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 Tom and Pam Beatty of Oakwood are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Lauren, to Yusaku Kawai, son of Takashi and Kazumi Kawai, also of Oakwood.
Both the bride and groom-to-be are graduates of Oakwood High School – Lauren in 2001 and Yusaka in 2000. Both are also graduates of DePauw University. Lauren graduated in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and is currently teaching second grade at Hemby Bridge Elementary School in Charlotte, N. C. Yusaku graduated in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics and is currently working as a consultant for IBM.
The wedding will take place on June 24, 2006 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Dayton.
 Mr. and Mrs. James Sears of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and Mr. and Mrs. William Schaff of Oakwood are happy to announce the engagement of their children, Sharon Rachel Sears and Cody Joel Schaff.
The bride-to-be is a graduate of Smith College and earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kansas. She has accepted a faculty position at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado to begin in the fall of 2006.
The groom-to-be earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Human Factors Engineering from Wright State University. He graduated from Oakwood High School in 1991. He is a software engineer for IBM in San Jose, CA.
The wedding date has been planned for June 3, 2006 and will take place in Soquel, CA. The couple plans to move to Durango, Colorado in the summer of 2006.
32 appointed to new Library Advisory Council
At the Monday, Feb. 20 meeting of the Wright Memorial Public Library Board, Lori Mitchell was sworn in as the newest library board member. Ms. Mitchell is filling an unexpired term of five years.
Ms. Mitchell is a graduate of Miami University and is currently the Project Manager for Mitchell Innovation + Research. She has served as PTO President at Harman Elementary as well as Parent/Principal Committee Chair for Oakwood Sr. High PTO. She also served as the Wright Memorial Public Library Levy Campaign Co-Chair in 2005.
“I see Wright Library as a central and vital part of the Oakwood community. I look forward to reaching out to the community, patrons as well as non-patrons, in an ongoing effort to define and reach the goals of the library.” said Ms. Mitchell.
In other business, the Board appointed thirty-two people to the newly created Library Advisory Council. Appointees are:
Maureen Anderson
Ann Bachmann
Bob Beecher
Fred Dudding
Dan Edwards
Barb Erbe
Alan Halpern
Philip Harwood
Carrie Henry
Stan Herr
Tim Ilg
Healy Jackson
Joyce Kasprzak
Jill Kollars
Trudy Krisher
Beth Loew
Lisa McCauley
Jacqueline Miller
Polly Petricola
Sandy Pierce
Mary Pryor
Michael Roediger
C. Hyland Schooley
Gerald Sharkey
Julie Smith
Richard Smith
Joanne Stephens
Michael Vanderburgh
Jane Voisard
Chris Wallace
Deb Wenig
Lance Winkler
They are charged with reviewing library finances and business operations to give input to the administration and board on financial and other policy issues. The Council’s first meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 23 in the library meeting room. Meetings are open to the public.
The library board meeting concluded with a discussion of a community survey planned for this spring.
Wright Memorial Public Library is located at 1776 Far Hills Avenue in Oakwood. Their web site is www.WrightLibrary.org.
Pickrel, Schaefer & Ebeling, L.P.A. is pleased to announce that Donald G. Schweller, Alan B. Schaeffer, and James L. Jacobson have been selected as 2006 Ohio Super Lawyers as published in Ohio Super Lawyers magazine, based on a survey of Ohio attorneys.
 Mr. Schweller practices in the areas of Estate Planning, Trust and Probate law and is the chair of the board certifying specialists in Ohio in Estate Planning, Trust and
Probate law.
Alan Schaeffer’s practice focuses on commercial real estate, zoning and land use, construction and municipal law. His real estate, land use, and zoning practice is regional in scope. His client list includes local, regional and national commercial, residential and retail developers. Mr. Schaeffer has extensive municipal law experience, having been Law Director for the City of Moraine and is currently the Law Director for the City of Springboro and Huber Heights.
 James L. Jacobson, a Shareholder and Chairperson of the Probate and Estate Planning Department at Pickrel, Schaeffer & Ebeling Co., L.P.A., is a specialist in Estate Planning, Probate
and Trust Law as certified by the Ohio State Bar Association. He earned a B.S. degree at the University of Michigan and his law degree at Ohio State University. He is a third generation attorney and member of the Ohio and Florida Bar Associations.
 OHS ’84 alumnus Kevin Hayde has been named The Disability Foundation’s new executive director. The Disability Foundation is organized as a supporting organization of The Dayton Foundation. Its mission is to enhance the quality of life for persons with disabilities by complementing public benefits through the prudent management of financial resources.
