Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

By Willie Howard

    Later this month, thousands of South Florida divers will descend below the waves in pursuit of those antenna-waving crustaceans known as spiny lobster — or, simply, “bugs.”
    This year’s sport lobster season — two days set aside annually for recreational divers to catch spiny lobster before the commercial harvest begins — is July 30-31.
    Those who choose to avoid the sometimes-crowded waters of the two-day sport season can dive for lobster when the regular season opens Aug. 6.
    For divers who plan to hunt for bugs during the two-day sport season, a tradition for many Florida families, it’s a good idea to scout before the special season opens.
    Scouting allows divers to pinpoint lobster hot spots while checking their scuba gear and practicing their dive protocols before the ocean and inshore waters become crowded.
    Too many times in years past, divers who are out of shape or who haven’t been diving for a long time have descended onto Palm Beach County reefs on the first day of the mini lobster season and never surfaced.
    If you’re not positive that your diving skills are sharp, consider taking a refresher course through a dive shop.
    Remember to stay with the diver pulling the float-mounted flag that marks the whereabouts of divers in the water. Be sure to fly a dive flag from the boat. And be sure the person who stays on the boat knows when and where divers are due back on the surface — and what to do if they don’t surface on time.
    Here’s a quick review of the basic rules for the two-day sport lobster season:
    • For the two-day sport season only, the daily bag limit is 12 lobsters per person. Exception: The daily bag limit is six lobsters in Monroe County (the Florida Keys) and in Biscayne National Park.
    • To be legal to keep, a lobster’s carapace, or head section, must measure more than 3 inches. Divers must carry a measuring device and measure lobster under water. Lobster must be kept intact until they’re brought ashore.
    • No egg-bearing lobster may be taken. Look under the lobster for eggs, a spongy orange mass. It’s illegal to use spears or other tools that puncture a lobster’s shell.
    • A Florida saltwater fishing license and lobster permit are required to harvest lobster unless you’re a Florida resident under age 16, age 65 or older or otherwise exempt from the fishing license requirement.
    • A complete list of spiny lobster rules can be found at www.myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/lobster.
    Divers should expect officers from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and other law enforcement agencies to check for violations of lobster and dive-flag laws during the two-day sport season.
    Law enforcement officers also will be watching to ensure that boats supporting divers are flying red-and-white diver-down flags — and that other boaters steer clear of dive flags.
    Dive flags on boats must be at least 20 inches by 24 inches and should have a stiffening wire that keeps them unfurled. Divers and snorkelers in the water must pull a float-mounted dive flag at least 12 inches square.
    Boat drivers must make reasonable efforts to stay at least 300 feet (one football field) away from dive flags in open water and at least 100 feet away in rivers, channels and inlets. Boats approaching closer should do so at idle speed.
    In recent years, the FWC has used radar to measure the distance between boats and dive flags.
    For added safety in the Gulf Stream current that sweeps along the coast of Palm Beach County, some dive boat captains require divers to carry colorful, inflatable tubes that make them more visible if they become separated from groups.
    Lynn Simmons, owner of Splashdown Divers at Boynton Harbor Marina, said her divers have been spotting bugs on the reefs in 45 to 80 feet south of Boynton Inlet.
    Simmons tells lobster divers to practice their diving skills well before the two-day sport season and to take their time when searching for lobster.
    “Being the first in the water doesn’t mean you’re going to get the first lobster,” she said.
    Simmons asks divers to respect the reef while coaxing lobsters from hiding places.
    “Some people think catching a lobster is more important than protecting his home,” she said.
    Jim Hill, captain of the Loggerhead dive boat based at Boynton Harbor Marina, said he generally takes divers into depths ranging from 65 to 85 feet to search for lobster during the two-day sport season.
    Hill breaks up his divers into small groups, with one dive flag towed by each group. The small-group system makes it easier for divers to stay near a dive flag as required.
    Hill said divers were spotting lobsters on the reefs near Boynton Inlet in June. But that’s no guarantee they’ll be easy to find when the two-day sport season opens in late July.
    “They have better calendars than we do,” Hill said, referring to lobsters. “On July 28, they’ll go and hide somewhere.”
                              
Flotsam
    • LagoonKeepers, the nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping Palm Beach County’s inshore waters clean and free of navigation hazards, offers free use of kayaks in eight locations, (including Boynton Harbor Marina) to members as long as they agree to pick up trash while they’re paddling. Participants are asked to photograph the trash they find and email the photos to LagoonKeepers. Membership costs $50 a year for individuals and $100 for families. For details, go to www.lagoonkeepers.org.
    • A high school student fishing at night with friends over the Memorial Day weekend caught and released an 11-foot sawfish at Boynton Inlet. They captured the action on video. Smalltooth sawfish are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and must be released.
    • The 20th annual Mark Gerretson Memorial Fishing Tournament is set for Aug. 9 based at Veteran’s Park in Delray Beach. The captain’s meeting and final registration are scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Aug. 8 at the Delray Beach Elks Lodge, 265 NE Fourth Ave. Find details at www.mgmft.net.
                              
Tip of the month: Drift for blackfin tuna
    Capt. Bruce Cyr of the Lady K drift boat in Lantana said his customers are catching tasty blackfin tuna by drifting dead sardines. He said the blackfin bite tends to be strong just before, during and after the full moon.
    Try fishing with flat lines (no weight) or use an eighth- to a half-ounce of weight directly above the hook. Increase weight on bright days or in rough seas. Thread the sardine onto triple hooks tied to 50-pound-test monofilament or fluorocarbon leader.
    Cyr also recommends another rig featuring about 4 feet of 30-pound-test fluorocarbon leader and a single, 5/0 circle hook.
    He said the tuna often feed deeper in the bright sun and come to the surface on overcast days. In the ocean off Boynton Inlet, start fishing in 180 feet and drift in to about 70 feet. Also try deeper water out to 300 feet and try fishing with live sardines or pilchards.
    There are no size or bag limits for blackfin tuna, but conservation-minded anglers release the small ones.

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

Judith and Stephen Beiner created a trust to care for Max in the event they died before the dog.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Arden Moore

