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The chamber will be honoring Hal Dufford, this yearÕs Citizen of the Year; Dan Doherty with the Golden Achievement Award; and American Waste (Vida, Michael, and Edward Ascione) with the 2007 Business of the Year Award at their annual meeting and awards dinner.

ÒThese outstanding volunteers will be honored March 3 at the Senior Center on Coral Street,Ó chamber manager Sharon Coppock said. ÒThe theme for the dinner this year is: ÔIt matters ...Õ and this yearÕs honorees certainly are great examples of how much just one person can accomplish.Ó

Citizen of the Year Hal Dufford was a charter member of Kiwanis of Kalkaska and has served on the Board, as president, and even Lt. Governor for the district.He can be found ringing the bells for the Salvation Army, cooking fresh corn on the cob at the annual Kiwanis steak picnic, and participating in any and all Kiwanis events.

He has faithfully helped the Key Club which meets weekly at Kalkaska High School and served as a Key Club organizer on the district level, also. He organized the Builders Club at Kalkaska Middle School and regularly attends their meetings and lends his support to their activities for over a decade.

Hal is the oldest competing musher in the lower 48 states and has been an active volunteer organizing the Kalkaska Winterfest for many years. He raises sled dogs and has worked with youth to learn how to care and train the dogs and then prepare for area races.

This yearÕs Business of the Year, American Waste, has over 100 people employed and the owners have long been active in the community. The Ascione family (Vida, Michael, and Edward) donated a building for Hospice to use as an office, meeting and training area. There is also room to store appliances needed for those who are handicapped or very ill and to house items for the annual tent sale.

Mike and Eddie Ascione bought A&K Sanitation about six years ago. The business had one truck with a residential route and a small commercial route at that time. They now have more than 10 garbage trucks and several roll-off trucks for residential and commercial customers. With the purchase of Walloon Lake Disposal, American Waste now services Petoskey, Boyne City, Charlevoix, Kalkaska, Antrim, and Grand Traverse areas. And they are building a transfer station and recycling center in Traverse City.

Besides the waste and recycling projects, the Ascione family built a car wash and a truck wash service center building in Kalkaska. With the addition of each new project and each vehicle they are adding jobs. The Golden Achievement Award will be presented to Dan Doherty, owner of JackÕs Sport Shop, for his more than two decades of service to Kalkaska. The graduate of Kalkaska High School took over the store from his father and has enlarged both the space and staff. Dan has been a volunteer