WELLINGTON - The village of Wellington Skate Park opens Saturday after a relocation project moved it to Village Park, 11700 Pierson Road. Formerly it had been at Little Blue Skateplex, 1090 Wellington Trace, adjacent to the water plant, where it resided for 10 years.

"A greater number of children come through [Village Park]. There's more opportunity for use," said Bruce Delaney, the village's athletics manager. "We hope that those people who come certainly enjoy it."

He said many more children visit the 93-acre Village Park versus the Little Blue Skateplex and that was the reason for the relocation. Village Park features a gymnasium, five soccer fields, four football fields, two hockey rinks, four baseball/softball fields, three pavilions, heart trail, tot lot, multipurpose rooms and a game room.

The skate park will be open from dawn to dusk and the children will have to sign a waiver before they are allowed to use it, said Nicole Evangelista, the village's community projects manager.

Jason Parsley can be reached at jeparsley@tribune.com.

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ROYAL PALM BEACH - The village says goodbye Saturday to the county's Royal Palm Beach Branch library -- at least for the next year while while it's being renovated and expanded.

"It kinda stinks," said Alicia Miller of Royal Palm Beach. "I understand that they have to do it, but for a whole year?"

Miller said it is much more convenient for her to visit the Royal Palm Beach branch versus traveling to Wellington.

At 8,000 square feet though the current library is much too small officials said. The renovation will expand the library to 20,000 square feet.

The extra space in the library will include larger meeting rooms, study rooms
and more internet computers, branch manager Debbie McElroy said. The amount of parking spaces will also be doubled. McElroy expects the renovations to be complete by December 2009.

"We're excited to have a nicer building," she said. "We've really outgrown this space; it's way too small. Right now we are looking forward to having more space and having a more updated [facility]."

Besides the Wellington library residents can visit the Okeechobee library, which reopens in November after also undergoing renovations. Additionally, once Okeechobee opens the book mobile will move from that location to Royal Palm Beach where residents can still check out books.

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A candlelight vigil will take place for 5-year-old Kaitlin Bacile at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26 just west of Southshore Boulvard on Big Blue Trace. The vigil will be held near the canal.
Kaitlin drowned last weekend in a canal near her home after she wandered away.

On Thursday Patricia Curry, organizer of the last-minute vigil, was calling friends and neighbors trying to spread the word.

When she heard about Kaitlin, "something touched my heart," she said. "[The vigil] is something I just wanted to do."

She said she wanted the family to know that the community "shared their loss. I can't imagine what they are going through. It just breaks my heart."

Earlier in the week members of cub scout pack 165 came together and set up a free lemonade and snack stand to raise money for the family. They ended up raising $3,300 which they gave to the parents Monday.

"I felt good about giving [the family] the money...[but] sad that she died," said 9-year-old Dylan Spahl, the cub scout who came up with the idea of the lemonade stand.

"We had tons of people stop," said Kelly Spahl, Dylan's mother. "I thought a few people might give some hundreds, but we were just getting 20s, 20s, 20s for about five-and- a-half hours. It was unbelievable. I never assumed we'd get a $1,000 let alone $3,000. It was heartwarming to know the community would come together like that."

One of the mothers who participated in the lemonade stand and Kaitlin's search party the night before, Diana Vicente, said hundreds of members of the community were searching for Kaitlin on Saturday evening. Hundreds more, she said, donated money on Sunday.

"People would drive by and ask if they had found Kaitlin. When we told them they had found her body men and women would just break down and start crying," she said. "We're parents so we understand how much they love their child. We can't even fathom how they are feeling."

Jason Parsley can be reached at jeparsley@tribune.com.

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WELLINGTON - Saint Rita Catholic Church, 13645 Paddock Drive, is having its third annual Kick Off Learning Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
One of the event coordinators, Donna Roselli, said they expect more than 800 families to attend over the two days.
The festival celebrates the return of the church's religious education. Three years ago the church started a pilot program that included all ages in their religious education versus separating children and adults.
"[The education] includes the whole family," Roselli said of the intergenerational program. "It's like life-long learning...we help each other out. It's been overwhelmingly successful."
The event will feature a barbecue, bounce house, face painting, raffle, ministry table, a white elephant sale, and two concerts, one for adults and one for children, from 3 to 4 p.m. each day.
"The [festival] is about us coming together the first time this year," she said.

