Water Tower Commons will include more than 28,000 square feet of retail and more than 1,000 housing units.
Rendering provided

By Mary Thurwachter
    
    Months of delays and discussion between the town and the developer resulted Dec. 14 in site plan approval from the Lantana Town Council for Water Tower Commons. The 72-acre retail and residential project will be built on the site of the state-owned A.G. Holley tuberculosis hospital east of Interstate 95 on Lantana Road.
    It was a historic event for the town, said Mayor Dave Stewart, who has been working for a decade to get the state to sell the property so it could be developed and on the tax rolls.
    It is also the biggest project Lantana has ever seen, said Dave Thatcher, the town’s development services director. The site represents about 4 percent of the total land in Lantana.
    The development is expected to create 700 new, permanent jobs and generate $13 million in new tax revenue for Lantana during the next 20 years, according to Ken Endelson, vice president of Lantana Development LLC, a partnership between Southeast Legacy, headed by Kenco Communities’ Endelson and Wexford Capital.
    Plans include more than 208,000 square feet of retail space, including a grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants, bank and fitness center. Tenants have yet to be revealed.
Office space will be available, too, and future plans call for more than 1,000 residential units on the north side of the property.
    The commercial phase will take about 18 months. After that, the residential phase will begin and a site plan for that should reach the town in about six months.
    An old water tower at the center of the site will become the signature for the center after it has been renovated and equipped with lighting to highlight the historic marker at night.
    Some residents quibbled about using the 127-foot, nonfunctioning water tower as the center’s namesake.
    “It’s preposterous to call it iconic,” said resident A.C. Brooks. “It’s a reminder of all the people who died horrible deaths there. The water tower should be in the bottom of the ocean as an artificial reef.”
    But the developers said the tower represents history and is an important focal point for the center.
    The developer agreed to all the town’s conditions. A proposal to cap building heights in the residential section at 75 feet was reduced to 55 feet.
    Council member Tom Deringer said he was pleased with how things worked out.
    “They were responsive to everything we said,” Deringer said after the meeting. “At first they wanted a gas station and we didn’t want that and they removed it. They wanted the fitness center off Eighth Street and we wanted residential only there, so they moved it.”
    Palm Beach County officials said the development had met traffic performance standards, with some conditions.
Developers will add a traffic signal at the entrance of the property and will be changing the westbound right-turn lane on Lantana Road between the existing shopping center and Interstate 95 to a shared through-right lane.
    A.G. Holley hospital was built in the early 1950s on state-owned land and sold in 2014 for $15.6 million to Lantana Development.

Suzi Goldsmith’s one drive in life is to save as many animals as she can. Goldsmith, who lives in Manalapan,

is one of the founders of Tri-County Animal Rescue in Boca Raton and will be honored at the Doggie Ball.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Suzi Goldsmith is a dog’s best friend. And a cat’s, too. Since she founded the Tri-County Animal Rescue in Boca Raton, which marks its 20th anniversary this month, Goldsmith and her team have saved more than 53,000 canines and felines, not just locally, but all over the country.
    When disasters strike, such as hurricanes and tornadoes, or when other shelters have animals that are going to be scheduled for euthanasia, Goldsmith and her rescue team will drive their two cargo vans to places such as Georgia and South Carolina to bring the animals back to her no-kill shelter in Boca Raton.
    There they will be nursed back to health and readied for adoption, along with animals surrendered to the shelter by owners who no longer can or wish to care for them. More than 1,500 of these animals are adopted each year.
    “My one drive in life is to save animals, as many as I can save every day,” says Goldsmith, a Manalapan resident. “Putting them into happy, loving homes gives them a second chance at life, and is my way of giving back to the community.
    “We do not put any animals down here,” she said. “If an animal has some kind of injury or disease, we will spend any amount of money and effort to save it. That’s what I believe in, and that’s what makes the difference between Tri-County and other shelters.”
    She was 8 years old when she got her first dog, a black cocker spaniel named Rokie, from the Michigan Humane Society. “It was one of the loves of my life,” she said. “That dog me taught me compassion, understanding, dedication and respect for animals.”
    This month, Goldsmith will be honored for her rescue work during Tri-County Animal Rescue’s 14th annual Doggie Ball at Boca West Country Club. The award she will receive was created by TCAR and is named after Jeannette Christos, the woman who co-founded TCAR with Goldsmith.
    This February, Goldsmith hopes to break ground on a new veterinarian center that will be built on the shelter’s 12-acre property. It will provide low-cost spaying and neutering, as well as rabies shots, for dogs and cats whose owners could otherwise not afford it.
    Goldsmith, 68, visits schools with animals from her shelter, because “we must teach children from kindergarten on up to respect animals,” she says. She also takes them to nursing homes and drug rehab centers “to show compassion.”
    “Sometimes no other thing or being can replace the friendship of an animal,” says Goldsmith, who always has at least one or two rescue dogs in her home.
    She says her husband, Rick, jokes with friends all the time that if she has to make a choice between doing something with him and doing something with her dogs, she’ll always choose the dogs first.
    “What  keeps me happy are my animals,” she says. “I love my family and I love my friends, but an animal will never disappoint you. Ever.”
— Marie Puleo

    Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
    A: I grew up and went to school in Detroit.
I was influenced by the Midwestern down-to-earth set of values.

    Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
    A: I was in the travel industry for 30 years. I am most proud of the fact that I started the travel section of the Entertainment Coupon Book which is sold in every city in the United States.

    Q: What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
    A: Try to get as much education as you possibly can in the field that you want to go into. Education is crucial to anything we do in life.

    Q: How did you choose to make your home in Manalapan?
    A: I moved to Manalapan 16 years ago because of its location, beauty and charm.

    Q: What is your favorite part about living in Manalapan?
    A: Logistically, it offers the best of all worlds. It is just as easy to drive to Palm Beach as it is to drive to Fort Lauderdale.

    Q: What book are you reading now?
    A: The only books I have the time to read have to do with dogs and cats. I never tire from reading them. Right now I’m reading The Life and Love of Dogs, by Lewis Blackwell.

    Q: What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
    A: I listen to Legend 100.3 FM from the moment I get into the car going to the shelter and until I return home at 6:30 p.m. It is beautiful, calming music that always makes me happy and puts a smile on my face.

    Q: Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
    A: “The essential conditions of everything you do must be passion, choice and love,” by Nadia Boulanger.

    Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you and why?
    A: Julia Roberts. She has played women who have had to fight for different things. I think she’d be perfect.

    Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
    A: The sight of an animal wagging their tail puts a smile on my face and laughter in my heart.