   For more than three decades, attorney Stephen Beiner has specialized in family and matrimonial law, but lately, his expertise is now happily going to the dogs — and cats, parrots and other pets.
    As a name partner with Beiner, Inkeles, Horvitz based in Boca Raton, Beiner credits Max, a Shih-Tzu-poodle mix he adopted from a Broward County shelter, with inspiring him to expand his legal practice to fill a needed void in Palm Beach County: pet trusts.
    “In my file cabinets at our law offices, there must be more than 1,000 wills and trusts I’ve prepared for my clients,” notes Beiner. “I interview each client in depth, asking about their children, grandchildren and any special children or individuals they want included in their trusts. But it never occurred to me to ask about pets until my wife, Judith, and I adopted Max.”
    Three years ago, Max, now 5, unleashed his canine charm on Beiner at the shelter. When Beiner picked up Max out of the cage to hug him, Max delivered a friendly dog kiss to his cheek. That’s all it took for Beiner to be smitten and since that day, their friendship has only grown stronger.
    “Max gives me abundant, continual love every day and I have a responsibility to Max to keep my promise that if, God forbid, my wife and I should die before him that Max won’t be abandoned again and won’t end up in a shelter again.”
    In Florida and the other states, pets are still considered chattel (personal property) in the eyes of the legal system. As such, a person cannot legally leave any or all of his estate directly to a pet.
    “You can’t leave money to a dog, just like you can’t leave money to your living room sofa,” he says.
    However, the immeasurable value of pets as cherished members of families is shifting legal sentiment. In recent years, legislators in Florida and 32 other states enacted laws that allow for the creation of care trusts for surviving pets whose owners become hospitalized, incapacitated or die.
    Without legal instructions spelling out the fate of pets who outlive their owners, far too many become abandoned or surrendered to shelters where, if not adopted, they are euthanized to make way for new arrivals.
    Beiner did not want this to happen to Max. So, he drew up a legally binding pet trust that spells out specific care instructions for Max, including his meals (featuring organic ground beef and grain-free commercial dog food),  his five daily walks and much more. He set aside funds, named a primary pet guardian, two back up guardians and a trustee.
    “The trustee is in charge of managing the funds, investing the funds and supervising the pet guardian to make sure Max is walked and fed as promised,” he says. “I have found that I have a lot of clients who feel about their dogs and other pets as my wife and I do about Max.”
    Word about Beiner’s “legal beagle” pet trust expertise is spreading. His typical pet trust document numbers about 40 pages and includes identifying the pet’s veterinarian. He is attracting clients from other law firms that do not yet offer pet trusts.
    “I even had one person who heard about me and the pet trusts tell me that she doesn’t have a pet, but said she felt I sounded like a person with a heart because of how much I care about Max and she said that I was the type of person she wanted to have as her attorney,” says Beiner.
    The bottom line: Pet care trusts give pet lovers peace of mind in knowing that provisions will be made to provide a quality life for their surviving pets.
    “With a pet trust, what you are conveying to your pet is that ‘I will protect you. I will always be there for you and if I can’t, I will make sure that someone will be there for you and you will never be abandoned,’ ” says Beiner.
    And, yes, his pet trusts even cover species whose life spans can easily exceed 40 years: horses and parrots.
Learn more: According to the ASPCA, more than a half-million pets are euthanized annually because their owners died or were transferred to nursing care facilities and did not leave any legal-binding care instructions for their pets.

     Learn more about pet trusts by contacting Beiner at his law office at www.beinerlaw.com or (561) 750-1800.

    Arden Moore, founder of FourLeggedLife.com, is an animal behavior consultant, editor, author, professional speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. Each week, she hosts the popular Oh Behave! show on PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more by visiting www.fourleggedlife.com.

Graphic by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

    It had all the makings of an end-of-season cocktail party on Coquina Road.
    Red and white wines, crudités and dip, flatbreads, bruschetta and cookies were served. The setting was an oceanfront patio with a built-in pool and a tremendous view.
    Instead, it was a late May gathering of two unlikely pairings: Briny Breezes trailer owners and their neighbors to the south, known as “pocket people” from their ownership in an unincorporated county pocket. Their uniting cause: proposed development of the former “dog beach parcel” that sits between them.
    The nearly 30 people who attended would soon find out they could be “affected parties.”
    Kristine de Haseth, executive director of the nonprofit Florida Coalition for Preservation, spoke about making sure the developer plays by the rules, to ensure “responsible development compatible with the community and environment.”
    An April meeting between developer Joseph Basil Sr. and the Villas at Malibu owners prodded the other nearby property owners. De Haseth would not say who invited her to speak in May, just that it was a “pocket person.”
    Hostess Marlese Loveall was in Missouri when she heard about that April meeting. She cut short her trip to get back in time to attend it because her house sits south of the Villas at Malibu.
    She told the gathering that Basil wants to have the stretch of Old Ocean Boulevard that lies between his property and the beach abandoned, expand the ocean access on the north side, and eliminate the south access path and part of Seaview Avenue. He would provide another access road through his property to get to the Villas at Malibu.
    “Villas at Malibu residents constantly called me about kids drinking, drug use and hookers on the corner (of Old Ocean Boulevard and Seaview Avenue),” Basil said a day after the May meeting. “So I met with them to suggest making it all one community and put a road in the bottom of the property to give them access.”
    It would stop “the riffraff,” and everyone would be happy, he said.
    The 2005 plans allow his group to build 12, three-story units. But if he wants to change the configuration of the land by getting approval to abandon the two roads, that would trigger a “development review” process with the county, de Haseth said. The process is run by the county’s Zoning Division and allows various departments and state agencies to weigh in on the proposed changes.
    A big component of that review comes from the county’s Department of Environmental Resources Management, which oversees stormwater pollution prevention, on-site contamination, native vegetation and sea turtles.
    “Plus, if he changed access and egress, would he have to bring the roads up to today’s code for traffic and drainage,” de Haseth told the May gathering. “Projects like this are ‘onions’ and you have to peel layer after layer off to get to the truth.”
    Losing another beach access path irritated some who were gathered in May. They were told to review their property documents for easements and access ways and to take photographs of that path to prove that it’s used constantly. Property owners within 300 feet, known as “affected parties,” of the proposed road abandonment can weigh in, de Haseth told the group.
    Another issue was the actual height of the buildings. Would it be 35 feet, or 35 feet on top of 12 feet that the developer might be required to raise the property so that stormwater runoff flows downhill into the ocean?
    Ryan Heavyside, a third-generation pocket owner who owns the Nomad Surf Shop west of the parcel, was concerned about the height. He lives above the surf shop. “How tall will it be? That affects my view and [keeps] breezes from reaching me,” he said.
    The height of a wall around the townhouses alarmed others.
    “I find that wall offensive,” said Greg Esterman of Briny Breezes. “It’s popular in urban planning, but it’s like building a fort, saying I don’t want anyone to look at our buildings.”
    The wall has worried Denise LeBlanc, a pocket person. “It’s like they are chipping away at paradise,” she said.
    When asked whether the wall would be 8 or 10 feet high, Basil said, “It’s not a 10-foot wall, more of a landscaped wall, no higher than any other walls nearby.”
    While the name of the project on the 2005 plans was Old Ocean Town Homes, Basil said they had not come up with a new name.
    The units will be of different sizes to accommodate changing market demand. “Back then, bigger was better. Now people want less square feet and more amenities, such as a pool. The units will range between 2,500 and 3,500 square feet,” he said.
    His company plans to sell the units at $1.6 million, unlike his Lantana project once called the Village at Ocean Walk. He rented the entire mixed-use project to the Lucida Treatment Center from California. They have eight condos where Basil said treatment can cost $120,000 a month with a chef, masseuse and acupuncture for clients — “everything you could want.” The center uses the retail space for its offices.  
    Basil said if the nearby property owners agree to abandon Old Ocean Boulevard, he would square off his property and “donate the parcel on the east side to the county.”
    And just how many units would his company be allowed to build? That depends on who is doing the counting.
    According to the property appraiser’s database, the three lots total 1.5 acres. But in a previous letter of inquiry, planning staff used a property survey that says the three lots comprise 2.07 acres and another .23 acre from the abandonment of the Old Ocean Boulevard, giving a total of 2.3 acres. The county used the 2.3-acre size for the purpose of responding to Basil’s land planner on May 8.
    It could be as few as 13 units, or as many as 36 units with bonus and other credits included.
    Basil said he would know more by the end of June when his land planner and architect finish their work and his partner returns from North Carolina.
    De Haseth also plans to meet with the combined group again at the end of the month. They have “a laid-back funky lifestyle where beach access is important,” she said. “Putting up that wall to create exclusivity turns people off. It’s the last bit of funky Florida.”

