ELBRIDGE GALE GETS A BUDDY BENCH SEE PHOTOS, PAGE 3
PFEIFFERS BEGIN REAL ESTATE CAREERS SEE STORY, PAGE 7
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
Your Community Newspaper
INSIDE
Volume 41, Number 12 March 20 - March 26, 2020
Serving Palms West Since 1980
‘ANNIE JR.’ AT WELLINGTON EL 2020
Pages 8 thru 10
With Schools Closed, Parents Scramble To Adapt To A New Normal
School students across Palm Beach County, the State of Florida and the nation had an unexpected week off from school — and due to the COVID-19 coronavirus emergency, students are likely to be home for quite some time. However, while students will be away from school, that doesn’t mean there will be no school. Page 3
Lox Groves Council Suspends Nonessential Meetings To Fight Virus
The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council approved a resolution Tuesday, March 17 restricting non-essential meetings and authorizing the town manager to declare a local state of emergency to help combat the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Page 4
Family, friends and supporters of Wellington Elementary School enjoyed the familiar tunes of Annie Jr. on Tuesday, March 10 and Thursday, March 12 as performed by the young, talented voices of the school’s Fine Arts Academy Musical Theater Group. Dozens of children performed in the show, including (above) Brooke Diogo as Annie and Aleeah Riedel as dog Sandy. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 20 PHOTO BY MEREDITH BUROW/TOWN-CRIER
Marge Herzog Unseats Dave DeMarois In Groves Election
Binks Forest Students Shine In Performances Of ‘Aladdin Kids’ Show
On Thursday, March 12, students from Binks Forest Elementary School performed the musical Disney’s Aladdin Kids featuring children in grades three through five. The students worked hard on the show and did a fabulous job after working for seven months leading up to the performance. Page 7
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Former Loxahatchee Groves Councilwoman Marge Herzog defeated incumbent Vice Mayor Dave DeMarois in the race for Loxahatchee Groves Town Council Seat 5 on Tuesday, March 17. Herzog took the seat with 335
Marge Herzog works the polling location on Election Day. PHOTO BY RON BUKLEY/TOWN-CRIER
Wellington Defeats Lake Worth 15-0 In Girls Flag Football
The Wellington High School girls flag football team defeated Lake Worth High School 15-0 on Thursday, March 12 to remain unbeaten in Palm Beach County at 4-0, 4-3 overall. What’s even more impressive is that the Wellington defense posted its fourth shutout on the season. Page 19 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 18 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 7 SCHOOLS........................... 8 - 9 BUSINESS............................. 15 COLUMNS............................. 16 SPORTS................................. 19 CLASSIFIEDS................ 21 - 22 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
votes (57.5 percent), while DeMarois garnered 248 votes (42.5 percent), according to unofficial returns from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office. All three referendum questions passed easily. Ballot Question 1 cleaning up the town charter passed 439 (73.2 percent) to 161 (26.8 percent). Question 2 limiting the appointed mayor’s position to two consecutive one-year terms passed 500 (82.6 percent) to 105 (17.36 percent). Question 3 limiting council members to serving two consecutive three-year terms unless there is a minimum break of one election cycle passed 482 (83.7 percent) to 94 (16.3 percent). Herzog credits her victory to an election strategy she used, calling voting residents in Loxahatchee Groves and asking them to vote and call five other voters asking them to vote as well. “The residents were asked to take a challenge from me. My challenge was that I would call every registered voter on the list that has contact information,” she
said, adding that she told them that she was not asking for a donation, but asking them to reach out to five of their friends and make sure they vote. “I said, hopefully, that they would vote for me. I think the difference in the count was significantly similar to the people who I reached out to. I think it was the residents who made this happen.” She noted that there were 1,666 names on the list of voting residents, but not all had working contact numbers. “It was difficult to reach every one of those, but there was a significant number. People were coming up to me at the election place and they were saying, ‘Which one of you is Marge? I have never had anyone call and ask to speak to me about how I can give you input for the job that you’re taking on.’ That made me feel good. People did return the call when I asked them to call back, and I dialogued with several of them for quite a while.” Herzog said that in the election, she defeated an old line of power in Loxahatchee Groves that has See HERZOG, page 4
Wellington Fights Virus With Closings Cancellations, And Online Operations
By Callie Sharkey Town-Crier Staff Report As people hear phrases like “do the five” and “social distancing,” the information and instructions for self-care during the COVID-19 virus emergency can be overwhelming. The Village of Wellington is working hard to bring consistent and relevant information to the community during this stressful time. This has included daily videos with village updates distributed through social media channels and a constantly updated information page at www.wellingtonfl.gov/ coronavirus. “Gov. DeSantis has issued an executive order telling restaurants to limit customer entry to 50 percent of capacity and stagger and limit seating to ensure parties are separated by a distance of at least 6 feet,” Planning, Zoning & Building Director Tim Stillings said in a public service announcement released on Wednesday, March 18. “We encourage restaurants to continue and expand takeout and delivery services, screen all employees and prohibit entry for employees who answer ‘yes’ to a series of health and travel questions. All bars and nightclubs throughout the state will be closed for the next 30 days.” The purpose of social distancing is to “flatten the curve,” or reduce the number of COVID-19 cases to an amount that will not overwhelm local healthcare services. Data from across the globe has shown that large groups lead to widespread cases of infection, as many carriers have no symptoms during much of the time they are contagious. Wellington is aware of the hardships that the pandemic is bringing to local small businesses. “There are options for assistance available
