FIVE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES DISTRICT 18 PRIMARY PROFILES, PAGE 7
ANNE GANNON VS. PETER CARNEY TAX COLLECTOR PROFILES, PAGE 8
THE
TOWN - CR IER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
Your Community Newspaper
INSIDE Wellington Council Scraps Tennis Bid
Volume 33, Number 29 July 20 - July 26, 2012
A MILESTONE FOR PERFECT SMILE
The Wellington Village Council decided Monday to scrap all tennis bid proposals and start over after an appeal by A1A Tennis brought concerns about the committee selection process. Page 3
July 21 Benefit Will Support Wellington Transplant Patient
Family and friends of Wellington resident Paula Richards are asking for the community’s help in saving her life through a fundraiser Saturday, July 21 from 10 a.m. to noon. To be staged at the Starbucks on Forest Hill Blvd. in the Wellington Plaza, the event aims to help raise part of the $575,000 needed for a liver transplant. Page 5
Perfect Smile Dentistry celebrated its 10-year anniversary on Wednesday, July 11 at its Wellington office. Patients and friends came out to join the festivities. Shown here, Dr. Rasmi Akel and Dr. Barbara Bates lead the ribbon cutting. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 12 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Stylists Gather At Visions Hair Salon To Learn American Wave
Stylists from all over Florida gathered at Visions Hair Salon on Sunday, July 15 to get certified in the Arrojo American Wave. Two stylist-instructors, Amanda Jenkins and Flores McRory, came from Arrojo New York to demonstrate the style. Page 5
CrossFit HardCore Opens New Fitness Facility In Royal Palm
CrossFit HardCore North, “the Locker Room,” held a grand opening event for its new fitness facility in Royal Palm Beach on Saturday, July 14. Attendees participated in teams to try out the new facility. Page 12
OPINION A Glimmer Of Hope Shines In Wellington
Tuesday’s Wellington Village Council decision not to re-open last year’s changes to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center master plan can either be a turning point between the community’s warring factions and the start of a healing process, or just a momentary cessation of hostilities. Let’s hope it’s the former, because civility and compromise is what the Wellington community really needs. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS ............................. 3 - 12 OPINION .................................4 CRIME NEWS .........................6 SCHOOLS ............................ 13 PEOPLE ........................ 14 - 15 NEWS BRIEFS...................... 17 COLUMNS .................... 23 - 24 BUSINESS .................... 25 - 27 ENTERTAINMENT ................ 29 SCHOOLS SHOWCASE ... 30 - 31 SPORTS ........................ 35 - 37 CALENDAR ...................38 - 39 CLASSIFIEDS ................ 42 - 46 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
Sheriff Candidates Clash At Wellington Chamber Lunch By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Incumbent Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw was joined by challengers Joseph Talley and Cleamond Walker as guest speakers at Wednesday’s Wellington Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Wanderers Club. The candidates will face off in the primary election Tuesday, Aug. 14. If one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, he will be elected. If not, the top two votegetters will advance to the November general election ballot. Talley, a 14-year Wellington resident who was with the Baltimore County Police Department for 22 years, the last six as a major, said he sees a need for reform in the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. “My time in law enforcement was blessed in that I was in a fair, open, honest agency where I was given many opportunities on a level playing field to be assigned and promoted without bias or having to do anything in a political arena to get attention drawn to who we were,” he said. Talley spent five years in the PBSO’s reserve unit, advancing to the rank of lieutenant. In that experience, Talley said he learned that politics and special treatment are rampant in the department.
