After months of delay in securing protection against the dreaded H1N1 virus, the Broward County Health Department is launching multiple vaccination clinics to serve the general public.

The Pembroke Falls Aquatic Center, 1361 NW 129th Ave., plays host to one such walk-in clinic starting Dec. 7 through Dec. 10.

Those residents planning to receive a free vaccination for the HI1N1 influence can arrive between 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Those falling under the “high-risk” category of contracting the virus, which includes youngsters between 6 and 24, anyone aged 25 to 64 with health conditions that put them at higher risk, pregnant women and health professionals, can visit anytime the High-Risk clinic at Fort Lauderdale National Guard Armory, 400 SW 24th St., Fort Lauderdale.

Other vaccination clinics are available in Coral Springs, Sunrise, Oakland Park and Coconut Creek. For more information, call Broward Health at 954-467-4705, or visit www.browardchd.org.

More information on H1N1 Influenza and Vaccine is provided at:

Florida Department of Health: www.myflusafety.com
Toll free 24/7 Florida Flu Information Line: 1-877-352-3581
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: www.flu.gov

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Broward Schools wants to prove it’s never too early for families to enroll their students in honors programs next year.

Parents and their students have a shot at exploring various innovative and magnet programs offered by Broward’s most unique institutions during Showcase 2010 at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center, 1050 Eisenhower Blvd., Fort Lauderdale.

Broward’s K-12 youngsters can drop by the expo and learn about Nova Schools, reassignments, online-only school Broward Virtual Education and Magnet programs in advance of the 2010-2011 school year.

Current Kindergarteners, Elementary, Middle and High schoolers can visit exhibitor displays, grab literature and participate in hands-on activities. Visiting students must bring copies of a recent report card and FCAT scores if planning to apply.

For more information, call Ruth Johnson at 754-321-2380, or visit www.browardschools.com.

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There’s no shortage of reindeer games this year during Pembroke Pines’ Lighting Ceremony.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is cranking out holiday cheer this season by treating residents to Christmas-themed parlor games at City Hall, 10100 Pines Blvd.

Activities range from “Milk for Santa,” a bean bag toss variant into a gaping milk jug, holiday card decorations, a sticker and stencil-packed arts and crafts jamboree for youngsters, to Reindeer Food, a tasty potpourri of chunky oatmeal, “pixie dust” and multicolored sprinkles.

“Kids can make a mix of food so it gives reindeers something to eat while Santa pops down the chimney,” said Francie Novo, Pines’ special events coordinator. “It won’t taste good to humans, though.”

Families can also enjoy bounce houses, a dunk tank and the lighting of the Christmas tree, a luminous five-story monstrosity of stringed lightbulbs stretching from the second floor to the rooftop of City Hall.

For more information, call Novo at 954-435-6525, or visit www.ppines.com.

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Now there are two miracles in Pembroke Pines.

The city’s only rubberized turf “Miracle Field” in western Pembroke Pines serves as protection for dozens of wheelchair-bound athletes playing sports at Rose G. Price Park. Recently, this field secured the 2009 Broward County Disability Awareness Award for most innovative local project in the city.

The Miracle Field provides sporting opportunities for children and young adults with disabilities, supplying players with a synthetic turf, adapted restrooms and specialized fencing.

Currently, the field’s home to the 50-player West Pembroke Pines Miracle League on Friday nights during the Fall season and the 30-athlete Little League Challenger Program during the spring on Sunday afternoons.

For registration information, call Mary Wilson-Palacios at 954-276-5597, or visit www.wppomiracleleague.com and www.ppines.com.

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Students from Pembroke Pines Charter High school are paying a visit to Pines Charter Elementary, and they’re bringing the sax and trumpet.

That’s because the high school’s jazz band are breaking out the trombone, clarinet and double bass for the elementary’s kindergarten, first and second graders.

The performance will take place inside the school’s airnasium at 10801 Pembroke Road from 10:35 to 11:15 a.m. Nov. 23.

For more information about the one-time performance, call 954-443-4800, or visit www.pinescharter.com.

