Winter Garden city commissioners approve a resolution for golf-cart zones. SEE

Winter Garden adopts golf cart resolution

The resolution will allow the city to move forward with helping put into place safety measures to create golf cart-friendly zones — something the city hopes will help connect communities within Winter Garden.

TROY HERRING SPORTS EDITOR

After weeks of discussion, the Winter Garden City Commission acted on a measure to adopt a downtown golf cart district following unanimous approval during its meeting Thursday, June 10.

In previous meetings, City Manager Mike Bollhoefer asked for more time to evaluate safety concerns and how the measure would relate to state law.

“We’re very restricted and limited by state statutes … so it really precludes us from doing a lot of different things and it ties our hands,” he said. “By state statutes — when it comes to allowing roads for golf carts — we most first and foremost find that roads are safe for golf carts, and then make a decision to allow golf carts. That’s what has made this whole exercise so difficult. The trouble is state law really hasn’t followed what has taken place in the community when it comes to golf carts.”

In the proposal, the city will make two locations — Crown Point Cross Road and the Winter Oaks neighborhood — more golf cart friendly.

“Those were easier ones to do,”

Bollhoefer said. “So what we want to do is do those first and then come back later and see how successful we are there patrolling the speed and making sure it’s safe, and if those are successful then come back and look at these other potential communities — linking them in.”

Future areas include The Oaks at Brandy Lake, Lakeview Reserve and the Lake Cove Pointe communities.

Linking these communities is a long-term goal, but communities not in the plan will have the opportunity to travel in light vehicles, which are like golf carts but faster. They also require seatbelts and tags. According to state law, light vehicles are allowed to drive on any roads with a posted speed limit 35 mph or less, as long as there are no postings stating they cannot be on the road.

With the new golf cart zones also come some changes relating to speed and safety procedures.

“Crown Point Cross Road — it’s not an arterial road, it’s a local road — but we will lower the speed limit on that road because right now it’s at 40 mph, which makes no sense,” Bollhoefer said. “We’re going to lower the speed limit there to 25 — we feel that is fully justifiable — and this will enable several more communities to become golf-cart accessible.

“There’s also some other communities on there we’ve added who were always eligible to get on there, they just never requested it,” he said. “So, by doing this, you can see there are a significant number of more communities now that will be golf-cart accessible.”

The section in the Winter Oaks community will not be able to become legal to drive golf carts on until signs are installed, while a 20- to 30-foot section of different-colored stamped concrete will be used to raise notice of golf carts in the area, Bollhoefer said. The same measures will be taken on the far east end of Plant Street. The costs will total up to $30,000.

“That’s what it will cost to do these types of things on all these streets, but I truly believe for us to feel comfortable being safe, that’s probably the best way to approach this,” Bollhoefer said.

n The commission motioned to approve the first reading of Ordinance 21-16 — which allows the city to issue a sales tax revenue bond to help finance transportationrelated capital improvements and parks and recreation capital improvements. The series 2021 loan proceeds will be used to finance a portion of the planning, acquisition and construction of various city capital projects, including the Dillard Street redesign project and payment of costs of issuance, city documents state. The second reading and public hearing will take place during the commission’s meeting June 24.

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Heroic effort

The Hip-Hop Heroes performed during the main session.

Rhen Myers and Sofia Murillo transformed into superheroes for the week. It was all superheroes and worship at Lifebridge Church Orlando’s big Hero Headquarters Vacation Bible School, which took place from June 7 to 11.

Throughout the multi-day VBS, campers at the church took in a week filled with games, fun, music and worship and learned how to be God’s heroes as services were hosted by characters such as Commander Magnificent, Captain Marvelous and Flame.

— TROY HERRING

Courtesy photos Livia Meister danced along with a camper sporting her colorful cape.

Left: Mara Tulenson, aka Captain Marvelous, enjoyed her time on stage performing.

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Hamlin saddles up for first hoedown

The Hamlin Hoedown is bringing the farm to Horizon West with a Western-themed event featuring a petting zoo, pony rides and more.

DANIELLE HENDRIX

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Break out the cowboy boots and plaid shirts — the Hamlin Hoedown is coming to town.

From 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 19, the green space next to Cinépolis in Hamlin will be transformed into a Western world complete with barnyard friends.

Members of the community are encouraged to saddle up and gallop on over to the free event, where they can enjoy a morning of family fun that includes face painting, a balloon artist and nostalgic farm activities.

