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Curated Collection Of The Best Interviews From Our Gwinnett Studio





Gwinnett Business Radio

Author: gwinnettbusinessradio

Tom Leatherberry with Leatherberry Associates, Brande Melton and Emily Youkers with Sage SalesLogix, Jim Hall with Triatek and Dustin Bixby with the Gwinnett Gladiators

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Tom Leatherberry/Leatherberry Associates

Leatherberry Associates is a performance driven provider of CRM, BI Reporting, Marketing and Workflow Automation software solutions. If you are serious about finding the right solution for your business, one that will provide measurable value through increased employee efficiency, reduced fiscal costs, and improved customer tracking, then we want to talk to you.

Tom Leatherberry is the founder and CEO of Leatherberry Associates and crmLinX Software, a 15 year veteran and performance driven provider of CRM, Marketing and Workflow Automation solutions.

Brande Melton & Emily Youkers/Sage SalesLogix

CRM Your Way. Sage SalesLogix is an award-winning CRM solution that provides a complete view of customer interactions across your sales, marketing, and customer service/support teams so they can collaborate and respond promptly and knowledgably to customer inquiries and sales opportunities.

Sales – Manage leads, opportunities, and accounts
Marketing – Design, execute and manage campaigns
Service/Support – Deliver extraordinary customer service

Jim Hall/Triatek

Founded in 1985, Triatek is a growing, privately held company based in Norcross, GA. Triatek manufactures a complete line of building control products that seamlessly integrate with most building automation systems on the market including but not limited to Johnson Controls Metasys™, Siemens System 600 Apogee™, Automated Logic Webctrl™, Andover Controls, Teletrol, Alerton Technologies, and many others.

Additionally, most of their products are LON, BACnet and MODBUS compatible, and are, therefore, poised to be at the forefront of the industry’s inexorable move towards open protocols and integration.

Dustin Bixby/Gwinnett Gladiators

The Gwinnett Gladiators are the ECHL Affiliate of the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League and are members of the ECHL, the Premier “AA” Hockey League, and play all home games at the 11,355-seat Arena at Gwinnett Center, located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth. The Gladiators offer ticket and sponsorship opportunities to match the specific needs of any business.

Dustin Bixby begins his tenth season with the Gladiators. A recipient of the ECHL’s American Conference Media Relations Director of the Year Award for the 2006-2007 season, he has been in the broadcast booth for the Gladiators since the organization relocated to Gwinnett from Mobile, AL. For the 9th season in a row, Dustin is calling the Gladiators action on WDUN News Talk 550 and online at wdun.com. The Gladiators radio broadcasts on WDUN were named best Sports Play-By-Play for a Class B radio station in Georgia by the AP for 2005.

Jeanne Smith with Ultra Touch Cleaning, Dr. Bill Williams with Suwanee Dental Care and Marie Fratoni with Reinvent Yourself Seminars

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Jeanne Smith/Ultra Touch Cleaners

Ultra Touch Cleaners provides residential, turnkey and business office cleanings. They have been in Gwinnett County since July 2007 and have been in the industry for 20 years. They service Gwinnett & surrounding counties. Ultra Touch Cleaning is a drug-free workplace that is licensed & insured.

Ultra Touch Cleaning specializes in custom home cleaning services available on a weekly, bi-weekly, tri-weekly, monthly or one-time basis. Ultra Touch Cleaning cleans each home/office individually to guarantee that they meet each client’s objectives and budget.

Dr. Bill Williams/Suwanee Dental Care

Suwanee Dental Care is the comprehensive dental practice in Gwinnett with four highly skilled dentists who can take care of the entire family’s needs all in one place. With over 60 years of combined experience, they treat cases simple to severe with care, compassion and understanding…not to mention with a gentle touch. Being trained in all dental arenas, including, implants, orthodontics, endodontics, oral surgery, TMJ, periodontics, reconstruction with crowns and bridges, cosmetic, laser and sedation dentistry, they are able to meet the most discriminating individuals needs, even the dental phobic.

