The Hanley Center Foundation celebrated the fulfillment of a $1 million pledge by jeweler Alex and Ani. ABOVE: Yardley Manfuso and Anne Keresey. Photo provided by Lila Photo

Nearly 400 guests celebrated the 61st-annual Bethesda Hospital Ball with its ‘Palm Beach Revisited’ theme. Including sponsorships, proceeds from the night exceeded $550,000. The gifts will benefit Bethesda’s Center for Medical Education.ABOVE: (l-r) Nilsa McKinney, Glen and Karen Rogers and Frank McKinney. Photo provided by Downtown Photo

The 13th-annual affair returned with a new twist this year to benefit three local organizations that support children — Center for Creative Education, Glades Academy Foundation and SHUZZ. The effort began with a by-invitation-only VIP event that featured select pieces by show artists who committed a percentage of proceeds to benefit the charities. More than $18,000 was raised. ABOVE: (l-r) Rita Lombardo, Kristina Krykhtin, Oriya Atzmi, Sara Maynoldi, Veronica Parzygnat and Agata Ren. Photo provided

The Town of Ocean Ridge Town Hall will be closed on Friday, March 25, 2016 in order for staff to work on a Records Management project.  Contractors may work that day, and inspections will be performed as usual.

Note: All camp listings are current as of 2/26. Please check with organizers for any changes.

