LOX APPROVES PROJECTS ON SOUTHERN SEE STORY, PAGE 3
BANK BREAKS GROUND IN WELLINGTON SEE PHOTOS, PAGE 7
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
Your Community Newspaper
INSIDE
Volume 42, Number 8 April 9 - April 22, 2021
Serving Palms West Since 1980
FUN TIME AT EASTER IN THE PARK
HomeSafe Opens New Campus In The Western Communities
For more than 40 years, local nonprofit HomeSafe has made dedicated efforts to support and protect families in Palm Beach County. On Tuesday, April 6, the organization hosted a special ribbon-cutting ceremony for its newest site, the Sylvester Family West Campus. Page 3
Lindsay Ingersoll Promoted To Top Spot At Wellington Landings
After nearly nine years as the assistant principal at Wellington Landings Middle School, Lindsay Ingersoll has been named principal to captain the school of some 1,300 students. She replaces Blake Bennett, who was recently reassigned as principal of the Dreyfoos School of the Arts. Page 4
Ceremony Welcomes New Promenade Dock
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to welcome the new dock at the Wellington Promenade on Friday, March 26. The new dock is located behind the Wellington Community Center. The evening also featured the last green market of the season, as well as a health and wellness fair. Page 17
LifeSpring Church held an Easter in the Park event on Saturday, April 3 at Todd A. Robiner Park in Royal Palm Beach. The event included an Easter egg hunt, free food, games for kids and adults, prizes and a visit from the Easter Bunny. Shown above, Levi Banks visits with the Easter Bunny. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 18 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
State Rep. Matt Willhite Will Run For County Commission
By M. Dennis Taylor Town-Crier Staff Report State Rep. Matt Willhite (DDistrict 86) filed paperwork Monday, April 5 to run for the District 6 seat on the Palm Beach County Commission, which will be vacated next year by term-limited Commissioner Melissa McKinlay. After eight years on the Wellington Village Council, Willhite was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2016. He has been re-elected by a comfortable margin ever since. He still has another term available before hitting his term limit in Tallahassee. However, Willhite cited personal reasons for why he will seek a position based closer to home. “I have 12- and 13-year-old boys. They are at an impressionable age and need me around,” Willhite said. “I commute six hours each way, and I am gone all
week. After I finish my [current] term, I want to be at home.” Willhite noted that his wife is a native of Wellington, and he has adopted the community as his home during his 20-some years in the area and knows a lot about the county commission’s District 6 area, which includes all of the western communities and the Glades. “My boys are in public school here. I was on the Wellington council for eight years and with the fire department for 25 years,” Willhite said. “I have a diverse background, so I have a good perspective.” He feels he understands the local issues and has a lot to offer the constituents of District 6. “The largest growth is heading toward the west, and I want to help with that framework,” Willhite said. “We need continued help in
Matt Willhite the Glades with jobs and housing and, of course, with the water.” Willhite noted that Palm Beach County is home to some of the nation’s wealthiest people and See WILLHITE, page 4
RPB OKs Large Veterinary Hospital In Shopping Plaza
SRHS Softball: Young, Talented & Successful
The Seminole Ridge High School girls varsity softball team is doing the little things that are making the difference between winning and losing. After the Hawks opened the season with a pair of victories and survived a mid-season skid, where they had three losses and a tie, Seminole Ridge (115-1) has rebounded with four consecutive victories. Page 21 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 18 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 7 SPORTS......................... 21 - 23 PEOPLE................................. 24 SCHOOLS.............................. 25 BUSINESS............................. 27 COLUMNS............................. 28 CLASSIFIEDS................ 29 - 30 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
By M. Dennis Taylor Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Village Council approved a new veterinary hospital and two pared down swimming pool variances on Thursday, April 1. The application by veterinarian Marcos Unis required a special exception use approval for a “veterinarian’s clinic with an outside run” at 10465 Southern Blvd. in the Village Shoppes plaza at the northwest corner of State Road 7 and Southern Blvd. The clinic is located on an approximately 20,000-square-foot outparcel fronting Southern Blvd. The approval only allows for the dog walk, it does not state where the dog walk will be on the property. The applicant will return for that approval. The Royal Palm Beach Planning & Zoning Commission voted unanimously to approve the measure, and village staff also recommended approval. The clinic’s specialty is as a referral hospital that offers many of
the same services as a human hospital. It will be a state-of-the-art facility where CAT scans, MRIs and other services will be available, along with other advanced medical equipment and procedures. While the clinic will not be a boarding facility, the applicants asked for a variance so they can have the walking area for the patient animals to be exercised while they are recuperating before they return home. The walk will have PVC fencing so that no one can see in, and there will be Astroturf put down for the ground covering. “I’d like to thank you for coming to the community,” Mayor Fred Pinto said. Vice Mayor Richard Valuntas agreed. “That is a very difficult place, and I’m hoping you being there is going to be very good,” he said. “I look forward to seeing you prosper.” Next up were two requests for setback variances to allow for swimming pools. The council usually makes it a habit of sticking to the code and issues variances ju-
diciously. The Planning & Zoning Commission and village staff both recommended against approval. “I am sure when you bought the house, the salesperson told you there was room for a pool,” said Pinto, noting an issue that has come up before in the case of pool variances. The council worked with the homeowners to somewhat reduce the size of the pool and patio, so they required a smaller variance. “If you don’t receive approval tonight, you have to start again from square one,” Pinto explained. “This way you can move ahead tomorrow.” Both sets of applicants said that they were happy with the changes and the approvals. In other business, all the existing resident members of the Planning & Zoning Commission, the Recreation Advisory Board and the Education Advisory Board whose terms were expiring expressed interest in continuing in their posts. The council re-appointed these volunteers unanimously.