Because they understand that dentistry is very personal and important to each individual, they take the time to do a very thorough examination only after they have met and discussed important history and current concerns each person coming to them has. They seek to help each person achieve healthy longevity and to have smiles that they will love. Suwanee Dental Care, certainly an oasis in the midst of what we call Gwinnett.

Marie Fratoni/Reinvent Yourself Seminars

Reinvent Yourself Seminars is a Coaching and Training Company which supports people in creating happy, fulfilling careers. They provide speaking engagements, skill-building seminars, 1-on-1 Coaching, and vacation-courses in Italy where people develop success skills and business growth strategies to make the leap from “same old, same old” to a thriving and prosperous career or business.

Marie Fratoni, M.Ed. is a talented human potential expert and a top reinvention strategist. She is a dynamic Coach and Speaker, and brings a wealth of talent and experience to her programs, demonstrating a high level of commitment and expertise.

Karen Tinker with USA Mobile Drug Testing, Mark Fuhrman with CSS-Comcast Sports Southeast, Don Conklin with Pinnacle Custom Signs and Marie Fratoni with Reinvent Yourself Seminars

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Karen Tinker/USA Mobile Drug Testing

USAMDT is a professional drug & alcohol testing, compliance and training firm located in Norcross, GA. They specialize in helping companies of all sizes navigate the complicated world of Drug and Alcohol Testing and Compliance. They support both DOT and non DOT protocols and they come to your site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They provide convenient and cost-effective solutions.

Karen Tinker is a Certified Compliance Specialist (C-USAMDT), DATIA Certified Professional Collector (CPC) and DATIA Certified Designated Employer Rep Trainer (C-DERT). Karen’s core competencies include Georgia Drug Free Workplace Certification and Compliance as well as DOT FMCSA Compliance. She is known as a Drug Free Workplace Advocate who provides speaking engagements throughout NE Georgia. Karen can help companies set-up and maintain a Drug Free Workplace as well as help companies and individuals with other testing such as court ordered, student, athlete, job fair, jobsite or special events screenings. She also blogs for various websites regarding drug and alcohol awareness.

Mark Fuhrman/CSS-Comcast Sports Southeast

CSS is a 24-hour sports network carrying a full slate of college sports programming. The channel offers a comprehensive sports lineup throughout the year including over 40 live college football games including the SEC, Sun Belt, Conference USA and Gulf South Conference. In addition, CSS broadcasts over 165 men’s and women’s live college basketball games and over 80 live baseball games, as well as a comprehensive mix of sports news and in-depth sports analysis geared toward fans in the south.

Don Conklin/Pinnacle Custom Signs

Pinnacle Custom Signs is a full service commercial sign company located in Buford, GA. They serve the greater Atlanta metro area but concentrate their efforts in Gwinnett, Hall and Forsyth Counties. The company was founded in June 2011 by Don and Theresa Conklin. Both of them left their corporate jobs to start their own business and create jobs in the community.

Marie Fratoni/Reinvent Yourself Seminars

Reinvent Yourself Seminars is a Coaching and Training Company which supports people in creating happy, fulfilling careers. They provide speaking engagements, skill-building seminars, 1-on-1 Coaching, and vacation-courses in Italy where people develop success skills and business growth strategies to make the leap from “same old, same old” to a thriving and prosperous career or business.

Marie Fratoni, M.Ed. is a talented human potential expert and a top reinvention strategist. She is a dynamic Coach and Speaker, and brings a wealth of talent and experience to her programs, demonstrating a high level of commitment and expertise.

Mario de la Garza with Payscape Advisors and Julie Frisbie with Elite Sports Georgia

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Mario de la Garza/Payscape Advisors

Payscape Advisors offers dynamic payment solutions to businesses of all shapes and sizes. 

Their dedication to payment technology and industry innovation is consistent and their mission is clear: make it simple for business owners to collect money. Whether you accept credit cards at your retail storefront, process payments on your mobile phone, promote gift cards, operate an online shopping cart, or electronically invoice clients, Payscape offers financial products and services guaranteed to satisfy your cash flow needs. 

