Dale Hardeman, president of the Cerritos College...

Dale Hardeman, president of the Cerritos College Board of Trustees, has announced his resignation for health reasons effective July 1. Hardeman, 42, whose four-year term would have ended Nov. 3, said he is leaving the post because his doctor advised him to curtail some of his activities because of high blood pressure. Hardeman was elected to the board in November, 1983. The board can appoint someone to fill the unexpired term or leave it vacant until the election.

Kirk Real of Lakewood, principal of Ramona Elementary School in Bellflower, will be reassigned as principal of the Bellflower Unified School District’s eighth elementary campus, to begin operation in September. The eighth campus, yet to be named, will be at the old Horace Mann school site, 6044 Clark Ave., Lakewood, which has been closed seven years. Real, 51, has been with the district since 1957 as a teacher, vice principal and principal at various campuses, and has been at Ramona four years. He will be replaced at Ramona by Judy Rafferty of Harbor City, a kindergarten and first-grade teacher in Torrance who is receiving an administrative credential this month from California State University, Long Beach.

Versie G. Burns, principal of Laurel Street Elementary School in Compton, has been elected president of the Los Angeles region of the Assn. of California School Administrators. The region covers 15 public school districts stretching from Beverly Hills to the Orange County boundary. Burns has been a Compton school administrator for 18 years and lives in Fullerton.

Commerce City Council member Robert J. Cornejo received a public service award on behalf of Commerce residents presented by Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Montebello). Cornejo was honored at a dinner-dance attended by more than 300 persons.

Long Beach policeman Robert A. Fowks, a 22-year veteran, has been honored for his work in forming a swap meet task force to curtail the selling of stolen property at swap meets. He also is one of his department’s first officers chosen for a new burglary suppression detail. Fowks was among nearly 1,000 city and county uniformed police officers and firefighters saluted at the annual Los Angeles Community Protectors Award Luncheon. Also honored was eight-year Compton policeman Reginald I. Wright, an expert in gang intelligence whose work has resulted in many arrests in gang-related crimes.

Joseph Ball of the law firm Ball, Hunt, Hart, Brown & Baerwitz was presented with the Long Beach Torch of Liberty Award by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. Ball, a past president of the State Bar of California, was praised for his legal service in countering bigotry and advancing the cause of human rights. The award was presented at a dinner in Ball’s honor attended by 400 people.

Cerritos College graduate Leticia Cano of Norwalk has been awarded a doctoral fellowship through the National Chicano Council on Higher Education. She will pursue a doctorate in the sciences. Cano was selected as the outstanding chemistry student by the Associated Students of Cerritos College before her transfer to California State University, Los Angeles, in 1985.

Newly elected officers of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors who will be installed June 19 at the Spruce Goose dome are Joseph F. Prevratil of Wrather Port Properties, chairman of the board; Elaine Hutchison of Paragon Equities, immediate past chairman; Stephen Horn of California State University, Long Beach, vice chairman at large; John Morris of Legends restaurant, vice chairman of marketing and promotion; Lee Sellers of Pacific Coast Port Consultants, vice chairman of community affairs; James Pott of O’Brien-Kreitzberg, a construction management company, vice chairman of membership; Dewey Smith of Douglas Aircraft Co., vice chairman of governmental affairs; and James Sullos of Windes & McClaughry accounting firm, chief financial officer.

Mary Weir, head of the child development and parent education department at Long Beach City College, has been honored by the California Teachers Assn. at a banquet in Los Angeles. She was nominated by colleagues and recognized for her service to the state association as past president of a local chapter, a member and secretary to the state executive board, an alternate delegate to the state council and a delegate to the national assembly of the National Education Assn.

Two students of schools in La Mirada were honored for creating outstanding posters in a statewide “Just Say No” poster contest against drug abuse. The young artists are Monica Reed, a sixth grader at Escalona School, and Kevin Roberts, a fifth grader at Brethren School.

Ernest Lackey was installed as 1987-88 president of the Downey Jaycees at the organization’s 42nd annual awards dinner. He succeeds David Ruszczyk, who was named the top chapter president in California Jaycees District 13 for 1986-87.