By Rich Pollack  
                 
    The town of Highland Beach, which has been without a fire truck of its own since the summer, is wrapping up negotiations with Delray Beach on a proposed long-term contract in which the larger city would provide a fire truck and a rescue vehicle while continuing to staff both.
    At the same time, Highland Beach town leaders have not stopped looking at additional fire-service alternatives, including using services and equipment from other nearby communities.
    “We’re about 90 percent there but there’s always that last 10 percent,” said Highland Beach Town Attorney Glen Torcivia. “We’re not closing the door on any other options.”
    The town has had discussions with representatives from Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, Torcivia said. The town also considered being part of an effort investigating the feasibility of a barrier island fire district, but recently backed out of that discussion.
    Under a current contract that expires in 2017, Highland Beach pays Delray Beach Fire-Rescue to provide staffing for a ladder truck and a rescue truck, which operate out of a town-owned fire station.
    Although Delray Beach is not required to provide equipment to Highland Beach, it provided a truck at no cost when Highland Beach’s aging ladder truck was frequently broken down and out of service.
    Highland Beach now pays $8,500 a month to use a Delray Beach ladder truck, but continues to operate its own 10 year-old rescue truck.
    Under the proposed contract being negotiated, Delray Beach would lease a truck and a new rescue vehicle and would own the equipment after 10 years.
    Highland Beach would reimburse Delray for the monthly payments and would have the opportunity to buy the vehicles from Delray Beach for $10 after the 10-year term expires.
    Delray Beach Fire-Rescue Chief Danielle Connor estimates it would cost the town about $150,000 a year for both vehicles. She also pointed out that the cost of staffing the trucks would fluctuate based on the city’s actual staffing costs.
    The contract includes a clause that allows either side to cancel the agreement with one year’s notice.
    Under the agreement, Highland Beach’s name would be on the ladder portion of the truck, Connor said, but Delray Beach Fire-Rescue would be on the door.
    Highland Beach sold its 20-year-old fire truck at auction this summer for $6,000. But its quest for a new firetruck goes back more than five years, when residents voted against approving the purchase of a new truck in a referendum. The town charter requires most purchases over $350,000 to be approved by voters.
    The current negotiations, according to Torcivia and Connor, have been slowed by conversations Delray Beach had with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue about the county possibly taking over Delray Beach’s fire-rescue service. Those talks have been discontinued.
    “We had mutually agreed to delay discussions with Highland Beach while the city of Delray Beach explored consolidation with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue,” Connor said.   
    In other news, it appears Highland Beach will not need a municipal election this spring since no one is challenging Commissioner Carl Feldman for his seat. Filing closed at noon on Nov. 24 with Feldman being the sole candidate for the three-year commission seat.
    Commissioners also reminded residents at their November meeting that the town’s annual Light Up the Holidays celebration will be held at 5 p.m. on Dec. 7 at town hall. The free event will feature a performance from the award-winning Dimensional Harmony Choir of Boynton Beach and will include treats and beverages at no charge.

The Mark at CityScape has been criticized for its appearance.

File photo

By Mary Hladky

    Dissatisfied with the appearance of The Mark at CityScape and concerned that more buildings with design flaws will sprout up downtown, the Boca Raton City Council is considering a major change to how developers’ proposals for new projects are vetted.
    The idea is to replace the city’s downtown design consultant with either an architectural consultant or hire an architect who would be part of city staff.
    City Manager Leif Ahnell will analyze this and other recommendations made to the council, sitting Nov. 9 as the Community Redevelopment Agency board, and report back — possibly by the end of the year.
    The city’s downtown design consultant, Urban Design Associates, recommended itself out of a job as one of its proposals to improve the process of overseeing downtown development projects.
    UDA was brought in to do a downtown design overhaul after residents complained of monolithic and unattractive buildings going up. Its interim design guidelines allowed developers to build taller buildings provided their plans included pedestrian-oriented streets, public spaces and landscaping, as well as building setbacks and a varied skyline.
    But the guidelines have come under strong criticism this year. Eric Osth, managing principal of UDA, told council members an architectural consultant could better help the city meet its goals.
    An architectural consultant would review all downtown projects, make recommendations, keep a record of the effectiveness of downtown design guidelines and hold design review meetings, Osth said.
    Osth also proposed adding design criteria for streets and landscaping, reviewing downtown design guidelines every two years and replacing the interim guidelines with a “pattern book” that spells out what developers can and can’t do. Some council members took Osth’s recommendation for an architectural consultant one step further by suggesting hiring a city architect instead.
    “I think hiring a city architect is a wonderful idea,” said Mayor Susan Haynie. “That is where we are going to ensure we meet the goals we set up.”
    Deputy Mayor Robert Weinroth agreed, adding, “There is a need for us to go to the next step now that we see UDA is probably eager to hand this off.”
    Council member Jeremy Rodgers didn’t say if he liked the idea, but remarked that residents are “more trusting” of city staff than consultants.
    Two other council members voiced reservations.
    A city architect would need an office and staff, said council member Michael Mullaugh. “We don’t need that,” he said.
    Council member Scott Singer said he had “concerns” about adding more staff to oversee downtown development.
    Ahnell didn’t voice an opinion, but said “there would not be a lack of work” for an architect and the money spent on a consultant could instead be used to pay for this position.
    Concerns about how well the city was riding herd over the design of new downtown buildings was heightened upon the completion of The Mark, a mix of retail, offices and 208 apartments at the southeast corner of Federal Highway and Palmetto Park Road.
    The Mark was the first project approved under interim guidelines implemented in 2008 that allow buildings 40 feet taller than the 120-foot limit in much of downtown as long as they are aesthetically pleasing.
    But many residents speaking at an April 30 meeting to assess how well the guidelines worked for The Mark found fault with its appearance, saying it was bulky and unappealing. They called for the interim guidelines to be overhauled, if not scrapped.
    UDA was tasked with making recommendations to the CRA on what changes should be made, and Osth did that at the Nov. 9 meeting.
    He also largely repeated his April assessment that the interim guidelines largely worked as intended on The Mark, producing a good-looking building.
    But he reiterated that there were some problems with how the project turned out, including tinted windows that prevent people from looking into the shops, sidewalks that are not pedestrian-friendly and the lack of varying paint colors on the exterior that would make the project look better and less massive.
    The review has highlighted another problem: The Mark’s design was approved by UDA and city staff, but changes were later made by the city’s Community Appearance Board that turned out to be not for the better.
    That spurred discussion at the Nov. 9 meeting that perhaps the appearance board should be eliminated. The idea that gained more traction, however, was that projects should not come to the CRA for approval until after the appearance board weighs in.
    Another lingering issue is that the city has approved three other projects under the guidelines even though The Mark had not been completed and the results assessed.
    Haynie asked that two projects under construction — the Hyatt Hotel located immediately west of The Mark and the Via Mizner multi-use development at the corner of East Camino Real and Federal Highway — be evaluated now to catch any design problems that might have crept in after they were approved before it is too late to make changes.
    Although much remains up in the air, several residents said they liked what they heard at the meeting.
    “I think this is the best meeting at City Hall I have ever attended,” said John Gore, president of BocaBeautiful.org, which wants to maintain a beautiful downtown.
    “If the CRA follows through on what was said today, it will be a great step forward,” said Al Zucaro, chairman of the city watchdog website BocaWatch.org.

