RPB, CHAMBER JOIN FORCES FOR MEETING SEE STORY, PAGE 3
ULTIMA FITNESS: ‘GET ACTIVE AMERICA!’ SEE STORY, PAGE 7
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TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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INSIDE Experts: Water Studies Do Not Show Acreage Cancer Cluster Cause
Volume 31, Number 17 April 23 - April 29, 2010
THE GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP
A Phase 2 well-water study for possible carcinogenic contaminants in The Acreage has not turned up any likely cancer cluster causes, state researchers told the Acreage Community Focus Group on Thursday, April 15. Page 3
Golden Grove Students Learn About Professions During Career Day
Golden Grove Elementary School students were visited by a variety of professionals during a Career Fair on Friday, April 16. Page 5
Education The Theme At P.W. Chamber Luncheon
Education was the main theme of the Palms West Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Monday, April 19. The luncheon honored several students from the western communities and featured Palm Beach County School Superintendent Dr. Art Johnson and William Fleming, of Palm Beach Atlantic University, as guest speakers. Page 7
Wellington Art Society’s ‘Hot Art, Cool Place’
The Wellington Art Society presented “Hot Art, Cool Place” on Saturday, April 17 at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center. The arts and crafts exhibit and sale celebrated spring with a French market theme. Page 9
Opinion Awareness A Challenge To Organ Donation
Since 2003, April has been recognized as National Donate Life Month. The aim is to create awareness of a cause whose biggest obstacle is just that — lack of awareness. Because of misconceptions or lack of knowledge about organ donation, many of the more than 100,000 people waiting for transplants will die. Page 4
DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS ............................. 2 - 13 OPINION ................................ 4 CRIME NEWS ........................ 6 SCHOOLS ..................... 14 - 15 PEOPLE ........................ 16 - 17 COLUMNS .................... 23 - 24 DINING ......................... 28 - 30 BUSINESS ................... 31 - 35 SPORTS ....................... 37 - 40 CALENDAR ................... 42 - 44 CLASSIFIEDS ............... 45 - 51 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
The Village of Wellington joined thousands of communities nationwide in the Great American Cleanup on Saturday, April 17. Volunteers cleaned three areas: the Folkstone/Yarmouth neighborhood, the Goldenrod/Hyacinth neighborhood and Wellington Elementary School’s Milo Mosser Nature Trail. Meanwhile, the Village of Royal Palm Beach also held cleanups. Shown above, Tiffany Cline, Kelsie D’Aoust, Alexa Fortuna, Darby Bach and Katie Smith help in the cleanup effort at Wellington Elementary School. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 2 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Lox Groves Hopes To Wrap Up Land Development Rules Soon By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council appointed a temporary aviary committee Tuesday to work on details in the Uniform Land Development Code that would regulate commercial bird breeders and traders. Council members discussed leaving regulation of aviaries, as well as some other regulations that had been rewritten in the consultant’s draft, unchanged from the current language in the county code, thereby easing concerns of operators who have received approval from the county. The decisions came out of a workshop with residents on Saturday, April 17. Vice Mayor Dennis Lipp asked if there is a deadline for adoption of the ULDC, and Town Manager Frank Spence said the law requires that municipalities adopt their own land development regulations within a year of adopting its comprehensive plan. Loxahatchee Groves adopted its plan about a year ago, but it is not in effect yet due to a legal challenge from the Seminole Improvement District. As soon as the challenge is settled, the state’s Department of Community Affairs will
expect the town’s land development regulations to be in place, Town Attorney Mike Cirullo said. “It’s not like you’re abrogating your responsibility, but I would encourage you to wrap up your code as quickly as possible,” Cirullo said. Lipp said he wants to adopt the code as quickly as possible so the council can begin enforcement. “You can see what the county gave us, the junkyards and bad things the county has dumped on us,” he said. “They really left us with a big mess. People talk about ‘love it and leave it alone.’ Cocaine houses is not ‘it.’ People not able to enjoy their back yard is not ‘it.’” Councilman Ron Jarriel said he did not like the proposed prohibition of cows on property less than 10 acres. “I want it back like the county had it, with cows and 10 acres,” Jarriel said. Mayor Dave Browning commented on feed lots operating in the Groves, saying he was concerned about uses such as a man at the April 17 workshop who said he was raising 60 pigs on 1.25 acres. “I don’t know how you handle that — noise, smell, light. We need to handle those things. I agree with
Ron that we should not limit the number of animals. I’m willing to put aviaries under the county code. At the same time, we should get a committee together and see what we can come up with.” Lipp said he hoped the committee would only need to meet once and made a motion to appoint an aviary advisory committee. Councilman Ryan Liang seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. Jimmy Burke of 43rd Road, veterinarian Susan Clubb, aviary expert Paul Riello, Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District Supervisor John Ryan and aviary owner Howard Voren were appointed to the committee. The group tentatively decided to meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 29 in the Palms West Hospital Conference Room. Council members decided to try to complete the land development regulations in two workshop meetings. Liang had suggested creating an LDR committee, but Councilman Jim Rockett said he would prefer that the council get through it in workshop sessions where there would be no public input, alSee GROVES, page 4
