town-crier newspaper april 27, 2012

Your Community Newspaper Serving Palms West Since 1980Volume 33, Number 17April 27 - May 3, 2012

WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGETOW N - C R I E RTH

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DEPARTMENT INDEXNEWS ............................. 3 - 13OPINION .................................4CRIME NEWS .........................6NEWS BRIEFS........................ 8SCHOOLS .....................14 - 15PEOPLE ............................... 16COLUMNS .................... 23 - 24BUSINESS .................... 25 - 27CAMPS .........................28 - 30DINING OUT ........................ 32SPORTS ........................ 37 - 40CALENDAR ...................42 - 43CLASSIFIEDS ................ 44 - 50

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OPINIONProposed RPB SkatePark A Worthy CauseLocal skateboarders and inlineskaters scored a victory earlierthis month when the Royal PalmBeach Village Council agreed toinclude construction of a skatepark in the village’s capital plan.Despite concerns that it couldend up abandoned like theskate park built a decade agoat the recreation center, the lat-est proposal is off to a promis-ing start. Page 4

SNOWBALL, PARKS FILE FOR LGWCD SEATSEE STORY, PAGE 3

WELLINGTON CELEBRATES EARTH DAYSEE PHOTOS, PAGE 13

By Ron BukleyTown-Crier Staff Report

South Florida Water Manage-ment District enforcers are mov-ing to get a 40-acre site in TheAcreage, owned by Vila Nursery,cleaned up and permitted after theycited the owner for improperlydumping fill on the site.

Indian Trail Improvement Dis-trict Engineer Lisa Tropepe alert-ed ITID President Michelle Da-mone last month in a letter, citingmulch and garbage piles on thesite, located on 87th Court North,not far from Pierce Hammock Ele-mentary School.

“I am concerned about both thequality and quantity of materialthat is being spread,” Tropepe

wrote in a letter dated March 9.“The material appears to bemulched organic material with sig-nificant amounts of garbage. Plas-tic bags, whole tires, foam cush-ions and aluminum cans were ob-served throughout the site.”

The material appeared to be sev-eral feet high across several acres,Tropepe reported. She added thatit was difficult to determine if ad-verse amounts of organic materialare part of the fill material, but be-cause of the vast area and depthof the piles, sampling would needto be conducted in many areasand at different depths.

The ITID engineer cited amongher concerns the “adverse impacton the ground/surface water and

its proximity to residential drink-ing water wells in the area. Secondis the closeness of the material tothe adjacent swales along Hamlinand Grapeview boulevards. Lastis the impact on historic wetlandsand whether this filling operationis properly permitted and wetlandsproperly mitigated.”

Although Indian Trail has nojurisdiction over zoning issues,Tropepe wrote that she thought itwas in the district’s best interestto reach out to agencies with prop-er jurisdiction.

Damone, who said she had metwith Tropepe on Tuesday aboutthe site, praised the SFWMD fortaking action. “The South Florida

Unpermitted Dump Site Has Acreage Officials Worried

See DUMPING, page 18

See B&G CLUB, page 18

RPB Leaders ClashOver Appointments

To Zoning Panel

MBSK FUNDRAISER

My Brother’s/Sister’s Keeper Charitable Trust presented itsIrish Fest on Sunday, April 22 in the original Wellington mall.Beer and wine was paired with a delicious four-course dinnerprepared by the Gypsy’s Horse Irish Pub & Restaurant. ThePalm Beach Central High School jazz band performed, andthere was a live auction. Shown here are (seated) Mary andCopeland Davis with Al and Lenyce Boyd; (standing) Randyand Leslie Pfeiffer, Helene McLean and Pat Curry.

MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 12PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER

Survey Methods Annoy SpeakersAt Equestrian Master Plan Forum

ZACARA WINS POLO’S U.S. OPEN

Sunday, April 22 was the closing day of the 2012 high-goal polo season at the International PoloClub Palm Beach, and it proved to be thrilling as Zacara defeated Lechuza Caracas 10-8 in theNespresso 108th U.S. Open Polo Championship Finals on Piaget Field. Shown above, Zacarateam members hold the cup to celebrate their victory. SEE STORY & MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9

PHOTO BY ALAN FABRICANT/ALFABPHOTO

See SURVEY, page 18

See APPOINTMENTS, page 18


A discussion over the makeupof Royal Palm Beach’s Planning &Zoning Commission last week ledto tense disagreements amongmembers of the Royal Palm BeachVillage Council.

After nearly an hour of discus-sion, the council decided April 19to reject Councilwoman MarthaWebster’s proposal to appointtwo new commissioners, in favorof a compromise that kept one sit-ting commissioner seeking reap-pointment on the board and add-ing a new commissioner support-ed by Webster.

Webster, recently appointed ascouncil liaison to the commission,said that there have been issueswith zoning commissioners whodid not work well with staff, as wellas people going through the re-view process. She asserted that aneffort should be made to make theboard more professional and busi-ness friendly.

“Planning and zoning is the first

interaction that our businesses orour applicants have with our mu-nicipality, so the face of that boardis very important,” she said. “Theprofessionalism of that board isvery important. The role of thatboard is to apply the codes andrules, and attempt to stay awayfrom opinions. They’re there to beproblem-solvers, to help themthrough the process and to put ona good face.”

The three-year terms of long-time Commissioner Jackie Larsonand Commission Alternate JanetEllis expired in March, whileformer Commissioner GenevieveLambiase had resigned. Larsonhad asked to be reappointed,while both Ellis and fellow Com-mission Alternate Richard Becherwanted appointments to regularseats.

However, Webster asked thecouncil to appoint new applicants— technical writer June Perrin andarchitect Ana Martinez — to thetwo commission seats, while add-

By Lauren MiróTown-Crier Staff Report

Despite concerns about financ-ing, the Wellington Village Coun-cil unanimously approved a mea-sure to extend the constructiondeadline for the new WellingtonBoys & Girls Club.

The Boys & Girls Club is slatedto move from its location on SouthShore Blvd. to a site near Welling-ton’s water treatment facility onWellington Trace.

In the original agreement be-tween Wellington, Palm BeachCounty and the Boys & Girls Club,construction was to begin at theend of this month and be finishedby Oct. 20.

The facility must now be builtby Oct. 20, 2013, with construc-tion expected to begin in Octoberof this year.

Though he voted to approvethe change, Mayor Bob Margolislambasted the former council’sdecision to spend public moneyon a private entity.

“I don’t believe that the village’s

money should be spent on a pri-vate facility,” he said. “I can’t ar-gue with the location change, butI can argue with the funding mech-anism.”

Earlier this year, council mem-bers voted to cover the $1.3 mil-lion gap in financing, to be paidback over 10 years. The moneywas in addition to the $700,000Wellington already promised, aswell as $600,000 from Palm BeachCounty and approximately $1 mil-lion in private donations.

“I know the residents of PalmBeach County voted to float thatbond,” he said. “But the residentsof the Village of Wellington nevervoted to fund the $700,000 or theadditional funds.”

Mary O’Connor, president andCEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs ofPalm Beach County, said that oth-er communities have provided sim-ilar loans.

“We are in a building in WestPalm Beach that the City of WestPalm Beach built for us,” she said.


Lease complications have post-poned the conversion of the shut-tered Royal Palm Beach Albert-sons grocery store site into aplanned charter school.

Charter Schools USA, parentcompany of the Renaissance Char-ter School at Palms West, informedinterested parents last week thatthe school would not open asplanned in August.

According to school officials,the project was thrown off sched-ule due to difficulties associatedwith the sale and lease of the build-ing. The delays made an Augustopening impossible. The situationcame to a head at a meeting April17 with various parties associatedwith the project. The letter to par-ents went out April 18.

“We really were not expecting itto play out this way, certainly notthat the transactions on the facili-ty side were going to be held up,”Charter Schools USA Vice Presi-dent of Development Richard Pagetold the Town-Crier on Wednes-

day. “Unfortunately they were, andthe result of that was our contrac-tors could no longer guarantee thatthe facility would be open in timefor school opening in August.Therefore we made the decision— and it really was the best deci-sion — to just announce now thatit’s not going to happen.”

Page said the project was al-ready operating on a tight dead-line. “The charter process is al-ways a tight deadline,” he said.“You don’t get approval until latein the fall, and you work with verytight constraints.”

The Royal Palm Beach VillageCouncil approved the school’sapplication for a special exceptionfor the site in March. The schoolwas to have 1,145 students in kin-dergarten through eighth grade,with about six classes per grade.

Page said the school was work-ing on a long-term lease with anoption to purchase in the future,but there were multiple parties in-volved, including outparcel ten-ants who also were involved withan agreement.

“You had Albertsons, whichdoesn’t own the property; youhave an individual person whoowns the property; and then theyhave a mortgage, so there’s a bankinvolved,” he said. “You have mul-tiple organizations with easementrights to the property, the vendorsaround, so there were many par-ties that were involved, and at theend of the day, certain signaturesand signoffs did not get processedfast enough to close the deal.”

Page said plans to open a char-ter school in the area remain in theworks, but have been delayed fora year.

“Our objective is to open in2013,” he said. “Whether or not itis at this particular facility still re-mains to be seen. We are still en-gaged in dialogue with these folks.However, given the fact that weare definitely delayed for a year,we will consider other alternativesthat are out there to ensure thatwe can be successful with the fa-cility this time.”

Page said he did not have any

Lease Issues Delay New RPBCharter School At Least A Year

B&G Club FundingConcerns Margolis

Florida Green, Energy& Climate ConferenceThe 2012 Florida Green, Ener-gy & Climate Conference/Expois rapidly approaching. Theevent is slated for May 16-17at the Palm Beach County Con-vention Center. Page 3

See CHARTER, page 7

Officials are concerned about the fill beingdumped illegally on this Acreage property.


Wellington hosted two meet-ings this month to gather publicinput on its proposed EquestrianMaster Plan, and the hot-buttontopic at the meeting Monday, April23 was the methodology beingused to carry out the process.

Though Wellington was hopingto get residents’ opinions on theequestrian community, several res-idents expressed concern with thesurvey used to gather opinionsfrom the community, as well as theinvolvement of Florida AtlanticUniversity.

“Unless you can prove to methat your methodology was accu-rate, I won’t believe your results,”said Marcia Radosevich, a mem-ber of the Wellington EquestrianPreserve Committee.

In an effort to update its masterplan, Wellington has been seek-ing input from the community —both equestrian and non-eques-trian — to help map out the futureof the Wellington Equestrian Pre-serve.

Already, Wellington has sur-veyed about 400 people at localequestrian venues and on the bri-dle trails, said Michael O’Dell, whois overseeing the project.

“The people we surveyed wereacross the board,” he said. “Theywere riders, both professional andamateur. They were spectators.They were residents. They werepeople who were just in town forone or two days.”

O’Dell noted that Wellingtonhas been meeting with peoplethroughout the community butwanted to give an additional op-

portunity for residents to givetheir opinions.

“We want to see what you thinkabout what we’ve been doinghere,” he said.

Several residents expressedconcerns about the surveys, won-dering who had written them.

Wellington asked FAU’s Urban& Regional Planning program tohelp create and administer surveysabout Wellington’s equestriancommunity, FAU Professor Dr.Jaap Vos explained.

“The only thing we’re interest-ed in is getting as many people’sopinion as we possibly can,” hesaid. “We are trying to do that asbest as we possibly can. I have nobias. I have no agenda, except try-ing to get the best information.”

The survey was created by FAU

Wellington CouncilRejects Home OnEquestrian Club LandCiting concerns about en-croachment on green space inthe Wellington Equestrian Pre-serve, members of the Welling-ton Village Council voted 3-1 onTuesday to reject a proposal thatwould have allowed a home ona field attached to the Equestri-an Club community off LakeWorth Road. Page 7

Oasis Agency DreamMakeover LuncheonThe Oasis Compassion Agencyheld its seventh annual DreamMakeover luncheon Saturday,April 21 at Breakers West Coun-try Club. Page 9

Earth Day On The FarmThe Good Earth Farm in Loxa-hatchee Groves held an EarthDay celebration Sunday, April22. Families participated inhayrides, pony rides, animalviewing, and enjoyed food anddrinks during an afternoon onthe farm. 3

April 27 - May 3, 2012 WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM The Town-Crier

The Town-Crier WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM April 27 - May 3, 2012

NEWS


Loxahatchee Groves residentsRoy Parks and Robert Snowballhave filed for the newly created“qualified elector” seat on the Lox-ahatchee Groves Water ControlDistrict Board of Supervisors.

Qualified electors — defined asregistered voters who are also prop-erty owners, and their spouses —will vote June 25 to select a super-visor.

Snowball, currently a sittingmember of the LGWCD board, waslast re-elected three years ago un-der the one-acre, one-vote system.Snowball had previously an-nounced that he did not plan toseek re-election. However, he didfile to run for the seat before theApril 20 deadline.

Snowball did not return calls forcomment this week.

Parks said he is running to beable to speak for the people ofLoxahatchee Groves.

“Before, the water control dis-trict board was based on just youracreage of land, and really, thesmall property owners never gotto have a voice,” he said. “We wereable to get the legislation changed,and I have an opportunity to run.I hope to do my best to representthe people and what their opinions

are and what their needs are.”Parks, who works as director of

information technology at Ibis Golf& Country Club, lives on a 5-acreparcel, which is not consideredlarge by Loxahatchee Groves stan-dards.

“This is really a historic elec-tion,” he said. “This will be the firstelection that we’ve had that’s notjust from your ownership of land.”

Parks noted that he ran for aLGWCD seat several years ago.“I had a wonderful turnout withthe number of individuals whovoted for me, but ultimately thenumber of large landowners beatout having lots of votes,” he said.“The quantity of votes didn’t helpyou as much as how many acresthose votes represented.”

If elected, Parks would focus onlistening to people’s concerns,keeping roads graded, keepingcanal water levels maintained andkeeping assessments low. “Wenow have two government enti-ties in Loxahatchee Groves,” Parkssaid. “It’s costing us more money,so [I’ll be] watching where themoney’s spent and how it’sspent.”

He said that his purchasingbackground for both private andgovernment entities will be usefulif elected.

Parks has served on the Loxa-hatchee Groves Landowners’ As-sociation board and was also pres-ident of the 1,025-home SouthwindLakes Homeowners’ Associationin Boca Raton before moving toLoxahatchee Groves.

A frequent participant in townaffairs, he is also an active mem-ber of Community of HopeChurch. He portrays a blacksmithat the annual Back to Bethlehemevent. “I’m kind of a hobbyistblacksmith,” he said. “I’ve goneto class for it.”

Parks said running for electionis essentially being there for hisfriends in Loxahatchee Groves.“This has been something the res-idents of Loxahatchee havesought for a long time,” he said.

Having grown up in Miami,Parks said he moved to Loxa-hatchee Groves for the rural envi-ronment. “I couldn’t imagine therewas a place like Loxahatchee thateven existed in South Florida,” hesaid. “Can you imagine Loxa-hatchee if you grew up in Miami?I figured I’d have to move to NorthCarolina to get something similarto what I have here.”

Parks has lived in LoxahatcheeGroves since 1997. He is marriedwith three children, one in highschool and two in college.

Snowball And Parks Make BallotFor First LGWCD Popular Election


Wellington is inviting residentsto join in as officials dedicate thenewly designed playground at Ti-ger Shark Cove Park on Saturday,May 5 at 10 a.m.

The playground was initiallybuilt in 2000 through a communi-ty-led effort spearheaded by par-ents. The project became a modelfor other community-led projects,such as Scott’s Place playground,which was built in 2010.

“This project has meant somuch to the community,” Commu-nity Programs Coordinator Kim-berly Henghold told the Town-Crier. “When it was originallybuilt, it was done solely with com-munity volunteers. Their time, ef-fort, heart, soul and sweat wentinto this playground.”

But 12 years later, the play-ground was in need of a facelift.

In order to do just that, Well-ington went to the experts: Well-ington’s children.

In December, a professional de-signer met with kindergarten

through fifth-grade classes to helpredesign the park.

Students stuck to the under-the-sea theme and came up with newaquatic-adventure playgroundequipment, including a “sunken”pirate ship and submarine, Heng-hold said.

Meanwhile, Wellington im-proved safety and accessibilitywith a new wood-fiber floor to makethe playground wheelchair-acces-sible, along with other improve-ments.

In March, volunteers onceagain offered their time to help re-vitalize the park, giving it a newlook for a new generation.

Though the park opened earlierthis month, its official rededicat-ion is slated for next Saturday,when officials will come togetherto thank community members fortheir help.

The opening was delayed dueto the delay in seating the newWellington Village Council.

“We wanted to give our newcouncil time to plan to attend,”Henghold said. “We wanted to

make sure that they were availableto be part of the rededication.”

The event will include speech-es from officials, a ribbon-cuttingceremony and, of course, the op-portunity to enjoy the new equip-ment.

Henghold encouraged resi-dents to join in the festivities.

“We would love for everyoneto come out and see all of the cool,new features that have been in-corporated into the park,” she said.“The custom art is amazing andbrings a lot of color and originali-ty to the playground.”

Henghold said that Wellingtonis grateful that the communitycame out to support the projectonce again.

“The second time around, near-ly 500 volunteers gave their sup-port to the project,” she said. “Itsays a lot about the project whenthe community responds the waythey did.”

Tiger Shark Cove Park is locat-ed at 13800 Greenbriar Blvd. Formore information, call (561) 791-4000.

Playground Rededication May 5

By Chris FelkerTown-Crier Staff Report

The 2012 Florida Green, Ener-gy & Climate Conference/Expois rapidly approaching. Theevent is slated for May 16-17 atthe Palm Beach County Conven-tion Center.

This year, the conference is be-ing staged under the umbrella ofthe new Central Palm Beach Coun-ty Chamber of Commerce, formedearlier this year when the PalmsWest and Greater Lake Worthchambers joined forces.

Anitra Harmon, who coordinat-ed the conference for the PalmsWest chamber in previous years,remains in charge of assemblingthe lineup of panelists and guestspeakers.

A big topic will be renewableenergy, which is especially timelysince these “green” forms of en-ergy were the subject of the first

comprehensive energy legislationto be considered in Florida in fouryears — House Bill 7117, passedby large margins in both chambersof the legislature.

The legislation sets aside $16million for tax incentives to windenergy, solar power generationand biofuel companies. Gov. RickScott let it become law this monthwithout his signature, promisingthat he would work for its repeal ifit doesn’t deliver on its pledge toprovide energy savings to Florid-ians.

HB 7117 will be one subject ofthe Green Conference’s annuallegislative panel presentation,which this year is scheduled for10:30 a.m. to noon on the expo’ssecond day, Thursday, May 17. Itwill be moderated again by Micha-el W. Sole, vice president of stategovernmental affairs for FloridaPower & Light and a former secre-

tary of the Florida Department ofEnvironmental Protection.

Participants in that panel willinclude State Sen. Maria Sachs (D-District 30), State Rep. Lori Ber-man (D-District 86), State Sen.Chris Smith (D-District 29) andState Rep. Scott Plakon (R-District37).

Other presentations at the ex-position will answer the question“What’s New in Renewables?”and will include information onwind turbines, solar and oceanenergy installations, waste-to-en-ergy plants and the use of biofu-els.

The conference is a great op-portunity, Harmon said, for busi-ness professionals and govern-ment officials as well as the publicto learn from and connect withdecision-makers in sustainability-minded Florida organizations. Itsfocus is on education and net-

working that can advance individ-uals and businesses in today’sgreen-focused economy.

“This is the third year thatwe’ve done the 100 Cities initia-tive, and it has been growing eachyear. I think more and more peopleare becoming aware of it,” Harmonsaid.

That part of the expositionbrings together officials in govern-ment and private business who aretrying to advance efforts by mu-nicipalities and school districts —large users of gasoline and petro-leum-based products — to reducetheir carbon footprint on the envi-ronment.

“We have a great lineup of gen-eral sessions this year, includingthe emerging technologies, likewind and solar, and what FAU isdoing down in Boca Raton at theSoutheast National Marine Re-newable Energy Center. They’reinvestigating harnessing the GulfStream for generating electricity,”Harmon said. “This is all going tobe part of what we’re calling ourClean Energy Panel.”

It will kick off Wednesday morn-ing, May 16, with the opening ofthe conference. “The Solid WasteAuthority is going to bring us up

to date on what they’re doing withtheir new waste-to-energy plant inwestern Palm Beach County,” shenoted, with Executive DirectorMark Hammond speaking.

“We’ve asked the mayor of Tal-lahassee [John Marks III] to comein and be on a panel to discuss‘smart grid,’ the grid moderniza-tion. His city is the first in Americato encompass — to combine —electric, natural gas and water ser-vices in a smart grid, and he’s go-ing to be sharing the panel withDr. Alex Domijan from the Univer-sity of South Florida to discussgrid modernization.”

Harmon said that another par-ticular focus of the conference willbe on the conversion of municipaland school fleets to compressednatural gas, electricity or biofuel.

“One of the interesting sustain-

ability trends that’s going on nowis fleet conversion, and the impor-tance of that, because fleets useup so much oil,” she said. “We’regoing to discuss how you goabout converting the fleet, where-by they can get into compressednatural gas, biofuels, electric, pro-pane — the alternative fuels.”

And in one presentation thatthose interested in local efforts willfind fascinating, an official of thecompany building Florida’s firstwind energy “farm” will speak aspart of the “Renewable Clean En-ergy” panel that kicks off the con-ference, from 8:30 to 10 a.m. May16. Robin Saiz, director of projectdevelopment for Wind CapitalGroup, will report on where theproject stands at present.

“It’s the first commercial wind

Florida Green, Energy & Climate Conference Returns May 16-17

See GREEN, page 18


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OUR OPINION

LETTERS TO THE EDITORThanks For

‘Donate Life’Editorial

Thank you so much for remind-ing us that April is National Do-nate Life Month (Our Opinion,April 20). It was actually 13 yearsago in April that I received the callthat changed my life.

A kidney had become availablefor me. It was a week before mybirthday, and that was the great-est gift I ever could have received.After three years on the UnitedNetwork for Organ Sharing(UNOS) list and a year and a halfon dialysis, the generosity of somefamily I didn’t even know gave mea second chance at a normal life. Itgave me a chance to see my grand-children being born and growingup. It gave me a chance to enjoythe wonderful environment andpeople here in South Florida.

I will be forever grateful to thatfamily who allowed their tragic lossto be turned into new lives formyself and probably up to sevenother people in need of organs!So to you who have signed organdonor cards, I say thank you onbehalf of those who will somedaybenefit from your generosity. Andto those who have not yet doneso, I ask you to consider making achoice that could possibly changemany future lives.

Arlene OlinskyRoyal Palm Beach

No Such ThingAs A Free LunchWellington Mayor Bob Marg-

olis voiced his opinion in the Town-Crier that our senior citizens arenot worthy to receive the $51,000check that Wellington presents tothe Wellington Seniors Club.

He said we should not be get-ting free lunches at our monthlymeetings. This is outrageous.When Mr. Margolis was a councilmember, he did not object to freelunches at meetings. Why his con-cern now?

Wellington provides for our chil-dren by building ball parks, play-grounds, etc. Why, we even havea dog park. I love that our townplaces such importance on recre-ational activities for all our citizens.

Mr. Margolis evidently doesn’tthink that our senior populationdeserves the same consideration.Many of the senior citizens whoattend the club’s luncheon meet-ings do not have any other formof socializing. They look forwardto the monthly afternoon of com-panionship and entertainment.The money is also used to subsi-dize their dinner/show outings,dinner dances (otherwise unaf-fordable), the monthly GoldenBanner newsletter (in print nowfor 13 years) that is mailed to all itsmembers and many more activitiesfor our senior members — 592 todate.

