RPB OFFICIALS DISCUSS SCHOOL SAFETY SEE STORY, PAGE 3
GREAT AMAZING RACE COMING TO RPB SEE STORY, PAGE 7
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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INSIDE
Lox Council Approves Road Improvement Cost Sharing Policy
Volume 39, Number 12 March 23 - March 29, 2018
Serving Palms West Since 1980
LOOKABILL WINS ALL-STAR SHOW
The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council on Tuesday approved a cost sharing policy for road and drainage capital improvements in preparation for a $5 million bond anticipated to be approved next month, beginning with five roads that have been previously approved. Page 3
Royal Palm Brewing Company Opens With St. Patrick’s Day Party
The Royal Palm Brewing Company is officially serving its handcrafted beers to the public after celebrating its opening day on Saturday, March 17. Locals spent St. Patrick’s Day enjoying some of the brewery’s unique libations, snacks and board games. Page 6
Sheriff’s Foundation Hosts St. Patrick’s Day Jeep Show And Shine
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Foundation hosted a St. Patrick’s Day Jeep Show and Shine on Saturday, March 17 at the Wellington Marketplace. Arrigo Dodge sponsored this fundraiser for law enforcement in Puerto Rico. Trophies were given out for Best in Show, Tallest Jeep, Best Spirit and more. Page 7
Groves Hosts League Of Cities With ‘Farm To Table’ Showcase
A local-food themed “farm to table” showcase of the Town of Loxahatchee Groves’ homegrown talents and resources was featured at a luncheon hosting 180 representatives from the Palm Beach County League of Cities recently at the Loxahatchee Groves campus of Palm Beach State College. Page 7 2018
GUIDE Pages 26 thru 28
DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 11 LETTERS.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 7 PEOPLE................................. 13 SCHOOLS.......................14 - 15 COLUMNS............................. 16 BUSINESS......................24 - 25 SPORTS..........................31 - 33 CALENDAR............................ 34 CLASSIFIEDS................ 35 - 38 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
American Equestrians Got Talent (AEGT) 2018 highlighted finalists of all the former years at an all-star gala event on Sunday, March 18 at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival show grounds. Brian Lookabill, shown above, was the night’s big winner. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 19 PHOTO BY BETSY LABELLE/TOWN-CRIER
Xcelerate Wellington Final Set For March 31 At PBIEC
By Dani Salgueiro Town Crier Staff Report Innovative and progressive businesses will compete at the Xcelerate Wellington 3.0 competition on Saturday, March 31 for the chance to win cash grants. The event, which is open to the public, will take place from 5 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center during the final weekend of the Winter Equestrian Festival. Presented by the Young Professionals of Wellington (YPOW), this year’s event will be a two-inone evening of excitement. The business pitches will begin at 5 p.m., and the winners will be announced at 7 p.m. After the Xcelerate Wellington prizes are presented, the $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix will commence at 7:15 p.m. The two were combined to attract more people and to invite a broader audience to witness both Wellington events, in which local entrepreneurs and equestrians compete at the same venue. The space will provide opportunity for people across the region to network and socialize in a distinctive setting.
This will be Xcelerate Wellington’s third annual event, and it is expected to be the biggest one yet. The business with the best-thought-out idea will win the $10,000 grand prize. A secondary prize of $2,500 will also be awarded to a local Wellington small business. A local rendition of the Shark Tank television series, Xcelerate Wellington pits South Florida entrepreneurs against each other. The one whose innovative idea is judged as the most promising will earn the $10,000 cash prize for their business. Xcelerate Wellington creates an opportunity-filled space for forward-thinkers from the surrounding region. They have the chance to present and pitch their unique business ideas to a panel of judges, who will ultimately determine a winner. “We want to bring the conversation of entrepreneurship to Wellington,” YPOW’s Monica Van Tassel explained. “We have the people, ability and platform to join the bigger conversation of business taking place across the state.” Although business owners from
across the region can qualify to compete, the Homegrown People’s Choice Award, the secondary $2,500 price, will be presented only to a local Wellington business. Xcelerate Wellington’s ultimate purpose is to initiate a fresh conversation on business development in South Florida, while aiding and encouraging local business leaders. The finalists are applicants with either a local small business or startup organization, who have taken on the challenge of coming up with and presenting their unique business ideas to a panel of judges. The finalists competing for the $10,000 grant are Brian Niles and Patrick Stinus with their pitch, Rooster; Matteo Ferrer with his Versattire pitch; Logan Rae with a Bacon Boxes pitch; and Rhys Ryan with the Ekkobar pitch. Presenting sponsor Equestrian Sport Productions will award the $10,000 grand prize. Along with the grand prize competition, Dr. Robin Schecter, Jenny Levin and Niquelle Averkamp will See XCELERATE, page 17
Bill To Make LGWCD Dependent To Town Awaits Gov’s Signature By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report A local bill to make the Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District dependent to the Town of Loxahatchee Groves has passed both houses of the Florida Legislature and awaits Governor Rick Scott’s signature. Once enacted, the LGWCD will need to hold a referendum for final approval. “When it comes out of there, we have to write up a referendum vote, which will likely occur sometime this summer,” LGWCD Chair Anita Kane told the Town-Crier on Tuesday. “It has to occur sometime before Oct. 1.” If the referendum passes, which will be based on a proxy vote by acreage owned rather than a popular election, the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council will replace
the five sitting LGWCD board members. The fate of district staff is uncertain. The district’s primary responsibility is now drainage and canal maintenance, since the district recently turned over all roads to the town, which has a contractual form of government with no permanent staff, like the district. “The recommendation for staff is something that I would hope they would ask us, but it’s not a requirement,” Kane said. Writing the referendum question is the next step once Gov. Scott signs H.B. 1093. Kane said the district will probably get information from Wellington as to the process. Wellington incorporated through a popular vote referendum in 1995. The newly elected Wellington Village Council took