“We’re going to have DJ Renee out there — she’s a super fun, interactive deejay,” said Heather Easterling, events and public relations coordinator for Boyd Development Corporation. “There will be crafts, and we’ll have lots of yard games out there. We’ll have some food trucks, and there will be a petting zoo, which is two tents with 12 animals under each tent.”

Easterling said the idea for a hoedown-themed event came when she was brainstorming with a fellow event coordinator.

“One of my event partners knew of a mobile petting zoo — which I had never heard about — and I thought it was really cool,” she said. “We just started brainstorming, and the Hamlin Hoedown became a thing.”

Noah’s Landing Mobile Petting Zoo & Pony Rides is bringing the animals in attendance, which include lambs, goats, pigs, chickens, bunnies and a surprise farm animal.

“We’ve been in the same place in Daytona Beach serving a good portion of Central Florida for 21 years now,” said Robin Baxter, owner of Noah’s Landing. “We are a family-owned business, and we offer a full petting zoo of farm animals and pony rides. In the last few years, we have branched out to some exotic animal encounters.”

Baxter said it brings joy to her and her family when people light up at seeing the animals up close. The animals are born and raised into the business, and they love seeing people, too.

“A lot of times, you don’t appreciate things until you can see it or put your hands on it,” Baxter said. “We have such a hands-on, interactive petting zoo (where) the kids and adults can get in there and touch the animals, look at them. They get to really appreciate the animals, I think, because when you’re looking at it in a book, it’s much different than when you can look in its eyes.”

Noah’s Landing also is bringing two ponies to provide pony rides for children. Pony rides are first come, first served, and each ride lasts for two minutes. Riders must weigh no more than 85 pounds. Baxter said handlers will lead the ponies, but parents are welcome to walk alongside their children, too.

Easterling said the team at Hamlin enjoys bringing the community together for a day of family fun and camaraderie.

“Dress up in your favorite and cutest Western wear, (and) bring out the family,” she said. “It’s a great community event. Kids love animals and pony rides, and there will be music and food. Bringing the community together (is) one of our favorite things to do at Hamlin. We think it’s really important, and every time we do, we see how important it is. Everyone has a great time, and we just love the opportunity to be able to do so.”

IF YOU GO

HAMLIN HOEDOWN

WHEN: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 19 WHERE: 14111 Shoreside Way, Winter Garden COST: Free DETAILS: This three-hour community event features pony rides, a petting zoo, music, food vendors, a kids craft area, face painting and a balloon artist. INFORMATION: bit. ly/35iEpLi

Specializing in diseases of the Kidney, Urine, Hypertension, Kidney Stones, Dialysis and Transplantation

American Society of Hypertension Designated Clinical Hypertension Specialist

Heart of the matter

AMY QUESINBERRY COMMUNITY EDITOR

Imani Harvey was laughing and playing with her kindergarten friends at school March 5. By that afternoon, the 5-year-old bundle of energy with the mischievous grin had passed out and was rushed to the hospital with what doctors say is a failing heart.

The Lake Whitney Elementary School rising first-grader is currently on life support, where she will remain until a donor heart is located, her mother, Jackie McGriff, said.

The family lives in Orlando, but McGriff has been staying in Gainesville since Imani was transported to UF Health Shands Hospital. Amari Harvey, Imani’s twin brother, is staying with a family member in Orlando until his mother and sister return.

McGriff said her daughter has a lot of spunk and a lot of fight in her — but she’s getting tired.

“The doctors warned me this is going to be a long road,” McGriff said. “We would be here anywhere from two months to a year. Imani’s heart is very weak.”

The concerned mother started a GoFundMe page in case anyone would like to make a monetary donation toward the family’s expenses. McGriff is a single mother who was working at Publix but had to quit because she was missing too much work to be with Imani in the hospital.

She didn’t have a choice. Her daughter needs her.

SYMPTOMS FOR MONTHS

Imani’s symptoms actually started last September, when the little girl passed out and was taken to the emergency room.

“They were thinking that it was more with her brain or neurology or she was having a seizure,” McGriff said.

About six weeks later, Imani passed out again; doctors ran tests on her brain but didn’t check her heart, McGriff said.

