‘CANCER CLUSTER’ HARD TO PROVE SEE STORY, PAGE 7
MUSTANGS HAVE A LOYAL FOLLOWING SEE COLUMN, PAGE 16
T H E W E L L I N GTO N
TOWN-CRIER
Wellington’s Hometown Newspaper
INSIDE Opinion
Volume 30, Number 31 July 31 - August 6, 2009
PROJECT LIFESAVER BENEFIT
Inspector General Is Needed, But Office Must Have Teeth
The county commissioners unanimously voted last week to create an ethics commission, ethics code and an office of the inspector general in an effort to curb corruption. This position should be more than that, allowing whoever holds it to look at the way things are done and make sure they’re done in the right way. Page 4
News Chamber Debate Sparks Interest In 2010 Amendment
Wellington Chamber of Commerce members listened to arguments for and against the proposed Amendment 4, known as the “Hometown Democracy” amendment, during a debate Thursday at the Binks Forest Golf Club. Page 2
Temple B’nai Jacob Holds Open House
Temple B’nai Jacob of Wellington held an open house last Sunday for the public to meet its rabbi, cantor and leadership. Page 5
‘Chicken Whisperer’ Hosts Radio Show At Red Barn Feed
Andy Schneider of Atlanta (a.k.a. the Chicken Whisperer) visited Red Barn Feed & Supply in Loxahatchee Groves last Thursday. Schneider, along with his wife Jennifer, was on hand to broadcast a live radio show. Page 7
Binks, Wanderers Duel To A Draw
For the second year now, staff and management of the Binks Forest Golf Club took on their counterparts from the Wanderers Club at Wellington recently for the 2009 Wellington Cup, with Binks Forest Golf Club retaining the cup after the match ended in a draw. Page 9 THIS WEEK’S INDEX NEWS ........................ 2 - 9 OPINION ......................... 4 CRIME NEWS ................. 6 PEOPLE ......................... 10 BUSINESS ............ 12 - 13 CALENDAR .................... 14 SPORTS ....................... 15 COLUMNS ..................... 17 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
Whole Foods Market in Wellington hosted a gourmet macaroni and cheese/wine tasting last Friday to benefit Project Lifesaver of Palm Beach County. Guests enjoyed the café’s tasty offerings as well as a silent auction and live entertainment. Pictured here is Project Lifesaver Executive Director Michelle Damone with Whole Foods Manager Jeff Figley and Marketing Specialist Lauren Belinsky. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 3 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
State Senate Special Election Heads Into The Home Stretch By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Republican Joe Negron and Democrat Bill Ramos will face off in a special election Tuesday, Aug. 4 to find out which of them will fill the remainder of State Sen. Ken Pruitt’s term. Pruitt, who recently resigned, represented District 28, which includes parts of Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties. In the western communities, most of Royal Palm Beach and The Acreage are in District 28. Negron, an attorney and former state representative who lives in Stuart, narrowly lost a congressional race in 2006 to Democrat Tim Mahoney. Negron replaced Mark Foley as the Republican nominee after Foley resigned in disgrace amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Negron came close to winning the seat even though his
Joe Negron name did not even appear on the ballot. Negron, 47, said he is not taking anything for granted. “I’ve worked very hard to build a strong grassroots campaign,” Negron told the Town-Crier on Thursday. “We’re going to finish strong this weekend.” Negron anticipates an 18to 20-percent voter turnout for the special election. He
Bill Ramos said he thinks people will base their votes on who they believe can best deal with the current economic issues. “I think the primary issue in the campaign is which candidate best understands how our community is hurting right now and can effectively look out for ordinary citizens in Tallahassee,” Negron said. One of his campaign issues See DISTRICT 28, page 4
Wellington Teams With Jupiter To Apply For HUD Grant Money By Mark Lioi Town-Crier Staff Report The Village of Wellington has taken the unusual step of partnering with the Town of Jupiter and two private nonprofit organizations to apply for federal grant money to stabilize declining neighborhoods. The grants are available as part of $1.93 billion in stimulus funding allocated to the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development to assist in the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes and other residential properties. The joint application, submitted in mid-July, is seeking approximately $11 million that would be shared between the two communities, Wellington’s Director of Operations Jim Barnes said Thursday. Wellington’s share of the money would supplement its
Economic Development Initiative, a wide-ranging plan that includes redevelopment of some older neighborhoods as well as strategies to attract more sustainable economic activity to the village. The money can pay for demolition, redevelopment, purchase or land-banking of foreclosed or abandoned homes, and establishment of financing mechanisms for redevelopment of foreclosed properties. The village is partnering with Jupiter because the two municipalities combined can claim the minimum number of units required to be eligible for a grant, and also because Jupiter and the two non-profits have had previous success in applying for such grants, Barnes said. He added that Wellington has only recently begun to experience the problem of declining neighborhoods.