A sample storm surge prediction map uses Fort Myers as an example.

Provided by NOAA

By Cheryl Blackerby

    In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, coastal residents learned the hard way about the dangers of storm surge.
    Sandy didn’t do its damage with high winds or torrential rains, but rather with large swells and powerful ocean waves that washed millions of tons of sand off beaches and from underneath beachside condos, and took out sea walls and swimming pools.
    This hurricane season, which started June 1, South Floridians will navigate storm warnings with the help of new “Potential Storm Surge Flooding Maps” that will be issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center.
    The center’s Storm Surge Team was on the Gulf Coast in late May raising hurricane awareness, said Dennis Feltgen, an NHC meteorologist. And that awareness included the dangers of surge.
    Hurricane warnings in the past have not included detailed advisories about surge, and, to make matters worse, the danger of storm surge generally doesn’t correlate to high wind speeds. Even tropical storms and Category 1 or 2 hurricanes can cause life-threatening waves and flooding.
    Floridians’ relief that Hurricane Sandy had bypassed them was short-lived.
    The second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history ultimately caused $68 billion in damage on the entire Eastern Seaboard, and most of it came from surge, according to NOAA research.
    The new maps were developed over several years in consultation with broadcast meteorologists and others. The maps will show land areas where, based on the latest NHC forecast, storm surge could occur; and how high above ground the water could reach in those areas.
    Factors the maps will take into consideration include the hurricane’s landfall location; storm intensity, size, forward speed, and angle of approach to the coast; the shape of the coastline; the width and slope of the ocean bottom; and local features such as barrier islands, bays, and rivers.
    The center will update the maps every six hours with each full advisory package. Due to the processing time required to produce the map, it will not be available until about 45 to 60 minutes following an advisory release.
    The maps will typically be issued when a hurricane or tropical storm watch is first issued, or about 48 hours before the anticipated onset of tropical storm force winds.
    Based on the forecast movement and intensity of the tropical storm or hurricane, the maps also take into account likely forecast errors and estimates of worst-case scenario flooding of normally dry land.
    The center estimates a 1-in-10 chance that the storm surge flooding at any particular location could be higher than the values shown on the map. The map is created from multiple runs of the Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes model, known as SLOSH.
    The new maps will be shown on TV weather forecasts, the Weather Channel and in an interactive display on the NHC website: www.hurricanes.gov.

Brothers Jim Leming and Paul Leming with friend Kip and future brother-in-law Ed Halligan

near Navy Pier in Chicago in 1942.

Family photo

    June 6, 1944.
    For many of our readers, this date needs no notation on a calendar or explanation in a newspaper. The date is forever burned into memory: D-Day, the Normandy Invasion, the day 156,000 Allied forces began one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history. The beginning of the end of World War II.
    It was also a day when more than 10,000 of these troops were killed, wounded, missing or captured. Seventy years later, it is a day for remembrance and reflection.
    When the war ended a year later, the survivors began returning home. Forever changed, they were united by their experiences and as Tom Brokaw wrote in his book The Greatest Generation, they were united by a common purpose and sworn to the common values of duty, honor, economy, courage, service, love of family and country — and above all, responsibility for oneself.
    My father, Paul Leming, enlisted but never saw active duty during the war. Still, these were the values he lived by and taught his children.
    During his years in service — and during his 32-year career as a civilian instructor for the Air Force — he met people different from himself and became an advocate for civil rights.
    He believed America was the greatest country in the world. He believed in freedom.
    When I read news from places still struggling for freedom, I am grateful for his and subsequent generations who have produced individuals willing to sacrifice for their country so I can pursue my career and dreams.
    Dad has been gone for almost 20 years, as have many of his generation. This year it’s estimated that 500-plus World War II veterans will die each day.
    It’s with this thought that I share a photo of my father, two uncles (one his brother and one his future brother-in-law) and a friend enjoying life during their time at basic training at Chicago’s Navy Pier in 1942.
    To me, it’s moments like this that define freedom.
    Thank you to all, whether veterans of the war or the homefront, who trusted we’d have these moments for generations to come when you awoke that June morning 70 years ago.

 — Mary Kate Leming
Editor

Ezzat Fairplay (left), Mildred Strom and Bette Cumpton are among the 10 or so neighbors

at Harbour’s Edge who knit blankets, sweaters and hats for newborns.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes
 
    After her husband, Nathan, died at Hospice By The Sea in 1994, Mildred Strom was composed enough to realize she needed to find something new to do. Something to get her out of the house. Something to help her heal.
    And so she returned to Hospice By The Sea, as a volunteer.
    Four years later, she volunteered at Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
    And then, almost four years ago, she and about 10 neighbors at Harbour’s Edge in Delray Beach started knitting sweaters, blankets and hats and sending them to newborns in hospitals throughout the United States.
    “I know it’s a cliché that when you volunteer you get more than you give,” she says, “but it’s true. You’ve got to keep busy so you’re not sitting home thinking about your aches and pains. And sad to say, that’s what a lot of people do.”
    In the decades since she walked back into the hospice as a new widow hoping to volunteer, Strom has tallied nearly 8,000 volunteer hours;  and in April, the Boca Raton hospital’s Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League named her its Volunteer of the Year.
    “She’s fantastic,” says Aimee Yahn-Carmichael, the hospital’s director of volunteer services. “Dedicated, loyal, dependable, hardworking and willing to take on any new challenge.”
    The honor is not offered lightly or easily earned. About 700 of Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s 1,000 volunteers are active each week in more than 70 areas of the hospital. From those 700, a Volunteer of the Month is chosen, and from those 12 honorees, an annual Volunteer of the Year is named at the April luncheon.
    “You need to be serious and look at it the same as you would a job,” says Strom. “You have to take the work seriously. We have some who goof off, and they’re asked to leave.”
    Raised in Belrose, Long Island, Strom brought along a lifetime of work experience at Manhattan’s broadcast advertising agencies when she and her husband retired to Boca Raton in 1989. The skills she was paid for up North she now gives away as a volunteer.
    During her 16 years with the Debbie-Rand Service League, she’s worked in the director’s office, served on the board of trustees, the lobby sales committee and the ways and means committee.
She resigned last year as membership chairman after nine years.
    And then every Thursday morning, she and her friends in “Stitches From The Heart” spend two hours in a meeting room at Harbour’s Edge, knitting baby clothes.
    “I’ll be 88 in June,” she says “and I’m one of the babies here. Some of the women can do a sweater in a day. I can do a hat in two days. But it’s healthy to stay active and you make lifelong friends, so I’ll volunteer as long as my family doesn’t take my car away.”
    And when she’s not volunteering?
    Strom laughs.
    “I sleep! And I read and — oh! — I also help in our Harbour’s Edge library, taking minutes at the committee meeting and helping catalog the new books.”

