WESTLAKE PLANS CANDIDATES FORUM SEE STORY, PAGE 4
LAS MONJITAS WINS C.V. WHITNEY CUP SEE STORY, PAGE 5
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
Your Community Newspaper
INSIDE
Volume 41, Number 9 February 28 - March 5, 2020
Serving Palms West Since 1980
PANTHER RIDGE FUNDRAISER 2020
Pages 20 thru 22
Chronic Illness Forum Focuses On Supporting Patients And Caregivers
Five panelists engaged in an informative discussion on health and wellness Thursday, Feb. 20 when Palm Beach State College hosted a Chronic Illness Forum at its Loxahatchee Groves campus. A diverse crowd gathered in the campus lecture hall for the event. Page 3
On Thursday, Feb. 20, the Panther Ridge Conservation Center in Loxahatchee Groves held its annual fundraiser “Take a Dip on the Wild Side” and introduced the public to its two newest residents — a three-month-old pair of cheetah cubs. Shown above are Peter Yeskel and Candace Gaines with Geoffrey Fear of Provident Jewelry. STORY & MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 7 PHOTO BY CALLIE SHARKEY/TOWN-CRIER
Royal Palm Beach Youth Baseball Association Opens Spring Season
The Youth Baseball Association Royal Palm Beach held its Spring 2020 Opening Night Ceremonies for baseball and softball on Friday, Feb. 21 at the Bob Marcello Baseball Complex at Willows Park. Page 11
Standout Players Help WHS Soccer Team Achieve Winning Record
The Wellington High School boys varsity soccer team recently concluded a standout season, despite the fact that it came to an unexpected end after an upset — in penalty kicks — to Forest Hill High School in the Class 7A, District 10 tournament. According to Wolverine head coach Chris Carrera, there were two seniors on the team whose leadership on and off the field is a key reason the team won 80 percent of its regular season games. Page 17 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 15 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 6 SPORTS..........................17 - 18 BUSINESS............................. 19 SCHOOLS...................... 20 - 21 PEOPLE................................. 22 CALENDAR............................ 27 COLUMNS............................. 28 CLASSIFIEDS................ 29 - 30 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
Council Honors Tom Wenham As A Wellington ‘Founder’
By M. Dennis Taylor Town-Crier Staff Report A bit of agenda re-ordering and some subterfuge was involved to get former Wellington Mayor Tom Wenham to come to the Wellington Village Council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 25 thinking he had one good reason for attendance when he actually had two. The first was a new way to honor Wellington veterans, and the second was the surprise addition of Wenham’s name to the Wellington Founder’s Plaque — an honor that
has only been bestowed on eight others in the village’s history. Councilman Michael Drahos told Wenham, who thought he was there to talk about an American Legion Post 390 program to honor Wellington veterans, that he hopes after his own term in government is over, his constituents will regard him as highly as the village regards the former mayor. “I think a motion may be in order,” current Mayor Anne Gerwig said. Drahos motioned that Wen-
The Wellington Village Council with Regis and Tom Wenham. (L-R) Councilwoman Tanya Siskind, Councilman John McGovern, Mayor Anne Gerwig, Regis and “Wellington Founder” Tom Wenham, Vice Mayor Michael Napoleone and Councilman Michael Drahos. PHOTO COURTESY VILLAGE OF WELLINGTON
ham’s name be added to the Founder’s Plaque, which sits in the lobby of the Wellington Municipal Complex and is designed to honor people who were crucial in making Wellington the unique community it is today. Vice Mayor Michael Napoleone quickly seconded the motion, and the council’s discussion period was used to offer praise to Wenham. “We haven’t put anyone on it in seven years,” Councilman John McGovern said. “I see it as founders and sustainers, and it is incomplete without your name.” Councilwoman Tanya Siskind agreed. “I won’t repeat all the great things that have been said in honor of our highly beloved former mayor,” she said. “We are not founders,” said Gerwig, referring to the current council. “You are a founder,” she said to Wenham. Prior to incorporation, Wenham sat on the Acme Improvement District Board of Supervisors, the village’s pre-incorporation government. He was elected to the inaugural Wellington Village Council in 1996 and became Wellington’s appointed mayor in 2000. When Wellington switched See WENHAM, page 13
State Road 7 Extension Back On Long-Range Planning Map
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report In a 16-5 vote, the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency Governing Board approved an amendment on Thursday, Feb. 20 to put the long-delayed State Road 7 extension back on its long-range planning map, backtracking on a board decision in December to remove it. The December vote was 9-8 to remove SR 7 after West Palm Beach Commissioner Joseph Peduzzi tacked an amendment onto a motion by Boca Raton officials to remove certain south county roads from the long-range plan. The vote left at least one TPA board member confused as to what she had just voted for. Since no one on the prevailing side proposed to reconsider the vote, District 6 County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay offered an amendment to the motion at the TPA’s meeting last week to put the SR 7 extension back on the long-range planning map. A threehour hearing ensued, attended by at least 150 people who filled the new TPA offices in downtown West Palm Beach, overflowing into adjacent meeting rooms. “We are here to discuss a resolution approving amendment number one to the TPA’s 2045 longrange transportation plan,” said TPA Chair Maria Marino, a Palm Beach Gardens councilwoman, explaining that the amendment would actually add two projects back to the LRTP, the widening of SR 7 from two lanes to four lanes from Okeechobee Blvd. to 60th Street North in fiscal year 2024 at a cost of $20 million, and a new four-lane roadway from 60th