“Historically, if a person with disabilities was receiving governmental assistance, such as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the receipt of a family inheritance or lump sum could result in the termination of eligibility for public assistance”, said Hayde. “Often, the only real option for families was to disinherit the individual with disabilities”. Through the Trusts, individuals are offered an alternative to disinheritance. “The Disability Foundation allows individuals with disabilities and their families to establish accounts that will provide a lifetime plan of payments to support their supplemental needs without risking their public benefits”, Mr. Hayde rea
soned. “Really, the largest benefit to the family is not in the items purchased, but in the knowledge that someone will care for their son or daughter after they are gone”.
For more than 17 years, Kevin has advocated for the rights and appropriate support services for individuals with disabilities. “Serving in a number of different capacities throughout my career, I understand the system of services from a first-person perspective”, said Kevin. “I’m excited to be using my talents and experiences to benefit The Disability Foundation and its clients”.
A fresh start is precisely what Roger Wurtzbacher, the owner of The Medicine Shoppe, formerly located in Kettering, is about to embark on. He is moving his 45-year-old pharmacy to the closely-woven community of Oakwood at 2419 Far Hills Avenue.
Wurtzbacher has been in the paramedical business for 50 years and his son Doug, has gone in his dad’s footsteps. Both father and son are graduates of the University of Cincinnati. Doug has two degrees which include a registered pharmacist and he has a Doctorate of Pharmacy. Doug taught for a few years at the University of Tennessee in the School of Pharmacy and at the Drug Information Center. For the last five years, Doug has returned to Dayton and been working with his family’s business.
The move from Kettering to Oakwood is one that Wurtzbacher is anticipating greatly and with much reason. “The new location itself is what I am most looking forward to, new surroundings, larger quarters and our pharmacy is rather unique,” is how Wurtzbacher describes his outlook on the transition. The newly located Medicine Shoppe not only offers prescriptions but durable medical equipment consisting of wheelchairs, walkers and crutches as well. The shop also offers registered orthopedic fittings and the advantage of Robotics, a system that is 100 percent accurate at filling prescriptions and decreases the waiting time for the customer, and any customer would agree that it is highly unlikely to wait more than 10 minutes for a prescription to be filled.
The exterior of the new shop offers just as much as the interior. Not only is the facility bigger and the location better but the parking is going to be a lot easier and accessible for the customers, who are positive about the move. The shop already has a lot of Oakwood customers who are just as eager about the move as Wurtzbacher and are excited about the move.
With being an up-to-date pharmacy and having the personal contact with the customers, The Medicine Shoppe is unique compared to other stores, it is a pharmacy first - not a drug store. The Oakwood shop opened its doors to customers on Monday, February 27. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. till 6 p.m., and Saturdays starting at 9 a.m. till 1 p.m.
When asked what Wurtzbacher hopes to bring to the community, he simply responded, ” We are always striving to be a better pharmacy while taking care of our customers first.”
The Noble Circle Project for Women with Cancer, a wellness program which benefits women in Dayton and the surrounding areas who have been diagnosed with cancer, will launch its spring program in March, 2006.
Eight Dayton area women, all cancer survivors, initiated the project out of a desire to encourage other women with cancer to take an active role in improving their health and recovery. The goal of the program is to provide cancer survivors with the tools necessary to achieve significant gains in their health using a simple, natural approach.
As a program of the Wellness Connection of the Miami Valley, the project focuses on complementary healing methods that can be used in conjunction with traditional medical treatment. Participants will engage in whole foods nutrition classes, address the emotional issues related to cancer through a network of support, and experience the stress-reducing effects of practicing a form of gentle exercise and healing movement called qigong.
The spring program of The Noble Circle Project will kick-off with a weekend retreat March 24 – 26 followed by 10 weeks of Thursday evening classes which will be held at One Lincoln Park in Kettering. The program is open to women diagnosed with any type of cancer. The program is free to participants. Or, a tax-deductible donation may be made to cover all or some of the $375 cost of providing the program. Registrations will be accepted until March 10. Enrollment is limited. For more information, call (937) 848-6614, (937) 434-9382, or go to www.noblecircle.org.
By Christine Mabe
Finally, after 35 years or more, the seldom-used overflow parking lot for the Dayton Mall is now a High-Energy Award Winning Bistro, none other then PF Chang’s!
Enormous stone horses, a la the Forbidden City, frame the entrance of this new Miamisburg restaurant. The display of soft lighting throughout the entire establishment is like a gallery collection, to say the least. Beautiful fixtures holding various sized globes of many sizes, colors and unique forms.
