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2019-2020
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 86, NO. 30
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THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2019
All the world’s a stage
Campers got into character at Acting Up Theater Academy. PAGE 10.
Ocoee sets tentative millage rate The tentative millage rate for the upcoming fiscal year is set at 5.75 mills. ERIC GUTIERREZ STAFF WRITER
The budget process for the upcoming fiscal year has begun in Ocoee. City leaders voted during the July 16 City Commission meeting to set the proposed tentative millage rate for Fiscal Year 201920 at 5.75. Commissioners also voted to set budget workshops for 6 p.m. Aug. 8 and 14 and set budget hearings for 6 p.m. Sept. 11 and 25. The current millage rate is 5.5. With a tentative millage rate set at 5.75, commissioners can set the millage rate for the upcoming fiscal year at that rate or below it. At the start of the budget process, the commission typically sets a tentative millage rate higher than what the final rate will end up being, City Manager Robert Frank said. “Historically, in the past probably 10 or 15 years, we’ve set this SEE COMMISSION PAGE 4
YOUR TOWN
Amy Quesinberry
Theresa Denison has been at the hospital and by her husband’s side daily since Tracy’s aneurysm and stroke April 25.
‘God allowed me to live.’ Tracy Denison has been fighting to get his life back since a near-death experience three months ago. SEE PAGE 4.
FALL FORWARD HITTING THE ROAD Ocoee resident Chris Lowe is taking her kindness program, Fall Forward Across America, around the country. Lowe, whose son Hudson died in 2017, is leaving West Orange County on Friday, July 26, to perform 22 random acts of kindness daily for 22 days. She will travel from Winter Garden to Washington State and back through the Southern states. Before Lowe leaves, though, she is hosting a farewell party from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 25, at Crooked Can, 426 W. Plant St., Winter Garden, where she will perform her first kindness act. Guests can tour the Kindness RV, paint rocks and help perform random acts of kindness.
W.G. pastors host community meeting A group of religious leaders in east Winter Garden invited residents to get on board with coming changes in their neighborhood. AMY QUESINBERRY COMMUNITY EDITOR
The second in a series of community meetings hosted by Pastor Byron Stevenson and several churches in east Winter Garden was held Monday, July 15, at the West Orlando Christian Center, and city of Winter
Garden officials were invited to participate. Both religious and government leaders continued to urge residents in the area to embrace the positive changes that are coming and to get involved with city discussions. Harold Bouler, a former WinSEE RESIDENTS PAGE 4
Karate masters Winter Garden Karate is hitting 15 years of martial arts. SEE PAGE 15.