They continue to disrupt the commoditized merchant services landscape with cutting-edge products and services, universal API integration, best-in-class customer service, strategic referral and technology partnerships, and a lifelong devotion to delivering uncomplicated and intuitive payment processing solutions to business owners.

With more than 150 employees located in ten offices throughout the U.S., Payscape Advisors recognizes that success is dependent on employee satisfaction and prides itself on cultivating a work environment that supports creative collaboration and rewarding work experiences. They are consistently ranked as both a “Best Place to Work” and an Inc. 500/5000 company.

They’re a team of inspired entrepreneurs with a passion for working hard and playing even harder. They’re redefining the payment landscape, one happy customer and employee at a time.

Julie Frisbie/Elite Sports Georgia

Elite Sports Georgia specializes in team uniforms for all ages (youth and adult), sporting goods equipment, custom screen printing and embroidery. For store hours or more information, please call 770-622-7900.

Julie Frisbie owns and operates the Elite Sports in Duluth, GA where she has been in business for over five years. Originally from Texas, Julie has a background in advertising sales and marketing. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Marketing.

Dionitia Cornell with Anderson Corporate Solutions, George Tivy with Construction and Design Solutions, Roni Fleischer with The Georgia Trail and Rob Mottola with East2West Media Group

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Dionitia Cornell/Anderson Corporate Solutions

The history of Anderson Corporate Solutions began in 1946 when founder James W. Anderson started a property and casualty insurance agency from the dining room of his home in Decatur, GA. In those early years, Mr. Anderson spent most of his time looking for prospects that could be turned into customers by outworking the competition. It was a humble beginning for Mr. Anderson, but it was one that forged in him a life-long sense of appreciation for each customer that entrusted the protection of their family or business to him.

In 2009, Jimmy Kennedy transferred ownership of the life, health and employee benefits practice to Fred and Barbara Nash, who were both key producers and long-term members of the Anderson Insurance family. Under their stewardship the life, health and employee benefits operation had grown its revenue to more than $2 million, and the scope of its services had expanded to include HR outsourcing and the acquisition and implementation of HR technology. The name of the life, health and employee benefits practice was changed to Anderson Corporate Solutions to more accurately reflect the expanding scope of its client services.

As of 2012, Anderson Corporate Solutions had earned preferred broker status with each of the major health insurers and five of the most competitive providers of ancillary benefits; its team of professionals had expanded to include expertise in nutrition and wellness, human resource management, organizational planning, and more; and the evolution of its focus to that of a broad-based, solutions-oriented enterprise had positioned the firm to generate significant savings for its customers in a very unexpected and unique manner.

George Tivy/Construction and Design Solutions

Construction and Design Solutions is a Georgia State Licensed Residential/Light Commercial Contractor. Construction and Design Solutions has been serving the Gwinnett area since 2003. Their focus is on larger remodeling and addition projects for both residential and commercial clients. The list of recent commercial projects includes additions and remodels of retail, restaurant, office, and medical offices. In addition, on the residential side, they have completed a number of larger additions and kitchen remodels as well as master bathroom and basement finishing projects.

Roni Fleischer/The Georgia Trail

The Georgia Trail opened in 2009 and is what you might call the perfect location for a complete golf experience the entire family can enjoy. In fact, one of their main goals is to exceed your expectations while providing a “whole family golf experience” that will allow everyone to be able to learn, play and enjoy this wonderful game. They are proud to provide an environment that is family safe.

The Georgia Trail is NOT your typical executive golf course. They feature multiple areas to learn, play, dine, shop and relax. When you come to The Georgia Trail you get access to seven different facilities: the Regulation Executive Golf Course, Driving Range, Short-Game Practice Area, Teaching Academy, “Champions Trail” miniature putting course, Golf Shop, “Augusta’s” chef-managed and operated Restaurant, and a newly opened Cabana Bar that offers outside dining (open seasonally).
 
You are welcome to visit anytime. The Georgia Trail is located at 2789 Satellite Blvd. in Duluth. Call them at (770) 497-GOLF (4653) and one of their friendly staff members will be delighted to assist you.