Two Boca residents examine aerial photos of the troubled intersection of East Palmetto Park Road and Fifth Avenue.

Sallie James/The Coastal Star

By Sallie James

    Lower the speed limit. Seize property for turning lanes through eminent domain. Eliminate U-turns. Restore bicycle lanes.
    Those were just a few suggestions Boca Raton residents had for traffic consultants during a standing-room-only workshop last month to discuss the congested intersection of East Palmetto Park Road and Northeast/Southeast Fifth Avenue.
    Nearly 100 concerned residents flocked to the community room of the downtown library to offer suggestions and meet with traffic consultants. And those in attendance had a lot to say.
    “The corner of Fifth Avenue and Palmetto Park Road is dangerous,” said resident Kevin Meaney. “I’ve almost been killed on my bike, on foot and in my car.”
    Meaney wants the turning lanes at the heavily trafficked intersection restored and Fifth Avenue widened by adding extra space on the southeast corner through eminent domain.
    Those in attendance divided into small groups and marked their concerns on huge aerial photos showing the intersection and nearby neighborhoods. Residents also itemized their ideas on poster-sized lists that were turned over to the traffic consultants for consideration.
    Both sides left the nearly three-hour-long meeting hopeful that progress had been made.
    “This is great input. This is what we are looking for,” said Rasem Awwad, city traffic operations engineer. “It was certainly a big turnout. There was a lot of interesting input.”
    The intersection is already too narrow and congested to adequately accommodate existing traffic. North/south bicycle lanes on Northeast Fifth Avenue taper into non-existence on the intersection’s north side at Palmetto Park Road, forcing cyclists into the traffic lanes because the roadway is too narrow.
    The Trattoria Romano restaurant on the northwest corner of the intersection also creates traffic tie-ups when valets and restaurant patrons block traffic as they attempt to turn in and pull out of the restaurant parking lot on Northeast Fifth Avenue.
Adding to the problem are intermittent backups created when the Palmetto bridge to the east goes up to allow the passage of boat traffic.
    Meaney and other residents wondered if the traffic consultants realized that a nearby Publix grocery store at Federal Highway at Northeast Fifth Avenue was currently  closed for remodeling and that shoppers were going elsewhere right now.
    Residents from 427 homes in the Riviera Homeowners Association and thousands of others who live in beachside condos are not shopping there right now, residents said.
    “Their experts missed that,” said Por La Mar resident Keith Nelson. “Everyone is going to Camino and Federal to the other Publix to shop.”
    Resident Tony Puerta, who lives in the Golden Triangle, said the northeast corner turning radius needs to be improved to make the intersection safer.
    “Westbound cars on Palmetto block the road and cause traffic to back up, so if there was a right-turn lane it would ease the problem,” Puerta predicted. Like Meaney, he wants the city to acquire additional property on the southeast corner of the intersection through eminent domain.
    Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie, who attended the workshop, said eminent domain is one possible way to fix the intersection gridlock.
    “It is a potential process for adding new lanes,” Haynie conceded. That land is owned by Cal Haddad, who also owns Fifth Avenue Place on the intersection’s northwest corner.
    Resident Les Wilson, who lives on the western edge of downtown, expressed concern that new development might impede beach access.
    Wilson wants the city to eliminate the traffic light at Fifth Avenue and East Palmetto Park Road and route traffic under the bridge or up a few blocks to the west.
    Resident Mike DeLuca, who lives walking distance from the intersection, said the crosswalks in the area are dangerous and need to be marked better.
    “I want to know if there is any way to make them safer,” DeLuca said. He was pleased the city reached out to residents.
    “I got to communicate my concerns. We’ll see if anything happens but at least I got someone to listen,” DeLuca said.
    Consultant Richard Cannone of Calvin, Giordano & Associates Inc. pronounced the workshop a success.
    “It went extremely well. We encouraged the residents to look at the aerials and find out where they live, and talk about some of the problems they encounter and some possible solutions,” Cannone said.
    Eric Czerniejewski, director of traffic engineering for the same consulting firm, said the consultants will review the suggestions and concerns, analyze the data they collected and present their findings to City Council members at a future workshop.
    “I think we got a lot of good ideas,” Czerniejewski said.

Ideas submitted at workshop
    • Consider lowering speed limit on Fifth Avenue
    • No four lanes on Fifth Avenue
    • Put medians on Fifth Avenue
    • No more valet parking on sidewalk at northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Palmetto Park Road
    • Use eminent domain for more lanes on the southwest corner
    • Put three lanes heading north on the south side of Palmetto Park Road
    • Shorten median on west side of intersection
    • Explore pedestrian/car conflict (left- and right-turn lanes through crosswalk)
    • Retake traffic counts in January
    • Create deterrent for cut-through traffic to US 1

By Rich Pollack

    A redrawn blueprint for development of one of Boca Raton’s largest remaining parcels of undeveloped property got the green light to move forward from the City Council despite concerns from members of the Boca Raton Airport Authority.
    During a lengthy meeting last month, crowded by neighbors wearing red shirts to show their opposition to the property owner’s proposed master plan, the City Council voted with little comment to rezone the property and allow more intense usages for the University Village mixed-use project. The council did impose several conditions including an increase in buffer zones, the addition of open space and limiting emergency access.
    Development of the parcel had been approved in 2013 but that approval allowed for significantly less square footage of usage.
Under the proposed planned mobility master plan, the 77-acre parcel — just north of the Boca Raton Airport and just east of Interstate 95 — could eventually include as many as 829 residential units as well as retail, office space and a hotel.
    While the two dozen residents who spoke before the council objected primarily to traffic and voiced concerns about impact on neighboring homes, members of the Boca Raton Airport Authority — in an earlier meeting — said they worried about the safety of pilots and residents.
    “I’m very opposed to it,” said board member Bill Schwartz, a pilot, during the airport authority’s November meeting. “Never mind just the pilot and his passengers but the people living in those buildings — they’re a target potentially.”
    The airport authority did not vote or offer a formal recommendation, but it did send Executive Director Clara Bennett to the City Council meeting where she summarized authority member’s concerns.
    Bennett pointed out that the project was directly in line with the extended runway center line and would be subject to low altitude overflights and noise from departing and arriving aircraft.
    “The residents will be living with noise issues once they move in,” she said. Bennett also addressed concerns with the 85-foot maximum building height allowed.
    Authority member Jack Fox, also a pilot, said he would expect to receive noise complaints.
    “We have corporate jet aircraft that generate a lot of noise particularly on takeoff and that’s going to generate a lot of comments from those who live there,” Fox said.
    To that point, representatives of the developer — Penn-Florida — said they would ensure that tenants moving into the development were made aware that they were under a flight path and could be subjected to aircraft noise.
    While noise was one concern expressed by airport authority members, it was worries about safety that drew the most attention.
Representing the developer, attorney Charles Siemon told the authority proposed heights appear to be in accordance with FAA requirements. He also said the federal agency would have the opportunity to weigh in on each of the site plans that must be submitted prior to development of parcels within the project.
    Airport authority members, however, still expressed concerns. “Currently, if an aircraft is taking off to the northeast and he’s 300 or 400 feet and he loses an engine, he has no place to go but to land straight ahead,” Fox said. “When that’s built up with 1,500 people that’s where he’ll land.”
    Attorney Mitch Kirschner, who also represents the developer, said that while there have been two incidents of planes crashing on takeoff or landing in the Boca Raton Airport area since 1985, neither occurred on the property that will be developed.
    “We can appreciate the concern, but it appears to be unfounded based on the history of the parcel,” he said.
    In his comments, however, Fox expressed a deep concern for future residents of the project. “When this is built, it will present a very meaningful danger to anyone who lives in that area,” he said.