March 21-25
2016 Spring Break Tennis Camp at Patch Reef Park Tennis Center, 2000 Yamato Rd, Boca Raton. Warm up exercises, drills, situational games, instruction, arts & crafts, Pizza Party Friday (for full day campers). Ages 3-6 9 am-3:30 pm $235-$293.75/week, $60-$75/day; 9 am-noon $136-$170/week, $39-$48.75/day; Ages 7-16, 9am-3:30 pm $220-$275/week, $58-$72.50/day; 9 am-noon $125-$156.25/week, $36-$45/day. Lunch included for full week or full day campers. After care 3:30-6 pm add $3/half hour. 367-7090; patchreefpark.org
Catherine Strong Spring Sports Exploration Camp at Catherine Strong Park, 1500 SW 6th St. Ages 6-12. 7:30 am-5:30 pm. $90/resident; $100/non-resident. 243-7194; mydelraybeach.com
City of Boca Raton Gap Camp 2016 at Boca Raton Community Center, 150 Crawford Blvd. Grades K-5. 7:30 am-5:30 pm. Per day: $37/resident; $53/non-resident. 393-7888; myboca.us  
Junior Lifeguard Aquatic Camp at John Denson Pool, 225 NW 12 Ave, Boynton Beach. Lifeguard training, water safety skills, open swim. Ages 10-15. 9:30 am-3:30 pm. $60/resident; $75 non-resident. 742-6645; boynton-beach.org
 Junior Spring Break Tennis Camp at The Racquet Center, 21626 St Andrews Blvd, Boca Raton. Drills, match play, swim break, arts & crafts, carnival Friday w/awards ceremony. Ages 6-16. Full day 9 am-3 pm; week: $220/resident, $275/non-resident; daily: $55/resident, $68.75/non-resident. Half day 9 am-noon; week: $130/resident, $162.50/non-resident; daily: $36/resident, $45/non-resident. After Care Camp 3-5:30 pm. 367-7095; theracquetcenter.org
Kid’s Spring Break Art Camp at Talin’s Tropical Studio, 2915 S Federal Hwy D-3, Delray Beach. Bring sack lunch. Ages 6-12. 9:30 am-4 pm. $27/day all supplies included. 573-0123; talinsstudio.com
One Week Wonder Spring Break Camp at Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave. Kids work together to produce Dinner At Eight, Dead by Nine. M-F. 9 am-3 pm. Performance 11 am 3/26. Ages 8+. $200/child. 584-6410; lakeworthplayhouse.org
Pee Wee Spring Break Tennis Camp at The Racquet Center, 21626 St Andrews Blvd, Boca Raton. 10 & Under Tennis Method with age appropriate equipment. Swim break, arts & crafts, Pizza Party Friday. Ages 3-6. 9 am-noon. Week: $135/resident; $168.75/non-resident; Day: $36/resident; $45/non-resident. 367-7095; theracquetcenter.org
Performing Arts Spring Break Camp: Roald Dahl’s Matilda, The Musical Revue at Showtime Performing Arts Theatre, 503 SE Mizner Blvd #73, Boca Raton. Learn songs, scenes, choreography from the movie. Performance on 3/25. Ages 5+. Core program 9 am-3 pm. $250; add $5/hour for extended hours 8-9 am & 3-6 pm. Registration fee: $40/new student; $25/returning student. 394-2626; showtimeboca.com
School’s Out Workshop: Sewing & Designing For My Doll at Sugar Sand Park, 300 S Military Tr, Boca Raton. Ages 7-13. 8:30 am-1 pm. $250/resident; $312.50/non-resident. 347-3900; sugarsandpark.org
Sea Turtle Camp at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Close encounters with resident sea turtles, visit a local nesting beach. New theme each day. Bring a healthy snack, beverage; camp shirt required (additional shirts may be purchased). Grades 3-5. 8:30 am-noon. $155/member; $205/non-member. Prepayment required. 544-8615; gumbolimbo.org
Spring Break Art-Sea Camp at 112 S Federal Highway #7, Boynton Beach. Two to three projects a day. Pottery painting, decoupage, canvas painting, watercolor, jewelry making, mosaic, more. 10:30 am-2:30 pm. Held again 3/28-4/1. $218/week camp; $50/one-day camp. Aftercare 2:30-4 pm add $15. Reservations required: 737-2600; art-sealiving.com
Spring Break Basketball Camp at Ezell Hester Jr. Center, 1901 N Seacrest Blvd, Boynton Beach. Learn basketball fundamentals, participate in drills and organized game play. Ages 6-15. 9 am-3:30 pm; 7:30-9 am & 3:30-5:30 pm add $25. $90/resident; $113/non-resident. 742-6640; boynton-beach.org
Spring Break Blast Camp at Children’s Science Explorium, 300 S Military Tr, Boca Raton. Exploration, experiments, games, more. Grades 1-5. M-F 9 am-1 pm. Full week: $105/resident, $131.25/non-resident; daily: $25/resident, $31.25/non-resident. Advance purchase required: 347-3912; scienceexplorium.org
Spring Break Broadway Boot Camp at Arts Garage, 180 NE 1st St, Delray Beach. Intensive training in acting, singing, dancing, audition preparation, the business of show business. Ages 7-17. 9 am-3 pm. $300. 450-6357; artsgarage.org
Spring Break Camp at Art Center, 125 SE 2nd Ave, Boynton Beach. Arts & crafts, special guests, daily field trips. Ages 5-12. 7:30 am-5:30 pm. $125/resident; $157/non-resident. 742-6221; boynton-beach.org
Spring Break Camp at Carolyn Sims Center at Wilson Park, 224 NW 12th Ave, Boynton Beach. Arts & crafts, movies, field trips. Ages 5-12. 7:30 am-5:30 pm. $125/resident; $157/non-resident. 742-6221; boynton-beach.org
Spring Break Skate Camp at 505 Teen Center and Hobbit Skate Park, 505 SE 5th Ave, Delray Beach. Interactive camp, beginner and advanced skaters.  Skate instruction, skate park field trips, arts & crafts, trips to movies, bowling, zoo, ice skating. Bring skateboard, helmet, knee/elbow pads, bag lunch, water bottle each day. Ages 5-15. 9 am-4 pm (six days). Drop-off time 8:30-9 am, pickup time 4-5:30 pm. $144/resident; $156/non-resident. Registration: 243-7158; mydelraybeach.com
Spring Break Surf and Ocean Safety Camp at Oceanfront Park, 6415 N Ocean Blvd, Boynton Beach. Surfing, stand up paddle boarding, ocean safety, more. Instructed by Hula Surf and Paddle School; instructors are First Aid/CPR certified. Participants must know how to swim. Ages 6-12. 8:30 am-1 pm. $200/resident; $250/non-resident. 742-6230; boynton-beach.org
Spring Camp 2016: Camp Kavod for Special Needs at 9801 Donna Klein Blvd, Boca Raton. Enhance social, motor, language, other life skills that promote greater independence. Families from all backgrounds and religious affiliations welcome. Grades K-12. 9 am-3 pm. $55/day; $250/week. 852-3269; levisjcc.org
Spring Science Adventure 2016 at South Florida Science Center and Aquarium, 4801 Dreher Tr N, West Palm Beach. Ages 4-12. 9 am-4 pm. $225/member; $250/non-member. Before/after care (7:30-9 am & 4-5:30 pm) add $10/day. 832-2026; sfsciencecenter.org
STEM Spring Adventure at South Florida Science Center and Aquarium, 4801 Dreher Tr N, West Palm Beach. Science, technology, engineering, math. Ages 7-14. 9 am-4 pm. $275/member; $300/non-member. Before/after care (7:30-9 am & 4-5:30 pm) add $10/day. 832-2026; sfsciencecenter.org
The Director’s Cut Reel Film Experience Spring Break at Sugar Sand Park Community Center, 300 S Military Tr. Boca Raton. Write script, scout shoot locations, learn multi angle filming techniques, act, edit on Macbooks; add voices, sound effects, music, titles. Ages 8-14. 8:30 am-3 pm. $280/resident; $350/non-resident; + $20/materials fee due first day. 347-3900; sugarsandpark.org
Waves Surf Academy & City Surf Spring Break Camp at Delray Beach Municipal Beach, Ocean Boulevard. Boys & girls ages 5-15. 9 am-2:30 pm. Held again 4/8 & 4/22. Week: $285/residents, $300/non-residents; Day: $60/resident; $70/non-resident. 243-7352; mydelraybeach.com

Summer Camp Guide 2016 will be available in the April edition of The Coastal Star.  Send your camp listings to: thecoastalstarcalendar@gmail.com.

