The Signing Santa

Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013 WPMOBSERVER.COM 50¢+ tax Serving Winter Park, Maitland, Baldwin Park, College Park and Goldenrod 407-740-0401 www.FirstColonyBank.net Winter Park Recovery Center Executive Drug & Alcohol Treatment Protocols Orlando’s Largest Private Treatment Program Holiday Special — 10% Off All Programs Good Thru December 31 Your Real Hometown Bank Medically Managed Dual Diagnosis Evidenced Based Programs On Hwy 17-92 in Maitland 2056 Aloma Ave, Suite 100, Winter Park, FL 32792 www.WinterParkRecoveryCenter.com - 407-629-0413 Member FDIC Traffic may The signing Santa change after Unique Santa brings complaints Christmas joy for SARAH WILSON deaf children Observer staff Maitland city staff fielded ALLISON OLCSVAY a flock of citizens’ complaints Observer staff about the state of traffic in down- TOM & JERRY’S Dr. A.C. McCann learned town Maitland last week as con- TAKES ITS LAST American Sign Language 42 struction continues at the inter- years ago when his wife, Wanda, section of Horatio Avenue and LAST CALL woke up suddenly and inexplica- U.S. Highway 17-92. LIFESTYLES, 6 bly deaf. The planned traffic patterns Soon after he and his wife be- are already set in stone, but small Running down a dream gan studying sign language, a changes to help drivers navigate hard of hearing member of their the area until construction is In the hospital she was told she church asked him to translate the completed in mid- to late- Janu- may not walk again. Then she services for him. ary 2014 are in the works, said finished a half-marathon. From there, McCann eventu- city transportation engineer HEALTHY LIVING, 9 ally felt led to minister to the deaf Charlie Wallace. and now serves as pastor to the Most of those changes involve Christmas cheer deaf community at Dayspring adjusting traffic signal timing, as Community Church in Apopka. the city works to reevaluate light Want to get out of the house? Put “I preach to about 40 or 50 times to better flow traffic. these events on your calendar. people every Sunday using Total Since the first complaints CULTURE, 14 Communication, a combination about ongoing backups and im- COMMUNITY BULLETIN........... .4 of sign, speech and visual aids, peded access to Publix and other CALENDAR ................... .4 like Power Point,” said McCann. PHOTO BY ALLISON OLCSVAY — THE OBSERVER area shops started rolling in in LIFESTYLES................... .6 For the third year in a row, he A signing Santa Claus greets Keara O’Steen, 6, at an event for deaf children Dec. 12. late-November, Sybelia Parkway HEALTHY LIVING ............... .9 has taken on a special role around has been reopened for two-way CULTURE ................... .14 the holidays as a signing Santa, she opened up right away, sign- replied. access to the Publix plaza, and OPINIONS ................... .15 the only one most deaf children ing her desire for a bow and ar- Rick and Karen O’ Steen are additional signage was installed CLASSIFIEDS ................. .16 have ever seen. row, and much to her parents’ second time around parents. to direct drivers to entrances. McCann made his annual ap- surprise, a motorcycle. Having raised three children, “We’ll continue to tweak what SUBSCRIBE NOW! pearance at the Center for Inde- Twisting her hands as if rev- they made the decision to become we need to until the project is VISIT WPMOBSERVER.COM pendent Living in Winter Park on ving a bike she turned to the foster parents, eventually adopt- done,” Wallace said. Dec. 12, to the delight of all the room with a big grin when Santa ing three of their foster children. In the end, once the new traf- children present. understood her wish. Their 6-year-old daughter fic pattern is paved onto asphalt, “The expression on the kids’ “Really, a motorcycle is what Keara’s hearing impairment is Wallace said he still believes Mai- faces when I sign to them is price- you want?,” said Santa for the caused by auditory neuropathy, tland drivers will be better off less,” McCann said. benefit of the hearing people in a nerve condition that in her case than they were before. Keara O’Steen could hardly the room, including Keara’s par- began in infancy and causes her “If we can get the cut-through wait for her turn, bouncing up ents. hearing to vary dramatically traffic diverted, it’ll help out citi- and down eagerly. When it was “Well, we’ll just have to see from almost normal to profound- zens … and cut some of the traf- her turn on the jolly man’s lap, what we can do,” Santa deftly n Please see SANTA on page 2 fic,” he said. Publisher statement on page 4. USPS 00-6186 Winter Park’s holiday rush hour City scrambles for employees, but were converted following the City Commission’s