By Rich Pollack

    After discussing the possibility of seeking a new outside law firm, the Boca Raton Airport Authority agreed last month to stay with the firm that has represented the board for the last nine years.
    “I’m comfortable that we have a situation that doesn’t have to be addressed tonight,” said Authority member and Deputy Mayor Robert Weinroth.
    At the authority’s October meeting, Weinroth made a motion to have the board explore the possibility of issuing a request for qualifications for legal services. The motion was tabled until the November meeting.
    After a substantial discussion that included a presentation from Dawn Meyers, lead attorney for the board’s current law firm of Berger Singerman LLP, authority members agreed not to bring the matter up for a vote.
    During the discussion, authority Executive Director Clara Bennett reminded board members that Berger Singerman has not raised its rate of $250 an hour since it began providing legal services in 2006. She also noted that the authority’s annual legal costs had been steadily declining in recent years.
    “The trend reflects a continuous reduction in fees based on the long relationship and also based on the level of support this board requires and the level of support this staff requires,” Bennett said.
    Meyers, who met individually with board members following the October meeting, said that since Bennett’s arrival almost two years ago there’s been a shift in the authority’s need for legal services.
    “Previous boards and managers had a profoundly different way of operating, which up until recently placed a much higher reliance on legal services,” Meyers said. “This board approaches the relationship differently than past boards and thus I’m tailoring the nature, manner and tenor to conform with the will of this board.”
    Meyers said she looked forward to open communication with board members going forward.
    “My primary goal is to protect the integrity of this board and the decisions it makes, and to give you the ability to do what you were appointed to do,” she said.
    In October, Weinroth said that prior to joining the authority, he had concerns about the legal representation the board was receiving but that his opinion had changed. He reiterated that at the November meeting.
    “The lawyer has to reflect what the body is,” he said. “As the body and the executive director changes, the lawyer has to change how she approaches the client. I think I’m seeing a change in that dynamic.”

By Sallie James

    City Council member Mike Mullaugh thinks it’s time Boca Raton’s elected officials get a raise since they haven’t had one in more than three decades.
    He has proposed a more than 300 percent pay hike for both the mayor and council members by tying it to the salaries of state legislators. Any change affecting the salaries of Boca’s elected officials, however, must be done by a voter-approved charter amendment.
    At his urging, the City Council introduced such an ordinance on Nov. 24. The proposed charter amendment provides that the annual salary of the mayor would be equal to the salary of the Florida Senate President/Speaker of the House, and the annual salaries of council members would equal those of state legislators. If state officials’ salaries increased, Boca officials’ salaries would also increase.
    The current salary for the Senate President/House Speaker is $41,181; the current salary for Senate/House members is $29,697.
In contrast, Boca’s mayor is paid $750 a month, or $9,000 a year. City council members earn $600 a month, or $7,200 a year. The numbers haven’t changed since 1984.
    “It’s not a real salary,” Mullaugh said of Boca’s current pay rates. “We ought to make it possible for someone to at least get part of their living from it.”
    Under the proposed charter amendment, a special election would be held on Nov. 8, 2016, the same date as the national election, for consideration of the proposed charter amendment. If voters approved the amendment, it would take effect on April 1, 2017.
Mullaugh’s last day in office will be March 31, 2017, due to term limits, so he would not be affected by any future salary adjustments.
    A salary hike would make the job more realistic for someone who needs to augment his current income, because the job takes anywhere from 20 to 30 hours a week, Mullaugh reasoned.
    “It takes a long time,” Mullaugh said, referring to all the preparation he has to make for every City Council meeting.
    Council member Jeremy Rodgers agreed Boca’s salaries are low, but said he hadn’t reviewed the proposed charter change in depth.
    “If you compare us to other cities like Deerfield Beach or Coral Springs or West Palm Beach, we are probably a quarter of what they earn, on the average,” Rodgers said. He said the quality of applicants might be higher if a more substantial salary is offered.
Like Mullaugh, he agreed the job of City Council member is extremely time-consuming.
    “There is so much time that goes into it. There are the meetings, the preceding day before is the workshop and the council also serves as the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) Board,” Rodgers said. “You are also meeting with citizens, reading emails, meeting with developers to make sure their projects are something that fits in the city. There is something going on almost every weekend at Mizner.”

By Dan Moffett
 
    At the height of his influence a decade ago, Delray Beach-based developer Anthony Pugliese III oversaw the biggest land deal in Central Florida since Disney World and sat on Palm Beach County’s Judicial Nominating Commission that selects local judges.
    The day before Thanksgiving, the 68-year-old Gulf Stream resident stood before one of those judges and asked for a bit of leniency. Pugliese wanted to spend the holiday weekend at his $28 million waterfront home before reporting to Palm Beach County Jail on Monday morning.
    Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley granted the request, over the objections of prosecutors.
    A plea deal negotiated by Lee County prosecutor James Miller will send Pugliese to jail for six months, followed by 10 years’ probation, as punishment for complicated scams perpetrated against Fred DeLuca, the co-founder of the Subway restaurant chain.
    In August, Pugliese pleaded no contest to fraud and theft charges stemming from a failed partnership with DeLuca to develop a 61-square-mile property near Yeehaw Junction that was to be known as Destiny, Florida. Pugliese admitted in court depositions that he created sham companies with phony addresses and fake invoices to siphon off roughly $1.2 million of DeLuca’s money.
    Pugliese and DeLuca had accused each other of fraud, with Pugliese suing the Subway magnate six years ago for $5 billion in civil court. The lawsuits between the men remain unresolved. Pugliese blamed DeLuca for an illegal financing scheme that allegedly profited him more than $20 million, and each accused the other of stealing Destiny’s money and using it for lavish personal expenditures.
    The partners also fought cancer as they fought each other. DeLuca died in September, losing his battle with leukemia. Douglas Duncan, Pugliese’s attorney, told Kelley that the “serious and significant health issues” associated with his client’s cancer treatment were reason enough to allow him a final weekend at home before he reported to jail.
    Besides incarceration, Pugliese had to pay more than $1 million in restitution to DeLuca’s estate. Pugliese has said he accepted the plea deal to spare his family the stress of a lengthy trial and to deal with his health problems.
    “I’m glad it’s over,” he said on leaving Kelley’s courtroom.
    Miller was brought into the case from Fort Myers because of conflicts of interest arising from Pugliese’s political connections. The developer donated money to Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg’s election campaign.
    After his arrest in 2012, Pugliese was removed from the Judicial Nominating Commission by Gov. Rick Scott.  
    All told, prosecutors had filed more than a dozen charges against Pugliese that, with convictions, could have sent him to prison for decades.
    Destiny was to have been one of the country’s largest eco-sustainable communities, and its green design earned praise from the Clinton Foundation. Osceola County officials at first backed the project, but state agencies did not, claiming the development would add to urban sprawl and clog roadways.
    In South Florida, Pugliese Development Co. built the Crystal Corporate Center in Boca Raton and helped develop the Pineapple Grove District in Delray Beach.
    In 2010, as Destiny was falling apart, Pugliese gave $150,000 to build a baseball diamond for disabled children in Delray — The Anthony V. Pugliese Miracle League Field in Miller Park.