By the way, Mr. Margolis, youare mistaken: The Wellington Se-niors Club Board of Directors isnot given free lunch at its monthlywork meetings. They are all vol-unteers who work very hard andexpend many hours to make ourclub the success that it is. Oh, yes,they do have coffee and bagels.Do you object to that as well?

Barbara PowersWellington

Mayor OwesCouncilwoman

An ApologyRoyal Palm Beach Village Coun-

cil meetings under the auspices ofthe current mayor [Matty Mattio-

li] has taken a turn for the worse,and any pretense at customary ci-vility has been abandoned.

Apparently, any opposition tothe mayor’s rules for appointeesor his method of “running” a coun-cil meeting is met with an uncivilsharp rebuke. Though the mayorof late has only been guilty occa-sionally of losing focus and “drift-ing” when searching for his point,the mayor has now become some-what acerbic, if not dictatorial.

What could have been handledeasily, using any of the currentrules of decorum, i.e., Robert’sRules of Order, has been replacedby sharp, uncivilized language inaddressing Councilwoman MarthaWebster. The mayor not only re-buked Councilwoman Webster butuncivilly told her to “shut up,”using the remark again when re-ferring to Councilwoman Web-ster’s proposed appointees.

Just calling for an early votewould have put the matter to restinstead of unnecessarily humiliat-ing a member of the council with avery uncivil address, unworthyand unfair to Councilwoman Web-ster. What’s next, Mr. Mayor? Ex-pletives? A simpler answer may bethat at 84, the pressures are in-creasingly harder for the mayor,and “crankiness” may be the neworder of the day. I believe that themayor owes Councilwoman Web-ster and members of council anapology publicly because his rude-ness and incivility was deliveredpublicly. It takes a man of charac-ter to be mayor of Royal PalmBeach and recognize his mistakesand shortcomings. Admitting themwould be a step in that direction.

Richard NielsenRoyal Palm Beach

Congratulations,Now What?

Congratulations to WellingtonMayor Bob Margolis and coun-cilmen Matt Willhite and JohnGreene. It is with much relief thatwe get the election behind us. Itwas an election unlike any otherin the past, and hopefully we willnot have the big money syndromethat has plagued this nation againhere locally. It is not a positive fora community to have one man de-cide an election for so many.

The three winners namedabove ran on a platform of beingagainst issues: equestrian devel-opment, inspector general lawsuit,commercial development and oth-er minor items that seemed to crosstheir path. But like all politicianstoday, the against issues will goaway quickly. We have “solved”the lawsuit, and are taking up theequestrian issue, and with time Iam sure the council can get rid ofall commercial development in thecommunity and make us a purebedroom community that we alldesire, but that may take a fewmore months.

So now that big question is, withthree years and nine months lefton their terms, what are the mayorand the council for , now that theyhave addressed the against is-sues? Wellington is a communitythat is one of the most fiscallysound in the state, with a very lowmillage rate. It has a high level ofservice with outstanding physicalappearance, first rate schools, anoutstanding parks and recreationprogram and facilities, a lean staffand considered one of the top 100communities to live within theUnited States. In addition, it hasthe honor of having the bestequestrian and polo facilities in thecountry and possibly the world.OK, guys — where do we go fromhere?

Councilman Greene seems like

an intelligent and thoughtful indi-vidual, with good intentions, andI hope he becomes his own manwith ideas to move the village for-ward. Councilman Willhite hasbeen against everything and ev-ery issue that has come forwardand has never seen a motion thathe wasn’t against. He can becounted on for nothing but ob-structionism and negativism inevery issue that comes before thecouncil.

The real question mark is May-or Margolis. Bob was considereda regular guy who wanted to serveand was extremely popular as hecoached youth athletics. He wasa real advocate for public improve-ments on the Parks & RecreationAdvisory Board, championing is-sues like Village Park, neighbor-hood parks, the dog park, TigerShark Cove and the horse trail ex-tension. Elected to council twice,Bob was very active pushing ourcommunity to look better, performbetter, and was always an advo-cate for transparency in financesand the budget. Bob never lost histouch with the average resident,and stayed connected with hisbase and supporters throughouthis two terms as a councilman.

Time changes all things, and theresidents await a plan of whereWellington is going in the next 20years. Nothing can stay the same,only move in different directions.When our new council is throughbeing “against things,” we anx-iously await what they are for, andwhat their vision of Wellington isfor the future.

And thank you, inspector gen-eral. After nine months of investi-gation, over $100,000 spent at thelocal and county level, they haveidentified $429 of incorrect expens-es in the Village of Wellington.Great job! I can’t wait for your nextadventure.

Steve HaughnWellington

Wellington NeedsTo Hire A1A Tennis

As a proud Wellington residentand a tennis player, I believe weare missing an opportunity to en-hance our community and to en-rich the lives of tennis players andnon-tennis players. In addition, wemay be losing a chance to pay fora service at a fair price that will savetaxpayers considerable money.

We have in our Wellington Ten-nis Center outstanding facilitiesthat are being underutilized andthat are costing us much more thanthey should. This first-class cen-ter should be used by more resi-dents than at present. One way toattract more tennis players is tohave a more aggressive and ac-commodating program to reachout to more members of the com-munity by clinics, tournamentsand promotions. To give credibili-ty to this approach, it would begood to have some “name” play-ers to demonstrate the benefits ofplaying and to interact with thosewho enjoy watching the pros, whoget great delight from interactingwith youngsters and with seniorplayers.

I have become acquainted withsome of the principals at A1A Ten-nis (I have no financial interest inthe company), and I believe theycan provide the maintenance ser-vice the tennis courts need anddeserve and also, through theirprofessional tennis-playingfriends and associates, provide aprogram to enlist more players inthe sport.

We have a wonderful tenniscenter, and I think it should beused more fully. The current con-tractor, Tommy Cheatham Inc., has

been providing services since1999. Despite the enormousgrowth in Wellington’s populationsince that time, the tennis center,one of the centerpieces of the com-munity center, is not being usedas fully as it should. A1A, with itstrack record at several local com-munities and its connections in thetennis world, would provide moreenjoyment for a greater number ofpeople. In addition, A1A has of-fered to do the maintenance at alower fee than Cheatham and toreturn additional money to theWellington community, thus pro-viding some budget relief.

It is time to move forward withour great tennis center, and I be-lieve A1A should be given thatopportunity.

Corey GoldsteinWellington

Big Pharma MoreDangerous Than

SupplementsThis letter is in response to last

week’s opinion column by JulesRabin on the “dangers” of sup-plements, when combined with“meds.”

Here is a 2012 report from theAmerican Association of PoisonControl Centers. It doesn’t exact-ly fit Mr. Rabin’s description.Hasn’t he listened to all the drugcommercials and the side effects?Granted, people should check withtheir doctors first. They alsoshould buy “designer” supple-ments, not “supermarket cheap-ies.”

The American Association ofPoison Control Centers’ report uti-lized the data from 60 poison con-trol centers. They handled2,479,355 human poison expo-sures of all sorts. Analgesics, all“Big Pharma” products, account-ed for 11.7 percent of all poison-ings, the largest percentage, fol-lowed by cosmetics/personal-careproducts at 7.7 percent, householdcleaners at 7.4 percent, and seda-tives/hypnotics/antipsychotics,another Big Pharma group of prod-ucts, at 5.8 percent.

The category dietary supple-ments/herbals/homeopathic/ami-no acids, which starts on page1,138 of the report, indicated a sin-gle death, but even that one canbe discounted because it’s listedas “unknown dietary supplementsor homeopathic agents.” Therewasn’t a single death from anyproduct in this category. Ma Hua-ng, which has been treated as if itwere public enemy No. 1, causedno deaths. Echinacea, valerian, St.John’s Wort, entire classes of herb-al types, such as Asian andAyurvedic medicines, and manyothers resulted in no deaths,though the FDA is clearly on theattack against them.

Ruth BermanWest Palm Beach

Goodman CanUse Millions ToMake Us Safer

Maybe, just maybe, the judgewhen sentencing John Goodmancould be more lenient if he knewMr. Goodman asks forgiveness.One major offer would have Mr.Goodman donating about $5 mil-lion to $10 million for the fundsthat could create a world-classspeed suppressant traffic-controlsystem for Wellington and sur-rounding areas.

There definitely seems to be aculture of speeding among all driv-ers, particularly the younger, less-experienced, as noted by the manydeaths in that age group. What is

The Proposed Royal Palm Beach Skate Park Is A Worthy Cause

ironic is that it takes less than oneminute more to travel on Forest HillBlvd. from State Road 7 to South-ern Blvd. if traveling at 35 milesper hour, instead of 50 miles perhour, seconds more if speeding at55 mph. The same is true from andto any point in Wellington. Be re-alistic: What is a life or seriousaccident worth compared to aminute or so in extra driving time?

There are companies that spe-cialize in traffic controls. The po-lice claim they are so overburdenedto have to stop speeders unlessthey are going from 13 to 15 mphover the speed limit. Well, let’s fur-ther unburden them, which couldbe accomplished with speed con-trol cameras along the roads thatwill automatically ticket speeders.Of course, there will be protest fromthose who speed; you know theones I mean, those whose jobs areso critically important that a minuteis a lifetime. Or maybe the protestswill come from those rushing toget back to their jobs after stayinga little too long downing one moredrink for the road. The traffic-con-trol system should have architec-tural-designed speed reminders.

Last of all, please acknowledgeMr. Goodman’s gift to the area bysignage “Please do not do what Idid.” I honestly do not believe,and I’m sure many feel as I do, thatMr. Goodman set out to hurt any-one, but mistakes were made onhis part. This will live with him for-ever and all those involved, but asForrest Gump said, “It happens.”While I understand a judge prob-ably is not allowed to make a deallike I suggest, he, I’m sure, will rec-ognize that Mr. Goodman’s con-tribution could and more than like-ly will prevent many more deathsand serious accidents. The sameadage today has been recognizedforever with driving still holds:speed kills.

Lee LeAndroWellington

Beware WPB:Corruption CityThe City of West Palm Beach

has joined in on the fight for inde-pendent auditing. Welcome to thefray. Palm Beach County has spentover a year trying to finalize on anindependent inspector general,and they are not finished yet. Thefinal (maybe) piece is how to payfor it.

The City of West Palm Beach isin the throes of defining indepen-dence. Imogene Isaacs has re-signed her 22-year job of internalauditor, because City Commission-er Keith James demanded she pro-vide him each week with a list ofevery person she would meet orspeak with, and a detailed descrip-tion of her hourly actions. He said,“I don’t think we have an inde-pendent auditor. The charter ispretty clear that the internal audi-tor reports directly to the commis-sion.”

There is the rub. When PalmBeach County’s state attorneycalled in a grand jury to rid PalmBeach of the title “CorruptionCounty,” independence was thekey feature of having an inspec-tor general. The commissionerswould be hands-off. The City of

West Palm Beach has a charterthat says: “to ensure indepen-dence of the audit function… anAudit Committee is hereby estab-lished.” The charter also adheresto “generally accepted govern-ment auditing standards, and mustbe free from personal, external andorganizational impairments to in-dependence.”

Commissioner James said hewasn’t aware that the charter ad-dresses the auditor’s indepen-dence, and Mayor Jeri Muoio said,“The auditor works for the com-mission.”

Auditor Isaacs claims thatJames began harassing her afteran investigation found millions ofdollars spent on a housing projectwere unaccounted for.

Greg Daniel recently quit theaudit committee, blasting the cityas corrupt. Daniel also said theaudit committee and Isaacs want-ed a fraud and abuse hotline, butthe commission wouldn’t approveone.

Do we now have “CorruptionCity” in the wings? Stay tuned. Iam sure there will be more to fol-low.

Morley AlpersteinWellington

Support ForSR7 Extension

While I do not always agree withthe decisions made by the PalmBeach County Commission, theplan to extend State Road 7 toNorthlake Blvd. makes sense tome. The objectors who raise envi-ronmental concerns were appar-ently bused to the recent meetingby community organizer and may-or of West Palm Beach, Jeri Muoio.

The organized mob of protest-ors wearing “Protect Our Water”T-shirts expressed concern that asingle event that might occur, suchas a truck spill, might endanger theentire water supply of West PalmBeach.

But the Astroturf movement or-chestrated by Mayor Muoio didnot deter Commissioner Jess San-tamaria. His district includes thewestern communities, which willenjoy the benefit of easy accessand less traffic congestion.

Mayor Muoio complainedabout spending tax dollars on thisproject and used tax dollars to payfor the T-Shirt brigade. Muoio andher attorney apparently spent$2,000 tax dollars on a junket toWashington, D.C., to kill the ex-tension project, and several thou-sand dollars on buses to transporther army of Astroturf “volun-teers.”

Muoio, acting on the advice of“experts,” organized a show offorce perhaps to intimidate. Shefailed. We elect representatives tomake intelligent choices... We electrepresentatives that are chargedwith the duty to make wise andsometimes unpopular decisions. Ibelieve in less government, butpolice protection and public infra-structure are proper governmen-tal activities. Kudos to the com-missioners who did not bend tothe will of a well-organized oppo-sition.

Frank MorelliWellington

SEND IN YOUR LETTERSThe Town-Crier welcomes letters to the editor. Please keepletters brief (300 words). Submit letters, with contact name,address and telephone number (anonymous letters will notbe published), to The Town-Crier, 12794 W. Forest Hill Blvd.,Suite 31, Wellington, FL 33414; fax them to (561) 793-6090;or you can e-mail [email protected].

Local skateboarders and inline skaters scored a victory earlier this month when the RoyalPalm Beach Village Council agreed to include construction of a skate park in the village’s five-year capital plan. Despite concerns that it could end up like the skate park built a decade ago atthe recreation center — which quickly lost the interest of skaters — the latest proposal is off toa promising start and has every chance to succeed.

After having met with local skateboarders and a skate park supervisor, Parks & RecreationDirector Lou Recchio made a convincing presentation in support of a new park. We commendRecchio not only for working with the skateboarders, but also for researching and recognizingthat the sport should be given more legitimacy. While it was seen as a fad in the 1980s, waningin popularity by the end of the decade and remaining so until the emergence of the X Games inthe mid-1990s, it has remained a mainstream sport for years now. Yet, there is still a stigmaattached to it because many people still consider it a sport on the cultural fringe. But as Recchionoted, skateboarding is a multi-million-dollar industry and more popular than baseball for ages 6to 17. Even so, as Recchio pointed out, the amount of land set aside for sports such as football,baseball and soccer is about 12,000 times the size of land set aside for skateboarding.

Twenty years ago, the only place to legally skateboard in Palm Beach County was AtlantisSkateway’s Tuesday night “Skate Night.” There was also a cement ramp and “bowl” in Lan-tana, but it was so horribly designed that most skaters never bothered. Contrast that with thecounty’s West Boynton Skate Park today, which is very popular, primarily because it wasdesigned correctly and isn’t a hassle for skaters; it’s free, makes few demands of skaters andthere’s no complicated registration process.

Recchio is correct that the key to building a lasting park is to let skaters design it and havemovable ramps to keep the layout fresh and thus maintain their interest. Also, thanks to recentstate statutes, municipalities have been given more freedom from liability in the case of injuries,and only helmets are required, rather than full protective gear (elbow pads, knee pads and wristguards), which can be a deal-breaker for many skaters.

Many skateboarders are too young to drive and would benefit from having a park withinskating distance to their homes. With a park nearby, it would reduce the number of skaters inparking lots and other places where it’s illegal. The key is to keep the skaters involved. If theycan have a say in the process, then there’s no reason it can’t succeed.


NEWSDAY OF TASTY FUN AT THE ACREAGE MUSIC & CHILI FEST AT COMMUNITY PARK

Kyle gets some more chili from his father Mike Cannizzaro.

Danielle and Marla Masi, Nathan Reeves,Carly Lanford and Jessica Lanham.

LEADERCHEER CAR WASH IN RPB BENEFITS WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECTLeaderCheer held a car wash Sunday, April 22 at the 7-Eleven on Okeechobee Blvd. across from Target in Royal Palm Beach. The moneyraised went to the Wounded Warrior Project. For more info., visit www.leadercheer.us.

People’s Choice third-place winner JohnChandler of team 3C’s Chili with Gary Thomas.

Frank and Crystal Guarino of Game Time Chili.

Seminole Ridge High School Face Club membersCamila Yepes, Victoria Dukharan, Peggy Larson,

Monique Costner, Vaneola Joseph and Polette Pacheco.

Nicole Vieda and Mia Fusta try to get motorists’ attention. The LeaderCheer group washes a car. The girls show their support for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Mickey Lager, Pancho De La Rosa andchef Tom Dragner of Bucked Up Chili.

The Acreage Music & Chili Cookoff was held Saturday, April 21 at Acreage Community Park. The event began with a chili cookoff, withlocal and national competitors serving up their best chili for a chance to win in various categories. The rest of the afternoon featured liveperformances from local, regional and national musicians, and bounce houses for children. For more info., visit www.acreagechilifest.com.SEE VIDEO FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM PHOTOS BY JESSICA GREGOIRE/TOWN-CRIER

PHOTOS BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER


CRIME NEWS

THE INFORMATION FOR THIS BOX IS PROVIDED BYCRIME STOPPERS OF PALM BEACH COUNTY. CRIMESTOPPERSIS WHOLLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT SHOWN HERE.

Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach Countyis asking for the public’s help in findingthese wanted fugitives:

• Magda Dominique is a black female,5’5” tall and weighing 160 lbs., with blackhair and brown eyes. She has multipletattoos. Her date of birth is 11/29/76.Dominique is wanted for failure to rede-liver a hired vehicle. Her occupation isunknown. Her last known address wasW. Forest Hill Blvd. in Wellington. Domi-nique is wanted as of 04/26/12.

• Nicholas “Nick” Morris is a whitemale, 6’2” tall and weighing 220 lbs.,with brown hair and blue eyes. He hasmultiple tattoos. His date of birth is 05/05/82. Morris is wanted for failure toappear on a charge of grand theft (felony)and failure to appear on a charge of driv-ing under the influence (traffic). Hisoccupation is unknown. His last knownaddress was Monterey Way in Royal PalmBeach. Morris is wanted as of 04/26/12.

Remain anonymous and you may beeligible for up to a $1,000 reward. CallCrime Stoppers at (800) 458-TIPS(8477) or visit www.crimestopperspbc.com.

Magda Dominique

Nicholas Morris


APRIL 18 — A resident of 87thStreet North contacted the PalmBeach County Sheriff’s Office’sAcreage/Loxahatchee substationlast Wednesday morning to reporta stolen vehicle. According to aPBSO report, the victim parked hiswhite 2004 Toyota Tundra in hisyard near the rear of the propertyat approximately 9 p.m. He thenwent into his work area, where heleft his keys on the table. Accord-ing to the report, the victim thenentered his home and went to bed,leaving the keys in his work area.The victim said he woke up at ap-proximately 2 a.m. because heheard a vehicle near his yard butdidn’t think anything of it. Accord-ing to the report, when the victimwas getting ready for work at ap-proximately 6:30 a.m., he discov-ered that his truck and keys weremissing. There were no suspectsor witnesses at the time of the re-port.

APRIL 18 — A deputy from thePBSO substation in Royal PalmBeach was dispatched to a homeon Hibiscus Drive last Wednes-day morning regarding a residen-tial burglary. According to a PBSOreport, the victim has been on va-cation and a friend had been tak-ing care of the home. When thefriend went to the home at approx-imately 7:30 am. last Wednesday,he discovered that someone hadpried open the side window andentered the home. According to thereport, the perpetrator(s) enteredthe home sometime between 7 p.m.last Tuesday and 7:30 a.m. the fol-lowing morning. The perpet-rator(s) stole an unknown amountof cash, an HP laptop computer, aWii game console, as well as a Colt.45, a .22 caliber pistol of unknownmake and older model rifle of un-known make. The stolen itemswere valued at approximately $615.There were no suspects at the timeof the report.

APRIL 18 — A deputy from thePBSO’s Acreage/Loxahatcheesubstation responded to a homeon Orange Blvd. last Wednesdayevening regarding an act of van-dalism. According to a PBSO re-port, the victim’s neighbor saidshe observed an unknown slimwhite male driving a white pick-uptruck hop the victim’s gate andwalk up to the vehicles and thehome, looking around the proper-ty. The victim said she believedthe suspect was casing the housefor future crime. According to thereport, the victim’s driveway gatewas damaged, as if someone useda vehicle to force it open. Therewas no further information at thetime of the report.

APRIL 19 — A Royal PalmBeach woman was arrested earlylast Thursday morning on drugcharges, following a traffic stop onForest Hill Blvd. in Wellington.According to a PBSO report, adeputy from the Wellington sub-station was on patrol at approxi-mately 12:45 a.m. when he ob-served a black Kia driving errati-cally, and then slowing down toapproximately 25 miles per hour ina 45-mph zone. The deputy initiat-ed a traffic stop and made contactwith the driver, 23-year-oldDemirenee Cooper. According tothe report, the deputy was able tosmell the odor of marijuana com-ing from the vehicle and asked ifCooper had been smoking, towhich she said yes. According to

the report, the deputy asked tosearch the vehicle and Cooper saidshe had a marijuana grinder in thecenter console, as well as a plasticbag with marijuana residue. Theitems were located, and Cooperwas arrested. She was issued anotice to appear in court.

APRIL 19 — A deputy from thePBSO substation in Wellingtonwas dispatched to a daycare facil-ity on Hyacinth Place last Thurs-day afternoon regarding a vehicleburglary. According to a PBSO re-port, the victim parked her vehicleoutside the facility at approximate-ly 3:27 p.m., leaving her purse inthe vehicle. When she returned ap-proximately 3 minutes later, the vic-tim discovered that her driver’s-side window was smashed out andsomeone had removed the Coachpurse from her seat. According tothe report, the stolen items werevalued at approximately $550.There were no suspects or wit-nesses at the time of the report.

APRIL 20 — A West PalmBeach man was stabbed early lastFriday morning following an alter-cation at a gas station on Green-view Shores Blvd. in Wellington.According to a PBSO report, adeputy from the Wellington sub-station was called to WellingtonRegional Medical Center after thevictim was dropped off at the emer-gency room with a stab wound.According to the report, the vic-tim said he was visiting a friend inWellington, who lived near the gasstation. He said he was at the gasstation with his friends when threeunknown black males attemptedto rob him by placing their handsin his pockets. According to thereport, one of the men stabbed himin the left arm with a kitchen knife.The victim said that one of the menwas in a lime green shirt, the otherwas in a yellow shirt and the thirdwas wearing all black. Accordingto the report, the victim did notwish to give any further informa-tion about the incident or providehis friends’ names. There was nofurther information at the time ofthe report.

APRIL 24 — Two residents ofThe Acreage were arrested Tues-day on drug charges after theywere discovered to be growingmarijuana. According to a PBSOreport, a deputy from the RoyalPalm Beach substation was help-ing with a grand theft case whenhe observed the suspect, 27-year-old Mayra Rosado, walking onPersimmon Blvd. Rosado was ac-cused of grand theft of a bird. Ac-cording to the report, Rosado de-nied the charges and signed a con-sent to search form for deputies tosearch her home. According to thereport, during the search the dep-uty observed a large clay pot onthe back patio with 55 marijuanaplants growing in it. According tothe report, Rosado said that herboyfriend, 32-year-old Cory Green,was the one growing them. Greenwas later arrested, and both weretransported to the Palm BeachCounty Jail. Rosado was chargedwith producing marijuana andgrand theft. Green was chargedwith producing marijuana and vi-olation of his probation.

