto Gold award from the South Carolina Nurses Foundation.

Sheila Gatch

Kay Evans of Treasury of Homes Builders Inc., is the first female to earn the designation of Master Builder of S.C.

Marvin Pontiff was appointed assistant deputy

commissioner for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.

Trucking Association committed to safety

Contributed by the S.C. Trucking Association

The S.C. Trucking Association hosted Trucking Day last Wednesday at the State House and was attended by S.C. officials, lawmakers and politicians.

The event gave Governor Mark Sanford the chance to get behind the wheel of a tractor trailer and see what it's like to be a truck driver.

Tabitha Soderstrom

The S.C. Trucking Association hosted their annual Safety Awards banquet Wednesday to recognize the achievements of member companies that promote safety and reduce vehicle accidents and on- the- job injuries.

The association also recognized Barthel Green, a driver with Bridge Terminal Transport, who steered a runaway bus full of children to safety after the bus driver collapsed and died behind the wheel.

Green was presented the rare and prestigious Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Special Recognition Award.