Rob Mottola/East2West Media Group

East2West Media Group is an HD video production company that provides script to screen production services to broadcast networks, corporations & businesses, creative agencies, non-profits, and Christian causes. E2W Founder Rob Mottola has been producing and directing video and TV projects for over 25 years. E2W has produced projects for broadcast including television shows, specials, series, sports, documentaries, promotions and commercials.

In the corporate arena, they have a vast amount of experience producing marketing & sales content, product launches, “how to” demos, training, investor relations, video news releases, video for the web, live events, meetings, conferences and trade shows. In working with agencies, E2W is a perfect partner to produce video content and tv spots for local, regional, and national campaigns.

Brandon Keever with Image Harbor Productions and Jauxniece Palmer with Gold’s Gym of Suwanee/Sugar Hill

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Brandon Keever/Image Harbor Productions

Image Harbor Productions is a multimedia company based in the Atlanta market providing clients with cinema quality, high definition video. Your Image Matters… to You, your Brand, your Company, your Staff and to your Clients. If you have a message to deliver, a vision to share, a lesson to teach, a product to launch, or an image to build, video is vital to your business. If you need high quality, effective video, you need “Image Harbor Productions… Because Your Image Matters!”

Jauxniece Palmer/Gold’s Gym of Suwanee/Sugar Hill

Family owned and operated, Gold’s Gym of Suwanee/Sugar Hill is fueled by their passion to help individuals find fun and efficient ways to get Heart Healthy each week through quality programming, a friendly and caring staff, and a clean motivating environment.

The facility is 30,000 square feet. They are locally owned and operated, with 2 group fitness rooms and over 73 classes for both men and women each week. Their average age member is in the 30-50 age range. They also offer tanning, childcare, dry sauna, have a Planet Smoothie inside, and have a partnership with Apex Healthcare next door.

Bob Bryant with BB&T Atlanta Open, Kris Wilkins with Kelly Services and Mike Stiles with Sketchworks

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Bob Bryant/BB&T Atlanta Open

The BB&T Atlanta Open is an ATP World Tour event held July 20-28 in a unique setting at Atlantic Station in the heart of the city. It is the first men’s event of the Emirates Airline US Open Series. Last year’s singles winner was Andy Rodick. Players scheduled to appear this July include John Isner, Mardy Fish, Ryan Harrision and the Bryan Bros.

Bob Bryant has been a part of the sports and entertainment community in Atlanta since the 1980’s including staging and promoting events at the Omni, Philips Arena, the Arena at Gwinnett Center, Atlanta Athletic Club and Atlantic Station. His background includes marketing and executive positions at Feld Entertainment, Universal Studios, Turner Broadcasting, Cartoon Network, CNN, the Atlanta Knights, the Georgia Force and the USTA. Bob is currently the director of sales and marketing for the USTA Southern section and tournament director of the BB&T Atlanta Open.

Kris Wilkins/Kelly Services

Kelly® offers businesses a comprehensive array of outsourcing and consulting services as well as world-class staffing on a temporary, temporary-to-hire, and direct-hire basis. Once on assignment, Kelly continues to make sure employees are meeting the needs of the customer through regular quality checks. Kelly not only helps businesses find employees, but also helps individuals start and advance their careers.  For those entering the workforce, returning to the workforce , or those looking to advance their careers, Kelly assists job seekers as they strive to obtain positions that match their skill sets, ambitions and work preferences. Serving clients around the globe, Kelly provides employment to more than 550,000 employees annually.

Mike Stiles/Sketchworks

Founded in 2001, Sketchworks is Atlanta’s premier live sketch comedy company featuring some of Atlanta’s top comedic working pros. As opposed to unscripted improv, Sketchworks deals in short, written sketches and films, and celebrates comedy writers as much as comic actors. Shows can best be described as similar to SNL or MadTV, though the packed houses at our theatre near Decatur consistently proclaim it much funnier. Sketchworks also conducts classes in both writing and acting, always developing and launching the next generation of Atlanta’s funniest artists and talent.

