Plainview resident Janie Stockhammer and Susan Polansky and Woodbury resident Sharon Sabba Fierstein were all named "Women of Distinction" and honored by the Town of Oyster Bay at their March 19 meeting in town hall.

"The Women of Distinction awards committee selected eight exceptional women as this year's Women of Distinction," said Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto. "Once again, I must commend the awards committee for doing an excellent job, making the difficult choices among so many fine nominees."

Plainview resident Janie Stockhammer was named Distinguished Woman in the Arts. She began her career as a respected teacher in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. She later brought her talents to the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District, where she taught until deciding to focus on performing. She performs in her own original one-woman show based upon famous women in history, which she presents to school children and residents of area nursing homes.

"I formed my career to be the voice of women whose voices you don't normally hear," said Stockhammer. "This is a wonderful validation of my career."

Stockhammer, who was nominated by friend Carol Meschkow for the Women of Distinction award, performs a one-woman-show on Jewish women of valor called Portraits of the Past in which she portrays three Jewish women of the past.

Susan Polansky, a resident of Plainview was named a Distinguished Woman Volunteer. She has been an active volunteer for the past two decades, playing a significant role in track and field, as well as various youth programs. She is the immediate past president of the Nassau County High School Track & Field and Cross Country Officials Association as well as secretary of the State High School Officials Association. She is presently treasurer of the USA Track and Field National Officials Committee. In addition, Polansky is the prime mover behind the establishment of the new Long Island Association of the USA Track and Field Organization.

"It was very overwhelming to receive this award," said Polanksy. "The hard work of a lot of people got everything going that I am involved in so I accepted this award on behalf of everyone who has helped me along the way. It is not something that I did by myself."

Sharon Sabba Fierstein was named a Distinguished Woman in Business. She is a certified public accountant (CPA) and executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer of PW Funding, a mortgage banking company in Mineola. She became secretary of the International Auditing Practices Committee of the International Foundation of Accountants early in her career. While establishing her career and beginning a family, she became vice president of the American Woman's Society of CPAs. She is active in the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants and is on the Chief Financial Officer Committee of the organization. In 1999, she was named the New York State Society of CPAs "Outstanding CPA of the Year."

Fierstein was nominated by her husband for this award and was surprised when she heard that she won. "I was flabbergasted," said Fierstein. "It was tremendous to receive this honor. It was humbling in some ways because the other women that were honored were so incredible."

Fierstein and her husband are the proud parents of 9-year-old twin girls. "I think in a lot of ways that it is tremendous for [my daughters] to see how women can be role models in all walks of life. We are teaching the girls that they can be anything that they want."

Supervisor Venditto explained that the town created the Women of Distinction awards after he came to office in 1997. After working as the Oyster Bay Town Attorney since 1991, there were changes in the community.

"All of a sudden women were involved at all levels in our communities: in civic, veterans and athletic groups," said Venditto. "It's really a good thing to see. It's fabulous and so one of the first things we did was to name Women of Distinction." This is the fourth annual honoring of women.

The Supervisor looked at the women honored and added, "You are marked women. Whenever we see you we will say, you are a woman of distinction. We have set the bar a little higher ... I challenge you to never stop calling us; never stop showing up at meetings and telling us what's wrong. Thank you. You earned your distinction."

Each recipient was presented with a town citation and a special pin designated to commemorate the occasion.