Note: Events are current as of 2 /26. Please check with organizers for any changes.

March 6-12
Friday - 3/11 - Lenten Fish Fry at St. Mark Catholic Church, 643 St. Mark Pl, Boynton Beach. Held again 3/18. $12. 734-9330; stmarkboynton.com
3/11 - Lenten Fish Fry at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 840 George Bush Blvd, Delray Beach. 5-8 pm. Held again 3/18. $10. 272-6190; stvincentferrer.com

March 13-19
Wednesday - 3/16 - Penance Service at St. Mark Catholic Church, 643 St. Mark Pl, Boynton Beach. 7 pm. Free. 734-9330; stmarkboynton.com
Thursday - 3/17 - Lenten Penance Service at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 840 George Bush Blvd, Delray Beach. 7 pm, Free. 276-6892; stvincentferrer.com
Friday - 3/18 -  Living Stations of the Cross at St. Mark Catholic Church, 643 St. Mark Pl, Boynton Beach. 7 pm. Free. 734-9330; stmarkboynton.com

March 20-26
Sunday – 3/20 – Palm Sunday Choir Cantata: At the Ninth Hour at First United Methodist Church, 101 N Seacrest Blvd, Boynton Beach. Chancel choir/chamber orchestra, hand bells. Tom Bates, Director. 8:30 & 11 am. Free. 732-3435; fumcbb.co
3/20 – Palm Sunday Processional at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. 10 am. Free. 395-8285; stgregoryepiscopal.org
3/20 - Palm Sunday Concert at Unity of Delray Beach, 101 NW 22nd St, Delray Beach. Featuring Ebony Chorale of the Palm Beaches. 4 pm. Free-will offering. 276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org
Wednesday – 3/23 – Tenebrae Service at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. 730 m. Free. 395-8285; stgregoryepiscopal.org
3/23-27 – Holy Week Retreat: Be Merciful as Your Father at Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center, 1300 US Hwy One, North Palm Beach. Triduum Services, Sunrise Mass on Easter, Morning Prayer, Presentations and Sacrament of Reconciliation. Accommodations/meals included. Cost is variable for religious, singles, couples, w/lodging or commuter. W 5 pm registration. $160-$450. 626-1300; ourladyofflorida.org
Thursday – 3/24 – Holy Thursday Prayer & Sacrament of Holy Communion at First United Methodist Church, 101 N Seacrest Blvd, Boynton Beach. 9 am-5 pm. Free. 732-3435; fumcbb.com
3/24 – Maundy Thursday Service at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. Noon & 7:30 pm. Free. 395-8285; stgregoryepiscopal.org
3/24 - Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 840 George Bush Blvd, Delray Beach. 7 pm. Free. 276-6892; stvincentferrer.com
3/24-25 – Maundy Thursday Prayer Vigil at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. 9 pm-9 am. Free. 395-8285; stgregoryepiscopal.org
Friday – 3/25 – Good Friday Services at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. Noon & 7:30 pm. Free. 395-8285; stgregoryepiscopal.org
3/25 - Good Friday Prayer Vigil at Unity of Delray Beach, 101 NW 22nd St, Delray Beach. Noon-3 pm. Free. 276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org
3/25 - Good Friday Passion Liturgy with Communion at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 840 George Bush Blvd, Delray Beach. 3 pm. Free. 276-6892; stvincentferrer.com
3/25 – Good Friday Fish Dinner at Faith United Methodist Church, 6340 Boynton Beach Blvd, Boynton Beach. 5:30 pm. $7/adults; $5/children. Reservations:738-1902
3/25 - Stations of the Cross at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 404 SW 3rd St., Delray Beach. Combined service with St. Paul’s Episcopal. 5:30 pm. 276-4541 or stpaulsdelray.org
3/25 - Good Friday Living Stations of the Cross at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 840 George Bush Blvd, Delray Beach. 7 pm. Free. 276-6892; stvincentferrer.com
3/25 - Tenebrae Service at Unity of Delray Beach, 101 NW 22nd St, Delray Beach. 7 pm. Free. 276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org
Saturday – 3/26 – Holy Saturday Liturgy at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. 8:30 am. Free. 395-8285; stgregoryepiscopal.org
3/26 - Holy Saturday Evening Vigil at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 840 George Bush Blvd, Delray Beach. 7 pm. Free. 276-6892; stvincentferrer.com
3/26 – Easter Vigil at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. 7:30 pm. Free. 395-8285; stgregoryepiscopal.org