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One Pembroke Pines park is offering a last-minute musical sanctuary just in time before the holiday shopping blitz.

The William B. Armstrong Dream Park, 1700 NW 160th Ave., is staging yet another jazz concert from 3 to 5 p.m. Nov. 22.

This month, it’s local jazz group Code Blue Trio taking the stage beneath the park pavilion. Residents can grab a towel or beach chair, settle on the grassy hillside and groove to the live tunes.

The concert is free. For more information, call 954-435-6525, or visit www.ppines.com.

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One Pembroke Pines charter is blowing the whistle for an upcoming train show.

The Pines Charter Middle School Central campus is blowing full steam ahead for a daylong showcase of miniature hobby trains courtesy of the Pines-based Florida Citrus Model Train Society.

The campus at 12350 Sheridan St. is playing host to full-scale miniature town displays complete with meandering train tracks, coloring book stations, train enthusiast videos and two Grand Door prizes of Electric Train sets given to under 12-year-olds during the show.

Also available are several vendors offering train parts, telegraph machine demonstrations and an Operation Lifesaver booth, a Virginia-based nonprofit promoting safety at highway-rail crossings.

The FCMTS show runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 21, and admission is free for children under 12 and $3 for anyone older. For more information, call Ken Sargeant at 954-473-6376, or visit www.fcmts.org.

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Huckleberry Finn can eat his heart out.

That’s because Matthew Sabatella and his five-piece Rambling String Band are folking up South Regional/Broward College Library this Saturday with music celebrating the life and times of Tom Sawyer.

Part of the National Endowment for the Arts initiative “The Big Read” and the Florida Center for the Book, the American Folk music concert combines guitars, banjos, mountain dulcimers, bass fiddles and mandolins for a rousing tribute to the legendary Mark Twain character.

Matthew Sabatella is a local singer/songwriter instrumentalist who performs and interprets American Folk songs across South Florida.

The concert runs from 2 to 3 p.m. Nov. 21 at the library, 7300 Pines Blvd. For more information, call Nancy Ansley at 954-201-8849, or visit www.broward.org/library.

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Pembroke Pines City Commissioners voted Wednesday to boost salaries for its Charter School system teachers, ending a year-long impasse with Broward Teacher’s Union.

“This would be one of the highest salary settings in the state, at least for a starting salary, and it’s very favorable,” said Jamie Daniels, BTU’s chief negotiator for the charter system’s teachers.

The new contract agreement grants the Charter system’s 330 educators a $500 hike in starting teacher’s salary to $39,000.

The agreement also bumps a teachers’ top salary from $70,000 to $71,250, and reduces the salary schedule so educators can reach a peak-earning salary in a shorter amount of time, said Daniels.

“The schedule does offer a nice raise at each step,” added Daniels. “The main thing was we didn’t want our teachers to go a whole year without a cost of living increase.”

Other benefits for teachers in the seven-school system, which serves roughly 5,400 students, include a $650 bonus payout retroactive to June 2008 to certain employees.

Bargaining unit representative from BTU and Pembroke Pines both OK’ed the pact, an agreement reached Nov. 4 but voted on during Wednesday’s commission meeting.

The agreement stamped Wednesday comes weeks after Pines officials and BTU agreed to drop an impasse in place since the beginning of the 2008-09 school year.

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Saved from certain doom last September when city commissioners agreed to delay shutting down it’s low-enrolled campus, Village Preschool aims to rebound with a vengeance this Saturday.

In the preschool’s arsenal? A backyard carnival.

The preschool at 6700 SW 13th St., a city-run facility co-maintained by Pembroke Pines Charter Elementary East campus, is a private early development center trying to drum up enrollment after city officials threatened to close the campus.

Low enrollment and a $85,000 deficit projected through the end of the school year cast doubt in the future of Village Preschool, along with the city-run West Pines Preschool, which suffers a $16,000 deficit, according to city documents.

That’s why the preschool’s staff are betting a Backyard Carnival will entice families of Boys and Girls ages 2 through 5 to tour computer classrooms, learning and meet staff.
Among the festivities are games, bounce houses, music popcorn and prizes.