    What kind of city do you want to live in?  Do you want a first-rate, full-service city that provides the full range of municipal services, or would you settle for a second-class city where some services are provided by other government entities over which you have no control?
    For several months our City Commission has been quietly exploring the possibility of giving our Fire Department to Palm Beach County. The county firefighters union proposed to our mayor that the city would save a lot of money by contracting with the county.
    Some analyses done for the city do show a savings. However, the supposed savings is counting vehicle replacement costs twice, and includes other assumptions that I believe are not correct.
    But if we can save money, why not contract for county fire-rescue service?
    There are numerous negative consequences, some of which include:
    • Calls to 911 would still be answered by Delray Beach Police/Fire Dispatch. Then the call would be transferred to Palm Beach County Fire Dispatch, adding 15 to 30 seconds to emergency response times. When seconds count, this seems very risky.
    • As part of the county fire department, Delray Beach units will be dispatched into adjacent areas of the county. It is likely that Delray Beach units will be dispatched into the county more than county units into the city. The result will be an even slower overall response to emergencies in the city.
    • While there may be some short-term savings, the city will have no control over future costs for fire-rescue services. The county will determine those costs and labor cost “pass throughs” are inevitable.
    • The city will remain responsible for providing and maintaining its fire stations for any maintenance cost exceeding $15,000 in any one year.
    • The city will still have to make up the funding shortfall in its firefighter pension plan. It is entirely possible that the cost of this shortfall will exceed $2 million annually for many years to come, offsetting any possible “savings.”
    • The city would have no control over the quality of service for fire fighting and emergency medical response.
    • Coordination of fire units and police units on the scene of an emergency will be degraded with fire and police dispatched from separate dispatch centers.
    • The city’s fire insurance rating will fall from a highly desirable Class 2 to a less favorable Class 3.
    • The city will have no control of the time required for Fire Safety to review and issue building permits requiring their approval.
    Even if the savings is real, should we give up our Fire Department in light of the negative consequences?
    A $2 million savings amounts to a potential property tax reduction of 32 cents per $1,000 of valuation. For property with a taxable value of $200,000 that amounts to $64 per year. Isn’t it worth that cost to keep faster emergency response times and local control of this vital public safety service?
    Also, the city’s actuaries have shown how $2 million could be saved by changes in fire and police pension benefits. Wouldn’t changing these very generous pension benefits, rather than giving up our Fire Department, be a better choice for Delray Beach residents?
David Harden
Former Delray Beach city manager,
1990-2013

A mature hammerhead shark washed up dead at the south end of Highland Beach, probably

as the result of stress associated with hook-and-line sport fishing.

Photo provided by Capt. Steve Dougherty

    As the editor of Florida Sport Fishing magazine, I’ll be the first to admit there’s nothing wrong with the sustainable harvest of fresh seafood to feed family and friends. However, it is imperative that recreational anglers respect the ocean and its diverse inhabitants — particularly those that are endangered, protected or overfished.
    While Florida has extremely stringent fishing regulations and management plans in place, some of the most critically threatened shark species remain under attack right off our coast.
    It seems that every year, hysteria-filled news stories report of massive shark migrations that result in beach closings and fuel the longstanding stigma. In reality, it’s actually these misunderstood predators that are at risk of attack.
    A recent study conducted by scientists at the University of Miami observed the effects of catch and release on five shark species found throughout Florida’s coastal waters: hammerhead, bull, blacktip, lemon and tiger sharks. After conclusion of the three-year study it was determined through satellite tagging, blood and reflexology tests that hammerhead sharks, which are protected in state waters, are the most susceptible to post-release mortality and highly disturbed from the stress of catch-and-release sport fishing.
    Across the news and social media it’s common to see sharks caught from area beaches dragged up the sand to the awe and surprise of stunned onlookers. With these large predators already exhausted from the fight, keeping them out of the water for even a few moments can prove to be deadly.
    While anglers are permitted to catch and release protected sharks, they must do so in an effort that places the least amount of stress on the fish. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regulations state that protected shark species must be quickly released and immediately returned to the water alive and unharmed.
    It is a direct violation to land protected sharks or interfere with the act of releasing to obtain a measurement or pose for a photo, but violations are rarely enforced. Sharks simply don’t receive the same protection measures as sea turtles.
    In fact, several coastal communities have enacted ordinances prohibiting anglers from targeting sharks from area beaches in an effort to protect beachgoers. However, sharks forage Florida’s shorelines whether anglers are present or not, and these measures to safeguard area beaches actually protect sharks more than anything.
    Even though most anglers don’t intend to hurt sharks and claim that released sharks always swim away unscathed, many sharks ultimately perish hours or days after grueling battles.
    The facts are clear and shark populations are experiencing a global decline. Sharks are critical to the health and well-being of the entire marine ecosystem and it’s critical anglers promote sustainable fishing and handling practices to ensure the post-release survivability of the ocean’s greatest predators.

Capt. Steve Dougherty
Highland Beach

By Tim Pallesen
    
    Delray Beach is without a city manager after three city commissioners suspended, but couldn’t fire, Louie Chapman Jr., their manager for only a year.
    Mayor Cary Glickstein joined Commissioners Jordana Jarjura and Shelly Petrolia to suspend Chapman with pay for 90 days on May 13. The city charter requires four votes to fire a city manager.
    A second attempt to fire Chapman failed by a 3-2 vote on June 3, with Commissioners Al Jacquet and Adam Frankel objecting.
Commissioners then voted on first reading to set an Aug. 26 special election to amend the city charter to require only three votes to fire a city manager. A public hearing and final vote on the special election will be June 17.
    Chapman’s departure comes as he was preparing the city budget and negotiating police and fire contracts. His temporary replacement, Assistant City Manager Bob Barcinski, retires June 16.
Commissioners agreed on June 3 to offer an interim city manager position to Terry Stewart, a former city manager in Fort Myers Beach and Cape Coral.
    The commission majority targeted Chapman for ouster after the county inspector general said he misled commissioners on a $60,000 purchase of garbage carts.
    “I have a huge problem that you not only lied to commissioners but you lied to an investigating agency,” Jarjura told Chapman on May 13. “These are grounds for termination.”
    The investigation found that Chapman received an email from his staff to alert him that the city had already purchased 1,000 trash carts in October, before Chapman requested approval to buy another 1,000 carts in January.
    Chapman said he didn’t read the email. “I should have verified how much had been purchased at that time,” he said at the May 13 meeting.
    Chapman’s attorney said the discipline was too harsh. “Termination is capital punishment. There’s nothing warranting capital punishment in this case,” attorney Harry Turk said.
    But the three commissioners said they can no longer trust Chapman.
    “What started out as a simple human error became a scheme to deceive and cover up the truth,” Glickstein said.
    “Once trust is broken, it’s very hard if not impossible to regain it,” the mayor said. “Dishonesty is the highest form of disrespect and arrogance. What message do we send to our young people if the city manager can lie and keep his job?”
    The May 13 vote to fire Chapman failed 3-1, with Commissioner Adam Frankel voting against. Commissioner Al Jacquet was absent. Glickstein, Jarjura and Petrolia then suspended Chapman.

