Town-Crier Newspaper June 22, 2012

Page 1

LIVESTOCK RULE CHANGES CONCERN ITID SEE STORY, PAGE 7

CENTRAL CHAMBER BUSINESS AWARDS SEE STORY, PAGE 7

THE

TOWN - CR IER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE

Your Community Newspaper

INSIDE

Volume 33, Number 25 June 22 - June 28, 2012

ROTARY INSTALLATION IN RPB

Cynthia Szuka: An Inspiration To All

Cynthia Szuka was born with cerebral palsy, is visually impaired and needs a power chair to get around. She is also a college graduate (magna cum laude), a skydiver and the person responsible for getting more than 10,000 wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and canes donated to those in need. Page 2

Gannon Versus Carney In The August Primary

Former Palm Beach County Tax Collector Peter Carney is challenging his successor, incumbent Tax Collector Anne Gannon, in an Aug. 14 Democratic primary. Carney argues that Gannon has been running the office in an unfriendly manner, while Gannon counters that the office has made significant improvements in the six years she has been in charge. Page 3

Youngsters Get An ‘Agu-Cation’ At S.F. Fairgrounds Day Camp

A total of 42 youths age 7 and older enjoyed Agu-cation Camp June 11-15 at the South Florida Fairgrounds. Field trip locations included a sugarcane research center, rice mill, dairy farm, fruit and vegetable farms, mango farm and more. Page 12

OPINION Landing Games Would Be A Win For Wellington

There has been mixed reaction to news that Wellington is one of five cities from across the globe in contention to host the 2018 World Equestrian Games. Although it will be a difficult bid to win and a challenge for Wellington to stage, we feel the village is up for the challenge. Should Wellington be chosen to host, it would be a major win for the community with long-lasting rewards far beyond a few weeks of competition. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS ............................. 3 - 14 OPINION .................................4 CRIME NEWS .........................6 NEWS BRIEFS........................ 8 SCHOOLS ............................ 15 PEOPLE ........................ 16 - 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

Rotary International District 6930 held an induction of district governors, area governors and officers Saturday, June 16 in the main ballroom at the Madison Green Golf Club. Royal Palm Beach’s Terri Wescott was inducted as district governor. Shown here, District Governor Nominee Dr. Juan Ortega, District Governor-Elect Arthur Hodge and District Governor Terri Wescott are inducted by Past District Governor Betsy Owen. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER

Ken Hendrick Challenges ITID Incumbent Michelle Damone By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Acreage resident Ken Hendrick is challenging incumbent Michelle Damone in the race for Seat 4 on the Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors. The race will be on the November general election ballot, and the winner will claim a four-year term on the board, which manages drainage, roads and parks in The Acreage. Damone serves as president of the board, which is a designation chosen annually from among the five supervisors. In speaking with the Town-Crier this week, Hendrick went over a litany of concerns he has with how ITID is being run. For example, Hendrick said he can’t understand why three mowers purchased a year ago have sat unused.

“These are the type that hook up to a tractor, and the mowers are still sitting in the same place as when they bought them, and yet they’re outsourcing the mowing to other companies, and they’re not doing the mowing themselves. I’d like to know why,” Hendrick said. Hendrick said he has been told the district was offered training by the manufacturer, John Deere, but that has not happened. “The person who would come out and give the seminar would be from John Deere itself, and they’ve never taken advantage of that,” he said. “To this date, no one has ever contacted John Deere about how to use that equipment.” Further, Hendrick also disagrees with the outsourcing that is taking place. “They’re outsourcing so much stuff out of our community when they could be doing it

themselves, or outsourcing it to someone inside the community,” he said. Another gripe he has is that horse trails are not being maintained. “There’s hundreds of trails around here. I went by, and they have screen line going across the trails, a post sticking up out of the trail, brush on the trails, and the people with the horses have to ride the horses on the road,” he said. “Some time ago, when [former Supervisor] Mike Erickson was in office, it was voted on that the board maintain the trails. Nothing has ever been done. More attention is being paid to garbage in somebody’s yard than the horse trails. Garbage in yards should be handled by Palm Beach County Code Enforcement, not Indian Trail.” He also takes issue with mainSee ITID ELECTION, page 18

Local Meteorologist Provides A Hurricane Season Update By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Members of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce learned important facts about hurricanes and what to look for this hurricane season at a luncheon Wednesday, June 20 at the Wanderers Club. Meteorologist Kait Parker of WPTV NewsChannel 5 was the guest speaker, offering her expertise on hurricanes. “We got a bit of an early start this year,” she said, noting that a third storm had been named last week. “Hurricane season starts whenever it wants to. It’s a statistical average, so that’s why we say June 1 through Nov. 30. But they can occur before or after then.” Parker noted that the Atlantic hurricane season peaks in September. “That’s when we see the peak activity in the Caribbean and the Gulf [of Mexico] that can impact the U.S.,” she said. Hurricane seasons are affected

by patterns in the atmosphere and temperatures in the water. “For June, we see the most development in the Gulf of Mexico and near the Yucatan Peninsula,” Parker said. “That’s where we have the warmest water.” In July, she said, typically there is more development out in the Atlantic, which can swing up the east coast or into the Gulf of Mexico. Then, in August, hurricane activity begins to ramp up with developments in the Caribbean. “It’s really August and September when we start to watch the thunderstorms forming off the coast of Africa,” she said. “Those are the ones that pick up speed, start to get a little spin, and that’s often when they gain a lot of strength. They have the entire Atlantic to cross with plenty of time over warm ocean waters.” Parker noted, however, that the most hurricane strikes on Florida occur in October. “We’ve had 19