“We found that there was dysfunction and distraction among so many, that decisions were made about special assignments and jobs that were coveted among members of the agency,” he said. “Most people don’t want to drive a green-and-white their entire career. They want to be a detective or K9, one of those special jobs, and they want a fair playing field in order to get those special positions, and I saw that that wasn’t the case.” Talley added that the PBSO’s half-billion-dollar budget is also of concern to him. He wants the public to have more information on how that money is spent. “It should be online, like many sheriff’s offices do, and it should be readable,” he said. As sheriff, Talley said he would invite oversight by the county’s Office of the Inspector General. “There is no reason on earth that an elected sheriff should deny the people who voted for the inspector general to have that oversight,” he said. He is also dismayed that the PBSO does not have national accreditation. “It’s not nationally accredited, which is the gold standard for all law-enforcement agencies in the country,” Talley said. “It could not be nationally accredited as it stands today because of
the personnel issues I alluded to and many other things that are taking place or not taking place in the agency.” Talley said he would also increase supervision at the street level as well as service at the street level in order to reduce response time and increase the percentage of case clearances. “For a half-billion dollars and all and the people working there, the case clearance rate is abysmal,” he said, asserting that the 20 percent clearance rate is well below the national average. Talley said he is also concerned about recent shooting incidents by deputies in Loxahatchee Groves and Boynton Beach, and the incumbent sheriff’s response to them. “This has divided the sheriff’s office with the public, the community that it is supposed to be serving,” he said. “One of the things that I think is most evident is a bullying or intimidation that seems to be taking place from the top down.” Rather than blindly backing the deputies, the sheriff should set up a fair process to evaluate all the facts, Talley said. “We back [our people] by showing fairness, openness and saying there is going to be a fair and objective query into what took place,” he said. “What See SHERIFF, page 18
Council Wants More Input Into Rebuilding Community Center By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Members of the Wellington Village Council decided this week to take a hands-on approach in designing the new Wellington Community Center. At a workshop Monday afternoon, council members said that they would rather design the look and floor plan of the building before putting it out for bid. “I’m still not sure that we know precisely what we want,” Vice Mayor Howard Coates said. “All of those issues can get fleshed out in the design process.” Council members also wanted to see design options for both incorporating and moving the adjacent Wellington Tennis Center.
Last year, the former council directed staff to knock down and rebuild the community center rather than renovate the building. The Wellington Community Center is more than 30 years old and was originally the Wellington Club East, a private country club. Although the building has been retrofitted several times since the village purchased it in the late 1990s, it was not designed to be a community center. The building’s steep entryway has been an issue of contention with seniors and residents with disabilities. Last September, residents got a chance to provide input on what they’d like to see as far as programming in the new building. Many seniors turned out, asking
for more consideration in the process. Director of Operations Jim Barnes said that there were many clear goals in mind for the new, $5 million, two-story building. “We want it to have full access and incorporation of the lake, as well as pedestrian access and connectivity, including the removal of the incline,” he said, adding that it should be designed to match the facade of the nearby Wellington Municipal Complex and Wellington Amphitheater. Additionally, Barnes said that the community center would be a “multi-generational” facility with upgraded technology. The workshop was set for counSee REBUILD, page 18
Serving Palms West Since 1980
Wellington Council Will Not Re-Open PBIEC Master Plan By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report After nearly 15 hours of debate and deliberation Tuesday over the status of the approved master plan governing the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, members of the Wellington Village Council decided unanimously not to rehear the item. Council members found that there had been no deliberate omission of information by the applicant, Wellington Equestrian Partners, when the item came before the former council last October. “We have to find whether there was a deliberate error,” Vice Mayor Howard Coates said. “We are obligated to go by what the evidence states.” The council met Tuesday morning to determine whether there was any misrepresentation during last year’s discussion of a master plan amendment for the Country Place PUD, of which the show grounds is a part. The controversial amendment made several changes to the site, including the realignment of Equestrian Club Drive, the platting of Gene Mische Way and providing additional access points for Grand Prix Farms South, Gene Mische Way and from the planned Lake Worth Road extension through Peacock Pond. Also approved with the master plan was a decision to permanently designate the site a commercial