Mike Fung-A-Wing and Mitch Townley with Toshiba Business Solutions and Melissa Cammack with Farmers Insurance

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Mike Fung-A-Wing & Mitch Townley/Toshiba Business Solutions

As a wholly owned subsidiary of an $80B global technology powerhouse, Toshiba Business Solutions offers cutting edge solutions to reduce costs in the area of printing and managing documents securely and electronically.

Originally from Suriname, South America, Mike Fung-A-Wing has lived in metro Atlanta for the last 21 years, swimming competitively for 18 years including four years at the University of Georgia. Before becoming a U.S. citizen, Mike represented Suriname in the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympic Games. He went to medical school for a few years before deciding to make a career change. He has worked for Toshiba in sales for five years and has won numerous awards including President’s Club. He is a Chairman’s Club Member with the Gwinnett Chamber and is actively involved in the business community.

Melissa Cammack/Farmers Insurance

Farmers is the 3rd largest Property and Casualty Company in the nation. They originated in California in 1928.  Farmers has a solid insurance presence west of the Mississippi, and it was not until recently that the company began to expand east of the Mississippi. Farmers is a solid insurance company that is backed by Zurich Financial which means it has assets available to cover claims. Farmers not only offers auto, home, commercial, and umbrella insurance, it also offers a wide array of financial services to its clients. Farmers agency owners value and are committed to the community in which they serve, and they seek to form life-long relationships with their clients.

Melissa Cammack has quite a diverse background in sales and education. She relies on her 13 years of education experience to help her to truly listen to her clients and assess their insurance needs. By listening to her clients, she enables them to make appropriate insurance decisions throughout the many transitions during her clients’ lives.

Melissa enjoys networking events through the Chamber of Commerce in Gwinnett County, Suwanee Business Alliance, and Women and Wine Meet-up groups. She was named as a 2013 Business Woman of the Year with the National Association of Professional Women. Outside of professional organizations and activities, Melissa enjoys reading, hiking, running, and kayaking.

John Ernst with Ernst & Partners, Mark Treager with Cornerstone Media Group and Dave Lezotte with the Gwinnett Braves

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John Ernst/Ernst & Partners

Ernst & Partners is a law firm that handles Personal Injury, Real Estate Closings, Bankruptcy, Criminal and Divorce.

John A. Ernst Jr. is a graduate of Emory University and University of Georgia, School of Law. Mr. Ernst graduated from Emory University with a Bachelor of Arts in History. After graduating from Emory, Mr. Ernst was the assistant to Georgia Governor Roy Barnes, in which capacity he had the opportunity to meet with the leaders of the state and from around the world. Mr. Ernst is also a veteran of many political campaigns around the state. He then continued his education and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Georgia School of Law. During his tenure in law school, Mr. Ernst was a member of the prosecutorial clinic where he served as a prosecutor in the Athens-Clarke County District Attorney’s office and was a summer clerk for the Honorable John J Ellington, Georgia Court of Appeals. After law school, Mr. Ernst served as the Attorney of the Majority Caucus in the Georgia House of Representatives for the 2004 Legislative Session. John opened his own law firm in 2005 where he handles Real Estate Transactions, Bankruptcy cases, and Personal Injury Clients. 

Mr. Ernst is licensed to practice before all Georgia Trial Courts and the Georgia Supreme Court and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the American Bar Association, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, and the American Association for Justice. Mr. Ernst is a title agent for Stewart Title.

Mark Treager/Cornerstone Media Group

Cornerstone Media Group, Inc. is a marketing, media and web development company committed to disrupting their clients marketplace in order to make sure that their brand is IN Demand!

For over 20 years, Mark and his team at Cornerstone Media Group have been providing marketing, media and web development solutions nationwide. They have worked on a variety of projects ranging from the simple to complex, and feature a broad range of clients from small Mom and Pop shops to the US Army. 