For more information, call Jennifer Shapiro at 954-986-5041, or visit www.ppines.com.

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If you’ve ever wondered what The Cat in the Hat, Captain Jack Sparrow and Snow White looked like dancing a conga line, search no further than Southwest Regional Library.

The west Pembroke Pines library at 16835 Sheridan St. is springing to life timeless characters from children’s literature for one afternoon only on Nov. 14 for the 8th annual Storybook Festival.

Families can enjoy live performances on two stages, pose for photo ops with fairytale cutouts or design storybook-related crafts with friends. Later, any young book-lovers garbed in their favorite character’s costume can waltz the library behind a parade of dancing literary friends.

When the cha-cha-cha-ing’s done, youngsters can rollick in Tom Sawyer’s Story Cave, a storytelling area, or stroll a dreamlike Fantasy Forest. The first 1,000 children also receive a free book, all courtest of the Broward County Library Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts’ initiative called “The Big Read.”

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 954-538-9996, or visit www.broward.org/library.

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The best wild card anglers this bass fishing season are butting heads (and tackleboxes) thanks to a Pines tournament.

Part of Sunrise-based Bass Fishing Kids’ penultimate matchup of the season, children ages 10 to 16 are aiming to land C.B. Smith Park’s fattest large-mouth bass from 7 to 11 a.m. Nov. 14.

The park at 901 N. Flamingo Road serves as moment of truth for the county’s kid anglers, who must leave top qualifiers to compete in December’s Kid Classic on Dec. 5 at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach.

Dozens of young fisherman are also casting reels to catch Bass Fishing Kids’ grand prizes of a trophy and a Pond Prowler with trolling motor and battery, all courtesy of Dania-based Bass Pro Shops.

For more information about the tourney, call tournament director Gary Waingrow at 954-306-3441, or visit www.bassfishingkids.com or www.broward.org/parks.

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A fitting ceremony paying tribute to fallen U.S. veterans past and present is no simple feat, but Pembroke Pines aims to try.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is waving the American flag and saluting the servicemen once again at noon this Tuesday at Donnith H. Fletcher Park, 7900 Johnson St.

Pines’ Veteran’s Day ceremony, featuring recollections from war- and peacetime GIs from World War II to the present, celebrates those troops who fought previous wars and those currently protecting American freedoms overseas.

Afterward, visitors an enjoy a full color demonstration, gun salutes, a ceremonial march plus free hot dogs and sodas afterward.

For more information, call 954-435-6525, or visit www.ppines.com.

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The young thespians of Pembroke Pines’ drama class are once again shining the spotlight on another wacky stage performance.

The future stage headliners from the city’s quarterly Actor’s Studio are rocking a Beatles-inspired musical called “RockStarWars” at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at Susan B. Katz Theatre of the Performing Arts, 17189 Sheridan St.

The 30-minute romping George Lucas-laced play, about a record store whose business is failing because its musical artists are springing to life and sabotaging each others’ sales, grooves and sizzles with live band performances onstage.

Students from the six-week Actor’s Studio course crafted the musical parody, which features enough Star Wars and Hannah Montana references to please musicphiles and sci-fi geeks alike.

For more information, call Robyn Vegas at 954-986-5027, or visit www.ppines.com.

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Dispel the myths about aging gracefully. Grasp the basics of pointing, clicking and sending e-mails. Engage the brain with life-prolonging laughter.

That’s the world of knowledge Broward’s elderly popular can expect to find during Memorial Manor’s 20th Anniversary Senior Expo at the Pembroke Pines nursing home at 777 S. Douglas Road.

The two-day expo, beginning Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. 5 p.m., exposes 55-and-overs to the benefits of life after retirement with a series of lectures, demonstrations and hands-on activities.
Included among the melee of senior-friendly events are presentations from geriatricians, motivational speakers, chefs, technology buffs and law firms.

On Sunday, seniors will also be treated to a Memorial Healthcare System-sponsored resource fair featuring booths and demonstrations of Wii Fitness, Pilates and Yoga.

