LOX GROVES CANVASSING BOARD MEETS SEE STORY, PAGE 3
USPA GOLD CUP FINAL THIS WEEKEND SEE STORY, PAGE 17
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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INSIDE
Pie-Throwing Fun At Elbridge Gale Helps Fight Blood Cancers
Volume 36, Number 12 March 20 - March 26, 2015
Serving Palms West Since 1980
AMERICAN EQUESTRIANS GOT TALENT
Students at Elbridge Gale Elementary School in Wellington were provided the opportunity to cream their teachers for a good cause on Friday, March 13. The students used plates filled with whipped cream to get their teachers messy as a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Page 3
Pet Haven Rescue Hosts Fundraiser At Palm Beach Polo
Pet Haven Rescue hosted its “Casino Night... Going to the Dogs” on Saturday, March 14 at Palm Beach Polo Golf & Country Club. Celebrity dogs posed for photos with arriving guests, and the event included silent and live auctions, DJ music and dancing. Page 5
Western Communities Council Continues Fight For SR 7 Extension
The Western Communities Council heard updates Thursday, March 12 on the successes and challenges still to be faced on the completion of the State Road 7 extension to Northlake Blvd. Page 7
Wycliffe Charities Foundation Golf Tourney
The Wycliffe Charities Foundation held its annual golf fundraiser on Monday, March 9 at the Wycliffe Golf & Country Club. The foundation raises money to support health-related and children’s charities in Palm Beach County. Page 19
OPINION
Hopefully, Ruling Will End OIG Funding Fight
Circuit Court Judge Catherine Brunson’s ruling that Palm Beach County’s municipalities must fully fund the Office of the Inspector General is a great step forward for good government in Palm Beach County. It is long past time that we have a fully functional, independent Office of the Inspector General. Page 4
DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS................................. 3 - 9 OPINION.................................. 4 CRIME NEWS.......................... 6 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 8 PEOPLE................................. 13 SCHOOLS.......................14 - 15 COLUMNS...................... 16, 25 BUSINESS......................26 - 27 SPORTS......................... 33 - 35 CALENDAR............................ 38 CLASSIFIEDS................ 40 - 43 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
The Global Dressage Festival facility in Wellington played host to the finale of American Equestrians Got Talent on Sunday, March 15. A slate of 13 talented performers made it through the qualifying rounds to show off their skills at the finale, a major fundraiser for the United States Equestrian Team Foundation. Shown here, singer Brian Lookabill came away with the victory. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9
PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER
Easement Issue Leads To Rare Wellington Morning Meeting
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington Village Council members met in a special session Monday morning to discuss the abandonment of the Lake Worth Road extension easement west of South Shore Blvd. after postponing the issue at last week’s regularly scheduled meeting. Attorney Claudio Riedi said he had been asked to review correspondence between Daniel Rosenbaum, attorney for Wellington Equestrian Partners, and Village Attorney Laurie Cohen regarding the abandonment under state statute, and the mayor’s signed quit claim deed to clear the title. “I believe [Cohen’s] statement is accurate, that the Lake Worth Road extension right of way was abandoned and as such did revert back to the successor and interest of the original grantor,” Riedi said. “I think it’s important to understand that the successor and interest can be a party several times removed.” Riedi said Florida statutes state that a right of way that has been granted for a specific purpose that
has not been used for that purpose, or stated in the comprehensive plan or general development plan for at least 60 months, is deemed abandoned. Wellington Equestrian Partners has sent letters to Cohen asking that the village issue quit claim titles to clarify ownership. “The issue then is what to do, and I think there are two options what will happen afterward,” Riedi said. “Either the community beneficiary of the right of way can do a quit claim deed to convey it back, or the party claiming the right of way can go to court and ask the judge to clear up the title to make it clear that there is no longer a right of way.” Riedi said that in 2008, the Lake Worth Road extension was removed from Wellington’s comprehensive plan. Vice Mayor John Greene asked Riedi whether there was a sense of urgency in calling a special meeting to address the question, and Riedi said he had spoken to Rosenbaum, who wanted it resolved as quickly as possible.
“There’s no actual deadline, there’s no legal deadline looming,” he said. “I do believe it’s appropriate to restate that this right of way was granted for one single purpose — the construction of the Lake Worth Road extension. There are no plans at this point to build Lake Worth Road. That land can lay fallow, unused, or it can go back to the developer.” Greene said that village staff had made the council aware in January of the state statute requiring unused dedicated rights of way to revert to the property owner. “I don’t think anyone is here disputing the terms of the statute,” he said. “That’s pretty clear. If it’s not used for its specific purpose within 60 consecutive months, the land does go back.” However, he thought that there was a misconception that the council was giving away public land, and explained that the county had originally shown the Lake Worth Road extension as four lanes before Wellington incorporated, and that the right of way had been See EASEMENT, page 18
Groves May Face Election Challenges, Recall Effort By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The attorney for candidate Keith Harris, who lost Loxahatchee Groves Town Council Seat 3 to incumbent Ryan Liang by nine votes in a controversial election last week, said Harris has not yet challenged the election but is gathering the information necessary to consider it. The election was clouded by accusations that Liang’s mother, Philomena Liu, and Councilman Jim Rockett were visiting voters door-to-door with absentee ballots that may have been obtained fraud-
RELATED STORY
Canvassing Board Validates Election Results, PAGE 3 ulently. “There’s no change in the status regarding Keith’s challenge,” attorney Richard Jarolem told the Town-Crier on Wednesday. “We’re gathering information so that he can make a decision that he deems appropriate.” Jarolem said he sent a public records request to the Supervisor of Elections Office on Wednesday seeking the Internet Protocol addresses used to make requests
for absentee ballots, as well as a videotape of the lobby of the Supervisor of Elections Office for March 9 to determine if Rockett was videotaped delivering absentee ballots. “In addition, I’m in the process of dispatching a letter to Gov. [Rick] Scott outlining what’s going on and seeking to enlist any assistance that the Governor’s Office may lend in hoping to expedite and get to the bottom of what happened in the election,” Jarolem said. On Tuesday, Liang and fellow incumbent Ron Jarriel were sworn See LOX VOTE, page 4
RPB Ed Board Rejects Charter High School Plan By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Education Advisory Board made a unanimous recommendation Monday that the Royal Palm Beach Village Council not allow a charter high school to be built directly across the street from Royal Palm Beach High School. The board, at the direction of the council, heard presentations on March 2 by representatives of Charter Schools USA, as well as representatives from the Palm Beach County School District, including RPBHS Principal Jesus Armas, School Board Member Marcia Andrews and Jim Pegg, director of charter schools for the school district. Chairman Lynn Balch said the village had been asked to sell two parcels of land totaling about 10 acres directly east of the First Baptist Church of Royal Palm Beach on the north side of Okeechobee Blvd. to build a charter high school. The council is set to discuss the issue again on April 2.
