Town-Crier Newspaper October 21, 2011

Page 1

RPB SEEKING INPUT ON SENIOR HOUSING SEE STORY, PAGE 3

WLMS CHORUS TO PERFORM AT KRAVIS SEE STORY, PAGE 18

THE

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

Your Community Newspaper

INSIDE

Volume 32, Number 42 October 21 - October 27, 2011

RODEO PAGEANT IN THE ACREAGE

A Healthy Good Time At Wellness Festival

The Wellington Chamber of Commerce Medical & Wellness Committee held its second annual Wellness Festival on Saturday, Oct. 15 in the Whole Foods Market plaza. The free event featured health and wellness professionals offering blood-pressure checks, health information, giveaways and more. Page 2

Town Agrees To Build Culvert To Fix North Road Access Problem

The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council on Tuesday approved constructing a culvert on North Road at 148th Terrace North that the Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District had requested to help resolve rightof-way problems in the area. Page 3

Pumpkins Arrive At Community Of Hope

Community of Hope Church in Loxahatchee Groves unloaded its second batch of pumpkins Sunday, Oct. 16 for its annual pumpkin patch and maze. The church’s student ministry helped unload the more than 5,000 pumpkins on an assembly line. Page 9

RPB’s Hi-Tech Plumbing Fights Breast Cancer

Hi-Tech Plumbing is partnering with Your Bosom Buddies II breast cancer support group during the month of October, and will provide 5 percent of its sales for the month to support the fight against breast cancer. Page 11

OPINION Supporting The Annual Breast Cancer Walk... And Others As Well

This Saturday morning, people from all around Palm Beach County will descend upon the Meyer Amphitheatre in downtown West Palm Beach for the annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. It’s a great day for a great cause — and just one of many that needs the community’s support. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS ............................. 2 - 13 OPINION ................................ 4 CRIME NEWS ........................ 6 NEWS BRIEFS .......................8 SCHOOLS .....................14 - 15 PEOPLE........................ 16 - 17 COLUMNS .................... 23 - 25 BUSINESS ...................27 - 29 ENTERTAINMENT ................30 SPORTS .......................35 - 37 CALENDAR...................38 - 39 CLASSIFIEDS ...............40 - 44 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM

The inaugural Miss and Mr. Rodeo Palm Beach County Pageant was held Saturday, Oct. 15 at Nicole Hornstein Equestrian Park in The Acreage. Hosted by the Acreage Horseman’s Association and sponsored by JC Western Supply, the pageant included girls, infants and older, and boys up to age 10. Sho wn here are some of the competitors. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO B Y LAUREN MIRÓ/T OWN-CRIER

Upbeat Talk From Municipal Leaders At ‘State Of Cities’ By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Palms West Chamber of Commerce hosted local governmental leaders in a “State of the Cities” presentation to talk about their achievements, challenges and initiatives at a luncheon Monday at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center. Wellington Village Manager Paul Schofield said the topic is not such a pleasant conversation because of the difficult economy, but said he hoped that the worst was behind them “This is the fifth year we have had to do budget cuts and some form of staff reductions, but having said that, this past year is also the year that we have had to do the least amount of cutting,” Schofield said. “That would be principally due to property values falling far less than we had thought.” Schofield said that Wellington has established programs to work with owners of foreclosed homes to help turn some of them around. “Perhaps with the recent changes, we’ll close out the foreclosure

backlog,” he said. “Foreclosures have been a major problem before us.” Schofield said Wellington has seen a marked decrease in the number of business failures in the past year and an uptick in building permits. “All those things... indicate that the economy is getting better,” he said. However, there are troubling trends. “We are losing people in the 32 to 46 age range,” Schofield said. “The types of jobs they depend on have gone, and so have they. That’s troubling because first and foremost we are a family community.” Schofield said everyone understands that bringing jobs to the area is very important. “That has to be done in a way that doesn’t change the fundamental character of the community in that it is a great place to raise a family,” he said. “What we are looking at is our medical arts district, to take the two hospitals that are at either end of Forest Hill Blvd. and build on what they bring to our communities.”

Wellington is also evaluating how to renew some of its older neighborhoods and create a main street concept that centers along Forest Hill Blvd., Schofield added. Royal Palm Beach Village Manager Ray Liggins said his community has been looking at alternative ways of bringing in revenue to replace flagging property tax income in order to avoid reducing services, including making the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center more attractive for rentals. “You’re going to see a lot more of that in local government in the future,” Liggins said. “We’re going to look at service providers and the possibility of making money in different places.” He said property taxes account for only about 15 percent of the village’s revenue but that due to economic circumstances, Royal Palm Beach has also seen revenues drop from many of its other sources, including gas taxes and interest income. Fines and forfeiSee CHAMBER, page 7

Serving Palms West Since 1980

County Supports Tax Breaks For Grocery Distribution Center By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Palm Beach County Commission agreed Tuesday to offer a property tax exemption for the German supermarket chain Aldi to locate a distribution center and regional headquarters in Royal Palm Beach. The commissioners agreed to offer Aldi an exemption not to exceed an estimated $1.7 million over seven years to locate its distribution center behind the Regal Cinema on the west side of State Road 7. Aldi operates more than 1,000 stores in 31 states, with nearly 95 percent of the company’s premium products sold under its own private label at prices below traditional grocery retailers, according to a county staff report. The company plans to build a 500,000-square-foot building that will be expandable to 800,000 square feet. The distribution center will serve new Aldi stores that are open or planned for the South Florida region. Currently, the company has eight stores in South