March 27-April 2
Sunday – 3/27 – Easter
3/27 – Community Sunrise Service at Oceanfront Park, 6415 North Ocean Blvd, Boynton Beach. Sponsored by area churches and clergy. 6:30 am. Free. 732-3435; fumcbb.com
3/27 – Delray  Beach Easter Sunrise Service at Atlantic Avenue & A1A. Hosted by Delray Beach Interfaith Clergy Association. Music by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. 6:30 am. Free. 276-4541
3/27 - 27th Annual Easter Sunrise Service on the Beach at Red Reef Park, 1400 N Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton. Bring a beach chair for your comfort. Free refreshments. Hosted by Boca Raton Kiwanis Club. 7 am. Free. 997-2112; kiwanisclubofbocaraton.com
3/27 - Family Eucharist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Music and choir followed by Easter egg hunt. 9 am. Festival Eucharist at 11:30 pm. 276-4541 or stpaulsdelray.org
3/27 - Easter Day Mass at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, 840 George Bush Blvd, Delray Beach. 7, 8:30, 10, 11:30 am in the Church; 10:10 & 11:40 am in Family Life Center. Free. 276-6892; stvincentferrer.com
3/27 – Easter Day Service at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. 7:30, 9, & 11:15 am; 6 pm. Free. 395-8285; stgregoryepiscopal.org
3/27 – Easter Service at First United Methodist Church, 101 N Seacrest Blvd, Boynton Beach. 8:30 & 11 am. Free. 732-3435; fumcbb.com
3/27 - Easter Service at Unity of Delray Beach, 101 NW 22nd St, Delray Beach. 9:25 & 11 am. Free. 276-5796; unityofdelraybeach.org
3/27 - Easter Services at First United Methodist Church East, 625 NE Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton. 8, 9:30, & 11 am services; 10:30 am butterfly release/spring festival begins. Free. 395-1244; fumcbocaraton.org

Beachgoers crowd the shore along Delray Beach in February. Even beyond the beaches, the signs of 2016’s tourist season are hard to miss. According to the Palm Beach County Tourist Development Council, visits to Palm Beach County rose to a record 6.6 million in 2015, up from 6.3 million the year before. That translates into $46 million in bed taxes, $7.6 billion in economic impact and more than 66,000 jobs. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    I was raised in Illinois. The Land of Lincoln.  I have heartland values.
    Maybe that’s why this election year has been so disturbing to me. It seems I’m just not angry enough or afraid enough to embrace the hate-filled mentality that has gripped the American political psyche.
    In my Midwestern heart I’ve always believed that democracy embraces different groups, interests and opinions; that its elected officials hold ongoing discussions with their constituents and follow the rules of law to sort through passion-filled rhetoric and reach compromise without abandoning civility.
    I was taught the alternative of democracy was dictatorship or governance by cabal. Those are frightening options to consider.
    When casual discussion turns to the theatrics of national politics, I tend to get on my soapbox and suggest we all turn off the TV and focus on what’s happening locally. That’s what matters, I say. The important politics are local politics. In a small town it’s important to be neighborly about our disagreements.
    I’m not so sure anymore. It seems to me that even some local elections have become mean-spirited.
    Through the years, I’ve observed small-town elections influenced by behind-the-scenes politics. No surprise. And new or unknown candidates have always made a sitting commission nervous. That’s to be expected.
    But when an elected commission actively and publicly campaigns against one of its colleagues, it raises more than eyebrows. It calls out questions about transparency. Why is a 5-0 vote so important? Good question.
    Maybe Ocean Ridge should have made a call to Boca Raton before embarking on unified public endorsements against a sitting commissioner.
    Remember Boca Raton’s 2012 TV commercials? The questions they raised about Sunshine Law violations? The re-election of the commissioner in an apparent backlash to this unified, public endorsement of his competition?
    In Boca Raton, vocal and well-organized groups have grown out of the distrust of a commission that felt the need to push for a 5-0 vote. These groups have not been afraid to sue the city when they felt their rights were violated. They have remained vigilant.
    This is the natural outcome of elected officials forgetting that their jobs require listening to different groups, interests and opinions.
     Call me Midwestern, but I still believe open discourse is as essential to democracy as the right to vote. And last time I looked, we all still had that right. Use it.

Lantana, Ocean Ridge and South Palm Beach will hold municipal elections during the March 15 presidential preference primary. Delray Beach will have two referendum items on the ballot. For more information see pages 16-18.

Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Delray Beach resident Peg Ekberg started an Empty Bowls drive at her Harbour’s Edge community.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack
    
