ORMOND BEACH
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 4, NO. 28
FREE
LOPEZ STANDOUT 11 •
THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2016
Is Ormond Beach a
Trump Town? The Observer Media Group sure hopes not. Find out who we think you should vote for in the March 15 presidential primary. PAGE 6
Photo by Michael Vadon, own work, on Wikimedia Commons
Seabreeze students vs. the ‘R-Word’
YOUR TOWN
The Best Buddies Club hopes to change the conversation about kids with special needs.
Photo by Emily Blackwood
A BIKE WEEK FOR THE AGES Chip Moore and his daughter, Savannah Moore, 5, enjoy the Bike Week festivities. See Page 14 for more.
EMILY BLACKWOOD COMMUNITY EDITOR
Not a lot of people know what goes on in Building 15. Seabreeze High School is a big campus, with over 1,500 students in attendance. But some of those students are lost in the background, secluded from their peers — specifically in Building 15. For students enrolled in Exceptional Student Education, this isolation is the norm. Though it’s usually not done on purpose, special needs students rarely interact with peers outside their own SEE END PAGE 9
VOTE EARLY! Photo by Emily Blackwood
Two Ormond Beach construction pros, Ivona Tydir and Bobbie Cheh, talk industry love and the need for more man — or woman — power.
PRETTY IN PINK O HARD HATS EMILY BLACKWOOD COMMUNITY EDITOR
Photo by Emily Blackwood
Vail Lynn knows Jonathan Oliva is a ladies man, but she still believes she’s his favorite.
n the second shelf of Ivona Tydir’s bookcase sits the typical gear you’d need to visit a construction site: boots, a hard hat and protective eyewear. However, something about her gear isn’t so typical — it’s all pink. Though construction companies tend to have the reputation of being a boys’ club, Tydir, president of Tydir Construction, and Bobbie Cheh, office manager at Peck & Associates Construction Inc., refuse to make it feel SEE WOMEN PAGE 5
More than 1,300 Ormond residents have voted early for the March 15 Presidential Preference Primary. Hours for early voting are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through March 12, at the Ormond Beach library.
Where are they crashing? Check out the most dangerous intersections in Ormond Beach.
PAGE 3
Prince of Peace turns 50 The Catholic Church in Ormond Beach reaches half of a century and celebrates by preparing 50,000 meals for charity.
PAGE 2