Great Lakes Region. (Regional Reports).

Great Lakes Regional Council recently elected Fred Hohnke as the Citizen Board of Trustee and Steve Hartman as the Professional Board of Trustee. Both will be serving three-year terms and currently serve as members of the NRPA Board of Trustees representing their region. Both from Illinois, Hohnke is president of the Woodridge Park District, while Hartman is executive director of the Skokie Park District.

NRPA members Carla Kress, adaptive service coordinator for Eden Prairie, Minn., and Dr. Lynn Anderson, CPRP, CTRS, a professor at the State University at Cortland, recently authored "Inclusion: Including People with Disabilities in Parks and Recreation Opportunities," published by Venture Publishing. For more information, go to www.venturepublish.com.

The Wisconsin Park & Recreation Association Foundation, Inc. has created a new designated fund in honor of the late Dr. George Wilson, a pioneer in the leisure services arena and former assistant superintendent for the Milwaukee Public Schools, Division of Municipal Recreation and Adult Education. Send your tax-deductible contribution payable to the WPRA Foundation, Inc. in care of Dr. Wilson to 6601-C Northway, Greendale, WI 53129. Wilson served in a variety of positions with the Wisconsin Recreation Association, one of the predecessor organizations of the Wisconsin Park and Recreation Society. He was also instrumental in a number of national organizations, serving as president of the American Association for Leisure and Recreation. He was involved with NRPA and the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Wilson was the first recipient of the George Wilson Service Award (named after his accomplishments) as well as numerous other awards, such as the state association's Distinguished Professional Award of Merit, and the Distinguished Service Award from the American Institute of Park Executives.

NRPA corporate member Landscape Structures has named Bill Dietrick general manager of its Skatewave division. Prior to joining Skatewave, Dietrick was vice president of business development at the Minnesota High Tech Association.

The Park District of Highland Park recently received two awards by the Communicator Awards, an international awards competition that recognizes outstanding work in the communications field. The park district received the Award of Distinction for its Winter 2003 brochure, and its Web site (www.pdhp.org) won in the Overall Site Design Category. The brochure is one of three seasonal brochures produced by the park district's communications supervisor, Lindsay Dudeck. She is also the Webmaster. The Web site features convenient online registration, information, photos, maps and programs covering park facilities.

Exmark Manufacturing, the leading manufacture of commercial mowers in the professional turf industry, announced the promotion of Mark Stinson to president and CEO. Stinson, formerly a controller at Exmark for seven years, replaces Dennis Himan, who was promoted to vice president and general manager of Toro's international division. Stinson will stay in Beatrice, Neb.

Terry Dopson, director of the Kansas City (Mo.) Parks and Recreation Department since 1988, will retire on June 30. Dopson has been a strong NRPA member, serving on the APRS Board of Directors (1978-1984), APRS President (1984-85) and Council of State Affiliates President (1976-1977). His professional career began in 1960 as the recreation director for the U.S. Navy in Bermuda. He also worked in the West Indies and Texas. Over his career, Dopson has received numerous awards and honors, including serving on the Board of Regents of the Western Revenue Resources School, and receiving the Southwestern Park and Recreation Distinguished Fellow Award, Outstanding Service--Diamond Award, and having the Terry R. Dopson Education Endowment Scholarship Fund developed in his honor in 1996. In 1993 he received the American Academy for Parks and Recreation Administration Distinguished Professional Award.

This spring, Southfield, Mich., a suburb of Detroit, completed a significant land exchange involving the National Park Service's Federal Lands to Parks Program, church leaders at Great Faith Ministries and a developer, Transwestern Commercial Services. Optimist Park, a 4.94-acre former missile site, was conveyed to the city in 1976 and had been maintained for many years as a park. As Southfield evolved and the surrounding area became more commercial and less residential, the park appeared more like an undeveloped lot. Transwestern had already developed the surrounding property and offered to buy Optimist Park from the city. In exchange, Southfield would add green space to their community, working with the Federal Lands to Parks Program to identify suitable replacement property. Recently, Transwestern purchased 29.74 acres of land from Great Faith Ministries for approximately $1 million and deeded it to the city for a new park. The city then deeded Optimist Park to Transwestern. The new property, called Carpenter Lake, is more accessible for the residents of Southfield, offers scenic and natural resources uncommon to the southern portion of the county and is protected by National Park Service recreational covenants.

In February, NRPA President Jonathan Korfhage, CPRP, visited the Great Lakes Park Training Institute in Pokagon State Park at the Potawotami Inn. The park features were exceptional and included a first-class toboggan run. The park and inn have been a regional hot spot for more than 70 years. "The Institute has been in existence since the 1940s and many of my professional heroes have made keynote speeches to those assembled," says Korfhage. "So I was very honored to be on that list."