Street North to Northlake Blvd. the same year at a cost of $53 million. About 50 public comment cards had been submitted, and Marino limited comments to one minute. “As we have several presentations, I would ask that we hold any questions to presenters until all presentations and public comment have concluded,” she said. John Krane, planning and environmental manager for Florida Department of Transportation District 4, said the approximately 5-mile segment would provide regional connectivity between two arterial roadways, Okeechobee and Northlake boulevards, to provide relief for existing demands, as well as for several planned and/or approved projects in the area and enhance emergency response. “There’s going to be a lot more traffic in the area to add to the congestion that’s already there,” Krane said, adding that vehicle crashes on existing arterial roadways result in long traffic delays that could be mitigated by the SR 7 extension. Krane added that most all the rights of way have been procured, and at least 170 feet of right of way exist between the proposed route and the West Palm Beach water catchment area, which has been the point of contention by West Palm Beach on environmental and potential pollution concerns. He also pointed out that the proposed right of way has been on the FDOT plan in various iterations since 1948, and numerous public input meetings have been held in recent years on the current proposed route. He further pointed out that the See SR 7, page 13
SPECIAL OLYMPICS EQUESTRIAN EVENT
Groves Council Candidates Answer Questions At Forum
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Loxahatchee Groves Landowners’ Association held a candidates forum on Thursday, Feb. 20 featuring the race for Seat 5 on the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council — the only council seat on the Tuesday, March 17 election ballot — between incumbent Vice Mayor Dave DeMarois and challenger former Councilwoman Marge Herzog. DeMarois, a former Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District supervisor, is seeking his second term on the council. Herzog, who sat on the inaugural town
council, is seeking the seat after a decade off the council. Moderator Cassie Suchy asked questions of the candidates, submitted to the LGLA by residents. Asked if the town should implement overlay districts on Southern or Okeechobee boulevards, or anywhere else, DeMarois and Herzog both said they favored them. While DeMarois did not go into details, Herzog said there is a great need to control where things are going. “I think with direction and guidance of an overlay, we could have more success in what happens in this town, and we wouldn’t have as much back-and-forth issues going
on related to people trying to get something other people near them don’t want,” she said. The next question pointed out that there are commercial enterprises established after the incorporation of the town and asked candidates if they would use overlay zoning to make them compliant and assess them for business taxes. DeMarois said he would assess them. “You need to control what’s going on there, but on the other side of the coin, you also need some taxable income coming in. If we have more commercial on See LOX FORUM, page 7
The 2020 Special Olympics Florida Area 8 Equestrian Championship was held Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center’s Equestrian Village site in Wellington, hosted by the Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center. More than 100 riders competed from Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Okeechobee, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Shown above, Cynthia Lawrence won third place in showmanship. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 15 PHOTO BY MEREDITH BUROW/TOWN-CRIER
Wellington Mourns Community Pioneer Chuck Schaefer
Chuck Schaefer at the Wellington pharmacy that bears his name.
By Meredith Burow Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington pioneer Chuck Schaefer, longtime owner of Schaefer Drugs, passed away Wednesday, Feb. 19 following complications from heart surgery. An entrepreneur and pillar in the western communities, Schaefer opened his Wellington drugstore in 1979, when the community was in its infancy. The first drugstore in the community, it was also one of the first businesses to open in Wellington’s first shopping center. While other businesses have come and gone, Schaefer Drugs has remained a landmark in the community for more than 40 years.
Schaefer was known for going above and beyond the pharmaceutical call of duty, opening the store outside of business hours for customers in need, as well as picking up and delivering medications to patients, if necessary, in the middle of the night. While Schaefer’s daughter and son-in-law — Lauren and Jay Henley — took over managing the family-owned and operated business, Schaefer continued to work in the store up until a month before his passing. “Lauren and I came into the business and started learning it and taking it over about 10 years ago so he could spend a lot more time with my daughters — his granddaughters,” Jay Henley recalled.
“He picked them up from school and attended all of their activities.” According to Henley, being involved in the life of his granddaughters was one of Schaefer’s greatest priorities. Olivia Henley, 17, Schaefer’s oldest grandchild, is involved in the King’s Academy theater company, where she plays the stepmother in this season’s adaptation of Cinderella. Following in her grandfather’s footsteps, Kiersten Henley, 13, is passionate about basketball and plays shooting guard, also at TKA. “He never missed a game, and he never missed a show. He was always there for the girls,” Henley said. “He would do anything for See SCHAEFER, page 4