By Dan Moffett

    After only a couple of months on the job, new Town Manager Bogdan “Bob” Vitas is earning high marks from South Palm Beach Town Council members.
    The positive reviews are especially encouraging for residents who watched in dismay as Vitas’ predecessor, Jim Pascale, butted heads with the council pretty much on arrival early last year and was gone by June.
    Vitas presented a “90-day action plan” to council members on Dec. 15, and they liked what they heard.
    “You really took our goals seriously,” said Mayor Bonnie Fischer. “You listened to us.”
    Vice Mayor Joseph Flagello said Vitas has shown a genuine commitment to make good on the promises he made when he was hired in October, and his cooperative nature “wasn’t just a tactic for the interview.”
    Councilman Robert Gottlieb commended Vitas for getting in tune with the town so quickly. “It’s hard to believe you’ve been here such a short time,” Gottlieb said.
    Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan said Vitas’ action plan was right on target: “You did an excellent job,” she told him. “The timeline is more than appropriate.”
    Some highlights of the Vitas plan:
    • Review the town’s police service options, “including status quo, contract (with) other agencies, or a blended approach.”
    • Evaluate the Town Hall for repairs, renovation or replacement.
    • Create a financial plan that includes “special funds devoted to (beach) renourishment rather than commingled in the general fund.”
    • Develop a five-year, long-range capital improvement plan that considers street light upgrades, beach renourishment, sidewalk improvements and possible Town Hall improvements.
    • Develop an administrative policy manual with personnel rules and regulations, as well as job descriptions.
    • Continue outreach efforts to government organizations outside the town.
    • Develop social media connections such as email and Facebook to help keep the community informed.
    “We want to clarify who we are,” Vitas said of the planning. “Clarify where we are. And clarify where we want to go.”
    He said he wants to schedule a series of workshops over the next couple of months to let council members and residents weigh in on what the town’s priorities should be.
    “The job of the town manager is to keep you updated,” he told the council.
    Vitas, 58, was the city manager of Key West from 2012 to 2014, and before that served for five years as the village administrator of Lake Zurich, Ill.
    In other business, council members reluctantly accepted the resignation of Town Clerk Yudy Alvarez, who after nearly a decade as a town employee is moving to North Carolina to be with family.
    Alvarez has been head clerk since April 2014 and started with the town as permit clerk in 2006. Council members expressed special gratitude for the extra work Alvarez put in during the five months last year when the town had no town manager.
    “She really stepped up to the plate for us,” Fischer said. “I’m really thankful for what she’s done. She’s a wonderful, wonderful person.”
    Flagello said Alvarez will always be considered “an honorary South Palm Beach resident.”
    • Political newcomer Robert Gargano has filed to challenge the at-large seats held by Gottlieb and Jordan in the March 15 municipal election. In recent town meetings, Gargano, 68, has questioned some of the council’s contracts with vendors. The top two vote-getters will claim seats.

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, one of the most famous love stories of all time.

    Love stories can melt your heart, make you smile or leave you grasping for a handkerchief. Hollywood loves them, of course, but true love doesn’t only exist in the movies. The Coastal Star is looking for real love stories from readers to share in its February Valentine’s edition. If you have one, we would love to hear from you. Email suggestions and details to maryt@thecoastalstar.com. Please include your phone number and the best times to reach you.

By Jane Smith

    The latest savior of the historic Boynton Beach High School attracted about 25 members of the grassroots group Save Boynton High to the city library on a stormy December night. They braved the weather to get a sneak peek at architect Rick Gonzalez’s plans to reuse the old school.
    The group had invited Gonzalez to talk about his plans, said organizer Barbara Ready.
    Gonzalez wants to turn the vacant structure into a community arts and civic center, which went over well with the group formed in August after the City Commission, which owns the school building, voted to demolish the nearly 90-year-old structure listed on the city’s historic inventory.
    A well-known preservation architect, Gonzalez said he has done eight studies in 13 years on the old high school. He showed his latest plan individually in November to each city commissioner.
    He wants to create “a nucleus for the community” by combining the uses in the Civic Center, Madsen Center (Stage Left Theater) and the Arts Center.
    His vision includes:
    • Two retail outlets at both corners on the front of the building that faces Ocean Avenue. A small coffee shop would be perfect, he says.
    • The first floor would contain the children’s art and after-school programs; cheerleading, dance and karate programs; youth leadership separate from the teens group; and a space for community theater with a small stage in the rear.
    • On the second floor would be adult programs such as dancing and arts along the front of the building. The gymnatorium would become a community center. It would host commission meetings, weddings and other celebrations that need 300 seats and include a “green room” for preparations. It could also host films and lectures with seating for 700 and other cultural events that need 700 seats.
    • He also wants to widen the staircases, redo the restrooms and make them wheelchair-accessible, install an elevator and create a catering kitchen.
    To stabilize the building would cost an estimated $525,000 to $600,000, Gonzalez said.  
    He wants the city to give his team the land and the high school to help create that vision. If the city were to create such a center, it would cost taxpayers millions, he said.
    Ready’s group likes his plan because it renovates the old high school and puts it back on the tax roll.
    A potential snag remains in the lawsuit filed by Juan Contin in 2013 against the city when it didn’t go forward with his plans to reuse the old high school as an events center. The city’s motion to dismiss was heard in August, but as of late December the judge has not ruled.
    The Gonzalez plan also includes a possible investor who would build a three-story, L-shaped apartment building sitting on city-owned land at the southeast corner of Seacrest Boulevard and Northeast First Avenue. The 60,000-square-foot building would have 45,000 square feet of residential with 50 to 55 units and 15,000 square feet of retail space.
    Ready does not like that aspect of his plan. The apartment building blocks the view of the high school when vehicles turn onto Seacrest Avenue from Boynton Beach Boulevard. “I want to see my old high school,” said Ready, who is chairwoman of the city’s Historic Resources Preservation Board.
    Gonzalez will present his plan to the City Commission at its Jan. 19 meeting. At that meeting, commissioners  will decide what’s next for the old high school — go forward with the Gonzalez plan, open it up to other developers, broaden it to include the entire 17-acre Town Center area or demolish the old high school.
    As of press time, the city had spoken with several developers about Town Center, but none had put down the required $20,000 deposit to hire an outside consultant to review the plans, said Eleanor Krusell, city communication manager.
    Gonzalez said the city also can issue a bond to cover the renovation costs or look for a moneyed donor who would like to see the high school renamed.
    He cited The Harriet Himmel Theater in the CityPlace as an example. His firm helped to convert a Methodist church, built in 1926 in the Spanish Colonial architectural style, into a multiuse theater that can be rented for weddings, fashion shows and meetings.
    Boynton Beach High School was added to the city’s list of historic places in February 2013. It was designed by prominent school architect William Manly King, who used features from the Mediterranean Revival and Art Deco styles, according to the Boynton Beach Historical Society.

The Lynn Philharmonia performs with music director and conductor Guillermo Figueroa on Dec. 12

at Boca Raton Resort and Club. The performance marked the orchestra’s 13th annual Gingerbread Holiday Concert.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

After making his way to the scene via a BMW convertible, Santa greets children during Delray Beach’s annual

lighting of its 100-foot Christmas tree, which was delayed to Dec. 10 because of rainy weather.

Photo provided by VMA Studios

One of Santa’s helpers takes a selfie before the Delray Beach Jingle Bell Jog 5K on Dec. 19.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Rob Sweeten takes a photo of his daughter Mackenzie, 5, as she sits atop The Avenue Church’s live

nativity-scene float during the Delray Beach Annual Holiday Parade on Dec. 12.

Also on the float are Rob’s wife, Suzi, and their daughter Maddison.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The annual Boynton Beach Boat Parade ran along the Intracoastal in Boynton Beach and Delray Beach

on Dec. 11.  Palm Beach Eco Tours’ entry is decorated with sea creatures such as dolphins, sea turtles and manatees.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Bill Meredith
    
    BOCA RATON — Successful composers often remain in the shadows while the artists who perform their music skyrocket to fame, and one of the most versatile such writers was Luigi Federico Creatore.