APRIL 24 — A deputy from thePBSO substation in Wellingtonwas dispatched to a home in Sug-ar Pond Manor on Tuesday after-noon regarding a vehicle burglary.According to a PBSO report,sometime between 2 p.m. Monday

Vehicle StolenFrom Home InThe Acreage

See BLOTTER, page 18


NEWS


Citing concerns about en-croachment on green space in theWellington Equestrian Preserve,members of the Wellington VillageCouncil voted 3-1 on Tuesday toreject a proposal that would haveallowed a home on a field attachedto the Equestrian Club communi-ty off Lake Worth Road.

Planning & Zoning ManagerDavid Flinchum told the councilthat the proposal would changethe 5.1-acre parcel to a single-fam-ily home with equestrian uses, sim-ilar to homes west of the property.

Originally it was designated asa community equestrian workoutarea for the homes, called“ranchettes.”

Councilman Matt Willhite saidthat the property was meant tooffset the clustered housing in the

Equestrian Club. “I think this ismore infringement on greenspace,” he said. “This was setaside because there was clusterhousing in the neighborhood. Ithink this is just a push to add ad-ditional housing into what wassupposed to be green space.”

The project was built before reg-ulations were enacted preventingclustered housing in the Welling-ton Equestrian Preserve, Willhitenoted.

“We have to deal with what wehave,” he said. “I think this is openspace that was set aside for thoseresidential lots to utilize. I think itwould take that away from thesehomes.”

Mayor Bob Margolis askedwhether approval of the itemwould set a precedent. Flinchumsaid it would not.

“These would be handled on a

case-by-case basis,” Flinchumsaid. “And it would have to be onsurplus space.”

John Metzger, agent for theproperty owner, Grand Prix Farms,said that the change would actu-ally benefit the equestrian area. Hesaid that the property was not in-tended to be open space for thecommunity. “It’s intended to be anexpansion of equestrian use in theranchettes,” he said.

Metzger said that the owners onthe ranchette properties do notboard their horses in communitybarns but, rather, have barns ontheir property with stalls that theycan rent out to those in the devel-opment.

Councilwoman Anne Gerwigasked whether any equestrians inthe community were renting outstalls, and Flinchum said thereweren’t any.

Willhite said he was concernedthat residents in the EquestrianClub do not have a place to keephorses, despite being billed as anequestrian community.

“Maybe it was the marketingtool at the time to call it an eques-trian area,” he said. “It’s not anequestrian neighborhood if theresidents have nowhere to keeptheir horses.”

Metzger said that changing thisparcel would provide another sta-ble for people to board their hors-es.

“There are stables for rent with-in the community,” he said. “It’sjust that no one in the communityhas any desire to lease them.”

But Willhite pointed out thatfuture residents might.

“If someone’s daughter decid-ed she wanted a pony,” he said,“there’s not an opportunity for

them. This should have been openspace for the neighborhood.”

But Metzger said that wasn’tthe purpose of the property.

“There was never an obligationfor the developer to build any fa-cility,” he said. “It was envisionedfor use in the ranchette section.The developer agreed that if any-thing was ever built on it, resi-dents in the eastern section wouldbe able to use it only upon pay-ment of rent or membership fees.”

Councilman John Greene saidthat when the community was be-ing marketed, the idea was to al-low residents to have their horsesin the community.

“I specifically recall there be-ing an area for residents to keephorses if they chose,” he said. “Idon’t know where that changed,but it was certainly marketed thatway.”

But Metzger said that residentsliving along the bridle trail couldhave a stable.

“The residents, if they wantedto have a stable and a horse,” hesaid, “could have one and utilizethe trail.”

Gerwig said that the issue mightbe in the name “Equestrian Club.”

“I live in Paddock Park,” shesaid. “I have an acre and a quarter,and I’m not allowed to have ahorse.”

Gerwig made a motion to ap-prove the master plan amendment,but it died for lack of a second.Willhite then made a motion todeny the item, which was second-ed by Greene.

The denial passed 3-1 with Ger-wig opposed. Vice Mayor HowardCoates recused himself from thediscussion due to a possible con-flict of interest.

Wellington Council Rejects Home On Vacant Equestrian Club Land


Recently appointed Palm BeachCounty State Attorney Peter An-tonacci spoke April 18 at themonthly public forum meetinghosted by County CommissionerJess Santamaria at the originalWellington Mall.

Antonacci, who lives in Talla-hassee, was appointed by Gov.Rick Scott in March to finish thefinal 10 months of former StateAttorney Michael McAuliffe’sterm. McAuliffe left earlier this yearfor a private-sector job.

“It has been a real honor notonly to provide this service to thiscommunity, but it has also been avery warm and welcoming commu-nity to me,” Antonacci said. “Af-ter all, in many ways, I’m just atourist here for 10 months, but thepeople that I’ve met have reachedout and offered a helping hand.”

Antonacci said he had spentsome time with Santamaria dis-cussing issues in the community.

“I was struck from a generalgovernment point of view howcomplicated things are and howchallenging things are, but howfortunate you are as a communi-

ty,” he said, explaining that PalmBeach County is fortunate to havea great deal of resources and theability to ask local government tohelp it solve problems.

“I spent the day yesterday inBelle Glade and Pahokee, and thereare problems that need attendingto in the community, and I knowCommissioner Santamaria hasrolled his sleeves up to do whatgovernment can do to help im-prove those things,” he said.

The state attorney is the chiefprosecuting attorney for all crimesin the jurisdiction. “The state at-torney and staff are responsiblefor taking those cases from the lawenforcement community, sortingthem out, deciding what chargesare appropriate and carrying thosecases before the court,” Antonac-ci said. “Every little thing that hap-pens in Palm Beach County endsup coming across our desk.”

He noted that the Palm BeachCounty State Attorney’s Officehas about 325 employees in fivedifferent offices. There are 130prosecutors who have the powerto sign charging documents.

“I can tell you it’s a very com-petent staff,” Antonacci said.

“They’re very young. As youknow, in public service, oftentimesthe salaries aren’t as rewarding asthey are in the private sector. Ouryoung people come into the of-fice and they tend to get good ex-perience, and they go on and dosomething else in life.”

A handful of prosecutors stayand make a career of it. “That’s awealth of experience they bring ofvalue to you as citizens of the com-munity, and certainly of value tothe criminal justice system,” hesaid.

An additional responsibility ofthe State Attorney’s Office is aslegal adviser to the grand jury.“The grand jury really is the voiceof the people in the criminal jus-tice world,” Antonacci said.

The grand jury is composed ofabout 18 people serving for sixmonths. The state attorney is re-quired to bring them cases that thegrand jury has jurisdiction over,primarily first-degree homicides.

“The grand jury also does some-thing very special, and that is theyhave the authority to review andcomment on public institutions,”Antonacci said. “To his great cred-it, my predecessor was very inter-

ested in deploying the grand juryfor purposes of reviewing howgovernance works in Palm BeachCounty.”

After several years of review, thegrand jury issued several reportscalled “presentments,” he said.

“Those presentments are in-tended to be factual, not biased inany way, although certainly somecould say otherwise, but the pur-pose of them is to get the facts outso that the world at large has thebenefit of the grand jury’s think-ing on a particular topic,” An-tonacci said.

One of the topics on the frontburner the past few years has beenethics in government. “I don’tneed to recount to you the chal-lenge that this county had overthe last few years of seeing to itthat elected public officials are heldaccountable,” he said.

Antonacci credited the numer-ous community and businessgroups that raised their voices toenact ordinances creating theCommission on Ethics and theOffice of the Inspector General,followed by a charter change thatadded jurisdiction over municipal-ities.

“The community acted and val-id measures were put up, and thevotes were overwhelming, and asa result, we have a Commission onEthics and we also have an inspec-tor general,” he said.

Antonacci offered his congrat-ulations to county residents andorganizations for their determina-tion to create the two offices.

“You did a great thing, andsomething that’s very unique inlocal governments around thecountry,” he said. “We take a lotfor granted in Florida, becausenow for 40 years, we’ve had Gov-ernment in the Sunshine.”

Antonacci said Florida has agreat tradition of transparency,and with that opportunity to seethe papers, e-mails and other com-munications created by govern-ment, citizens can see what gov-ernmental bodies do in the deci-sion-making process.

“We are very special,” he said.“We are the only state in the coun-try that has this very special bless-ing. Because of Sunshine, becauseof open records law, things like theinspector general grow out of it,because people have an expecta-tion.”

Antonacci will finish out the 10months remaining in McAuliffe’sterm. Filing closed last Friday inthe election to replace him. Threecandidates qualified to run for theoffice — attorney and former StateSen. Dave Aronberg as a Demo-crat, attorney Dina A. Keever as aRepublican and attorney RobertGershman without a party affilia-tion. The election will be held atthe general election in November.

Temporary PBC State Attorney Peter Antonacci Visits Wellington

State AttorneyPeter Antonacci


The Royal Palm Beach VillageCouncil agreed last week to addan extra $10,000 into next year’sbudget to support the Royal PalmArt & Music Festival at the be-hest of Vice Mayor Fred Pinto, whosaid he was pleased with the suc-cess of the event.

At the April 19 meeting, CentralPalm Beach County Chamber ofCommerce CEO Jaene Mirandasaid the March festival was a tre-mendous success, despite rainthat made it necessary for sidewalkartists to redraw their work.

“I have to give credit to the art-ists because they wouldn’t giveup,” Miranda said. “After it rainedon Saturday, most of them cameback on Sunday morning and re-painted their artwork.”

Miranda said residents and art-ists both enjoyed the event. “Thefireworks were very well-received.We had two fireworks shows, andwe had a lot of compliments onthat,” she said.

The fireworks replaced a laserlight show that was put on the yearbefore, which had not receivedgood reviews.

“Sponsors were happy with thecrowds,” Miranda said. “We real-ly did have large crowds beforethe rain came. Even after it rainedon Saturday, it cleared up prettyquickly and the crowds came rightback.”

Plans are already underway fornext year’s festival.

Pinto, who had been critical ofsome elements prior to the event,such as changing from the lasershow to fireworks without consult-ing the council, suggested includ-ing an additional $10,000 in nextyear’s village budget for the festi-val, but also requested that cham-ber staff work with the village onhow to support more participationby children. “I think it’s an impor-tant event for everyone,” Pintosaid.

Councilman Jeff Hmara congrat-ulated Miranda on a successfulevent. “It’s really sad to watch allthat beautiful chalk washed away,”Hmara said, pointing out that therain did not wash out numerousother activities. “It was a wonder-ful event.”

Councilman Richard Valuntassaid he was impressed with theparticipation. “I thought we had alot of turnout and a lot of partici-pation,” he said. “It’s a great wayfor the community to get out andbe involved and a good cause.”

Councilwoman Martha Webstersaid she was especially pleasedthat the chamber had worked withthe village to avoid a gate fee.Webster asked how the chamber’smerger with the former Greater LakeWorth Chamber of Commerce isgoing to affect the Lake WorthStreet Painting Festival, andMiranda said the events are timed

a month apart so there is no con-flict.

“The Street Painting Festival inLake Worth is managed by us,”Miranda said. “However, there isa street painting festival nonprofitthat owns the event. We work incooperation with them. That eventis in early February, so they will bea month apart.”

In other business, the councilgave final approval to creating astormwater management utilitythat will charge property owners aspecific fee for stormwater man-agement rather than take financ-ing from the general fund, as it hasin the past.

The idea had been reviewedin a February workshop beforereceiving preliminary approvalApril 5 and final approval lastweek.

Consultant Scott McClelland ofCDM Smith said stormwater run-off from driveways, roofs and oth-er impervious areas make it neces-sary for municipalities to controlflooding, erosion and pollutionthat the runoff causes.

“The village already provides astormwater management pro-gram,” McClelland said, explain-ing that the amount charged to theproperty would be relative to theamount of hard-surface area theproperty has.

Village Manager Ray Ligginssaid having a stormwater utility willbe a more equitable way to assess

property owners for the service,which now comes out of the gen-eral fund.

“The fact that we have a storm-water utility on our books now willdefinitely give me the ability todraft this year’s budget reducingthe pressure on the general fund,”Liggins told the Town-Crier onMonday.

Liggins added that it also haltswhat amounted to charging someresidents twice for stormwatermanagement — those who areserved by alternate drainage dis-tricts such as the Indian Trail Im-provement District and the LakeWorth Drainage District.

“There will be an exemption forthose who are receiving service

from another provider,” Ligginssaid. “As it relates to those areas,with Lake Worth being on the eastside of our town and Indian Trailbeing on the west side, we do notprovide the service and we do nottherefore have those costs, andthey will not be assessed for drain-age.”

McClelland noted previouslythat the canal system in Royal PalmBeach handles stormwater runoffrelatively well, but that no signifi-cant improvements have beenmade in decades, and that even-tually, siltation in the canals wouldreduce their effectiveness.

There are about 160 stormwaterutilities in Florida, with eight inPalm Beach County, McClelland

said. The average rate in the stateis $4.60 per month per billing unit,and the average rate in Palm BeachCounty is $5.44 per billing unit.The billing unit is defined as themedian impervious area for single-family homes. In RPB, that wouldbe 2,723 square feet, based on anaverage of all single-family homes.

Under the formula, a single-fam-ily homeowner in the villagewould pay one equivalent residen-tial unit (ERU) per dwelling unit,and nonresidential customerswould pay based on the ratio oftheir actual impervious area to2,723 square feet.

Pinto made a motion to approvethe ordinance, which carried unan-imously.

Royal Palm Beach Will Increase Support For Art & Music Festival

CharterSchool

Delayedcontinued from page 1

specific alternate sites in mind cur-rently because they had been to-tally focused on the Albertsonssite. “We have an opportunity tostep back now, so we will,” he said.

Page was thankful for all the helpprovided by Royal Palm Beach tomake the project work. He notedthat all issues surrounding theAlbertsons site had been workedthrough from the village’s per-spective, including traffic con-

cerns that had been addressedwith conditions of approval.

“We’re very disappointed, butwe are very appreciative of thesupport in the community,” hesaid, explaining that informing theinterested families was especiallydifficult because so many had ex-pressed an interest. “There werealready over 500 people who hadapplied, and most have expressedtheir disappointment as well asdesire to remain informed aboutoptions and the potential of open-ing next year.”

Page pointed out that anotherRenaissance Charter School is setto open at 1889 Palm Beach Lakes

Blvd. in West Palm Beach. Thatlocation will be starting enrollmentnext week.

“We will be inviting the folksfrom this area to come to thatschool,” he said. “It’s a little bitfarther away. The intent was for itto be in a separate area.”

For more information on thatoption, visit www.westpalmcharter.org.

Page said his company wishesto continue a dialogue with par-ents interested in the RenaissanceCharter School at Palms West. “It’svery much our intent to get thatschool open for next school year,”he said.


NEWS BRIEFSWHS Band Spring

Concert May 1The Wellington High School

band program will present itsspring concert “Surround Sound2.0” on Tuesday, May 1 at 7 p.m.at Wellington High School’s per-forming arts theater.

The concert will feature all of theWHS concert bands, both jazzbands, and several small and largeensembles. The groups will per-form music ranging from classicalto jazz to pop, in a 360-degree ex-perience.

Admission is free and the entireWellington community is invitedto attend. For more information, call(561) 795-4900, visit www.whsband.com or e-mail Director ofBands Mary Oser at [email protected].

Comedy BenefitFor AcreageRelay May 3

Organizers of the Acreage/Lox-ahatchee Relay for Life will host a“Night of Laughter” on Thursday,May 3 at the Improv Comedy Club& Dinner Theatre at CityPlace indowntown West Palm Beach.

Doors will open at 7 p.m., andthe event will start at 8 p.m. for age18 and up. Reservations are sug-gested. All proceeds will benefitthe Acreage/Loxahatchee Relayfor Life, which will take place Fri-day, May 11 at Acreage Commu-nity Park. The cost is $15, with atwo-drink minimum required (non-alcoholic beverages).

The Improv is located at 550 S.Rosemary Ave. For more informa-tion, e-mail [email protected], call (561) 833-1812 or visitwww.palmbeachimprov.com.

Car & Bake ShowMay 5 At OLQAChurch In RPB

The WEI Network has an-nounced it will be part of Our LadyQueen of the Apostles CatholicChurch’s inaugural Car & BakeShow and Family Fun Day on Sat-urday, May 5 on the churchgrounds in Royal Palm Beach.

WEI Network will broadcast livefrom this free event that is spon-sored by Classic Cruiser Car Show,Medina Rugs, Mullinax Ford, Mat-thew Lupardo PA and others. Theevent will feature more than 30 carsand many motorcycles. Trophies

will be awarded in both categories,and there will be a Lil’ John FireRescue 343, a slot car track whereyou can test your skill. A foodcourt, climbing wall, bungee tram-poline and many other attractionsmakes it a true family fun day. Therewill also be a raffle to win a FordFocus or $15,000 in cash.

Our Lady of Apostle CatholicChurch is located at 100 CrestwoodBlvd. in Royal Palm Beach. Formore information, visit www.weinetwork.com or call A.J. at (561)389-2178.

Polo & BalloonFestival At PoloWest May 11-13In honor of the Wounded War-

riors Project and the Injured Ma-rine Semper Fi Fund, the Polo andBalloon Festival will be held May11-13 at Polo West (2470 Green-view Cove Drive, Wellington).

On Friday, May 11, gates willopen at 5 p.m. From 6 to 7 p.m.there will be a polo match. As soonas the polo match is over, approx-imately 22 hot air balloons will beplaced throughout the polo field,inflated and tethered in place.Wounded Warriors, veterans and

others will be able to occupy bal-loons with the balloons rising ap-proximately 150 feet (dependingon winds) while still tethered inplace. Spectators will have theopportunity to walk around theinflated balloons. Spectators willbe invited for tethered balloonrides for a $5 donation to the char-ities.

On Saturday, May 12, the gateswill open at 6 a.m., with the bal-loons inflating at 7 a.m. and rise ina mass ascension at 7:30 a.m. Spec-tators are welcome on the field asthe balloons inflate and leave. Thisspectator portion of the event endswith gates closing at 9 a.m.

Gates will reopen at 5 p.m. for a6 p.m. polo match. After the polomatch, the balloons will be placedon the field for a “balloon glow” at8:30 p.m. and the honoring of allthe Wounded Warriors and veter-ans.

On Sunday, May 13, the gateswill open at 6 a.m. The balloonsinflate at 7 a.m. and rise in a massascension at 7:30 a.m. Spectatorsare welcomed on the field as theballoons inflate and leave. Theballoons will all contain Wound-ed Warriors. The balloons will beretrieved when they land and bebrought back to Polo West. This

spectator portion of the event endswith gates closing at 9 a.m.

Visit www.poloamerica.com/eventschedule.php for additionalinformation.

Wellington NowOffering SummerService ProgramTeens can get meaningful, re-

sume-boosting volunteer experi-ence this summer through Well-ington’s High School Summer Ser-vice Program.

This exciting learning opportu-nity pairs incoming high schooljuniors and seniors with variousWellington departments, allowingstudents to learn more about howtheir local government works andget a taste of a real-world profes-sional setting while racking updozens of community servicehours.

To participate in the program,students must be entering theirjunior or senior year in highschool, must have at least a 3.0GPA and provide two letters of rec-ommendation. Students must alsobe able to commit to volunteeringtwo days per week in four-hourblocks (eight hours total per week)

for a total of nine weeks, from June18 through Aug. 16.

Applications are available at themunicipal complex (12300 W. For-est Hill Blvd.), Village Park (11700Pierson Road), the WellingtonCommunity Center (12150 W. For-est Hill Blvd.) and the Safe Neigh-borhoods Office (1100 WellingtonTrace).

Wellington will accept complet-ed applications now throughThursday, May 24. Students willbe selected on a rolling basis, sobe sure to submit your applicationearly. For more information, con-tact Chris Degler at (561) 753-2587or [email protected].

Green EnergyConference May

16-17 In WPBThe Florida Green Energy and

Climate Conference & Expositionwill take place Wednesday andThursday, May 16 and 17 at thePalm Beach County ConventionCenter. For more information, callthe Central Palm Beach Chamberof Commerce at (561) 790-6200, visitwww.floridagreenconference.comor e-mail [email protected].


NEWS

OASIS AGENCY HOLDS ITS DREAM MAKEOVER LUNCHEON AT BREAKERS WESTThe Oasis Compassion Agency held its seventh annual Dream Makeover luncheon Saturday, April 21 at Breakers West Country Club.The theme “Transitions” refers to clients taking the next step to becoming self-sufficient and making a better life for themselves andtheir families. For more info., visit www.oasiscompassion.org.

Event committee members Liz Cable, Ora Chester,Panama D’Avila and Lisa Anderson. (L-R) Katie Lee, Elizabeth Fountain and Monica Delgado model some outfits.

Sunday, April 22 was the clos-ing day of the 2012 polo season atthe International Polo Club PalmBeach, and it proved to be thrill-ing as Zacara defeated LechuzaCaracas 10-8 in the Nespresso108th U.S. Open Polo Champion-ship Finals on Piaget Field.

The polo grounds were packedwith spectators and celebrities,including Burn Notice star JeffreyDonovan and Miss America 2012Laura Kaeppeler. Both helped of-ficiate the coin toss, while youngPalm Beach Pops star Olivia Schi-appa sang the national anthem.Also spotted mingling among thecrowd were former pro athletesWarren Sapp and Dennis Rodman,

as well as America’s Most Wantedhost John Walsh.

Zacara kicked things off earlyas team member Facundo Pieresscored the opening goal within thefirst 30 seconds of play. Minuteslater, Lechuza Caracas’ Juan Mar-tin Nero tied it up, followed by aSapo Caset goal, which put Lu-chuza Caracas up 2-1 at the end ofthe first chukker.

The two teams continued tobattle it out in the second chukker,scoring two goals each. It wasn’tuntil the third chukker that Zacarapulled ahead with a goal by MikeAzzaro, putting Zacara up 5-4 atthe half.

Zacara kept the momentum go-

IMAGE COURTESY LILA PHOTO

ing, scoring three goals in thefourth. However, Zacara had anunsuccessful fifth chukker as Le-chuza Caracas’s defense dominat-ed and picked up a pair of goalsfrom Caset.

With one chukker left, LechuzaCaracas was trailing by one goal,8-7. Zacara’s Magoo Lapridaopened the final chukker with agoal, followed by a goal just min-utes later by team captain LyndonLea.

Lechuza Caracas remainedscoreless in the sixth, making Zac-ara the Nespresso 108th U.S. OpenPolo Champion for 2012. Caset ledall scoring with five goals, whileZacara’s Azzaro was named MVP.

U.S. Polo Association Chairman Chuck Weaver presents theU.S. Open Championship Cup to Zacara Patron Lyndon Lea.


Oasis Board Chair Sharon Gill.

With seven state-of-the-art polofields, a stunning pavilion and avariety of entertainment, the Inter-national Polo Club Palm Beach isthe place to be during Welling-ton’s polo season.

For information about the Inter-national Polo Club Palm Beach orthe 2013 season, visit www.internationalpoloclub.com orcheck out www.ipcscoreboard.com for up-to-date scores, sched-ules and rosters.

You can also stay tuned towhat’s happening at the Interna-tional Polo Club during the off-season by finding them on Face-book or following them on Twitter@SundayPolo.

Juan Martin Nero of Lechuza movesdownfield with Magoo LaPrida in pursuit.

PHOTOS BY ALAN FABRICANT

Actor Jeffrey Donovan with Miss America Laura Kaeppeler.MVP Mike Azzaro goes in for a shot on goal.

