W E ST O RA N G E T I M E S &
Observer Celebrating more than 110 years in West Orange
Goodwin hitting well for Squeeze PAGE 19.
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VOLUME 84, NO. 26
ARTS & CULTURE
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THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2017
House District 44 candidates discuss education, marijuana, health care, tourism GABBY BAQUERO NEWS EDITOR
Bee’s stained-glass bottle lamps.
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YOUR TOWN SCOTT STUDYING IN BAJA John Scott, a new master’s student in the Global Field Program offered through Miami University’s Project Dragonfly, will travel to Baja in July to study desert and marine landscapes through ecological and social field methods. He is an animal trainer at Natural Encounters Inc. He is a resident of Winter Garden. Dragonfly is located in the Department of Biology at Miami U, in Oxford, Ohio.
TOP INSURANCE RATING FOR OCOEE FD The Ocoee Fire Department has received an ISO Class 1 rating, the highest public protection classification rating that is provided by the Insurance Service Office, which evaluates municipal fire protection efforts. This places Ocoee in the top half of 1% of more than 46,000 departments in the nation. “This shows a long-term commitment to excellence on the part of our fire personnel and reflects the city’s dedication to providing citizens with exemplary fire protection services,” said City Manager Robert Frank. The fire department is now preparing to be evaluated to receive international accreditation. Once attained, this would make it one of less than 40 fire departments in the nation to hold an ISO 1 classification and be internationally accredited.
Great Course of action West Orange Country Club hosts fundraising tournament for Warrior Golf program
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ORANGE COUNTY With the upcoming House District 44 special election, qualifying candidates for the recently vacated seat were invited to a debate luncheon hosted by the West Orange Chamber of Commerce on Friday, June 23. The hour-long debate – moderated by West Orange Times & Observer Publisher Dawn Willis – gave District 44 candidates the opportunity to share their stance on a variety of issues, including education, marijuana, health care and tourism. In attendance was Democrat Paul Chandler and Republicans John Newstreet, Bobby Olszewski and Usha Jain. District 44 candidate Bruno Portigliatti, also a Republican, was unable to attend due to an outof-town commitment.
EDUCATION Questions regarding education received the most attention during the debate. Candidates shared their thoughts on low teacher salaries and state bills that established an increase in charter school funding and decreased total education funding by approximately $45 million. The cause of the decrease in education funding was a rollback of the education contribution that stems from the local millage rate. When SEE FOUR PAGE 6
Home At Last dedicates 7th home United States Marines Sgt. Seann Windfield and his family received the seventh Home At Last home. BY DANIELLE HENDRIX STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND The heat didn’t stop dozens of people from going to Home At Last’s seventh home dedication this past weekend to welcome the Windfield family to Oakland. Retired Marine Sgt. Seann Windfield and his family — wife Stacy and their four children, Calvin, Lou, Brande and Delilah — are the seventh to receive a mortgage-free home from nonprofit program HAL. Windfield enlisted in the Marines in 2004 and completed three tours in Iraq before retiring in 2012. He suffered multiple injuries while overseas. While conducting a building clearing in
Baghdad, he fell through a roof, suffering a spinal disc herniation and nerve damage that keep him in constant pain. Windfield was honorably discharged from the U.S. Marines and received a 100% Permanent and Total disabled rating from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The family was homeless for a short time before renting a house in Satellite Beach. Now, in a few weeks, they will make the move to Oakland. Following the flag-raising ceremony Saturday, June 24, community members got to walk through and see the Windfields’s new home on Briley Avenue. It includes four bedrooms, three SEE KEYS PAGE 4
Danielle Hendrix
The Windfields are excited to move into their new home. From right: Brande Windfield, Seann Windfield, Stacy Windfield, Lou Windfield, Calvin Windfield and Calvin’s girlfriend, Kassidy Ellis.