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GAZETTE VOLUME 9 • ISSUE 14 JULY 21, 2022
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WILTON MANORS
CHILD DIES MONTHS AFTER BEING HIT BY CAR IN WILTON MANORS By Christiana Lilly A child has died almost seven months after being hit by a driver in Wilton Manors, an incident that left two other family members dead. La’Ziyah Stukes, who turned 10 in March, died on July 11 due to injuries she sustained from the Dec. 27, 2021, accident, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Sean Charles Greer, 27, was driving down Powerline Road when a Broward County Transit bus was stopped to let off passengers. When the bus attempted to merge back into the lanes, Greer cut off the bus, leading him to drive off the roadway and onto the sidewalk where the six children, including La’Ziyah,
“WE AS A NEIGHBORHOOD ON THE WESTSIDE HAVE BEGGED, PLEADED AND WRITTEN TO OFFICIALS AND PARTICIPATED IN FDOT’S MOLLIFYING ‘SURVEYS’ TO LOWER SPEEDS AND ENHANCE SAFETY ON [POWERLINE ROAD]; TO NO TANGIBLE RESULTS FOR YEARS.” - Jake Valentine WILTON MANORS RESIDENT
La’Ziyah Stukes. Photo via Facebook.
were walking. “When he cut in front of me he went straight for the kids,” bus driver Selvin Arjun told CBS 4 at the time. Andrea Fleming, 6, and Kylie Jones, 5, were pronounced dead at the scene while La’Ziyah, Draya Fleming, 9, Johnathan Carter, 10, and Audre Fleming, 2, were taken to Broward Medical Center for treatment. Wilton Manors Police Chief Gary Blocker said bystanders “sprang into action” after the accident to attend to the children.
Greer sped up to leave the scene of the deadly accident and police found his vehicle the next day. He was arrested shortly after, and BSO said he confessed to hitting the kids. He has since pleaded not guilty to all 23 counts against him, including three counts of leaving the scene of an accident causing death. Wilton Manors was rocked by the tragedy, and some feel that more needs to be done to protect residents using Powerline Road. “We as a neighborhood on the Westside have begged, pleaded and written to officials
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Sean Charles Greer. Courtesy of Broward County Jail.
and participated in FDOT’s mollifying ‘surveys’ to lower speeds and enhance safety on [Powerline Road]; to no tangible results for years,” said Wilton Manors resident Jake Valentine. Greer has multiple arrests, including drug infractions and domestic violence. He was driving with a suspended license at the time and was on probation for burglary of a dwelling. His next court date is in October. The family has set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs.
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WILTON MANORS
AU REVOIR
OPINION
LONGTIME COLUMNIST SAL TORRE SAYS GOODBYE TO GAZETTE
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changes? It is because people’s minds are too imprisoned by lies, fear and misguided respect for the very institutions that have exploited them for centuries.” Think about this for a minute and you will begin to realize how true it is. We want to believe that monopolistic corporations like Amazon, Starbucks, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, CVS, and Walmart are not just exploiting us all for profits. Somehow we are all part of the new world of social corporatism — leading to a more efficient and better world. Our minds do not want to blame American gun manufacturers as children are murdered in their schools, nor drug companies and pharmacies as they fed addictive drugs to vulnerable individuals while making huge profits. Such is the same here in our Island City, after many years of advocacy by many in our community there are plenty of streets and homes still at risk of flooding after just one heavy downpour, and the quality of our drinking water is in question, Andrews Avenue through Wilton Manors lack the improvements
that Oakland Park secured from the county; there is still no pedestrian crosswalk across Powerline Road in front of Mickel Park, not a one new entrance sign or wayfinding sign anywhere in the city — a project that was first approved so long ago it’s hard to remember, and to this day it’s hard to imagine that the irrigation, streetscaping and tree planting could not have taken place while the state reconstructed Wilton Drive. Our minds are imprisoned by some misguided respect for those in our municipality who we want to believe have done a great job. We allow them to offer excuses, that it’s the state’s fault, it’s a county road, it’s Fort Lauderdale’s water treatment facility, on and on. More could have been done: perhaps a more active campaign to bring about regional solutions to our drinking water problems, perhaps not dropping the ball when the county was signing agreements with cities to improve work along Andrews Avenue, perhaps a more aggressive approach to securing the necessary work to be done along Wilton Drive while the state was tearing up the roadway. It is always easy to point a finger, so I will also recognize that many in our city government, on our City Commission, on Advisory Boards and throughout our community have given much to make Wilton Manors a wonderful place to live, work and play. This strong community involvement and commitment by so many is the core of what makes life just better here. I thank you all for this wonderful journey we call the Island City.