Zacara Bests Lechuza Caracas 10-8 To Win U.S. Open Championship

April 27 - May 3, 2012 WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM The Town-Crier The Town-Crier WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM April 27 - May 3, 2012 Page 11

April 27 - May 3, 2012 WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM The Town-Crier The Town-Crier WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM April 27 - May 3, 2012


NEWSMBSK CHARITABLE TRUST HOSTS IRISH FEST AT ORIGINAL WELLINGTON MALL

Glenn and Terri Wescott, Mike and Kelley Shinkevich,Elaine and Ron Tomchin, and Eric Gordon.

MBSK board members at the event.

JUSTIN BARTLETT ANIMAL RESCUE HOSTS A ‘POKER RUN FOR THE ANIMALS’Justin Bartlett Animal Rescue presented “Poker Run for the Animals” on Sunday, April 22 at the Elks Lodge on Belvedere Road. Therewere puppies and dogs for adoption, as well as food vendors and cigars sold by Three J’s C-Cigar Emporium. For more info., visitwww.justinbartlettanimalrescue.org or call (561) 684-1010.

Maggie Zeller with Stan Kilbas and Rachel Bridge.Caribbean-Americans for Community Involvement

(CAFCI) members enjoy the evening.

Justin Bartlett Animal Rescue President Peter Torres withAphrodite and Vice President Don Wulff with Precious. Justin Bartlett Animal Rescue volunteers with adoptable dogs. Don Wulff with Karen and Rick Bartlett.

(Seated) Carol and Paul Razza with Debbie and Luis Bonavia;(standing) State Rep. Mark Pafford, David and Brooke Unversaw.

My Brother’s/Sister’s Keeper Charitable Trust presented its Irish Fest on Sunday, April 22 in the original Wellington mall. Beer and winewere paired with a delicious four-course dinner prepared by the Gypsy’s Horse Irish Pub & Restaurant. The Palm Beach Central HighSchool jazz band performed, and there was a live auction. PHOTOS BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER


The Palm Beach Central High Schooljazz band entertained attendees.


NEWSWELLINGTON EVENT CELEBRATES EARTH DAY & ARBOR DAY AT AMPHITHEATER

Michelle Garvey, Bruce DeLaney and Eric Juckett. Teresa Gotrz, Karolina, Ewa and Adam Tryniszewski.

GOOD EARTH FARM CELEBRATES EARTH DAY WITH A VARIETY OF FUN ACTIVITIESThe Good Earth Farm in Loxahatchee Groves held an Earth Day celebration Sunday, April 22. Families participated in hayrides, ponyrides, animal viewing, and enjoyed food and drinks during an afternoon on the farm. For more info., visit www.goodearthfarm.info or call(561) 792-2666.

Linda DeSanti, Susan Hillson and BarbaraHadsell of the Wellington Garden Club.

Sherri Mraz of Whole FoodsMarket serves free smoothies.

Samuel Stockwell picks up informationfrom the Whole Foods Market booth.

Andrea Lerner, Jessica Brown and Carly Coombs withGood Earth Farm co-owner Nancy Fried-Tobin. Autumn and Skye Wong look at some of the animals.

Al Salopek of Bee Understanding.org educates people on bees.

Wellington held an Earth Day and Arbor Day celebration Sunday, April 22 at the Wellington Amphitheater. The event offered informationabout living a greener lifestyle and featured live performances and demonstrations. Attendees also enjoyed free giveaways, such assmoothies from Whole Foods Market and tree seedlings. SEE VIDEO FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM

PHOTOS BY JESSICA GREGOIRE/TOWN-CRIER

PHOTOS BY JESSICA GREGOIRE/TOWN-CRIER

Ken Roundtree handsout free tree seedlings.

Lori and Alia Oppenheimlook at Bella, a cockatoo.

Kaitlin Soogat goeson a pony ride.


SCHOOL NEWSHawk Stagecraft Students Create Wonka World For Pierce Hammock

For the past several months, theSeminole Ridge High Schoolstagecraft class has been con-structing larger-than-life displaysof Willy Wonka items for the grad-uation party at Pierce HammockElementary School.

Hawk students have designed,built and painted Wonka-themedobjects: giant Nerds boxes, Won-ka bars, mushrooms and goldentickets. Life-size Oompa Loompasand a Willy Wonka with face cut-outs have been fashioned for thePierce Hammock fifth-graders totake their party pictures in. Hawkstagecraft workers have also madea 20-foot painted mural of a WillyWonka and Candy Land mash-up,and a lollipop garden, a gatewayentrance and a Wonka “contract”complete the themed atmosphere.

The Pierce Hammock graduationparty will be a surprise for the fifth-graders, and the Seminole Ridgestagecraft professionals haveworked very hard to create theircolorful Wonka world.

— Paige Wilson

• Koester Receives Outstand-ing Media Service Award — TheEducational Media Association ofPalm Beach County honored SRHSmedia specialist Carole Koesterwith its Outstanding Media Ser-vice Award at a principal’s break-fast April 13. Koester was chosenboth for her extensive work withthe Florida Association of Mediain Education and for her promo-tion of a “reading culture” at Sem-inole Ridge. Under her leadershipof the SRHS BookIt! program, theschool can boast the highest bookcheckout and Reading Countsquiz-passing rates of any highschool in the county.

• Campus BeautificationProject Advances — SeminoleRidge continues to make its cam-pus a little greener with its cam-pus beautification project, whichentails cleaning up the large court-yard planters.

In addition to the previous twocompleted, Hawk students —headed by Breanna Beardsley andRosemary Murray — are bright-

ening up four more planters. TheESE department has taken on thechallenge of beautifying an entireplanter on their own, and so havethe environmental science class-es.

A total of seven school organi-zations are helping with the plant-ers: the American Sign Languageclasses, the JROTC Hawk Battal-ion, the National Honor Society,the Science National Honor Soci-ety, the Sociedad Honoria Hispan-ica, the Tri-M Music Honor Soci-ety and the SECME Club (whichhas donated $400 to the project).

NHS sponsor Shawna Ahmadsaid that those involved in thebeautification “hope to have allplanters completed by the end ofMay. The kids are very attachedto this project.”

• Hawk Student Awarded $12KFAU Scholarship — Florida At-lantic University’s College of En-gineering and Computer Sciencewill award a four-year SECMEscholarship worth $12,000 to Hawksenior Caitlin Miller. Miller will be

honored May 6 at SECME’s an-nual “Celebration of Achievement”banquet.

“Caitlin truly belongs to whatMargaret Mead once described as‘that small group of thoughtful,committed citizens who we shouldnever doubt can change theworld,’” said Erich Landstrom,Seminole Ridge SECME coordina-tor and physics teacher.

SECME students selected forthe Florida Atlantic University ac-ademic-year award receive an an-nually renewable $3,000. Theymust have met the academic re-quirements for FAU admission andparticipated in their high school’sSECME program in their highschool. Applicants must major inengineering, mathematics or sci-ence and achieve a minimum scoreon the SAT or ACT.

SECME is a pre-collegiate pro-gram to increase the number ofstudents qualified to enter andcomplete courses of study in thedisciplines of science, technolo-gy, engineering and math. Brenda

Simmons, director of FAU’s Divi-sion of Engineering Student Ser-vices, said that the SECME pro-gram “offers exceptional opportu-

nities for K-12 students to learn,achieve, and become excited aboutengineering- and science-basedcareers.”

Paige Wilson, Madison Dickson, Jaqueline Campos, TimothyRuback, Ashley Foley and Jason Moore work on the WillyWonka designs for Pierce Hammock’s graduation party.

Osceola Creek Scholar-Athletes Of The MonthOsceola Creek Middle School

has announced the recipients ofits Scholar-Athlete Award forMarch.

The award is sponsored by theschool police and honors varsityathletes who also excel in academ-ics, effort, behavior and schoolspirit, and serve as role models forothers. This month’s honoreescarry high grade point averagesas well as play varsity sports.

Boys basketball honoredeighth-grader Logan Yapp, 14.“Logan has been a member of thebasketball team for three years andhas developed into a great teamleader through his hard work anddedication in practice and games,”coach Kai Lee said. “He was thestarting shooting guard this yearfor the boys basketball divisionchampion team. In the classroom,he excels with a 4.90 GPA and isinvolved with Student Counciland Science Club.”

Yapp, who has perfect atten-dance, is undecided on a college.He would like to be a professionalathlete. In addition to playing onthe basketball team, he is a mem-ber of Osceola Creek’s soccer andtrack teams.

Seventh-grader Amy Chung, 13,was honored in girls basketball.“Amy just finished her second

Officer Sandy Molenda, Madeline Harding, Logan Yapp, Amy Chung and Principal Dan Frank.season on the girls basketballteam, where she was an outstand-ing defensive player, leading theteam in steals,” coach Tom Ruli-son said. “An excellent ball han-dler, Amy is one of the best ath-letes in the school and an excep-tional student in the classroom,where she carries a 5.17 GPA.”

Chung is undecided on a col-lege. However, has decided on acareer as an architect.

Madeline Harding was honoredin girls soccer. “She is an outstand-ing student athlete that has played

for Osceola Creek for all threeyears,” girls soccer coach TonyBugeja said. “She is a true leaderand excels in the classroom just asshe does on the field. I am hon-ored to have coached such out-standing young athlete as Made-line.”

Harding, 14, wants to attend theUniversity of Florida as a marinebiology major, as a prelude to acareer in the field. She is a memberof the Student Council, NationalJunior Honor Society and the year-book staff. In addition to soccer,

Harding is a member of OsceolaCreek’s track and girls volleyballteams. She carries a 5.00 gradepoint average and is a two-time re-cipient of the Athlete-of-the Yearaward, being honored in both sixthand seventh grades.

Supporting the program areSubway, Domino’s Pizza and Burg-er King (located at Seminole PrattWhitney Road and Orange Blvd.)and Dairy Queen (at Royal PalmBeach and Okeechobee boule-vards), which donated free foodcoupons.

RPB’S CRESTWOODMIDDLE BURIES A

NEW TIME CAPSULE

Crestwood Middle School recently experienced something thatonly happens every 30 years. The time capsule that has beenburied for 30 years in front of the school was opened, and a newtime capsule was buried in honor of the school’s 30th anniversary.Items placed in the capsule were things relevant to students in2012. Shown above are Assistant Principal Marellius King, Princi-pal Dr. Stephanie Nance, Assistant Principal Martin Pasquariello,reading teacher Marque Drummond, Assistant Principal TerriLivingston, guidance counselor Cora Edwards, ESE coordinatorSandra Hayden-Byer and guidance counselor Jeanne Mascara.


SCHOOL NEWSDream Students Volunteer In Costa Rica

Dream Middle School students do volunteer work in Costa Rica.

It was the trip of a lifetime forstudents from the Dream MiddleSchool when they spent 10 daysperforming community service inCosta Rica. Through an educa-tional tour company called EcoTeach, the school arranged formiddle schoolers to learn aboutcoastal ecosystems; record statis-tical information about the sea tur-tles, their eggs and nests; andlearn about the cultural heritageof the Costa Rican people.

“This year we offered a cross-curriculum trip that would combinescience, social studies, math andcommunity services all rolled intoone,” said Dr. Kris Soderman,Dream Middle School’s co-princi-pal. “This trip did that beautiful-ly.”

The students spent their daysand nights along the beach in rus-

tic conditions, sleeping in hand-made bunks and sharing meals ina communal setting. Rotating inshifts, one group volunteered from8 p.m. until midnight to count seaturtle eggs and measuring nestingturtles while the second shift didthe same from midnight until 4 a.m.During the day they participatedin beach cleanup to make it easierfor the turtles to get up the beachto lay their eggs at night. They alsohelped to build a hatchery.

“We also had an opportunity tovisit local schools and everyonewas surprised by how little thestudents and teachers had to workwith,” Soderman said. “Webrought pencils and other schoolsupplies, and they were all sograteful. It made us all realize howlucky we are and how fortunatewe were to have this life-chang-

NEW HORIZONSSUPPORTS BREASTCANCER RESEARCH

The New Horizons Elementary School Student Council sponsoredThink Pink Day on April 13. The students were encouraged to wearpink or red and bring in a $1 donation to support breast cancerresearch and patient support. A total of $252 was raised andforwarded to thinkPINKkids of Wellington to support this worthycause. Pictured here with fifth-grade teacher/Student Council spon-sor Pat Klammer are fifth-grade students Kalena Miles, Wil’liaishaBrockman, Bridget Kozlowski, Kelly Mark, Scarlet Jasperson, ToddBlauvelt, Arielle Loiseau, Christopher Conlin, Jasmine Cohen andJustin Bowles.

Cypress Trails Elementary Holds FCAT Pep RallyOn Friday, April 13, students in

grades three through five at Cy-press Trails Elementary Schoolparticipated in a fun pep rally de-signed to motivate them for theFCAT. Palm Beach County SchoolBoard Member Marcia Andrewswas the special guest speaker andgave students words of encour-agement and testing tips. Cheer-leaders from Palm Beach GardensHigh School also were presentwith FCAT cheers.

All semester, third- throughfifth-grade students have beenearning “strategy tickets” if theyare caught using FCAT strategies.

As one of the highlights of the peprally, the top five ticket-earners hadthe opportunity to “slime” Assis-tant Principal Stephanie Cook. “Wewanted to turn the FCAT into theFunCAT and motivate students todo their very best,” Cook said.

Cypress Trails would like tothank Andrews and the PBGHScheerleaders for helping to makethe pep rally exciting for students.

LGES KindergartenRoundups May 14-15Loxahatchee Groves Elementa-

ry School will host two kindergar-ten roundups for its incoming kin-dergarten students for the 2012-13 school year.

The roundups will take placeMonday, May 14 at 6 p.m. and

Tuesday, May 15 at 8:30 a.m. Chil-dren planning to enroll in kinder-garten must be 5 years old on orbefore Sept. 1.

For more information, call theLGES main office at (561) 904-9200.

(Right) Assistant PrincipalStephanie Cook gets slimed bystudents. (Far right) SchoolBoard Member Marcia Andrewsspeaks at the rally.

ing experience.”Dream Middle School students

will be raising money in the fall fortheir next eco-expedition, which

will take place in the spring of 2013.To find out more about the school,visit www.dreamideal.com or call(561) 791-2881.


PALMS WEST PEOPLEStudents From Western Communities Attend ‘Bully’ Screening In WPB

You could hear a pin drop dur-ing the special preview screeningof the nationally acclaimed docu-mentary film Bully held March 11at the Muvico Parisian theaters inCityPlace.

Approximately 400 Palm BeachCounty middle school students,their parents and teachers, whoparticipated in the Do the WriteThing Challenge this past year,were invited to see the film courte-sy of Pepe Fanjul Jr., senior vicepresident of Florida Crystals Cor-poration, and Muvico Parisian atCityPlace.

Teens, as well as parents, weremoved by the film’s compellingstories of five teenagers who werethe victims of bullying and theconsequences of it.

“It rips your heart out to seewhat’s going on and what somany are closing their eyes to,”said Christina Gambale, a sev-enth-grade student at PalmSprings Middle School and the2011 Ambassador for the Do theWrite Thing Challenge programin Palm Beach County. “The Bul-ly documentary is somethingevery child, parent and educatorshould see.”

Bullying among teens has re-ceived national attention in thenews. This year, 13 million Ameri-can kids were bullied. Three mil-lion felt unsafe at school.

“This film has an important mes-sage for teens and their parentsand reinforces the efforts of theDo the Write Thing Challenge pro-

gram to reduce violence in homes,schools and neighborhoods byencouraging students to make apersonal commitment to do some-thing about the problem,” Fanjulsaid.

Last year, more than 19,000 PalmBeach County middle-school stu-dents wrote about their experiencewith bullying and teen violenceand more importantly what theycan do to stop it.

“I feel Bully has the potential tomake a true impact,” ninth-graderJacob Wesson said. “I would haveliked to have seen more about cy-ber-bullying.”

For additional informationabout the Do the Write ThingChallenge, call Alan Gallardo at(561) 832-0623 or visit its web siteat www.dtwt.org.

Mother-daughter stylist team Claudiaand Monica Diesti, along with Eclipse HairSalon owner Jorge Briceno, recently en-joyed a unique class with celebrity hairstylists Ted Gibson and boyfriend JasonBacke at the W. Hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

Gibson has become a household namein the fashion world, making his markyears ago as the one who gave Angeli-na Jolie her big makeover, taking herfrom her darker, more gothic look to thestylish brunette she’s now known for.But Gibson is now most recognized fromBravo’s hit show What Not To Wear. Gib-son and Backe are the go-to guys forHollywood A-listers like Anne Hatha-way and Deborah Messing, and havecreated runway looks for fashion giantssuch as Chanel, Prada and Versace.

The famous New York duo held a smallclass at their newly opened Ted GibsonSalon inside the W. Hotel, and coveredtheir latest techniques and trends. Jason Backe, Claudia Diesti, Ted Gibson, Jorge Briceno and Monica Diesti.

PHOTOS COURTESY GINA FONTANA

(Clockwise from top left) West-ern Pines Middle School stu-dent Grace Marks with her par-ents Kaye and Richard Marks;Wellington Landings MiddleSchool student Juli-AnnRamirez with her parentsJoanne and Jose Ramirez; Dothe Write Thing Challenge ChairBill Bone and his son Rex, a stu-dent at the Bak Middle Schoolof the Arts, with Emilia Fanjuland Event Chair Pepe Fanjul Jr.;and Wellington Landings stu-dent Ashley Klinkowitz (secondfrom right) with her parentsSteve and Jennifer, and siblingsTyler and Ally.

Moylan Honored In OrlandoSeminole Ridge High School English

teacher Virginia Lynn Moylan has beenchosen as the 2012 Florida Book AwardSilver Medal recipient in the category ofnon-fiction for her literary biography ZoraNeale Hurston’s Final Decade , publishedby the University Press of Florida.

Moylan and this year’s other FloridaBook Award winners were recognized atthe annual Historical and Cultural Awardsceremony sponsored by the Florida Divi-sion of Cultural Affairs. Moylan was rec-ognized at the Florida Library Associa-tion Conference Banquet April 19 in Or-lando.

The biography chronicles the last tenyears of the life of Florida writer Zora NealeHurston, one of the most celebrated Afri-can-American authors of the 20th centu-ry, best known for her novel Their EyesWere Watching God. “As an avid Hurst-on fan, I was inspired to write my bookafter observing that previous biographies

had offered scant details about her lastdecade,” Moylan said.

As a high school English teacher whocovers Hurston and her works, Moylansaid the book has been a great resource.“I use it not only as a source of new re-search about her life, but as a rich resourceof African-American and Florida history,”she said. “I was very honored to learnthat my book has also been purchased bycollege libraries around the country, in-cluding Harvard and Yale, and is sellingvery well in Europe and Asia.”

The Florida Book Awards — America’smost comprehensive state book awardsprogram — was established in 2006 to rec-ognize, honor and celebrate annually thebest Florida literature published in the pre-vious year.

“Now, when I tell my students that theirdreams can come true if they have thecourage to pursue them, they know I meanit,” Moylan said.

Diestis Work With Celebrity Hair Stylists


NEWSOUR KIDS WORLD FAMILY FUN FEST RETURNS TO FAIRGROUNDS EXPO CENTER

J.T. Curtis climbs the rock wall.Jennifer, Frank and Natalia Lobuono with Star Wars

characters from the 501st Everglades Squad.

COURTYARD ANIMAL HOSPITAL PRESENTS DOG WASH AT WELLINGTON DOG PARKDog lovers gathered Sunday, April 22 at the Wellington Dog Park on Greenbriar Blvd. for “Dogs Day at the Spa” hosted by CourtyardAnimal Hospital. Four-legged friends were able to get baths and microchips, while owners were able to enjoy training demonstrations,raffles, canine rescue groups, local artist Jan Levy’s “bark art” and other vendors offering dog-friendly products. All proceeds benefitedthe dog park.

Alexa Dellamea gives gymnastics a try. Ryder Croci visits with Ronald McDonald. Lyndsay and Erika Lopata hold a bunny.

Dr. Marc Pinkwasser, Lynsey Baggs, Nicole Thomasand Sherri Garz of Courtyard Animal Hospital. Danitza Zaplana and Kaelyn Thomas give Red a bath.

Mario Bonilla and Aviana Robaina feed a goat.

Our Kids World Family Fun Fest was held Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22 at the South Florida Fairgrounds Expo Center. Kids ofall ages enjoyed hands-on educational activities, meeting sports mascots and television characters, and bouncing around in theinflatables Fun Zone. PHOTOS BY LAUREN MIRÓ/TOWN-CRIER

PHOTOS BY LAUREN MIRÓ/TOWN-CRIER

Artist Jan Levy showsoff her “bark art.”

Carolyn Potter andTrace enjoy the day.

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Keiser University offers:


NEWS

Minto’s Callista model, offering 4,952 total squarefeet — 3,655 of air conditioned space — at Olympia.

Minto’s Olympia Development In Wellington Is Nearly Sold OutFeaturing a stunning array of

single-family designer homes in-corporated into a serene naturalenvironment, Olympia has attaineda sterling reputation as one of thefinest master-planned communi-ties.

And now, with fewer than 100home sites remaining, time is run-

ning short to enjoy life at the cele-brated community.

Olympia offers a variety of floorplans and unparalleled amenitiesat unprecedented values perfect-ly suited for any budget, with pric-es ranging from the $300s to the$700s. And Minto has made it eas-ier than ever to enjoy the Olympia

lifestyle: Minto will pay closingcosts on select homes when buy-ers utilize the services of FBCMortgage and Founders Title fortheir closings. Ask a Minto newhome sales professional for com-plete details.

Located in Wellington, close toshopping, amenities, fine diningand entertainment, Olympia offerssix new models with two- to six-bedroom options, up to six-and-a-half baths, and two- to four-cargarages, with air-conditioned liv-ing space ranging from 2,000 to5,400 square feet.

Olympia is a master-plannedcommunity where you can takefull advantage of a beautiful natu-ral environment incorporatingplentiful lakes and natural pre-serves, walkways and trails, aswell as the extraordinary, Mediter-ranean-style Villa Olympia cluband recreational hub — inspiredby some of the world’s most fa-mous resorts — boasting an arrayof amenities, with a gigantic la-goon-style pool and island spa asits centerpiece.

Minto, recognized as a leader inquality construction, level of amen-ities, community appearance andenergy efficiency, brings over halfa century of award-winning quali-ty, service and design to Olympia.Minto’s unique MasterCare 10-Step Quality Assurance Programensures that everything aboutbuying a new home at Olympia isthoroughly enjoyable before, dur-ing and after construction. Best ofall, Minto makes the home-pur-chasing process a breeze, with ex-pert mortgage services to meet thespecific needs of buyers.

The Olympia New Home Salesoffice is located at 2232 Merri-weather Way in Wellington, andis open Monday through Satur-day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; andSunday from noon to 6 p.m. Toreach Olympia from Florida’s Turn-pike heading north, exit at LakeWorth Road, go west to StateRoad 7, turn right and head northto Forest Hill Blvd., turn right, andthen right again at Olympia’s mainentrance, following the signs tothe New Home Sales office. From

Florida’s Turnpike heading south,exit at Southern Blvd., go west toSR 7 and follow same directions.From I-95, exit at Forest Hill Blvd.,go west and turn left at Olympia’smain entrance.

Come check out the exquisitemodels and designs at Olympia.But hurry; time’s running out. Call(888) 755-9662 for more informa-tion about Olympia, or visit www.mintofla.com.

Olympia’s gigantic lagoon-style pool and island spa are thecenterpieces of the Villa Olympia club and recreational hub.