“This is our first venture into housing reinvestment, given that we’re a little bit newer municipality and given that we’re a mostly suburban community, we haven’t had those,” he said. “We’re just starting to approach the point where we’ve got those types of issues, problems and challenges. But Jupiter has had some success with those types of programs, as have the two non-profits.” As Jupiter is handling the administrative work involved in the application, it will probably claim a slightly larger share of whatever grant amount is secured, Barnes said. The application seeks to rehabilitate a total of 100 housing units between the two municipalities. Barnes said the village is competing against municipalities across the state for a share of the Neighborhood See GRANT, page 16
Serving Palms West Since 1980
Wellington’s ‘Safe Neighborhoods’ Initiative Shows Signs Of Progress By Mark Lioi Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington’s Safe Neighborhoods Initiative has made strides in reducing crime in the village’s White Pine Drive and 12th Fairway area, program representatives said this week, but work continues to make a lasting improvement on living conditions in the neighborhood. The village initiated the half-million-dollar program in March to focus on its “transitional” neighborhoods, older areas that have seen a rise in crime and are showing signs of urban blight. Employing a combination of increased law enforcement, code enforcement, infrastructure improvements and community outreach specialists, the village is first targeting the White Pine Drive/ 12th Fairway area, the scene of a deadly home invasion that took place in February. The village converted an underutilized building at the nearby water treatment plant on Wellington Trace as headquarters for the program. A small group of neighborhood residents met with program representatives Thursday at the Wellington Community Center. The meeting offered residents a chance to offer feedback on the program, get an update on its ongoing projects and hear about its future direction. Meridith Tuckwood, a Wellington resident and one of the program’s neighborhood advocates, said a prime objectives of Safe Neighborhoods is to build trust among neighbors and return a sense of community to the area. That requires community input. “It’s not about what we need,” she said, “but what you need, because where I live and where you live may need different things.”
Cpl. Roy DeMarco, a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office community policing specialist assigned to coordinate with Safe Neighborhoods in the White Pine Drive area, noted that the program Wellington has launched will likely set standards nationwide, as it is a proactive, rather than reactive approach. DeMarco praised the hiring of Tuckwood as a liaison between law enforcement and the residents. “A lot of people feel more comfortable talking to a civilian than they do to a person in a uniform,” he said. “I think that’s going to help out a great deal.” DeMarco added that Wellington’s progress in lowering crime rates in the White Pine Drive area in recent months has been accomplished in part by an aggressive police presence in the neighborhood, with deputies assigned there as a specific area of responsibility. He said some troublemakers have moved away simply because of an increased police presence, monitoring their activities. “They get tired of it and move,” he said. The crackdown on fraudulent use of Section 8 housing benefits has also been successful in gradually getting “bad apples” out of the neighborhood, DeMarco said. The PBSO executed a search warrant on a White Pine Drive house last week that was a notorious neighborhood hangout and drugdealing spot. “It was actually tied in to a home in The Acreage where we served a search warrant also, that tied in to a network for assault rifles in Miami,” he said. “So we’re in the process of getting them out; it’s baby steps.” As law enforcement gradSee SAFE, page 4
LIVING HISTORY
Judge Nelson Bailey was the guest speaker at last week’s meeting of the Loxahatchee Groves Landowners’ Association, where he entertained with stories of Old Florida. SEE STORY, PAGE 2 PHOTO BY CAROL PORTER/TOWN-CRIER
RPB Zoners Frown On Pool Enclosure Variance By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Planning & Zoning Commission turned down a request Tuesday to allow a pool screen to be mounted atop a wall around the edge of a property in the Madison Green community. Village planning staff recommended that the request be denied because the Madison Green development had been given less restrictive development regulations than other single-family communities in the village, explained Devel-
opment Review Coordinator Kevin Erwin. Madison Green was granted seven-and-a-half-foot setbacks when it was developed, instead of the ten-foot setbacks required of other single-family residences in the village. Granting the variance would not adhere to the orderly development patterns established by the village, Erwin said, noting that granting a variance to the home of Philip and Elizabeth Shaffer on Arbor Lane would grant them rights not afforded other property owners.
“Staff does not object to [the Shaffers] having a screen enclosure, but it does object to having it on the property line,” Erwin said. Elizabeth Shaffer said that due to the smaller setbacks, there is not enough space in her backyard to install a pool screen, adding that her 81year-old mother is diabetic and sensitive to insect bites and can’t go out by the pool at night because of mosquitoes. “We have no screen, and we can’t enjoy our patio area,” Shaffer said, noting
that she has received consent from her neighbors for the screen enclosure to be mounted on top of the wall. Commissioner Darrell Lange said that concessions had been made in the development approval, and he did not feel they should be compounded by granting the Shaffers a variance. “I have to agree with staff that it does not meet the technical reasons for a variance,” Lange said. Commissioner Leonard Urban said he has a screen around his pool and would
not have it any other way. Lange made a motion to deny the variance, which was seconded by Commission Alternate Tinu Peña. The motion passed 3-2 with Urban and Commissioner Richard Durr dissenting. Erwin said that the Shaffers had indicated to him that they would appeal a decision of denial to the Royal Palm Beach Village Council. In other business: • The commissioners approved a new, smaller 1,200square-foot model for See RPB ZONING, page 16