LOXAHATCHEE GROVES ELECTION RACES SEE STORIES, PAGE 3
CK SHACK CLAIMS THE YLVISAKER CUP SEE STORY, PAGE 16
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TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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Alonso: COVID-19 Death Rate Flattening, Cases Coming Down
Volume 43, Number 3 February 11 - February 24, 2022
Serving Palms West Since 1980
LOCAL SCHOOLS WIN BIG AT GCC
The number of deaths per 100,000 from COVID-19 are starting to come down, following an earlier reduction in the number of cases per 100,000, Florida Department of HealthPalm Beach County Director Dr. Alina Alonso told the Palm Beach County Commission on Tuesday, Feb. 8. Page 4
Provident Jewelry In Wellington Hosts B&G Club Fundraiser Event
Provident Jewelry in Wellington Town Square held a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County on Thursday, Jan. 27. During the store’s Wellington Season Kickoff Party, a portion of sales went to the nonprofit, while guests enjoyed refreshments and an exciting raffle. Page 8
Hate Ends Now Tour Cattle Car Experience
The Hate Ends Now Tour brought ShadowLight’s Cattle Car Experience program to the Wellington Amphitheater on Monday, Feb. 7. It features a 360-degree, immersive 3D multimedia experience that takes place inside a replica of a cattle car used by the Nazi regime to transport Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust. Page 19
The Great Charity Challenge, sponsored by Fidelity Investments, returned Saturday, Feb. 5. In whimsical fashion, 33 teams of equestrians and their mounts, representing local nonprofit organizations, took to the ring dressed as childhood storybook characters to compete for a share of more than $1.7 million in prize money. In the end, Wellington’s school children were the big winners, with the Wellington PTA/PTO/PTSA taking the top prize of $100,000. Shown above, the winning team of riders — Caroline Mawhinney, Mia Albelo and Jessica Mendoza, sponsored by Sexton Engineering and Triple M Farms — celebrates with local school officials. STORY & MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Wellington Village Council Seat 2: Incumbent Siskind Faces Two Challengers
By Callie Sharkey Town-Crier Staff Report After serving six years on the Wellington Village Council, incumbent Councilwoman Tanya Siskind is seeking re-election to the council’s Seat 2. She faces two challengers in Tony Nelson and Karen Morris-Clarke. Seat 2 is one of two seats up for election on the Tuesday, March 8 ballot. The other is the Seat 3 race between incumbent Vice Mayor John McGovern and local businessman Johnny Meier. The winners will serve four-year terms on the council. TANYA SISKIND After being appointed to the council in 2016 and winning the full four-year term in 2018, Tanya Siskind is now running for reelection. Siskind said she has found success on the council during the past four years through flourish-
ing community partnerships, in addition to keeping taxes low and strong efforts to protect the community during the COVID-19 crisis. “We’ve partnered with Feeding South Florida, during the pandemic, to make sure all our families had food on their tables,” Siskind said. “We have an ongoing partnership with our public schools to keep them A-rated and to ensure that every child gets the best education possible. This included adding new, state-ofthe-art public sports facilities and expanding sports programs.” Siskind is proud of her role in “funding capital improvement projects to upgrade our infrastructure and ensure our residents are safe, including a state-of-the-art water plant providing safe, highquality water to our residents,” and “working closely with our police and fire departments to lower the
crime rate for the fourth-straight year, making Wellington one of the safest communities in Florida.” While Siskind has her priorities, she understands that many of those are ongoing projects that will continue to evolve. “While no place is perfect, Wellington is a great place to live. Many issues stay the same: keeping taxes low, our residents safe, our schools A-rated, and continuing to provide exceptional cultural, recreational and sports activities for residents of all ages,” she said. “The pandemic has been a top issue. Hopefully, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and will be able to get back to a new normal.” With all the changes going on in the world around us, Siskind believes that local stability is very important. “I believe that my experience See WELLINGTON, page 4
Divided County Commission OKs Transmittal Of GL Homes Land Swap
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Palm Beach County Commission in a 4-3 vote on Wednesday, Feb. 2 agreed to transmit a controversial privately initiated amendment to the county’s comprehensive plan. The GL Homes proposal would relocate some of its residential rights at Indian Trails Grove, west of The Acreage, to the Agricultural Reserve west of Delray Beach. In exchange, GL Homes will dedicate 1,600 acres within Indian Trails Grove to Palm Beach County for water resources. The transfer would reduce the number of homes there by 1,285 from 3,897 to 2,612. In exchange, the transfer would allow GL Homes to build residential units on the Hyder West property it owns off State Road 7 west of Delray Beach. The commissioners spent more than five hours discussing the pros and cons of the plan, while also receiving public opinion on the proposal. District 6 Commissioner Melissa McKinlay pointed out that she, not the developer, had proposed the privately initiated amendment. The transmission approval does not approve the proposal itself. Planning Director Ramsay Bulkeley explained that it gives staff direction to research details of the land swap it had not yet had the ability to do. “There are some technical questions,” Bulkeley said. “Part of the process to move us forward is to really dig in deep with staff and do all the hard research.” Mayor Robert Weinroth said transmission would not be a commitment, but an opportunity to figure out whether the proposal is realistic. Bulkeley said researching the proposal would be time consuming for staff but not beyond its capability. During public comment, many residents, homeowners and environmental groups spoke both for and against the proposal, with some asking for more research. Indian Trail Improvement Dis-
