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Quick Takes

JOINS FIRM: Steubenville native Joseph J. Pasquarella has joined the Canton-based Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty Co. L.P.A. as part of the law firm’s oil, gas and mineral law practice group.

Pasquarella will be focusing in the area of oil and gas litigation. He received his bachelor of arts in justice studies from Kent State University. While there, he was an intern for the Secret Service. He also received his juris doctorate from Capital University Law School, where he was a student bar association class representative. While in law school, he was a legal extern with the Ohio State Troopers Association and a law clerk at Colley Shroyer & Abraham Co., LPA in Columbus.

“KWGD has been instrumental in our region’s growth of the Utica shale play and we are excited to be expanding our practice section to 11 oil and gas attorneys so we may continue to be responsive to our client’s needs along with the pace of industry growth,” said William G. Williams, the firm’s oil and gas practice group leader.

SELECTED: Radio talk show host and station owner Howard Monroe has been selected as director of broadcasting at West Liberty University. This will be in addition to his radio responsibilities.

As broadcasting director, Monroe will oversee the direction of WLU-TV, focusing on programming, promotions and the business aspects of the station.

Theresa Gretchen will continue in her role as executive director of WLU-TV.

Monroe also will work to facilitate cooperation between WLU-TV, the university’s radio station WGLZ and academic departments that incorporate broadcasting into curriculum, according to officials. He will report to the office of Institutional Advancement.

Monroe is a veteran of more than 40 years in the broadcasting business, starting in high school as host of a teen talk show through, most recently, 13 years of radio station ownership.

He had been a DJ, reporter, newscaster, radio/TV news manager, program director and station manager before buying WVLY-AM in 2000. As a talk host, he hosts Howard Monroe and the Morning Show on both WVLY and WKKX-AM. His show is the longest running daily show in Ohio Valley radio and he will continue to host this show in addition to his new duties, officials said.

A graduate of the former Triadelphia High School and West Virginia University, he and his wife Nancy have three adult sons and live in Wheeling. He is a ruling elder at Vance Presbyterian Church and also serves as chairman of the Wheeling Planning Commission.

GROWING: Enrollment is still on the rise for the Ohio Cyber Academy, a kindergarten through 12th-grade online school available to students throughout Ohio, according to school officials.

The nonprofit educational organization based in Steubenville has gained more than 6,000 full- and part-time students in the OCA and Virtual Learning Academy since enrollment began in August, officials said. The program is offered through the Jefferson County Educational Service Center, which works with school districts in Jefferson and Harrison counties.

Director Charles M. Kokiko said OCA was created with the mission of providing students and their families with an educational choice utilizing a curriculum that meets state and national academic content standards.

OCA provides a tuition-free education to students, and families may qualify for a free computer, as well as Internet reimbursement. A new gaming curriculum will begin in January as part of a program through Carnegie Mellon University. It was developed by educators at the university’s Entertainment Technology Center to give high school students experience with problem solving and creative thinking skills that are necessary to earn jobs in the digital world.

Students can enroll in OCA at any point during the school year. For information, go to www.ohiocyber.com or call (614) 438-7173 or (740) 381-0732.

Quick Takes

JOINS FIRM: Steubenville native Joseph J. Pasquarella has joined the Canton-based Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty Co. L.P.A. as part of the law firm’s oil, gas and mineral law practice group.

Pasquarella will be focusing in the area of oil and gas litigation. He received his bachelor of arts in justice studies from Kent State University. While there, he was an intern for the Secret Service. He also received his juris doctorate from Capital University Law School, where he was a student bar association class representative. While in law school, he was a legal extern with the Ohio State Troopers Association and a law clerk at Colley Shroyer & Abraham Co., LPA in Columbus.

“KWGD has been instrumental in our region’s growth of the Utica shale play and we are excited to be expanding our practice section to 11 oil and gas attorneys so we may continue to be responsive to our client’s needs along with the pace of industry growth,” said William G. Williams, the firm’s oil and gas practice group leader.

SELECTED: Radio talk show host and station owner Howard Monroe has been selected as director of broadcasting at West Liberty University. This will be in addition to his radio responsibilities.

As broadcasting director, Monroe will oversee the direction of WLU-TV, focusing on programming, promotions and the business aspects of the station.

Theresa Gretchen will continue in her role as executive director of WLU-TV.