    The Manhattan-born Creatore died on Dec. 13 in Boca Raton due to complications with pneumonia, according to his wife, Claire Weiss Creatore. He was 93.
    Creatore’s compositions, some written with his cousin Hugo Peretti (1916-1986) and George David Weiss (1921-2010), included 1961 hits by Elvis Presley (Can’t Help Falling in Love, from the film Blue Hawaii) and The Tokens (The Lion Sleeps Tonight).
    The latter song’s inclusion in the modern hit film The Lion King brought extra unintended notoriety. Adapted from Wimoweh, a Zulu composition by the late Solomon Linda, The Lion Sleeps Tonight caused his familial estate to sue for back royalties and receive a considerable settlement. Yet Peretti and Creatore were even more successful as producers, becoming among the first such recording engineers to have their names displayed on album jackets.
    Under the professional moniker Hugo & Luigi, the duo produced an astonishing variety of Top 10 hits from the 1950s through the 1970s, including Whatever Lola Wants for jazz star Sarah Vaughan, Honeycomb for country singer Jimmy Rodgers, Twistin’ the Night Away for R&B vocalist Sam Cooke, and The Hustle for disco artist Van McCoy.
    In 1977, Creatore and Peretti won a Grammy Award for their production of the original cast recording of Bubbling Brown Sugar.
    “That broad range of success was unheard of then, and is practically impossible now,” said Lake Worth-based composer John Storch —who, along with his brother Bill, has written everything from ballet scores for the Demetrius Klein Dance Company to roots music for their band the Sewing Circle Sues.
    As the son of Italian immigrant bandleader Giuseppe Creatore and his wife, Rosina, the young Luigi had started out writing advertising jungles before graduating to songs. Born in Manhattan, he attended Textile High School before serving as a pharmacist’s mate in the United States Navy.
    And as a composer, Creatore’s talents extended beyond music. Being stationed at Pearl Harbor during the attack by the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941, provided the backdrop for his debut novel, The World is Mine, about a veteran suffering from amnesia, which received a favorable review in The New York Times in 1947.
    In his 2009 short story Flamingo Court, Creatore detailed humor gained via his Florida residence through 10 characters living in three different condominiums. The comedy even became a stage production. “Laughs galore!” exclaimed United Press International. “Without question, the funniest play in New York today. Powerhouse performances from Anita Gillette and Jamie Farr.”
    Peretti, Creatore and Weiss had also collaborated on the 1968 Civil War musical Maggie Flynn, a Broadway production starring Shirley Jones.
    Mrs. Creatore, who had previously been married to Weiss, became Creatore’s third wife after Weiss’ death. The venerable composer’s first marriage had ended in divorce; his second when he became a widower. He is also survived by son Victor, from his first marriage.

By Emily J. Minor

    DELRAY BEACH — Virginia Wesley Courtenay, a prominent interior designer who, in her 40 years in town, redecorated everything from the Florida governor’s mansion to a neighbor’s tiny kitchen, died Nov. 29 at her home under hospice care. She recently had turned 80.
    Mrs. Courtenay was the longtime owner of Virginia Courtenay Interiors Inc. on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. Her design partner, Hazel McGuire, who had worked with Mrs. Courtenay for some 13 years, said the business will certainly continue. Indeed a new shop will open in January, McGuire said.
    “She certainly had an eye for the unusual,” McGuire said. “If you wanted the mundane, if you wanted Rooms To Go, we weren’t for you.”
    Born in Chicago, the daughter of a lamp designer and the granddaughter of an architect and builder, Mrs. Courtenay is said to have chosen the arts at an early age. She attended Beloit College, the Art Institute of Chicago and Ecole des Beaux Arts in France. She quickly established her passion for 18th-century antiques and interior design.
    But office manager Greg Kirkpatrick, who started doing Mrs. Courtenay’s company books about two years ago, said his boss had a wonderful knack of interpreting all different kinds of styles, and bringing them to life.
    “Everyone who worked with her and who had hired her, they all said she had very good taste and was just so knowledgeable about design, carpets, wall coverings, paint,” Kirkpatrick said.
    It wasn’t anything catastrophic that claimed Mrs. Courtenay’s life. Friends said she had been recuperating from a fall when she began to develop complications that inhibited her movements even further.  A widow since the death of her husband, Erskine Howard Courtenay Jr., Mrs. Courtenay was attended to by her three stepchildren.
    The family arranged for hospice care so that Mrs. Courtenay could rest peacefully before she died, Kirkpatrick said.
    From singing in the church choir, to doting on her Scotty dogs, Mrs. Courtenay was also a private woman who exuded “a special elegance,” McGuire said.
    In healthier days, she enjoyed tennis, photography, painting, cooking and boating.
    Her professional accomplishments never ceased to amaze, and her portfolio was full of beautiful projects that seemed to mix just the right amounts of color, texture and light. Her designs were sometimes whimsical, sometimes old school. But they were always magnificent, McGuire said.
    Some of her accomplishments include: president of the South Florida Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers and national board member; appointment to the governor’s design team refreshing the Florida governor’s mansion in Tallahassee; member of the Delray Beach and National Historical Preservation societies; member of the Old School Square Board and chairwoman of many designer showcase homes for various charities. 
    She and her husband were once active members of The Little Club, Colony Beach Club, Gulfstream Bath & Tennis and The Louisville Country Club. She is survived by her three stepchildren, Andrea C. Spradling (Mark), Whitley H. Courtenay (Mary Ann) and Erskine H. Courtenay III (Dawn).
    A funeral Mass was said Dec. 12 at her beloved parish, St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church.
The new store will open Jan. 2 at 2915 S. Federal Highway, Suite D3, Delray Beach.

    BRINY BREEZES — Mary C. “Polly” (O’Flanagan) Brady, of Briny Breezes and Plymouth, Mass., passed away peacefully on Dec. 15, surrounded by her loving family.  She was 76 years old.
    As a child in South Boston, Mass., Mrs. Brady developed a love of the ocean that  stayed with her for her entire life.  She was a resident of Plymouth for  over 50 years.  She taught in the Plymouth school system for over 30  years and helped run the family business charter boats, the Polly Dean and the Mary Elizabeth, during the summers. 
    Following her retirement,  she and her husband, Tim, moved to the coastal community of Briny
Breezes, where they continued to enjoy the ocean for the last 16 years.  They split their time between Florida and Plymouth, where they made  sure they could return to spend time with their children and beloved grandchildren. 
    A proud 1961 graduate of Regis College in Weston, Mass., Polly enjoyed spending time with her friends in Briny Breezes,  participating in activities at the Plymouth Yacht Club and being around  her family.
    Polly was the dear and devoted wife of Timothy C. Brady Sr., loving  mother of Timothy C. Brady Jr. and his wife, Laura, of Massachusetts, John E. Brady  and his wife, Julie, of Vermont, Mary Beth Flynn and her husband, Dana, of Massachusetts and Terrence O. Brady and his wife, Karen Hepinstall, also of Massachusetts.
    She was the cherished “Gramma” of Timothy III, Rebecca, Sean, Rose, Ryan, Colin, Devin, Patrick, Connor, Meaghan, Molly, Emily, Christopher and Emma; dear sister of Jane Lennon and her husband, Andrew, of Massachusetts, John O’Flanagan and his wife, Margaret, of Florida, William O’Flanagan and his wife, Anne, of Pennsylvania and the late Kathleen O’Flanagan and Ann and Louis Kfoury. Sister-in-law of the late Patricia McNeil.  She also is survived by many loving nieces and nephews.
    Mrs. Brady’s funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. Jan. 2, 2016, at St. Peter’s Church, in Plymouth.