Dave Lezotte/Gwinnett Braves

The Gwinnett Braves are the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. The franchise celebrates its fifth season of Triple-A International League baseball at Coolray Field in 2013. As the top level of the Braves’ minor league system, the G-Braves have featured such current Atlanta stars as Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Craig Kimbrel and Kris Medlen on the roster since 2009. Season tickets are available at gwinnettbraves.com/2013 and by calling (678) 277-0340. Follow the Gwinnett Braves at gwinnettbraves.com, facebook.com/GwinnettBraves1 and twitter.com/GwinnettBraves.

Dave Lezotte is in his second season as the Media Relations Manager for the Gwinnett Braves. Prior to joining the club, he spent six seasons as the Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations for the Clinton LumberKings, Class-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. Dave’s baseball career began with the Milwaukee Brewers, where he worked six seasons in positions varying from the grounds crew to Television Broadcast Intern to Ticket Sales representative. He is originally from Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

Nanette Freiman with LegalShield, Doug Ireland with Freeland Painting & Construction and Marie Fratoni with Reinvent Yourself Seminars

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Nanette Freiman/LegalShield

Nanette Freiman assists business owners and families across the U.S. with LegalShield Identity Theft and Legal Plan coverage. As a former business owner, Nanette understands the value of having affordable legal access on a daily basis for business and personal needs. For ten years she has built a client base in a wide range of industries across the U.S.  Nanette welcomes your phone call or e-mail so she can answer your questions. Contact Nanette at 770-393-8290 or nsfreiman@bellsouth.net.

LegalShield. Worry less. Live more.

Doug Ireland/Freeland Painting & Construction

Freeland Painting & Construction is a residential and commercial painting, roofing, siding and gutter company. They service the northern arc of the metro Atlanta area for residential business and the entire metro Atlanta region for commercial business.

Beginning his career on the residential side of the industry, Doug Ireland spent many years learning how to manage labor, materials, and money in residential rehab projects. Founding Freeland Property Group, Doug began by purchasing distressed properties and converting them into beautiful homes. Starting with demolition and moving on through plumbing, drywall, electrical, cabinets, and flooring he was able to transform the properties into quick sales in the residential market.

As a second step in his career, Doug began building new residential homes from the ground up, selling them with his wife Keri by his side as his real estate broker and partner. As time progressed, Doug eventually began managing major rehab work on large scale apartment renovations throughout the southeast from Mississippi to North Carolina and even Ohio.

All this experience finally culminated in the creation of Freeland Painting & Construction in early 2009. As the end of the decade drew near and with the collapse of the housing market, Doug realized there was a need for quality roofing and painting in the residential sector as many people began fixing up their homes and staying in them rather than moving and buying newer homes.

For more information, contact Doug at 770-265-0880.

Marie Fratoni, Reinvent Yourself Seminars

Reinvent Yourself Seminars is a Coaching and Training Company which supports people in creating happy, fulfilling careers. They provide speaking engagements, skill-building seminars, 1-on-1 Coaching, and vacation-courses in Italy where people develop success skills and business growth strategies to make the leap from “same old, same old” to a thriving and prosperous career or business.

Marie Fratoni, M.Ed. is a talented human potential expert and a top reinvention strategist. She is a dynamic Coach and Speaker, and brings a wealth of talent and experience to her programs, demonstrating a high level of commitment and expertise.

A popular speaker for associations, conventions, and conferences she infuses these programs with proven success strategies, infectious enthusiasm, and bold, powerful direction.

A community leader, Ms. Fratoni makes a difference! She was a Founder of the Women’s Success Network, a senior consultant with the Employers Association, The Atlanta Coaching Alliance, and currently leads The Women’s Professional Development Group. Her strong community involvement in charitable causes and organizations placed her into the Who’s Who of Women in Business, and the Who’s Who of International Business.

She has worked with individuals and corporations throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Caribbean.

Marie is the Principal and Owner of Reinvent Yourself Seminars, and trains and coaches people to create happy careers and businesses that are successful, fulfilling, and profitable.

Marie’s promise for the world is: “All people celebrate their full human potential, generating worlds of abundance and joy!”

For more information, contact Marie at 770-480-6839 or mfratoni@bellsouth.net.