    Chapman was hired to his $160,000 job in January 2013 after 22-year city manager David Harden retired and before Glickstein, Jarjura and Petrolia were elected. Jacquet supported his hiring then and Frankel opposed it.
    The inspector general also cited Community Services Director Lula Butler for misleading commissioners about the garbage carts.
    Butler, a 28-year city employee, submitted a letter of resignation before the May 13 meeting, but Glickstein asked her to stay until the end of the year.
    “Ms. Butler knows she misled me,” the mayor said. “She was loyal to her boss. She took the low road and told a lie about a lie.”

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

    Fishing is an important part of the Florida lifestyle as well as its economy. In spite of the obvious benefits, this leisure-time activity, on occasion, can lead to problems for birds and other wildlife, such as sea turtles and manatees.
    According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists, monofilament fishing line and fishing hooks can entangle these animals, leading to injury and even death.
    The brown pelican is one species that is especially impacted by monofilament line.
    These birds frequently spend time looking for an easy meal at piers and other fishing hot spots, where they are often hooked accidentally when trying to grab bait off an angler’s line. Additionally, discarded monofilament line hanging from trees, piers and other structures can ensnare these birds.
    Once entangled, pelicans can have a difficult time flying and feeding.
    “It is not uncommon to find dead pelicans entangled with fishing line and hooks,” said FWC biologist Ricardo Zambrano. “If they are not rescued, these birds may suffer for days before succumbing to injury or starvation.”
    Here are some simple things people can do to help protect brown pelicans and other wildlife:
    • Properly dispose of monofilament line. Store unwanted line safely and securely until it can be placed in a recycling bin.
    • Don’t leave fishing line unattended, as pelicans may be tempted to steal the bait on the end of the line.
    • Avoid casting near trees, utility lines and other areas where line may get caught.
    • Check tackle frequently for frayed line that may easily break.
    • Do not feed pelicans or other wildlife, since it encourages them to approach fishing boats, piers and anglers. If available, use fish-scrap repositories. If they are not available, discard fish scraps in a garbage can or at home.
    If you do accidentally hook a pelican, you should avoid cutting the line. Gently remove the hook if you feel confident you can do so without causing harm to yourself or the bird.
    If you cannot safely remove the hook and line from the pelican, contact a local wildlife rehabilitator. For a list of wildlife rehabilitators in your area, contact any of the FWC’s five regional offices or visit the website MyFWC.com/Conservation and select “How You Can Conserve” then “Wildlife Assistance.”
    For more information on the statewide monofilament recovery and recycling program, visit mrrp.MyFWC.com.

    The History of Ocean Ridge, Gail Adams Aaskov’s book on the town’s heritage, has been updated and reprinted. Originally published in 1995, this is the publication’s third printing.
    The comprehensive guide includes a chronology of events, an explanation of the structure, function and financing of local government, description of municipal services and the public service department and a listing of past town officials.
    Photographs of some of the town’s historic properties are included.
    The book is available for $5 at Ocean Ridge Town Hall, 6450 N. Ocean Blvd., or at Ocean Ridge Realty, 5011 N. Ocean Blvd., Ocean Ridge.
— Staff report

By Dan Moffett

    Gulf Stream town commissioners have just begun thinking about a budget for the next fiscal year, but already they are close to a consensus that they can’t afford to give taxpayers a rate rollback.
    The decision to hold the line doesn’t mean that homeowners’ tax bills will hold steady, too. They are poised to go up because of a sizable jump in real estate values.
    According to Town Manager William Thrasher, preliminary numbers from the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office show that property values in Gulf Stream have soared 12.25 percent in the last year. Compare this with a 5.38 percent increase in 2013 and modest 1.13 percent rise in 2012. Thrasher said most of this year’s increase is attributable to the 16.6-acre county pocket the town annexed in 2011 that is just now coming onto the tax rolls.
    Legal fees to defend numerous lawsuits have depleted the town’s reserves, and there’s also a $400,000 bill for new street lighting. The budget is stretched too thin to even think about a rollback, commissioners said during a May 9 special meeting on fiscal issues.
    “I definitely don’t think at this time you can lower the millage rate,” said Commissioner Thomas Stanley, a strong supporter of keeping the town’s rate at $3.70 per $1,000 of taxable property value.
    “I believe, at the very least, we should try to maintain the millage where it is,” said Commissioner Robert Ganger. “I think everyone has realized that we have some housekeeping to do and that’s going to cost some money.”
    The town has had to hire outside counsel to defend itself against the lawsuits of residents Martin O’Boyle and Christopher O’Hare and is expecting a legal bill of at least $300,000 this year.
    But Mayor Scott Morgan said the town also has to be concerned about the budget’s “unknowns … just looming.”
    There is the uncertain future of the fire and emergency medical services the town gets from Delray Beach. Political leaders in Delray have explored eliminating the city’s fire-rescue services and getting them from the county instead, a move that could put Gulf Stream in a serious bind.
    But the prevailing wisdom on the commission is that Delray won’t be dropping its services any time soon — but the city certainly could raise the rate it charges the town.
    Thrasher puts it this way: “We have more unknowns of material sizes than we have ever faced.”
    Morgan says he still intends to appoint an ad hoc finance committee later this year to get residents more involved in setting the town’s fiscal course.
    Ganger admits getting an uncomfortable feeling when he sees that the budget reserve fund has fallen to a little more than $700,000. Six years ago, it was three times that.
    “This community has, for an eternity, tried to be as judicious with its taxpayers’ property tax funds as it could possibly be,” Ganger said. “We’ve tried to run a very efficient, fiscally responsible organization. It is a remarkable time in our history where it isn’t a natural cause — it isn’t a hurricane — but it’s an internal matter that’s affecting our ability to plan and budget.”