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ROYAL PALM BEACH - Palms West Hospital had a pizza party in preparation of its paticipation in Saturday's American Heart Association's 2008 Palm Beach County Start! Heart Walk.

Participants stopped by the conference room to pick up their shirts, eat pizza and hand over money they have raised.

Palms West has been participating in the Heart Walk for at least 10 years.

Registered nurse at Palms West and a team captain for the event, Michelle Haddock, said one thing people can easily do to decrease their risk of heart disease is include more activities in their daily routines. She said Americans are prone to living sedentary lifestyles.

"I have a family history of heart disease...both of my grandfathers died from it," she said.

There will be two walks taking place Saturday in Palm Beach County. One will start at Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, in Boca Raton and the other at the Meyer Amphitheatre, 105 Evernia St., in West Palm Beach. According to the walk's Web site, $461,429 has been raised with a goal of $750,000. The festivities for both events start at 7 a.m. and the walks begin at 9 a.m.

Contact Mary Katherine Morales at 561-615-3888 or e-mail pbcheartwalk@heart.org for more information about the walk.

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ROYAL PALM BEACH - South University broke ground on its new campus Tuesday, Sept. 23 at the northeast corner of Belvedere Road and U.S. Highway 441.

"It's very exciting to be standing here in what is to be the future home of South University," said Richard Rendina, CEO of Rendina Companies. "Strip mall tenets will come and go but hospitals and academic institutions will always be here."

Rendina purchased the 10-acre site from the county and South University has signed a 10-year lease.

The new location will have up to 100,000 square feet of space with 40,000 to start out. The current location in West Palm Beach is maxed out at 34,000 square feet.

"This gives us more ample room to grow; right now we don't have that opportunity," said campus president John Peterson. "The new campus will provide more technology in the classrooms and we'll be able to provide new or better facilities. All of our classrooms will be smart classrooms."

South University began in 1899 and has five campuses scattered throughout the South in Savannah, Ga; Columbia, S.C.; Montgomery, Ala., Tampa and West Palm Beach. It has a future campus planned for Richmond, Va. The West Palm Beach campus has 17 programs that include 11 bachelor degrees. The campus has about 1,000 students and caters to an older student population.

"Our students want an education that's going to change their lives." said South University's chancellor John South. "They come to South with high expectations."
Royal Palm Beach Councilman David Swift said he was pleased to have South coming to the village. He said when he arrived in the village 32 years ago there was only one small convenient store.

"We have matured and we have arrived to where we want to be," he said.

Jason Parsley can be reached at jeparsley@tribune.com.

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WELLINGTON - Students at Emerald Cove Middle School celebrated the United Nations' International Day of Peace Monday by planting Pinwheels for Peace and using chalk to color the courtyard with peace symbols.

Peace Day takes place Sept. 21 of every year.

The Peace Day celebrations were a part of Emerald Cove's only art teacher Kimberly Kovacs' class.

"I thought it was a good way to start the school year off on a peaceful note," she said. Besides the pinwheel and chalk drawings she has had her students study the artwork of Peter Max, who she says was known to use symbolisms of peace in his artwork.

Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project that was started in 2005 by two Broward County art teachers. According to their Web site 1.2 million pinwheels were planted in 2007. While the chalking idea came from Chalk4Peace, which was started in 2003 in Arlington, Va.

"I think it's nice people are starting to think about world peace because it needs to recognized around the world," said student Cassi Kahant, 13, of Lake Worth. "This is fun. I wish there were more peace projects to do."

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Members of cub scout pack 165 rallied together Sunday to raise money for the family of 5-year-old Kaitlin Bacile, who drowned after she went missing from her house Saturday.

Cub scouts and parents set up a free lemonade and snack stand on the street Sunday from 1 to 7 p.m. informing residents of what had happened and encouraging them to donate money. They raised $3,300 which they plan on giving to the parents Monday evening.

