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WEST ORANGE TIMES & OBSERVER
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OrangeObserver.com
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2019
Local officers ready to ride AMY QUESINBERRY COMMUNITY EDITOR
J
oe and Melissa Cassidy and Talco Construction have made significant donations to the Winter Garden Police Department’s Police Unity Tour team for several years. Now, it’s time for Joe Cassidy to do some riding of his own. Cassidy — Talco owner, a military veteran and a Winter Garden resident — has committed himself to this year’s 254-mile ride, which begins May 10 in Portsmouth, Virginia, and culminates May 12 in Washington, D.C. A candlelight vigil will be held May 13. The annual three-day ride raises awareness of law-enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty and raises funds for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and Museum, both located in the nation’s capital. All participants ride in memory of an officer who died in the line of duty the previous year. Cassidy will ride for Brevard County Sheriff Deputy Kevin Stanton. Teammate Andrew Raphael, a former chapter president and retired Winter Garden police officer, is riding for two in his 14th year: Jermaine Brown, of the MiamiDade Police Department, who was killed in an off-road vehicle crash; and William Allee, former NYPD chief of detectives who died last year of a cancer related to working at Ground Zero after 9/11. “It’s so much more than a bicycle ride,” Raphael said. “The impact of dealing with the survivors is what keeps me coming back year after year. … Watching them heal is a big deal.” Raphael has been taking part in the ride for 14 years. He was so impressed with the event that he got a tour tattoo on his left calf after the first year. Cassidy has been a serious bike rider for less than a year but already is adept at handling 100mile practice rides with the team. Others on this year’s local team are WGPD Capt. Scott Allen, who
MEETINGS: Noon on the first and third Wednesday of the month, starting May 15 LOCATION: Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge, 16301 Phil Ritson Way, Winter Garden COST: $50 to join; $20 monthly membership fee SOCIAL HOUR AND INFORMATION SESSION WHEN: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 23 WHERE: Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine, 16418 New Independence Parkway, Winter Garden DETAILS: This event, sponsored by Orlando Health, serves as a casual evening to meet the founding committee, learn what it means to be a Rotarian and find out how to get involved with this new chapter. Hors d’oeuvres and cocktails will be served.
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“Road to Serfdom,” 1944 Publisher / Matt Walsh, mwalsh@yourobserver.com Executive Editor / Michael Eng, meng@OrangeObserver.com Design Editor / Jessica Eng, jeng@OrangeObserver.com Community Editor / Amy Quesinberry, amyq@OrangeObserver.com News Editor / Gabby Baquero, gbaquero@OrangeObserver.com Sports Editor /Troy Herring, therring@OrangeObserver.com Black Tie Editor / Danielle Hendrix, dhendrix@OrangeObserver.com Staff Writer / Eric Gutierrez, egutierrez@OrangeObserver.com
Amy Quesinberry
The Winter Garden riders all will wear shirts with the names of the WGPD deceased.
TO DONATE Donations still are being accepted as the team tries to reach its goal of $16,000 — $2,000 per team member. To donate to Joe Cassidy’s ride, which ultimately goes toward the team goal, visit firstgiving.com/fundraiser/ joe-cassidy/Police-UnityTour-Chapter-VIII-2019 Checks can be mailed to Police Unity Tour Chapter 8, 4888 Davis Blvd., Suite 144, Naples, Florida 34104; write Joe Cassidy in the memo line.
isn’t riding but continues to support the effort; WGPD Sgt. Jorge Coello; WGPD officers Dave Vernon, Melissa Jackson and Travis Waters; and Bill Smith, a local man whose brother was killed in Tallahassee in the line of duty. All riders wear metal bracelets inscribed with the names of fallen officers. Riders typically get in touch with the family, and relatives who attend the memorial
ceremony at the end of the bike ride will be given the bracelets. Raphael buys an extra bracelet for himself, and he wears it all year before replacing it with a new bracelet. He invited Cassidy to last year’s ceremony in Washington, D.C., and after witnessing the magnitude of this moving event, Cassidy accepted another invitation to participate in this year’s ride. “I couldn’t be more honored personally to be invited and to be a part of this,” Cassidy said. The ride is broken into segments of 113, 75 and 66 miles, and although the miles decrease in number each day, the number of hills increases, Raphael said. The average pace is 15 mph. Riders stop at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, and when all the chapters arrive, they begin the twomile procession together toward the memorial and museum. Allen rode for Windermere Police Officer Robbie German and Orange County Deputy Scott Pine in 2015 and for Kissimmee Police Sgt. Sam Howard in 2018 but is not riding this year. In
other years, he has assisted by making donations, helping raise funds and getting on his bicycle and pushing riders during training rides. “I have attended way too many funerals for officers who have been killed in the line of duty, several of which were close friends,” Allen said. “These officers sacrificed everything to protect their community, and it seems that their memories appear to fade quickly to those not immediately affected by their deaths. … We are keeping these officers’ memories alive, providing support for their families and honoring true heroes.” Local municipalities are among those represented. Winter Garden has two names on the memorial, Windermere has one, Orange County has 20, and Orlando has 16 (including one K9). The museum and memorial are privately funded; a large portion of the proceeds goes toward maintaining the memorial and researching and adding names.
New Rotary Club set to launch ROTARY CLUB OF HORIZON WEST
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start our own in Horizon West. There’s one in Lake Buena Vista, Dr. Phillips, Winter Garden … they’re all over. We just decided, let’s just see what it takes to do our own for Horizon West as we try to brand that area.” Throughout Rotary International, there are more than 35,000 Rotary clubs, and the goal of all of them is to serve others and promote integrity while advancing goodwill and peace through fellowship. Fifer and his group approached Rotary about starting their own Horizon West chapter and received approval. To start a new Rotary chapter, the group must have at least 25 people. Another option was becoming a satellite location to an existing chapter. “We didn’t really know if we’d have 25 right away, so they have another program where you can be a satellite,” Fifer said. “We partner with Winter Garden (currently), and we were just going to have a satellite location of their club, so we would basically just meet separately. But we got enough support right away that we don’t really
need to do that.” During an initial information session about a month ago, Fifer and his team brought some people to Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge — where the chapter’s meetings will be held — to talk about the history and mission of Rotary, as well as some of its service projects. About 30 people showed up, but there are currently around 75 on the chapter’s interest list. Starting May 15, the group will meet as a satellite to the Rotary Club of Winter Garden for about two months. Then, it will officially launch independently as Rotary Club of Horizon West July 1. Meetings will be held on the first and third Wednesday of the month at Orange County National. Several people on RCHW’s civic committee are working to find different service projects, Fifer said, but he hopes to be able to gather ideas from members once the chapter officially launches. “We’re trying to really get out there and get with our members, once we launch our program, to talk about things that they’re interested in,” said Fifer, who will serve as RCHW’s first president.
“We partner with Orlando Health, because they know of different projects in the community that they support, like Healthy West Orange, that we can maybe tag onto. We don’t really have a set plan yet…it’s really finding those little charities around town that we can help. We want to try to stay as close to the Horizon West area as we can.” For those who aren’t sure of what being a Rotary member entails or those who are interested in joining, the RCHW group is hosting a social hour and information session Tuesday, April 23, at Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine in Hamlin. The first 50 members to join RCHW will be considered charter members. It costs $50 to join as a new member, and there is a $20 monthly membership fee thereafter to cover the group’s costs. “It’s a lot of energy to get it launched, but once we do and we can actually have 25 to 30 members showing up for meetings and we’re out in the community doing things, that’s probably ultimately where the satisfaction will come from,” Fifer said. “We’re excited about the community support already.”
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