By Dan Moffett

    Christopher O’Hare tried another argument to get a metal roof approved for his Place au Soleil home, but Gulf Stream town commissioners rejected it like all the others.
    This time, however, the rejection wasn’t unanimous, but 4-1. Commissioner Donna White voted against turning down O’Hare’s appeal, saying she was unsure whether the town’s ordinance was at odds with state law.
    “On the basis of what was there, I thought the state statute that his (O’Hare’s) lawyer quoted did leave another choice,” White explained. “I would have liked to have had more legal counsel.”
    O’Hare’s lawyer, Lou Roeder, argued to commissioners that the town’s ordinance banning metal roofs was preempted by the state law that requires municipalities to allow solar and energy-saving construction. At a cost of perhaps $40,000, O’Hare wants to install a “solar sandwich” roof that has photovoltaic cells on the outside and pipes that recirculate heated water on the inside.
    “I think you’ve got an environmental responsibility to do the right thing,” O’Hare said. “It’s not done for return on investment. It’s done to be a good citizen.”
    The four commissioners who rejected the roof plan sided with the argument that the town’s ordinance does not prohibit solar and other energy-efficient construction, but it does prohibit putting them on metal roofs. Many Gulf Stream homeowners have solar devices on their roofs, four commissioners agreed, but those homeowners have installed them on concrete, tile or shingled roofs, not metal ones.
    Commissioner Thomas Stanley asked if O’Hare or Roeder could provide a picture of one of the solar sandwich roofs.
    “Do you have any examples of this type of system being approved in any other coastal town or anywhere in this region?” Stanley asked.
    Roeder said he couldn’t, but argued that much of the technology in the system had been around for years and widely used elsewhere. He said the state statute requires that the plans for the roof be approved and sent to the next level, which is Delray Beach building inspectors who would review the engineering and design for the town.
    O’Hare, who has lived in the town for 13 years and in the Place au Soleil home three years, has been trying to get the roof approved since 2012, but has repeatedly been rejected by town officials. The dispute led him to start a website that skewers town management and also to file numerous suits against the town.
    Three appeals in the Palm Beach County Circuit Court over the metal roof case were denied. He said he intends to file another suit against the town, appealing the commission’s latest rejection.
    In other business:
    • Commissioners received a report from the ad hoc committee reviewing town codes as part of a settlement agreement over suits filed by resident Martin O’Boyle.
    Committee Chairman William Boardman said the panel recommended creating a waiver system that would allow construction changes without “the strict requirements for a variance.”
    Boardman said another recommendation is for town officials to recognize Place au Soleil as a distinct neighborhood with distinct needs.
    “The committee, throughout the process, became ever increasingly aware that Place au Soleil is a bit of a community unto itself,” the panel’s report said. “It is the committee’s consensus that efforts should be increased to understand and respect that PAS is different than other parts of Gulf Stream on the barrier island.”
    Boardman said the town needs to work harder at “making our residents feel more like customers.”
    • The town’s recent efforts to make its public records more accessible went a bit haywire when the Social Security numbers of employees and the home addresses of police officers were inadvertently posted online or released in document requests. Town Manager William Thrasher said the problems with disclosures have been corrected.

By Dan Moffett

    It might be time for Ocean Ridge to think about adding a motto to the town seal.
    How about “World Leader in Beach Access Opinions”?
    Town commissioners heard plenty of them from residents during a lively 2½-hour workshop that ended with Mayor Geoffrey Pugh distilling an increasingly complicated and testy debate into a two-pronged approach for managing beachgoers.
    “You do it through information and enforcement,” Pugh said after the May 6 special meeting. “We inform, and if you don’t play by the rules, then we enforce … Inform and enforce. Period. End of story.”
    A unanimous commission agreed and instructed staff to start work on new signs that would show people the footprint of each public beach and lay out the ordinances governing behavior, with the fines for violating them.
    Commissioners also decided to begin their budget process by considering the costs and benefits of adding another police officer to help patrol the beaches.
    “What I’m hearing from a lot of people is they wouldn’t mind paying a few more dollars in taxes to hopefully discourage some of this behavior,” Commissioner James Bonfiglio said of adding an officer. “I think people understand that if you want to do something about this, it’s going to cost something.”
    The commission set another special meeting at 4 p.m. on June 23 to continue work on the plan.
    Residents came at the issue from all angles during the May workshop. One of the most well-received suggestions came from Rachel Walker, who lives along Old Ocean Boulevard. Her idea is to put maps showing the contours of each public beach area on signs by each of the public crossovers to give visitors a graphic representation of where they are allowed to go.
    “All you have to do is put a sign up that has the exact configuration of what beach is public,” Walker said. “Is it a triangular shape down to the water? What kind of shape is it? Does it look like the state of Florida? Does it look like the state of Mississippi?”
    Peter Burling of Osprey Drive came armed with a 13-page report that he and neighbors compiled to urge the commission to extend the beach debate beyond a few meetings. Burling said the town should consider hiring a “qualified planner” to study and report on how best to manage its most prized asset.
    “It’s time to drop the ‘we/they, rich man/poor man’ accusatory argument that has been used effectively up to this point as a way to avoid important issues,” Burling said. “Now we will either plan an effective response to increased external population pressure and its impact on our beaches, or we will splinter as a community.”
    Bob Merkel of Marlin Drive, who has more than 30 years’ experience as a defense attorney in Palm Beach County, warned the commission about the legal liabilities of restricting access. He jokingly told Town Attorney Ken Spillias he should support passing restrictions “cause you’ll be a rich man” from the billable hours the town will pile up defending lawsuits.
    “Sometimes you can’t do anything,” Merkel said, “or you’re going to get sued.”
    Former Commissioner Terry Brown charged the town with drifting toward restricting access.
    “Slowly, Ocean Ridge has attempted to suppress the use of beaches,” Brown said and echoed Merkel’s concerns about legal consequences.
    Christine Schulte of Osprey Court told commissioners about beachgoers who defecated in the sand dunes and left toilet paper behind. She said many people who come to the town’s small, unattended beaches do so to avoid “paying $10 to park” at Boynton Beach Oceanfront Park down the road.
    Dan Spotts of Sailfish Lane criticized the town for allowing property owners to put up signs that were “designed to intimidate the public.” Spotts said “the leaning should always be to public access” in the decisions the town makes.
    Commissioner Richard Lucibella, who has criticized police for not patrolling the beaches aggressively enough, said the access debate often is mistakenly cast as a battle between property owners and out-of-town visitors.
    “I think there is a private property component to this,” Lucibella said, “but this isn’t about private property rights. And it shouldn’t be made so.”
    He said when it comes to trespassing, “nobody has ever had this issue until the last two years. What does that tell you?”
    Lucibella believes the recent growth in Boynton Beach and surrounding communities has brought more beach traffic to Ocean Ridge and will create more management problems unless the town comes up with an effective plan soon.