Premier Estate Properties business partner Carmen D’Angelo Jr. (far left),

with family members (l-r) Gerard, Laura, Antonio, Pascal and Joseph Liguori.

Photo provided

By Christine Davis

    Pascal Liguori, broker associate at Premier Estate Properties, has teamed up with his son, Antonio, 23, creating Pascal Liguori & Son Broker Associates at Premier’s Delray Beach office. That makes three generations of Liguoris in South Florida real estate.
    It all started with Alfonso Liguori, who opened Allbrook Realty in Pittsburgh after serving in World War II, Pascal Liguori explained. “He saw residential real estate as an opportunity to be a business owner and an entrepreneur, as well as a way to better provide for his family.”
    Over 45 years, Alfonso Liguori’s real estate career evolved and flourished, and in the process, he was joined in his business by three of his sons — Pascal, Gerard and Joseph — and one of his daughters, Laura.
    “As kids, we went with him on nights and weekends to different properties; we cleaned his apartment buildings and offices,” Pascal Liguori said. “After I graduated from college, I sold real estate for him for many years, and after eight years in the business, he transitioned the business over to us.”
    Then, 25 years ago, Gerard and Joseph Liguori decided they wanted to sell multimillion-dollar properties in Florida.
    “Our average sale price in Pittsburgh was $48,000,” Pascal Liguori said. “I stayed behind to run the Pittsburgh business as a fallback. If they did well, I’d join them, if not, they could return to Pittsburgh.”
    In 1993, his brothers started Premier Estate Properties with Carmen D’Angelo Jr., with the goal to work with sellers whose homes exceeded $1 million. Laura joined them in 1996.
    “That was a lot of money, and people said they’d never make it; that they’d cut themselves out of the market, but they stayed true to their niche and were extremely successful,” Pascal Liguori said.
    “When they wanted to expand to Delray Beach, Hypoluxo, Point Manalapan, Gulf Stream and Ocean Ridge, that’s when I made the decision to come with my wife, Kelly, and our five kids (Alfonso, Antonio, Gabrielle, Angelo, Alessandro) to Florida in 2000. And we started the office at 900 E. Atlantic in Delray Beach. That was my area.
    “I had never set foot in Delray Beach. The first time I came was with the moving van and my family.”
    Fast-forward to today:
    Liguoris consistently rank among the nation’s top real estate professionals by The Wall Street Journal and RealTrends, and now it’s time to put the third generation to work, Pascal said. “My son Antonio is the only one in his generation to be involved, but he’s leading the way for the rest of them.”
    Antonio received his real estate license at 18, graduated from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor’s in business administration majoring in real estate, and has already served several internships with Seaside Builders.
    He also was an agent on a multimillion-dollar-producing team with Keller Williams Realty Advantage III in Orlando. This year, he passed his broker’s exam and he joined his father in July.
    “I’m ecstatic about joining my dad in our family business,” Antonio Liguori said. “I can’t see myself anywhere else. Delray Beach provides great activities and a vibrant atmosphere; our local business leaders have done a fantastic job developing a community here.”
    In addition to the Delray Beach office, Premier Estate Properties has two offices in Boca Raton, as well as offices in Fort Lauderdale and Vero Beach, and Laura Liguori, as corporate manager, oversees all five offices.
    Also in the Delray Beach office are office administrator Leslie Horenburger, executive assistant Lisa Kugan, and support coordinator Ruth Ortiz.
    “We are blessed and thankful for the trust our clients have placed in us,” Pascal Liguori said.

Making Christmas and Hanukkah gifts look good isn’t difficult

if you know the basics and have the right tools.

RELATED STORIES:

Wrapping a gift, step by step.

Adding a little coastal flair.

By Mary Thurwachter

    Preparing for the holidays comes with enough stress. Wrapping presents need not add to the angst.
    Natalia Woodworth, one of the wrap demonstrators at The Container Store’s weekend Wrap Parties at Boca Raton’s Town Center, says gift-wrapping can be fun and even simple, once you know the basics.
    “Get your shopping done early and maybe plan a wrap party with your girlfriends,” suggests Woodworth, who frequently presides over the store’s Gift Wrap Wonderland, a collection featuring hundreds of holiday gift wraps, ribbons, bows, totes, tie-ons, boxes and other gift packaging solutions. “Have some cider or wine. Make it fun.”
    Here are some of her wrapping tips:
    • Use paper with a grid on the back. It makes measuring easy. Then allow 2 inches on the ends of a box before you begin to fold.
    • When choosing a wrap, remember that typically, small patterned wraps work best for small boxes. Wraps with larger designs work well on bigger boxes so that the entire pattern may be seen. It’s always a nice touch to select a wrap that speaks to the personality or tastes of the recipient.
    • Create your own, unique presentation using a variety of materials and techniques. Experiment with ribbon in a basket weave pattern, use stickers and decals instead of tape.  
    • A good pair of scissors is essential for cutting paper straight.
    • Use two-sided tape. You won’t see the tape on the outside of the package at all.
    • Pick a theme. Paper designs at The Container Store are mostly made in America but some come from other countries. There are special designs for gifts for boyfriends, pets, kids, teachers, etc.
    • Choose embellishments for extra allure. Ornaments often are used for this purpose and can go on the tree after the present is opened.  
    • If your gift is large, like a surfboard or a bike, create a little game with clues that eventually lead the recipient to the garage where you’ve hidden the gift. Bulky toys and other gifts can be stuffed in a bag.
    • Put a bow on it! Making one isn’t as difficult as it may look. Wrap experts at the store will show you how.
    • Personalize presents with creative gift tags you can buy or make yourself.
    • Keep all of your wrapping supplies neat, accessible and protected. Depending on how much space you have, you can find solutions for storing these materials on a shelf, under a bed or in a spare closet.

Step 1: Spread paper face-down on flat surface with gift in center. Pull up sides of paper, estimating where they’ll meet; cut.
Step 2: Fold sides over; secure in middle.

Step 3: On one end of box, flatten paper from both sides against box, creating triangles above and below. Crease triangle edges.

Step 4: Tuck corners in at ends.

Wrap parties at The Container Store
    The Container Store’s Wrap Parties begin at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 20. The store’s wrap stars will show you how to wrap packages perfectly and tie them up with a bow that would make Santa’s elves proud. The store provides cider, holiday treats and a giveaway of a Customizable Gift Wrap Organizer Kit with $20 Store More Card at each event. The Container Store is at 6000 Glades Road, Town Center, Boca Raton, www.ContainerStore.com.

Wrapping trends
    This year’s top themes for wrap include trees, snowflakes and deer motifs, says Natalia Woodworth of The Container Store. “Foxes are the new owl (last year’s popular add-on animal) this year, and the store still has its signature penguin, moose, hedgehog and dog. Lots of natural recycled wraps again — as well as wood/wood-grain textures and patterns. Pinterest-y/DIY/personalizable elements like chalk wraps are still very big this year — we’re also seeing chalk ribbons and chalk boxes! Textured ribbons are big this year as well as reversible ribbons and velvet. Hanukkah gift wrap features lots of silvers and blues.”
 ­— Mary Thurwachter

    This time of year, beach-themed ornaments are especially popular at Hand’s Office & Art Supply in Delray Beach. Besides being used as tree décor, the ornaments are used to embellish gifts, giving them a seaside feel, said Liz Hughes, Hand’s manager. But the ornaments are good sellers all year long.
    “People like to buy them as a remembrance of the warmth and sunshine,” Hughes said. “We have ornaments made in Florida and from all over the world. Most are under $10.”
    Hand’s also has an extensive collection of Christmas cards and wrapping paper and is at 325 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach.