Only new to Dayton and previously the West Chester location, PF Chang’s actually opened its first restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ in 1998. With over 130 units and still counting and in over 35 states, this restaurant is obviously a huge success!
To add to the list of many unique features here and unlike many other restaurants in the Miami Valley, PF Chang’s ACCEPTS reservations. I was told by many employees, that the typical wait was 1-4 hours, depending on the time and night of the week. I learned first hand, that Sunday at 6:30p.m. the wait for dinner was almost 2 hours. Hot Tip: the bar serves a full dinner along with several cocktail tables as well, all available first come first serve. This is always a warm welcome if you’re in the neighborhood and pop in with no reservation, and equally nice if dining alone!
An extensive list of over 40 wines, all of which are available by the glass or bottle, is sure to help smooth the wait time, providing you can refrain from ordering dinner from the bartender that is. The full bar offers a long list of specialty drinks, including signature Martinis a few micro-brews and of course a collection of domestic and imported beers.
On this rare occasion, my beverage of choice was the White Tangerine Tea, well known to be rich in antioxidants, especially when compared to the Martini list options. I have always loved fine teas and it was truly wonderful just as I had expected, it was as if the herbal qualities relaxed me within seconds, I am excited about trying the other five herbal blends very soon! While waiting for my appetizer, I had the pleasure of meeting John (server assistant), I prefer this title rather then Busboy, especially in reference to this young man.
I had already decided on my appetizer indulgence, long before stepping foot onto the fresh pavement, the exact spot I helped my daughter practice maneuverability for her drivers license many years ago. My first PF Chang’s experience was in Vegas, Chicken in Soothing Lettuce Wraps ($6.95), I have thought of it often since that day. Diced chicken, green onions, water chestnuts, black mushrooms, rice sticks, sesame oil and garlic served with crisp lettuce for wrapping. The late Dr. Atkins would have marveled over this menu item! The dish was not quiet like I remembered from before, especially disappointing for a restaurant that imports its herbs and spices directly from China. I found myself thankful for the various sauce making ingredients each table is provided with, because now my own little science experiment would begin!.
My personal concoction causes “brain burn”, those of you who like spicy food can relate to this experience. For those who don’t know, it’s an immediate result that feels just like it sounds, your brain burns, primarily after consuming to large a bite of horseradish, oriental mustard or wassabi (my favorite), and I just can’t ever seem to get enough of any of them!
Even though my appetizer arrived quickly, 40 minutes had passed and still no sign of my entrée. I pictured each chef wearing a coal miner’s head set, wondering if the kitchen was as dark as the dining area, if only I could have borrowed one to read the menu. Still waiting, I watched John carefully pack my appetizer for take home. It was truly unlike anything I had ever seen, much less, for a young man his age. It was if he was my personal assistant, and now my liaison with the kitchen, especially once he realized I still had no dinner. He assured me he would resolve the problem immediately, and he quickly returned with my dinner in hand.
The Orange Peel Beef ($11.25) was an excellent choice, packed with flavor, not to sweet and surprisingly almost spicy enough for me. The combination of tossed chili peppers, fresh orange peel and sliced beef which was sautéed slightly crispy on the outside yet moist and not to chewy in the center. The flavor of orange seemed to lace each bite, it was a very tropical flavor I did not expect, I will have a difficult time avoiding this dish on my return visit, kudos to the chef! All dinners include brown and white rice, I found them both cooked to perfection and equally flavorful, and actually served piping hot, especially when compared to most oriental restaurants I have ever visited.
Much to my surprise the dessert menu consisted of two American favorites, Chocolate Cake and New York Style Cheesecake, go figure! The Banana Spring Rolls were more my style, mostly because of there uniqueness, to the best of my knowledge this dessert is similar to Banana’s Foster, which would never hold up properly through a car ride. So as I am writing this I am enjoying, “The Great Wall of Chocolate.” It lives up to its name, I promise you. This six-layer, chocolate chip studded, dense, not ever expected to be found on any Chinese restaurant menu is an absolute scrumptious creation lived up to its name, unbelievable! ($6.95). I wonder if my new friend John slipped me the King Cut, if not, this dessert is perfect to share with a party of four!
PF Chang’s offers selections for every diet, unless your diet is high in fat, then you may have a struggle in making a selection. There website www.pfchangs.com, displays there menus, wine list and nutritional score cards for every menu item, you will have no doubt of exactly what your eating!
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