ITID CANDIDATES DISCUSS ROAD PAVING SEE STORY, PAGE 4
FIVE SEEK SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 3 SEAT SEE STORY, PAGE 5
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
Your Community Newspaper
INSIDE Loxahatchee Groves Delays Two Southern Blvd. Projects Again
Volume 31, Number 32 August 6 - August 12, 2010
BARTLETT MEMORIAL GOLF TOURNEY
Election 2010: Palm Beach County School Board, District 6
The Town-Crier chats with candidates Marcia Andrews, Dean Grossman and Ron Young, who are seeking to replace retiring School Board member Dr. Sandra Richmond. Page 7
Palm Beach County officials are urging parents to “Look Before You Lock” as part of a campaign to prevent the death of children and pets in hot cars. Page 9
An Abundance Of Items On Sale At Flea Market In Royal Palm Beach
An indoor flea market was held Friday, July 30 at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center. Approximately 15 tables were set up to sell toys, clothes, kids’ games, kitchen linens, jewelry, dog accessories and other items. Page 13
Opinion Town-Crier Primary Election Endorsements
In our first set of endorsements before the Aug. 24 primary election, the Town-Crier offers recommendations for the State House District 85 GOP Primary, Palm Beach County School Board Seat 3, Port of Palm Beach Group 4 and County Court Group 7. Page 4
DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS ............................. 2 - 13 OPINION ................................ 4 CRIME NEWS ........................ 6 SCHOOLS ............................. 15 PEOPLE ........................ 16 - 17 COLUMNS .................... 23 - 24 DINING ......................... 26 - 30 BUSINESS ................... 31 - 33 SPORTS ....................... 35 - 38 CALENDAR ................... 42 - 43 CLASSIFIEDS ............... 44 - 49 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
Winn-Dixie Closings Hit Local Area Hard By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Last week, Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. released the list of locations it intends to close over the next two months, and the closures will hit shoppers in the western communities hard with two local stores on the chopping block. Winn-Dixie announced July 27 that it will be closing 30 “non-remodeled, underperforming stores,” including nine in Palm Beach County. Two of those are stores in the western communities in shopping centers built within the past 10 years. The Winn-Dixie stores in the Grove Marketplace (5042 Seminole Pratt Whitney Road) and in the Marketplace at Wycliffe (4105 State Road 7) will close next month. The Jacksonville-based company said the store closures and job eliminations will take place by the
The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council approved another postponement for two land-use amendment change applications Tuesday because the absence of Mayor Dave Browning made the required four-vote supermajority for passage impossible with Vice Mayor Dennis Lipp on record as opposed to the projects. Page 3
New ‘Look Before You Lock’ Campaign Aims To Prevent Tragedy
Serving Palms West Since 1980
end of its first fiscal quarter of 2011, which is Sept. 22 of this year. However, it did not announce how many layoffs would take place. Several Acreage residents were disappointed at the news of the store closing. The Grove Marketplace location was the first supermarket in The Acreage, built less than 10 years ago. “I don’t know what happened,” Carlos Tamayo said. “I’ve been shopping here for eight years. A lot of people [shop here]. I don’t know why they’re closing.” Tamayo said that he would shop at Publix instead, but noted that Winn-Dixie had been his choice for years because of its lower prices. Oivat J. Hernandez, a 13-year Acreage resident, said he preferred Winn-Dixie to Publix. “I don’t agree with it closing,” See WINN-DIXIE, page 18
The inaugural Justin Bartlett Memorial Golf Tournament was held Saturday, July 31 at the Links at Madison Green in Royal Palm Beach. The Justin Bartlett Foundation donated proceeds to A Second Chance Puppies and Kittens Rescue, a cause near to Bartlett, who lost his life in a car accident. Shown above are Mark Ellis, Brent Andrews, Chris Parsons and Corey Sherk. SEE MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 10 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 85 GOP PRIMARY
Tami Donnally Puts Focus On Jobs, Education, The Budget By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report State House District 85 hopeful Tami Donnally believes Republican voters will see her as the best candidate to unseat incumbent Democratic State Rep. Joseph Abruzzo. Donnally faces Donald Jude “D.J.” DeRenzo in the Aug. 24 Republican primary. District 85 covers almost all of Wellington, parts of Loxahatchee and several eastern communities. It has sent a Democrat to Tallahassee each election since it was last redrawn in 2002. Donnally, 50, moved to Palm Beach County from Pennsylvania when she was in second grade.
She attended Palm Springs Elementary School, Conniston Middle School and graduated from John I. Leonard High School. She lives in suburban Lake Worth. Donnally received her doctorate in religious education from Evangelical Bible College & Seminary in Greenacres. She has worked with EBC Ministries for 30 years. Donnally was a teacher at EBC’s Greenacres Christian Academy and served as principal there from 1998 to 2004. Currently, she is the organization’s business administrator. Donnally lists her time as a teacher as one of her biggest accomplishments. “I go to bed
knowing that I impacted the lives of young people of different generations,” she said. In this race, Donnally said she is best qualified for the job because of her time spent in the community and her ability to understand the issues. “One of the biggest beliefs I have is that the legislature should be composed of citizens who represent where they come from,” she said. “I think they should be working people, they should be business people, they should be homeowners who live and work and ideally spend quite a number of years in the district seeing how the district has grown… I have been See DONNALLY, page 18
D.J. DeRenzo Brings Unique Life Experience, Unorthodox Ideas By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report District 85 State House candidate Donald Jude “D.J.” DeRenzo hopes that his innate desire to help those in need, coupled with his unique life experience and ideas, will drive voters to the polls for him in the Aug. 24 Republican primary. DeRenzo faces Tami Donnally in the primary. The winner will get the chance to unseat incumbent Democratic State Rep. Joseph Abruzzo. District 85, which covers almost all of Wellington, parts of Loxahatchee and several eastern communities, has sent a Democrat to Tallahassee each election since it was last redrawn in 2002. DeRenzo, 43, was born in Illinois but moved to Delray Beach
as a young child. He graduated from St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton and attended the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., for two years. In 1998, DeRenzo graduated from St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami with a degree in philosophy. He began studying to become a Catholic priest at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach until he met and married his wife, Jennifer. DeRenzo lives with Jennifer and their son Dietrich, 5, in suburban Lake Worth. He works at the Everglades Polo Club in Wellington. DeRenzo said his greatest accomplishments have been raising his son and his dedication to public service while in the seminary.
