Times& WEST ORANGE
Observer WEST ORANGE COUNTY’S NEWSPAPER FOR 109 YEARS
THURSDAY
MARCH 12, 2015
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WINTER GARDEN, FLORIDA
OUR TOWN
ACTIVE
ARTS & CULTURE
SPORTS
Winter Garden man returns from footgolf trip in Spain. PAGE 5B
Ocoee High School’s drumline to perform at “Evening at the Pops.” PAGE 13A
Dr. Phillips track and field teams thriving. PAGE 1B
NOW OPEN by Zak Kerr | Staff Writer
Businesses open in downtown Ocoee Owners hope to help revitalize the area with their new businesses.
Courtesy photo
+ Commissioner meets Olympian Winter Garden Commissioner Robert “Bobby” Olszewski, his wife, Allison, and Roper YMCA District Vice President Jake Steger had the opportunity to meet U.S. Olympian and gold medal winning swimmer Ryan Lochte recently during the Arena Pro Swim Series at the YMCA Aquatic Center on International Drive.
OCOEE — Business owners, Matthew’s Hope representatives and area residents, including Commissioner Rusty Johnson, gathered March 6 on McKey Street in historic downtown Ocoee for ribbon-cuttings, with owners hoping to jump-start the res-
toration and revitalization of the area. Connie Dean held a grand reopening of her bookstore, The Book Rack, and Denna LeVan hosted the official grand opening of West Side Mercantile & Brocante, her home decor, women’s cloth-
ing and furniture store, across the street from Dean. Brand Exchange was unable to host a grand opening, but there are plans for it to coincide with Ocoee’s Spring Fling and a McKey Street sidewalk sale March 14. The joint March 6 event in-
BERRY SEASON by Amy Quesinberry Rhode | Community Editor
+ ONP preps for eagle flight Never seen a bird of prey up close? Here’s your chance! Oakland Nature Preserve will host “Eagle Lady” Doris Mager, of Save Our American Raptors, at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 14, at the preserve, 747 Machete Trail Oakland. Learn about these birds of prey and meet Mager and a few of her feathery friends in person. Admission is free. For more information, email information@oaklandnaturepreserve.org or call (407) 905-0054.
I
WO This week’s winner is
Deborah Shultz.
See the photo on PAGE 7B.
SEE OCOEE / PAGE 6A
IN BLOOM by Amy Quesinberry Rhode | Community Editor
Ocoee festival to welcome spring
+ Gov. Scott appoints locals Gov. Rick Scott has announced more appointments and reappointments. Roger Stevens, 64, of Windermere, was reappointed to the Continuing Care Advisory Council for a term beginning Feb. 23 and ending Sept. 30, 2017. He is the chief executive officer of Westminster Communities of Florida. Gisela Laurent, 38, of Winter Garden, fills a vacant seat on the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention State Advisory Group. Her term began Feb. 16 and ends at the governor’s discretion. She is the president of Laurent Law Firm P.A.
cluded drinks, hot dogs and chips, free to the community for helping them to celebrate this occasion. “In 2001, I retired from Verizon after 30 years of service, and I knew that I’m not a person that can just sit still, so I opened a bookstore,” Dean
said. “I bought a bookstore in Maryland, took it to Lakeland and went in partners with a lady, and that went to Hell in a hand-basket real quick.” Dean came to Ocoee and opened another bookstore at Clarke and Silver Star roads. She was there 15 months be-
The city of Ocoee is celebrating the season of gorgeous weather with its 10th Annual Spring Fling from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 14. Admission is free to the event, which takes place at Bill Breeze Park, 125 N. Lakeshore Drive. Attendees can enjoy free food, door prizes and fun family activities, and dozens of vendors will offer information on the services they provide. Throughout the day, safety-related presentations and demonstrations will be givAmy Quesinberry Rhode
Tom West Blueberries, in Ocoee, was started by Tom West in 2010. His son, Milton West, second from left, continues the tradition with his grandson, Scott West. Milton West’s daughters, Stacy Williams, left, and Susan Hembree, also operate the family business.
PREPARING FOR
PICKIN’
The U-Pick season for Tom West Blueberries has begun. A delegation of 100 blueberry farmers from around the country visited the Tom West property last month to learn how the fruit is grown in Florida. The guests, many from colder climes, were in Orlando for a U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council conference and spent part of a day touring several Central Florida farms. At Tom West Blueberries, off Orlando Avenue, growers got a lesson in farming practices and processes as they walked through a portion of the 10acre Ocoee property. “For us to be only four or five years into this, it’s an honor,” Susan Hembree, sales and marketing manager, said of the visit. Tom West Blueberries was born on land that was culti-
vating grounds for Tom West’s oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and other citrus fruits in the 1950s. His son, Milton West, joined the family business in 1964. After several devastating freezes wiped out a large portion of their trees, Tom West and his grandson, Scott West, decided to start growing blueberries in 2010. They planted bushes in a 5-acre field. That farm was doubled the following year after Tom West’s death, and there are now 22,000 blueberry plants at the Orlando Avenue location. The business is still expanding — 40,000 bushes were recently planted on farmland on Ocoee Apopka Road. It will
IF YOU GO U-PICK Tom West Bluberries offers a chance to pick your own fresh berries. The U-ick season runs from April to June, and the farm is open to the public. There are four varieties of berries ranging from tart to super-sweet.
en: Diabetes Awareness by HAPCO Health Initiatives will start at 10:30 a.m.; self-defense by Victory Martial Arts will begin at 11 a.m.; bike safety at Children’s Safety Village will start at noon; a live burn by Wayne Automatic Fire Sprinklers will start at 12:30 p.m.; and a vehicle extrication by the Ocoee Fire Department begins at 2:15 p.m. Activities will include a bike rodeo, where children can hop on a bicycle and
SEE SPRING / PAGE 4A
new school by Zak Kerr | Staff Writer
Spring Lake Elementary dedicates new building Students and staff relocated for this school year. OCOEE — For the 2014-15 school year, students and staff at Spring Lake Elementary School had to relocate, because their old school building was torn down to make way for their new, bigger building. A dedication including a ribbon-cutting at 9 a.m. March 10 at the new building made it official. “The district has several
schools in a list of renovations or rebuilding the schools,” Principal Nancy Pender said. “I don’t know what position we were, but 1961 was when the school was built. It needed to be updated both building-wise and construction, and the size of the building. We had several portables here, but now we’ll have an enclosed building making it safer for children and easier for students and teachers to collaborate.”
SEE SCHOOL / PAGE 6A
WHERE: 324 E. Orlando Ave., Ocoee. WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. INFORMATION: (407) 656-3223 or TomWestBlueberries.com.
Zak Kerr
Orange County Public Schools officials cut a ribbon March 10 to dedicate the new Spring Lake Elementary building.
SEE PICK / PAGE 6A
INDEX Arts & Culture.......................13A Classifieds..............................8B
Community Calendar..............2A Cops Corner............................5A
Crossword...............................7B Obituaries.............................17A
Sports.....................................1B Weather..................................7B
Vol. 82, No. 11 , Two sections
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