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July 21, 2022 • Volume 9 • Issue 14
Publisher • Norm Kent norm.kent@sfgn.com Associate Publisher / Executive Editor • Jason Parsley jason.parsley@sfgn.com
This journey has been nothing short of fantastic. I've written over seven years of articles that made people laugh, gasp, get upset, be amused, and mostly become better informed of life here in our Island City.
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By Sal Torre Over the last few months I have had a desire within to change course, to start on a new journey. One way to move ahead at times is to detach from the commitments and obligations one has entwined himself with over the years. Having been very active in our Island City for many years, I have decided to pull back, refocus and hopefully reinvent. Perhaps events of the last few years have had a toll on me, made me no longer able to process the insanity of it all. COVID, war, Trump, January 6 riots, Roe v. Wade, gun violence, school children murdered in elementary schools, wealthy 1%, economic insecurity, the rise of religious right fascists, the list goes on. So, when the publisher of South Florida Gay News informed me before the last edition of the Wilton Manors Gazette that there was no room for my article in that edition, I took the news as some divine intervention, a karmic calling, a clear sign that I needed to take a step back, to take a break from writing a regular opinion piece for the Gazette as I have done for the last seven or more years. And so, this will likely be my last article for now as I close this chapter to start a new one. This journey has been nothing short of fantastic. I’ve written over seven years of articles that made people laugh, gasp, get upset, be amused, and mostly become better informed of life here in our Island City. None of this would have been possible without the vision of SFGN, its founder Norm Kent and the hard work of Associate Publisher Jason Parsley. The luxury of having such a vital source of local news should never be taken for granted. This past weekend as I looked to get lost in some binge-watching on television, to get away from everything swirling around in my head, I happened to come across the Sex Pistols series. Having been a teenager in NYC when the Sex Pistols would play at CBGB’s, I found myself pondering the memories of such a different time when the world around us was in such turmoil. A line in the show specifically caught my attention, “Do you know why nothing
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Sales Manager • Justin Wyse justin.wyse@sfgn.com Advertising Sales Associate • Edwin Neimann edwin.neimann@sfgn.com Accounting Services by CG Bookkeeping South Florida Gay News is published weekly. The opinions expressed in columns, stories, and letters to the editor do not represent the opinions of SFGN, or the Publisher. You should not presume the sexual orientation of individuals based on their names or pictorial representations. Furthermore the word “gay” in SFGN should be interpreted to be inclusive of the entire LGBT community. All of the material/columns that appears in print and online, including articles used in conjunction with the AP, is protected under federal copyright and intellectual property laws, and is jealously guarded by the newspaper. Nothing published may be reprinted in whole or part without getting written consent from the Publisher, at his law office, at Norm@NormKent.com. SFGN, as a private corporation, reserves the right to enforce its own standards regarding the suitability of advertising copy, illustrations and photographs. MEMBER
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NEWS
WILTON MANORS
NEWS
OAKLAND PARK
MAN ARRESTED FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING CHILD — THEN TRIES TO ATTACK BSO OFFICER By Christiana Lilly
Image via Facebook.
