Town-Crier Newspaper February 16, 2018

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AEGT PLANS ONE GALA NIGHT MARCH 18 MEET LOX GROVES COUNCIL CANDIDATES SEE STORY, PAGE 3 SEE PROFILE STORIES, PAGE 7 THE

TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE

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INSIDE

Wellington Seniors Panel Supports Survey, ‘Homegrown Heroes’

Volume 39, Number 7 February 16 - February 22, 2018

Serving Palms West Since 1980

CHAMBER’S 5K POLO DASH & BASH

Wellington’s Senior Advisory Committee discussed an upcoming senior survey, senior community volunteering and ways in which to get seniors more involved and engaged in the community during the board’s monthly meeting on Thursday, Feb. 8. Page 3

Horses Healing Hearts Hosts Annual White White West Gala

The seventh annual White White West party, an evening of dancing, food, drinks, silent auction and live entertainment was held Friday, Feb. 9 at Wellington National Golf Club. The event benefited Horses Healing Hearts, a charity that uses horses to help children of alcoholics and addicts. Dave Aronberg, Roxanna Cella and Peter Wylde were the event’s honorary chairs. Page 5

Live 360 Teen Art Salon Exhibition Takes Place At Wellington Green

Isabella Bustamante, founder of the Teen Art Salon in New York City, launched at a special exhibition in the Live 360 Studio on Thursday, Feb. 8 at the Mall at Wellington Green. Teen Art Salon promotes and supports the creative pursuits of youth by providing free arts programming for young adults ages 13-19. Page 15

OPINION

Yet Another Massacre: Many Ideas, But A Solution Eludes Us

The last time we discussed much-needed improvements in both enforcing existing gun laws and strengthening the laws currently in place, it was after the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. Well, here we are again, after this week’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in nearby Parkland, where 17 people were brutally murdered on a South Florida high school campus. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 15 OPINION.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS.................... 7 - 8 PEOPLE................................. 16 SCHOOLS.............................. 17 COLUMNS............................. 18 BUSINESS..................... 28 - 29 SPORTS..........................31 - 33 CALENDAR............................ 34 CLASSIFIEDS................ 35 - 38 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM

The Wellington Chamber of Commerce hosted its 5K Polo Dash & Bash on Sunday, Feb. 11 at the Grand Champions Polo Club. At the event was a vendor village, a 155-foot obstacle course, food and more. Shown above, the six-year-old through eight-year-old group starts the mini dash. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 22 PHOTO BY JACK LOWENSTEIN/TOWN-CRIER

ELECTION 2018: MAYOR OF ROYAL PALM BEACH

Village, Foundation Sign Agreement To Work Together

By Jack Lowenstein Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington Mayor Anne Gerwig and Tom Wenham of the Wellington Community Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding at the Wellington Village Council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 13. “It formalizes the partnership between us to support the needs of our community, specifically with seniors, veterans and our youth,” Community Services Director Paulette Edwards explained. “It gives us the opportunity to partner with this nonprofit organization, to be able to assess the needs of the community, and those needs then will be able to be addressed and help the village in addressing those needs in the community.” Wenham, chair of the foundation and a former Wellington mayor, appeared at the meeting to thank the village for its continued partnership.

“On behalf of the board members of the Wellington Community Foundation… we are proud to be partners with the village on this memorandum of understanding with a focus on Wellington seniors, veterans and children, supporting their quality of life by working together on community projects,” Wenham said. Aside from Wenham, the foundation’s board members include Mickey Smith, Robbin Lee, Maria Becker, Barry Manning, Jim Sackett, Maggie Zeller, Hope Barron, Joanna Boynton and Dr. Gordon Johnson. “It was two years ago this month that the council turned the Wellington Community Foundation over to those committed to benefiting the residents of Wellington,” Wenham said. “During these past two years, your Wellington Community Foundation board has worked See COUNCIL, page 4

EQUESTRIAN TRIATHLON

Fred Pinto Wants To Maintain Quality Of Life As RPB Mayor

By Jack Lowenstein Town-Crier Staff Report Royal Palm Beach Mayor Fred Pinto is seeking a second term with the gavel, asking residents of the village to return him to the dais on Tuesday, March 13. Pinto faces a challenge from former Councilwoman Martha Webster in a rematch of Royal Palm Beach’s 2016 mayoral election. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for the citizens in this village,” Pinto said. “I feel that I understand what their concerns are about, and I think I’ve always been able to address that and articulate that.” Pinto was first elected to the council in 2003. He recalled how he was encouraged to seek the open seat at the time, winning a four-way race. He believes his Wall Street experience has served him and the village in business decisions made during his time on the council, and since he was elected mayor two years ago. “I looked down in the future

of the village and where the village was then. I anticipated some major business decisions needing to be made for the future of the community,” Pinto said, proud of where the village stands today because of those decisions. His greatest concern lies with the safety of residents. “We talk about quality of life. The key component to a high quality of life is people want to feel safe,” Pinto said. “They want to feel like their children are safe. They want to feel their parents, their grandparents are safe. Everybody wants a safe environment.” Pinto is confident in the work he, the other council members and village staff have put in to bring safety to the village, stressing that the crime statistics decrease with each passing year. “Unfortunately, we have people who want to emphasize anomalous events that may happen and try to paint that as, ‘Oh, we have a problem.’ That simply is nothing more than someone who is doing