By Dan Moffett
    
    Homeowners and house flippers who ignore code violations aren’t likely to get much sympathy from the Ocean Ridge Town Commission these days.
    Ask Prodigy Capital, a Palm Beach Gardens-based real estate investment group that pleaded for leniency over $24,255 in fines after taking over a foreclosed house at 17 Hudson Ave.
    Commissioner James Bonfiglio, former head of the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, told Prodigy’s representatives they didn’t deserve a break because they went ahead with interior renovations to the 3,400-square-foot house, instead of heeding code inspectors’ warnings about structural problems that posed safety issues and needed immediate attention.
    “You folks are experienced foreclosure investors,” Bonfiglio said. “You know those things should be done first. And you didn’t address them.”
    He said house flippers and foreclosure investors who come into communities to rehabilitate properties and make money have to follow the rules just like residents.
    “This is not a situation where you have somebody coming in who wants to move in to Ocean Ridge,” Bonfiglio said.  “You have an LLC who bought this at a foreclosure sale. They are profit-seeking enterprises.”
    Bernadine Jones, a Prodigy representative, told the commission that the company deserves leniency because it remedied an eyesore that otherwise might have languished indefinitely.
    “This property would sit for years — sit and sit and sit for years,” Jones said, “if it wasn’t for profit-seeking people like us.”
    Prodigy bought the house in foreclosure in June 2013, paying $425,900, according to county property records. The company inherited about $8,708 in liens for existing violations from the previous owners, then ran up another $15,546 during the last year after failing to complete the structural repairs until March. Prodigy says it put more than $160,000 in construction costs into the house and made only about $3,000 after covering other expenses and selling it recently for $739,000.
    “Different houses have different problems,” said Mayor Geoffrey Pugh. “You can’t get them all to fit in a nice little box. We have done lien considerations. … There’s room to move here.”
    He reminded Prodigy, however, that it requested an extension last year to deal with the structural violations, and the town granted more time, but the company still didn’t fix the problems.
    “We do want to encourage people to come into our town and improve our properties,” Commissioner Lynn Allison said. “I think we have to be flexible.”
    Bonfiglio relented and agreed to support reducing the inherited lien by half. The other commissioners concurred, voting 4-0 (with Commissioner Richard Lucibella absent for the June 2 meeting) to allow the company a $4,359.40 break and collect the other $19,895.60.
    Prodigy’s Jones was not pleased. “No more houses in this town,” she said as she exited the commission chamber.
    In other business:
    • Commissioners unanimously voted to renew the sanitation contract with Republic Services for another five years.
    Town Manager Ken Schenck said Republic had a renewal option in its existing contract, so staff did not seek bids. Pugh said the company “does its job exceedingly well” at a good price, and there was no reason to look at other vendors.
    All told, Ocean Ridge residents pay about $240,000 annually for Republic’s waste removal services, or about $12.75 per month for each user.
    • Commissioners agreed with Town Attorney Ken Spillias’ recommendation that they should discuss and clarify the town’s rental registration ordinance at their July 7 meeting, after a number of residents complained about confusion over the new requirements. The law, which was enacted in June 2013, requires landlords and owners who lease out their homes to register their properties with the town and pay a $50 fee.

By Dan Moffett

    Ocean Ridge commissioners have grudgingly agreed to give the owners of the town’s five-store business district a three-month extension to submit plans for overhauling the 60-foot-deep strip at 5011 N. Ocean Blvd.
    But they warned the Sivitilli family to make sure the application to renovate the property is complete because the commission isn’t inclined to grant more time.
    “You’ve had 10 years to do this — to convert from commercial to residential — and you didn’t do it,” Commissioner James Bonfiglio told Lisa Sivitilli, the daughter of owners Orlando and Lilianne Sivitilli. “You’re putting the pressure on us to resolve your problem at the last minute.”
    Bonfiglio served as chairman of the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission before winning election to his commission seat in March and has dealt with the property’s issues for years. He was the lone dissenter in the 3-1 approval of the latest extension.
    Town Commissioner Gail Adams Aaskov owns a real estate business in the building and does not vote on issues related to it. The other businesses on the site are Colby’s Barber Shop and The Coastal Star. The second floor of the building has four apartments.
    “I’m fully in favor of giving you the extension because there’s not much else we can do,” said Town Commissioner Richard Lucibella, a comment that pretty much captures the exasperation town officials feel after trying unsuccessfully for decades to find a solution for the property.
    Back in 1969, the Town Commission voted to phase out the commercial district over 40 years.
    In 1997, Orlando and Lilianne Sivitilli sued the town to overturn the ban. A settlement of the suit allowed the family to continue operations until 2000, and then two subsequent extensions pushed the deadline back to this month.
    Town Attorney Ken Spillias told commissioners that if they didn’t approve another extension at the May 5 meeting, then in June the Sivitillis would be in violation of just about everything — the suit settlement, the town’s code, the town’s comprehensive plan — and could be shut down.
    But boarding up the building runs the risk of creating an enduring eyesore. The property is too small to attract many developers willing to risk a residential redesign, and as Commissioner Lynn Allison puts it, “How many people want to be across from a Texaco station on A1A? ”
    Bonfiglio was irked that people who had sued the town now were coming forward to ask another favor from it. Why should the commission believe the Sivitillis can deliver in the next 90 days what they haven’t over the last 14 years?, he asked.
    Lisa Sivitilli blamed delays on the collapse of the real estate market and a family illness. She said that Marty Minor, a planning consultant with Urban Design Kilday Studios, would vouch that a complete mixed-use plan and application would be ready in time, at no cost to the town.
    “You have our history,” Lisa Sivitilli said. “We’ve always paid our way.”
    In other business, commissioners gave unanimous final approval to a resolution that abandons the western right of way in front of the homes at 5516, 5514 and 5512 Old Ocean Blvd.
    The town has no source of water to maintain vegetation on the 100-foot strip of land. Property owners will take over the strip, handle the landscaping, maintain the right of way and pay the town expenses. The property owners also have agreed to remove invasive, non-native plants. The town will retain an easement along the properties.

By Rich Pollack

    Marsha Love’s The Cat at Cason Cottage may be the only children’s book set in Delray Beach that includes a cat named Clarabelle, a series of friendly ghosts and, of course, lots of local history.
    Love — a descendent of early Delray Beach pioneers including Dr. J.R. Cason who built the cottage in 1924 — uses the book to bring back some of her relatives as spirits who visit a lonely feline residing in the cottage.
    Used to raise money for the Delray Beach Historical Society, the book has attracted local attention since its debut about a year and a half ago. Now it is getting nationwide attention.
    Last month, Love received a national award from the Colonial Dames of America, which each year recognizes one outstanding historically related book in both an adult category and a children’s category.
    “This award means a great deal to me,” Love said. “It affirms that other people see my writing as worthwhile and that this book is valuable to people everywhere.”
    Illustrated by local architect Robert Currie, The Cat at Cason Cottage has Clarabelle the cat visited first by Dr. Cason’s ghost. Later in the story, the ghosts of other family members come visiting, even the ghost of Clarabelle Cason, the last member of the family to actually live in the cottage. All have the chance to briefly tell their life stories to the cat.
    Since the book was published in December 2012 — to coincide with a special fundraiser, Christmas at Cason Cottage Showcase House — some of the ghosts have actually been brought to life in a reenactment of sorts during the Historical Society’s Family Fall Festival and Halloween Fun event at the Cason Cottage last October.
    “We had more than 400 kids come through the house that night,” said Love, who remembers staying in the house and playing there as a young girl when her Aunt Clarabelle still lived there. “There was a line around the block.”
    Love, an interior designer as well as an adjunct professor of English at Palm Beach State College, has always had a love of writing. The idea for The Cat At Cason Cottage, she says, just came to her because of her involvement with the museum.
    The book, published by Middle River Press in Oakland Park, sells for $15. It is available at the Delray Beach Historical Society and at www.delraybeachhistory.org. It benefits the historical society.
    Oh, and in case you’re wondering: No, there isn’t a resident cat at the cottage these days, and while Clarabelle Cason tended to many of the stray cats in the area, Love doesn’t remember any of them making a home there officially.

