Tamarac News

Don't tell Raymond Lakhan that lightning never strikes twice in the same place. The attic of Lakhan's Coconut Creek home has been hit by lightning twice in the past six years, most recently in June 2006, causing about $24,000 in damage. He's hoping Bolt No. 3 isn't out there with his address on it. 'The white flash, the noise. It was tremendous. I don't think I ever heard a noise like that before,' said Lakhan, who wasn't home for the first strike in August 2002, but was around for the next one. While Lakhan's repeat experience is fortunately rare, it's a reminder Florida is the lightning capital of the nation and summer is peak season. Florida reported 11 deaths from lightning last year, the most of any state - three in Broward County and one in Palm Beach County . Texas followed with six, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Lightning also caused $15 million in damage last year in Broward and Palm Beach counties. In recent weeks, lightning caused about $30,000 in damage to a Miramar home and is suspected of starting a fire that forced 12 people to evacuate their condo complex in Tamarac. South Florida homeowners can take some steps to protect their property and themselves but, in the final analysis, if lightning has your number, there's not much you can do, experts say. 'The starting point with lightning behavior is that we don't understand its behavior,' said Richard Kithil, president of the National Lightning Safety Institute. 'You can use words such as random, capricious, irregular.'

Just a few months ago, Maggie Sullivan, 46, was told she had to pack up and move. Her unit at the Fountains in Tamarac, just north of Commercial Boulevard, is among the wave of rental apartment buildings throughout the county converting to condominiums.

'This is not a piece of property, this is my home,' Sullivan said. 'This is where I come after a day's work. But you can't relax when you don't know where you're going to live tomorrow.'

When the 32-unit Fountains goes on sale to the public today, it will be the latest change in South Florida's housing market. For the condo buyer, the boom in conversions means more diversity in housing options. But for the apartment renter, it means pay up or move out once the lease expires. Sullivan's lease expires next month.

A Coral Springs man is accused of racking up more than a $100-thousand in fraudulent charges after he allegedly stole credit card numbers from customers at a Tamarac restaurant.

Too squeamish to dig into a dish of chicken feet in black bean sauce? Then how about a steamer filled with translucent har gow -- rice pastry-wrapped shrimp dumplings that open to a treasure of seasoned ...

To keep your pet safe in the event of a hurricane, your choices are to keep the pet with you at home, take it with you if you evacuate, leave it with a friend or board it at a kennel.

Tamarac soon will open a dog park named for a beloved city employee: the Gary B. Jones Park for People and Pups.

The park will be on 2.5 acres west of Veterans' Park on Southgate Boulevard. It will feature water fountains for people and canines, benches and a dog wash area.

'[Jones] was one of the more spectacular people I've known in my life,' Mayor Beth Flansbaum-Talabisco said. 'He was a city employee for 10 years. He was the director of our Building Department.'

Flansbaum-Talabisco said the park is named after Jones to commemorate his love of dogs. He bred Samoyeds and judged dog shows, even participating in the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

A Fort Lauderdale federal judge sentenced a former agent for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to seven years in prison on Thursday for forcing a female detainee in his custody to have sex with him at ...

A family dog was killed Tuesday when a garbage truck slammed into a home in Tamarac on Tuesday morning.

It sounded like thunder, followed by a deafening crash and a huge thud so jarring Farouk Morales ran outside to see what was going on.

The City of Tamarac has honored the memory of a Broward Sheriff's deputy who was gunned down in the line of duty with a new park.

A garbage truck plowed into the front bedroom of an unoccupied house this morning, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.

The driver of a garbage truck lost control and crashed into a home in Tamarac on Tuesday morning.

Due to last night's weather, Tamarac's July 4 All American Celebration is being rescheduled for tonight.

The festivities, to be held at the Tamarac Sports Complex (9901 NW 77th Street) will start at 7 p.m. with a DJ and will include giveaways and concessions. The fireworks display will begin at 9 p.m.

If you go...

When: Music and food at 7 p.m., Fireworks at 9 p.m.

Where: Tamarac Sports Complex, 9901 NW 77th Street More info: www.tamarac.org

Two cities plan to reschedule their fireworks shows for TONIGHT!!! Saturday, July 5, 2008 If you're still in the mood for more fireworks tonight , then head to Tamarac or Pembroke Pines.

Oohing and ahhing as streamers of bright red, gold and blue sparks shimmer through velvety dark blue nights - that will be the Fourth Of July the day after for some South Florida cities who had to cancel due to ...

It wasn't hard for Erik Betancourt to pretend he was in Puerto Rico. He moved along with the bomba music, his 19-month-old daughter in tow. 'This is what you call old-school music in Puerto Rico,' said Betancourt, of Pompano Beach. 'It's old school but it's still popping. We listen to this almost every day.' Thousands turned out Sunday to celebrate their heritage and get a taste of the island at the sixth annual Fiesta! Puerto Rico held outdoors at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts. Betancourt was one of the early birds. He showed up about 10:45 a.m., 15 minutes before it started and captured a few seats near the stage for his family. Then he bought a plate of rice and beans and bacalao , fried cod fish that is popular in Puerto Rican households.

City Manager Jeff Miller is asking to raise the tax rate as his city suffers the steepest decline of property values in Broward County - 11.5 percent as of Tuesday.

The human bones that were found last March inside a van submerged in a west Broward canal have been identified as those of Jeffrey Walter Klee, who disappeared in 1977, police said today.

Authorities are looking for the last member of a trio they say snatched a woman's purse at gunpoint, then fled Thursday afternoon.

Some would say it's hip to be green.

If that's true, then Tamarac just earned some 'cool' points.

Last week it became the first Broward County municipality to be green-certified by the Florida Green Building Coalition, leading the trend of eco-friendly cities in South Florida.

They mirror popular culture, with celebrities hawking such green products as organic T-shirts, hemp shower curtains and vegan stilettos.

'Are we ever going to catch up with places like California or Oregon? No, because they had a head-start on us,' said Rob Hink, president of the South Florida chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, the national organization that handles the certification. 'But if you look at the projects being registered, we are starting to come up to par with them.' Tamarac's certification won't be Broward's last. Davie has already started the certification process and other cities such as Cooper City and Pembroke Pines are seeking participants for green advisory boards.