The penguin has a name, Peppermint Penguin, and that makes Patricia Gilliard, of Fort Lauderdale, a winner. Gilliard entered the Holiday Fantasy of Lights Name-the-Penguin Contest and for her effort received a $200 gift certificate from Winn-Dixie Marketplace.
Gilliard said she usually drives through the Holiday Fantasy of Lights display at Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek at least twice each year, loading up the van with family and friends.
Peppermint Penguin has the distinction of being the first-ever mascot for the annual Holiday Fantasy of Lights. More than 200 entries were received.
Pompano resident leads group
Carl H. Kielmann, a resident of John Knox Village in Pompano Beach, was elected president of Florida Life Care Residents Association, or FLiCRA. The 7,773-member, nonprofit association has representation in 43 continuing-care retirement communities across Florida.
The association promotes and protects the rights of residents who live in those facilities and maintains an office in Tallahassee where it monitors and participates in legislative efforts that benefit members.
Kielmann is a retired bank executive. He and his wife, Lillian, have lived at John Knox Village for the past four and a half years.
Recently, Kielmann served a three-year term as president of the John Knox Village FLiCRA chapter.
Military personnel in action
Several military personnel who are residents of or have families in this area participated in the recent Operation Desert Fox in the Middle East.
Navy Petty Officer 3rd class Charles W. Phelps, son of Donna A. Munoz of Pompano Beach, was assigned to the USS Belleau Wood.
From Fort Lauderdale, Navy Petty Officer 1st class John D. Mattox, a 1996 graduate of Stranahan High School, served aboard the USS Enterprise, and Seaman Sylvester A. Snell, son of Mary A. and Thomas Snell Sr., served aboard the USS Carr.
Deployed aboard the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg was Navy Petty Officer 3rd class Quien L. Blackford, son of Blackford Lloyd of Fort Lauderdale.
Hospital donates holiday gifts
North Ridge Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale sponsored 80 children this holiday season through the 1998 Salvation Army Angel Tree program. North Ridge staff donated presents to the program to be distributed to underprivileged children in Broward.
Hospital employees had planned to sponsor fewer children, but when physicians heard about the program, they offered to match each child sponsored by sponsoring another child.