Blottercontinued from page 6

and noon the following day, some-one entered the victim’s unlockedvehicle and stole several tools anda prescription drug bottle. The sto-len items were valued at approxi-mately $142.

APRIL 24 — A resident ofCounterpoint Estates contactedthe PBSO substation in RoyalPalm Beach on Tuesday to reporta case of fraud. According to aPBSO report, the victim’s bankcontacted her to inform her of sus-picious activity on her account.

According to the report, sometimebetween 4 p.m. last Wednesdayand 3 p.m. last Thursday, some-one gained access to her bank cardand made several charges to heraccount. The perpetrator(s) madethree charges of $105.95, $108.71and $1,053.95 at a Publix Supermar-ket in Ocoee, Fla., sometime lastThursday. According to the re-port, the victim said she has herbank card in her possession anddidn’t know how her account wascompromised. There was no fur-ther information available at thetime of the report.

GreenConferenceMay 16-17

continued from page 3farm in Florida; we’re really excit-ed about that,” Harmon said.

Another member of that samepanel will be Susan Skemp, direc-tor of the Southeast National Ma-rine Renewable Energy Center atFlorida Atlantic University.

Other speakers will includeWest Palm Beach Mayor JeriMuoio; Joseph Sanches, chief offacilities management for the PalmBeach County School District;Dale Brill, president of the FloridaChamber Foundation; and DennisGallon, president of Palm BeachState College.

The conference is presented byFlorida City Gas, Florida PublicUtilities and ESG (Energy SystemsGroup). Gold sponsors are FloridaPower & Light, Wind CapitalGroup, Waste Management andthe Palm Beach County Conven-tion & Visitors Bureau.

For more info., visit www.floridagreenconference.com.

B&G ClubApproved,

But FundingQuestioned

continued from page 1“We have a 50-year lease there. Ithink it’s the perfect public-privatepartnership where everyone wins,especially the kids who wouldhave nowhere to go.”

Margolis was also concernedthat some of the council memberswho voted on the item were boardmembers of the club’s Wellingtonbranch.

Village Attorney Jeff Kurtz saidthat many of the approvals weremade before the rules of the PalmBeach County Commission onEthics were developed.

“As a member of the board ofdirectors of a nonprofit organiza-tion,” he said, “as long as nothingwas being gained by you directly,then there was nothing improperabout the vote.”

Under the new rules, theremight have been a conflict, hesaid. “Could someone have madean error as we were getting accli-mated to the new county ethicsordinance?” Kurtz asked. “I’mnot aware of it. But it’s possi-ble.”

Margolis said he felt there wasa perception by the public.

“Even though you don’t finan-cially gain,” he said, “there was a

perception that people do thingsfor their friends. If I were on thecouncil, I would have recusedmyself, or at least brought it outinto the open.”

Vice Mayor Howard Coates saidhe was on the local board of direc-tors at the time.

“I asked each time this came upif I needed to recuse myself,” hesaid. “The village attorney’s inter-pretation at the time was that aslong as there was no personal ben-efit to you, then you don’t have torecuse yourself.”

Coates noted, however, thatonce the ethics ordinance becamelaw, he resigned from the board ofdirectors to end any perception ofimpropriety. He said that if therewas concern about impropriety,they should not go forward withit.

“I don’t think it’s in anyone’sbest interest to go forward with aproject that carries with it somequestion of whether it was legiti-mate to begin with,” Coates said.“I don’t want to proceed under anair that it was passed improperly.”

Margolis noted that he wasn’tpointing fingers.

“I’m not casting stones at anycouncil person for going throughthis process,” he said. “I just wouldhave done it differently.”

O’Connor said that there is avast difference between the localboards and the actual board of di-rectors of the Boys & Girls Clubsof Palm Beach County.

“Our local boards are advisoryboards,” she said. “They are notsetting policy. They are not sign-ing contracts or entering intoagreements.”

Coates asked what would hap-pen if the council voted againstthe measure. Kurtz said that Well-ington would risk the $600,000contribution from the county.

But Margolis stressed that hewasn’t looking to halt the project.“I’m not going to stop the pro-cess,” he said. “We need to haveit built, but I would have preferreda different process.”

In other business, councilmembers directed staff to draftregulations for aviation in thevillage.

Village Manager Paul Schofieldnoted that residents have contact-ed Wellington with concerns thatjets could be flying over the com-munity in light of a decision topave the runway in the Aero Clubcommunity.

Schofield said that permits topave the runway were issued in2010.

“What are the parameters thatWellington wishes to establish forcivil aviation in Wellington?” heasked.

He noted that civil aviation canbe found both in the Aero Club aswell as the McCarthy landing stripwest of Flying Cow Road.

“What’s important to rememberis what these two facilities are,”he said. “They’re both civil avia-

tion facilities. They’re not intend-ed for large aircraft.”

The Aero Club’s runway wouldbe considered an airpark,Schofield said. “They typicallyrestrict commercial activities,” hesaid. “They’re generally limited touse by residents and theirguests.”

Schofield said that the AeroClub has specific covenants gov-erning flight in the community.

“They prohibit jet aircraft,” hesaid. “They limit takeoff and land-ing times to visual flight times —meaning you have to be able tosee the runway. They limit the run-way to members as a private facil-ity.”

Additionally, the bylaws limitplanes to civil aircraft owned orleased by members. “That’s a pret-ty clear indication for what the in-tent of the development was,” hesaid.

Schofield said that staff hadcome up with several recommen-dations for regulations. Sugges-tions were to limit aircraft activityto private, non-commercial uses,to create limits on sound, and toset guidelines for travel during theday and at night.

Schofield also suggested thatWellington formally codify the lim-itations established by the AeroClub.

“Since the restrictions [in theAero Club] can be changed by atwo-thirds majority vote in the as-sociation,” he said, “it would be

better to have a set of regulationsthat lay down what the council’spolicy would be.”

Councilwoman Anne Gerwignoted that the McCarthy landingstrip allows for skydiving already,which is a commercial use.

“I know we don’t want commer-cial use,” she said, “but I don’twant to preclude them from usingthe property as they do now.”

Schofield suggested includingall current uses in the ordinanceas non-conforming uses.

“Whether the runway is pavedor not paved,” he said, “there willbe no doubt in anyone’s mindwhat the village intends to allow.You will have an ordinance limita-tion that is enforceable.”

Council members voted unani-mously to direct staff to create anordinance.

AppointmentsMattioli,Webster

Clashcontinued from page 1

ing local businessman Eric Gor-don as an alternate. This wouldleave Larson and Ellis off theboard.

Mayor Matty Mattioli, who re-linquished his job as liaison to thezoning commission recently atWebster’s request, was angeredby the proposal, saying that in his20 years on the council, the policyhad been for commissioners whowish to stay on to be reappointedand alternates to be moved up tovacant seats.

“If we’re going to make chang-es, it should be by a majority ofthis council, not by one person,”Mattioli said.

Mattioli had not been at the pre-vious council meeting, when Web-ster first proposed replacing com-mission members. The councilpostponed the issue until it hadall members present last week.

The discussion began with atense interchange. When Webstertried to raise an objection to theproceedings and interrupted Vice

Mayor Fred Pinto, who had beengiven the floor, Mattioli shut offWebster’s microphone and de-manded that she wait her turn tospeak.

Continuing his comments, Pin-to said he thought the councilshould find common ground. “Ithink if there are issues with theway that committee is performing,we need to address the issues,”he said. “If they are not perform-ing in a way that’s representativeof this council, you don’t have towait until someone’s term is up toremove them.”

Councilman Jeff Hmara saidthat after the previous meeting,he had looked for something inwriting that would help guide hisdecision, and he could not findanything.

“As the new guy, that seems tobe the logical thing to do — tofind some documented procedur-al process — and I couldn’t findone,” Hmara said. “For me, one ofthe most important things is thatwe maintain a respectful, civil in-teraction, not only for our owngood, but to be able to work effec-tively.”

Councilman Richard Valuntassaid moving alternates up to va-cancies was the procedure fol-lowed in the past, but it did not

necessarily have to be that way.“Nothing is set in stone,” he said.

Valuntas added that while hepreferred to defer to the liaison’spreference, that is not an absolute.“One thing that the process in thepast reflected to me was not onlycontinuity but predictability,” hesaid. “But we’re the ones who getto decide this.”

When it came her turn to speak,Webster said that in the past, thetypes of applicants who came be-fore the panel were different thanthose coming before the commis-sion in the future, giving as an ex-ample the Aldi grocery chain thatrecently announced plans to lo-cate a regional distribution centerin Royal Palm Beach.

With the village almost builtout, she said the Planning & Zon-ing Commission’s role will focusnot so much on getting homebuilders to conform to codes andordinances, but rather on workingwith businesses to get themthrough the process.

“For the financial stability of ourmunicipality, we are now basicallywooing businesses in, and that’sa different process and it’s a dif-ferent way that we interact withthem,” Webster said. “It’s not theaggressive approach. It needs tobe about building a relationship,

and I don’t see that in the plan-ning and zoning commission thatwe have had up to this date.”

Village Manager Ray Ligginssaid that village staff alwaysstrives for friendly, courteous ser-vice to development applicants. “Ithink that we do have a good rep-utation in this county for that,” hesaid. “We do listen to the appli-cants, and we do try to work withthem in hearing what they want todo on their property and gettingthat consistent with our rules andregulations.”

Webster said she wanted to beon the right side of building thecommunity for the future, explain-ing that she wanted the best qual-ified members possible, and thatsimply being an alternate waitingone’s turn to move up was notnecessarily the best process.

She added that one of the com-ments at the previous meeting wasthat the commission relies heavilyon institutional knowledge. “Insti-tutional knowledge is only validwhen the knowledge is progres-sive and positive,” she said. “Par-ticipants can become complacent,and they are no longer creativeand stimulating.”

During the public comment pe-riod, several of the candidatesseeking appointment to the zon-

ing commission addressed thecouncil.

Webster then made a motion toappoint Martinez and Perrin topermanent seats and Eric Gordonas an alternate, but it died for lackof a second.

Hmara drew from his militarybackground to explain his under-standing of the role of a liaison.

“A liaison officer is one who ischarged with the primary respon-sibility of acting as a communica-tions link between the supportedorganization and the supportingorganization,” he said. “Generallyspeaking, liaison officers don’t re-ally have a lot of authority. Theyhave a lot of responsibility, andmost of it is to communicate effec-tively between the two organiza-tions… [When] I hear about liai-son positions having substantialauthority, it doesn’t fit with myexperience.”

Hmara reiterated that he wasconcerned about not having a writ-ten protocol. “That seems to besomewhat of a problem here,” hesaid. “It might be good to takesome time and actually documentwhat the responsibility, the role,the authority of the liaison officeris, and what the procedure is forselecting new members as theirterms expire… It has a very healthy

influence on an organization, es-pecially when they are struggling,and I would say right now we arestruggling.”

Valuntas said although the liai-son brings recommendations, ev-ery commission appointment onevery board is a council decision.“What protocol is or isn’t, we’renot bound to that,” he said.

As a compromise, Valuntas of-fered a motion to appoint Larsonback to her permanent seat, Mar-tinez to the vacant permanent seatand to return Ellis to her alternateseat. That motion carried 4-1 withWebster opposed.

Hmara said he hoped the coun-cil’s discussion had not had a neg-ative impact on village volunteers.

“It’s difficult, as we all know, toget people to volunteer, and tohave them involved in somethingthat is as difficult as this has been,I’m sorry that that happened,” hesaid. “I hope it won’t turn any-body off to volunteering.”

SurveyEquestrian

Master Plancontinued from page 1

faculty and Equestrian PreserveCommittee members, he said.

But several residents said theyfelt the questions were leading,that not enough people had beensurveyed, and that results mayhave been skewed by people look-ing to influence Wellington’sequestrian future. “Why don’tyou let the people write the ques-tions?” asked resident Bart Novak.

Vos said he did not think thequestions were leading.

He explained that the surveyasked people to rate their feelingstoward a statement from “strong-ly agree” to “strongly disagree”and from “very important” to “notimportant.”

“It had statements like ‘The Vil-lage of Wellington supports theequestrian community,’” he toldthe Town-Crier after the meeting.“Or ‘The bridle paths are not prop-erly connected.’”

Vos explained that a strongstatement that leans one way orthe other is needed to elicit anopinion.

“When you’re asking if some-one agrees or disagrees, you don’twant to have a statement that theyhave no feelings toward,” he ex-plained. “You want to make it assimple as possible. You want tohave some positive and some neg-ative statements for people to re-spond to.”

The next set of statements, hesaid, asked people to gauge howimportant an issue was, topicsranged from bridle trails to trafficand beyond.

The last section was free re-sponse.

“It was open-ended questions,”he said. “And at the end, peoplewere asked if there was anythingelse they wanted to add.”

The surveys were administeredrandomly, he said, but people werealso allowed to volunteer to takethe survey. The survey distin-guishes, however, those who wererandomly sampled from those whovolunteered in order to keep data

from being skewed.“There are people who come up

to us and say they want to takethe survey,” Vos said. “Immediate-ly, when we start the survey, it asksus if the person is a sample or avolunteer. You note that they are avolunteer.”

This method will allow him tolook at the difference in answersbetween those who volunteeredfor the survey and those who wererandomly asked, Vos said. “We willbe able to see if there is a differ-ence in how the people who vol-unteered answered,” he said.

Some residents asked why thesurveys weren’t issued electroni-cally, to reach more people. ButO’Dell said that answers weremore likely to be skewed throughelectronic means.

“Obviously electronic media isthe easiest way for us to get thisout to the population,” he told theTown-Crier. “But with the envi-ronment we were working in, weworried those results could beskewed very easily by the tech-nology that was out there. We feltas though the best approach

would be to do the face-to-facesurveys.”

Though several residents not-ed that there was no way to stopsomeone from taking the surveytwice, O’Dell said he felt that anelectronic option would greatlyincrease that risk.

“When you weighed out theopportunities of someone skew-ing the survey from a technologi-cal perspective versus face-to-face, I think we were better off go-ing face-to-face,” he said.

Radosevich said she thoughtthat the process had not beentransparent and asked Vos if hewould allow the public to see hismethods. He said that he would.

The next step, O’Dell said,would be to analyze the data fromthe surveys and the meetings withresidents to try to find some com-mon ground.

“The whole focus is to find com-monality amongst all our resi-dents,” he said. “Once we findcommonality, we will begin topurse an actual master plan.”

Residents will continue to beable to provide input throughout

DumpingITID, SFWMD

Concernscontinued from page 1

Water Management District, LisaTropepe and our director of oper-ations, Tony LasCasas, all wentand met out at the property yes-terday,” Damone told the Town-Crier on Wednesday. “They havedone some site cleanup, butthere’s definitely some concernsas far as Indian Trail is involved,because there is direct outfall fromthe site into our drainage system.”

Damone said ITID wants thesituation addressed quickly. “I’mpleased that the South FloridaWater Management District is ad-dressing this issue and sees it asan immediate concern,” she said.

SFWMD Lead Regulatory Spe-cialist Kurt Leckler confirmed thathe went to the site Tuesday with

Tropepe and LasCasas. “We’re atthe beginning stages of lookingat the property,” Leckler said.“We’re in the ‘get a permit’ mode.The rest will unfold from that ap-plication.”

According to the notice of vio-lation sent to Ramon Vilarino ofVila Nursery Inc. dated April 12,the activities that have not beenproperly permitted include “fillingand grading, resulting in adverseimpacts to the water resources ofthe district without obtaining anenvironmental resource permitfrom the SFWMD.”

The property owner was direct-ed to cease operations immediate-ly until proper authorization is ob-tained. The SFWMD will seek civilpenalties and recovery of staff in-vestigative costs and may requirerestoration of the site, accordingto the letter. The district is autho-rized to seek civil penalties of upto $10,000 per day, per offense.

the process. “We’re going to bringit back to the community and talkto them,” O’Dell said.

Residents looking to voice theiropinion can e-mail Dr. Jaap Vos [email protected].


Christopher Aguirre Memorial Foundation

The Christopher Aguirre Memorial Foundation is accepting applications for

their Memorial Scholarship to seniors pursuing a four year degree at

Florida State University.

Applications for the Scholarship are available in the Wellington Community High

School Guidance office or can be downloaded on our

website: www.christophermemorial.org

Completed applications can be submitted to WCHS Guidance office or

mailed to the Christopher Aguirre Memorial Foundation:

PO Box 211627 West Palm Beach, Florida 33421

All applications must be postmarked by Friday, May 11, 2012

Scholarship Opportunity for

Wellington Community High School Seniors

INSIDE

THIS WEEK’S INDEXCOLUMNS & FEATURES ........................ 23-24BUSINESS NEWS.................................. 25-27DINING & ENTERTAINMENT ...................... 31SPORTS & RECREATION........................ 37-40COMMUNITY CALENDAR ......................42-43CLASSIFIEDS ........................................44-50

BusinessPalm Beach Aquatics Specializes InEco-Friendly Environmental ServicesKeeping the lakes and environment clean since 1998,Palm Beach Aquatics offers full-service restorationand maintenance. Palm Beach Aquatics specializesin anything pertaining to light environmental mainte-nance, wetland restoration and mitigation mainte-nance for compliance with EPA standards. The com-pany uses fewer chemicals to treat lakes and wet-lands, and has adapted the use of Weedoo Boats.

Page 25

SportsWHS Girls LacrosseTeam Finishes SeasonSecond In DistrictThe Wellington High School girlsvarsity lacrosse team finishedsecond in the district champion-ships after a narrow 15-14 lossto Park Vista at home. Bothteams went goal-for-goal earlyin the game, but Park Vistajumped out to a lead in the sec-ond half, leaving the Lady Wol-verines struggling to catch up.

Page 37

Troubles? Diane Sasscer Suggests A Saddle FittingDiane Sasscer of Saddle Fit by Diane has fit thousands of horsesover the years. Based in Wellington, Sasscer works out of her carand sets up booths at many dressage shows. Sasscer can workon most brands of saddles. She also visits barns and providespersonal service. Ellen Rosenberg’s Column, Page 23

WHS Lacrosse Boys Edge Broncos For District TitleThe Wellington High School boys varsity lacrosse team won theDistrict 23 championship Wednesday, April 17, defeating PalmBeach Central 8-7 in a game played at Park Vista High School.Both teams made it to the final match after winning their semifi-nal games. Page 37

A TOWN-CRIER PUBLICATION

ShoppingSpreeShoppingSpree



FEATURESGot Troubles? Diane Sasscer Suggests A Saddle Fitting

Tales FromThe Trails

By EllenRosenberg

While watching the Palm Beach Derby afew weeks back, I met a delightful womannamed Diane Sasscer. She had a comfortablecanopy set up over her store-on-the-go, sell-ing Albion and Dobert saddles, bridles, dres-sage whips and some strap goods. We struckup a conversation.

Originally from Albany, N.Y., she moved toSouth Florida 13 years ago and now lives inWellington. She owns two horses, a 29-year-old retired Thoroughbred and an 8-year-oldHanoverian mare.

“I ride dressage — loosely,” Sasscerlaughed. “Actually, I work at it. It’s a journeythat never ends, even though I work very hardat it.”

Although she sells saddles, what she real-ly does is fit saddles — that is, make sureeach saddle fits each horse correctly. She fellinto this field quite by accident.

“About 16 years ago, I attended a saddlefitting clinic by Jan Jacobson, near where Ilived in Virginia,” Sasscer recalled. “I’ve al-ways been a little anal retentive about my hors-es. I truly love them and always want the bestfor them.”

A saddle problem led her to search for asolution.

“I found out that my saddle didn’t fit, eventhough it was one of the very top brands,”

Get updates all week long... follow EllenRosenberg on Twitter at twitter.com/HorseTalkFL or stop by the Tales from theTrails page on Facebook and click “like.”

Sasscer said. “It was too narrow, and that’swhy I was having such problems. When Iasked my horse to move off my leg, it felt as ifwe were the last ones on the ice before theZamboni machine came out and smoothed itdown: horribly choppy and uncomfortable.No wonder my poor horse was resistant andswishing his tail all the time. I’d thought hewas just being uncooperative. I had no ideahe was in pain.”

Jacobson owned the distributorship forAlbion saddles. “I tried one of hers, one thatfit my guy, and went for a ride. Oh my gosh,what an immediate reaction! Now, we felt likethe first ones on the ice after the Zamboni,”Sasscer said. “There was an immediate, hugechange. Before, it was like walking in shoeswhich look good but feel awful. After, it waslike running in perfectly fitting sneakers. That’swhen I learned how magical having a saddlewhich fits perfectly can be.”

At the time, Sasscer worked in corporateAmerica, and riding was (and remains) just ahobby. Her husband retired, and they decid-ed to move to a sunnier locale, which is how

they ended up in Wellington.Although she rides, Sasscer doesn’t show.“God, no,” she laughed. “I’d never show,

especially here. I never enjoyed showing. Ilive vicariously through my clients, ride downcenter line with them.” See ROSENBERG, page 24

Clients?“What happened was, in talking with Jan,

she asked if I wanted to learn saddle fittingand represent Albion down here. And that’show I got started,” Sasscer explained. “Over

Diane Sasscer of Saddle Fit by Diane at her show booth.

FEATURES April 27 - May 3, 2012 WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM The Town-Crier

Here is a socially irresponsible column foryou: I love this weather we’re having. I walkedto the mailbox and didn’t have to take a show-er afterward. In addition, a cool breeze ruffledmy hair. And it’s April! Awesome.

Meteorologists (whom I personally consid-er to be the Chicken Littles of TV news) cau-tion us that the Midwest’s unseasonably warmwinter and Florida’s wonderfully long-lastingspring can be attributed to La Niña, whichcomes around only every few years. Theysay that global warming probably contribut-ed to this mildness mash-up as well.

Blah-de-blah-de-blah-blah-blah. Can’t wejust be happy for once? Can’t we just assume

La Niña? Global Warming? I Just Like The Nice WeatherDeborahWelky is

The SonicBOOMER

that the stars have aligned perfectly to makeus comfortable? Must the sky continually befalling?

In fact, I have a question for the guy infront of the map, namely: “What can I do toencourage La Niña to return more often andto speed up this process of global warming?Because, really, the weather is nice.”

Despite polar bears adrift on ice chunks (andthey don’t look all that unhappy, to tell youthe truth), everything seems to be going, well,

swimmingly. If the ice caps melt, the polar bearswill have to adapt, just like my ancestors hadto when they ventured out of the ocean ontoland.

We did it; why can’t they? Not only that,but I didn’t even have legs when I showed up— had to walk on my gills until future genera-tions developed feet, then Nikes. Took meforever to learn to walk upright. You think thatwas easy? You think I wasn’t taunted? (“Yourfather and I never walked upright, and thatwas good enough for us! But not this nextgeneration — oh no. You kids think you’re sosmart!”)

But we did it, and the polar bears could,too. How cool would it be to see polar bearswalking around on two legs? Slathering onsunscreen? Celebrating their move to thesouth by toasting each other with Cokes?(“Canada is so warm! I’m going to try Floridanext. I hear manatees are a lot slower than

seals.” “Yes, Sheldon, and the streets arepaved with gold. Be realistic.”)

Here I must interject a bit of my own histo-ry. When my maternal grandmother, AnnaPolivka, left Poland alone at age 15, it wasbecause things weren’t going so well in hernative land, either. She’d heard the samestreets-paved-with-gold story, so she screwedup her courage and headed for America. Andyou know what happened the minute shestepped off the boat?

She found a gold coin lying in the street.So not everything is doom and gloom.