Divided Lox Council Taps Robert Shorr To Serve As Mayor
By Louis Hillary Park Town-Crier Staff Report Councilman Robert Shorr was selected Tuesday, April 6 for a second go-around as mayor of Loxahatchee Groves after a oneyear hiatus. Shorr was selected on a quick 3-2 vote at the start of the meeting with councilwomen Marianne Miles and Laura Danowski in support, and councilwomen Marge Herzog and Phillis Maniglia opposed. The mayor over the past year was Lisa El-Ramey, who was defeated last month by Miles in the Seat 3 race. Danowski was selected as vice mayor on a 5-0 vote. She also was selected to chair the Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District Board of Supervisors. Herzog was chosen as LGWCD treasurer.
Once an independent district, the LGWCD is now a subsidiary of the Town of Loxahatchee Groves with the council serving as its board of supervisors. “My number one goal is to run an efficient meeting,” Shorr said after the meeting. “That’s the mayor’s only real job.” At Tuesday’s session, council members — who have clashed often and sometimes rancorously over the issues of less or more paving and commercial growth in the community — were given a list of meeting rules. “The best thing I can do is help make sure the council follows those rules,” Shorr said, adding that “there is plenty of time to go off on tangents” without slowing down the meetings, which sometimes last past midnight. See SHORR, page 4
GPL TOURNEY RETURNS
The Lexus International Gay Polo Tournament, presented by Douglas Elliman Real Estate, was held Saturday, March 27 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach. Cherry Knoll Farm won the Senator’s Cup, while GJ Racing won the Founder’s Cup. Shown above are Gregg Granger, Ryan Young, Steven Crawford and Jason O’Reilly with a flamboyance of flamingos at the FlockFest tailgate, which won for Best in Show. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
New Equipment Could Be A Treasure For Temple Park
By Louis Hillary Park Town-Crier Staff Report Arrgh, matey! Temple Park in The Acreage is about to get an upgrade with a new play area featuring a pirate theme. The upgrade was approved at the Wednesday, March 31 meeting of the Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors. Part of a two-phase improvement project, the planned playground structure will have multiple slides, climbers and tiers with 35-foot-by-30-foot pouredin-place rubber footing that is 50 percent color and 50 percent black granule mix. The structure is for children ages 2 through 12 and will be built by Pro-Playgrounds at a cost of $82,999, which is within the previously allotted budget, ITID Parks & Recreation Director Elizabeth Ricci said. The addition of swings to the park, located at 17180 Temple
Blvd., will cost approximately $50,000 and be part of the second phase. Grant money will be sought for that portion of the project, Ricci said. The 5.2-acre park already features basketball, racquetball, tennis and sand volleyball courts. There also is a pavilion, picnic area, grills and restrooms. The board also accepted the recommendation of Ricci and ITID Executive Director Burgess Hanson that the supervisors renew the contract with LV Superior Landscaping for maintenance of the district’s 66 acres of parks and the administrative office site. LV Superior Landscaping has been handling the maintenance since 2015, but when the contract recently expired, ITID staff was asked to put the contract out to bid, which they did. Eleven bids ranged from $115,000 annually from LV SuSee ITID, page 4
Wellington Resident Named Teacher Of The Year
By M. Dennis Taylor Town-Crier Staff Report A Wellington resident since 1996, Toshimi Abe-Janiga has been named the Palm Beach County School District’s Teacher of the Year for her work at the Riviera Beach Preparatory and Achievement Academy, a public alternative high school. Known as “Mrs. Toshimi” to her students, she teaches English language arts, Holocaust studies and ACT/SAT prep. Principal Mark Simmonds has worked with Abe-Janiga for 15 years. He explained that the school is an academic alternative for some 200 students who have fallen behind, all of whom
take their English courses with Abe-Janiga. Simmonds is the one who nominated Abe-Janiga for the honor. “Mrs. Toshimi goes above and beyond the call of her job. It is not a 9 to 5 for her,” Simmonds said. “She does not just teach — it is a passion with her. She makes a connection with each and every student.” Originally from Japan and teaching in Palm Beach County since 2006, Abe-Janiga is a nationally recognized expert in Holocaust studies and a 2013 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum teacher fellow. Her Holocaust Outreach Project about Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese
diplomat who rescued more than 2,000 Jewish refugees, connected with schools in the United States, Japan and Lithuania to share her work and train teachers to implement the lessons in their classrooms. Abe-Janiga has been a Dwyer Award finalist multiple times and was also selected as teacher of the year at Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Holocaust and Human Rights. In addition to Holocaust studies, Abe-Janiga has also earned several grants for curriculum “designed to incorporate a school-wide reading initiative while teaching AfricanAmerican history and ways to disSee TEACHER, page 4
Teacher of the Year Toshimi Abe-Janiga with her trophy.