Balch said the board also took public input at the March 2 meeting, mostly against the charter high school. “It would have been more useful, honestly, to have heard from some people who were in favor of it,” he said. “Our 800 kids who go to Renaissance Charter School at Palms West, there must be somebody who knows why they are going there, and I would think somebody there would tell us.” Board Member Chris-Anne Ayers said she felt it was most important to further facilitate the good standing of the public high school and to protect the interests they have worked to improve. “Principal Jesus Armas has worked with us to establish and really put it at the forefront of it all,” she said. Board Member David Kendle asked what a charter high school would bring that they don’t already have at RPBHS. “We have a great-performing school; grades are coming up See CHARTER, page 4
B&G CLUB POLO DAY
Sunday, March 15 was Great Futures Boys & Girls Club Polo Day, a benefit for the Neil S. Hirsch Family Boys & Girls Club in Wellington. The day began with a celebrity polo match at the Grand Champions Polo Club. Later in the day, the International Polo Club Palm Beach hosted a luncheon with a live auction, delicious food and more. Shown here are Nacho Figueras, Jenny Oz LeRoy and John Walsh. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 20
PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER
Local Officials Not Surprised By Judge’s OIG Ruling
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report A circuit court judge ruled this week that municipalities must pay their part to support the Palm Beach County Office of the Inspector General after a long legal battle by 14 municipalities. Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Catherine Brunson ruled that the municipalities must pay their share, supporting a 2010 referendum that said the office would be supported by a 0.25 percent charge to vendors. The lawsuit was brought by the City of West Palm Beach with support from 13 other municipalities.
Former County Commissioner Jess Santamaria, who testified before a grand jury in 2008 on corruption in Palm Beach County, and also testified at the recent court hearing, said the ruling basically reiterated what the county ordinance creating the office said, that the municipalities must pay their share. “The grand jury confirmed in 2009 during the investigation that Palm Beach was still ‘corruption county,’” he said. “They did a thorough investigation with 30 or 40 witnesses. I was a witness.” The grand jury recommendation See OIG RULING, page 18
H.L. Johnson Elementary School Celebrates 30 Years By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report It has been 30 years since H.L. Johnson Elementary School opened its doors in Royal Palm Beach, and hundreds gathered to celebrate on Friday, March 13. Aside from hundreds of current students and teachers, the celebration included more than 100 former students, former teachers, special guests and the family of school namesake H.L. Johnson. “Each and every one of you have contributed in some way to the accomplishments of the students here, past and present, and I thank you all for coming,” Principal Dr. Patti Lucas said, opening the event. Joined by children Julie and Raymond Claudio, U.S. Army Sgt. E. Claudio led the Pledge of Allegiance, before the chorus,
directed by Franklin Peynado and student intern Carl Saville, sang America the Beautiful. Special guest speaker H.L. Johnson Jr. told attendees about his father, a longtime principal in the school district who noticed that some students had to travel more than 10 miles to attend school. “His vision was for a school here in Royal Palm Beach,” Johnson Jr. said. “Unfortunately, he did not live to see that vision. However, I know how proud he would be if he could be here to see all of you in this beautiful elementary school.” Johnson Jr. recalled being there when there was just a vacant lot where the school now stands. “Certainly all of my family is very proud of this school, and all of you,” he said, introducing his wife, Linda, son Jeffrey, Jeffrey’s friend Fidela, daughter-in-law
Sunni, granddaughter Morgan and grandson H.L. Johnson III. “Thank you so much for inviting our family and allowing us to be here today and take part in this wonderful 30th anniversary celebration.” In the school’s media center, there is a picture of H.L. Johnson, who was a close friend of the school’s first principal, Walter Murray. The school’s second principal, Ann Killets, was on hand to speak. “I’m so honored to be here today,” she said, explaining that the school had more than 1,700 students when the school moved from portables to the current building. In the school’s early years, it was featured on Good Morning America because it was the largest elementary school in Florida. As Killets pointed to a picture of See H.L. JOHNSON, page 7
H.L. Johnson Jr. with his grandson, H.L. Johnson III, holding a picture of H.L. Johnson Sr., the school’s namesake.
PHOTO BY JULIE UNGER/TOWN-CRIER