— Mary Thurwachter

    Lulu Whittaker passed away on Nov. 4. She was 10 years old. A typical Westie, Lulu was determined, smart and spirited. She was the Perle Mesta of Gulf Stream. Lulu was often seen wearing her pink Lilly Pulitzer dress and was the life of the party. She was a wonderful hostess when entertaining her friends or sponsoring an event for Dogs 4 Disabled Veterans. Lulu was everyone’s favorite and will be missed by all who knew her, especially Barbara.

— Submitted by Barbara Whittaker

By Lona O'Connor

    With no cure yet available, and few ways to stall its progress, Alzheimer’s disease has passed cancer as the disease most feared by Americans, according to 2015 surveys.
    Alzheimer’s steals memory and thinking ability and eventually kills its victims. In 2015, an estimated 35 million people worldwide have the disease. By 2050, as more people live longer, that number could grow to 131.5 million —or one out of 85 people globally.
    For people ages 85 to 95, the chance of developing Alzheimer’s is nearly 50 percent.
    Caring for an Alzheimer’s patient takes an emotional and financial toll on millions more — the caregivers and families.
    Michael Tuchman is one of thousands of doctors involved in medical trials that could find a cure. He is screening and evaluating test subjects in five current trials.
     “There is reason to be optimistic,” said Tuchman, a board-certified neurologist and psychiatrist who practices in Palm Beach Gardens.  
    Amyloid, a protein that collects in the brains of Alzheimer’s victims, is currently the “prime therapeutic target,” according to the journal Nature.
     “After 30 years of research, we have moved in the last 12 years to ‘Let’s move that amyloid out of there,’ ” Tuchman said.
     Two strategies are among those being tested: preventing the buildup of amyloid, and finding ways to flush it out of the body.
     Certain trials have isolated mouse antibodies that prevent the accumulation of amyloids. Other researchers are transferring protective antibodies from the small percentage of humans who seem to be genetically immune to Alzheimer’s. If the mouse and human trials prove successful, it will be possible to slow the disease with an injection.
    When Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist, conducted autopsies on abnormal brains, he identified three cases of the disease that now bears his name. All three cases involved people younger than 60. Alzheimer, who died in 1915, was not able to predict that the disease would occur more often in older people, because few people of his era lived past 60.
    Even in the middle of the 20th century, Alzheimer’s was seldom seen.
    “When I went to medical school in the ’60s, I was told it was something you’ll never see, and that’s what I told my students 10 years later,” Tuchman said.
    A hundred years after Alzheimer’s death, the only definitive test for the disease is the same: an autopsy that shows the presence of amyloid proteins and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain.
    However, there are now much better ways to diagnose Alzheimer’s early in its progression, Tuchman said.
    “We are now able to determine with a 90 to 95 percent confidence level,” he said. “That gives us hope.”
    Tuchman and his colleagues make their diagnoses based on family history, the existence of Parkinson’s disease and previous strokes, among other indicators.
    Patients can be given MRI, CT and PET scans and spinal taps to indicate the presence of amyloids. Doctors can also determine if the problem is Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia, which can be caused by strokes, for example.
    Since Alzheimer’s results in permanent brain damage, early detection gives the most hope for slowing its progress with drugs now available. The best people to notice early symptoms are people who see the patient every day: family and friends.
    Recent studies show that the brain remains elastic longer than previously thought. So, an old dog can learn new tricks — and should, to keep the brain cells firing. Puzzles, games, learning new languages, reading and other brain work all keep the “old” brain working better.
    Studies also show that exercise benefits brain health, and not just because it improves circulation.
    For more information, visit www.alz.org.

Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.

More than 400 volunteers from Congregation B’nai Israel and the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church

teamed up to serve Thanksgiving meals to 4,000 people. This year marks the 32nd year

of the ‘Feed the Hungry’ partnership between Congregation B’nai Israel and Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church.

Here, the Zadoff family from Highland Beach — Jeff, Sammy,10, and Liz — serves food.

The Zadoff family has made ‘Feed the Hungry’ part of its Thanksgiving tradition since 2009.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Students perform the Christmas Concert at St. Vincent Ferrer last year.

Photo by Alicia Donelan

By Janis Fontaine

   The holiday season is full of shopping and shows, concerts and parties. Parishioners are polishing the stained glass and putting on their dress-up clothes. They’ve got a lot to offer. Here’s a sampling:

St. Paul’s goes Victorian
    This year, St. Paul’s is inspired by how things were in the 1800s.
    The church’s “Festival of Lessons and Carols” is its most colorful and meticulously planned holiday event. It features favorite Christmas hymns, carols and anthems performed by the St. Paul’s choir and instrumental ensemble. Drawn from composers of the times, the program features works by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Sir John Stainer, Sir Joseph Barnby, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arthur Sullivan, and Gustav Holst. The congregation will be invited to sing along with the hymns and carols.
    If you go: the Festival of Lessons and Carols: A Victorian Christmas — 3 p.m. Dec. 20, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. A free-will offering will be accepted.

More Christmas events
    Christmas Collage...Christmases Past & Present: 7 p.m. Dec. 6, First United Methodist Church, 625 NE  Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton. A concert featuring some of the best-known Christmas songs. Free. Info: 395-1244.
    The Star of Bethlehem: A screening of this documentary by Steven McEveety, the producer of The Passion of the Christ, will be held in Kellaghan Hall at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, at 6:45 p.m. Dec. 6, following the LifeTeen Mass at 5:30 p.m. The filmmakers used modern scientific techniques and advanced astronomical technology to reveal the historically accurate events in the night sky that foretold the coming of the messiah. RSVP to Irene Hey at 573-6256 or Irenebyard@aol.com.
    Unity of Delray Beach Children’s Play: A special children’s program, The Christmas Story According to St. Luke, takes place at the 9:25 a.m. service Dec. 13. The Sunday school children will perform as their gift to the congregation. Children and grandchildren visiting from out of town are encouraged to participate in this magical show. Costumes will be provided. At 101 NW 22nd St., Delray Beach. Info: 276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org
    St. Vincent Ferrer Christmas Concert: 7-9 p.m. Dec. 15. A performance by St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School students in the Parish Life Center, 840 George Bush Blvd., Delray Beach. Free.
    St. Mark Catholic Church’s Christmas Pageant: 7 p.m. Dec. 20. The popular pageant presents a retelling of the Christmas story using cast members, both children and adults, from the congregation. The church is at 643 St. Mark Place in Boynton Beach. Info: 734-9330.

