RPBHS PRINCIPAL’S ANNUAL REPORT SEE STORY, PAGE 3
ALA’S ROCKTOBERFEST SET FOR OCT. 21 SEE STORY, PAGE 7
THE
TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
Your Community Newspaper
INSIDE Wellington Water Utility Issues Rare Boil-Water Notices
Volume 38, Number 37 October 6 - October 12, 2017
Serving Palms West Since 1980
CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS
Something quite uncommon happened in Wellington during the first week of October. There was not one precautionary boilwater notice in effect, but two. The first, affecting residents of Pond View Drive in Palm Beach Polo, was the result of a water main break, Utilities Director Shannon LaRocque said. Page 3
Loxahatchee Groves Welcomes Town’s Five New PBSO Deputies
The Town of Loxahatchee Groves held an installation ceremony for the five deputies of the town’s new Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office District 17 substation during a town hall workshop meeting Friday, Sept. 29. Deputies Tifani Liming, John Walker, George Campbell, Alice Alfonso and Alex Concepcion were recognized for the commitment they have made to the town. Page 5
St. Michael Church Hosts ‘Paws For A Blessing’
The ninth annual “Paws for a Blessing” was held Sunday, Oct. 1 at St. Michael Lutheran Church in Wellington. People brought their pets, mostly dogs, for a blessing, but there was also a gerbil and a bird in need of spiritual support. Pet food was donated to Big Dog Ranch Rescue. Page 11
OPINION
New PBSC Dental Building Belongs At Lox Groves Campus
When the new Palm Beach State College campus opened in Loxahatchee Groves earlier this year, it was billed as a campus that would grow over the next 50 years with a focus on the health sciences. Now, the college has a chance to prove if that was just rhetoric or reality. Later this month, the leadership at PBSC will decide between the Loxahatchee Groves campus or the Lake Worth campus for a new building to house its dental technology program. Page 4 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 11 OPINION.................................. 4 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 6 PEOPLE................................. 12 SCHOOLS.............................. 13 COLUMNS.......................14, 21 BUSINESS..................... 22 - 23 SPORTS..........................25 - 27 CALENDAR............................ 28 CLASSIFIEDS................ 29 - 32 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
The Kids Cancer Foundation held a Childhood Cancer Awareness Month Celebration on Saturday, Sept. 30 at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Wellington. September was Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Park Avenue BBQ catered the buffet, while a DJ kept the dance music booming. There were face painters, characters, rock painting, bounce houses, a petting zoo and more. Shown here is Emma LaPaglia and her entourage of relatives. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 9 PHOTO BY DENISE FLEISCHMAN /TOWN-CRIER
PBSC Hears From Public On Location Of Dental Building
By Jack Lowenstein Town-Crier Staff Report Palm Beach State College officials conducted a community discussion Wednesday evening at the Loxahatchee Groves campus regarding the location of the school’s planned new dental programs building. A decision will be made shortly whether to build the state-ofthe-art dental facility at the new Loxahatchee Groves campus or at the Lake Worth campus, where the current dental building is located. The meeting was well-attended by community leaders, educators and health professionals in the western communities. Those attending Wednesday’s forum encouraged the college to make the dental building the next addition to the Loxahatchee Groves campus. One of the main messages voiced by those who made public comments came from State Rep. Matt Willhite (D-District 86). He expressed his shock that the site is now being disputed between two locations. “When you had your grand opening, and I sat in this room with you, everyone said that spot right out there, that clear spot out there,
is the spot for the dental campus,” Willhite said. “This was going to be a health science campus.” That continued to be the discussion in the state capital, he said. “Fast-forward to 2017 in Tallahassee, and Palm Beach State College comes, and they start asking for funding,” Willhite said. “And as you talked about funding this year and support in the future, and I have been and will be supportive, I was on the assumption that the money that was being asked for the dental building, it was no question where it was going to be built.” At this point in time, the college is expected to seek local funding to support the construction project. It currently has $5 million received from the state for the dental building, which covers design but not construction, and there is no local funding going toward the project, according to Richard Becker, PBSC’s vice president of administration and business services. In order for the college to receive financing for a new building from the state, it completes a survey conducted every five years, then uses a state formula to measure forecasted enrollment rates in each area there is a
campus. The space needed for a proposed facility is generated, and that information goes into a capital improvement plan submitted to the state. The state ultimately decides which projects it will fund for the college. “The revenue from those monies are shrinking,” Becker said. “We’re not bonding currently, so we’re only using the cash that comes in from those revenues’ source, not the bonding compounding component of that.” Nevertheless, the school hopes to have the necessary funding in place to complete the new dental programs building over the next several years. It would replace the aging structure on the Lake Worth campus that is the current home to degree programs in dental assisting and dental hygiene. Royal Palm Beach Mayor Fred Pinto continued to echo the room’s consensus regarding the desire to have the services and growth that the new addition to the college would bring the western communities. Pinto said the original idea for the Loxahatchee Groves campus sent a message to the community See PBSC DENTAL, page 7
Halloween Fun At Fall Fest, Trunk Or Treat In Wellington
By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report Things are about to get spooky in Wellington. The Wellington Fall Festival is set for Saturday, Oct. 21 from 3 to 10 p.m. at Village Park on Pierson Road, and the popular Trunk or Treat will take place the following weekend, on Saturday, Oct. 28 from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Wellington High School student parking lot. Wellington’s Fall Festival is going to be bigger and better than ever. “This year, we listened to suggestions made by people who attended last year, and we’ve extended the time of the event. It will be from 3 to 10 p.m.,” Community Programs Manager Michelle Gar-