By Tim Pallesen    

    Fishermen have won the right to fish for sharks off all but the public beaches in Delray Beach.
    “There’s nothing good about shark fishing near a public beach,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said as city commissioners reached a compromise with an attorney who had threatened to challenge the legality of the city’s shark-fishing ban.
    A city law passed in 2009 prohibited shark fishing, including baiting and chumming, within the city limits. But attorney Blaine Dickenson of Boca Raton argued that only the state can regulate fishing from the beach.
    “Bans on shark fishing are based on unfounded fears caused by the movie Jaws that bathers will get bitten,” Dickenson said. “Sharks are just like any other fish that are scared of people, except they have bigger teeth.”
    City officials worked with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials to reach a compromise that still prohibits shark fishing within 300 feet north and south of both the municipal beach and Atlantic Dunes Park.
    Glickstein remained concerned at a May 20 meeting about the shark danger for swimmers.
    “Baiting is the biggest problem,” he said, asking that shark fishing be limited to surf casting only.
    “This is already pushing the limits as far as we can,” interim City Attorney Terrill Pyburn said in response.
    In other action last month, city commissioners passed an ordinance that bans aggressive panhandling anywhere in the city. Nonaggressive panhandling is also prohibited in places where the public is likely to feel threatened, such as within 15 feet of sidewalk cafes on Atlantic Avenue.
    Violators face a $50 fine.
    The panhandling ordinance was a recommendation of a police task force studying the city’s homeless population.
    Another recommendation to charge for trolley rides won’t be possible after city officials discovered that county money to purchase the trolleys required that rides be free.

INSET BELOW: Barbara Sella’s vizsla, Ridley, was killed seven years ago by a car speeding around a curve and past her house.

By Mary Thurwachter

    On Hypoluxo Island, residents can watch palm tree-framed sunsets from their front porches and bird watching is always in vogue. Yet the tree-lined roads curving around mansions and cottages also tempt some drivers to move much too fast. Safety concerns ensue.
    That’s why, for many years, some members of the Hypoluxo Island Homeowners Association have lobbied the town of Lantana for traffic calming assistance.
    One of the leading advocates is Barbara Sella, who lives on the island with her husband, Daniel, and their 7-year-old vizsla, Mako.
    Seven years ago, Sella’s 10-month old vizsla, Ridley, was hit and killed by a car that came speeding around a tree-lined curve past her house. Sella thought all the gates were closed, but roofers apparently left one open and Ridley bounded out to greet her.
    “He was the love of my life,” Sella said. “I was heartbroken.”
    Sella’s sorrow moved her to get involved with an already-in-progress push by the Hypoluxo Homeowners Association for traffic calming on the island.
    “We were pretty close to getting them years ago, but then the economy died and there was no money,” Sella said. “I wasn’t about to ask people for money when homes were being lost to foreclosure.”
    This year support for the effort resurfaced and, as part of the process to secure speed bumps of some sort for the island, a few dozen residents recently went to Lantana Town Hall for an informational meeting with Community Planner Nicole Dritz.
    “Now the project is under review,” Dritz said. “Our town manager was out of town for a few weeks and we’ll proceed after she returns.”
    Dritz said the types of traffic-calming measures for the island could be speed humps, speed tables or raised intersections.
    Installing traffic-calming measures can be costly, Dritz said. So if the Town Council agrees to the project, funding would have to be found. Funding sources may include the annual capital improvement program, special assessments, local grants or neighborhood funding.
    If the town council agrees, temporary traffic-calming devices would be installed for six months and data on effectiveness and placement would be collected. Then residents, who already petitioned the neighborhood once to get signatures from 66 percent of homeowners, would need to do it again before permanent speed bumps could be installed.
    “Those who went to the informational meeting were overwhelmingly for it,” Sella said. “It’s a safety concern. It’s not all about me and my dog. It’s for everyone. I don’t like to see anybody get hurt.”
    Town staff said traffic calming will likely be discussed at the July 14 town council meeting.

By Dan Moffett
    
    Town Council President Sue Thaler says Briny Breezes got its “wrist slapped” in December when the Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General released a report criticizing how the town does its business.
    But it was really more about the Briny handshake than its wrist.
    For years, the town has kept it informal when hiring vendors, often using word-of-mouth instead of advertising and renewing contracts with little more than a phone call.
    Though the town prides itself as a friendly, easy-going place, the inspector general says it is still a governmental entity that must use more than a handshake when doing the public’s business.
    The county auditors specifically cited the town’s hiring of Harvel Utility Construction, the water and sewer system maintenance company, and Jim Phillippi, Briny’s meter reader, as failing to “comply with the town’s procurement policy” because there was no competitive bidding. The auditors also criticized the town for allowing Harvel to work without a signed contract.
    The inspector general’s report has raised collateral issues with the status of Deputy Town Clerk Lesa Shoeman, the town’s only employee, who technically really isn’t one. Shoeman has worked as an independent contractor since taking the part-time job in September 2012, but Town Attorney John Skrandel believes she should be made an official employee of the town to satisfy Internal Revenue Service regulations.
    Skrandel said he’s been contacting other municipalities around the state, searching for an independent contractor arrangement similar to Shoeman’s, but hasn’t been able to find one.
    “From my research, there’s not another town who’s using a contractor in this fashion,” he said. “Everyone is using employees.”
    Town leaders have been clear that their response to the inspector general is about process, not people. No official has raised any performance complaints about Harvel, Phillippi or Shoeman. Quite the contrary, each has won praise from council members.
    But the auditors’ report can’t be ignored. “We’re trying to comply with purchasing procedures,” Thaler said. “We’re not going to try to change personnel.”
    With Aldermen Barbara Molina and Jim McCormick exiting the May 22 meeting early, the remaining council members unanimously approved tabling a motion on Shoeman’s job, but agreed to begin advertising the position, with a description as a town employee.
    Skrandel got a verbal commitment from Phillippi during the meeting to continue reading meters as an independent contractor. The attorney said he would try to explain to the inspector general that the town should continue its current arrangement with Earl Harvel, owner of Harvel Utility, without seeking bids, because it’s worked well for many years, and the town doesn’t want to lose him.
    “He’s the type of guy who likes to do his job, but he doesn’t like these little nit-picky, technical issues,” Skrandel said.“He might not bid and just say forget it if there’s a bid requirement.”
    In other business:
    • The commission agreed to postpone work on a 10-year water plan to satisfy a mandate from the South Florida Water Management District. Commissioners want to see if they can draw from the plans of neighboring communities, particularly Boynton Beach where the town gets its water, and avoid paying a consultant.
    Planning and Zoning Board Chairman Jerry Lower said he was “very confident” his committee could produce a plan quickly, if needed.
    “I’m all about saving money for the town,” said Thaler about avoiding the cost of a consultant. “I can’t even tell you how I feel about having to spend money on a plan that we really don’t have any control of, but we have to do it.”
    • Commissioners set budget workshop dates for July 8, 10 and 11, with each session tentatively set for 1 p.m.
    Note: Lower is publisher of The Coastal Star.