to businesses that are now facing a marked decline in clientele as a result of these social distancing measures,” Stillings said. Businesses are encouraged to visit www.floridadisaster.biz to complete the survey in place to help the state asses the sectors of greatest need during this time. This web site also links to the emergency bridge loan program in place for small businesses in Florida. The recommendation is that no groups of more than 10 people gather in any one location. For this reason, many Wellington events and programs have been canceled or postponed until further notice. Canceled events include the Bacon & Bourbon Festival, A Day for Autism Picnic, the Egg Hunt and Earth Day celebrations. As of March 19, all indoor and outdoor programs through recreation services are canceled. The Wellington Amphitheater, Wellington Aquatics Complex, Scott’s Place Playground, Tiger Shark Cove Park, Village Park and Wellington Park playgrounds are also closed. Senior events and programming are also canceled. Peaceful Waters Sanctuary is closed, but the Wellington Environmental Preserve remains open from dawn to dusk, as is the Wellington Dog Park. The Wellington Tennis Center and neighborhood parks are still open, dawn to dusk, but residents are encouraged to practice social distancing when visiting those areas. The pro shop at the tennis center is closed. Wellington Regional Medical Center also remains proactive, providing a list of tips and facts about the virus. Prevention of the virus remains the most common advice, and WRMC joins the Centers for See WELLINGTON, page 18
BUCK OFF CHALLENGE
ITID Closes Facilities To Public, Cancels Regular Board Meeting By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Wednesday, March 18 meeting of the Indian Trail Improvement District Board of Supervisors was canceled over concerns of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. ITID has also canceled all other meetings involving large groups of people, and closed parks and other facilities. The ITID office was also closed on Wednesday due to the pandemic. “We’re just waiting to hear from the governor if we can have virtual meetings where we can use virtual tools to meet online and have the public attend that way, but we do not have it right now, so until we get that, we’re not going to meet,”
ITID President Betty Argue told the Town-Crier. The district closed its parks last week amid COVID-19 concerns, and the Acreage Athletic League has canceled all games and practice activities until further notice. The district has canceled all events and use of ITID facilities. “We essentially shut down that possibility of spread through the community through events and different things like that,” Argue said. “Our staff has taken special steps in terms of making sure that they’re following CDC guidelines at all times. Staff is being taught the steps that need to be taken to stay safe, and all facilities that are still in use have been sterilized.
“We decided to cancel the board meeting until we have further direction,” Argue said. “We do have other district matters to attend to in order to keep things moving, but they’re not so critical that we need to put anybody at risk of potentially getting sick. We would like to go to a virtual online meeting format, if the governor will approve waiving the statutory requirement of having a quorum physically present at a meeting.” She noted that there are many internet and teleconference meeting platforms available that public meetings are not allowed to utilize, even under unusual conditions. “Unfortunately, right now the statute does not contemplate that See ITID, page 18
The third annual Buck Off Challenge was an awe-inspiring success, raising a record amount of money to benefit Southeast Florida Honor Flight. The mechanical bull-riding Buck Off Challenge was held Friday, March 13 at the Wellington National Golf Club before an appreciative crowd that raised more than $38,000 for the Stuart-based nonprofit. Shown above, Patrick Waldrop takes his turn on the bull. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Virus Danger Leads RPB Council To Make Tough Calls By Denis Eirikis Town-Crier Staff Report The Royal Palm Beach Village Council faced a tough leadership question at a special emergency meeting held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 12 to discuss the village’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sole item on the agenda was whether or not to postpone a major seafood festival scheduled to begin in less than 48 hours. Workers were already setting up staging for the Royal Palm Beach Seafood Festival at the time of the meeting. The village had been promoting the event, and scores of vendors and perhaps thousands of residents and visitors were scheduled to gather and mingle at Royal
Palm Beach Commons Park. The outside vendor running the event wanted to proceed as planned. Since the council had approved the festival, the only legal way to postpone it was for the council to vote to postpone it. At the time of the meeting, the federal government had not yet issued clear guidelines with bans on public gatherings that became in effect only days later. Mixed signals were still coming from Washington, D.C., regarding the scope of the threat. In his opening remarks, Village Manager Ray Liggins, a professional engineer by training, briefed the council on his alarming findings regarding the spread of the disease in other countries and said
that this type of rapid distribution is projected for the United States. He went on to describe the ways the disease is spread and explained to the council the now familiar desire to “flatten the curve” so large numbers of residents don’t all get sick at the same time and flood local hospitals. Clearly alarmed at the threat to public health, Liggins asked the council to take action. “At this point, the Centers for Disease Control has issued a suggestion that large events, exactly like ours, be postponed,” he said. Mayor Fred Pinto said that he hoped that clear direction would be issued soon by the governor’s office. “Since we scheduled this special
meeting, Gov. Ron DeSantis has issued a press release that I would like to read,” Pinto said. He then quoted the governor as saying, “I am recommending municipalities and private organizations strongly consider limiting or postponing mass gatherings.” Councilman Jeff Hmara asked whether the village had received any guidelines from the Palm Beach County Health Department. Liggins replied in the negative. A discussion then took place regarding which other regional events, by that time, had been canceled or greenlighted to proceed. Absent definitive guidelines, the council was faced with the leadership dilemma whether to postpone the event. On one hand,
workers were already setting up booths and stages, and everyone knew postponement would hurt the various vendors and businesses involved. On the other hand, images from China and Italy, where the pandemic is more advanced, made clear that no one wanted to see this type of human disaster happen at local hospitals. “We have to consider that this event, even if we allow it to go on, it might be a business failure anyway for the vendors,” Vice Mayor Jan Rodusky said. “Will anyone show up?” Councilwoman Selena Samios, who attended the meeting by telephone, felt that members of the public should decide for themSee ROYAL PALM, page 4