Serving Palms West Since 1980
Royal Palm Beach Mourns David Farber, Longtime Manager By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report David Farber was remembered this week as a loving family man who enjoyed people and life, and as a leader who left the Village of Royal Palm Beach far better off than he found it. Farber, the village manager of Royal Palm Beach the past 15 years, died Friday, April 16 after a prolonged respiratory illness. He was 55. His funeral was held Monday at Beth Israel Memorial Chapel in Boynton Beach with interment following at Eternal Light Memorial Gardens. Rabbi Bertram Kieffer of Temple Beth Zion officiated. Leaders from Palm Beach County and a dozen municipal governments attended the funeral. Many representatives from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and Palm Beach County FireRescue were also part of the overflowing crowd of mourners. “I know David was up there appreciating it, but also wondering who’s paying for it,” former Royal Palm Beach Mayor David Lodwick said. Farber’s wife Laurie met her future husband when he was the resident assistant in a dormitory at the State University of New York at Brockport. “He loved life, so when his friends would come over, it was like, ‘So Dave, what are we going to do?’ and David would plan the night for them, whatever their fun for the night was going to be, whether it was going for ice cream or going to New York City,” she recalled. When he was running for stu-
David Farber dent government leader, she remembered his slogan: “Farberize America.” “He was a born leader and compassionate, and he loved to have fun, but he was a very loyal person and the best father these two girls could have,” Laurie said of their daughters, Leah, 22, and Rachel, 25. “Any time they would call, his face would light up. He couldn’t do enough for them.” Laurie said she and David’s friends held a vigil Tuesday night singing, playing guitar and toasting him. “That’s how he would want it, not sitting around crying the whole time,” she said. “The people were having a good time and thinking of the good things.” Farber also loved the cities that he worked for, she said: “He never said Royal Palm Beach without saying ‘the beautiful Royal Palm Beach.’” Lodwick said Farber earned not only affection but also respect See FARBER, page 18
CRAB ORCHARD WINS!
State Grant Helps Fund Work At RPB Commons Park Project By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Royal Palm Beach has received $174,000 toward the development of the village’s new signature park project, Parks & Recreation Director Lou Recchio said Monday. At the meeting of the Recreation Advisory Board, Recchio said the village had requested $200,000 from the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program’s Land & Water Conservation Fund for work at Royal Palm Beach Commons Park.
“Obviously, the state is cutting back, and we were real fortunate to get that,” Recchio said, adding that the village had two other FRDAP grants that were approved, but not yet funded. “If they put any funds into that account at all, we’re in.” The160-acre Commons Park is under construction at the site of the old Tradition Golf Course on Royal Palm Beach Blvd. In other news: • Recchio reported that the Fourth of July celebration will
move back to Lakeside Challenger Park this year. Festivities will take place at the lake, and the fireworks will be set off from a barge in the lake. The kayak races will resume on Lake Challenger, the annual fishing tournament will be at the lake, and a golf tournament will be held at the Links at Madison Green. Recchio said the holiday festivities will be opened up to sports providers and other organizations See RPB PARKS, page 7
Julio Arellano scored seven goals, helping Crab Orchard defeat defending champion Audi 13-8 to win the Arcalux U.S. Open Polo Championship last Sunday at the International Polo Club Palm Beach to cap Wellington’s 2010 polo season. Shown here with the trophy are Crab Orchard’s George Rawlings, Adolfo Cambiaso, Beverly Rawlings, Julio Arellano and MVP Hilario Ulloa. STORY AND MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 13 IMAGE COURTESY LILA PHOTO
Angel Of Hope Gives Grieving Parents A New Mission In Life
Angel of Hope — Darlene Fernandez, Lynne Marksz, Marianne Stapleton and Ken Torres stand with pictures of their children Erin, Justin, Chelsea and Kenny at the future site of the Angel of Hope Children’s Memorial Garden at Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery. PHOTO BY LAUREN MIRÓ/TOWN-CRIER
By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report For parents, the loss of a child is a terrible reality they must live with every day. To provide bereaved parents with a place for peace, healing and reflection, local residents have bound together to erect the Angel of Hope Children’s Memorial Garden in Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery on Southern Blvd. in Royal Palm Beach. Lynne Marksz, Marianne Stapleton, Darlene Fernandez and Ken Torres were brought together by twists of fate. Another twist led them to the Angel of Hope. Three days before Christmas 1997, Marksz lost her son Justin,
15, in a car crash on Aero Club Drive in Wellington. Through her grieving, she started the western communities’ chapter of Compassionate Friends nine years ago, an organization dedicated to helping families who have lost a child. When Fernandez lost her 16year-old daughter Erin in a car crash on June 9, 2003, she sought help and found the support of Compassionate Friends. Almost four years later, it was Fernandez who showed up at Stapleton’s door after her daughter Chelsea, 17, died in a motorcycle crash in May 2007. “She just put her arms around me and said, ‘You’re never going See ANGEL, page 18