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ST. LUCIE WEST • TRADITION
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 3/ISSUE 42
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
City to look for new tenant at VGTI facility
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015
Lets get this started
VGTI officially closing Tradition operations Oct. 1 Jay Meisel
FOR YOUR VOICE NEWS & VIEWS
ST. LUCIE WEST — Port St. Lucie city leaders plan to focus on finding a replacement for The Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida, they said. With VGTI Florida announcing last week plans to close its facility in Tradition, Mayor Gregory J. Oravec said the city will talk with residents about the future of the housing the biotech firm. Both Oravec and City Council Councilman Ron Bowen said the city has been preparing for the outcome since VGTI indicated earlier this year it was facing having to default on mortgage payments. “It felt like a hurricane was coming,” Bowen said, but adding that the question was when the storm
See VGTI page 12
Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer Te’Yana Ross and her Manatee Academy second grade classmates write their first lesson about responsibility as they get acclimated on the first day of school in Danielle Garcia’s class Monday, Aug. 17. (additional images on page 31)
St. Lucie Court gets Smartt Patrick McCallister & Staff Reporter STAFF WRITER
pmccallister@YourVoiceWeekly.com
TRADITION — When Nirlaine Tallandier Smartt was sworn in as St. Lucie County’s newest judge, she also became the first black judge in the 19th Circuit.
Hundreds of well-wishers attended the investiture ceremony and following reception at the St. Lucie County Courthouse, including many African-Americans and others who hold public office in the circuit. Smartt, 48, is the 19th Circuit’s only minority judge as well as
being the first black judge at the county or circuit level. The 19th Circuit encompasses St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River and Okeechobee counties. She told the overflow crowd, including many who helped her along the way, “Thank you for helping this little Haitian girl
achieve the American Dream.” Smartt was born in Haiti, but was raised from age 4 in Nyack, New York. She earned her undergraduate degree at the State University of New York-Oswego and her law degree at Vanderbilt
See SMARTT page 4
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