Monroe also will work to facilitate cooperation between WLU-TV, the university’s radio station WGLZ and academic departments that incorporate broadcasting into curriculum, according to officials. He will report to the office of Institutional Advancement.

Monroe is a veteran of more than 40 years in the broadcasting business, starting in high school as host of a teen talk show through, most recently, 13 years of radio station ownership.

He had been a DJ, reporter, newscaster, radio/TV news manager, program director and station manager before buying WVLY-AM in 2000. As a talk host, he hosts Howard Monroe and the Morning Show on both WVLY and WKKX-AM. His show is the longest running daily show in Ohio Valley radio and he will continue to host this show in addition to his new duties, officials said.

A graduate of the former Triadelphia High School and West Virginia University, he and his wife Nancy have three adult sons and live in Wheeling. He is a ruling elder at Vance Presbyterian Church and also serves as chairman of the Wheeling Planning Commission.

GROWING: Enrollment is still on the rise for the Ohio Cyber Academy, a kindergarten through 12th-grade online school available to students throughout Ohio, according to school officials.

The nonprofit educational organization based in Steubenville has gained more than 6,000 full- and part-time students in the OCA and Virtual Learning Academy since enrollment began in August, officials said. The program is offered through the Jefferson County Educational Service Center, which works with school districts in Jefferson and Harrison counties.

Director Charles M. Kokiko said OCA was created with the mission of providing students and their families with an educational choice utilizing a curriculum that meets state and national academic content standards.

OCA provides a tuition-free education to students, and families may qualify for a free computer, as well as Internet reimbursement. A new gaming curriculum will begin in January as part of a program through Carnegie Mellon University. It was developed by educators at the university’s Entertainment Technology Center to give high school students experience with problem solving and creative thinking skills that are necessary to earn jobs in the digital world.

Students can enroll in OCA at any point during the school year. For information, go to www.ohiocyber.com or call (614) 438-7173 or (740) 381-0732.

Quick Takes

LEGAL CREDITS: The Ohio State Bar Association is offering seminars in Steubenville in November and December at Eastern Gateway Community College, 4000 Sunset Blvd.

The courses are:

  • Nov. 22 – Residential Real Estate Transactions, six continuing legal education education hours.
  • Dec. 5 – Getting a Grip on Your Student Loans, two new lawyer training hours, two continuing legal education hours.
  • Dec. 5 – Professionalism, Law/Office Management and Client Funds Management, three new lawyer training hours.

Advance registration is advised because of limited space. To register, call (800) 232-7124 or register at www.ohiobar.org/cle, which is the state bar’s continuing legal education site.

ELECTED TO BOARD: Louise Holliday, the JB Green Team’s Jefferson County coordinator, has been elected to the board of directors of the Association of Ohio Recyclers.

“Holliday brings a new dimension and vision to the board,” stated Arley Owens, AOR’s executive director. “Louise’s experience as an environmental educator and program organizer for Jefferson County’s communities and schools will be an asset to future AOR statewide environmental programs and initiatives.”

Holliday has been employed for 23 years with the Clean Community System Steubenville/Winterville, Jefferson County Recycling and Litter Prevention and with the Jefferson-Belmont Regional Solid Waste Authority, as the education coordinator. She is instrumental in planning and implementing recycling and litter prevention education and awareness campaigns for the solid waste district.

Based in Columbus, the Association of Ohio Recyclers is a nonprofit that provides statewide leadership on waste reduction, reuse and recycling policies and practices in order to promote economic growth, environmental improvement and community development in Ohio

TEACHER HONORED: Sherrie Ware, a teacher at Jefferson County Christian School, was named the winner of a FirstEnergy science, technology, engineering and mathematics education grant. The grant will assist Ware in conducting her project, Logically Controlled Electricity.

“FirstEnergy is proud to award this grant to Ms. Ware to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics instruction for their students,” said Dee Lowery, vice president of corporate affairs and community involvement and president of the FirstEnergy Foundation. “We had a group of very competitive applications to choose from this year.”

FirstEnergy offers grants up to $500 to individual teachers and administrators at schools served by its electric utility operating companies and in communities where it has facilities.

Grant recipients are recommended by local educators who make up FirstEnergy’s Educational Advisory Council.

As part of the program, recipients must furnish a written summary and evaluation of their projects that can be shared with other educators in FirstEnergy’s service area.