"We're parents so we understand how much they love their child. We can't even fathom how they are feeling." said Diana Vicente of Wellington and one of the parents helping to raise money. Vicente said she still hasn't met the family. She said residents were coming to her house until 10 p.m. dropping off money.

"It was an amazing thing to see the community just stand up together," she said. "They just made such an effort to show they really care."

Vicente said hundreds of members of the community were out Saturday, including herself, searching for Kaitlin. And hundreds more donated money on Sunday.

"People would drive by and ask if they had found Kaitlin. When we told them they had found her body men and women would just break down and start crying," she said.

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ROYAL PALM BEACH - Massage Envy is performing free massages for residents Monday, Sept. 15 at all of their locations throughout South Florida. In return for a massage the company is asking for donations that it will send to the breast cancer research foundation, Susan G. Komen for Cure of Miami/Fort Lauderdale.

"We've been a very successful franchise organization and this is our way of giving back," said Mark Sturman, the event's South Florida spokesperson.

For Sturman this year's event is personal. His sister died May 3 from breast cancer. He said within 15 minutes after her death he called the company and asked to spear head the event.

"I wanted to make sure we did this right so that we are making a difference," he said.

In the past three years the company has raised more than $350,000 for the organization.

This is the first year the company is implementing a free day of massages company wide. It is hoping to raise about $10,000 per store. The company will have 800 stores nationwide by the end of the year with 23 in South Florida 11 of which are in Palm Beach County.

Locations include:

Royal Palm Beach
129 State Road 7, Suite 403
Royal Palm Beach, FL 33414
561-422-8889

Lake Worth
6169 Jog Road Unit 4C
Lake Worth, FL 33467
561-964-3689

West Palm Beach
8983 Okeechobee Blvd. Suite 210
West Palm Beach, FL 33411
561-333-3323

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WELLINGTON - The Wellington Art Society had its annual open house Wednesday, Sept. 10. to introduce residents to the organization and recruit new members.

The art society, founded in 1981, aims to "educate and encourage originality among its members and area youth," said president Adrianne Hetherington said. The group has about 120 members.

One of the new things the group has added this year is Art Reach, a program where members will create artworks and place them in facilities. Currently they are working on adorning the walls and family room at the Palms West Children's Hospital. The project is expected to be completed and unveiled at the end of October.

"I had donated some paintings to Little Smiles...after seeing those kids I said why aren't we doing something like this," said Karen Knight, chairwoman and founder of the new program. "It's really about bringing art in to their lives. We're trying to incorporate something in to make their lives better."

Knight said she expects the group to donate 50 to 60 paintings to the children's hospital.
Visit www.wellingtonartsociety.org for information.

Here are some selected artworks from the open house:

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ROYAL PALM BEACH - The village unveiled a new memorial Sept. 11 dedicated to first responders at Veterans Park, 1036 Royal Palm Beach Blvd.

The memorial consists of three statues, a police officer, firefighter and paramedic standing in a circle with the firefighter holding an infant and handing it over.

"I feel the people in this community have always held law enforcement in high regard," said County Commissioner Jess Santamaria. "It's a 24-hour commitment. They are here to protect our lives, our property and our children."

He said the village has always provided law enforcement with what they need including adequate compensation. He also added, "We have to do more than just recognize them once a year."

Mayor David Lodwick, host of the ceremony, said that when a tragedy strikes "human instinct is to run away but through training...first responders run in not out."

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said even though Sept. 11 was a terrible tragedy a few good things did come out of it. He said the attack galvanized the country and people came together.

"You hadn't seen that in a long time," he said. It also brought law enforcement and fire rescue closer together, he said.

While Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Steve Delai said, "What I saw after 9-11 is that the [first responders] really rededicated themselves to serving the public."

The memorial was sculpted by Frank Vega while Sharon Logan, a village recreation leader, was asked to draw the initial sketch.

"It's going to be there a lifetime [and] I'm thrilled to be a part of it," she said.

Royal Palm Beach resident of 13 years, Janice Magersuppe, was one of the residents who attended the dedication ceremony.