WILTON CREAMERY FREEZER BREAKS,
OWNER LOSES THOUSANDS By Bella Ramirez Daniel “DJ” Colby, managing partner and the freezer completely. The next morning, the chef of Wilton Creamery, didn’t expect to freezer’s ice cream seemed softer than usual. celebrate the local ice cream shop’s eighth In the time it took for maintenance to get to birthday by tackling the costs of a broken the store, the ice cream hardened again. What Colby took as “fine” was a block of ice freezer the day before Stonewall Pride. Now, Colby is facing $6,758 in costs from going through the compressor — a quick fix inventory lost, parts repair and a new freezer for the broken freezer. By that night before Pride in Wilton Manors, as of June 21. “I have no insurance that will cover that,” the ice cream started to soften again but not to the extent it did hours before. Colby assumed Colby said. The broken freezer resulted in 10 flavors the ice cream would “firm up overnight.” “We came in Friday morning out of circulation including and literally everything was half of the store’s non-dairy ice melted. Because of Pride cream and all of their no-sugarbeing the next day, everybody added ice creams for diabetic was having their recreations people. Wilton Creamery also serviced so I called eight lost multiple toppings that are different companies to come kept in the freezer like cookie out,” Colby said. dough, cheesecake and fruits. One company showed up at Colby spent time collecting 6 p.m. and stayed for five hours various hard-to-come-by fruits trying to fix the freezer. in hopes of turning them into “He replaced every part he ice creams once he stowed could think of,” Colby said. away enough of them. He lost Wilton Creamery is currently all of his miracle fruit, which waiting on capillary coils to get he spent the past two years delivered — the final part that plucking off its branches each may fix the machine. week. Managing Partner & Chef “That’s the part that was “So, that’s gone,” Colby said. “I only had like another three or four months broken and melted and he couldn’t replace it where I could have made a sorbet out of because he didn’t have it,” Colby said. “It never goes bad apparently.” miracle fruit.” Just in case the capillary coils don’t fix the During Pride, Wilton Creamery ran out of “simple things like vanilla” because they did machine, the store also bought a new freezer. “It basically wiped out our entire weekend,” not have a freezer to store backups. Plus, they Colby said. “It’s not ideal, but it’s the cost had no dog ice cream for canine visitors. “That was pretty sad,” Colby said. “You can’t of doing business. Unfortunately, it just happened to happen at the worst possible explain to a dog that the freezer broke.” June 15, at night, an employee forgot to close time.”
A 20-year-old Fort Lauderdale man was arrested on July 3 on charges of sexually assaulting a minor — then more charges were added when he attempted to escape from police. The Broward Sheriff’s Office says that a family contacted them on July 2, alleging that Samuel Shirk (who goes by his middle name, Austin) was molesting their child while staying with them over the course of a few months. This included video voyeurism, or videotaping someone in a private setting without their consent. Deputies from the Oakland Park district arrested him “without incident” and brought him to the BSO Public Safety Building in Fort Lauderdale for questioning. While there, a handcuffed Shirk used the restroom under supervision and then attacked a BSO deputy. Other officers were able to subdue him and return him to his holding cell. Shirk has been charged with one count of lewd and lascivious molestation on a victim younger than 12, sexual assault on a victim younger than 12, video voyeurism on a victim younger than 19, battery on an officer, use or
Samuel Shirk. Courtesy BSO.
display of a firearm during a felony, attempt to escape, and two counts of obstruction. BSO says they are concerned that Shirk may have more victims. The public is encouraged to contact BSO Special Victims Unit detective Vanessa Encina at 954-321-4689. Or to remain anonymous, contact Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477) or online at browardcrimestoppers.org. Tipsters can also dial **TIPS (8477) or submit a tip through the SaferWatch App.
“It’s not ideal, but it’s the cost of doing business. Unfortunately, it just happened to happen at the worst possible time.” - Daniel "DJ" Colby
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COMMUNITY
WILTON MANORS
CITY COMMISSION REVISITS SALARY DISCUSSION, BROWARD SCHOOLS FUNDING
COMMUNITY
WILTON MANORS
CITY COMMISSION TALKS UPCOMING EVENTS, TRANSPORTATION AND HONORS
By Bella Ramirez Commissioner Michael Bracchi revisited the discussion of raising city commissioner salaries at the July 12 city commission meeting. Commissioner Gary Resnick first brought up the topic in a meeting last year. Bracchi cites Commissioner Chris Caputo as one of the first to reject the idea last year because he felt city staff’s salaries should be addressed first. Bracchi noted that he agreed and felt that since city staff would see raises, that now “might be the right time to review [city commissioner salaries].” Bracchi said that city staff compiled a list of city commissioner and mayor salaries for nearby cities and that Wilton Manors ranked in the bottom 4 of 31 cities surveyed. Per the same study, Wilton Manors commissioners make $9,750 annually and the average commissioner salary of the cities surveyed was $27,000. “It’s really low,” Bracchi said. “I think we’re one of the hardest working commissions — doesn’t mean future commissions will be — but I think we are.” City commissioner salaries are changed by ordinance and will be subject to at least two public hearings. Commissioners received Bracchi’s notes with overall agreement. “So at first, my gut reaction was ‘no’ but you made some very valid points,” Caputo said. “The truth is we might even have more people that ran for commission if there was slightly more money involved.” Vice Mayor Paul Rolli also noted that certain cities have aides to help with work, but Wilton Manors does not. The commission agreed they would not want to propose a new salary that exceeded the average salary from their findings.