over as supervisors of the Acme Improvement District in 1996. In that case, however, there was no existing council, and four of the five members elected to the inaugural Wellington Village Council were sitting Acme supervisors. Kane said it is likely that the governor will sign the bill, a few letters of objection from local residents notwithstanding. “Everything I’ve heard, there’s no chance of it not going through the governor’s office, especially when there is no money involved,” she said. Kane said supporters of the bill need to start talking actively to potential voters and get the facts out about the district becoming dependent, and pointed out that a few letters written to the state in opposition were inaccurate in their See LGWCD BILL, page 17
Meeting Will Bring Together Public Safety, Education Boards March 28 By Dani Salgueiro Town Crier Staff Report Wellington’s Education Committee and Public Safety Committee will hold a joint meeting on Wednesday, March 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wellington Community Center. The two committees are coming together to engage in important conversation regarding safety in Wellington schools. The meeting, which was originally scheduled to take place in the beginning of March, will have an agenda focusing on school safety, bullying and student altercations inside and outside of school grounds. Although the special joint meeting between the two committees was planned before the deadly shooting at Parkland’s Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, the meeting’s agenda has been altered from its original emphasis on bullying and student altercations to include school safety. Education Committee liaison Ed De La Vega explained that the two committees both wanted the presence and input of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the Palm Beach County School District Police Department in order to collaborate and discuss ways that the village and local law enforcement can come together to make the everyday lives of Wellington’s children, teachers and school administrators safer while in school. The meeting is expected to inSee JOINT MEETING, page 17
TEA & TRINKETS PARTY
Wellington Cares held its inaugural Tea & Trinkets Party last Sunday at the Wellington National Golf Club. Vendors sold a variety of merchandise from clothing, jewelry and ladies accessories to blended teas and bath items. Refreshments included sandwiches and sweet treats. Shown above, Julie Ahbol and Chris Simpson found pretty dresses. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 11 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN/TOWN-CRIER
Recycling Earns Money For SWA To Offset Trash Disposal Costs By M. Dennis Taylor Town Crier Staff Report Palm Beach, the largest county east of the Mississippi River, produces 16.8 million pounds of garbage every day — 12 pounds for each of the 1.4 million residents, a $187 million annual expense. Recycling cuts down that amount by about half. For years, the number one recycled product was newspapers. Today, consumer habits have changed. As consumption of printed newspapers has fallen, the most recycled material is now cardboard, which is growing. “It’s called the Amazon Effect,” said Aurora Ortiz, an education specialist with the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County, when she spoke at the Wellington branch library on Wednesday, March 21. The purpose of the presentation was to talk trash. Ortiz said that the
amount of trash generated by the county would fill a football stadium 11 feet high every day. The SWA, an independent government agency created by the Florida Legislature in 1975, collects that trash, recycling what it can and burning 90 percent of the remainder to create electricity. The other 10 percent is made up of items that can’t be burned, either because they are too big or are inflammable, like old campers and cement blocks. “The program has extended the life of the landfill by 20 years,” Ortiz said. The SWA generates enough electricity in its two Renewal Energy Facilities — the first beginning operation in 1989, the second went online in 2015 — to power some 75,000 homes. It earns the SWA about $75 million per year, in addition to supplying much of the electricity for its own operations. See SWA, page 4
Chrystine Tauber: A Champion For Show Jumping By Betsy LaBelle Town-Crier Staff Report Living in Wellington for many years, Chrystine Tauber serves as one of the international officials at the Winter Equestrian Festival. Tauber champions the mandated position by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) as the president of the Appeal Committee for show jumping CSI 4* and 5* events during the winter season. As a former international rider herself, she has been a licensed FEI and USEF judge for 40 years and a course designer for 20 years. Trusted by competitors and officials alike, she exemplifies fair play and great sport. Her efforts take place behind-
the-scenes, and she works six of the 12 weeks during the highestlevel international show jumping events. “To run these high-level international events is a big undertaking for show management,” she said. “There is a lot of prize money involved, and it’s a big commitment.” Tauber presides over a threeperson committee and watches the competition closely for any unusual situations or problems that might result in a protest. They review the cases that are beyond the jurisdiction of the ground jury of FEI judges. In cases involving veterinary matters or irregularities with the competition horse’s passport, the international veterinary delegate
is invited to join the Appeal Committee for a review. Each of the horses competing at FEI events has a passport that includes its identification papers and inoculation requirements to compete in international Grand Prix events all over the world. Usually held on the day before the start of the competition, the veterinary delegate and the president of the ground jury examine the paperwork of each horse, and then the horses must jog for soundness. Tauber is either present or oncall for these horse inspections. “The passports are the official entry document into the secured FEI stabling on the grounds,” she explained. “They must be up to date and the information correctly
entered for the horse to compete.” The ground jury consists of four or five FEI judges. Often, two judges sit in the judges’ tower with the announcer and electronic timing technician, while another serves as a backup timer with a stop-watch in the arena in case of an electronic failure. If there is a water jump as part of the course, one judge will be assigned to observe the horses clearing the full width of the water. “The ground jury does have the final decision on the results for the class,” Tauber said. “However, if there is a major rule infraction that warrants a significant fine, then it will be referred to the Appeal Committee.” Tauber is a longtime champion See TAUBER, page 17
Chrystine Tauber has spent a lifetime supporting the sport of show jumping.
PHOTO BY BETSY LABELLE/TOWN-CRIER