    In lieu of flowers, contributions in Mrs. Brady’s memory may be made to the Boston Higashi School, 800 N. Main St., Randolph, MA 02368.
    An online guestbook is available at www.KfouryFuneral.com. Interment will be private.

—Submitted by the family

By April W. Klimley

    The Dec. 2 mass shooting at a county facility in San Bernardino, Calif., raised wide concern about domestic terrorism and prompted Palm Beach County commissioners to examine the preparedness of the county’s own facilities.
    “It was a county employee who attacked his fellow employees (in California),” said Steven Abrams, the county commissioner who initiated the request. “So we want to go over the security we have at the county facilities and see how there can be any improvement.”
    On Dec. 7 Abrams asked County Administrator Verdenia Baker to report back to commissioners on county security readiness and whether any improvements were needed, such as training or new equipment.
    Although some of these reports were ready by the Dec. 15 meeting, there wasn’t time to address this issue adequately at this year-end meeting. Instead, the reports are expected to be presented to commissioners on Jan. 26.
    Nonetheless, Abrams also commented that he believes the county is very well-prepared for mass violence incidents. “If nothing else because we have experienced it here in the anthrax attack and some of the 9/11 terrorists who were living in the area,” he explained. Abrams was mayor of Boca Raton at the time of the 9/11 attacks.
    Soon after 9/11, anti-terrorism activities were stepped up at virtually all security agencies in Florida and local municipalities. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement set up a Terrorist Hotline (1-585-FLA-SAFE, or 1-855-352-7233), and the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office inaugurated a Homeland Security Bureau, now headed by Maj. Robert L. Allen, along with a number of specific anti-terrorism programs such as C-PAT (Community Partners Against Terrorism) and B-PAT (Business Partners Against Terrorism).
    Since that time, procedures in many police departments have evolved to deal with new conditions. These changes are the result of the rapid rise in the number of domestic mass shootings in the U.S. over the past decade, not just international terrorism.
    Boca Raton Police Chief Daniel Alexander explained that there are two major changes in how police departments such as his handle mass shooter incidents today. First, officers are instructed not to wait outside for backup when an incident occurs. Instead, they are trained to enter and confront and contain the shooters right from the start. Second, fire-rescue is brought in much sooner to be ready to participate more quickly.
    Local police departments also learn about most incidents faster than they did 15 years ago, because communication among agencies has improved dramatically.
    Municipalities also have a liaison officer with Homeland Security, as well as ongoing ties with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Joint Terrorism Task Force.  
    Representatives from all municipalities meet at least monthly, according to Alexander, and many top officers in the county such as Alexander and Delray Beach Police Chief Jeffrey S. Goldman are graduates of the FBI National Academy.
    Some law enforcement units in the county engage in anti-terrorism practice drills. Almost all agencies and municipalities also prepare through “table top exercises,” where command staff discuss and examine a wide array of potential scenarios and responses.

You should be prepared, too
    Despite this preparation, civilians are still considered the first line of defense against terrorist incidents. Residents and visitors “have to be our eyes and ears,” said Alexander.
    Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins agreed. He said he is glad to see the catch phrase “See Something, Say Something” being dusted off again. This message was widely used after 9/11 to urge people to stay alert to what was going on around them and report unusual activity.
    It paid off when a backpack was discovered near a Delray Beach military recruitment site last June. Traffic was blocked off in the area until it was determined that the backpack did not contain anything dangerous.
    Civilians should also be responsible for knowing what to do if they find themselves in the center of a shooter situation. Alexander recommends following the standard formula — “Run, Hide, Fight.” The Boca Raton Police Department has a number of videos up on its YouTube site that provide information on how to deal with dangerous security situations (www.youtube.com/bocapolice).
    Although no agency can be prepared for every contingency, it is clear that a great deal of time, energy, and expense has been put into detection and preparation to deal with mass shooter incidents in Palm Beach County. This has created confidence within the law enforcement community.  
    As Alexander notes, “I’ve served in a number of different agencies, and I believe that Palm Beach County is one of the best prepared counties in the state.”

Security tips
‘See Something, Say Something.’
If you see suspicious activity, call either 911 or the terrorism hotline of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement—1-855-FLA-SAFE (1-855-352-7233)—or both. Hotline calls may be made anonymously.
If you find yourself in an active shooter situation, the formula is:
1. Run. Get away from the scene as quickly as possible, if you can.
2. Hide. Take yourself as far from the shooter or attackers as possible, hide and remain hidden until the incident is over.
3. Fight. Organize in a group to fight your way out.
    — Information provided by Commissioner Steven Abrams and Boca Raton Police Chief Dan Alexander

By Jane Smith

    Six Boynton Beach residents will advise the city commissioners when they sit as the Community Redevelopment Agency board. The residents, appointed at the second commission meeting in December, are:
    • Linda Cross, a retired CPA.
    • James DeVoursney, a dermatologist.
    • Brian Edwards, a marketing and development worker.
    • Thomas Murphy Jr., a firefighter.
    • Robert Pollock, a Postal Service worker and Army retiree.
    • Christina Romelus, an adjunct professor and business owner.
    Commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick was not able to attend the meeting; he will appoint a seventh member at a future meeting.
    Ten residents had applied to be on the board, Mayor Jerry Taylor said. The remaining ones are: William Todd Jackson, insurance agency owner; Paula Melley, consultant; Genevieve Morris, retired quality assurance manager; and Edward Tedtmann, commercial/industrial real estate broker.
    The advisory board will make recommendations on programs, activities and financing issues to the CRA board. The CRA works to reduce blight in areas east of the interstate and along the Intracoastal Waterway in Boynton Beach.
    The advisory board was created in October after two community members — Buck Buchanan and Woodrow Hay — were ousted from their positions on CRA board.
    At the September CRA meeting, they had disagreed publicly with Vice Mayor Joe Casello and Commissioner Mack McCray over their low performance marks for the agency’s executive director, Vivian Brooks. “The problem is not with Vivian, not with the city manager and not with the staff. The problem lies with the leadership of the city,” Hay said at the Sept. 8 CRA meeting. “I really wish there was an evaluation for each of us by the city for the way we behave up here on the dais.”
    Commissioner David Merker missed the second September commission meeting, held on Rosh Hashanah. That’s when Casello proposed an all-commission CRA board. Commissioner Fitzpatrick voted no, but the motion carried because McCray and the mayor voted yes. At the Dec. 15 commission meeting, before nominating a resident to the advisory board, Merker said, “Buck Buchanan and Woodrow Hay were appointed, did nothing wrong. They should still be there.
    “What has happened is a charade. And you, the people who are out there, are not being respected.”

Condominiums at Riverwalk Plaza would sit at the southeast corner of the property,

along the Intracoastal Waterway, at Woolbright Road and Federal Highway.