    It was Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl that first touched Peg Ekberg’s heart and led her to a lifetime of helping others.
    “I can’t stand to see someone else hurting,” she says.
    Ekberg, who turns 94 this month, has been helping people in need through her volunteer efforts since she was a child, when she collected money for struggling neighbors, one quarter at a time.
    Today, she is playing an important role in raising money for the Palm Beach County Food Bank through the Empty Bowls project, a nationwide effort to fight hunger. Supporters pay $25 each for their choice of a hand-crafted ceramic bowl and to share a simple lunch of soup, bread and a cookie with like-minded community members.
The bowls came from the Outlaw Pottery and Art Studio in Cocoa and were purchased by the Food Bank.
    Ekberg first got involved in the project three years ago through her church, Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach.
    A year later, the Delray Beach resident started an Empty Bowls drive in her Harbour’s Edge community, which last month drew nearly 100 residents and raised close to $4,000.
    While recognizing the impact one can have assisting others, Ekberg says that she gets a lot of personal satisfaction from supporting organizations that serve those in need.
    “To be able to help others is probably the best thing that can happen in your life,” she says. “It’s what keeps me going.”
    In addition to her support for the Palm Beach County Food Bank, the local organization that benefits from the Empty Bowls project, Ekberg continues to volunteer with both Planned Parenthood and the League of Women Voters, organizations she has supported for close to 75 years.  
    “They tell me I may be the longest member of the league in Florida,” she says.
    A former resident of Gulf Stream who came to South Florida 30 years ago, Ekberg has served on the boards of both organizations and has served as the president of the Palm Beach County Planned Parenthood chapter.
    She has been active at Bethesda-by-the-Sea, serving on the church’s outreach committee, which she has chaired in the past.
    When the church got involved in the Empty Bowls project, Ekberg was tapped to find 250 volunteers to help.
    She didn’t have any problems getting recruits.
     “I am an old lady and people were afraid to say ‘no,’ ” she says.
    Ekberg later was asked to coordinate the baking of hundreds of cookies handed out to everyone who purchased a bowl.
    Seeing the success of the effort in Palm Beach inspired her to bring the Empty Bowls project to Harbour’s Edge.
    She contacted the senior living community’s activities director, Judy Stauffer, and chef Tim D’Antuono, who both greeted the idea enthusiastically.
    That first year, 60 Harbour’s Edge residents participated, each buying a bowl and then sitting down in the dining room for a bowl of soup prepared by the kitchen staff. The event raised about $2,500.
    In addition to raising money, the event helped raise awareness of the hunger issues in Palm Beach County. Ekberg had brought in Perry Borman, executive director of the Palm Beach Food Bank, and also spoke to the residents herself.
    “I want people to understand that those who are poor are not lazy bums,” she says.
    This year, the team at Harbour’s Edge agreed to host the Empty Bowls program, even though the kitchen and dining room are being renovated. Instead, tables were set up in a makeshift dining room and supporters gathered together over a lunchtime meal.
    “You look around the room and you get the warmest feeling because you know everybody cares,” Ekberg says.
“I think everybody who was there feels better knowing that they’re part of something that’s helping others.”

The American Legion Post 65, in Delray Beach, was built in 1921.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

    Drive by just a little too fast and you will probably miss it.
    Slow down and look to your left. There.
    Huddled among the much younger offices and condos in the 200 block of Northeast Fifth Avenue in Delray Beach, the Milton-Myers American Legion Post 65 is a Mission-style building with white stucco walls, a tar and gravel roof and, gracing a parapet above the front doors, the American Legion insignia, also stucco.

American Legion Post 65 was built in 1921 and formally dedicated on Nov. 11, 1922, four years to the day and hour after the end of World War I.

    Built in 1921, it is the oldest American Legion post in Florida that has always been an American Legion post.
    Now it’s struggling to remain one.
    “We need about $6,000 a month,” says Gary Cisco, 69, the post’s finance director. “We’re cutting expenses by about a third to eliminate items.”
    It’s closed on Sundays and Mondays now, and the cleaning service comes once a month instead of weekly. The television over the bar offers fewer channels, and the bartenders had to take a cut in pay. The $5 soup and sandwich lunch on Wednesdays and $10 dinners on Friday nights bring in a little.
    “Some winter months we’re making the $6,000,” Cisco says, “but it’s still difficult to stay above ground.”
On Feb. 2, they signed up for GoFundMe.com, a fundraising site that will take 8 percent of any money donated.
    “Money will be used to help pay everyday operating expenses,” the post promised potential donors. “Slowing participation has made it hard to keep up with financial demands.”
    And now, on a pleasant Saturday evening in February, the Legionnaires are holding yet another fundraiser. The bar is packed and the $20 raffle tickets for a 55-inch TV are selling, but not fast enough. The patio grills in back fill the air with sweet smoke.
    That’s Post Commander Walter Sykes, 61, carving the 65-pound pig he donated.
    “We’re hoping this fundraiser is going to be a big shot in the arm for us,” he says.

NOW: Tony Zunker, USMC, a member of the American Legion Post 65, grills burgers and hot dogs during a recent fundraising pig roast. The post  is housed in a historically registered building in Delray Beach. As most Legion posts around the country are struggling to survive, they are having fundraisers to foot the associated costs. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Come on in. Have some pork. Drink a beer and meet the men and women of Post 65. They are friendly. They are patriotic. And like the local post they love, they are old, or getting there, and younger vets are not lining up to join.
    When Don Stubblefield, 78, was the post’s commander from 2009 to 2012, he could claim 240 active members. Now they’re down to about 160.