vey said. “We’re encouraging the earlier time for the younger kids, so that way they can enjoy it, and hopefully it won’t be so crowded, as it has been in years past.” Different attractions will be starting at different times. The bounce houses, face painting, petting zoo, pony rides and trickor-treat doors open at 3 p.m. Pony rides will close at 6 p.m. The Haunted Hallways, for those 10 or older, will open at 5 p.m., an hour earlier than in the past, and stay open until 10 p.m. New to this year’s Fall Festival is laser tag, which will take place outside from 4 to 9 p.m. There will be two costume contests, at 4 and 7 p.m., as well as pumpkin pie eating contests for children and adults at
8 p.m. The layout will be similar to how Wellington does its Fourth of July event, with more activities taking place in the field areas of the park. Many sponsors and vendors are joining in on the fun. The featured sponsor is the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital at Memorial; the costume contest sponsor is Wellington Urgent Care; the shuttle and bus sponsor is Wellington Regional Medical Center; the Haunted Hallways sponsor is Southern Septic; the petting zoo sponsor is Bright Horizons; the trick-or-treat doors sponsor is Promise Life Chapel; and the face painting sponsor is Christ Community Church. Parking is free, but limited. AtSee FALL FEST, page 15
Equestrian Board Skeptical Of Palm Beach Polo, Polo West Requests
By Julie Unger Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington’s Equestrian Preserve Committee considered two amendments Wednesday to the Wellington PUD Master Plan requested by the Palm Beach Polo Golf & Country Club and Polo West. At a quasi-judicial hearing, board members heard the requests and approved some of the changes, while rejecting others, after hearing from attorneys representing several groups and many members of the public. The meeting opened with the Palm Beach Polo Property Owners Association requesting to be considered an interested property, to which attorney Alec Domb, representing the applicant, disagreed. “The properties in question
tonight are not part of the properties governed by the declaration of bylaws,” Domb said. “They have no jurisdiction with respect to this and cannot be interested parties.” Wellington Village Attorney Laurie Cohen disagreed. “They may not have ownership interest in the property, but they are impacted in some way by the proposed land use change,” she said. Cohen advised the committee to err on the side of caution and allow the POA to be considered an interested party. The first of two requests was a Wellington PUD master plan amendment that made a number of changes to the Palm Beach Polo property. The changes would: create two new pods within Palm Beach Polo, to be known as Pod 80 See PUD CHANGES, page 15
SCHOOL CULTURAL APPRECIATION DAY
Wellington Collegiate Academy held a cultural appreciation day at the original Wellington Mall on Friday, Sept. 29. Students enjoyed walking about the mall courtyard area with passports, visiting each culture’s booth to taste different cuisines. The event was highlighted by musical performances from the students, a guest singer and Choral Conductor Jessica Valdez. Shown above, Jimmy Kappes and Gianna, Tracy, Taylor and Bjoern Priske serve German cuisine. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 17 PHOTO BY JACK LOWENSTEIN/TOWN-CRIER
Lox Council OKs Budget Amendment After More Haggling
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report A resolution reinstating the town’s code enforcement budget after the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council gutted it at its previous meeting was approved Tuesday, Oct. 3 after council members debated where other budget cuts would come from. The council haggled over what departments to take from in order to cover the shortfall before finally approving the resolution. On Sept. 19, council members had wrangled to reach a final tax rate of 2.15 mills, below the staff recommendation of 2.6 mills, in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2017-18, which began Oct. 1. The budget is up about $300,000 from the current year, largely to pay for higher contract costs with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. Approving a 2.6 millage rate
would have required a unanimous 5-0 vote, and Councilman Dave DeMarois held out at first for the current tax rate of 1.47 mills before finally consenting to 2.15 mills. As a result, the council set upon where to make cuts to balance the budget, which is required by state statute, starting by cutting code enforcement in half. On Tuesday, Town Manager Bill Underwood told the council that the resolution was being presented as a result of the council’s action at its previous meeting arbitrarily reducing the contracted code enforcement amount by $18,000, which he said had to be put back in. “What is presented to you is a proposed budget amendment reinstating code enforcement back to its prior amount of $53,840,” Underwood said. Councilman Todd McLendon See LOX BUDGET, page 4
Community Service Second Nature For Mickey Smith
By Ray Burow Town-Crier Staff Report Growing up in Williamson, W.Va., there were two things that Michael “Mickey” Smith knew from an early age: he would grow up to be an attorney, and he would always be called Mickey. From the first grade, his mother insisted that he remember to request to be called Mickey, since he was named after his uncle. Smith’s parents were even more insistent concerning a college education. His father, a World War II veteran, didn’t get the luxury of attending college. Neither of his parents attended college, but their children would. Smith loved the people of West Virginia, but had big plans that didn’t include living in small-town
America. He set out on a circuitous journey that led to living out his dream of becoming a notable attorney. While he was studying engineering at Virginia Tech, he met his wife-to-be, Lizz; she was an education major. After earning his engineering degree, graduating with honors, Smith received a merit scholarship and continued his education at the Duke University School of Law, where he graduated in the top six percent of his class. In law school, Smith was elected to the Order of the Coif, an honor society for law school graduates. Smith is also a member of Mensa International, the International High IQ Society. Though Smith has received
accolades for being incredibly intelligent, he is also incredibly humble. “I don’t consider myself to be especially smart, but I do think I am hardworking. I have always been hardworking, and I like school. If I won the lottery, I think that I would go back and be a professional student. I like to learn,” Smith said. “You know the old saying, ‘The harder I work, the luckier I become.’ I think there’s a lot of truth in that. I’ve always been blessed with good partners and support people to work with.” Education is important to the Smith family. Lizz, a recently retired school teacher, discovered that retirement wasn’t for her. She missed teaching and eventuSee SMITH, page 7
Attorney Mickey Smith is a longtime Wellington resident.
PHOTO BY RAY BUROW/TOWN-CRIER