Rendering provided

By Jane Smith

    Riverwalk Plaza will become home to a 10-story, U-shaped apartment building with 326 units, according to plans submitted in December to Boynton Beach.
    “We did everything that was required,” said Shaul Rikman, founder and president of Isram Realty, Riverwalk’s owner.
    The complex also will contain 41,970 square feet of retail space, the 7,889 square-foot Prime Catch restaurant and the 2,988 square-foot Wendy’s with a drive-through lane. The Wells Fargo bank branch will remain. The project should be completed in 2020.
    Winn-Dixie left the 117, 644-square-foot shopping center nearly a year ago. The move allowed Hallandale-based Isram Realty to repurpose its prime slice of nearly 10 acres with waterfront views. The plaza sits at the southwest corner of the Intracoastal Waterway and Woolbright Road. Federal Highway makes up the western boundary.
    Isram hired Simmons & White to do a traffic count of the new Riverwalk. The West Palm Beach firm found the site sits in a coastal residential exception area, limiting the type of traffic study required. Based on what the traffic engineers reported, neither Woolbright nor Federal would need upgrades.
    The traffic engineers said the existing center had 5,770 daily trips, with 142 during morning rush hour and 491 during evening rush hour. The renovated residential complex would have 5,314 daily trips with 257 trips in the morning rush hour and 458 during evening rush hour. The daily trips would decrease by 456, but the morning trips would increase by 115 and evening would decrease by 33.
    Walgreen’s drugstore and Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft store will remain, but their building will be renovated by Isram, said Mike Rumpf, Boynton Beach planning and zoning director. The building, at the southwest corner of Riverwalk, has space for other tenants.
    In the Winn-Dixie building, the newly opened Bond en Smolders bakery and coffee shop is waiting to hear about its five-year lease and whether space will be found or its lease bought out by Isram. Josie’s restaurant also is negotiating with Isram.
    Luke Therien, whose family owns the nearby Prime Catch restaurant along the Intracoastal, is in discussions to do a land swap with Isram Realty.
    Prime Catch diners now self-park in front of the Winn-Dixie building. The restaurant offers a valet service that parks vehicles south of the building.
    “It’s been all verbal. I talked to the owners before Thanksgiving about doing a land swap, some of the property we own along the Intracoastal for a parcel in front of the restaurant,” Therien said.
    “They have a lot of things to be worked out with the city: Change the zoning and get a height variance. Until that is done, I don’t think we will see anything in writing.”

Debbie Brookes stands next to a shell-covered mermaid in her Beachcomber Art gallery in Delray Beach.

INSET BELOW: A shell-covered swordfish.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By April W. Klimley
    
    Anyone strolling into the Beachcomber Art gallery in Delray Beach is in for a surprise. There’s no standard “shell” art. Instead, the floor, walls and surfaces are filled with exotic, sometimes whimsical, objects embellished with shells, glass and other seashore finds.
    The range of variety is breathtaking — with pieces that would enhance any home décor from midcentury modern to traditional.
    “I’m just an embellisher,” says Debbie Brookes, standing behind the counter that doubles as part of her workshop. “I can’t let anything sit still. Pianos, guitars, anything sitting still, I cover it.”
    This creativity has made her gallery successful virtually from the moment it opened 8½ years ago.
    “Almost everyone on the shore has one of my chandeliers,” she says. No wonder she did not need to do much advertising when she moved her shop from Boynton Beach to Delray Beach last year.
    Brookes is that unusual combination of good businesswoman, artist, wife and mother. She studied fine art, sculpture and mosaic art while raising two daughters, Desserae and Dana, with her husband of 40 years, Ed Brookes. Simultaneously, she ran a chain of beauty salons and worked in flower arranging.
    Fourteen years ago, she and Ed moved to Ocean Ridge. There, she put together some mosaic-decorated flowerpots with an Art Deco flair that her friends fell in love with. It wasn’t too long afterward that she opened a small studio in Boynton Beach to sell these and other decorative items.
    Now in her new Delray location, Brookes has plenty of space to display and sell a much wider range of one-of-a-kind objects, from a sculpture-size mermaid mannequin to flying fish and oversized chandeliers. Some of her smallest items like votive candle holders, $10 apiece, are among her best sellers. Brookes uses shells from the Philippines to adorn her objects and a fast-drying glue, not glue gun, to hold the decorations in place.
    As for planning each piece, she doesn’t.
    “I’m a scavenger,” she says. “I never know what I’m going to make until I see it.”
    But on the business side, she certainly thinks ahead. A while ago she covered a funeral urn box with a shell arrangement for a friend.
After that, orders for similar urn boxes started pouring in. So now Brookes plans to launch a website in 2016 called www.beachurn.com.
    If that sounds ahead of its time, maybe it is. But Brookes has great instincts. Her other business plans worked out. So it would not be surprising if this one does, too.

    Beachcomber Art is at 900 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach. 808-7502 or www.beachcomberart.com.

Staff members from Bank of America visited Adopt-A-Family of the Palm Beaches in December,

dropping off toys and handmade holiday cards for the students at the agency’s Project Grow afterschool program.

They also presented the agency’s CEO, Matthew Constantine, with a $2,200 donation. The agency is in its

31st year and has helped more than 42,000 families attain self-sufficiency.

Photo provided

By Christine Davis

    Research faculty at Florida Atlantic University ranked 19th in the world for their intellectual contributions to the real estate industry through their publications in top peer-reviewed journals, according to the Journal of Real Estate Literature.
    Also, the university’s MBA program ranked fifth in the United States in terms of a student’s return on investment, with one of the nation’s highest average salary-to-debt ratios after a student gets a master’s degree, according to rankings published by SoFi, a San Francisco-based marketplace lender. Students who earn their MBA at FAU have an average salary of $104,820 and an average debt of $45,573, just behind Stanford University, which ranked No. 4. New York Institute of Technology topped the list.
                                   
    As part of YEA!, the Boca Chamber’s Golden Bell Education Foundation’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy program, its 24 students will hear Boca Raton CEOs talk about their businesses, how they made it to the top, and how they define success at the upcoming CEO Roundtable and Elevator Pitch Contest. This free event is open to the public and will be from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 6, at Saint Andrew’s School Parrish Hall, 3900 Jog Road, Boca Raton.
    Some of the city’s well-known CEOs will sit on the panel: Daniel Cane, president and CEO of Modernizing Medicine; Andrew Duffell, president and CEO of the Research Park at FAU; Angela Mastrofrancesco, regional manager of Comerica; Toula Amanna, CEO of Flashback Diner; Sam Zietz, president and CEO of TouchSuite.
                                   
    In December, Grant Cardone, author of the New York Times bestseller The 10X Rule, trained Braman Motorcars employees on the principles for success, which are outlined in his book. According to the 10X Rule, to achieve extreme success, team members must embrace the idea that success is their duty, obligation and responsibility.
    Braman Motorcars has served the county for more than 30 years as an authorized Rolls-Royce, Bentley, BMW, Porsche and MINI dealer. Braman Rolls-Royce Palm Beach was named the 2015 national and global Dealer of the Year by Rolls-Royce.
                                   
    George Gann, chief conservation strategist for the Institute for Regional Conservation in Delray Beach, recently traveled to Manchester, England, to lecture on the conservation and restoration of rare plants in Everglades National Park. The venue was the sixth World Conference on Ecological Restoration, hosted by the Society for Ecological Restoration.
    “We believe that our institute’s long history of working with regionally rare species in South Florida, together with expanded work in the Yucatan, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, can shed light on what is actually happening on the ground at the global level,” Gann said.
    Also, in December, the Institute launched a new website featuring the native and introduced plants of Puerto Rico, which provides rapid access to information on 3,500 species of plants on the island.
                                   
    After learning of public school budget cuts affecting the arts in 2008, twin daughters of Nat King Cole, Timolin and Casey Cole of Boca Raton, launched Nat King Cole Generation Hope Inc. in honor of their father. Since that time, they’ve generated more than $750,000 in donations that have benefited thousands of children in South Florida and New York.
    In December, for their latest local endeavor, they hosted the second Nat King Cole Generation Hope President’s Society Dinner, “Bringing Harmony To The World Through Music,” where guests enjoyed a private showing of Nat King Cole’s memorabilia and a special performance from children in the Generation Hope Summer Strings program.
                                   