Kait Parker hurricanes that have struck Florida in October since 1859,” she said, adding that it has been seven years since even a Category One hurricane affected the area. “This is our seventh year since we’ve seen a Category One or greater. See PARKER, page 3

Serving Palms West Since 1980

Wellington In The Running For World Equestrian Games By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington is in the running to play host to the 2018 World Equestrian Games. The village was named last week with four other communities around the world as a contender to host the event. Held every four years, the World Equestrian Games are considered the world championships of international equestrian disciplines. Since being founded in 1990, the World Equestrian Games were held every four years in a European city, until the games made their U.S. debut in 2010 when they were staged in Lexington, Ky. The 2014 games will be held in Normandy, France. Wellington joins Rabat, Morocco; Bromont, Canada; Budapest, Hungary; and Vienna, Austria on the short list for the 2018 games. “We’re very excited to be selected as a candidate,” Equestrian Sport Productions President Michael Stone said. “In the horse world, this event is considered bigger than the Olympics.” Equestrian Sport Productions initially announced its intent to bid in 2010. Stone said that the selection would be made next spring. “It’s a very long process,” Stone explained. “The first stage is to be accepted as a bidder, make your

bid and then be accepted as a candidate. That’s where we are now, where we are preparing the nittygritty details.” Though Wellington is uniquely qualified to host the games, Stone stressed that it would take the support of the entire community and local officials to rally behind it. “There’s no way the international governing body will allocate the games to us if we don’t have full support from the local government,” he said. Some officials, however, have expressed concern about hosting the event. “I think to have the Olympics of the equestrian world in Wellington would be a great thing if we could handle it,” Wellington Mayor Bob Margolis said. “One concern I’ve heard from the equestrian community is that the games are held during hurricane season. I don’t know how comfortable the FEI will be with the possibility of bad weather.” Margolis said that he and Village Manager Paul Schofield met with Stone on Monday to discuss the issue. “Mr. Schofield believed that there were several obstacles to overcome, like finding parking for See WEG, page 18

NEW WOMEN’S CLUB OFFICERS

Women of the Western Communities held its annual installation of officers Thursday, June 14 in the main ballroom at the Madison Green Golf Club. Four scholarships were awarded to high school essay contest winners, and WPTV NewsChannel 5 anchor Kelly Dunn was the guest speaker. Shown here are the newly installed WWC board members. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER

County Keeps Roebuck Road On Five-Year Plan By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Palm Beach County Commission approved midyear amendments to the county’s Five-Year Road Plan on Tuesday, retaining the extension of Roebuck Road from Jog Road to the State Road 7 extension. The approval was under the eye of two Royal Palm Beach council members and the village manager, who asked that the planned road not be deleted, lest opponents, the City of West Palm Beach and the neighborhoods of Andros Isle, River Walk and Baywinds south of the road’s right-of-way, should seek to eliminate it entirely.

But don’t expect the road to take shape anytime soon. It is currently slated for the tail end of the road plan and could be delayed further. Royal Palm Beach Councilman Jeff Hmara spoke in favor of the Roebuck Road extension project. “I understand that staff has made a recommendation that it be retained in the five-year plan,” he said. “I would like to support that and ask for your continued support for that project. I believe it to be a prudent planning measure. I think we all know that good, effective road networks are necessary to have well-managed roads, and See ROEBUCK, page 18

Town-Crier Debuts Redesign Of Newspaper’s Web Site This week the Town-Crier unveiled a major redesign of the newspaper’s web site, found at www. gotowncrier.com. The change brings a number of new features to the site, including a sliding image opener linked to slideshows from major social events covered that week, easierto-find lead news stories broken out by community, more complete social media integration, and a focus on signature Town-Crier content such as our featured columnists and web-only Town-Crier videos. While we made cosmetic changes to the site three years ago, the changes rolled out this week mark the first major reboot at gotowncrier.com since 2004. Internet technology has changed dra-

matically since then, and our newly formatted site is designed to take advantage of those changes and provide readers with a modern, easy-to-navigate, feature-rich web experience. Our new format also allows news stories to be cross-linked into multiple categories, letting readers more easily find content they are interested in. Stories are categorized by both subject and topic. For example, an equestrianrelated Wellington story can be found under the Wellington category with other Wellington articles, and under the Equestrian category with equestrian-related articles from all communities. Behind the scenes, the changes are also dramatic. The site is built on the popular Wordpress

programming package, which allows gotowncrier.com to be fully customized with its own unique theme. Wordpress also offers tools for search engine optimization, easy sharing of stories across social networks and the ability for users to more easily comment on articles. And the change will also make our own lives easier here at the Town-Crier by providing better email service and more in-depth statistical details on how readers are using the site. While it might take some time for regular readers to get used to the new site, we believe it will be a positive experience. All the popular sections remain, even if they have been moved around. For exSee WEB, page 18

A screen shot of the Town-Crier’s updated web site.


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