Sometimes relocation is good. Sometimesevolution is good. If the dinosaurs had onlyplanned ahead and built underground shel-ters, we wouldn’t be looking at their bones inmuseums today.

Hopefully, the polar bears are smarter thanthat. And if manatees aren’t to their taste, per-haps they’d like to try a meteorologist or two.

The problem with The Lucky One is notthat it’s predictable; does anyone think Su-perman would die in one of his movies? Orthat the hero would not get the girl? The prob-lem really is that while set up as one of thetypical Nicholas Sparks romances, there areholes in the story line that make it a bit pathet-ic.

Logan (Zac Efron) is a GI in Iraq who seessomething a bit off the road and checks it out.His friends, moving on down the road, getblown up. He survives because he stoppedand found a picture of a pretty girl. He be-comes obsessed with finding her. If this werenot a romance, he might even be called a stalk-er.

At any rate, he discovers who she is whenhe’s home in Colorado after his combat tourand, to keep his treasured dog with him, walksto Louisiana… another plot hole. That is onevery long walk. And when he meets the girl,Beth (Taylor Schilling), instead of telling herwhy he had walked across the country, de-cides he wants to keep it a secret. Somehow,Logan feels too insecure to explain why hecame, which, in the long run, of course, is

supposed to provide suspense. And no oneseems to really wonder why someone fromColorado would come all the way to Louisi-ana to work in a kennel. They do have thosein both states.

So Beth, working at a kennel, suddenly hasa new guy around. That bothers her ex-hus-band, Keith (Jay R. Ferguson), a real meaniewho just happens to be the law in the town.

So Logan works his butt off, flexes somemuscles, and Beth notices. Really notices. Ofcourse, there are problems. Every romanticstory needs them. In this case, it’s the factthat Logan has trouble telling Beth the reasonhe came after her, making her wonder just a bitif he wasn’t somewhat creepy. And, of course,

there’s the ex-husband. But since this is a ro-mance, we know what will eventually happen.

The leads are too bland. Efron has bulkedup from the skinny kid he was in High SchoolMusical but still lacks maturity. Staring out atthe scenery with a blank look on your face isnot really acting. Schilling is pretty enough,but in this mild romantic piece, the moviemak-ers almost have to point out that she is firstgetting turned on and later falling in love. Fer-guson is over the top as the bad guy, actuallygiving a strong performance. Unfortunately,there is no balance at all in the character, whichseriously damages the sense of drama. BlytheDanner is strong as the crotchety grandmoth-er, tossing off pithy one-liners as she pushesfor the relationship.

The worst thing about the film is that byidealizing its characters (Logan is a veteran,loves chess, children — particularly Beth’s— along with dogs and playing the piano), itremoves a great deal of the drama. Of courseBeth will fall for Logan. He is just about per-fect, the fitting counterweight to her misera-ble ex-husband who had made her unhappy.And she is lovely. And so what?

Not Impressed By The New Zac Efron Movie ‘The Lucky One’‘I’ On

CULTUREBy LeonardWechsler

Get your Sonic Boomer humor every day!Follow Deborah Welky on Twitter attwitter.com/TheSonicBoomer. On Facebook,stop by “The Sonic Boomer” page and clickthe “Like” button.

You should want your leads to fall in love.But when they are practically perfect, theyjust don’t come across as real. The leads be-come stick figures; you know where they areheaded, but there’s no dramatic meat on thebone. He’s too pretty to come across as theslightly obsessed lover, and she’s so prettythat you have to know that the ex-husbandwould never be right for her.

The drama level in the picture is not quiteas high as the romance movies produced bythe Hallmark Channel. Those might have lep-rechauns in them, or magical characters of onesort or another. But a perfect man and perfectwoman? Those might be about the rarestthings of all. The confrontation between thehero and the villain just never really explodes.

As a result, this is a sweet film. It is the kindof movie that might make someone feel goodtucked away at home with a loved one. Blandfood is nice when you’re home sick. A littlemore spice makes it interesting. Unfortunate-ly, this movie is not one that makes it worth-while to spend $20 on tickets plus a heftyamount for snacks at your local theater. Waitfor an “on demand” showing or DVD.

RosenbergSaddle Fitting

continued from page 23the years, I’ve fit thousands of horses. It’s aprofession where I’m always learning. Thehorses are my teachers. You learn a techniqueof how to place the wool in the saddle panels,how to lay it in to avoid knots, how to placethe wool so it supports the rider. That supportcan make a huge difference and affect the horseeither positively or negatively.”

Sasscer advises having a saddle fitting be-fore you start riding with a new horse/newsaddle combination: either a new horse withyour old saddle, or your old horse with a newsaddle. A poorly fitting saddle can actuallycause lameness. She once saw this firsthand.

“A client called me to come out to her barn.She’d just bought a young Lusitano stallionand couldn’t wait to start riding him,” Sasscerrecalled. “He was only 2, so I said, ‘Call meback in a year,’ and she did. I went out — I

work out of my car — and we got him fitted,and all was well. I noticed another horse turnedout in a field and asked about him. She told mehe was a 12-year-old retired Morgan. Thatseemed very young to be retired. She ex-plained he’d gone lame. We brought him up, Ifitted him in a new saddle, and she rode himout, perfectly sound. That was the most dra-matic example I ever saw of how something assimple as a properly fitting saddle can make ahuge difference.”

The owner finished her ride with tears inher eyes. “She said he’d been lame for threeyears,” Sasscer said. “After that, he went onto have a career as a riding and show horse —all because of the right saddle.”

How do you know if a saddle doesn’t fitproperly? If something starts to be differentin the horse’s reaction or behavior. If he’s al-ways done something a certain way, and itchanges, have the horse and the equipmentevaluated.

“I usually advise people to have their sad-

dle fit checked once a year,” Sasscer said. “Ifthey’re in heavy competition, then twice ayear.”

Sasscer checks for balance, how the saddlelays on the horse’s back, and for any pressurepoints. Having a properly fitted saddle is onlypart of the equation: You also have to knowexactly how to place it on your horse’s back.This affects both the rider’s position and thehorse’s movement.

Sasscer is a bit of a gypsy. She works out ofher car and sets up her booth at most of thedressage shows. She also visits barns andprovides personal service.

“I can work on most brands of saddles, aslong as the panels are wool-stuffed,” she said.“The ones made in England and Germany gen-erally are. I love what I do. My hobby hasbecome my professional life. It’s the best ofboth worlds.”

For more information, call Diane Sasscer at(561) 649-2314, or visit her web site atwww.saddlefitbydiane.com.

The Kevin Perkins Golf Academy willoffer free junior golf clinics at Palm BeachPolo & Hunt Club in Wellington.

The free junior clinics are open to boysand girls ages 7-17. Golf clubs will be pro-vided if needed.

The free junior clinics will be held duringthe following dates and times: Saturday,April 28 from 1 to 2 p.m.; Saturday, May 5from 1 to 2 p.m.; and Saturday, May 12 from1 to 2 p.m.

Any junior who would like to attend theclinics may register by e-mail at [email protected] or by calling (561) 301-3783.

For more information about the free jun-ior golf clinics and other programs provid-ed by the Kevin Perkins Golf Academy, vis-it www.kevinperkinsgolfacademy.com.

Kevin Perkins GolfAcademy To Host Free

Junior Golf Clinics


BUSINESS NEWS

Palm Beach AquaticsOffers Eco-Friendly

Environmental ServicesBy Jessica Gregoire

Town-Crier Staff Report

Keeping the lakes and environment cleansince 1998, Palm Beach Aquatics offers full-service restoration and maintenance. OwnersJeff Mangel and John Natale — a former ma-rine biologist and management and marketingprofessional, respectively — established thecompany after the two friends decided to com-bine their skills to start a new business.

For 14 years, they have been providing alltypes of lake and environmental maintenanceservices, and have expanded to include a lo-cation in Tampa, which is run by Mangel’sson.

Palm Beach Aquatics specializes in anythingpertaining to light environmental maintenance,wetland restoration and mitigation mainte-nance for compliance with Environmental Pro-tection Agency (EPA) standards. “We do ev-erything from fish-stocking to fountains toaerators,” Mangel said.

Mangel and Natale first meet with clientsfor an initial consultation to understand whatthey want. Based on this assessment, theydetermine what process would be most bene-ficial to get the job done properly with suc-cessful results. “We also educate our cus-tomers,” Natale said. “This is the most impor-tant part because we have to make them un-derstand how the lake is an ecosystem, andthe complexities of how it works.”

Palm Beach Aquatics focuses on keepingthe environment as clean as possible throughvarious eco-friendly processes. One of theways is by using fewer chemicals to treat lakesand wetlands, and they have adapted the useof Weedoo Boats, eco-friendly vessels thatclean lakes and canals without harming theenvironment.

“We have solar aeration systems,” Natalesaid. “Aerations are a bubbler, like in a fishtank that bubble up. They can help put oxy-gen into water, and this helps the water, inturn helping the plants and fish naturally.”

The use of fewer chemicals to treat the en-vironment is extremely important to PalmBeach Aquatics. “We think that is the future,”Natale said.

They have seen the shift in the industry,with the limited use of chemicals over theyears, and an emphasis on alternative pro-cesses. “When we started this company, weprobably had 20-plus chemicals we were ableto use in the field,” Natale said. “We are nowdown to a dozen or less that are in the marketright now.”

Palm Beach Aquatics tries to use the bestpossible alternatives to clean and maintainthe environment.

“The chemicals that we do use are all EPA-approved,” Natale said. “But we are still try-ing to move into an even more green arena,and we believe we are going to be one of thefirst companies in Palm Beach County to bemore green in chemical use.”

Palm Beach Aquatics assists customers inmaking sure they are in compliance with EPAstandards. “We work with mostly develop-ments, from golf courses to communities withHOAs to people with private ponds,” Man-gel said. “We not only want to make sure thatthey are in compliance, but they are moving ina green direction through plants, aerators andmanual removal equipment.”

Keeping the environment clean and free ofchemicals that may be harmful to people’shealth is a major concern for many of PalmBeach Aquatics’ clients. “Especially in theequestrian communities, where they don’twant a lot of chemicals in the water where thehorses might play in or drink it — that hasbecome one of our specialties, working withthe equestrian community,” Mangel said.“And we work with a lot of farmers out here aswell.”

Palm Beach Aquatics is located at 1555 Fol-som Road in Loxahatchee Groves. For moreinformation, visit www.pbaquatics.com or call(561) 719-8900.

Owners John Natale and Jeff Mangel of Palm Beach Aquatics.PHOTO BY JESSICA GREGOIRE/TOWN-CRIER


BUSINESS NEWSWRMC Awarded

Accreditation As APrimary Stroke Center

Realtors Association AwardsLocal Student Contest Winners

RAPB leaders with contest winners at the reception.

Each year, the Realtors Associa-tion of the Palm Beaches (RAPB)partners with the Palm Beach Coun-ty Office of Equal Opportunity topromote the importance of fair hous-ing to local youths with poster, es-say and video contests. This year’stheme was “Fair Housing: We AreAll Part of the Puzzle.”

Students from grade levels three,seven and 11 participated in the con-test by designing posters, writingessays and producing videos thatconvey the importance of fair hous-ing. Through various promotionalavenues, the sponsors and educa-tors encouraged the public to viewthe entries online and vote for theirfavorite.

During the awards reception, Pam-ela Banks, the chairwoman of theRAPB Community Outreach Com-mittee, announced the winners ofthe contest to a room filled with ed-ucators, proud parents and organi-zation members. Pamela Guerrier, di-rector of Palm Beach County’s Of-fice of Equal Opportunity, present-ed a heartfelt address to the audi-ence related to the Civil Rights Actof 1968.

This year’s winners of the poster

contest are as follows: first place,Anthony Alves, Lantana MiddleSchool; second place, William Eli-zondo, Loggers’ Run MiddleSchool; and third place, AlexandriaTrombetta, Lantana Middle School.The winners of the essay contestare as follows: first place, JonahKing, Seminole Ridge High School;second place, Alexandra Dejesus,Atlantis Academy; and third place,

Nicholas Debase, Atlantis Acade-my. Alexa Lightle and Taylor Walshfrom Park Vista High School werenamed the winner of the video con-test. Award recipients were present-ed with certificates of recognitionand gift cards.

For more information about theRealtors Association of the PalmBeaches, visit its web site at www.rapb.com.

Wellington Regional MedicalCenter’s Stroke Program has earnedthe Joint Commission’s Gold Seal ofApproval for accreditation as a pri-mary stroke center demonstratingcompliance with the Joint Commis-sion’s national standards and guide-lines for healthcare quality and safe-ty.

To achieve this prestigious certi-fication, Wellington Regional under-went rigorous on-site evaluation byJoint Commission reviewers withexpertise in stroke care. The deci-sion for certification is based on eval-uation of compliance with the stan-dards and clinical practice guide-lines developed by the AmericanHeart Association/American StrokeAssociation.

“We are so pleased to receive thisdistinction from the Joint Commis-sion and to be recognized for ourcommitment to providing effectiveand timely stroke care for our pa-tients,” Wellington Regional Medi-cal Center CEO Jerel Humphrey said.“This is a major step toward main-taining excellence and continuallyimproving the care we provide.”

Each year, 795,000 people experi-ence a new or recurrent stroke.Stroke is the nation’s fourth-leadingcause of death and the leading causeof serious, long-term disability in theUnited States.

A stroke occurs when the bloodsupply to the brain is interrupted orseverely limited, depriving the braintissue of oxygen and nutrients.Within minutes, brain cells begin todie.

Early stroke treatment can makea big difference in limiting damageand the potential for complica-tions.

Wellington Regional MedicalCenter’s Stroke Center works tospread awareness about strokesymptoms and stroke preventionthrough community lectures andscreenings.

In recognition of Stroke Aware-ness Month in May, Wellington Re-gional Medical Center will be offer-ing free screenings for cholesterol,glucose and blood pressure on Sat-urdays, May 5, 12 and 19 from 9 a.m.to noon. Call (561) 798-9880 for moreinformation.


BUSINESS NEWSSouth Florida Science Museum Breaks Ground On Expansion

Launching the South Florida Sci-ence Museum from good to great,museum leadership and communityleaders invited the general public toa groundbreaking reception April 5at the museum’s Dreher Park facili-ty.

Groundbreaking — Museum CEO Lew Crampton, county commis-sioners Paulette Burdick and Shelley Vana, Matt Lorentzen, CharlieLorentzen, Harrison Fisher, Frances Fisher and WPB Mayor Jeri Muoio.

IMAGE COURTESY LUCIEN CAPEHART PHOTOGRAPHY

Featuring entertainment, refresh-ments, interactive science experi-ments and more, the celebration notonly honored the museum’s past 50years as a beloved South Floridainstitution, it offered leadership anopportunity to unveil plans for the

museum’s new foundation for thenext 50 years.

Earlier this year, the Palm BeachCounty Commission unanimouslyapproved a $2.4 million grant for themuseum’s newly revised expansionplan. Coupled with money raisedfrom the museum’s staff and boardmembers, the current $3 million incash and pledges for the campaignis enough for the museum to breakground on a 6,000-square-foot ex-pansion and to renovate the currentmain exhibit spaces, according toLew Crampton, South Florida Sci-ence Museum CEO.

“For more than 50 years, the SouthFlorida Science Museum has in-spired youth and visitors withhands-on, minds-on experiences,”Crampton said. “Today, with morethan 150,000 visitors per year andan additional 45,000 students beingserved by the museum, we aim toredefine the way we think, learn andinteract with science in our lives. It’simportant to note that the South Flor-ida Science Museum is currently thesecond busiest science center in thecountry. This expansion will take themuseum from a good institution to agreat one. This community deservesan incredible science center and thetime is right to move forward withthis next step.”

According to Crampton, the mu-seum will launch a $1.5 million capi-tal campaign over the next 18months to add quality exhibits andnew visitor amenities to the currentexpansion plans.

Additional plans for the capitalcampaign include a new permanentinteractive exhibit featuring “Sci-ence on a Sphere,” an exploration ofthe world’s climate and natural en-vironment with particular focus on

our region’s specialty, the hurricane;an Everglades exhibit includingaquatic tanks, an outdoor interpre-tive display and a simulated airboatride; and a newly expanded scienceand nature path.

To support the South Florida Sci-ence Museum’s capital campaign ef-forts, contact Development Direc-tor Marcy Hoffman at (561) 370-7738or [email protected], or visit themuseum’s web site at www.sfsm.org.

Royal Palm Beach chiropractor Dr.Matthew Symons has been chosenas the only chiropractic doctor inSouth Florida to be a member ofWellness Advisory Council at theLondon Olympics this August.

The Wellness Advisory Council(WAC) is the official chiropracticand performance provider for theUnited States wrestling, judo,weightlifting and para-olympic vol-leyball teams. WAC also takes careof the 2010 MLS Cup Championsthe Colorado Rapids, the U.S. Mar-tial Arts team and many of the topMMA teams and fighters.

“The doctors of Maximized Liv-ing are an important part of ourteam,” said Jose Rodriguez, CEO ofthe USA Judo team. “We now havedoctors working at multiple compe-titions that range from grassroots

tournaments to the world champi-onships.”

Symons is now in his 11th year ofpractice at his original location inRoyal Palm Beach, serving the com-munity for their healthcare needs. Itis his passion to teach and servethe people of his community thatdrives him daily. Dr. Symons utilizescutting-edge, spinal corrective chi-ropractic. He offers nutritional coun-seling, exercise programs and vari-ous workshops on wellness, stressmanagement, etc. His wellness cen-ter also offers massage therapy.

Symons Family Chiropractic isoffering the Maximized Livinghealthcare delivery system in orderto bring real health to the communi-ty. Call (561) 333-8353 to learn moreabout the Maximized Living health-care system.

Dr. Symons To Work WithOlympic Athletes In London


Academy for Child Enrichment — Summer Camp Children will enjoy field trips and activities such asswimming, bowling, skating, science museum, movies and picnics. Tuition includes camera surveil-lance, creative curriculum, computers and all meals. Registration is now being accepted for Sum-mer Camp. Registration is free for new customers only. Se habla Español. Visit the Academy forChild Enrichment at 700 Camellia Dr., Royal Palm Beach. For more info., call (561) 798-3458 or visitwww.smallworldpbc.com.

Breakers West Summer Camp — Calling all campers for a summer of fun! Children ages 5 to 14 areinvited to Breakers West for Summer Camp 2012. Enjoy wildlife demonstrations, science experi-ments, magic shows, arts & crafts, cooking classes, golf, tennis, basketball, daily swimming instruc-tion and so much more! Camp runs June 11 through Aug .17 (excluding July 2-6), Monday throughFriday from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sessions are $300 per camper, per week , plus a one-time registra-tion fee of $50, which includes a camp essentials bag. Discounts are offered to families registeringmultiple children or for multiple sessions. Af ter-care is available. To register for Breakers WestSummer Camp, call (561) 653-6330.

Camp Cambridge — Camp Cambridge, serving age two through second grade, combines academicexcellence, summertime fun and a safe environment to create an unforgettable summer experi-ence. Theme-based curriculum and in-house field trips complement the concepts explored by all.Year-round, experienced staff continues to nurture. There are nine weeks of camp offered atCambridge Schools, located at 1920 Royal Fern Drive in Wellington. Activities include: swimming,art, math, computers, sports, science and cooking. A certified swim instructor provides instructionto children ages 3 and up, Mommy & Me classes, private/group lessons and team swim programs.Bilingual classes, kindergarten readiness and enrichment classes available as well. For more info.,visit www.cambridgepreschools.com.

Camp Gan Israel Day Camp — Camp Gan Israel has a program geared for your child! Understandingthat all kids are unique and are drawn toward different activities, Camp Gan Israel offers somethingfor everyone. There are professional sports instructors, baking experts, dance instruction, jewelrymaking, karate instruction, trips to exciting local venues, swimming, boating, scrapbooking, edibleart and so much more. Camp Gan Israel runs from June 18 through July 20, Monday through Friday,9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The camp will take place at Palm Beach Central High School and accepts childrenfrom 3 to 13 years. To register, visit www.wellingtonjewishcenter.org or call (561) 333-4663.

Camp Giddy-Up — Ravenwood Riding Academy has been located in Wellington for 22 years. Li-censed and insured, with all safety equipment provided, they are located on a beautiful, safe andclean farm with plenty of shade. Ravenwood is now accepting 12 students per session, ages 6-14.Camp hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. Campers learn safety, horse care andgrooming, with riding lessons daily, as well as scheduled visits with a blacksmith, horse vet andequine dentist. Sibling discounts or multi-session discounts are available. Camp Giddy-Up has a fullstaff and a hands-on director. Register today by calling (561) 793-4109 or visit www.ravenwoodridingacademy.com. Hurry, sessions fill up quickly!

Casperey Stables Horse Camp — Casperey Stables is a small, fun-filled day camp for children ages7 to 14. With four riding opportunities each day, arts & crafts and outdoor games, campers find littletime to be bored. The low counselor-child ratio ensures your child will receive individual attention.There are camp sessions for spring and winter school breaks, and during the summer, each two-week session has a theme, such as Indian Days, Circus Days and Medieval Days. Casperey Stableshas a weekly swim party and ends each session with a horse show and family BBQ. Call soon: thissmall, quality program fills quickly! To learn more about the camp, located at 2330 D Road inLoxahatchee Groves, call (561) 792-4990 or visit www.caspereystables.com.

Dream Believer Stables Horse Camp — Dream Believer is devoted to education of horsemanship,encouraging a healthy relationship between horse and rider, to develop confidence whether you area competitive rider or just wanting to enjoy the pleasure aspect of riding. The family atmosphereencourages strengthening knowledge through hands-on horse care. Learn every aspect of horsecare from riding to bathing. At Dream Believer, your child will feel as if they have their own horse.The program accepts beginning level through advanced riders in the riding academy. Let them knowwhat your goals are, and they will help you achieve them. The program is located at 16600 HollowTree Dr., Wellington. For more info., call (561) 289-8515 or visit www.dreambelieverstables.com.

High Touch High Tech/The Lab — The Lab is happy to announce that it is expanding into a largerfacility located near State Road 7 and Lantana Road. Science is presented by High Touch High Tech,the leader in hands-on science education for the last 17 years. Each day will be a new adventurefrom interacting with “lab critters” to launching rockets and panning for gems. The program offersaffordable pricing, experiments with lots of cool science take-homes, art, physical activities andmore. The Lab taps into children’s natural curiosity and provides them with safe and fun activitiesthat help them learn about the world around them. Expect awesome fun as kids make slime, eruptvolcanoes, make ice cream, tie dye t-shirts and more! Call (561) 444-3978 for info.

Junior Golf Foundation of America Golf Camp — Join the Summer Junior Golf Camp at OkeeheeleeGolf Course, Park Ridge Golf Course and John Prince Golf Learning Center. New or seasoned golferswill develop skills while having a blast doing so. The Junior Golf Foundation of America providesjunior golfers with the tools to enjoy the game for a lifetime. Professional PGA/LPGA golf instructors,trained coaches and staff are carefully picked for their love of junior golf, teaching abilities andinspirational approach. The program emphasizes safety, fun, sportsmanship and personal atten-tion. Camps run 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday with extended camp available until 3 p.m.at Okeeheelee. Written evaluation reports, prizes/trophies, of ficial JGFA items, a certif icate ofcompletion and a pizza party on the last day is included. Also available: camps for 3-5 year olds,camps for advance/tournament golfers, Junior Golf tournaments, weekly programs and leagues,walk-up clinics, LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Club and Summer Play Pass. Visit www.JGFA.org or call (561)964-GOLF for more information.