Quick Takes

TOP 100: Mike Nogay, a partner in the law firm of Sellitti, Nogay & McCune, PLLC has been selected by the National Trial Lawyers Association for its Top 100 Trial Lawyers list for 2013. He was previously selected for West Virginia Super Lawyers.

Nogay has practiced law in the state and federal courts of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania for more than 30 years focusing primarily on jury trials, complicated oil and gas-related issues, medical malpractice, serious auto and industrial accidents and felony criminal cases.

Nogay is a graduate of Washington & Lee University School of Law in Virginia where he was a Benedum Academic Scholar.

He received his undergraduate degree from West Virginia University, magna cum laude, and was selected for Phi Beta Kappa.

Nogay currently serves as the on-air legal analyst for WTOV-TV, and had been appointed Special Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel for the West Virginia State Bar and has served as a special prosecuting attorney for Ohio County.

Nogay is the author of “Every Home a Fort, Every Man a Warrior,” a book on the forts and blockhouses in the Ohio Valley during the Revolutionary War, which the WVU Press called “an extremely valuable history for communities in the region” in an academic review.

Nogay and his wife, Robin, reside in Weirton and have three children, Eddie, Jennifer and Max.

PROMOTED: Tom Needham, a Steubenville native, has been promoted to vice president, digital marketing and strategies for the Inspiration Networks in Indian Land, S.C.

In his new role, Needham oversees digital marketing, product development and communication across all of the company’s brands.

These brands include the family-friendly entertainment television network INSP, which is available in more than 75 million U.S. homes; the faith-based network Inspiration TV, which reaches more than 100 million homes in more than 150 countries; and Inspiration TV’s parent company, Inspiration Ministries.

Needham’s department also provides digital support for the full-service television production company, Media-Comm; and the Spanish language U.S. cable television network LFC La Familia.

Needham is a 1995 graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville and a 1990 graduate of Steubenville Catholic Central. He resides in Fort Mill, S.C., with his wife, Melanie, and their two daughters.

JOINS: Sonia Ciafardone is a member of the Howard Hanna Mortimer Realty agency team in Weirton.

“Sonia brings her background of 30-plus years in sales and service. She previously worked in our office in 1998, and she is very excited to be back,” said Robin Viola, broker/owner of the Weirton Howard Hanna office.

Ciafardone completed her real estate education at Northern Real Estate School and Kennen and Kennen Realty in Wheeling, completing the 90-hour program before taking and passing the state licensing exam.

A life-long resident of the area, she is a graduate of Buckeye North High School. She has been a resident of Weirton for several years.

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, which recently acquired Morgan Collins Real Estate, now has 149 offices serving six states Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Veterans honored Monday at Bob Evans

On Monday, Bob Evans Farms will salute those who’ve served our country with a plate of hotcakes. Veterans and active military personnel who show a valid military ID will receive free all-you-can-eat hotcakes at its restaurants in celebration of Veterans Day.

Veterans are a large portion of Bob Evans’ consumers. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, 8 percent of residents in Bob Evans’ home state of Ohio are veterans.

“These dedicated men and women have served us, now we’re proud to serve them a free breakfast on Veterans Day,” says Bob Evans President Randy Hicks. “We’re grateful for their service to country and a heaping stack of hotcakes is our way of saying thank you.”

Guests must provide proof of service, which could be a U.S. Uniform Services Identification Card, a U.S. Uniform Services Retired Identification Card, a Current Leave and Earnings Statement, wearing their uniform or showing a Veterans Organization Card.

EGCC offers short-term welding courses

Eastern Gateway Community College is offering more short-term welding courses at the start of 2014 to meet increased demand for welders, especially in the oil and gas industry.

The college will offer short-term training for 10 or 18 weeks, beginning Jan. 6. Basic welding courses include basic shielded metal arc welding, structural welding, basic MIG/TIG welding and introduction to pipe welding. Advanced courses include advanced pipe welding and downhill welding.

The noncredit welding programs at Eastern Gateway provide the skill preparation required for welding industry certifications. Program participants will have the opportunity to qualify for certification in various welding processes.

Classes are held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday on the Jefferson County campus. The cost for the 10-week training is $5,000 and the 18-week session is $12,500. Ohio and West Virginia Workforce Investment Act funding may be available. To find out about registering, call (740) 264-5591, extension 310.

