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‘Back to School’ Tour boat biz could make splash near Windermere 8A Vol. 81 No. 32
In brief
It’s carnival time
Emeritus at Ocoee’s 4th Annual Fundraising Indoor Carnival is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, Aug. 9, at 80 N. Clarke Road. The event will include food, games, prizes, balloon making, face painting and a raffle for a SeaWorld Family Fun Package for four. Tickets will be sold at the door. Proceeds will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s. To learn more, call (407) 299-2710.
Trade in guns for gift certificates
The Ocoee Police Department will participate in the annual “Kicks 4 Guns” program from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14, at HighPoint Church, 476 Ocoee Commerce Parkway, Ocoee. During this Crimelinesponsored event, anyone can turn in unwanted guns anonymously and with no questions asked. Those who turn in a gun will receive one gift certificate, regardless of the number of guns turned in. People wishing to turn in guns are asked to transport the weapons unloaded and secured in the trunk of their vehicle, if possible. Upon arriving at the church, citizens should immediately advise the officer helping them if the firearms they have are loaded. Ocoee police officers will safely handle and remove the guns at the venue. Gift cards will be given in exchange for genuine firearms only.
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Back School West Orange Times
special section • August 7, 2014
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Winter Garden, Florida
407-656-2121 $ 7 . 9 9 - 1 3 w e e k s $ 1 4 . 9 9 - 2 6 w e e k s
INSIDE
Opinion…4A Winter Garden…5A Oakland...6A Ocoee...7A Windermere...8A Social…9A Deaths…10A Sports…1-4B Schools…5B.
I WO This week’s winner is
Summer Zwarun. See his photo on PAGE 16A
O f f e r e x p i r e s 8 / 3 1 / 2 0 1 4
Three Sections, 32 Pages
50 Cents
Half-penny tax extension gets unofficial approval By Tony Judnich
At the West Orange Chamber of Commerce Hob Nob and Straw Poll July 31, 189 participants cast unofficial, nonbinding votes in favor of extending Orange County’s one-half cent sales surtax, and 108 voted against the measure. But the announcement of those figures by the political event’s emcee Ybeth Bruzual, of Central Florida News 13, didn’t cause much of a stir among the large audience. The evening’s largest applause, as well as many hoots and hollers, followed the news that Windermere resident Patricia Strowbridge received more straw-poll votes for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, Group 32 seat than
her opponent, Diana Tennis, of Orlando. Chamber officials said more than 500 people attended the Hob Nob and Straw Poll, which took place at the Bella Room, 12100 W. Colonial Drive, Winter Garden. It was the area’s last Hob Nob and Straw Poll using the county Supervisor of Elections voting machines before the Aug. 26 primary election. This straw poll gives a glimpse of how the primary might turn out. “It is interesting to see which candidates won in West Orange County at our straw poll and how they will play out in the actual primary,” Chamber President Stina D’Uva said in a statement. “It (See Hob Nob, 3A)
Photo by Amy Quesinberry Rhode
Chamber President Stina D’Uva and Vice President Krista Carter welcome the politically motivated crowd at last Thursday’s Hob Nob and Straw Poll.
Historic W.G. Merchants rebuild after theft By Shari Roach After a theft in 2012 that devastated many businesses in Winter Garden, the Historic Winter Garden Merchants Association is finally starting to get back on its feet. The merchants have been working to rebuild since thousands of dollars were stolen through wire fraud by Jo Ann Lacey Anderson, a bookkeeper for numerous businesses in the area and secretary for the merchants association — taking a total of $1.7 million from the Winter
Garden community. The group has reorganized and, this year, is bringing a variety of new ideas and events to further spice up the city and attract newcomers to the historical area. “It kind of fell apart, and now we’re seeing if we can get it back up again,” said Wendy Byrd, president of the Historic Winter Garden Merchants Association. The merchants guild is a small group of shopkeepers, restaurateurs and professionals who work closely with the city of Winter Garden to make lo-
cal businesses more visible and profitable. Byrd, of Byrd Accounting, was appointed as president this year, along with an almost entirely new board of members: Vice President Dennis Jones (Winter Garden Wheel Works), Secretary Alauna Friskics (Garden Theatre), Treasurer Mike Scorsone (Winter Garden Pizza), Gina Vigeant (Winter Garden Fitness) and Jerry Pegram (Tri & Run of West Orange). The former association
(See Merchants, 3A)
WOHS’ 1st stage show this weekend
Upcoming events at Tibet-Butler
Free “Eco Saturdays” are scheduled through September at the Tibet-Butler Preserve and Vera Carter Environmental Center, 8777 County Road 535, Orlando. All programs start at 10 a.m. Here is the partial schedule: • Aug. 23 — Totally Turtles: Find out how people are similar and different from turtles, make shells to match those of turtles and meet the preserve’s resident turtles. Appropriate for Pre-K children; limited to 25 participants. • Aug. 30 — Endangered Species of Florida: Discuss the plants and animals on Florida’s Endangered and Threatened Species list. Learn why they are declining in numbers and ways to help them. Appropriate for ages 7 and up; limited to 50 participants.