Noah’s Ark Summer Camp — Children will enjoy field trips and activities such as swimming, bowling,skating, science museum, movies and picnics. Tuition includes camera surveillance, creative cur-riculum, computers and all meals. Registration is now being accepted for both Summer Camp.Registration is free for new customers only. Se habla Español. Noah’s Ark is located at 14563Okeechobee Blvd., Loxahatchee Groves. For more information, call (561) 753-6624 or visit www.smallworldpbc.com.

Pierce Hammock Elementary Summer Camp Program — Summer is just around the corner, somake plans now to sign up with Pierce Hammock Elementary School. Pierce Hammock has beenserving the west area since 2004 and would love for you to join in the summer fun. Monday is on-campus activity day: participate in arts & crafts, sports, cooking, computers and more. Tuesdaythrough Friday will be off-campus days. Field trips include museums, wildlife excursions, waterparks, arcades and other exciting places. Hurry, sessions fill quickly. For more information, or toregister, call (561) 633-4530 or visit www.edline.net/pages/Pierce_Hammock_Elementary/Afterschool and click on “2012 Summer Camp Info.”

Royal Palm Covenant Tutoring Summer Camp 2012 — Children ages 5 to 14 will enjoy field trips toLion Country Safari, museums, parks, bowling, movies, the zoo and activities such as sports, arts &crafts, cooking and more fun. Camp runs Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Open enroll-ment for the camp is going on now. A one-time registration fee of $25 per child includes a T-Shirt. Thecamp is located at 660 Royal Palm Beach Blvd., Royal Palm Beach. Call (561) 793-1077 to registeror for more information.

Temple Beth Torah’s Leonie Arguetty Preschool — If your child is between 2 and 6 years old,“Summer of Fun” Enrichment Camp at Temple Beth Torah’s Leonie Arguetty Preschool is the place tobe! Your child will enjoy a varie ty of fun activities that will make them smile, while promotinglearning and social development. Activities include: arts & crafts, gymnastics, computers, sports,nature, cooking, water play and a state-of-the-art playground. They’re sure to love the weeklyenter tainment, including High Touch High Tech, storytellers and animal shows. All of this in a lovingand nurturing environment. The program is full time or part time for eight weeks. Free summer VPKis available for those entering kindergarten who have not yet used their voucher. Now enrolling forpreschool 2012-13. Call Sandy at (561) 793-2649 for more information, or e-mail [email protected].

The Good Earth Farm — The Good Earth Farm in Loxahatchee Groves is a nonprofit animal sanctuaryand rescue for horses and other large animals, and the only children’s zoo in South Florida. Thefarm has offered a camp since 1999. The camp promotes a healthy respect for animals and offersa fun-filled summer for your child with riding lessons, swimming, working with llamas, alpacas, minihorses and other farm animals. The art program is second to none, working with 3D design, drawing,painting and this summer felting, using the farm’s own llama and alpaca wool! Where else can youbrush and care for a baby zebra? This summer, Good Earth Farm is lucky to have its cafe open forlunch. The program is for six weeks, and your child can attend as many weeks as they want, from 9a.m. to 3 p.m., with aftercare available. For more info., call Nancy at (561) 792-2666.

Tiny Tikes — Tiny Tikes camp is geared toward the elementary-age camper. Daily activities are sureto keep the campers happy, busy and engaged. Trips include bowling, skating and movies weekly,as well as special trips including the zoo, science museum and much more! They have threeconveniently located centers which open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. Activities occur throughoutthe day, both at the center and out on the bus. Meals are included. Call (561) 790-1780 now toreserve your space or visit Tiny Tikes at 16245 Okeechobee Blvd. in Loxahatchee.

Zolet Arts Academy — Zolet is in its 23rd year offering professional fine arts classes in the originalWellington Mall, Suite 4. The summer camp program runs Monday through Thursday from 1:30 p.m.to 4:30 p.m., starting June 11 for ages 6-8 and 9-14 featuring drawing, painting, sculpture and crafts.No two days are alike. Rotating subjects and media include: acrylics, watercolors, tempera,fingerpaints, chalk & oil pastels, charcoal, pen & inks, block & mono printing, 3D collage, wood,clay, tile, papier mache, textiles and observational drawing/shading for audition prep. Individual-ized instruction for all skill levels. Take home completed work daily. Total cost includes all freesupplies: $190 per week. Call (561) 793-6489 for more information.


DINING & ENTERTAINMENT‘Memories Of Elvis’ Tribute Show On May 4 In Boca RatonAs part of its successful Friday Night Live

monthly entertainment series, DowntownBoca will feature evening headliner ChrisMacDonald — the “ultimate Elvis tribute art-ist” — performing live with his concert bandand dancers in Sanborn Square on Friday,May 4.

MacDonald will literally “rock the blocks”and streets around the park in true sock hop/Boca Bop fashion, expecting his current andsoon-to-be fans to be singing and dancing inthe streets during this free and open-to-the-public event

Visitors are encouraged to “come early, staylate... where something for everyone awaits”as thousands have done for previous FridayNight Live events, which included the CityLink Beerfest in March and a Latin jazz per-formance by the popular Tito Puente Jr. inApril.

Friday Night Live festivities begin at 6:30p.m. with the popular Gourmet Truck Expo thatwill be serving up a unique street-side culi-nary experience with café seating, followedby a themed pre-show dance showcase andgroup lesson of the official Downtown BocaBop line dance by the Fred Astaire Dance Stu-dio in downtown Boca at 7 p.m., and ChrisMacDonald and his “Memories of Elvis” high-energy tribute show will bring back the magicof the King of Rock ’n’ Roll when he takes thestage at 7:30 p.m.

With this newly updated production, com-plete with costumes, dancers and concert

band, the show will include production num-bers with costume changes and songs repre-senting the different stages of Presley’s in-credible career including the 1950s, the mov-ies, the 1968 comeback and the 1970s WhiteFringe Vegas concerts.

MacDonald has performed in the famousLegends in Concert stage productionsthroughout the country and has appeared withPresley’s own original backup group the Jor-danaires. He has the honor of being the onlytribute artist approved and contracted by ElvisPresley Enterprises for the annual Elvis weekand Birthday week festivities at Graceland’sHeartbreak Hotel for seven consecutive years(2000-06).

MacDonald’s full production show hasconsistently sold out venues throughout theUnited States, including those in cities suchas Las Vegas, New York and Miami. Mac-Donald’s vocals have also earned him Bro-ward County’s Florida Country Music Asso-ciation’s Male Vocalist of the Year award anda feature track on The Deuces Wild compila-tion CD which received the FCMA Best CD ofthe Year award.

“We’re looking forward to continuouslybuild upon the early success of the FridayNight Live series with a dynamic act thathas been a hit all over the country,” Down-town Manager Ruby Childers said, addingthat the Friday Night Live event in June isthemed “Walkway to Waterway SummertimeFest,” with Jimmy Buffet and Tom Petty–

style island sounds, dining and shoppingactivities to downtown Boca’s Palmetto ParkRoad area.

On the first Friday of every month, theFriday Night Live series fills parts of down-town Boca Raton (including SanbornSquare and Palmetto Park Road), showcas-ing live themed entertainment by award-winning bands and vocalists as participat-ing shops, restaurants and clubs extendtheir hours for shopping and strolling andoffer Friday Night Live samplings, dis-counts and specials.

In addition, the Gourmet Truck Expo willline the event streets with themed culinaryofferings and café style seating, art galleriesplan exhibitions, boutiques may feature street-side fashion or trunk shows, and more for ex-ploring and enjoying the destination, fromMizner Park to Royal Palm Place, includingthe signature collection of shops and bou-tiques, restaurants and galleries along Palmet-to Park Road and Plaza Real South.

Unless noted, all evenings are free and be-gin with festivities beginning at 6:30 p.m. andlive entertainment to take the stage at 7:30p.m.

Dates and themes planned include the fol-lowing: May 4, Sock Hop/Boca Bop at San-born Square; June 1, Walkway to WaterwaySummertime Fest at Palmetto Park Road; July6 Americana/Picnic in the Park at SanbornSquare; Aug. 3, CountryTown at SanbornSquare; Sept. 7, Brazilian Beat on Palmetto

Park Road; Oct. 5, Community & Culture (lo-cation to be determined); Nov. 2, Spirit ofThanksgiving at Sanborn Square; and Dec. 7,Holiday Sounds at Sanborn Square.

Rain dates may be scheduled for the fol-lowing Friday subject to artist availability;themes are subject to change. For more infor-mation, visit www.downtownboca.org.

Elvis tribute artis Chris MacDonald.

Palm Beach Pops Season Subscriptions Are On Sale NowBob Lappin and the Palm Beach

Pops, Florida’s premier Pops orches-tra, is offering another season ofsophisticated musical entertainmentwith the announcement of six sig-nature concert series. Audiences areinvited to hear “the music you love,live” as the orchestra celebrates 21years of outstanding music from theGreat American Songbook with spe-cial guest artists including Ameri-can Idol finalist Tamyra Gray, pia-nist and vocalist Tony DeSare,Broadway leading lady ChristineAndreas, Vegas superstar ClintHolmes and more.

Led by music director and con-ductor Bob Lappin, the Palm BeachPops performs more than 36 sub-scription concerts a year in SouthFlorida at the Kravis Center for thePerforming Arts in West Palm Beach,the Carole and Barry Kaye Perform-ing Arts Auditorium at Florida At-lantic University in Boca Raton, theEissey Campus Theatre at PalmBeach State College in Palm BeachGardens, as well as at other nationalvenues.

“A subscription to the Palm BeachPops concert season is a great in-vestment into cultural arts in thiscommunity, and as many of our pa-trons know, the performances areincredible,” Executive Director Dav-id Quilleon said. “We rely on ourfamily of subscribers to support ourmusic endeavors and to be able to

bring such world-class concerts witha lush orchestra to this area.”

The 2012-13 season will openNov. 3. Six-concert season subscrip-tions are now on sale for $125 andup. Concerts include:

• “Autumn in New York” — Fromthe East Side to the West Side, Har-lem to the Copa, Broadway to TinPan Alley, experience the music thatembodies the heart and soul of theBig Apple. Performances will takeplace Nov. 3-5 at FAU’s Kaye Audi-torium; Nov. 6 and 7 at the KravisCenter for the Performing Arts; andNov. 8 at PBSC’s Eissey Theatre.

• “Home for the Holidays” —Enjoy holiday favorites along withstandards from the Great AmericanSongbook as the Palm Beach Popsbring season’s greetings to SouthFlorida during the most magical timeof the year. This series will featureTony DeSare, an audience favoritefrom the 2011-12 season and Amer-ican Idol finalist, star of Broadwayand television, Tamyra Gray. Perfor-mances will take place Nov. 26-27 atthe Kravis Center for the Perform-ing Arts; Nov. 28-30 at FAU’s KayeAuditorium; and Dec. 2 at PBSC’sEissey Theatre.

• “Here’s to the Ladies” —Broadway leading actress ChristineAndreas joins the orchestra with atribute to the great ladies of theAmerican Songbook, includingEthel Merman, Barbra Streisand,

Judy Garland and more. Performanc-es will take place Jan. 4-6 at FAU’sKaye Auditorium; Jan. 8 at PBSC’sEissey Theatre; and Jan. 9 and 10 atthe Kravis Center for the Perform-ing Arts.

• “The Maestro of the Movies:The Music of John Williams andMore” — Join the Pops as they paytribute to one of the best compos-ers of film, John Williams, the ac-claimed composer for blockbustermovies such as Star Wars, Schin-dler’s List, Jaws, Superman andmany others. Performances will takeplace Feb. 2, 4 and 6 at FAU’s KayeAuditorium; Feb. 5 at PBSC’s Eis-sey Theatre; and Feb. 7 and 8 at theKravis Center for the PerformingArts.

• “The Music of James Taylor,Billy Joel, Elton John, Paul Simon& More” — Experience an eveningof music featuring songs from BillyJoel, Elton John, Sting, Paul McCart-ney, Paul Simon, James Taylor andmore with Vegas entertainer andaudience favorite Clint Holmes. Per-formances will take place Feb. 25 and26 at the Kravis Center for the Per-forming Arts; Feb. 27 and 28 andMarch 4 at FAU’s Kaye Auditori-um; and March 3 at PBSC’s EisseyTheatre.

• “Sensational Broadway” — APalm Beach Pops tradition, audienc-es will delight in the wondroussongs of musical theater as the Pops

bring Broadway’s favorite hits to theSouth Florida stage. Performanceswill take place March 27-29 at FAU’sKaye Auditorium; March 30 at PB-SC’s Eissey Theatre; and April 1 and2 at the Kravis Center for the Per-forming Arts.

Subscriptions to a series of sixconcerts for the 2012-13 season areon sale now. The cost for subscrip-tions is $125 to $495 for Kravis Cen-ter performances, $138 to $360 forperformances at the Kaye Auditori-um, and $399 to $469 for performanc-es at the Eissey Theatre. To buy tick-ets, call the Palm Beach Pops boxoffice at (561) 832-7677 or visit www.palmbeachpops.org/season.

Individual tickets go on sale inAugust and are priced from $29 to$89. Tickets may be purchased atthe Palm Beach Pops box office at500 S. Australian Ave., Suite 100,West Palm Beach, or by calling thebox office or visiting www.palmbeachpops.org/season.

The Palm Beach Pops box officeis open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon-day through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1p.m. on Sunday. Visit www.palmbeachpops.org for additional infor-mation. Performances begin at 8p.m.

Programs, artists and dates aresubject to change. There are no re-funds or exchanges.

Bob Lappin will lead the Palm Beach Pops through anotherseason of music from the Great American Songbook.


Weekly sessions are Monday – Friday. No camp July 2 – 6, 2012. Discounts will be offered to families registering multiple children or for multiple sessions. Additional fees apply for After Care. Restrictions apply.

A Summer OF fun Breakers West Summer Camp

WEEKLY SESSIONS: June 11 – August 17, 2012 {Excl. July 2 – 6} Monday – Friday | 8:45 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Calling all campers for a summer of a lifetime. Sports-minded, adventure-seeking, nature-loving kids, ages 5 – 14, will find something for everyone at Breakers West, where there is fun for all.

Daily Golf, Tennis, Basketball & Swimming InstructionArts & Crafts | Magic Shows Cooking Classes | Wildlife DemonstrationsScience ProjectsFriday’s Famous Family Cookout & Much More...After Care Available

For more information or to register, please call 561-653-6330.

2012

SPORTS & RECREATIONThe Town-Crier WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM April 27 - May 3, 2012

Wellington’s Allen Moye attacks the Park Vista goal.

WHS Lacrosse Boys Edge P.B. Central For District TitleBy Gene Nardi


The Wellington High Schoolboys varsity lacrosse team won theDistrict 23 championship Wednes-day, April 17, defeating Palm BeachCentral 8-7 in a game played at ParkVista High School.

Both teams made it to the finalmatch after winning their semifinalgame. Wellington faced playoff hostPark Vista and bested the Cobras 13-6. Palm Beach Central edged Cardi-nal Newman 9-8.

Wellington (11-6) started out theirsemifinal match a bit slow as ParkVista (8-9) scored quickly. Welling-ton rallied back, and both squadswent score for score, until the Wol-verines found their rhythm andclosed the first half in the lead 5-2.Wellington never lost their lead therest of the contest and defeated theCobras 13-6. Wellington goalkeep-er Logan Masta made 12 saves forthe Wolverines. Attacker PatrickOporto scored seven goals andmade three assists.

Palm Beach Central (10-9) facedCardinal Newman in their semifinalmatch and quickly found themselvestrailing the Crusaders 2-0. PalmBeach Central attacker Nick Ferrocommanded a rally for the Broncos,putting in two quick scores to evenit up at 2-2. The Broncos were ableto take a halftime lead with a goal tomake the score 5-4. The Crusadersthen tied in the third period 6-6, butPalm Beach Central would answerback and hold on to the 9-8 victory.Ferro scored four goals against Car-dinal Newman, A.J. Blouin put in twogoals and had five assists, and goal-keeper Trent Abel had 11 saves forthe Broncos.

The District 23 championshipgame between Wellington and PalmBeach Central was supposed to beplayed last Friday night, but a light-ning delay caused the game to berescheduled for Sunday. It was thethird and final meeting of the sea-son for the cross-town rivals.

The Broncos led the series com-ing in, winning both games earlier inthe season. The Wolverines werenot to be denied in the final match.Both battled throughout matchingscore for score. Wellington took alate lead and held on to win 8-7, earn-ing the district 23 crown. JasonD’Aoust, Tyler Kuhlman and PatrickOporto each scored three goals.Goalkeeper Logan Masta playedsolid earning 15 saves. Palm BeachCentral finished their season at 10-9.

Wellington hosted St. Andrews(19-2) Tuesday night in the state firstround play-in match, coming awaywith a disappointing 24-4 loss.

Wellington Girls Lacrosse Team Finishes Second In DistrictBy Lauren Miró


The Wellington High School girlsvarsity lacrosse team finished sec-ond in the district championshipsafter a narrow 15-14 loss to Park Vis-ta at home.

Both teams went goal-for-goalearly in the game, but Park Vistajumped out to a lead in the secondhalf, leaving the Lady Wolverinesstruggling to catch up. But Welling-ton battled hard to bring the gamedown to only 1 point, though ulti-mately they fell short.

A lightning delay stopped thegame with only a few minutes left inthe first half. Coming out of thebreak, Olivia DiCarlantonio scoredto tie the score at 6. But the LadyCobras responded with a goal to gointo halftime leading 7-6.

Park Vista scored first in the sec-ond half. But Lady Wolverine Gab-by Klyotskin grabbed the ball offthe next draw and ran unchallengedto the goal to narrow Park Vista’s

lead 8-7. Klyotskin followed it upwith another goal on the next drawto tie the score at 8.

Both teams scored again to tie at9. But soon after, Park Vista put inback-to-back goals to make the score11-9.

Wellington’s Caroline Kurtz, withan assist by Klyotskin, scored with19:30 left in the game. Then DiCar-lantonio put in two goals, givingWellington the lead 12-11.

Park Vista responded with a goalto tie the game at 12 with about 17minutes left in the game. Both teamsfought for nearly 10 minutes, withneither able to break the tie. Finally,with about 8 minutes left in the game,Park Vista scored to take the lead13-12.

The Lady Wolverines contin-ued to fight to hold back the LadyCobras, and kept them from scor-ing for several minutes. But with1:19 left in the game, Park Vistascored again to extend their lead14-12.

What followed was an intenseminute of play that saw three goalsscored in less than a minute. First,Park Vista scored with one minuteleft on the clock to make the score15-12.

Not willing to go down without afight, the Lady Wolverines foughtback. Kathleen Gerrits picked up theball off the draw and passed to Di-Carlantonio who put in a goal, mak-ing the score 15-13 with 50 secondsleft in the game.

Wellington also picked up thenext draw. Gerrits passed to Kurtz,who carried the ball into Lady Co-bra territory. Kurtz passed to DiCar-lantonio, who whipped the ball toKlyotskin, who put the ball in for agoal and narrowed the Lady Cobralead to 1 point with 37 seconds onthe clock.

But Park Vista got the next drawand when the buzzer sounded, theLady Wolverines were down 15-14,giving them second place in the dis-trict.

PHOTOS BY GENE NARDI/TOWN-CRIER

PHOTOS BY LAUREN MIRÓ/TOWN-CRIER

Wellington’s Kathleen Gerritslooks to pass the ball.

Caroline Kurtz takes the ballinto the Lady Cobras’ territory.

Wellington attacker Tyler Kuhlman launches a shoton goal against Park Vista in the semifinal game. Bronco defender Ryan Liermann

battles for control of the ball.

Bronco A.J. Blouin carries theball against Cardinal Newman

in their semifinal game.


SPORTS & RECREATION

AFF RegistrationStarts This Weekend

Young Wellington Gymnasts Ranking Tops In The StateThree young Wellington gym-

nasts are ranked among the top inthe state, and are preparing to com-pete against the top gymnasts fromthe southeast region of the UnitedStates.

Julia Wortman, and Mikayla andGabriella Hotaling were part of thewinning Level 8 team from Ameri-can Twisters that took top honors

Gabriella Hotaling, MikaylaHotaling and Julia Wortman.

at the Florida State ChampionshipMeet in Orlando on April 5 and 6,and at the National Gymnastics Chal-lenge held March 9-11 at the Uni-versity of Georgia in Athens.

The team’s first-place win in Ath-ens was the ideal warm-up to thestate meet.

“We beat several outstandingteams from 17 different states, most

notably one of the top three teamsin Texas and the top teams from Vir-ginia and Alabama,” AmericanTwisters head coach Gary Andersonsaid.

At that meet, Julia, 11, took firstplace in floor exercise and wasamong the top three on the vault.Mikayla, 9, placed first on the un-even bars and was among the topthree on the balance beam. All threegirls travel five days a week to Amer-ican Twisters in Coconut Creek totrain.

“I love gymnastics,” said Julia, afifth-grader at Binks Forest Elemen-tary School. “Twisters has becomemy second home, and my team-mates and coaches are like family.”

“She’s very dedicated,” saidJulia’s dad, Scott Wortman. “I lovewatching her compete, and when Isee her smiling on the winners stand,it makes all that training worthwhile.”

For 9-year-old Mikayla and 11-year-old Gabriella, gymnastics is afamily affair. Their father, Ryan, isalso a coach at American Twisters.

“It’s very exciting to be a part ofsuch a great gym with awesomecoaches and a group of talented,hardworking girls,” he said.

At the Florida State Meet, 220 ofFlorida’s top Level 8 gymnasts whohad earned at least a 32 out of 40

overall score at a previous sanc-tioned meet competed for one of theeight spots on the Florida State teamthat will compete against the sevenother state teams in the southeastregion April 21-22 in Orlando.

Seven Level 8 teammates fromAmerican Twisters made the All Starsteam and five placed among the top10. The girls competed among oth-ers in their own age group and com-peted for best overall scores. Mi-kayla ranked No. 5 in the State ofFlorida, making the Florida Stateteam. Gabriella ranked No. 9, justmissing the eighth team spot by .025points. Gabriella and Julia both madethe All Stars team.

Each of the three Wellington girlstook first-place wins in their agegroup. Julia took first place on thebeam.

Mikayla, a fourth-grader at CoralReef Elementary School, and one ofthe youngest Level 8s in the state,took two first-place wins in her agegroup, winning both bars and beam.She also took third on floor and fifthon vault.

Gabriella, a sixth-grader at Emer-ald Cove Middle School, took firston beam, second on bars, third onvault and fourth on floor.

While the girls may have dreamsof competing one day in the Olym-

pics, their parents have their sightson a different goal — college schol-arships.

“They maintain nearly straight Asin school, train at the gym for four-plus hours five days a week, andalthough less than others, still findquality time to spend with friendsand family,” said Julia’s mom, Mis-sy Wortman. “If any of them have ashot at the Olympics, that would bewonderful. But if they choose tocontinue, the ultimate goal would becollege scholarships.”

Acreage Flag Football (AFF) willbegin soon registration for the co-ed flag football fall 2012 season.Registration dates are April 28, May12 and May 19 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.at Acreage Community Park in thepavilion.

Registration is open to boys andgirls ages 5-18 (and in high school)as of Sept. 1. Registration costs $95which includes full uniforms, refer-ees, insurance and Super Bowlevents.

This season, AFF is starting aBring Your Own Team high schoolboys flag football division. Teamsmust consist of no fewer than 7 play-ers, must have an adult coach/man-

ager, and all players must be 18 oryounger as of Sept. 1, 2012 and beregistered in high school. Players willeach pay a $95 registration fee, whichincludes full uniforms, referees, in-surance and Super Bowl events.Coaches must collect all registrationfees and bring them along with theteam registration form to the parkon Saturday, May 12 from 10 a.m. to1 p.m. in order to register.