Barbara Gardiner, left, Sandi O’Neill-Shine and Ken Van Arnem talk during a fundraising pig roast at the American Legion Post 65. O’Neill-Shine shows off a 1948 photo of her uncle, Elvin Schutz, an Army colonel during World War II

    “The young guys who are getting out of the military don’t want to join for some reason,” he lamented amid the din of the drinking, dining crowd at the bar. “I ask them and they say, ‘It’s a bunch of you old guys telling war stories.’ I tell them, ‘We want you in here telling your war stories.’”
Membership is not difficult. Dues are only $30 a year, and any veteran of the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy or Coast Guard is eligible.
    Still, the younger vets aren’t joining, and Post 65 is not alone. In 1946, as World War II ended, the American Legion could boast 3,325,000 members. Between 2000 and 2012, national membership dropped to fewer than 2.4 million, and the number of operating posts fell from 14,700 in 2000 to under 13,800 in 2013.
    Tony Zunker left the Marines in 1991.
    “I got married and had a family and I had other things to do than join a veterans organization,” he says. “Being younger, it seemed like it was for someone older than I am.”
    Three years ago, at the urging of friends, Zunker paid the $30 annual dues. Today, he’s the post’s vice commander and, at 48, one of the youngest and most active members.
    “There’s a camaraderie in the military that’s unlike any other job you’ll ever have, and I found the camaraderie here that I’d missed for so many years,” he says. “I’ve tried to get people my age to join and it’s just not there.”

Post chartered early
    Now slip around to the side of the building where the front portico meets the main wall. Just above the ground, barely legible beneath the whitewash, you’ll find:
    In Honor Of The Delray Boys Who Served In The World’s War. Dedicated By Milton Myers Post No. 65, American Legion, Nov. 11, 1922
    In March, 1919, Col. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and other members of the American Expeditionary Force met in Paris to establish an organization that would serve veterans returning from World War I, and on Sept. 16, Congress granted the group, now called the American Legion, an official charter.        

    A year later, in November 1920, Post 65 received its charter, and a year after that this building was erected by a local contractor named John I. Thieme with help from the 15 founding members.
    The formal dedication came at 11 a.m. Nov. 11, 1922 — four years to the exact time, day and hour when the Armistice ending World War I was signed.

THEN: Barber Albert L. Miller (on left), the post’s first commander,  photographed at the family business in about 1912. His mother,  Mary, is sitting on the steps, and his father, Albert F. Miller, is on the right fixing the bike. Photo provided

    The first commander was Albert L. Miller, a local barber who went to France with the 24th Infantry Florida Division and organized Post 65 when he came home.
    Two years later, he founded Boy Scout Troop No. 1 and served as its Scoutmaster for the next 25 years. Today, the post still sponsors the troop, now No. 301, at Veterans Day and Memorial Day observances.
    Miller went on to open the Dolphin Sport Shop on Atlantic Avenue, where he kept a barber chair in back to accommodate customers. He died in 1960, but his family remains in the area, operating Miller & Sons Office Furniture. His grandson, John Miller, is chairman of the city’s historical preservation board.

    And Milton-Myers?
    Army Pvt. Marvin W. Milton of Delray Beach died of pneumonia on Sept. 30, 1918. He was 28.
    Army Private Joseph L. Myers of Delray Beach died of cerebrospinal meningitis on Jan. 2, 1918. He was 24.
    They have been dead for nearly a century, and the American Legion Post that preserves their memories is selling pork dinners and raffling TV sets to stay alive.
    As of Feb. 23, the GoFundMe site had raised $110 from only two donors.
    “Last call for raffle tickets!” Joanie Vertefeuille of the Ladies Auxiliary calls, holding a roll of red tickets over her head as she moves through the bar. Twenty bucks for a chance at the TV, five for one of the gift baskets of shortbread and wine. “Last call for tickets!”    

A plaque notes the Legion post’s designation as a historic site

‘We’ve Got Your Back’
    Milton-Myers Post 65 is not fancy. It’s nearly a hundred years old, and you can tell. Over the back door hangs the plaque announcing its 1995 listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
    Beside the door is a small homemade sign that says, “We’ve Got Your Back, American Legion Post 65, Delray Beach.”
    There’s a dartboard and a jukebox, a neon Budweiser sign and, on the south wall, a big patriotic painting of an eagle.
    In the corner a wheelchair sits alone, with a note on the seat: “Free to a good home.”
    And over the bar a scrolling sign is promoting tonight’s fundraiser. “We need the help,” it says, sliding by again and again, “Now is the time … We need the help …”
    In the end, the Saturday night pig roast and raffle brought in $1,948, Zunker reported. Probably a little more, once the bar tabs and donation bottle are tallied.
    “Is it gonna be enough?” Post Commander Sykes says, even as the dinners are still being served and the raffle tickets hawked. “No, it’s never enough.
    “We got to do another fundraiser.”

To give to Post 65’s campaign, visit www.gofundme.com/53msxm8c or the post’s Facebook page at Milton Myers Delray.