Fred Pinto fear-mongering,” he said. While Pinto wants to address safety in Royal Palm Beach, he does not believe there is a major problem with crime in the community. “Crime is ubiquitous. It can happen anywhere, anytime, no matter See PINTO, page 21

Webster Stresses ‘Family Values’ In RPB Mayor’s Race

By Jack Lowenstein Town-Crier Staff Report Former Councilwoman Martha Webster is seeking to reclaim a seat on the Royal Palm Beach Village Council, challenging Mayor Fred Pinto in his bid for a second term. The election will be held on Tuesday, March 13. “This is a very good campaign. I’m very enthusiastic about it,” Webster said. “I have a lot of assistance, a lot of volunteers with this — really an outpouring from the community that I haven’t seen for a couple of years. It’s heartwarming, and it’s exciting.” Webster served on the council from 2009 to 2013. Since then, she has run several times to return to elected office; most recently her unsuccessful bid against Pinto for mayor in 2016. A longtime resident of the village, Webster’s vision for Royal Palm Beach lies in the hometown culture and family values it continues to exude. But she feels

that there are areas that need to be evaluated in order to stay the course. “I believe that our values are very important,” she said, noting that the village was recognized as one of the top 10 towns for families to live in 2010, while she was on the council. “I’ve always represented honesty and integrity, and I think the person who serves in that leadership role needs to represent the village, have a good face for the village and a good reputation for the village.” Webster believes there has been an increase in crime in the village, and that is something she plans to address with the opportunity to serve as mayor. “In the last two years, we have seen an increase in crime and the intensity of some of the crime and, notably, talk about home invasion. We had a hit-and-run; we had an assault at Commons Park. These are things that are unheard of here.”

Martha Webster Webster said she has been working with neighborhood crime programs in Royal Palm Beach, and she is impressed with the community leadership and response. “Counterpoint, the Willows, La Mancha — they’ve stepped up; See WEBSTER, page 21

The World Championship Equestrian Triathlon, a benefit for the Neil S. Hirsch Family Boys & Girls Club, took place Sunday, Feb. 11 at Deeridge Farms in Wellington. The family-friendly competition featured top polo, hunter-jumper and dressage athletes competing, with a twist — the athletes did not compete in their own sports. Shown above Lisa and Chris Von Martels with Jill Irving. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 19 PHOTO BY BETSY LABELLE/TOWN-CRIER

LGWCD Board Addresses Canal Trash Problem

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District Board of Supervisors on Monday discussed ways to clean the community of trash, especially in the canals. The canal trash problem became evident when recent canal dredging unearthed large amounts of trash and junk along with silt. Resident Virginia Standish pointed out that water levels have been low, which not only presented a fire hazard in the event firefighters have to draw water from canals, but also exposed debris in the canals. Former Supervisor Don Widing said he noticed that the district is losing canal banks to erosion and encouraged the board to mow the top and leave the sides alone to allow growth on the sides in order to slow erosion. Supervisor Karen Piesley said she would like to see the trash cleared from the silt pulled from the bottom of canals, surmising that digging out the canals causes more dirt to fall in. LGWCD Administrator Stephen Yohe said the silt is stacked at the side of the canal and allowed to

dry. Day laborers are hired to pull the garbage out. He explained that canals are dug out to maintain their design capacity to handle extreme storm events, and to let water drain from residential properties. Supervisor Simon Fernandez said that the district and town should start addressing the issue of trash by enacting a law requiring residents to put trash and bags in cans so loose trash does not wind up in canals and animals do not tear open the trash bags. Supervisor Connie Bell noted that Marge Herzog of the Loxahatchee Groves Landowners’ Association solicits young people to help clean roads and canals, and agreed that if the town enforces requirements for trash containers, it would be helpful. She added that the town has discussed trash bins like those used by many municipalities but said it would be costlier than the present service. Bell also pointed out that illegal dumping is easy to trace. “If we find out it is your trash, we will take it to the next level,” she said. Yohe said district staff noticed recently there were about 20 tires See TRASH, page 21

Town-Crier To Host RPB Candidates Forum Feb. 26

The Town-Crier newspaper will host a televised Royal Palm Beach candidates forum Monday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. in the Royal Palm Beach Village Meeting Hall council chambers. The four candidates seeking seats on the Royal Palm Beach Village Council in this year’s election have been invited to the forum. In the race for mayor, incumbent Mayor Fred Pinto is being challenged by former Councilwoman Martha Webster, while Sam Ro-

man is challenging Councilwoman Selena Smith for the Group 3 seat. The municipal election will be held Tuesday, March 13. The Feb. 26 forum will last approximately two hours and will be moderated by retired WPTV news anchor Jim Sackett with questions posed by Town-Crier staff members and the community. Sackett has moderated several Royal Palm Beach election forums in the past. “From my perspective, it’s helping to give back to the

community,” Sackett said. “Any election, no matter how big or how small, is very, very important to the people of that community. Come out and listen to what they have to say, and then be sure to go vote.” 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. 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 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 candidates 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.


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