    A donation of $20 to Feeding South Florida can provide a meal for 124 children and their families. Through a local network of approximately 350 nonprofit partner agencies, Feeding South Florida distributes almost 40 million pounds of food annually, serving 785,040 individuals in need of food assistance, including 280,630 children and 150,000 older adults, throughout Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
    To donate or for information, visit www.feedingsouthflorida.org or call 954-518-1818.
                                   
 Awet Sium now is general manager for Kimpton’s Tideline Ocean Resort & Spa, Palm Beach. Most recently, he served as resort manager for the Four Seasons in St. Kitts & Nevis.
                                   
    Mehmet Bahtiyar has taken the position of Renaissance Boca Raton Hotel’s general manager. Previously, as director of operations at The Westin Tysons Corner Hotel, Virginia, he brought that property to the “Best in Class” in the last eight years for guest satisfactions. Renaissance Boca Raton Hotel is at 2000 NW 19th St.
                                   
    A strolling Ms. Champagne added another layer of sparkle to Raymond Lee Jewelers’ VIP holiday party, where staff, customers and guests started the evening off with a tall celebratory glass of bubbly. Prize baskets valued at more than $1,500 were raffled, raising funds for Charity Champions, a charity dedicated to the well-being of animals.
 Raymond Lee Jewelers’ Boca Raton location is at 22191 Powerline Road, #12B.
                                   
    The sale of the Bank of America Tower, a 109,553-square-foot office building at 150 E. Palmetto Park Road, closed Dec. 15. Senior managing director Hermen Rodriguez, director Ike Ojala and associate director Jorge Portela of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.  represented the seller, Clarion Partners, in the sale of the property to Denver-based Dividend Capital Diversified Property Fund Inc.  
    The building sold for $35.75 million, free of debt. The Bank of America Tower is 87 percent leased to tenants including Bank of America, Zen Offices, Veretech Holdings and Charles Schwab & Company. A full-service Bank of America bank branch occupies the retail component of the space. Besito Boca soon will occupy the restaurant space.  
                                   
    The Delray Beach firm Marc Julien Homes is in the midst of its first relocation and rehabilitation project, a 1926 mission-style 1,200-square-foot house at 218 NE Fifth Court. The house was moved 15 feet, and the structure will be renovated. A new portion will be added to connect this house to an old guesthouse. It will be 3,049 square feet when it is completed. Marc Julien Homes will build a new two-story house where the 1926 cottage stood.
                                   
    Michaela Kennedy has joined Silver International Realty in Delray Beach as a real estate agent. Kennedy, who has a background in financial services and business development, was awarded the certified international property specialist designation by the National Association of Realtors in November 2014.
    Also, owner Christel Silver was awarded the performance management network designation by the Women’s Council of Realtors.
                                   
    Jackson Singh, one of South Florida’s newest real estate law firms, is a female-owned Boca Raton business led by two minority women, Racole Jackson and Nalini Singh. Specializing in foreclosure litigation, their firm focuses on real estate litigation and transactions.
    Jackson is a broker and former chair, vice chair and fellow of the American Bar Association’s commercial real estate purchase and sale committee. She was managing principal of Jabez Legal in Delray Beach and an attorney at Aldridge Pite.
    Singh is a former Aldridge Pite colleague. Their new office is at 2385 NW Executive Center Drive, Suite 100, Boca Raton.
                                   
    In October, Lang Realty raised $8,910 to benefit the American Cancer Society as part of its annual “In the Pink” campaign in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. More than half of the donations were raised through a percentage of each closing that month, and more than $3,000 was raised through pledges made for employees participating in the annual “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” walks in Boca Raton, Palm Beach Gardens and Port St. Lucie.
                                   
    The Boca Chamber will host its 10th annual Diamond Award Luncheon on Feb. 19 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, 501 E. Camino Real, Boca Raton. At this luncheon, the chamber will recognize a professional woman who contributes to the vibrancy of the community. Call 395-4433, Ext. 233 or visit www.bocachamber.com.
                                   
    From 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 21, The Greater Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Business Awards Gala, “A Winter Wonderland” will honor its members for their outstanding accomplishments in 2015 and crown honorary chairs Calvin & Jeanette Cearley.
    Following the cocktail reception at Benvenuto Restaurant will be dinner, an awards ceremony, live auction and dancing. Tickets are $100. Benvenuto Restaurant is at 1730 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Call 732-9501.
                                   
    The Fair Housing Essay, Poster and Video Contest is open for all Palm Beach County students in grades 3 through 12. “Fair Housing Opens Doors” is sponsored by the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches and the Legal Aid Society of the Palm Beaches Inc. Students may submit one entry for each category no later than 4 p.m. Jan. 15. Winners will be announced Feb. 29, and prizes will be awarded at an April reception. Visit www.pbcgov.com/equalopportunity/ or contact Kathi Dillard at 355-4927 or email her at kdillard@pbcgov.org.
                                   
    The Astor Club, a private legacy club of high-net-worth families, launched in Palm Beach in December, offering its members an opportunity to collaborate on direct private equity investments to grow wealth and develop successors. Participating families attended informative sessions on those subjects and they also received a guided tour of Art Basel.
    Astor Family Advisors, a boutique office specializing in family succession and strategy, partnered with the membership program, Symphony Family Office Advisory Hub, to bring this gathering to Palm Beach.
                                   
    Patricio S. Espinosa, MD, has been appointed director of neurology at Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Marcus Neuroscience Institute. He leads the institute’s team of neurologists and offers specialized expertise in epilepsy and sleep disorders.
                                   
    David C. Brodner, MD, a board-certified ear, nose and throat specialist, was recently contracted by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide services to its patients. Brodner’s office is at 8794 Boynton Beach Blvd., Boynton Beach.
                                   
    Bethesda Health has announced new hires and a promotion. Randy Schwartz is the new executive director of Bethesda Health’s outpatient services in Boynton Beach. He is responsible for the start-up and operation of urgent care centers, diagnostic centers and freestanding ambulatory surgery centers, as well as for the engagement of physicians, resource allocation, staff and leadership development.
    Robert V. Rohack is the new director of the Cornell Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine, Bethesda Stroke Center and Rehabilitation Services at Bethesda Health. Prior to joining Bethesda’s team, Rohack served as the director of rehabilitation at Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee.
    Cristina Yeatts is Bethesda Health’s new property manager, responsible for the management of Bethesda real estate assets, which include a service center and multiple physician practices.
    Jacquelyn Fogle was promoted to assistant vice president of patient services at Bethesda Hospital East. She previously served as the clinical nursing director for the Medical/Surgical/Oncology Unit and Outpatient Infusion Therapy Department. In her new role, she provides leadership support and patient care services. She also manages the operations of acute-care nursing.


Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.

New age musician Yanni and his daughter, Krystal Ann.

