Thursday, May 08

. Dr. Robert Hertzig of Williamstown has been honored by his peers as the 2008 Community Clinician of the Year of the Berkshire District Medical Society. The award was presented by the district at its annual meeting April 15, and Dr. Hertzig will also be honored for his efforts at the statewide society's annual meeting May 8. The award was established in 1998 by the Massachusetts Medical Society to recognize a physician from each of the society's 20 district medical societies who has made significant contributions to his or her patients and the community. A board-certified pediatrician who served Northern Berkshire County residents for some 35 years, retiring from private practice in North Adams last July, Hertzig is a past president of the district medical society and a longtime active member of the statewide society. He has served the Massachusetts Medical Society as a member of its board of trustees and house of delegates and its committees on legislation and nominations. In 2007, he was presented with the society's Committee Chair Service Award, an honor recognizing his service to and leadership of the society's committee on recognition awards. He was a member of that committee for nine years and chairman for four years.

. Stanley B. Walczyk of Dalton, owner and president of O'Laughlin's Home Care Pharmacy & Medical Equipment, has been appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy. He has served in a leadership capacity on various commissions and boards, including a gubernatorial appointment to the Drug Formulary Commission and as president of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Alumni Association. He has twice been honored by his peers with professional awards through his receipt of The Bowl of Hygea Award in Pharmacy in 1984 and The Joseph P. Gagne Award in 1992. The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy serves the Department of Public Health to promote, preserve and protect the public health, safety and welfare by fostering the provision of quality pharmaceutical care to the citizens of Massachusetts through the regulation of the practice of pharmacy, the operation of pharmacies and the distribution of prescription drugs in the public interest.

. Winners of North Adams Public Library's first Poetry Slam included: first place, Jacob Snow, "Understanding Time"; second place, Cairo Voltaire, "Annemic Dissipatent"; third place, Seth Brown, "Quarterstaff"; fourth place, Casey Finnegan, "Car Crash"; fifth place, Void Sans Ange, "Sleeping or blinking"; and sixth place, Christian Phiffer, "Spit," and Charlene Fiske, "Visability." The first three place winners can compete in the Grand Slam Finale on Sunday, May 26, from 3-5 p.m. at the Eric Carle Museum.