PBSO AND FIRE-RESCUE AT LGLA MEETING SEE STORY, PAGE 3
INTERFAITH THANKSGIVING SERVICE HELD SEE PHOTOS, PAGE 13
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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INSIDE
Volume 30, Number 28 November 27 - December 3, 2009
A CRAFTY TIME IN ROYAL PALM
RPB Rotary Hosts Caribbean Carnival
The Royal Palm Beach Rotary Club held its second annual Rotary Caribbean Carnival last Sunday at the Micanopy Pavilion at Okeeheelee Park. The carnival featured costumed performers, Caribbean music and food, martial arts performances and more. Page 2
Santamaria: Join The Fight For Independent Inspector General
At his community forum on Nov. 18, County Commissioner Jess Santamaria argued for an independent inspector general and urged people to attend a county commission meeting on Dec. 1, where the position will be discussed. Page 3
Business Owners Look Forward To The Holidays
Local businesses are looking forward to a successful holiday shopping season this year, and are offering customers holiday items and gifts at a great value. Page 7
Palms West Chamber’s SalsaFest A Success
The Palms West Chamber of Commerce hosted its third annual SalsaFest last Saturday at Greenacres Community Park. The event featured live entertainment along with a salsamaking competition, Chihuahua races, bounce houses and more. Page 9
Opinion Make An Effort To Shop Local For The Holidays
This holiday season, when you’re looking for the right gift, remember that where you shop is just as important as what you’re buying. As we do every year, the Town-Crier urges everyone here in the western communities to make an effort to shop locally. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS ............................. 2 - 13 OPINION ................................ 4 CRIME NEWS ........................ 6 SCHOOLS ..................... 14 - 15 PEOPLE ........................ 16 - 17 COLUMNS .................... 25 - 26 DINING ......................... 28 - 32 BUSINESS ................... 33 - 34 SPORTS ....................... 37 - 42 CALENDAR ................... 44 - 46 CLASSIFIEDS ............... 47 - 54 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
The Village of Royal Palm Beach held its Fall Fantasy Craft Fair last Saturday at Veterans Park. The event featured holiday-themed items for sale by local vendors as well as live music performed by Rick Nelson. Shown here, Nancy Fried-Tobin helps Emily Brooke try on a hat. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Village Officials Not Impressed With RPBHS Task Force Progress By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report A task force made up of Royal Palm Beach and Palm Beach County School District officials has made little headway toward the village’s goal of improving conditions at Royal Palm Beach High School, Councilman David Swift said last week. Swift has led the village’s efforts to address problems at the school, including its D grade from the state, high rate of illegal incidents and reputation for violence. The village wants to stem the tide of Royal Palm Beach teens
choosing other schools over the community high school. The council created the task force Oct. 15. It first met Nov. 6. In addition to Swift, task force members include Village Manager David Farber, School Board Member Dr. Sandra Richmond, Royal Palm Beach High School Principal Guarn Sims, School District West Area Director Camille Coleman and School District Chief of Staff Ann Killets. “We’re making progress in some areas, and in other areas we’re not,” Swift said at the Nov. 19 meeting of the Royal Palm Beach Village Council.
While some new academy programs might be put in faster, and the committee agreed to help get positive publicity for the school, the school district representatives have refused to look at boundary changes, which village officials believe are key to the problems. “The decision has been made that they’re not going to consider, in my opinion, looking at the boundary issue, and to me that’s the key issue,” Swift said. “I still think we can attend the task force meetings, but I think it’s time for an elected official to sit down with their elected officials and the suSee RPBHS, page 20
Wellington Volunteers Help Make Holidays Better For Those In Need By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report On Thursday, several Wellington families received a free Thanksgiving dinner courtesy of a food drive organized by the village’s Safe Neighborhoods office — one of several projects Wellington is coordinating to aid residents in need. It was a community effort to collect the food, package it and then deliver it to the families, with local businesses and worship centers donating turkeys, residents bringing in canned goods to the Safe Neighborhoods office, and even a donation from the Western Communities Football League, which made canned goods the entry fee to its annual Turkey Bowl earlier this month. “It was an outpouring of generosity from residents and employees. We have a really wonderful community,” Neighborhood Advocate Meridith Tuckwood said. “Originally, I wanted to feed 100 families, but they told me to set the goal at 50 so no one would be disappointed. I said, ‘No, I want See HELPING, page 20
A Helping Hand — Senior Wellington managers have begun monthly “help days” focused on making home improvements for residents who are unable to do so themselves.
