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COUPONS INSIDE Vol. 81 No. 35
In brief No county garbage, recycling service on Labor Day
Orange County Utilities will not collect garbage or recycling on Monday, Sept. 1, for the Labor Day holiday. Customers with garbage collection on Monday will receive garbage service the following Thursday. Customers with recycling collection on Monday will receive recycling service the following Monday. Bulky items will not be collected during the holiday week. For more information, customers can visit ocfl. net/utilities/ or contact the Orange County Utilities Solid Waste Hotline at (407) 836-6601.
Art exhibit features area farmworkers
The Crealde School of Art and city of Winter Garden will present “The Last Harvest – a History and Tribute to the Life and Work of the Farmworkers on Lake Apopka,” an Art in Public Places exhibit. It runs through Nov. 14 in the City Hall lobby during business hours. A reception will take place from 5:30-7 p.m. this Thursday, Aug. 28, in the City Hall lobby and is open to the public.
Group bringing Celtic entertainment to Winter Garden
The Orlando New World Celts are coming to downtown Winter Garden to share music, authentic Irish fare and the film “Brigadoon” on Saturday, Aug. 30, at the Garden Theatre. Tickets are $20 for dinner and entertainment and $5 for the movie only. To purchase tickets, go to gardentheatre.org/community. The movie starts at 4:30 p.m. with entertainment starting at 3:45 (weather permitting) on Plant Street followed by a short concert from Rosie’s in the theater. Following the movie, the entertainment goes upstairs to the Garden Room for Irish food, entertainment by Oddbins, a raffle and more. All profits go to support the Orlando New World Celts, Rosie O’Grady’s Highlanders Pipe Band and the Orlando Hurling Club.
INSIDE
Opinion…4A Winter Garden…7A Oakland...8A Ocoee...9A Windermere...10A Social…11A Deaths…12A Sports…1-4B Schools…5B.
I WO This week’s winner is
Margaret Kirwan. See his photo on PAGE 15A
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Three Sections, 42 Pages
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One weekend, 3 theaters, 79 movies in Ocoee By Amy Quesinberry Rhode
If you like independent films, then you should make plans to be at West Orange Cinemas in Ocoee this weekend. The 9th Annual Central Florida Film Festival starts this Friday, Aug. 29, at 9:30 a.m. with a screening of student short films and concludes Sunday, Aug. 31, at 9:15 p.m. after the awards show. There are 79 movies in all, 31 of them from Florida. The festival of-
fers a collection of feature films, with question-and-answer sessions with directors and writers. There are also comedy and dramatic shorts, documentaries, foreign films and animated movies being shown in the three theaters. Some of the films star such performers at Lee Meriwether, Daniel J. Travanti, Charles Haid, Eric Roberts, Tom Sizemore, Gary Busey and C. Thomas Howell. Several have West Orange County
connections. All will entertain, Cook promises. “I was inspired by producer/director Jerry Lewis, whose Labor Day telethon was an industry staple as long as I can remember,” Cook said on the website. “He worked long hours and made sure his guests were entertained; I come to you with the same promise. If you attend the Central Florida Film Festival I will work long hours to ensure my guests and the artists involved have a quality, informative and
entertaining weekend.” For more details on the festival, go to CentralFloridaFilmFestival.com. or call (407) 370-3703. West Orange Cinema is at 1575 Maguire Road, Ocoee.
Buying tickets
Single movie tickets, if available, are $10 and only available at the box office 30 minutes before the screening. (See CenFlo, 6A)
Home At Last to spin off Officials of Home At Last, the special project of West Orange Habitat for Humanity to build mortgage-free, disability friendly homes for combat-wounded, permanently disabled veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, have agreed with Habitat for Humanity to go their separate ways. “The timing is right and the amicable split will permit both organizations to actively pursue their special interests,” officials said in a statement. A new nonprofit corporation, Home At Last Project Inc., has been formed to handle all affairs of the Home At
Under pressure Colton Liddell, a senior at Legacy Charter High School and the quarterback for the school’s football team, lets a pass fly while under pressure from a defender during the Eagles’ Kickoff Classic preseason game this past Friday. Legacy Charter hosted Seven Rivers Christian in the exhibition contest, eventually falling 30-22. The regular season for the Eagles and the other seven area programs covered by “The West Orange Times” begins this Friday.
Last program. The required federal identification number has been issued, insurance coverage has been obtained, a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status has been filed, and an office at 12200 W. Colonial Drive in Winter Garden will serve as the organization’s headquarters. All funds currently in the Habitat Home At Last special accounts will be transferred to Home At Last Project Inc.’s new checking and savings’ accounts at Chase Bank, 13730 W. Colonial Drive. Home At Last Project Inc. will continue to concentrate on building
Photo by Steven Ryzewski
(See At Last, 12A)
Refashioning a play land
This view of the grand clubhouse at the original West Orange Country Club is from circa 1920. Photo courtesy of the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation’s History Research Center.
Historic country club site to become massive park By Tony Judnich
Leafy vines dangle over the tiled words “West Orange Country Club” on a brick and concrete archway. Nearby, Spanish moss-laden oaks exude gentility at the entrance to a gravel road, but a locked gate prevents uninvited vehicles from traveling farther west. This scene — about half a mile south of Colonial Drive and west of the intersection of Avalon Road (County Road 545) and Coscester Street — gives a modern glimpse at the historic Tucker Ranch and original West Orange Country Club. Florida’s Turnpike to the north and the John’s Lake Pointe subdivision to the south also serve as reminders that much has changed. But Winter Garden officials have a vision to bring the 210-acre property back to glory, in the form of the city’s largest park. It could welcome some visitors as early as next year. “It’s unbelievable out there,” City Manager Mike Bollhoefer said. “It’s beautiful.” Winter Garden Recreation Director Jay Conn
don’t have at our other parks.”
A fascinating past
Photo by Tony Judnich
The historic West Orange County Club arched gateway is on the National Register of Historic Places. agreed. “We’re really excited,” he said. “It’ll offer a lot of passive, nature-based activities that we
The original West Orange Country Club, featuring an 18-hole golf course and a two-story clubhouse, opened in 1915 at the future park site, 100 Avalon Road. Charles F. MatherSmith, a retired paper manufacturer from Chicago, and his wife, Grace, started the club after finding the Orlando Country Club “a bit too tame for their big-city tastes,” according to records at the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation’s History Research Center. Another historical source notes that Grace Mather-Smith was inspired to open the West Orange club after being shunned by the Orlando club’s members. “Local residents considered the MatherSmiths the most flamboyant couple in Central Florida,” a Research Center document stated. “Stories of lavish parties and orchestras brought in from Chicago for special occasions (See Tucker, 6A)