Engineering firm earns honor

Day & Zimmermann, a century-old, family-owned provider of construction and engineering, staffing and defense solutions for corporations and governments, received two National Maintenance Agreement Policy Committee Zero Injury Safety Awards for work performed at the Cardinal and Mountaineer plants in 2012.

“Day & Zimmermann is proud to receive the ZISA awards for its work at Cardinal and Mountaineer,” said Gary McKinney, president, Day & Zimmermann NPS. “The safety commitment of AEP and D&Z is evident throughout our work force.”

The awards recognize commitment to world-class safety performance and the NMAPC Zero Accident Philosophy demonstrated by D&Z and its client, American Electric Power, officials said. The 13th-annual NMAPC Zero Injury Safety Awards Program dinner took place at the historic National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24.

The awards were given in recognition of D&Z, AEP and Upper Ohio Valley Building Trades Council for 87,000 direct hire craft labor hours without a recordable accident at the Cardinal Plant near Brilliant. D&Z, AEP and Tri-State Building Trades Council were recognized for 56,919 direct hire craft labor hours without a recordable incident at the Mountaineer Plant located outside of New Haven, W.Va.

The NMAPC negotiates and administers the National Maintenance Agreements, a series of collective bargaining agreements used by more than 2,000 industrial contract companies employing members of 14 building trades’ international unions. To date, the organization has accounted for more than $300 billion of work and more than two billion work-hours for building trades and contractors.

Verizon launches 4G LTE in area

Verizon Wireless has launched its 4G Long Term Evolution service in the Steubenville and Mingo Junction areas, as well as Weirton, Follansbee, Wellsburg and Bethany.

The 4G LTE service offers speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G. The network’s growth has fostered development of new and innovative solutions as diverse as LTE-connected cars and remote medical diagnostic options. The company offers a full line of “smart accessories” across the categories of health and fitness, lifestyle and toys that leverage its leading portfolio of mobile devices and networks.

“This is great news, and a win-win for West Virginia,” said U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. “Building our technology infrastructure and making certain every corner of our state has dependable, advanced wireless service remains one of my top priorities. As chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, I have tried to spur wireless investment in West Virginia and promote greater technology deployments on all fronts. Verizon’s expanded service in Weirton will create exciting new opportunities for the area, particularly for local businesses and schools.”

The company began offering wireless 4G LTE services in major markets in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia in December 2010.

Quick Takes

NEW: Kristin Chmielorski-Moffat is now an agent with JJ Guida Airport Realty.

A native of Follansbee, Chmielorski-Moffat is a graduate of Brooke High School, West Liberty University and the Spruce School of Real Estate. Prior to becoming a Realtor in 2012 she taught for eight years in Ohio and Hancock county schools.

Now residing in Colliers, she’s a member of the Weirton Area Board of Realtors, West Virginia Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors and the Tri-State Multi List Service.

SELECTED: Deborah H. Lee Has is serving as interim regional business director for Great Lakes & Ohio River Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Cincinnati.

The daughter of Wayne and Cinda Hollister of Toronto, she serves in the ORD chief of water management division. She has more than 26 years of engineering and management experience with an emphasis on water resources management. Her experience includes hydraulics and hydrology, meteorology, flood risk management, water quality and dam and levee safety.

She received the Superior Civilian Service Award due to her contribution to efforts to prevent an estimated $110 billion in damages during a spring flood on Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

ATTENDED: Nikolas A. Kamarados, a certified financial planner with Prudential’s Western Pennsylvania & West Virginia Agency, recently attended the company’s two-day wealth management forum in Boston.

He was one of 31 financial professionals from across the country to attend the forum, designed to provide insight into enhanced portfolio management, demonstrative capabilities of new wealth management platforms and interactive best practices and feedbacks.

INVITED: Eastern Gateway Community College President Laura Meeks was among a select group of 25 college presidents invited to the Achieving the Dream Leader College/Aspen Presidents’ Symposium entitled “Redesigning Community Colleges for Student Success: Building Cultures of Action and Inquiry that Achieve Strong and Equitable Results.”

The presidents engaged in peer sessions to advance thinking and plant the seeds of action to address the challenges of the changing world faced by community colleges, according to officials.

States are ramping up accountability measures, tying funding to outcomes, and calling for greater transparency on how many students graduate and are employed, according to officials.

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