R e c e i v e 4 F R E E w e e k s
Look who’s back?
Photo by Steven Ryzewski
Local high school football programs, including Windermere Prep, returned to the practice field on Monday, designated by the Florida High School Athletic Association as the first possible day for non-contact practices. For story and more photos, see 1B and 4B.
Area’s first gigabit network launches
CenturyLink Inc. has announced that symmetrical broad- tech-savvy customers demand it.” The company’s 1 Gbps service is equivalent to 1,000 Mbps band speeds up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) are available to — up to 100 times faster than tothousands of residential and busiday’s national average broadband ness customers in Central Florida speeds of 10 Mbps or less, acthrough the company’s ultra-fast ficording to industry studies. These ber network. This highly advanced speeds allow users to stream highfiber technology provides access to definition video content with little the some of the fastest upload and to no delays and download movies, download Internet speeds currently songs and TV shows in seconds. available in the U.S., the company Residential customers who have said. multiple devices connected to one CenturyLink’s 1 Gbps fiber serInternet connection in the home will vice has launched in select neighstill have more than enough capacborhoods within Orange, Seminole, ity and speed to support other uses Lake, Sumter, Osceola and Marion of broadband, such as online gamcounties, as well as certain busiing and home automation systems. ness corridors throughout Central Select businesses throughout Florida. CenturyLink is the only central Florida, whether located communications provider in Cenwithin multi-tenant unit buildings, tral Florida to offer 1 gigabit per strip malls or stand-alone locations, second service. can now benefit from Internet and “In an area that is quickly becomdata network upload and download ing known as a technology corridor, speeds of up to 1 Gbps to help init’s critical that residents and busicrease productivity and efficiency nesses have leading technology while working in the cloud, sharing available to them,” Erik Genrich, multimedia files, streaming video CenturyLink vice president/general content and backing-up data in realmanager for Central Florida, said in time. a statement. “We chose the Central For more information, visit cenFlorida market for this next-gener- A CenturyLink technician works on company ation technology because the area’s equipment. turylink.com.
Ready for West Orange High School’s first show of the year? The Thespians have been working on it this summer, and the show is being produced before school even starts. The curtain will rise on the Neil Simon comedy “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers” this Thursday, Aug. 7. This 1960s comedy focuses on the owner of a fish restaurant, Barney Cashman, who has been married to the same woman for 23 years — and he has been faithful all those years. However, he thinks he should have one affair before he gets too old. He decides to use his mother’s apartment as a meeting place while she is at work but spends most of his time cleaning up behind his guests so his mother won’t suspect anyone has been there. The lead role of Barney will be played by theater student Isaiah Rothstein. The three female leads are played by Alexandra Crosby, Avianna Tagerty and Ashley Adams. The audience will be seated on stage with the actors in a thrust staging that places the audience on three sides. Seating will be limited to 100 people each night, so reservations are required to guarantee a seat. “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers” is appropriate for high school-age audiences and adults, Director Ken Rush said. The production will run at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday, Aug. 7, and Saturday, Aug. 9, with a 2:30 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Aug. 10. Tickets are $10 each, and reservations may be made by calling 407905-2400, Ext. 6162462.