FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  December 8, 2003
CONTACT: DEP Press Office, (850) 245-2112

Friends Of Florida State Parks Welcomes New Leadership

 --Board members, officers elected by citizen support group--

TALLAHASSEE—The Friends of Florida State Parks, Inc., a statewide organization of citizens supporting Florida’s award-winning state park system, elected four new board members and a new slate of officers at its Annual Conference in Gainesville.

“Without our citizen support organizations, the Florida Park Service could not offer the variety of services available in our state parks,” said Mike Bullock, Department of Environmental Protection Division of Recreation and Parks Director. “Florida is proud to have 84 state park citizen support organizations, the largest number among all state park systems in the nation.”

Newly elected Friends of Florida State Parks board members and officers are:

JIM WILLIAMS, Destin, FL: Mr. Williams spent 22 years with the United States Air Force and the National Security Agency as a Radio Communications Analyst. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America as a volunteer Cub Master, activities coordinator and Commissioner for the Southern Far East District. He has been a volunteer judge at the Destin Fishing Rodeo, volunteer at the Destin United Methodist Church and most recently a volunteer at Henderson Beach State Park.

RALPH H. SHARP, Tallahassee, FL: Mr. Sharp is a 1959 graduate of Florida State University and a Korean War Veteran. He was employed for 33 years at the Florida Department of Education and will retire from the Department of Financial Services at the end of this year. Sharp and his wife are avid campers, are members of Good Sams Travel Club, and travel to a state park every month.

PAULA RUSSO, Hollywood, FL: Ms. Russo is a longtime member of the Friends of Florida State Parks and has advised the Florida Park Service on accessibility. In the 1990s, she worked for the Center for Independent Living of Palm Beach County providing technical assistance to businesses and governments on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability related laws. She is a naturalist with the Anne Kolb Nature Center in Broward County.

PAT D'ASARO, Bagdad, FL: Ms. D'Asaro is a community historian in the Bagdad/Milton area. She has been a tireless promoter of tourism, historic preservation, recreation and arts. D'Asaro served on the Florida Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and is a member of the Milton Garden Club, Santa Rosa Historical Society, Bagdad Village Preservation Association and the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce.

TOM PENNEKAMP, Tallahassee, FL: Tom Pennekamp, Senior Vice President with SunTrust Bank and descendent of John Pennekamp, namesake of Key Largo's John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, was named Friends of Florida State Parks President.

MICHAEL BRYANT, St. Augustine, FL: Mr. Bryant, a St. Augustine attorney and Friends board member for six years, became president-elect.

ELSA KIMBELL, Jupiter, FL: A founding Friends member and president for the first seven years, Mrs. Kimbell was reelected Treasurer. Kimbell was a founder of both the Friends of MacArthur Beach State Park and the Friends of Jonathan Dickinson State Park. She is retired from Pratt-Whitney, Inc. and is a member of the Florida Park Service Alumni Association.

ELAINE MacLAUGHLIN, Bokeelia, FL: Ms. MacLaughlin, a veteran tourism executive, was reelected Friends Secretary. MacLaughlin is the former executive director of the Lee Island Coast Visitor and Convention Bureau, a position in which she served for more than a dozen years. She also served for six years on the Florida Tourism Commission, which oversees Florida’s tourism promotion agency.