trict Vice President Betty Argue pointed out that the ITID board had voted to support the proposed land swap in 2016 and again more recently, noting that the proposal has regional benefits, not just for ITID. District 5 Commissioner Maria Sachs said she did not favor having a private developer use county staff to do research she felt the developer should be doing. “My position is we can’t do this,” Sachs said. “We should not do this. We’ve been here all day for one reason, because a commissioner wanted, and it is her right to do so, and I think she had a very good purpose. There is a very important water issue here.” She pointed out that 1,000 Friends of Florida had agreed with McKinlay that there is a water resource issue in Indian Trails Grove. “If a developer wants to initiate a process for us to review their land swap, we’re here, that’s what we’re doing, that’s our job, but right now, we’re here about water,” Sachs said. “We do not need to have a land swap to teach us about water. We need to make sure our water resources are taken care of. I would encourage us as a county to use our authority to get to the solution to the problem. We have the money to do it. Let’s move forward and not swap land to initiate a review of water resources in Indian Trails Grove.” McKinlay said she was trying to balance preservation with change going on in the county. “The idea of a plan is it’s a living, breathing document that sometimes warrants change,” she said. McKinlay noted that Indian Trails Grove is being actively farmed now. “Although they are talking about giving us 1,600 acres, their very preliminary proposal, you’re talking 2,682 acres that is farmland right now, and GL Homes will be paying more than a half-million dollars to even initiate and file this text amendment,” she said. “For them to do the work and explore projects that could happen on this See LAND SWAP, page 7
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP EQUESTRIAN TRIATHLON RPBHS Hires Jeff Schaum As New Football Coach
Royal Palm Beach High School has hired a new head football coach. It’s Jeff Schaum, who will be relocating to the area from New Mexico. He’s expected to be in Palm Beach County by March 1. In addition to his role as the school’s head football coach, Schaum will teach physical education. Page 23 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 20 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 7 SPORTS......................... 23 - 25 SCHOOLS.......................26 - 27 PEOPLE......................... 28 - 30 BUSINESS............................. 33 COLUMNS............................. 35 CLASSIFIEDS................ 34 - 36 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
Tanya Siskind
Tony Nelson
Karen Morris-Clarke
County Allows Pet Boarding At Two Acreage Locations Before Enacting Moratorium
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report At a zoning meeting on Thursday, Jan. 27, the Palm Beach County Commission approved conditional use applications to allow limited pet boarding at two locations in The Acreage. The approvals were made on 4-2 votes, and immediately after approving the applications, the board voted 6-0 to enact a zoningin-progress moratorium to tempo-
rarily halt any further applications until county staff has written an ordinance placing limits on pet boarding. Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, who pulled the items from the consent agenda, said they had been the subject of several contentious e-mails that commissioners had received and asked staff to make a presentation on it. Kevin McGinley, representing the property owner, said this was
the first pet boarding facility that had ever been discussed before the board. “I’ve been taken through eight of them before, and it has always been on consent. It has always gone through without neighborhood opposition,” McGinley said. “They have always had unanimous support from the zoning commission.” He said that pet boarding faSee BOARDING, page 7
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County’s World Championship Equestrian Triathlon returned to EyeCandyLand Farm in Wellington on Monday, Feb. 7. World-renowned athletes gathered to compete in a thrilling equestrian competition to benefit the Neil S. Hirsch Family Boys & Girls Club of Wellington. The teams were made up of one polo player, one hunter jumper and one dressage rider. The competition included a big twist — the athletes did not compete in their field of expertise. Shown above, Event Chair Kathleen Gannon-Ledsome watches as Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year Valencia Jean addresses the attendees. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 20 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Town-Crier To Host RPB Candidate Forum Feb. 22
The Town-Crier newspaper will host a televised Royal Palm Beach candidate forum on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. in the Royal Palm Beach Village Meeting Hall council chambers. The two candidates seeking the Group 1 seat on the Royal Palm Beach Village Council in this year’s election have been invited to participate in the forum. In that race, education activist Julie Highsmith is challenging incumbent Councilman Jeff
Hmara. The race is the only item on the Tuesday, March 8 municipal ballot. The Feb. 22 forum will last approximately two hours and will be moderated by Town-Crier Executive Editor Joshua Manning with questions posed by Town-Crier staff members and the community. All residents are invited to attend the forum. For those who cannot make it in person, the forum will be broadcast on the village’s Channel 18 and streamed live on
the village’s web site and YouTube channel. The forum will be broken up into two 50-minute sessions with a 10-minute break in between. Each candidate will provide an opening statement before being asked a series of questions by Town-Crier staff members. Residents will be invited to submit questions during the first half of the forum. Moderator-chosen questions from those submitted will be asked during the second
half of the forum. Each candidate will also be given time to make a closing statement. “We’re excited to once again stage this event for the Royal Palm Beach community,” Town-Crier Publisher Barry Manning said. “We look forward to a very informative candidate forum. Our mission at the Town-Crier is to keep residents informed on important local issues, and crucial to that is helping to keep voters informed on election issues.”
The Royal Palm Beach Village Meeting Hall is located at the southeast corner of Okeechobee and Royal Palm Beach boulevards. Residents not attending the forum in person are invited to submit a question in advance. Questions can be submitted in a sealed envelope marked “Confidential/Candidate Forum” and dropped off at the Village Clerk’s office prior to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 22.