Florida, including one in Delray Beach, the only one in Palm Beach County. The regional headquarters will provide all management for the South Florida region for both distribution and retail stores, including human resources, purchasing, logistics and general management. The company has agreed to create 100 new permanent jobs at an average salary of $46,100, which is above the county’s average salary, according to the staff report. It is estimated that 280 construction jobs will be created as a result of the $43 million project. The county’s Economic Development Office estimates that the project will have a $112.5 million economic impact over a five-year period. Commissioner Steven Abrams said he would support the item, but asked whether Royal Palm Beach would participate in support of the project in some fashion. “We certainly have cities who are hungry for these businesses to come into the area who are conSee ALDI, page 18

SRHS HOMECOMING

Seminole Ridge High School held its homecoming ceremony Friday, Oct. 14 before a varsity football game against John I. Leonard High School. Mar cus Mooney and Samantha Long (above) were crowned homecoming king and queen. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 5 PHOTO BY LAUREN MIRÓ/TOWN-CRIER

Celebrate Halloween Wellington Phone Program Aims At Community Events To Keep Residents In The Loop By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington residents can expect calls keeping them abreast of all the latest important information as the village expands its automated call system this month. About 500 residents each week are expected to receive one nonemergency automated call that is meant to inform about upcoming events, utility accounts and other important information. Deputy Village Manager John Bonde said the system is an expansion of Wellington’s Code Red emergency notification system. “We have a system of automated calling originally intended for emergencies such as a water main break, where we have to notify as many people as fast as possible,” he said. “We’ve begun working with our utility department to use a similar process to notify our residents of utilities issues, such as when we’re chlorinating a line for

bacteria or if they may experience a drop in water pressure.” The calls may be more general in nature, or could call specific homeowners with important information pertaining to their home. “We would use it in a scenario when we may have a problem at a house and need to contact an owner, or if there’s a boil water or service interruption notice for one neighborhood,” Bonde said. “It can be used for a number of things, including notification of past due bills.” The system will be used to notify individuals or small groups of residents of possible issues. “If it’s a personal matter, we don’t need to put it out there,” Bonde said. “This way, if it only affects a handful of people, we can size the message to the audience rather than putting it in the newspaper.” Bonde said that residents could

expect an automated call and may be asked for feedback. “We’re experimenting with it to see how it’s going to work,” he said. “We may ask questions like if it’s a good method and if residents like the system. We’ll see how residents like it, and if we think it will be effective, we’ll continue it.” The Code Red system will continue to be used for emergency situations when necessary, Bonde said. He said that the aim of the system is for Wellington to be able to better communicate with and inform its residents. “Wellington tries to do about as much as anyone can do to reach its residents,” he said. “We always have information on our web site and try to get the word out. This gives us another way to communicate with our residents. Any avenue we can use to communicate important information will help us to be a better hometown.”

By Lauren Miró Town-Crier Staff Report Residents throughout the western communities have plenty of fall fun to look forward to with family-friendly Halloween events starting this weekend. Local municipalities have planned safe, fun ways for families to celebrate the holiday with food, festivities and, of course, trick-or-treating. Wellington will celebrate two weekends, partnering with the Palms West Chamber of Commerce for its Fall Festival at Village Park on Saturday, Oct. 22, from 6 to 10 p.m. Then, on Sunday, Oct. 30, families can enjoy free and safe trickor-treating with Trunk-or-Treat held at Wellington Presbyterian Church (1000 Wellington Trace) and Wellington High School from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Royal Palm Beach will hold its FallFest on Friday, Oct. 28, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Veterans Park. In The Acreage, families can enjoy Trunk-or-Treat along Citrus

Grove Blvd. on Saturday, Oct. 29, beginning at dusk. Wellington’s Fall Festival is set to be bigger and better than ever with the return of old favorite activities as well as new ones, such as a pumpkin-pie-eating contest. Parks & Recreation Director Bruce Delaney told the Town-Crier Wednesday that families could expect plenty of fun for all ages. “There will be something for everyone,” he said. Kids can enjoy bounce houses, slides, face painting and inflatable rides. Additionally, children can enjoy painting small pumpkins and getting their faces painted. As always, there will be trickor-treating for children, with volunteers behind a series of doors to give out candy. For the daring, there is the popular haunted hallways and haunted hayride. “We have a wagon we fill with hay and take you around the park,” Delaney said. “The haunted hallways have a new, improved laySee HALLOWEEN, page 18

PBSO Trains RPB Staffers To Keep An Eye Out For Crime

Fleet Watch — PBSO Community Outreach Specialist Diane Smith addresses RPB staff members as detectives Gabe Carino and Mitchell McCranels look on. PHOTO BY R ON BUKLEY/TOWN-CRIER

By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office recruited a new team of allies in Royal Palm Beach on Wednesday — the road staff of the village’s Public Works and Recreation departments. The village employees were trained how to be extra sets of eyes and ears for deputies in a program called Fleet Watch. “You all are out there,” said PBSO Community Outreach Coordinator Diane Smith, who conducted a class with about 40 pub-

lic workers on how to work with police. “You’ve heard of Neighborhood Watch; this is Fleet Watch. You are in places where people might see you, but they don’t pay attention to you, and that’s not a bad thing. You’re just out there working. You could be standing right there, and they don’t think anything of it. That is great for us, but really bad for them, especially after today.” The course stressed what to remember if field workers see a suspicious incident. “It’s all about communication,”

Smith said. “When you see something that doesn’t look right, you call someone, you call your supervisor, you might call the sheriff’s office directly, you might call 911, or call the non-emergency line.” Smith encouraged the workers to trust their feelings about any situation that does not seem right. “When you are out and about and you see something that just doesn’t look right, if it doesn’t look right to you, it probably doesn’t look right to someone else,” she said. “If your instinct is See FLEET WATCH, page 18


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