Serving Palms West Since 1980
Wellington Gets $3.8 Million For Forest Hill Work By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Wellington Village Council approved a resolution Tuesday that will put $3.8 million in federal stimulus money to work on Forest Hill Blvd. improvements starting in January. The resolution authorizes the mayor and village staff to enter into agreements with the Florida Department of Transportation, which is disbursing the stimulus money in Palm Beach County through the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization. “The agreement spells out the terms and conditions by which the FDOT will disperse the money to the Village of Wellington,” Deputy Village Manager John Bonde told the Town-Crier on Tuesday. “Those agreements have been received, they’ve been discussed. We’re asking the council to bless it so the village manager and others can sign the agreement, and that qualifies us for the $3.8 million of money that’s available for Forest Hill Blvd.” The village has identified almost $15 million in improvements for Forest Hill Blvd. from Florida’s Turnpike to the intersection of Wellington Trace nearest to Southern Blvd., Bonde said. The project will include street lighting
on portions of the thoroughfare, directional signage, new pavement, new curbing, sidewalks and landscaping. “The project is ‘Forest Hill Boulevarding’ — which is what we’re calling the project — a redo of main street Wellington,” Bonde said. “Although the project cost much exceeds the stimulus money, we’re going to use that stimulus money to supplement what the village has set aside for the project. Because the cost of the entire vision will be over a number of years, we’ll be able to advance in the vicinity of $8 million worth of construction initially, with the rest to be determined later.” The project is slated to begin in January, when village staff will come back to the council with a contract for the construction of phases 2, 3 and 4, Bonde said, explaining that Phase 1, from Wellington Trace to Southern Blvd., had been done in-house. Phase 5 will add lighting on both sides of Forest Hill Blvd. east of State Road 7, which Bonde said will be done by FPL. “We’re trying to move this project,” Bonde said. “The FDOT is saying that by January, they want to have these projects in place and want to have bid awards. See FOREST HILL, page 20
RPB Baseball Group Might Get A Chance For Redemption By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Royal Palm Beach’s reorganized youth baseball provider might get a chance for redemption after receiving a boost from the village’s Recreation Advisory Board this week. At a meeting Monday, the board voted 3-1 to suggest that members of Royal Palm Beach Youth Baseball in a reconstituted group should continue to run baseball programs in the village. The Royal Palm Beach Village Council will take up the issue on Thursday, Dec. 3. The council ended its relationship with RPBYB on Nov. 5 after the group’s former president came under investigation for embezzlement. At a meeting last week, the council enacted a series of strict new regulations governing village sports providers (see related story, page 18). The Recreation Advisory Board recommended the newly constituted Youth Baseball Association of Royal Palm Beach as the village’s youth baseball provider over Palm Beach Little League, which now holds games at Seminole Palms Park. Former RPBYB official Scott Houk, now president of the Youth Baseball Association of Royal Palm Beach, said his group formed a new corporation and consolidated the two boards of the former organization. “We had two boards before. We had an executive board of five and a day-to-day operating board of seven,” Houk said. “We felt it was best to have one single body overseeing everything we’ve got going on, the financ-
es and the day-to-day operations.” The new board has three new members and a fourth who has been on the board just six months, which makes a majority of the seven-member panel new volunteers. The league also increased program oversight. The new bylaws will provide more accountability with a semiannual audit, Houk said, noting that the group is in the process of hiring a CPA. “We have an attorney that we have hired on as well to help us,” he said. Any dispersals over $1,000 will require approval of the board. The treasurer will see that all deposits are made within 72 hours, and the president, vice president and treasurer will be authorized to sign checks. “Two signatures are required for any disbursement of league funds,” Houk said. RPBYB ran into trouble when it discovered that its former president, longtime RPB recreation activist Mike Infante, had written two checks to himself, one for $15,000 and one for $35,000, out of a league account. An embezzlement investigation is ongoing, but Infante has not yet been charged with a crime. James Evans, president of Palm Beach Little League Inc., said his league formed because the organizers believed the affiliation with Little League Baseball would advance their children further. Founded in 1939, the league was officially recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1964. There are currently 176,000 teams worldwide, Evans noted. “Little League is considered the largest youth organization in the See BASEBALL, page 18
Steeplechase Kicks Off Wellington’s Equestrian Season
Steeplechase — Riders head over a jump at last year’s inaugural Palm Beach Steeplechase. The event returns to Wellington on Nov. 28. PHOTO COURTESY PALM BEACH STEEPLECHASE
By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington residents, equestrians and visitors from all over the world will enjoy a day of excitement and fun on Saturday, Nov. 28 at the Second Annual Palm Beach Steeplechase held at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center Stadium at the corner of South Shore Blvd. and Pierson Road. The stadium gates will open at 9 a.m. for anyone who has purchased a tailgating ticket, with the entertainment kicking off at 11 a.m. and the first race at 1 p.m. The event is presented by Equestrian Sport Productions, the same company that produces the Winter Equestrian Festival.
“People should come out because it’s really a great familyfriendly event,” said Equestrian Sport Productions CEO Mark Bellissimo, who with his wife Katherine is chairing the Palm Beach Steeplechase. “It’s going to be a great way to kick off the equestrian season.” Bellissimo said he thinks people who might be unfamiliar with equestrian sports can identify better with steeplechase than other equestrian events because it’s a race, and an exciting one at that. Top steeplechase riders will bring their horses from across the nation to compete in five races for $200,000 in prize money. It is the final race of a steeplechase circuit that includes famous courses in
Middleburg, Va., and Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The featured race is the Palm Beach Stakes, a $100,000 Grade I novice hurdle. The other four races include a three-year-old stakes and a filly-and-mare stakes. There will also be a sixth celebrity race. Attendants will also have the opportunity to see local officials race on Segways or cheer on local firefighters and sheriff’s deputies as they battle it out in a tugof-war. The event will also feature several activities like Jack Russell terrier races, a Harley-Davidson parade, a classic car parade, beer and wine gardens, vendor village See STEEPLECHASE, page 7