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Patriot award winners named
Reception June 14 to honor this year's recipients

This year's Ed Kinney Community Patriot Awards are being awarded to Brad Hirst, Dave Wright and Rosiland Wright for their involvement in the Pleasanton community. A champagne reception is being held to honor them from 5:30-7 p.m. June 14 at the Museum On Main, 603 Main St.

The award recipients also will be introduced to the community at the Fourth of July celebration to be held in Lions Wayside Park from 12:30-2 p.m. on July 4.

From 1998 until his final illness in 2005, Ed Kinney was the master of ceremonies for "Celebrating Freedom and its Evolution since the Revolution" - the all-volunteer Fourth of July event for Pleasanton, held in Lions Wayside Park. Kinney was also involved in the Amador-Livermore Valley Historical Society, the group that operates the Museum On Main, and established the museum's lecture series that now bears his name. 

"One of the ways we wish to honor Ed's memory in perpetuity is by annually presenting the Ed Kinney Community Patriot Award to individuals who have exhibited the service behavior entitling them to be called Community Patriots," said W. Ron Sutton, founder and producer of the local Fourth of July celebration. "Remember, it is individuals, not organizations, who change the world."

Past recipients, who serve on the committee to choose the new awardees, are as follows:

* 2005 - Jack Dove and Roger McLain

* 2006 - Hank Gomez and Juanita Haugen

* 2007 - Ron Hyde and Charlotte Severin

* 2008 - Bob Athenour, Rebecca Bruner and Howard Neely

* 2009 - Barbara Hempill and Ken Mercer

Members of the July 4 Celebration planning team include Sutton, Ward Belding, Jack Dove, Jerri Long, Lisa Lorentz, Ken McDonald and Bob Williams.