He said he is best qualified to represent the district in Tallahassee because of his life experience and ability to build bridges with other parties. “I look at my life in its totality, and everything I’ve done as far as my military experience and being an honest and trustworthy person, and my service to the community in the seminary,” he said. “Because in the seminary, you’re not only studying... you’re going out in the community and learning about all of the hardships that oftentimes Republicans are accused of not being sensitive to, such as the homeless, those suffering with AIDS, those dying in hospice.” He said that although he may not be the most well-read on all See DERENZO, page 18
Grove Marketplace — This Winn-Dixie store on Seminole Pratt Whitney Road, one of very few supermarkets serving the Acreage/Loxahatchee area, will close later this year. PHOTO BY LAUREN MIRÓ/TOWN-CRIER
Four County Lawyers Seeking Available Circuit Court Seat By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Four lawyers are hoping to take the Palm Beach County Circuit Court seat being vacated by retiring Judge Kenneth Stern this year. Jaimie Goodman, Kenneth Lemoine, Andrew Daire and Lisa Small are running for the Group 33 seat in the Aug. 24 primary election. The election is nonpartisan and open to all Palm Beach County voters. If no candidate wins a majority, the top two votegetters will advance to the general election Nov. 2. The winner will sit for a six-year term and receive a $142,178 salary. Circuit court judges preside over civil disputes involving more than $15,000, cases relating to juveniles, criminal prosecutions for felonies, tax disputes and requests for injunctions, among other issues. Goodman, 52, of Jupiter, was born in Queens, N.Y., and comes from “middle-class roots.” He received his bachelor’s and law degrees from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Goodman’s experience spans more than two decades. For 24 years he has tried jury trials, and also has 27 years of litigation experience in state and federal courts. After graduation, Goodman
worked for five years as in-house counsel at General Motors in Detroit, where he worked in employment litigation. In 1993, he opened a private practice catering to civil rights victims in employment discrimination cases. He moved his practice to West Palm Beach in 1999. “At this stage in my career, I want to try to help a wider group of people,” Goodman said of his decision to run for judge. “I want to utilize my experience to give all people who come before me in court a fair shake and equal justice.” Goodman said that his 24 years of jury trial experience make him the best candidate in the race. “A major part of what a judge does is preside over jury trials,” he said. “I tried a number of jury trials on my own, going up against two to four trial lawyers.” Goodman said that he can be fair and impartial. Because he is concerned about perception in the courtroom, he is not accepting donations in an effort to remain independent. “If someone comes into the court room and sees that the other side’s attorney contributed $500 to the judge’s campaign, that perception matters to me,” he said. “I See CIRCUIT COURT, page 2
Town-Crier Launches New Internet Television Station After months of planning, TCIN.TV — a new Wellingtonbased Internet television station — formally launches this Sunday with two hours of live programming. The Town-Crier Information Network, dubbed TCIN.TV, can be found at www.tcin.tv, a web site featuring a streaming feed of video programming. “Here at the Town-Crier, we have put a lot of thought into exactly what types of new media we should focus on,” Publisher Barry Manning said. “Recently, we have made significant upgrades to our longstanding web site at www.gotowncrier.com. We are also using Facebook, Twitter and You Tube to bring the Town-Crier’s mission into the 21st Century. However, the idea of an Internet television station was something that just captured our imagination.”
While other new media initiatives are designed to expand the reach of the Town-Crier newspaper, TCIN.TV is something completely unique. The goal of the station is to put forward programming of interest both locally and globally. “We are harnessing local talent to entertain viewers around the world, with a special focus on niche interests,” Town-Crier Executive Editor and TCIN.TV Director Joshua Manning explained. Initially, TCIN.TV will broadcast two nights a week, Sundays and Thursdays, offering two hours of programming each evening. While the station has done several test broadcasts and “soft launches,” the premiere evening will be Sunday, Aug. 8. Night Shul, a Jewish-themed entertainment/information show coming to TCIN.TV from anoth-
er Internet TV station, launches its third season at 9 p.m. Sunday. Hosted by Wellington resident Matt Auerbach, Night Shul aims to reach out, attract, engage and connect the world with the modern Jewish experience. It features a mix of Jewish humor and news with special guests from the worlds of show business, politics, religion and social action. “Having been a reporter at the Town-Crier, I know how committed everyone there is to putting out a product that’s entertaining and informative,” Auerbach said. “I’m looking forward to taking Night Shul to the next level at TCIN.TV.” Longtime Town-Crier humor columnist Deb Welky follows Auerbach with her 10 p.m. show Elsie Bell’s Secrets. When not finding humor in the world around her, Welky is a noted antiques and See TCIN, page 18
Internet TV — Matt Auerbach, host of Night Shul, one of the initial shows premiering this week on TCIN.TV, with his alter-ego Gunther the Monkey.