Eight HOAs west of 441 have organized the West Boca Syndication Service (WBSS) to facilitate the sharing of editorial product.

The primary reason for establishing the WBSS is to make it easier for homeowner and condo association editors to gather enough suitable material to fill up their publications.
It is also intended to provide readers with a larger window about the area they live in.

The concept is to share articles originally written for one’s own HOA or CA newsletter or website that may have crossover appeal for other such publications in West Boca. Examples include topical articles about South County Regional Park, the new county library, area schools, security, transportation matters, changes in our commercial landscape, and just about anything the West Boca Community Council is up to.

Participating HOAs have each designated one person – usually the Board member responsible for communications or the editor of the newsletter or website – to be the liaison to the WBSS.

Each liaison distributes appropriate articles via email as an attached file to all other WBSS members. The recipients in each community then decide whether or not to publish them in their publications.

The WBSS is open to participation by every homeowner and condo association in Boca Raton west of the Turnpike. To join, simply send an email to lakesitenews@aol.com with the contact person’s name, title, email address and association name. The roster of WBSS email addresses will then be emailed back for use when disseminating articles from one’s own community to the rest of the group.

The idea for the WBSS originated when this writer visited a nearby community, picked up its newsletter, and spotted an article he had written for this blog about Fran Reich, the legendary founder of the West Boca Community Council.

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Palm Beach County’s Daggerwing Nature Center, located in South County Regional Park west of Boca Raton, will open its doors to a new 5,000-square-foot expansion on Saturday, April 26, at 9:00 am. The newly designed facility includes a new lobby, a large exhibit hall, a laboratory, classroom, and new administrative offices.

Guests will enjoy free admission year-round to the new nature center exhibit, as well as to the special Earth Day event planned to coincide with the grand opening celebration that will conclude at 3:00 pm.

Commissioner Burt Aaronson will be on hand to host the event and welcome the community to the newly expanded facility, after which a rehabilitated wild animal will be released back into nature by a representative of Folke Peterson Wildlife Center. The doors will then open to an amazing new display designed to mimic the swamp environment that surrounds Daggerwing Nature Center “like a large pop-up book,” describes Roger Barganier, President of Creative Arts Unlimited Inc., the firm that designed the new exhibit. There’s something that will appeal to all ages.

Visitors will begin by experiencing life under the ground, learning how millipedes and grubs help to recycle important nutrients under the earth. Continuing on, a close-up view of live fish and turtles will appear underneath the water of the swamp, along with life-like reptiles. As the exhibit continues to rise above the waterline, colorful vegetation and a larger-than-life dragonfly, praying mantis, and butterfly appear. Children can experience the world from a new perspective by climbing inside a bee and “seeing through its eyes.” With all the sights and sounds of a living swamp, interactive opportunities abound with the push of buttons, the spin of wheels, and the feel of nature at your fingertips in this child- and adult-friendly exhibit.

Visitors will eventually rise to the top of the tree canopy where a live screech owl makes its home. And as guests make their way through this environmental fun house, they’ll learn even more ways we can all help to preserve this unique swamp habitat and the plants and animals that live there.

A new lobby in Daggerwing Nature Center includes a Book Nook with a large collection of children’s books and adult environmental reference books—a special opportunity for parents to spend time with their children learning more about the outdoor world. Animal puppets are also “on hand” to add to the learning experience.

Palm Beach County is also honored to open a new exhibit area featuring the work of the late well-known local nature photographer George Forrest.

The Earth Day celebration will continue with craft activities in the new laboratory classroom, a variety of special live animal outdoor presentations described on the attached schedule, and tours of the 2/3-mile boardwalk. Recent sightings include River Otter, Wood Storks, Osprey, American Alligators, and Black-necked Stilts.

The Daggerwing Nature Center Expansion will continue with the opening of a new observatory adjacent to the nature center which is currently under design.

Daggerwing is the second amenity to open as part of the major expansion that’s in progress at South County Regional Park. Sunset Cove Amphitheater opened to the public on March 29, and in three-to-six months, South County residents living in the western communities will enjoy Canine Cove—a new dog park—and a large, fully-accessible playground, a restroom building, and additional parking. A new boat ramp will enhance boating and fishing access to the park’s new lakes.

Daggerwing Nature Center is located at 11200 Park Access Road west of Boca Raton. For more information, please call Daggerwing Nature Center at (561) 629-8760 or visit www.pbcparks.com.

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Daggerwing Nature Center
Expansion Grand Opening and Earth Day 2008
Saturday, April 26 - 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

EXPANSION DEDICATION AND OPENING, 9:00 am
A ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Commissioner Burt Aaronson will be followed by the release of a rehabilitated wild animal back into nature by Folke Peterson Wildlife Center.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
• Beneficial Insects: Ladybug Release by Daggerwing Staff into Butterfly Garden, 10:00 am
Insects can be an environmentally-friendly way to control pest insects, as opposed to using chemicals, which can harm other animals and even pollute our water. Participants will be given the opportunity to release live ladybugs into our butterfly garden, which are a natural predator of pest aphids.