For more information about AFFor the new All Boys Division, visitthe AFF web site at www.acreageflagfootball.com. Individual registra-tion forms and team registrationforms can also be found on the website.


SPORTS & RECREATION

The Wellington Wave U-12 girls yellow team won second place at the2012 South Florida Shootout held April 14 and 15 in Miami Lakes.The team battled through weather ranging from torrential downpoursto sweltering heat to outscore its three opponents 10-1 before pro-ceeding to the finals to bring home the silver medal. Pictured aboveare coach Kevin Allahar, Kaylie Bartick, Alejandra Maradiaga, KatrinaCalkins, Kailey Repici, Olivia Botich, Rhiannon Crawford, SarahHanford, Amanda Addison, Riley Bresnahan and Alexia Mullings.

WELLINGTON WAVE U-12GIRLS WIN AT MIAMILAKES TOURNAMENT

Genbu-Kai Karate in the Welling-ton Marketplace recently added tai-chi and kung-fu to the programs of-fered at the school.

Sifu (teacher) Norbert TinWin iscertified to represent the WuShuResearch Institute and teaches theyang-style tai-chi. TinWin has stud-ied under gold medallist sifu BoSimMarc in China Town Boston for

Sifu Norbert Tinwin and Sensei Keith Moore.

Karate School AddsTai-Chi And Kung-Fu

many years. Classes are offered forstudents 14 years old and older. Tin-Win is also teaching the kung-fuprogram, and currently holds a third-degree black sash (belt) in kung-fu.Classes in kung-fu are offered forchildren through adults.

For more information on theclasses, call (561) 804-1002 or visitwww.floridagenbukai.com.

Myskowski PostsGolfslinger VictoryAt Madison Green

Matthew Myskowski of Palm Cityearned his second Golfslinger.comTour victory Tuesday, April 17 witha six under par 66 at the MadisonGreen Golf Club in Royal Palm Beach.

After turning in 34 with three bird-ies and a bogey on the front,Myskowski, 22, birdied Nos. 11, 12,14 and 15 to win by four strokes,earning $1,000 from the $3,610 purse.Myskowski joined the GolfslingerTour in the summer of 2009. His onlyother win was last July 20 with 65 atthe Evergreen Club in Palm City.

Ryan Keeney of Las Vegas, Nev.,was second with 70 on two birdiesand a bogey on each nine, receiving$525. The Golfslinger’s 38th tourna-ment of the year drew 27 players.

Two of the five events have beencompleted for the second Nation-wide Bonus Series.

The leading money winner willreceive $1,000 toward his entry feefor a Monday qualifier later this yearon either the PGA or Nationwidetour.

The current standings are as fol-lows: first place, Pierre-Henri Soero,$1,067.50; second place, Myskows-ki, $1,000; and third place, Jeff Ivall,$825. For information and entry, vis-it www.minorleaguegolf.com.

Send sports news items to: The Town-Crier,12794 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 31, Wellington,

FL 33414. E-mail: [email protected].


COMMUNITY CALENDAR

See CALENDAR, page 43

Saturday, April 28• Visit the final week of the Wellington

Green Market on Saturday, April 28 from 8a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Wellington Amphithe-ater (12100 W. Forest Hill Blvd.). Call (561)753-2484 for more info.

• The Loxahatchee chapter of the Flori-da Trail Association will host a 7-mile hike inApoxee Park in the West Palm Beach WaterCatchment Area on Saturday, April 28 at 8a.m. Plenty of water is a must. Call (561)616-8790 for more info.

• The Mounts Botanical Garden (531 N.Military Trail, West Palm Beach) will hold itsannual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, April28 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, April29 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is free forMounts members, $10 for non-members.For more info., call (561) 233-1757 or visitwww.mounts.org.

• The Royal Palm Beach library (500 CivicCenter Way) will host “Royal Palm Read-ers” on Saturday, April 28 at 10:30 a.m. foradults featuring an informal book discussionof Room by Emma Donoghue. Sign up andcheck out the book. Call (561) 790-6030for more info.

• The Northern Palm Beach Chapter of theAmerican Business Women’s Association willhost its 16th annual Fashion Show & Lun-cheon on Saturday, April 28 at 11 a.m. atthe PGA DoubleTree Hotel. The cost is $40,and it is open to the public. For more info.,contact Kandyce Key at (561) 908-4798 ore-mail [email protected].

• Whole Foods Market (2635 State Road7, Wellington) will present “Engine 2: 28 DayChallenge Introduction” on Saturday, April28 at 2 p.m. This revolutionary nutrient-packed action plan was created by Rip Es-selstyn, former professional tri-athlete andfirefighter, and author of the best-sellingbook The Engine 2 Diet. There is no charge.Call (561) 904-4000 to pre-register.

• The Royal Palm Beach library (500 CivicCenter Way) will host a Teen Advisory Possemeeting Saturday, April 28 at 2:30 p.m. forages 12 to 17. Share your ideas for futureteen programs. Snacks will be provided. Call(561) 790-6030 to pre-register.

• The Royal Palm Beach library (500 CivicCenter Way) will host an Anime Club meet-ing Saturday, April 28 at 3 p.m. for ages 12 to17. Watch anime, eat Pocky and check outthe library’s newest manga titles. Call (561)790-6030 to pre-register.

• The Wellington library (1951 Royal FernDrive) will host a Chess Club meeting on

Saturday, April 28 at 3:30 p.m. for age 8 andup. Chess fans unite to practice strategyskills. Basic game knowledge is required. Call(561) 790-6070 to pre-register.

• The Wellington Amphitheater (12100 W.Forest Hill Blvd.) will present a free concertfeaturing Bobby Gugliuzza and WeHUMANZon Saturday, April 28 at 8 p.m. Call (561)753-2484 for more info.

Sunday, April 29• The Acreage Horseman’s Association will

host its inaugural Tack Swap & Sale on Sun-day, April 29 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at NicoleHornstein Equestrian Park (14780 HamlinBlvd., The Acreage). The cost is $20 perspace. Consignment tables are available forthose with just a few items to sell. Vendorsare welcome at spaces for $30 and more.All proceeds go to the club. [email protected] for more info.

• Whole Foods Market (2635 State Road7, Wellington) will host “Cooking on a Bud-get” on Sunday, April 29 at 1 p.m. Learn tosave money while still preparing deliciousand healthful meals. There is no charge. Call(561) 904-4000 to pre-register.

Monday, April 30• The Acreage library (15801 Orange Blvd.)

will host “Funky Farm Tales” on Monday,April 30 at 11:15 a.m. for ages 3 to 5. Hearwhat animals do on the farm when the farm-er isn’t looking. (561) 681-4100 to pre-reg-ister.

• The Royal Palm Beach library (500 CivicCenter Way) will host Dia de los Niños, Diade los Libros (Day of the Child, Day of theBook) on Monday, April 30 at 3:30 p.m. forages 3 to 6. Celebrate books, children andbilingual literacy with stories, music and acraft. Call (561) 790-6030 to pre-register.

Tuesday, May 1• The Palm Beach County Commission

will meet Tuesday, May 1 at 9:30 a.m. at thegovernment center’s Jane M. ThompsonMemorial Chambers (301 N. Olive Ave., SixthFloor, West Palm Beach). For more info., vis-it www.pbcgov.com.

• The Royal Palm Beach library (500 CivicCenter Way) will have VolunTeen applica-tions available for ages 12 to 17 on Tuesday,May 1 at 10 a.m. Want to earn summer vol-unteer hours? Pick up a VolunTeen applica-tion. Space is limited. The volunteer serviceruns from June 9 to Aug. 3. Call (561) 790-6030 to pre-register.

• The Wellington library (1951 Royal FernDrive) will feature “Coupon Strategies” for


COMMUNITY CALENDARCALENDAR, continued from page 42adults Tuesday, May 1 at 2:30 p.m. Finan-cial education specialist Christie Hardcastlewill show how to save on groceries usingsmart coupon strategies. Call (561) 790-6070 to pre-register.

• The Acreage library (15801 Orange Blvd.)will host Crochet Club meetings on Tues-days, May 1, 8, 15 and 22 at 5 p.m. for age9 to adult. Learn introductory stitches or bringcurrent projects and socialize. Yarn will beavailable for new participants. Call (561)681-4100 to pre-register.

• Elbridge Gale Elementary School inWellington will host its kindergarten round-up Tuesday, May 1 at 6 p.m. The school willhand out kindergarten registration packetsat this time. There will be a presentation byPrincipal Gail Pasterczyk and Assistant Prin-cipal Heather Alfonso. Uniform shirts and T-shirts will be available to purchase. For moreinfo., call (561) 422-9300.

• The Loxahatchee Groves Town Councilwill meet Tuesday, May 1 at 7 p.m. at theLoxahatchee Groves Water Control Districtoffice (101 West D Road). Call (561) 793-2418 or visit www.loxahatcheegroves.org formore info.

Wednesday, May 2• New Horizons Elementary School in

Wellington will hold its kindergarten round-up on Wednesday, May 2 at 8:30 a.m. in thecafeteria. Parents and children are invited tovisit the school. For more info., call (561)651-0500.

Thursday, May 3• Na’amat USA will host its 86th anniver-

sary luncheon Thursday, May 3 at 11:30 a.m.at the Indian Springs Country Club (El ClairRanch Road, Delray Beach). National Presi-dent Elizabeth Raider will be the keynotespeaker. The cost is $150 per person. RSVPto (561) 368-8898.

• Executive Women of the Palm Beacheswill present its Women In LeadershipAwards Luncheon on Thursday, May 3 at11:30 a.m., at the Kravis Center for the Per-forming Arts (701 Okeechobee Blvd., WestPalm Beach). The keynote speaker will bejournalist, author and television personalityJoan Lunden. Tickets cost $100 for mem-bers and $125 for nonmembers. For moreinfo., call (561) 684-9117, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.ewpb.org.

• The Wellington library (1951 Royal FernDrive) will host a Writers’ Critique Workshopfor adults on Thursday, May 3 at 6 p.m. Share,offer, and accept constructive criticism and

comments to improve your fiction, nonfic-tion and poetry. Call (561) 790-6070 to pre-register.

• The “Acreage Avengers” will assembleat the Acreage library (15801 Orange Blvd.)on Thursday, May 3 at 6:30 p.m. for ages 12to 17. Share your ideas about programs youwould like, then celebrate the release of thenew movie The Avengers with trivia andgames. Snacks will be provided. Call (561)681-4100 to pre-register.

• The Palm Springs Acoustic BluegrassJam takes place the first Thursday of eachmonth at the Palm Springs library (217 Cy-press Lane). The next jam will take placeMay 3 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. For more info.,call the library at (561) 965-2204, SandyBradbury at (561) 358-7975, or RosemariVincent and Randy Powell at (561) 585-0937.

• The Royal Palm Beach Village Councilwill meet Thursday, May 3 at 7 p.m. at VillageHall (1050 Royal Palm Beach Blvd.). Call(561) 790-5100 or visit www.royalpalmbeach.com for more info.

Friday, May 4• The Clay-Glass-Metal-Stone Coopera-

tive Gallery in downtown Lake Worth will cel-ebrate its third anniversary Friday, May 4 at6 p.m. The celebration will feature cham-pagne, cake and a live monarch butterflyrelease. For information about how you canhelp the gallery, e-mail [email protected]. Alldonations are tax deductible. Visit www.clayglassmetalstone.com for more info.

• Elvis tribute artist Chris MacDonald willperform Memories of Elvis on Friday, May 4at 7:30 p.m. at Mizner Park’s Sanborn Squarein downtown Boca Raton. Bring your chairsand blankets, or rent a chair for $2. For moreinfo., visit www.downtownboca.org or call(561) 367-7070.

• The Wellington Amphitheater (12100 W.Forest Hill Blvd.) will present a free screen-ing of the movie Night With Chronicle onFriday, May 4 at 8 p.m. Bring your own seat-ing. Call (561) 753-2484 for more informa-tion.

Saturday, May 5• A re-dedication ceremony for the play-

ground at Tiger Shark Cove Park in Welling-ton will take place Saturday, May 5 at 10a.m. For more info., call (561) 791-4000 orvisit www.wellingtonfl.gov.

Send calendar items to: The Town-Crier,12794 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 31, Well-ington, FL 33414. FAX: (561) 793-6090. E-mail: [email protected].


HUNTINGTON LEARNING CEN-TER — in W ellington needs EXAMPREP COORDINATOR BachelorsDegree- Demonstrate Solid Perfor-mance on SAT and ACT (either ver-bal or math sections) Available towork evenings and Saturdays. Alsoneeded: EXAM PREP TUTORSNow Hiring SAT/ACT PreparationTutors. Must have a 4 year degreepreferably in Mathmetics or English.Be available to tutor on Saturdays.Please e-mail your resume [email protected] NEEDED —14 years and over for communityservice. Have fun with animals &kids 792-2666

DRIVERS! DRIVERS! DRIVERS!Drivers wanted for Wellington Cab.Retirees welcome. Cleaning DrivingRecord. Call 561-333-0181ENTRY LEVEL RECEPTIONIST —Computer literate. Heavy phones &filing. Fax resume 561-333-2680

WINDOW INSTALLERS WANTEDSubcontractors only. Top Pay. NoBrokers. Call Matt 561-714-8490FRONT DESK — Loxahatchee/Boynton Beach. Busy Dermatologypractice, full-time, experience pre-ferred, must be available for flex-ible hours, evenings and weekends.Fax resume to 561-790-7568 JOHN C. HUNTON AIR CONDI-

TIONING & REFRIGERATION,INC.—Service & new inst allationFPL independent participating con-tractor. Lic. CAC 057272 Ins. "Weare proud supporters of the Semi-nole Ridge Hawks" 561-798-3225.Family Owned & Operated since1996. Credit Cards Accepted

MOBILE-TEC ON-SITE COM-PUTER SERVICE — The computerexperts that come to you! Hardware/Software setup, support & trouble-shooting www.mobiletec.ne t.561-248-2611D.J. COMPUTER — Home & of fice,Spyware removal, websites, net-works, repairs, upgrades, virus re-moval, tutoring. Call Jeff 561-333-1923 Cell 561-252-1186 Lic’d Well.& Palm Beach. We accept majorcredit cards.

DRIVEWAYS — Free estimatesA & M ASPHALT SEAL COATINGcommercial and residential. Patch-ing potholes, striping, repair exist-ing asphalt & save money all workguaranteed. Lic.& Ins. 100045062561-667-7716

COMMUNITY WIDE GARAGESALE THIS SATURDAY, APRIL 288:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. — Numer-ous garage sales in gated commu-nity: clothes, toys, tools, furniture,electronics, bikes, & more.Wellington Shores: Lake W orthRoad West of 441

MULTI-FAMILY GARAGE SALE —THIS SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 7:30a.m. Kitchenware, artwork, misc.furnishings, home accessories,exercise equipment etc. 1054 LarchwayCHURCH BAZAAR/FUNDRAISERSATURDAY, MAY 5TH FROM 7:00A.M. - 2:00 P.M. ROYAL PALMCOVENANT CHURCH, 660ROYAL PALM BEACH BLVD.Items include Jewelry, MosiacGlass Artwork, Clothing, Antiquesetc. VENDOR SPACE STILLAVAILABLE. Call 793-1077 or 351-2753

MEDICAL ASSISTANT NEEDEDIN LOXAHA TCHEE/BOYNTONBEACH — Busy Dermatology prac-tice, full-time, experience preferred,must be available for flexible hours,evenings and weekends. Fax re-sume to 561-790-7568FRONT DESK CLERK — for oper-ating the front desk of hotel, goodverbal and written communicationskills, spont aneous desire to assistothers and provide excellent cus-tomer service, flexible scheduleneeded, mainly night shift, week-ends and holidays. Experience pre-ferred. Please send resume via e-mail or fax. [email protected] 561-795-1502

GENERAL MAINTENANCE PER-SON NEEDED FOR COMMUNITYASSOCIATION — Part Time, 24hours per week, Mon-Wed-Fri,7:30am - 4:30pm. $10.00 per hour.Fax resume to 561-967-7675 - orcall 561-967-3337 for an appoint-ment - or email resume [email protected]

2001 20ft PROLINE WALKAROUND — 150XL Mercury salt-water series outboard, Depth/fishfinder, vhf, stereo/cd/ipod player.Bimini top, fish rigged, portapoddy, cover. Boat in great shape.2008 continental trailer. $14,500561-762-7000

CARE GIVER - COMPANION —over 10 years experience. Avail-able for Live-In or Out. Happy tohelp with errands, cooking, clean-

ing. Valid Drivers License. Refer-ences available. 333-4285

THE MASTER HANDYMAN — AllTypes of Home Repairs & Improve-ments. No job too big or small doneright the first time every time 40 yrsof satisfied customers. See me onAngies List. Tom (561) 801-2010or (954) 444-3178 Serving PalmBeach and Broward Counties.

BILLY’S HOME REPAIRS INC.REMODEL & REPAIRS — InteriorTrim, crown molding, rottenwood re-pair, door inst allation, minord r y w a l l , k i t c h e n s / c a b i n e ts /countertops, wood flooring. Bondedand Insured U#19699. Call 791-9900 or 628-9215

HANDYMAN AND CLEANINGSERVICES — Caza Services for allyour handyman and cleaningneeds. 18 years experience. No jobis too small. Call us today. Insured561-802-8300 or 754-242-3459

ANMAR CO.—James’ All AroundHandyman Service. Excellentcraf tman Old time values. Onceyou’ve had me! You’ll have me back!Lic. Ins. Certified Residential Con-tractor CRC 1327426 561-248-8528

HOUSECLEANING — 20 yrs expe-rience. Excellent local references.Shopping available. 561-572-1782

HOUSECLEANING — affordablecleaning services, Royal PalmMaids. 561-666-7738 “For all yourcleaning needs”FAMILY OWNED CLEANINGBUSINESS IS EXPANDING — Weare honest, reliable and depend-able. Over 20 years experience inthe Western Communities. Call to-day to get started. Norma 561-355-5044

HURRICANE SHUTTERS P&MCONTRACT ORS — ACCORDIONSHUTTERS Gutters, screen enclo-sures, siding, sof fits, aluminumroofs, Serving the Western Com-munities. Since 1985. U-17189561-791-9777

BOB CAVANAGH ALLSTATEINSURANCE — Auto •Home

• Life• Renters •Motorcycle •RV• Golfcart • Boat Serving the

Western Communities for 24 years Call for a quote

798-3056, or visit our website.www.allstateagencies.com/

rCavanagh

RJA PAINTING & DECORATING,INC. — Interior Exterior, Faux Fin-ish, Residential,Commercial.Lic.#U17536 Rocky Armento, Jr. 561-793-5455 561-662-7102J&B PRESSURE CLEANING &PAINTING, INC. — Established1984. All types of pressure clean-ing, roofs, houses, driveways, pa-tios etc. Commercial & Residential.Interior & Exterior painting. Certi-fied pressure cleaning & paintingcontractor. Lic. #U21552 Call Butch309-6975 or visit our website atwww.jbpressurecleaningandpainting.com

JOHN PERGOLIZZI PAINTINGINC. — Interior/Exterior - Repaintspecialist, pressure cleaning, pop-corn ceiling, drywall repair & roofpainting. Family owned/owner op-erator. Free Est. 798-4964 Lic.#U18473COLORS BY CORO, INC. — Int./Ext. residential painting, over 20yrs exp. Small Jobs welcome. Freeest. Ins. 561-383-8666. Owner/Op-erated. Lic.# U20627 Ins.Wellington Resident

PLACE YOUR PROFESSIONALSERVICES AD HERE CALL 793-3576 TODAY TO PLACE YOUR AD\

JEREMY JAMES PLUMBING —Licensed plumber, legitimate esti-mate. Water heaters, new construc-tion. CFC1426242. Bonded In-sured. CFC1426242. 561-601-6458

J&B PRESSURE CLEANING &PAINTING, INC. — Established1984. All types of pressure clean-ing, roofs, houses, driveways, pa-tios etc. Commercial & Residential.Interior & Exterior p aint ing.Certified pressure cleaning & p aint-ing contractor . Lic. #U21552 CallButch at 309-6975 or visit us atwww.jbpressurecleaningandpainting.com

MINOR ROOF REPAIRS DONHARTMANN ROOFING — Roofpainting, Carpentry. Lic. #U13677967-5580ROBERT G. HARTMANN ROOF-ING — Specializing in repairs. Freeestimates, Bonded,insured. Lic.#CCC 058317 Ph: 561-790-0763.

ROOFING REPAIRS REROOFINGALL TYPES — Pinewood Con-struction, Inc. Honest and reliable.Serving Palm Beach County forover 20 years. Call Mike 561-309-0134 Lic. Ins. Bonded. CGC-023773 RC-0067207JOHN C. BEALE BUILDING &ROOFING — Additions, remodel-ing, roof rep airs & replacements,screened porches. Licensed & In-sured. Call for Free Estimates. 561-798-6448 ccc1326383 ccc1250306

SECURITY — American owned lo-cal security comp any in business 30plus years. Protection by officersdrug tested. 40 hour course. Li-censed & Insured. 561-848-2600

JOHN’S SCREEN REPAIR SER-VICE — Pool & patio rescreening.Stay tight,wrinkle-free,guaranteed!CRC1329708 call us 798-3132.www.poolscreenrepair.com

ACCORDION SHUTTERS — Gut-ters, screen enclosures, siding, sof-fits, aluminum roofs, Serving theWestern Communities. Since 1985.U-17189 561-791-9777

AQUATIC SPRINKLER, LLC —Complete repair of all types of sys-tems. Owner Operated. Michael561-964-6004Lic.#U17871 Bonded& Ins. Serving the Western Com-munities Since 1990

SPECIALIZING IN BA THROOMREMODELING — Free estimatesserving South Florida since 1980.Quality you expect, service you de-serve. Lic. bonded & Ins. U21006561-662-9258

SHORT TERM FURNISHEDHOME 3/2/2 — private pool avail-able immediately through Novem-ber. Fairway Cove. Beautiful com-munity $1,450/mo. Lawn & PoolService included. 561-972-0219561-791-0699

FURNISHED HOUSE FOR RENT/SHORT OR LONG TERM — situ-ated in a cul-de-sac and 5 minutesaway from Spruce Meadows, this2000 sf. 2 story newer house inShawnessy has hardwood floorthroughout and 2.5 bathrooms.Leather furniture, 48” TV and a Pi-ano in main floor. Master bedroomhas Jacuzzi. 2 large size bedroomsand bonus room. Wireless Internet,double attached garage, fencedbackyard with BBQ. Weekly house-keeping, linen service and lawn cut-ting plus all utilities included. Formor details call (403) 808-7254 OR(403) 700-2065

STEAMPRO TILE & CARPETCLEANING — Residential &Commericial. 561-818-8635 (office)561-255-9098 (cell) Licensed,Bonded and Insured.

TREES TRIMMED AND RE-MOVED — 561-798-0412 D.M.YOUNG TREE SERVICE. FamilyOwned & Operated Lic. & Insured1992-12121 Visit our website atdmyoungtreeservice.com

PAPERHANGING BY DEBI —Professional Installation,Removal.Repair of Paper. Neat, Clean & Re-liable. Quality work with a woman'stouch. 30 years experience. No Jobtoo big or too small. Lic. & Ins. Ref-erences available. 561-795-5263

town-crier newspaper april 27, 2012

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