parking during recent talks about the city’s lack holiday season of parking downtown. Winter Park City Commis- TIM FREED sioners supported the park- Observer staff ing change when the idea was Winter Park city staff freed up presented to them during their 29 public parking spaces outside meeting on Dec. 9, realizing that of City Hall earlier this month in 29 parking spots meant at least an effort to bring additional foot 29 more customers shopping on traffic to Park Avenue, hoping to Park Avenue. PHOTO BY TIM FREED — THE OBSERVER give local businesses a boost dur- “I think we need to do Parking has been at a premium as ing the crucial holiday season. everything we can do to make the city has scrambled for solutions The new three-hour parking it easier for our merchants, for during the busy holiday season. spaces were originally for city n Please see PARKING on page 2 Page 2 | Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013 | Winter Park / Maitland Observer SANTA | Deaf interpreter gives children a big surprise: a Santa who can listen to their Christmas wishes n CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE vigorate Keara, who ly deafat. couldn’t stop grin- When she was two years old, ning and signing with her parents made the difficult her friends and class- decision to have her undergo sur- mates. gery to implant a cochlear device, “Did you enjoy which improves her ability to de- signing with Santa?” cipher speech sounds and com- Rick asked her. municate with hearing individu- “Yeah!” she shout- als. ed before racing off to To further improve her com- join her friends. munication skills, Keara is also at- “Well there you tending Lake Sybelia Elementary have it,” Rick said. School’s program for deaf and “This is part of her hard of hearing students where normalcy, she belongs she is learning American Sign to a special commu- Language. nity and events like “Basically Keara will be bi-lin- this are wonderful for gual,” Karen said. “She is growing the kids and go a long up learning English and Ameri- way toward helping can Sign Language to help her them feel normal in a communicate across the deaf and hearing world,” Rick hearing communities.” said. PHOTO BY ALLISON OLCSVAY “Hopefully this will improve “We brought our — THE OBSERVER her life,” Karen said, “by giving other two children The signing Santa poses with her the ability to choose between along as well, because deaf children at the Center For signing or speaking when appro- even though this is Ke- Independent Living on Dec. 12. priate. ara’s world, they need Until Dec. 12, Keara had never to be exposed to it seen a signing Santa. also. It’s important for us to expe- The experience seemed to in- rience things like this as a family.” PARKING | Mayor: More spaces unlikely until next year n CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE Water Treatment Plant parking “I think we’ve gotten as many our residents and for our guests lot and the Blake Yard, both near [parking spaces] as we’re going to enjoy Winter Park,” Commis- downtown, could be turned into to get for this holiday season,” sioner Steven Leary said. city staff parking lots, freeing up Mayor Ken Bradley said. “We “We should try to take care of more room for public parking didn’t get into this problem over- it from a holiday perspective, but along the Avenue, she said. night and we’re not going to get we also need to be looking much But that idea hit a roadblock out of it overnight.” more long-term.” last week when Public Works Di- But Bradley remained opti- The City Commission ap- rector Troy Attaway told the City mistic, explaining that the city’s proved the creation of 78 spaces Commission that the parking lots parking woes can be seen as a during their Nov. 11 meeting, wouldn’t be ready in time for the good thing. giving staff the go-ahead to put holidays. Both lots are difficult “It’s much better to have a 73 spaces in place of the public to find and access from Park parking problem and do some- works building and restripe 75 Avenue and New York Avenue, thing about it than to not have a feet of road along New York Av- he said, and studies still need to parking problem because nobody enue to create five spaces. be conducted on how to secure goes down there anymore,” City Commissioner Carolyn these lots and make them safer Bradley said. “This is a problem Cooper came up with another for pedestrians. that started years ago when city KEEP UP WITH MAITLAND quick solution idea in November City staff won’t be able to assets were turned into other city to convert more city staff parking come back with findings until assets, like a parking lot becom- NEWS AND EVENTS! to public parking.

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