• The Life of a Tree: Storytelling by Pretend Party Productions, 11:00 am Pretend Party Productions will use puppets and music to tell about the life cycle of a tree.

• Reptiles as Pets by Jeffrey Herr, a 13-year-old Daggerwing volunteer, 12:00 pm Jeffrey, a reptile enthusiast, will have some of his pet reptiles on display. He will discuss husbandry of reptiles, and give tips to kids who have or may want to have reptiles as pets.

• Raptor Chapter by Donald Campbell of Green Cay Nature Center, 12:30 pm Donald will have several of our native birds of prey like the Great Horned Owl, Red-shouldered Hawk; perhaps a Kestrel or a Screech Owl. All of which are protected under Florida law.

• Reptile Show by Underground Reptiles, 2:00 pm Underground Reptiles will present a variety of impressive live reptiles, while teaching us how they each are perfectly adapted for survival in their distinctive habitats.

EARTH DAY ACTIVITIES, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

• Recycling Bingo (in the new classroom), 10:30 am and 1:30 pm Play and learn fun facts about recycling! Earth Day prizes will be awarded to the winners.*

• Face Painting with Maria Rigsby of Okeeheelee Nature Center, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm Have your face painted with special Earth Day designs!

• Crafts (in the new laboratory), 10:00 am - 3:00 pm Visit the brand new lab, and make a craft that you can take home.*

• Guided Boardwalk Tours, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm Take a half-hour tour of our lake and swamp habitats. Guides will point out unique flora and fauna, while explaining why these habitats are so special.

• Animal Encounters, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm Volunteers will be roaming the nature center with our live educational animals (snakes, tortoises, and a skunk).

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Water use restrictions for landscape irrigation were eased effective April 18 as follows:

Odd-numbered addresses can now water on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Even-numbered addresses can now water on Thursdays and Sundays.

Permissible hours for landscape irrigation are:

Midnight to 10 am
4pm to midnight

Authorities say that the above watering schedule is likely to remain permanent and year-round.

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President Sheri Scarborough opened the April 8 Annual Meeting of the West Boca Community Council with news that the fight to prevent the extension of University Drive is still far from over. The plan to extend University Drive from Northwest Broward through southwest Palm Beach County would route an estimated 70,000 cars a day through the heart of West Boca in order to hook up University Drive with 441.

Scarborough spoke with great enthusiasm about the recent grand opening of the Amphitheater in South County Regional Park. After passing the mike to Commissioner Burt Aaronson, without whose many years of effort there might not be a new Amphitheater to celebrate, he spoke about those who opposed and still oppose the many new facilities in the park now open or coming soon. High on his list was the editorial slant of the Palm Beach Post, as well as those who argued that birds nesting in the nearby Everglades would be disturbed by noise from the Amphitheater and the annual 4th of July fireworks planned at the site. The Commissioner reported that the chief biologist for the state of Florida assured him long ago that these birds would not be adversely affected.

Council Board member Frank Barbieri, currently also a candidate for the PBC School Board, reported on his efforts to exempt area schools from state sign codes that might disallow advertising signs on school perimeter fencing. Such signs have become an important source of revenue for numerous cash-strapped schools in Boca Raton.

Scarborough announced that the Council’s June meeting, normally held on the second Tuesday of each month, would take place on Monday, June 2 to accommodate guest speaker Robert Wexler, the U.S. Congressman whose District 19 includes most of unincorporated Boca Raton, i.e. West Boca. The meeting with Congressman Wexler is open to the public.

Council Vice President Alan Grubow reported on the Council’s ongoing efforts to remedy the discrepancy in HMO premium rates paid in Palm Beach County versus Broward and Miami-Dade County.

Kelli Kirchofer, Manager of the Daggerwing Nature Center in South County Regional Park near the water park, addressed the meeting and invited everyone to the big grand opening of the dazzling Daggerwing expansion on Saturday, April 26 from 9 am to 3 pm. The event will include crafting, games, live animal shows and much more. The dedication ceremony will take place at 9 am.

Captain Matt Eisenberg, the PBSO Commander for our area, also addressed the meeting about what police call “crimes of opportunity”. He warned of an email scam making the rounds in West Boca and elsewhere which informs recipients that they have won a big cash prize. In order to claim the prize check they receive in the mail, the “winner” has first to wire some funds via Western Union, following which they are told to go ahead and deposit the check. Surprise, surprise – it will definitely bounce.

Captain Eisenberg also urged homeowners to be vigilant about service personnel in their homes, noting numerous incidents of medications, jewelry, credit cards and other valuables stolen by such people while performing work in people’s homes.

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