Hometown Capsules SMOKING CESSATION COURSE: SAINTS Health Services for Business, the occupational health affiliate of St. Michael's Hospital, is offering the Fresh Start for Life smoking cessation course to help individuals quit smoking. The eight-week class runs Tuesday evenings, Feb. 20-April 10, from 7-8 p.m. at SAINTS Health Services for Business. Course fee is $80. Participants will learn how stress management, good nutrition and behavior changes help them successfully stop tobacco use. Group interaction and one-on-one counseling provide the social support needed to help individuals through this challenging process. For more information or to pre-register call HEALTHLINE at (715) 346-LINE. * * * TOBACCO FORUM: A Tobacco Control Community Forum will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Charles M. White Public Library, featuring speakers from the Tobacco Free Coalition. Community members can learn about tobacco settlement funds for Wisconsin, the county's Tobacco Control Plan and how tobacco use affects county residents. County residents spend more than $13.7 million annually for the direct health care cost of smoking-related illnesses. Thirty-seven percent of county youth between the ages of 14 and 17 smoke cigarettes. For more information on the coalition, call 345-5350. * * * VETERANS SERVICES: The next Veterans Service Commissioner meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7 at the Isadore Brewing Pub & Restaurant. Local Portage County commissioners are: Norman Myhra, chairman, Con Mossak, Raymond Pliska and Thomas Pesanka. Discussion of Veterans Service Relief Fund and changes in budget for 2002 will be discussed. A report on the use of year 2000 funds for Portage County veterans that have needed transportation to Wisconsin veterans clinics/ medical centers will be given. * * * PACELLI ORIENTATION: Pacelli High School will hold its annual New Student/Parent Information Night from 7-9 p.m. Monday. A short program introducing new students and parents and staff, curriculum and activities starts at 7 p.m. After the program, Pacelli ambassadors will lead a tour of the school. The program is open to anyone interested in finding out more about the Stevens Point Catholic School system and Pacelli High School. * * * AMHERST CONCERT: A "Tribute to Stephane Grappelli" concert, featuring Randy Sabien, jazz violinist, Brian Torff, bassist, Mike Dowling and Cliff Fredrickson, guitars, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Jensen Community Theater Center Theater, 487 N. Main St., Amherst. Tickets are $16 and all seating is general admission. There will be a cheesecake intermission. Proceeds benefit the theater upgrades project. * * * FRIENDS OF LIBRARY MEET: Friends of the Library in Amherst will meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31, at the Lettie Jensen Library. * * * BEVERSDORF FEATURED IN RECITAL: Johanna Beversdorf, the daughter of Bill and Diane Beversdorf, 5594 Old Highway 18, Stevens Point, a high school violinist, will perform in a senior Suzuki recital at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28, in Michelsen Hall of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Beversdorf will be assisted in the performance by Courtney Nenn, a senior at Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH), on violin and Ann Marie Novak, piano instructor at the American Suzuki Talent Education Center (ASTEC), on piano. The recital is free and open to the public. Beversdorf is a senior at SPASH, where she has been an orchestral player since elementary school. She was a founding member of the ASTEC Central State Chamber Orchestra and a member of the All State Junior High Orchestra. She also is a member of the SPASH orchestra, chamber orchestra and the pit orchestra for high school musicals. * * * WOMEN'S WELLNESS DAY: The Stevens Point Area YMCA's Women's Wellness Day will be held on Sunday, Feb. 