Congregation Beit Kulam brings it home
    Congregation Beit Kulam will be celebrating Hanukkah on Dec. 11 in the most fundamental way: with a meal at the family dinner table. A really big dinner table.
    Rabbi Joan Cubell, formerly at Temple Beth Shira, will lead the celebration, of course, because, well, it’s her house in the Polo Club in Delray Beach. And she expects a full house, including kids and canines.
    “Animals and children are always welcome!” Cubell says. She has six dogs of her own. You also need to bring your own menorah. “Everyone brings one and we light them together like a big family. Then we sing Hanukkah songs. We have a guitar and piano player.” They’ll also play games. And of course there’s tons of food made in her home’s Kosher kitchen.
    Sometimes called the “Congregation of Everyone” for its “for everyman” philosophy, Beit Kulam also is “the Congregation That Does,” Cubell says. “We don’t just say we’re going to do it, we actually do it!”
    Cubell is the first female rabbi to be ordained as rabbi with s’micha (rabbinical ordination) from Tifereth Israel Rabbinical Yeshiva in its 60-year history and the first woman to be accepted as a member of the American Council of Rabbis.
    For more information, visit cbkulam.org.

More Hanukkah events
    Share Our Light First Night, a menorah lighting ceremony with Judaic studies scholar Dr. Leon Weissberg, takes place at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 6, at Temple Sinai, 2475 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach. Admission is $5 for adults, free for younger than age 16. Info: 276-6161; templesinaipbc.net.
    The Delray Beach Lighting of the Menorah will take place at sundown on Dec. 6, on the front lawn at Old School Square, 51 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. For information, call 243-7000 or visit mydelraybeach.com.
    The Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County hosts a Hanukkah Celebration to Thank “Golden Givers” in Zinman Hall, at 9901 Donna Klein Blvd., Boca Raton. The holiday celebration (dietary laws observed) begins at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 10, with music. Tickets are $18. Reservations required at 852-3170; jewishboca.org.
    The cherry on top of Chabad of East Boca’s Chanukah Festival will be the performance by Israel’s King of Blues/ Rock, Lazer Lloyd, who performs in Sanborn Square in Boca Raton on the eighth night of Hanukkah.
    Lloyd’s most recent album, an eponymous album released in June, has garnered a suitcase full of rave reviews for his skillful riffs. One of the best-known blues musicians in Israel, the Connecticut-raised singer/songwriter was born Lloyd Paul Blumen 40-something years ago. (Lazer is short of Eliezer, Lloyd’s Hebrew name.) Living abroad in Israel for the last 20 years ago, Lloyd has watched Israel’s love for the blues blossom. Now the land of his ancestors attracts A-list blues artists. Lloyd contends the blues have been there all along. He told The New York Times, “We consider King David to be the first blues singer.”
    The event also features carnival rides and food, and a menorah lighting. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for kids. For more information, visit chabadbocabeaches.com.

Chabad’s dreidel honors
    Who owns the world’s most expensive dreidel?
    According to the Guinness World Records, Chabad of South Palm Beach County does. The record was officially claimed on Oct. 23.   
    “Dreidel” is Yiddish for a spinning top, and most dreidels are toys. In the past, they were made of clay. This one is made of precious gems and metals.   
    The four-sided dreidel has a silver Tiffany frame, gemstone-encrusted gold plates with the four Hebrew letters: Nun, Gimmel, Hay and Shin, which form the acronym of the phrase: “Nes gadol hayah sham” or “A great miracle happened there,” a reference to the Hanukkah miracle.
    The top point is antique turquoise, and the point on which it spins is a diamond. The artist who made it, Pedro Maldonado of Artisan Jewelers in Manalapan, also used free-hanging diamonds and gems that sparkle when it spins.
    Chabad of South Palm Beach appealed to the Guinness World Records Inc. to create custom criteria for this new category — the World’s Most Valuable Dreidel.
    “The completed  Dreidel  meets and exceeds the Guinness requirements in every category,” Rabbi Leibel Stolik said.
Maldonado donated his skills to craft the piece, valued at $14,000.

Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their causes and community events. Contact her at janisfontaine@outlook.com.

Resurrection fern growing on an oak tree thrives in the humid air.

A family enjoys a walk on one of the trails.

INSET BELOW: Beauty berry lives up to its name.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

    Deerfield Island Park has much to teach us about what happens when man intrudes on nature. Keep that in mind as you travel the half-mile Coquina Trail that explores the eastern side of this 53.3-acre piece of land.
    “This park is a hidden gem in the middle of the urban wilderness,” says naturalist Katharine Hendrickson, who works for the Broward County Parks and Recreation Division.
    But to discover the island, you’ll need a boat. Free dockage for moderate and deep-water boats means you can bring your own or you can hop aboard the weekend pontoon shuttle that leaves Sullivan Park on the mainland.
    Once on the island, find a picnic spot or take the opportunity to learn more about the ecology of this natural jewel.
    “We are working to make this park less passive and more of an educational experience,” says Hendrickson — mentioning guided bird walks, kayak tours and more.
    While walking on the boardwalk and sandy paths, you’ll see many plants and animals up close and personal.

    On our visit, we were greeted by raccoons (there are three troops on the island), an orb weaver spinning an intricate web that she will destroy at the end of the day, a cardinal couple, an iguana that probably swam over to look for lunch and a gopher tortoise.
    Hendrickson tells us there are about 50 burrows the tortoises have built on the island, of which 30 are actively populated.
    Because the tortoises are a protected species, the island is closely monitored to be sure there are plenty of safe areas for them to find sandy land in which to burrow and plenty of vegetation for them to eat.
    To understand the plants you will see along the way, you need to jump back in time to when Deerfield Island was still a peninsula surrounded by fresh water. In fact you’ll still find pond apples growing on the island that probably took root when the western part of the peninsula was a fresh water marsh; the eastern side was covered with slash pines.
    Beginning in 1895, the lazy river to the east of the peninsula was widened and deepened to become the Florida East Coast Canal and later the Intracoastal Waterway.
    What sand and sludge was removed to deepen and widen these waterways was dumped on the peninsula, raising its elevation, destroying the native vegetation and creating an open expanse of sand.
    In 1904, the river on the south side of the peninsula was “improved” to help drain the Everglades. And in 1961, a waterway was built to connect this canal with the Intracoastal Waterway — turning the peninsula into an island.
    With its habitat cut off from the mainland and little else growing, it was ripe to be invaded by Australian pines, Brazilian peppers, morning glory vines, wandering sailor and schefflera.
You’ll still find these on the island today, but Hendrickson and her small crew are slowly removing them.
    “As we remove the invasives, we see natives starting to flourish. They are just waiting for their time to shine. It’s fantastic to see them rising up out of the sand,” she says.
    Some of the natives such as wild coffee, mangrove trees, gumbo limbos, sea grapes, saw palmettos, coconut palms, ferns and oaks have arrived naturally. But others such as the stoppers and slash pines were planted.
    A butterfly garden also was recently created, which was a big undertaking. Almost 30 volunteers, the plants and 27 bags of soil had to be transported to the island by boat and moved to the site on ATVs.
    “It was a major logistical effort,” says Hendrickson. But like everything else in this island park, it is much appreciated.
    “I’ve never met anyone who has come here and not felt a connection to this island. It’s a very special place,” says Hendrickson.

Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley is a certified master gardener who can be reached at debhartz@att.net.

Nate Kinbacher, manager of The Bridgehampton, hacks away at invasive Brazilian pepper plants

along the dunes in Delray Beach. His friend Jason Davis assists.