equestrian arena, which allows horse shows to be held there without the need for a new permit each year. Before discussion took place Tuesday, Wellington Equestrian Partners’ attorney Dan Rosenbaum asked for the hearing to be postponed. “For six weeks, we have had public records requests in to the village,” he said. “The request was voluminous, but it was not complied with.” Rosenbaum noted that hired attorney Claudio Riedi, who was representing Wellington, had open access to the records. “The path you’re about to embark on has tremendous ramifications to my client,” Rosenbaum said. He pointed out that many records dating back to the creation of the plat were not available, and that the village’s e-mail records only went back to 2003. “If we’re going to go back to a 2001 resolution, it puts us at an inherent disadvantage in terms of defending this matter,” Rosenbaum said. Furthermore, he said that hundreds of pages of documents had been sent to him Sunday night. But attorney Barbara Alterman, who was serving as the village attorney, said that staff had provided all available records. “The technology only allows them to access e-mails dating back to 2003,” she said. “Staff has said that they have provided everySee PBIEC PLAN, page 18
GIRLS NIGHT OUT
Girls Night Out was held Thursday, July 12 at the Players Club in Wellington to benefit the Kids Cancer Foundation. There were many vendors, and money raised from a raffle went to the foundation. Shown above, Rachel Goldenberg, Brianna Miller and Kaitlyn Tama sell raffle tickets. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Aldi Prepares To Open Store In RPB By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Village Council approved a sign variance Tuesday for an Aldi grocery store to be located on the east side of State Road 7 in the Royal Palm Beach Commons shopping center. Aldi, which also plans to open its regional distribution facility in Royal Palm Beach, plans to take over the current Toys ’R’ Us store and turn it into a new grocery store, said Aldi Director of Real Estate Development Adam Kastl,
who is overseeing the company’s expansion into South Florida. Toys ’R’ Us plans to vacate the location shortly in favor of a new combined Toys ’R’ Us/Babies ’R’ Us location less than mile away. Planning & Zoning Director Bradford O’Brien said the applicant was asking for a variance to the village code that limits wallmounted signs to 10 square feet. “The applicant is requesting a 75-square-foot wall mounted cabinet sign that exceeds the maximum See ALDI SIGN, page 4
Royal Palm Beach Teens Prepare For On-Screen Debut
Albino Black Sheep — Trey Ramirez with Harrison Harward and her brother Stone Harward. PHOTO BY JESSICA GREGOIRE/TOWN-CRIER
By Jessica Gregoire Town-Crier Staff Report Three Royal Palm Beach teens will soon be making their on-screen debut, in the action-packed comedy Ned Venture. Members of the local band Albino Black Sheep brother and sister Stone and Harrison Harward, along with new band member Trey Ramirez, have been cast in the movie. The movie follows the adventures of skater Ned and his siblings, also his band members in Venture Effect, as they evade a gang of crooks. Taking precious stones from the crooks, the band members try to use the stones to make a music video. Their intention is to make enough money from the video to help their single fa-
ther, who has fallen on hard times. The adventure movie features lots of surprises and turns. Most of the cast is young, and the core of the film centers on the music. Albino Black Sheep got a lucky break, after their drum teacher informed them about the movie’s casting. The director needed a girl about 16 years old who plays lead guitar, a boy around 11 to 12 who plays drums, and a boy about 16 who plays bass, recalled HelenMarie Harward, Harrison and Stone’s mother. It sounded perfect, but could the kids act? “I wasn’t sure about their acting, but I knew they were always on stage, so I figured they would try anyway,” she said. Harrison first heard about the
audition after getting picked up from school. “I got into the car, and everybody was smiling and looking at me, and I said, ‘What’s going on guys?’” she recalled. “Then they told me we have an audition for a movie, and we are going tomorrow. I was like whoa, what’s going on? Is this for real?” The band packed all their equipment and headed to the G-Star School of the Arts studio in West Palm Beach. “When we got there, they had this huge stage, where we set everything up,” HelenMarie said. “Then the director walked in, and he absolutely loved them.” During the audition, Ned Venture Director Ron Stone spent over See RPB TEENS, page 18