“They could never find any issues,” she said. “They kept us there three days the second time. I left with no diagnosis. I left with no instructions. I left clueless. I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

She said Imani had been active before when she passed out — once after jumping on a trampoline and again after playing in a bounce house. McGriff kept her daughter away from those activities, hoping that would eliminate the source of the problem.

Imani had about four healthy months — until that March afternoon. But this incident was different. After passing out the previous times, she woke up and felt fine. This time, she had a seizure on the way to the hospital and again after being transported. And then her blood pressure dropped.

Doctors put Imani on a ventilator, and that’s when they discovered her heart was the problem. It was operating at about 55%, McGriff said. Twelve hours later, her heart function had dropped to almost 35%.

A DIAGNOSIS

Then McGriff received the devastating news: Imani has cardiomyopathy. That, coupled with the discovery of a too-narrow artery wall, was a death sentence for the little girl. She has been on life support since March 8 and on the transplant list since March 22.

Since March, Imani’s health chart has expanded almost weekly. She has had a blood clot removed from her brain, McGriff said, and she has had a stroke and three open-heart surgeries. Imani was placed on a machine that acted like an artificial heart and provided a single pump on the left side of her heart.

“They did the surgery, they expanded the artery wall, but they were uncertain if her heart was going to be able to withstand getting the surgery and being able to still function on her own,” McGriff said. “Her heart had been fighting, so her heart was really weak.”

For the next three weeks, Imani experienced bad drainage in her chest, so tubes were frequently placed to drain out the fluid that was collecting behind her heart.

“Her emotional state started declining,” McGriff said. “Every two days, they were either putting in a chest tube or taking one out, and it’s painful. After that, they were telling me — I remember the day, it was a Friday. They said her heart is looking good. The original plan is her heart would get better on its own. … They said her heart looked good and (they were) setting her up for trials and turning the machine down and letting her own heart work, and they were deciding when they were taking her off the machine.”

By Sunday, McGriff said, the right side of Imani’s heart stopped.

“It was one of the worst things ever to watch,” she said. “They had hit her with the defibrillator four or five times, and they’d do CPR. And she’d come back and then flatline.”

After the second surgery, she battled with the chest tube again. About three weeks ago, so much blood had collected behind Imani’s heart that it backed up into her lungs, McGriff said. Her chest had to be cut open again to remove the massive amount of blood. McGriff was grateful to hear the blood is no longer accumulating.

SEARCH FOR A HEART

“But she is doing good now,” McGriff said. “She got off the (ventilator) about a week ago.” While Imani and her mother await a donor heart, doctors are focusing on rehabilitating her right side, which was weakened by the stroke.

She participates in physical and occupational therapy daily. Last week, a cast was put on her right foot to realign it. They are working on her speech, too, in hopes of getting her back to the level she was before the stroke.

Even though she is tired of being in the hospital and being poked and operated on, Imani has a good attitude, her mother said. But she would like to be home, playing on the iPad with her brother, dancing, seeing her friends, eating way too much pizza and watching her favorite superhero show, “PJ Masks.”

Because children aren’t allowed in the hospital’s pediatric wing, Imani and Amari haven’t been able to see each other, so they rely on daily FaceTime sessions. McGriff drives to Orlando once a week to spend time with her son, and she said it breaks his heart — and hers — when it’s time for her to head back to Gainesville.

But, this is the way it must be until Imani gets a new heart — which could take up to a year, McGriff said.

“And then it’s going to be a whole completely different lifestyle for her and for us,” she said. “But I’m just thankful to have her still. I can’t have me outlive her. She has to outlive me.

“She’s such a sweetheart,” she said. “She’s one of the most loving little girls ever. … The girl is a real joy to be around. She definitely will change your mood if you’re ever in a bad mood.”

McGriff has a birthday in a few weeks, and she has one prayer: “Please let her get a heart for my birthday.”

If that prayer is answered, she has another one.

“Her birthday is July 22, and I would really love for her to be home by her sixth birthday,” McGriff said.

Courtesy photos Twins Imani and Amari Harvey are missing one another while she’s in the hospital.

HOW TO HELP

To make a donation to Jackie McGriff and her children, visit the GoFundMe page: bit. ly/ 3cG8WXA. So far, 279 donors have raised more than $17,000, but more will be needed to help pay bills. McGriff is a single mother who left her job to be with her daughter in the hospital.

“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.” Friedrich Hayek

“Road to Serfdom,” 1944

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