The berries of a Brazilian pepper plant.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley
    
    Nonie Wyckoff of Delray Beach has taken it upon herself to help educate Floridians living along the dunes about how to eliminate the invasive plants that are destroying native vegetation and opening the sand to dangerous erosion.
    “The invasives need to be removed to make the beach look better and to protect it as well as our homes,” says Wyckoff, who has owned her Bridgehampton condo for more than 20 years.   
    Her involvement started about a month ago when, by chance, she ran into dune biologist Rob Barron. A consultant for the city, he was walking the almost two miles of sand behind the town’s beachfront homes. He’d been hired to map the invasive plants in order to rewrite the city’s Comprehensive Dune Management Plan.
    In talking to him, Wyckoff learned that the natural dune vegetation is under assault from invasive species.
    And, of course, this is not only a problem in Delray Beach but all along Florida’s coast. In fact, about 387 of the state’s 825 miles of sandy beaches have experienced “critical erosion.” That’s enough to threaten development and recreation as well as cultural and environmental interests, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
    And much of the problem can be linked to invasives replacing natives on the beaches because the natural greenery protects the beaches, dunes and homes behind them from storm damage and erosion. Those natives also provide habitat for coastal animals and can even help nesting sea turtles by shielding them from artificial light from the land.
    “I couldn’t believe what he was telling me about the problems with invasives,” Wyckoff says.
    So she not only talked to her fellow condo dwellers about undertaking an eradication program but she also contacted the neighbors.
    “We feel the beach is something we should all look after,” says Debby MacInnis at The Southampton, next door. She admits to having noticed in the last two years that invasives are taking over the dunes behind her home.
    So, after hearing from Wyckoff, she and her fellow condo dwellers met to discuss the problem and the possibilities. And now they are looking into turning their eradication project over to their landscape contractor.
    But others are doing it themselves.
    On Wednesday afternoons, you’ll find Nate Kinbacher, who manages and maintains The Bridgehampton, out on the beach swinging a machete and using a saw to whack and hack his way through the invasive plants. Once they are cut back, he drags them to where they’ll be picked up by bulk garbage collection.
    “It’s hot sweaty work. But I’ve always had a green thumb and like being outdoors working with my hands,” says Kinbacher, who says it takes about three hours to clear 100 square feet of dune.
    He goes after the non-natives Barron has pointed out as the four biggest culprits in this area.
    Of course there are many more, but looking out over the dunes, one sees the shiny bright green leaves of the Hawaiian sea grape and the prickly nicker bean that can quickly grow 18 to 20 feet in length. There’s the Brazilian pepper, which has red berries that birds eat and then spread their seeds. And the prolific coin vine is aptly named for its seeds that look like, well, coins.
    Soon the dunes here will be like those behind Delray Beach’s Fountain House where the owners have already cleared the exotics and are getting ready to plant sea oats, saw palmettos and other rare but native coastal shrubs.
    With the invasives removed, some of the more than 170 native species you find on wild, natural dunes will have room and sunlight to thrive.
    “There’s no obligation to homeowners to do anything about the problem of invasives. It’s just smart,” Barron says.

GET INVOLVED
    For more information about fighting invasives on Florida dunes, visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs141p2_014913.pdf.
    For more information about removing invasives from your beachfront property, contact Robert H. Barron Coastal Management Consulting, 441-1446 or beachmaker@aol.com.

Jimmy Lytle reads the green as he caddies for pro golfer Meg Mallon during the Walgreens Charity Championship

at the Seagate Golf Club in Delray Beach in early November. Mallon, of Delray Beach, made an attempt

to defend her title at the Legends Tour event.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

    The countless rounds former PGA Tour player Steve LeBrun has played with Ocean Ridge pro Jimmy Lytle has left him with no doubt Lytle has what it takes to reach the game’s highest level.
    “He’s a good enough player,” said LeBrun, who played on the Tour in 2013 and is in the process of working his way back. “He’s got a great short game, and his long game is fine. He’s probably one of the best chippers and putters I’ve played with.
    “He’s just got to get himself right from the mental side, to believe he can shoot those scores when the lights are shining brightest.”
    Lytle, 29, has spent a lifetime proving himself on the links, from knocking it around with top junior players at Delray Beach Golf Course in his formative years to Pope John Paul (now St. John Paul Academy) in Boca Raton to Elon University in North Carolina to Pine Tree and Quail Ridge in Boynton Beach.
    Along the way he’s met some of the biggest names in the game, from former LPGA star Meg Mallon, for whom he caddied in the recent LPGA Legends event at Seagate Country Club in Delray Beach, to Hall of Fame teacher Bob Toski, with whom he’s worked in recent years. In eight years as a pro,  he’s won 50 events — the vast majority on the Palm Beach County-based Minor League Tour. But ask Lytle to name the highlight of his career so far and he replies, “I don’t think it’s happened yet.”
    He has had his moments. In 2011, he made it through the first two rounds of Web.com qualifying to reach the pressure-packed Q School, but didn’t fare well enough there to get a full-time playing card. The same year he shot 63 to win a  Web.com qualifier at Jacaranda in west Broward, then was in the top 15 after two rounds before fading.
    “That was good; most people miss the cut in their first tournament,” he said. “And I’ve finished second in pretty much every state’s Open in the Northeast. So a lot of top finishes, but my best is ahead of me for sure.”
    History says time is still on his side. LeBrun, of West Palm Beach, didn’t reach the Tour until he was 34 in 2013, when he played in 21 events and earned more than $330,000. Justin Hicks of Royal Palm Beach spent years working as a bag boy at PGA National before his break came in 2011 at age 36; he’s since earned more than $2.6 million.
    After failing to get past the first stage of Web.com qualifying this year — the top 25 players from that tour move up to the PGA Tour every year — Lytle plans to go back to basics for 2016.
    “I’ve tried to do too much the last couple years,” he said. “I’m going to throw out the window what happened this year, and maybe last year, and just go back to something I know I had success with.”
    LeBrun said that what Lytle needs more than anything else is the belief that he can produce under pressure — and then go out and do it.
    “The Minor League Tour, the mini-tour events, all that’s fine, but that’s not really golf,” LeBrun said. “Q School, the PGA Tour, that’s golf. Your body feels totally different than playing those other events. Maybe you’re a little nervous, but it boils down to if you can shoot good scores when your body doesn’t even feel like your body, that’s when you can go and get through this thing.
    “He needs to go to Q School with the attitude of ‘I can beat anybody here,’ because he has done that. He gets and keeps that mindset, then we’ll see what he can do.”

New boating zones in Florida Bay, including poll-and-troll zones and poll-troll-idle zones,

were approved as part of Everglades National Park’s new general management plan.

The shallow-water boating zones are not physically marked yet.

ENP website image

By Willie Howard

    Everglades National Park will require training for all boaters navigating park waters beginning next year.
    The 1.5 million-acre park harbors some of the most remote shallow-water fishing and boating destinations in Florida, including most of Florida Bay and the Wilderness Waterway, which stretches 99 miles from Everglades City to Flamingo.
    Although details are still being developed for the boater-education program, park officials say mandatory training will be required sometime in 2016 and will be available online.
    Park planner Fred Herling said key goals of the boater-education program are resource protection (primarily for sea grasses), respectful boating behavior and safety.
    Boater education will be free — at least at first. A boating permit fee, probably $50 to $75, is expected to be phased in. The online course will include links to nautical charts of the park’s waters.
    The public will be notified of the date when mandatory education is required. For updates, check the park’s website, www.nps.gov/ever.
    Boater education is part of the park’s new general management plan, approved in October.
    Other key features include 140,000 acres of shallow-water zoning to protect marine habitat as well as designated zones for commercial and private airboats.
    Boating zones will include poll-and-troll zones, where combustion engines can’t be used, poll-troll-idle zones and on-plane access channels.
    CCA/Florida, the recreational fishing group, worked with park planners in developing the new management plan.
    “We believe the general management plan strikes an appropriate balance of management measures to safeguard resources while allowing for reasonable boating and fishing access,” said Trip Aukeman, director of advocacy for CCA/Florida.
    Implementing the new management plan, including boating zones, is expected to take several years and will depend on the availability of funding, park Superintendent Pedro Ramos said.

