This week, two stories came my way that just begged to be put together in a post. They have much in common, both being about Welly World and about lawsuits (two things which go together like cookies and cream). Here is where they differ: one is fictional, and the other is true. Your job today is to determine which of the two articles pasted below is made up and which is real.

Story Number One – From Horse Collaborative

Wellington Resident Vows to Shut Down WEF

By: John Wilkinson On April 01, 2014

With record crowds, a record number of horses and exhibitors representing a record number of countries competing for record prizes, you could say that the 2014 Winter Equestrian Festival was a roaring success.  Great news for Wellington, right?

“The music, and the traffic, my God the traffic.”

Wrong. Not everyone is ready bow at the feet of the internationally esteemed festival, certainly not Doris McClanahan, who moved to Wellington five years ago.

“Every year they all just roll into town, plop their feet up on the furniture and make a big mess. And who has to clean it up? Our cleaning ladies, that’s who.”

There’s no arguing the festival’s rapid growth has made an impact on the local community. Officials estimate the event brings an extra 15,000 people to the tiny Florida village each winter, and with a population of just 55,000, it’s virtually impossible not to see and feel the effects.

“If I wanted the loud music and hootin’ and hollerin’ and carryin’ on at all hours of the night, I would’ve moved to Boca, or just stayed in Atlanta where my grandkids are,” McClanahan said.

McClanahan’s patience boiled over last week when she spotted a truck and trailer recklessly speeding through her neighborhood.

“They had to be going at least 35-40. And this development is gated, so Lord knows how they got in. The passcode is probably posted up in the barns over there for anyone to see. I certainly feel threatened and that’s why I’m taking action. Enough is enough.”

The action McClanahan speaks of comes in the form of a lawsuit, filed in local court last week, against the Winter Equestrian Festival and its organizers for what she calls “reckless endangerment and disruption of peace.”

“I’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to,” she warns. “My late husband was an attorney, so were three of my brothers…well, two still are, the other passed in 1996. High cholesterol. We told him for years to clean up his act but those southern men are gonna eat and drink what they want, I’m telling you what…anyway, I have a thorough knowledge of our justice system and I know my rights.”

WEF organizers and city officials declined comment for this story citing policy on publicly discussing ongoing litigation, but I did find one individual who adamantly disagreed with McClanahan’s lawsuit.

“That old bag?” Asked Sophia Davidson, McClanahan’s neighbor. “She’s crazier than—well let’s just say she’s not ‘all there.’ Look, I don’t understand why you’d need music blaring for dressage but I gave up trying to understand kids these days a long time ago. No point in it. I tell her all the time if she hates it then just leave. I’d even hire someone to help her pack.”

Not even the festival’s significant economic impact on the local economy is enough to move McClanahan.

“So what if this town makes money,” she groaned. “If they aren’t protecting the taxpayers, what’s the point? I heard someone say, ‘but they’re creating jobs this and jobs that–‘ Honey, those aren’t jobs. Riding horses around and around is not a job. Whose job is it to get rid of the stench of manure? No one’s, apparently.”

It would be easy to write McClanahan off as a lonely, bitter, stereotypical South Florida retiree. That’s not entirely true, however.

“Don’t even get me started on the fornicating. I know what goes on at the Players Club. Everyone’s sexting this and sexting that. It’s disgusting, and it’s why I will not quit until this festival is out of my backyard.”

Ok, so maybe it is true.

Story Number Two – From the Palm Beach Post

The saga over Equestrian Village has already spanned more than two years and a flurry of legal settlements. And it’s still not over.

The latest battle ensued this month when developer Mark Bellissimo filed a lawsuit against Wellington and the project’s opponents, the Jacobs family.

The 59-acre Equestrian Village in Wellington is at the northeast corner of South Shore Boulevard and Pierson Road.

Bellissimo wanted to intervene before the Jacobses could make another attempt at overturning the project.

The Jacobses have been opposed to Equestrian Village since the development’s inception. The billionaire family owns a several-hundred-acre farm on Pierson Road, a few miles from the Bellissimo development.

Bellissimo’s complaint alleges the Jacobs family sidestepped regular procedures by seeking a favorable ruling this spring from the Wellington planning board — which has the power to revoke legal approval for Equestrian Village.

Bellissimo also argues that the family doesn’t have standing to appeal its complaints to the planning board because it doesn’t have ownership in his development.

“In order to protect the massive investment of time, expense and effort that was involved in obtaining these development orders for Equestrian Village, our clients have determined that they must protect this end-run by the Jacobs,” Bellissimo attorney Dan Rosenbaum wrote in a March 19 letter to village officials, notifying them of the suit.

Much of Equestrian Village was already built when, in October, the Wellington Village Council authorized a scaled-down version of the 59-acre development off South Shore Boulevard and Pierson Road. The venue is used primarily for dressage competitions.

The council’s approval, however, could be overturned by the village Planning, Zoning & Adjustment Board, which has binding authority to interpret Wellington’s zoning codes. On that authority the Jacobs family is banking.

For two years, the Jacobses have questioned the size and scope of Equestrian Village. They argue the village “erroneously approved” the project in violation of strict zoning codes governing Wellington’s equestrian preserve area.

Jacobs attorney Jeff Bass called Bellissimo’s lawsuit “baseless for a host of reasons” because it’s meant “to stop the village of Wellington from holding a hearing to interpret the zoning code that the village wrote, adopted and administers.”

Charles and Kimberly Jacobs’ appeal was scheduled to go before the planning board Wednesday. Bellissimo filed his lawsuit before the board’s agenda was even published and the matter was postponed.

“It seems backward for the developer to ask a court to prohibit the village from making a decision before the village makes a decision,” Bass said.

Rather than file a lawsuit to challenge the village council’s approval of Equestrian Village, the Jacobses opted to continue with administrative appeals within the village. According to court documents, the family says it began those challenges to the planning board two years ago but a hearing was never scheduled.

In a renewed attempt, the Jacobs’ attorneys requested in December a formal interpretation from Wellington’s planning department as to whether Bellissimo’s development complied with village code.

Court documents show Wellington Growth Management Director Bob Basehart responded in detail about how facets of the project, such as the development’s commercial floor space and the height of its open-air arena, were allowed under the code.

Those determinations are what the Jacobs family is trying to appeal to the planning board. But Bellissimo’s attorneys argue the Jacobses should not have been able to request an administrative decision on property with which they have no affiliation.

The Bellissimo camp claims that by allowing that request, the village opens the door for anyone to seek an interpretation on any property in Wellington even when they have no legal stake in it.

Although the village is named as a party in Bellissimo’s lawsuit, the Jacobs family is the primary target.

“It is our hope that the village will view this action as solely one of self-defense … and not an action directed toward either the village staff or the village council,” Rosenbaum wrote in his letter.

Wellington Village Attorney Laurie Cohen declined to comment, but said she planned to meet with the village council soon to discuss the matter in a closed session.

Mayor Bob Margolis alleged last week that the Jacobs’ scheduled appeal was among the reasons Wellington’s business community pressured former planning board member Marcia Radosevich to resign following her “Heil Hitler” salute during the March 5 planning meeting.

Radosevich has been critical of development projects in the equestrian preserve, including Equestrian Village.

“You can’t change my mind as to why this really happened,” Margolis said during Tuesday’s council meeting after Radosevich publicly apologized. “This was done as a political advantage, and I challenge anybody to tell me that it wasn’t.”

Leaders of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce have denied the allegations.

****Please cast your vote for which of these ridiculous tales is true by posting a comment at the bottom of this post****