Lateral parks proposed Bike trails along our canals
A18
Making Strides adds 5K Annual walk at Tradition Field
A22
Bistro is back
Veranda Falls Cornerstone reopens
B3
ST. LUCIE WEST • TRADITION
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 3/ISSUE 51
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
Annual sky invasion
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015
Judge of second chances retires after 12 years on the bench Lisa Barry
FOR YOUR VOICE NEWS & VIEWS
File photo by Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer The Aeroshell Aerobatic Stunt Team returns to dazzle the crowds at the Stuart Air Show beginning Saturday, Oct. 31 at Witham Field in Stuart. See story on page A4.
First steps towards a righteous path Lisa Barry
FOR YOUR VOICE NEWS & VIEWS
ST. LUCIE WEST – A St. Lucie West philanthropist is on a mission to show his friends, family and neighbors that all it takes to inspire big change in the community is a little bit of time and effort. On Tuesday, Oct. 6, Scott Van Duzer of the Van Duzer Foundation and an entourage of high-profile community leaders gathered together at 31st Street
and Avenue G in Fort Pierce armed with a football and a willingness to play. “It’s a neighborhood that has been prone to violence in the past,” said Sheriff Mascara. “That area was commonly referred to as ‘Little Vietnam’ because of the gunshots heard there at night.” “A lot of kids don’t utilize that park because there is bad activity in that area,” Van Duzer said. Now, for one hour every Tuesday, Van Duzer wants to “take back the park.”
Van Duzer and Sheriff Ken Mascara went knocking on neighborhood doors around 4:30 p.m. asking parents if their children could join them for a game of touch football in the neighborhood park. Dubbed “The First Step” project, the goal of Van Duzer’s Tuesday night activity in the park is twofold. “We’re trying to reach the kids, keep them busy and keep good people in their lives,” Van Duzer
See STEPS page A12
ST. LUCIE WEST — The Honorable Cliff Barnes never planned on becoming a judge. In fact, he never planned on practicing criminal defense law or getting involved in politics at all. Now, as Judge Barnes counts down the days to his Dec. 31 retirement, he looks back on 35-year career chock full of things he said he would never do. “I would do it all again, Cliff Barnes and I wouldn’t change a thing,” Judge Barnes said. Barnes spent his childhood in St. Lucie County, left to attend law school, and returned to begin practicing criminal defense law in the County in 1981. In 1992, he was elected to the County Commission and spent 10 years serving in that capacity as he continued practicing law
See JUDGE page A8
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