Sachs supports incentive for boat beacons
    State Sen. Maria Sachs of Delray Beach will co-sponsor a bill that would give boaters a financial incentive for buying and registering satellite beacons for their vessels.  
    Sachs will co-sponsor Senate Bill 746, filed by state Sen. Joe Negron of Stuart, because the bill accomplishes the voluntary incentive approach discussed during a boating safety workshop Sachs organized in September at the Delray Beach Public Library, said Gladys Ferrer, a legislative assistant in Sachs’ office.
    Elected officials joined representatives from law enforcement and the boating industry at the safety workshop, held in response to this summer’s extensive search for Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen — two 14-year-old boys who left Jupiter Inlet in a 19-foot boat on July 24 and never returned.
    Their capsized Sea Craft boat was found in the ocean off New Smyrna Beach.
    Negron worked on legislation promoting satellite beacons with Austin’s parents, who started the AustinBlu Foundation in their son’s memory to promote boating safety.
    “My bill will stress education and the use of technology for increased safety,” Sachs said in an email. “The state will be offering financial incentives to encourage education and safety. This is a win-win proposition, and I urge everyone to support it.”
    Rescue beacons send up a unique signal to satellites during emergencies, allowing rescuers to pinpoint the location of the boaters in distress.
    Negron’s bill would offer boaters a price break of about 25 percent on the annual vessel registration fee if they prove they have a satellite beacon registered with NOAA for their boat.
    Another boating safety bill (SB 644), introduced by state Sen. Jeremy Ring of Margate, would increase from 14 to 16 the minimum age to operate a personal watercraft in Florida.
 
Tip of the month
    Take extra precautions to avoid leaving fishing line in the water, dangling from tree branches or on the ground where it can harm birds and marine animals.
    Discarded fishing line has killed pelicans and other sea birds and has cut off circulation to the flippers of marine mammals, such as manatees and bottlenose dolphin.
    Consider bringing an empty tennis-ball can when you go fishing.
    After trimming a leader or removing old line from a reel, stuff the unwanted line into the can, replace the lid and stow it until the line can be disposed of properly.
Monofilament line can be recycled. Look for fishing line recycling bins (large, white PVC pipes) around boat ramps and fishing piers.
    Berkley (a fishing equipment company) uses monofilament line scraps to make plastic products, including artificial reefs for ponds and lakes.
    For details about recycling monofilament fishing line, see www.fishinglinerecycling.org.

Willie Howard is a freelance writer and licensed boat captain. Reach him at tiowillie@bellsouth.net.

Workers and dogs coexist inside the pet-friendly office of Architec Brands, a housewares design company

in Delray Beach. Henry, a 3-year-old golden retriever, lounges in his bed. His friend Lilly,

a 2-year-old Morkie, explores the office to find a place for a nap as Architec employees (l-r) Erin Yergens,

Jenna Sellers Miller and Megan Grennan work in the background.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Arden Moore

    We are in the heart of the holiday season. And you have a choice. You can scramble to various stores and spend hours online to shop for gifts you hope will be well-received by your family and friends.
    Or you can consider a powerful third option by purchasing items from companies committed to giving back to homeless dogs, cats and other companion animals. Locally, Jenna Sellers Miller is launching a holiday tradition in memory of Benny, her late, great otterhound mix she adopted from a Tallahassee shelter. He was just hours away from being euthanized because of shelter overcrowding.
    As chief executive officer of Architec Brands, a company based in downtown Delray Beach, Miller is donating 5 percent of each product sale of her Totally Sweet Products line to Animal Aid Inc., a nonprofit, no-kill animal rescue shelter and adoption center in Oakland Park. This group takes in emergency, abuse and neglect cases as well as dogs and cats from animal control agencies in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
    Miller is calling her first pet donation venture the Bake for Benny fund. And Miller will donate 5 percent of all sales — not simply net profit — from items in her Totally Sweet Products brand. TSP is the new boutique line of bakeware tools and accessories by Architec Brands, a manufacturing company founded in 2000 by Miller’s mother, Kathleen Sellers. Its products are now available in major department stores and gourmet shops throughout the United States plus eight other countries.
    Miller, who shares her home now with three former shelter dogs named Birdie, Chaney and Molly, is focusing on Animal Aid this time, but has bigger plans. She intends to expand her giving by divvying up the funds to more nonprofit animal charities in the coming years.
    “Launching the new TSP line means a new avenue for us to give back,” says Miller, who runs a pet-welcoming office. “We have been wanting to do this for a long time and are ready to give back to pet charities and no-kill shelters that work so hard.”
    Benny was her inspiration. Miller expresses it best:
    “Benny was such a good dog, no, make that the best dog,” says Miller. “I found him on Petfinder.com 14 years ago. Something about his photo, his eyes that I connected with and I immediately called the shelter in Tallahassee where he was housed. They told me I better get him fast because he was scheduled for ‘destruction’ at 8 a.m. the next day.
    “I was dating my now husband, Bryan, at the time and asked him if he would drive with me and he immediately replied, ‘Let’s go.’ We drove all night to Tallahassee and arrived at 7 a.m. to adopt Benny. He was a scruffy, smelly mutt and we stopped in Gainesville where we took him to a PetSmart store to get him groomed.
    “Benny became our first office dog at Architec Brands, and passed away a couple years ago. He had a nice, long happy life and I will  never forget him.”
    If you would like to make this holiday a special one for animals in need, consider these ways you can make a difference for shelter animals:
    • Volunteer to walk shelter dogs or play with cats.
    • Donate spare towels, pet beds and blankets to an animal shelter.
    • Offer to temporarily foster a shelter pet during the holiday season.
    • Provide transportation for shelter animals needing to go to foster or adoptive homes.
    • Spread the word. If you adopted a pet at an animal shelter, post his photo and your gratitude on your social media sites.
    • Host a party for your pet and ask attendees to bring items that can be donated to shelters in lieu of gifts for your pet.
    • Honor the memory of a beloved pet who passed away by making a donation in his name to a nonprofit pet group.
    Take it from Miller. It feels good to give.
    “Benny represents the inherent worth of all animal life and highlights the incredible work and devotion of those who dedicate their time to saving and improving pet lives,” says Miller. “This is a way I can honor his memory.”

BAKE FOR BENNY
    Learn more by visiting the Bake for Benny website (www.je0711.wix.com/bake-for-benny), the Architec website (www.architecproducts.com/tsp/) and its designated charity beneficiary, Animal Aid Inc. (www.animal-aid.com/index.html).

Arden Moore, founder of www.FourLeggedLife.com, is an animal behavior consultant, editor, author, speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. Learn more by visiting www.fourleggedlife.com.