The schedule, which can be downloaded in .PDF format here, runs as follows:

10am – Lighten Up: Laughter Really Is the Best Medicine
Maria Soldani, Motivational Speaker

11am – Myths and Secrets of Aging Gracefully
Regina Marranzini, MD, Geriatrician

Noon – Healthy and Delicious Recipes for Two
Adam Feidelman, People’s Choice Chef –
Miramar/Pembroke Pines Chamber of Commerce

1pm – Looking for Love After 40
Kenn Shapiro, Author,
Finding It Again: The Truth About Love After 40

2pm – Point, Click and Send:
Internet, E-mail and Photo Basics
Carlene Levine and Horacio Randazzo,
Memorial’s “Tech Squad”

3pm – Crash Course in Wills and Trusts:
Estate Planning Basics
Richard Sabra, Esq., Ruden McClosky

4pm – Engage Your Brain, Enrich Your Life
Linda Maurice, Nova
Southeastern University
Lifelong Learning Institute

Sunday Resource Fair, 10am – 1pm
Demonstrations and Booths include:
• Wii Fitness Challenge hosted by GameStop
• Pilates Demonstration
• Yoga Demonstration
• Tai Chi Exercise Demonstration
• Scrapbooking Seminar (Please Bring Photos)
• CPR and Choking Demonstration
• Broward County Elderly and Veterans Services
• Southeast Focal Point/Joseph Meyerhoff Senior Center
• Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office
• Florida Poison Information Center
• Memorial Home Health Services
• Memorial Senior Partners
• Leeza’s Place/Memorial Hospital Pembroke Memory Center
• Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute
• Memorial Neuroscience Center And more!

For more information, call 954-276-5985, or visit www.memorialmanor.com.

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Every November, homeowners from one of Pembroke Pines’ largest ‘burbs cracks open their garage doors in unison and plunks down wares on the front lawn.

The mounds of secondhand treasures signals the launch of the annual Chapel Trail Community Garage Sale, which runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 7 and Nov. 8 across every subdivision.

The season, the most active hotspots to catch piles of assorted memorabilia range from Chapel Oaks, Kensington, Kensington Park and Chapel Lake Estates, said Pat Decillis, a local real estate agent and garage sale coordinator.

Treasure hunters seeking unwanted baseball cards, “I Love Lucy” lunchboxes, or other pop culture knickknacks might hit the jackpot among the jumble of cookware, toys and unwanted items.

For more information, call Decillis at 954-306-4431, or visit www.chapeltrailgaragesale.com.

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Thanks to virtual reality, Pembroke Pines high schoolers can find themselves up close and personal with a medical surgery.

BECON-TV is beaming out to 10 district high schools a live, interactive cervical spine surgery hosted by Chief Neurosurgeon Dr. Greg Zorman from the Memorial Healthcare System at 8 a.m. Nov. 10.

The Distance Learning Outreach presentation will videoconference in West Broward High, 500 NW 209th Ave., with the neurosurgeon during the surgery, with the students participating in pre- and post-tests and observing the invasive procedure.

The two-way presentation allows West Broward High’s and other county schools a chance to visit an actual operating room from the comfort of their classroom.

For more in formation, call Joy Veasy at 754-321-1109, or visit www.browardschools.com.

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There was nothing spooky about a recent Halloween golf tournament to benefit senior citizens.

Pembroke Pines Commissioner Carl Shechter’s annual Swing for the Green tee off on Oct. 31 netted through sponsorships and entry fees roughly $25,000 for the Southwest Focal Point Senior Center, 301 NW 103rd Ave.

Several four-member teams hit the links at Hollybrook Country Club and Golf Course, 9050 Pines Blvd., for a shotgun scramble-style tourney, swinging off for raffle prizes such a Miami Dolphins golf cart.

Since 2004, Shechter’s tourneys have earned more than $150,000 for the senior center, which supplies a network of services for 55-and-older Pines residents.

The Hallo-themed shindig also culled local politicians like Florida Sen. Steve Geller, Broward County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger and other city staff.

For more information, call Shechter at 954-431-0279, or visit www.ppines.com.

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