Photo provided

By Thom Smith

    Yiànnis Hryssomàllis.
    It’s Greek to most folk. Better to just call him Yanni. Though some call his music new age gimmickry, he’s a global superstar and has sold millions of records. He’s played at the Taj Mahal, in Beijing’s Forbidden City and at the Acropolis in Greece, the country of his birth.
    Yanni first appeared in South Florida in the late 1990s as the boyfriend of Dynasty star Linda Evans. He accompanied her to Chris Evert’s Celebrity Tennis Classic then returned to play for the big-ticket patrons at the black tie gala.
    He obviously liked the neighborhood. In 1998, after he and Evans parted, he bought a modest little oceanfront bungalow in Manalapan for $5.7 million. Still, two decades passed after the Evert gig before he played any public concerts, drawing raves at the Kravis Center in 2012 and 2013.
    Yanni obviously learned some investment tricks from his banker father. Today the house is valued at $10 million to $15 million. He’s worth an estimated $40 million.
    But while he may be a showman in concert, he prefers a much lower key offstage. Few local sightings; the seawall behind his house collapsed during Hurricane Sandy; then-girlfriend Silvia Barthes accused him of battery in 2006, but charges were never filed.
    He’ll make his third public appearance Feb. 6 at Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, and chances are you might spot in the wings the newest woman in his life. She’s tall and dark, with a smile as wide as the Grand Canyon, possibly a camera in hand.
    Any resemblance is purely hereditary.
    A year and a half ago during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Yanni introduced the world to Krystal Ann, his daughter. She is in her mid-30s and manages his social media. But that’s all we know. (It’s purely coincidence that Evans’ Dynasty character was “Krystle.”)
    Krystal Ann was born in the early ’80s, years before Yanni and Evans met. Speculation abounds that she is from Minnesota and is the product of a relationship that began while Yanni was earning his degree in psychology at the University of Minnesota. But that remains off the record.
                                   
    Some people visit, making a big splash as they come through the front door. But when the opportunities arise for others, they are more content — and more effective — quietly working their way around back.              
    That’s Leon Charney.
    On Dec. 21 he was given a front-door welcome at Florida Atlantic University, honored with an honorary doctorate in humane letters for his lifetime of work in the pursuit of peace.
    Leon who?
    Charney. C-h-a-r-n-e-y. His résumé, hmmm, let’s see. At 20, the son of a sewing supply salesman became a cantor to pay his way through law school. He became an entertainment lawyer. Represented Sammy Davis Jr. Then hit the mother lode representing oil interests.
    But Charney’s interests went far beyond hit records and energy. He was a supporter of Israel. He was an adviser to U.S. Sen. Vance Hartke. He worked with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir to free 1,000 Soviet Jews and help them migrate to Israel.            
    His connections to Meir, Israeli Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat caught the attention of President Jimmy Carter. Charney’s back channel work was directly responsible for the Camp David accords.
    Carter later credited Charney as the treaty’s “unsung hero.”
    On the day Carter lost reelection in 1980, Charney bought his first building in New York. A billionaire — currently No. 1,741 although once 386 — his holdings include three skyscrapers in Times Square. He has written five books, and hosts The Charney Report, a nationally syndicated TV public affairs show. Last fall, The Leon Charney Resolution Center opened in Israel, dedicated to the history and the future of negotiations, peace and learning.
    And, oh yeah, he has a condo just south of Boca Inlet.

Denise Kutnick entered the joint studies program at FAU, graduated,

and is starting a job at Intel in Colorado at age 17.

Photo provided

                                   
    FAU super success stories: Way back in 1968, Edith Stern received a degree in mathematics from Florida Atlantic University. She landed a job with IBM and over the course of her career has been issued more than 125 patents, managed an IBM team pioneering remote health care monitoring for the elderly and served as a member of the Academy Technology Council. Stern was and remains the university’s youngest graduate (she was 15).
    Last year, Kate Bush, a Hollywood resident, took her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a week later her high school diploma from FAU’s University School, one of many young students who are enrolled in FAU’s joint studies program. Bush, 16, is not the first in her family. Two sisters, ages 17 and 18 and a cousin, 17, have followed the same route.
    A teacher at Don Estridge Middle School in Boca taught Denise Kutnick how to create Web pages and encouraged her to study computers. She, too, entered the joint studies program at FAU, and in December received her degree in computer science. But Kutnick won’t have time to sit on her laurels: Two summers ago she landed a summer internship with Intel in Colorado as a component design engineer. So instead of going to Disney World, Kutnick, 17, is headed back to Colorado and a full-time job with Intel.
    With the likes of these kids, this nation’s future is bright, regardless of what some may say.
                                   
    As the owl flies, the beach is 2 1/2 miles due east of FAU Stadium. So after a week of sub-freezing lows in Toledo and Philly, and South Florida pushing the high 70s, a little rain wasn’t going to spoil the the Marmot Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 22.
    On game day fans packed the pre-game festivities on the stadium’s perimeter: live bands — both rocking and marching; automotive displays; public service organizations; vendors; team colors flowing, and mingling.   
    Intermittent showers may have flushed the excitement out of the stadium in the first half, but the teams picked up the pace in the second with Toledo dominating in the eventual 32-17 upset. Though attendance was down from last year thanks to the weather, bowl officials were pleased with the turnout of 25,908.
    Perhaps Toledo had an inspirational advantage. After all, on the road they usually don’t bunk at the likes of the Boca Raton Resort & Club. One observer said players just dropped their bags and gaped when the bus first pulled up to the entrance.
    No one could have been more delighted than John Tolbert, a veteran hotelier who first came to the resort in 1994 as a vice president for sales and marketing. He jumped to the Ritz-Carlton for two years before returning in 2004 for two years as president of sales and marketing for new owner Blackstone/LXR.
    Now, after a decade in other ventures and just chilling out, he’s back, and “this is it,” he said. “I’m here for good.”
    Other familiar faces in the President’s Suite included original FAU football coach Howard Schnellenberger, Trustees chairman Anthony Barbar, developer Jim Batmasian and wife Marta, Boca Mayor Susan Haynie and former Mayor Susan Whelchel.
    Though a Harvardian, former Boca Raton and Palm Beach County Mayor Steve Abrams was pulling for Temple. He’s from Philadelphia.
    “My father taught there for many years,” he beamed, “and my grandmother studied pharmacy there in the 1920s when women weren’t supposed to do that kind of work.”
    FAU President John Kelly planned to catch another bowl game Dec. 31 — the Orange Bowl betweern Clemson and Oklahoma.
    “I had thought that Carolyn and I might just be able to sit back and watch the game at home,” Kelly said of his wife. “But then my brother called and asked if I could get some tickets. He went to  Clemson, too.”
    Kelly didn’t really need much convincing. The Clemson grad was born nearby and then spent 28 years as an administrator and ultimately vice president. But Carolyn will not attend; she’ll stay home with toddler Stella. Beside, she earned her undergrad degree from arch rival University of South Carolina before going to grad school at Clemson.   
    “I’m still an Owl,” former FAU athletic director Craig Angelos semi-joked outside the stadium. The newly named deputy director of athletics at Temple, also nicknamed the Owls, liked what he saw. The stadium was built on his nine-year watch.
    But in April 2012, FAU’s new president Mary Jane Saunders fired him. He reportedly wasn’t raising enough money. A year later, Saunders thought she had a $6-million deal for stadium naming rights, but when news escaped that it would be named after for-profit prison company Geo Group, she was canned.
    After FAU, Angelos became an assistant AD at the University of South Florida with oversight of its improving football program. In June 2014 Florida International University in Miami hired him, ironically, to find new revenue sources for the athletic department.                                    
    At halftime, Glades-bred All-American and former Tampa Bay Buc Reidel Anthony was introduced as the Marmot Boca Raton Bowl’s second Palm Beach County Football Legend for his work on and off the field. But he almost didn’t make it because of traffic, said proud papa Clarence Anthony, 24-year mayor of South Bay and now executive director of the National League of Cities, who holds a master’s in public administration from FAU.
                                   