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Women's Wellness Day is an opportunity to explore, learn and discuss topics important to women, as well as a day for women to pamper and indulge themselves. Each participant can choose from 30 wellness workshops, inlcuding Stott-Pilates training, nature walk, kickboxing, yoga, relaxation, low-fat and vegetarian cooking, self defense and skin care. Half-hour massages will be given by professionals from the Wellness Spa, and lunch will be catered by Rockman Catering. Pre-registration is required by Wednesday, Feb. 14, at 7 p.m. Registration materials are available at the YMCA Main Office. Space is limited. For further information, call the YMCA at 342-2980. * * * FRAME MEMORIAL ACTIVITIES: Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church will hold activities during the week of Jan. 28. Those events include: Sunday, Jan. 28: 9:30 a.m., Worship; 10:30 a.m., Annual meeting of the congregation; 10:45 a.m., Fellowship; 6 p.m. Monteverdi Chorale. Wednesday, Jan. 31: 3:30 p.m., Youth Group; 4:30 p.m., Women's Book Study; 7 p.m., Frame Choir. Thursday, Feb. 1: 9:30 a.m., Presbyterian Women's meeting; Noon, Men's Study Group; 4:15 p.m., Children's Choir; 6:30 p.m., ARCW; 7 p.m., Habitat for Humanity Board. * * * VASCULAR SCREENING SCHEDULED: A range of potentially life-saving screenings will be offered in Stevens Point on Feb. 27 at St. Peter Catholic Church. The screening is offered by Life Line Screening Corp., the nation's largest preventative health education outfit and mobile vascular screening service. Preregistration is required and can by done by calling 1-800-407-4557. Life Line will conduct four types of screening, primarily those designed to detect the early onset or risk of vascular disease and stroke. The tests include the cartoid artery screening test, ankle brachial index and an abdominal aortic aneurysm test. Bone density screening for women at risk will also be available. * * * GRANT FUNDING WORKSHOP: A "Grant Funding Workshop" conducted by Kathy Heuvelman will be held in the Pinery Room of the Charles M. White Public Library at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13. The workshop will introduce grant-seekers and nonprofit organizations to the basics of grant-seeking and pertinent resources on foundations. Registration is not required, and the program is free and open to the public. For further information about the workshop, contact Heuvelman at 346-4204. An incorrect number was listed in the Jan. 19 issue of The Gazette. For further information about the location of the workshop, contact Vicky Billings at the Portage County Public Library, 345-6516. * * * GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY CHAIR APPOINTED: Associate Professor Benjamin Ofori-Amoah, has been appointed chairman of the Department of Geography and Geology at UW-SP. A native of Ghana, Ofori-Amoah is a specialist in economic and urban geography who holds degrees from the University of Ghana and the University of Science and Technology in his home country, the University of Exeter in Great Britain and Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B. C., Canada. He will assume his three-year position prior to the fall semester. A member of the faculty for 10 years, he is the program director of UW-SP's Regional Analysis and Community Development Option within the geography/geology department. When Ofori-Amoah came to UW-SP from Vancouver, B.C. in 1991, it took the assistance of the Rev. Ed Hunt of Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church and several influential people at the university and in Washington, D.C., to enable his wife and three children to join him a year later. Since that time, the professor and his wife, Agnes, an employee of McCain Foods in Plover, have become U.S. citizens. Their children are awaiting approval of their citizenship from the INS. The twins, David and Jonathan, graduated from SPASH in 1999 and are both college sophomores. Their daughter, Abigail, is a senior at SPASH. * * * HOSPITAL ONCOLOGIST PUBLISHED: Dr. Michael Huncharek, a Marshfield Clinic radiation oncologist practicing full time in St. Michael's Hospital Cancer Center, will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Public Health. His article, entitled "Use of Topical Sunscreens and the Risk of Malignant Melanoma," will also be presented at the 2001 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) conference in New Orleans this March. The paper, and his presentation at the national AACR conference clearly dispute the unfounded fear in a recent claim that use of topical sunscreens cause skin cancer. "A pooled analysis of more than 9,000 patients in eleven case-control studies has yielded a non-statistically significant result of this claim," Huncharek said. "What this means, is there is no association between topical sunscreen use and an increased risk of malignant melanoma." This is the first analysis to document the protective effect of sunscreen in preventing melanoma. As a medical professional, he adds that the responsible approach to avoiding skin cancer is the regular use of topical sunscreens.