By Rich Pollack

    As heroin use increases in South Florida, the number of overdoses and related deaths in Delray Beach also has exploded at a staggering rate.
    In 2015, Delray Beach police recorded 144 apparent heroin overdoses and 10 apparent heroin deaths. In just the first two months of this year, the number of opiate-related overdoses has already reached at least 77 and related deaths have climbed to 10, matching last year.  
    Delray Beach police say the city, with its large recovery population, has recently become ground zero in Palm Beach County for heroin usage. A number of factors, including dealers from elsewhere hoping to lure users with free doses, are responsible.
    Now, the Police Department has a new tool to use in efforts to prevent overdose deaths, thanks to a grant that will make it possible for police officers to carry doses of naloxone — a reversal agent for opioids — that can be administered through a nasal spray.
    “This is another tool officers can use to save a life,” Delray Beach Police Chief Jeff Goldman said. “It’s another enhancement for our officers and for our community.”
    Sold under the brand name Narcan, naloxone can almost immediately reverse the effects of a heroin overdose, reviving an unconscious heroin user in just minutes — sometimes in just seconds.
“This naloxone is magic,” says Delray Beach Police spokeswoman Dani Moschella.
    Naloxone is not new in South Florida or Palm Beach County. It is being used nationwide, is available with a prescription in Florida and is becoming available over the counter in more and more states.  
    Delray Beach Fire Rescue has been using it in the injectable form for decades.
    So far this year, in fact, paramedics have administered naloxone 77 times.
    Thanks to a grant from Evzio, maker of a single-use naloxone auto-injector, Delray Fire Rescue will be provided with 200 auto-injector kits, each with two doses of naloxone. The Fire Department will then pass on the nasal-spray naloxone kits it currently has in stock to the Police Department.
Paramedics will still respond to every overdose call and will be using the faster-acting and stronger injectable naloxone if they arrive before police.
    “Oftentimes a police officer will get to a scene before the fire rescue,” Goldman said. There are also instances where it may not be safe for paramedics to enter a scene before it is cleared by police.
As a result of the grant — an effort led by the Delray Beach Drug Task Force in coordination with Delray Beach Fire Rescue and the Delray Beach Police Department — the Delray Beach Police Department will become only the second department in the state to have sergeants on every shift equipped with and trained to use naloxone nasal spray. Sarasota County officers had them first.         Goldman said that having naloxone available for use by police officers is just one tool to help reduce heroin-related deaths. Others include public education and enforcement of existing laws.
    Moschella and retired Delray Beach police Officer Jeff Messer — a member of the Drug Task Force — are making presentations to those in the city’s recovery community aimed at letting people know that under Florida’s Good Samaritan Law, they can stay and get help for someone overdosing without having to worry about facing drug possession charges.
    Suzanne Spencer, executive director of the Delray Beach Drug Task Force, sees the increased use of naloxone by police and paramedics as an important step but believes follow-up is also critical.
    “We know we have an antidote that can save lives, but then what?” she asked. “How do we get those receiving naloxone help so this won’t happen again?”

Related stories: Highland Beach and Delray Beach may resume talks about fire service | Transport fee revenue questioned in fire-rescue contract | Fire Rescue chief announces plans to retire in May

By Dan Moffett

    When Gulf Stream Town Manager Bill Thrasher started studying the idea of bringing six barrier island towns together to provide their own fire-rescue services last year, he thought there was “no better than a 20 percent chance” anything would come of it.
    Thrasher believes that number has improved dramatically in recent weeks, however. “I think it’s gone up to 50 percent,” he says now.
    You can attribute the change to an unlikely source: Delray Beach, which currently provides services to Gulf Stream and Highland Beach.
    In February, Delray Beach city commissioners rejected a tentative fire-rescue agreement with Highland Beach and added a 20 percent administrative fee to the proposed contract, effectively increasing the town’s bill by $660,000 a year.
    “We thought we had an agreement with them in December,” Town Manager Beverly Brown said. “Then we find out that they want to charge us another 20 percent. It was a surprise.”
    Delray Beach’s abrupt shift gave the six coastal communities the living example of how dependent they are on other governments for essential services and how shifting political winds can change the game at any time.
    The growing worry along the barrier islands is that the providers from the mainland — Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and Palm Beach County — will choose to balance their budgets by slapping fee increases on the affluent coastal communities.
    “It’s almost reverse discrimination against wealthy people,” Thrasher said.
    Delray Beach’s reversal touched off a firestorm in Highland Beach. The town had pulled out of the exploratory group studying the fire district’s feasibility late last year, but rejoined soon after the contract agreement fell through. Then Highland Beach residents’ participation spiked in an online survey gathering opinions on the district idea.
    In fact, Matrix Consulting Group, which ran the survey, received more responses (96) from Highland Beach than anywhere else.
    Ocean Ridge was second with 84, followed by Gulf Stream (62), Briny Breezes (19), South Palm Beach (16) and Manalapan (3).
    Matrix said 69 percent of all the respondents said they were either very interested or extremely interested in the six towns uniting to provide their own fire-rescue services. Most respondents (62 percent) said they supported providing both fire and emergency medical services, and the idea of inter-local assistance and joint fire stations had high support at 74 percent and 63 percent, respectively.
    Perhaps most significant, a majority of respondents (55 percent) said they were willing to pay more to provide their own protection and of those 88.4 percent preferred doing it through a barrier island district.
    Matrix, based in Keller, Texas, is expected to submit a report on the feasibility of the idea by the end of March.
    But just getting the cooperation needed from the mainland to complete the study has become a problem in itself.
    The consultants say Palm Beach County has balked at providing fire-rescue data for the communities it serves — Manalapan, South Palm Beach and the unincorporated “county pocket” between Briny Breezes and Gulf Stream — and telling the study group it wants an $800 fee to produce the numbers.
    Thrasher said the towns are willing to pay the money. But the county’s intransigence has added to momentum to support for a new district.
    “Once we get the data from the county, we will push hard to complete the study as rapidly as possible,” said Robert Finn, a Matrix consultant. “But this all hinges on the county.” Ú