"It's a wonderful and beautiful dedication," she said. "I'm very proud to live in this community."

The plaque in front of the memorial reads:

Dedicated this 11th day of September, 2008, honoring those firefighters, paramedics, and law enforcement officers, past and present, who have served the Village of Royal Palm Beach. While many of us are fleeing calamity, these brave men and women are the first to arrive on the scene to save lives and protect property regardless of the threat to their personal safety.

"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost."
- Arthur Ashe

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WELLINGTON - The Wellington Parks and Recreation Department announced that it has added a satisfaction survey to its Web site.

The village is encouraging residents who participate in the programs to fill it out.

Visit http://www.ci.wellington.fl.us/leisure.htm to fill out the survey.

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WELLINGTON - For three weeks Jennifer Swanson, co-founder of Pure Thoughts Horse and Foal Rescue, has had to travel from Loxahatchee to Wellington four times a day to administer several types of medications to Billy, a horse she had rescued. Because of her efforts Billy went from having a 10 percent chance at surviving to a 70 percent chance.

That's why she was so disheartened when on Saturday, Sept. 6 she stayed in Wellington in a friend's guest house so she wouldn't have to travel back to Loxahatchee. When she left at 6 a.m. she found that someone had broken in to her truck and stolen her laptop along with valuable medical records.
"I'm very angry because it was obvious they knew who they were stealing from," she said. "You don't steal from the horses. Everyone works so hard for the horses. This will cost some horses their lives."
Besides her laptop, the blood work from 40 or so horses was stolen as well. The blood work is mandatory so it must get redone. Stored inside the laptop was the organization's tax information and 990 form. Swanson said she will have to redo those forms, which will cause some delay in funding.
In total she said the break in will cost the organization about $4,000.
The Loxahatchee-based organization rescues horses that have been neglected, abandoned or are destined for the slaughterhouse. Visit www.purethoughtshorserescue.com for more information.
Jason Parsley can be reached at jeparsley@tribune.com.

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WELLINGTON - The Palms West Chamber of Commerce had its monthly luncheon Monday, Sept. 8 and representatives from Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain's campaigns were invited to speak about national health care.
Robert Maurer, a nationally recognized education manager and policy maker, spoke on behalf of the McCain campaign while State House Minority Leader Dan Gelber spoke for the Obama campaign.
Both representatives wandered off topic and touched on energy, education, taxes, and small businesses. As for health care Maurer said McCain will encourage competition, and more state involvement versus federal involvement while Gelber said Obama favored expanding governmental programs to cover more uninsured people. Gelber was able to offer more details of Obama's plan, while Maurer said a booklet had been provided to each table with all of the details.
Ingrid Gotthoffer of Lake Worth said she is supporting Obama but quickly added, "It's always about the lesser of two evils. Both candidates scare me."
As for the differences between the campaign's plans she said, "It's the same old rhetoric between both parties." And she said she doesn't think either candidate will change much.
Jason Parsley can be reached at jeparsley@tribune.com.

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WELLINGTON - Wellington Regional Medical Center broke ground Thursday, Sept. 4 on a four-story, 50,000-square-foot Medical Arts Pavilion. The building will be used for medical offices.
"We have met the needs of the community as it has continued to grow," said Wellington Regional CEO Kevin DiLallo.
The building is expected to be finished in the third quarter of next year. Rendina Companies will build and manage the property. This is the fourth Medical Arts Pavilion that has been built by Rendina on the hospital's property. The other three are at capacity. The new building will be located across from the Medical Arts Pavilion III.
"We are very excited to continue our relationship with the hospital and staff positions," said Todd Varney, executive vice president of Rendina Companies.
The new building will differ from the other three in that instead of leasing the space doctors will actually buy the space. This is the first time Rendina is offering what its calls medical office condominiums.
"The doctors wanted this to happen so we are giving it to them," said Michael Rendina, the company's executive vice president of operations.
The hospital still has another 25 acres of land on which to expand. There are already plans for Rendina to build a 100,000-square-foot orthopedic center and a 30,000-square-foot cancer treatment facility.
Jason Parsley can be reached at jeparsley@tribune.com.

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