    Big week for the arts.
    Pulitzer Prize-winner and former United States Poet Laureate Robert Hass serves as special guest for 12th annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival (Jan. 18-23). The first of three artistic festivals beginning the week of Jan. 18 will be held at Old School Square and offers nine literary workshops, talks, panel discussions and even coffeehouse performances with a dozen nationally renowned poets. (www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org)

Walter Iooss Jr. will be part of FotoFusion at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre.

Photo provided

                                   
    Among hundreds of assignments, Walter Iooss Jr. has photographed every Super Bowl for Sports Illustrated — but before he heads to San Francisco for his 50th, he’ll stop in West Palm Beach for FotoFusion.
    Iooss, who captured “The Catch” by Dwight Clark and a lifetime of Christie Brinkley in swimsuits, will receive his award at a Jan. 20 dinner and on Jan. 21 give a lecture and attend a reception for the opening of his exhibition.
    FotoFusion also offers a variety of paid and free events, including seminars, photo shoots with master photographers, exhibitions, book signings, portfolio reviews and evening “Fuse and Schmooze” parties. (www.fotofusion.org)
                                   
    Dough, starring Jonathan Pryce, opens the Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival 2016 on Jan. 20 at the Kravis Center. Before Raise the Roof closes the festival three weeks later at the Duncan Theatre in Lake Worth, 30 films celebrating the world of Jewish experience will be shown at Cinemark theaters in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach, Frank Theatres Cinebowl & Grill in Delray Beach and Cobb Theatres at Downtown at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens.

    Of special note is Look at Us Now, Mother, a documentary directed by Emmy-winner Gayle Kirschenbaum that explores the relationship between her and her testy mother, Mildred Kirschenbaum, a resident of Boca Pointe. Both will attend the screenings (Palm Beach Gardens, Jan. 25; Delray, Feb. 6; Boca Raton, Feb. 7). For tickets and information, go to www.pbjff.org.
                                   
    With the Tedeschi Trucks Band headlining for the fourth year at the Sunshine Musical Festival at Mizner Park, Jan. 17, this year’s lineup will be hard to top. In addition to the bluesy-jazzy-rocky-funky sounds of Susan Tedeschi and hubby Derek Trucks, the bill includes Indigo Girls, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and two of the top instrumentalists anywhere, dobro specialist Jerry Douglas and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane fame. (livenation.com)
                                   
    A little farther west on the edge of the Everglades, a Southern Jam is coming to Sunset Cove Amphitheatre in West Boca on Jan. 30. The bill: Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, John Hiatt and Shawn Colvin.
    During the show, Music Jam Productions will raffle off two guitars signed by the performers to benefit Hope From Harrison and The Wounded Warrior Project. (www.musicjamproductions.com)
                                   
    Worth Avenue may have the reputation, but when it comes to fashion, Atlantic Avenue can hold its own. That’s what the Third Annual Delray Beach Fashion Week is all about. The bash opens Jan. 16 on the runway in front of The Colony Hotel with The Fashion Show on the Avenue and concludes 35 events later on Jan. 23 with the Surf & Swim Show at Worth Park.
    Sponsored by the Downtown Development Authority, the week will offer in-store and runway events, all of which are free and open to the public. Special VIP seating and after-event parties are available for a charge. And, of course, the Vince Canning Stiletto Race returns at 6 p.m. Jan. 22 with high-heeled entrants sprinting, strutting and sashaying their way to the finish line. Proceeds from premium tickets support Achievement Centers for Children & Families.
                                   
    After a four-month renovation that cost nearly $2 million, Oceans 234 offers diners a clear view of the white sands of Deerfield Beach and the newly redone pier jutting out into the blue-green waters of the Atlantic.
    Unobstructed water views are just part of what’s new. Repurposed space makes the views accessible to more people dining indoors and at the spacious bar, where the crafted cocktails and wine list have been given an upgrade.
    There’s also a new menu created by chef Victor Franco. While keeping old favorites like fried calamari, Franco has added imaginative items featuring international flavors. Now you can enjoy anything from local fresh fish and sushi, to beef, burgers and pork belly bahn mi.
    Ask the chef as well as owner Danielle Rosse their favorite dish and they agree it is the grilled 7-ounce skirt steak. Here it’s served with mashed sweet plantains, toasted garlic and a tangy lime reduction as well as roasted corn with asparagus.
    Waiter Josh Rock favors French toast spread with Nutella and peanut butter then dipped in granola before being fried. It comes with syrup kicked up with cayenne that leaves a slow burn you extinguish with the garnish of fresh banana slices.
     “We do things differently around here,” Rock says.
    Oceans 234, 234 N. Oceans Blvd., Deerfield Beach; 954-428-2539; oceans234.com; Gluten-free items are marked and compiled on a separate menu.  
                                   
    Chef and managing partner Angelo Romano of Paradiso Ristorante, Lake Worth, has purchased Renzo’s of Boca. “We invite all of the wonderful patrons back to rediscover Renzo’s of Boca — joining us on another 25-year culinary journey, exploring and experiencing traditional Italian dishes,” Romano said.
    He’s offering Italian fare with a new perspective, as well as dishes unique to Renzo’s. The restaurant, at 5999 N. Federal Highway, is open daily for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and for dinner 5:30 to 10 p.m. Live entertainment is offered at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For reservations, call 994-3495.

Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley and Christine Davis contributed to this report.

Contact Thom Smith at thomsmith@ymail.com.

    The Plate: Shrimp & Grits
    The Place: Benny’s on the Beach, Lake Worth Pier, 10 S. Ocean Blvd., Lake Worth; 582-9001 or www.bennys
onthebeach.com.
    Cost: $14.99
    The Skinny: At Benny’s, they call the shrimp and grits the chef’s favorite.
    We won’t disagree because the dish now is one of our favorites.
   The creamy grits support a ring of roasted shrimp, cooked perfectly until tender.
    Another ring, of pickled jalapeños, offers a bit of subtle tang. And crumbled bacon and hot sauce make it sing on your palate.
— Scott Simmons

California-based international political commentator Saied Shemirani served as guest speaker

at the Gold Coast Tiger Bay Club, discussing the topic ‘From Monarchy to Mullahs: The State of Terror’

and the idea of establishing a parliamentary system by overthrowing the Islamic government

in Iran. ABOVE: (l-r) David Goldstein, Robert Alrod and Shemirani.

Photo provided

Saint Joseph’s Episcopal School eighth-graders, along with their parents and faculty

and staff members, served a Christmas meal for nearly 50 underprivileged families.

In addition to collecting and cooking the food, the school donated new work shoes

for men in need. There were gifts, as well, for the children.

ABOVE: (l-r) Kate Lowry, Ryan Flynn, Susan and Jeff Beebe and Lynne Jones, school chaplain.

Photo provided

The Kravis Center’s Education Committee welcomed Robert Avossa,

Palm Beach County’s new superintendent of schools, during a meeting

attended by more than 20 of its members. Avossa shared his experiences

in Fulton County, Ga., and his thoughts about Palm Beach County’s

educational needs. ABOVE: Zelda Mason and Deborah Elmore.

Photo provided

A total of 84 golfers and volunteers rose with the morning sun and headed to a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course

for a round of 18 holes to benefit the George Snow Scholarship Fund. Participants were greeted

with a lavish breakfast and quality gift bag. ABOVE: (l-r) Mike Arts with Co-Chairmen Doug Fash and Steve King.

Photo provided