Welcome to the Best of New Orleans! Bouquets & Brickbats 04 09 02

BOUQUETS & BRICKBATS

04 09 02

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The Best and the Worst of the Week

G. Howard Hunter ,
a Metairie Park Country Day School history and social studies teacher, has been named Humanities Teacher of the Year at the high school level by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Hunter, who has taught at Metairie Park Country Day for 20 years, is also a track coach, chairman of the school's curriculum committee, and chairman of the school's History/Social Studies Department.

Walter Boasso ,
chief executive officer of Boasso America Corp., has received the Port of New Orleans' C. Alvin Bertel Award for outstanding contributions to the advancement of the greater New Orleans port area. Boasso is a member and former chairman of the Dock Board. He was recognized for his company's leadership in providing transportation and ancillary services to the port.

Alysha Kelly and Oluwatosin Oyeniran
were the two grand-prize winners at the senior level in the recent Greater New Orleans Science and Engineering Fair. Kelly, a senior at John Curtis Christian School, and Oyeniran, a junior at Benjamin Franklin Senior High School, will enter their winning projects in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Louisville, Ky., next month.

Jake Platenburg ,
an accountant who had worked for the nonprofit Neighborhood Housing Group and for the Orleans Parish Civil District Court clerk, admitted he embezzled more than $430,000 from both offices. The Gretna man pleaded guilty to stealing $37,952 while employed as the comptroller for the housing group. Later, when he worked for Clerk of Court Dale Atkins, he forged a signature on a check from that office for $386,350.