JULY IS PARKS & RECREATION MONTH By Bella Ramirez The Wilton Manors City Commission focused on transportation and upcoming events during their July 12 meeting.
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS Image from Pix4Free.
that will appear on primary election ballots Aug. 23. The renewal would increase the current investment of half a million dollars to one million dollars. The investment goes toward salary supplements for teachers and select staffers, mental health services and school safety services. “We’re thankful for the funding we get from Tallahassee but it’s not enough to fund these areas,” Sullivan said in his presentation. Legislation requires 20% of funds to go toward charter schools. Sullivan said at least 75% of the investment would go toward salary supplements as well. If passed, homeowners will see a $11.50 monthly increase from current payment to total $23 a month, and condo owners will see a $6.50 monthly increase to total $13 a SECURE THE NEXT month. GENERATION REFERENDUM Sullivan claimed that if RENEWAL the referendum does not get renewed in August, the average John Sullivan, Broward teacher would lose $4,600 Schools Chief of COMMISSIONER annually on average. If the Communications, also gave a referendum fails, the next time presentation at the meeting about the Secure the Next Generation Broward Schools can put a referendum on the Referendum Renewal. It’s a county-wide issue ballot is in 2024.
“I think we’re one of the hardest working commissions — doesn’t mean future commissions will be — but I think we are.” - Michael Bracchi
City Commissioners voted unanimously to pass the $696 per ERC water connection charge and $2,441 per ERC sewer connection charge. They also unanimously passed resolutions to approve surtax-funded transportation projects in zones 1, 2 and 4 — spanning south of Oakland Park Blvd. to north of northeast 20th St., and east of Andrews Ave. to west of northeast 6th Ave. These projects will mill, pave and resurface public roads in the allotted areas. City commissioners unanimously passed a resolution to use the third amendment to settle in City of Sunrise et. al v. Broward County. They also passed a memorandum of understanding with the Equality Club and Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society approving their July 14 installation of orchids at Richardson Park.
CIRCUIT TRANSPORTATION UPDATE Pennie Zuercher, Finance Director, announced that she met with the threeperson marketing team at Circuit. They plan to issue a press release in the next week, print posters and flyers, pass out “download the app” cards, advertise in local publications and send social media and email blasts to promote Circuit. The transportation service is expected to soft launch in Wilton Manors Sept. 1 and hard launch Sept. 8. Circuit will also make appearances at various local events ahead of the launch dates.
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UPCOMING EVENTS The Three Bridges Neighborhood Association was awarded the $11,250 AARP Community Challenge Grant for beautifying the Coral Gardens Park in the east side. They will hold their meeting July 27 in Hagen Park Community Center at 6:30 p.m. The Community Affairs Advisory Board will hold PrideFête Festival to celebrate Caribbean culture on Aug. 13 at 3 p.m. in Richardson Park. East Neighborhood Association will hold a meeting Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. in Independence Hall Community Room to improve landscaping at the entrance of Wilton Manors.
RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD The City Commission voted to appoint Patrick Harris, Helena Hantzes and John Fiore to the Recreation Advisory board.
HONORS Mayor Scott Newton designated July as Parks and Recreation month. The U.S. House of Representatives has also designated July as Parks and Recreation Month. During public comment, Paul Kuta honored long-time Wilton Manors resident Dolores Douglas’ life. Kuta said Douglas died over the fourth of July weekend.
LOOKING FORWARD City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson announced a Wilton Manors partnership with the Florida Department of Health in Broward County to offer the monkeypox vaccine in Richardson Park. At the time of the city commission meeting, all 420 available spots were booked within the day of their opening for signing up.
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