Related Story: Delray police now carry nasal spray antidote for heroin overdose

By Mary Hladky

    The number of drug overdose deaths has surged in Palm Beach County, jumping 62.8 percent over the last three years.
    The number of people who died from overdoses rose from 226 in 2013 to 368 last year, according to data released in late February by the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office.
    The overdose death increase in Palm Beach County mirrors a national escalation that resulted in 47,055 deaths in 2014.
    “It is a crisis,” said James Hall, a Nova Southeastern University epidemiologist who studies substance abuse and drug outbreaks. “More people are dying from drug overdoses than traffic accidents in the United States.”
    The county medical examiner’s data list 21 overdose deaths in Boca Raton in 2015, 27 in Boynton Beach, 25 in Delray Beach and 41 in West Palm Beach. These 2015 death tolls could increase when pending toxicology reports are completed.
    The rising death toll is linked to the growing use of heroin.
    The top four drugs found in the bodies of Palm Beach County overdose victims last year were morphine, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. Heroin metabolizes in the body into morphine. Dealers often mix heroin with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic painkiller that increases potency and reduces the dealers’ costs.
    “This is one of the worst epidemics I have seen, comparable to cocaine in the 1980s,” Palm Beach County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Bell told WPTV-Channel 5 in February. “I think the combination of mixing fentanyl with heroin is what is causing the epidemic.”
    The trend has the full attention of law enforcement. “Heroin and heroin laced with fentanyl is our No. 1 drug threat from a public safety point of view,” Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera said in an email.
    In late February, West Palm Beach police said that heroin had killed 11 people in just more than two months, while the use of flakka, dubbed “$5 insanity,” has declined.
    “There’s been a replacement of flakka with heroin,” said Capt. Brian Kapper in a Sun-Sentinel report. He called the increase in heroin seizures, overdoses and deaths “shocking.”
    The decrease in the use of Chinese-manufactured flakka, which causes delirium, delusions, violent fits and aggression, follows the Chinese government’s October decision to ban flakka and 115 other synthetic drugs after pressure from the U.S. and other governments.
    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention minced no words in a January report: “The United States is experiencing an epidemic of drug overdose deaths.”
    Since 2000, drug overdose deaths have increased 137 percent, including a 200 percent increase in the deaths involving opioid pain relievers and heroin. Heroin overdose deaths increased 26 percent from 2013 to 2014 and more than tripled since 2010. From 2000 to 2014, nearly 500,000 lives were claimed.
    Midwestern and Northeastern states have been particularly hard hit, along with Alabama, Georgia, New Mexico and North Dakota.
    While the impact on Florida is serious, it is less severe than in some other states. Florida drug overdose deaths increased 4.8 percent in 2014, far below the two states with the highest increases — 125 percent in North Dakota and 73.5 percent in New Hampshire, according to the CDC.

Addicts find alternatives
    Yet Palm Beach County’s death rate is higher than the state average and Miami-Dade County’s. The rate was 20 per 100,000 population in 2014, while the statewide rate was 13.2 and Miami-Dade’s was 8.
    Nationally and locally, overdose deaths affect all age groups. In 2015, the newly released county medical examiner’s data show 10.9 percent of those who died were 15-24, 30.1 percent were 25-34, 24.9 percent were 35-44, 16.1 percent were 45-54, 13.7 percent were 55-64 and 4.4 percent were 65 or over.
    Males die more frequently from drug overdoses than women. In Palm Beach County in 2015, 69.9 percent of the victims were men and 30.1 percent were women.
    The vast majority of last year’s Palm Beach County victims — 92.4 percent — were white, with blacks trailing at 4.9 percent and Hispanics at 2.2 percent.
    Heroin’s roaring comeback as a killer locally is a result of the crackdown on pill mills that handed out prescriptions for highly addictive painkillers like oxycodone. Florida was hard hit by this scourge, with people from other states flocking here to stand in line for prescriptions.
    As pill mills were driven out of business beginning in 2011, the price of prescription drugs on the illicit market increased dramatically. “Heroin became the cheap alternative to prescription opioids,” Hall said.
    That history also explains why so many white men die of overdoses now.
    “White males were predominantly using opioids,” said Jeff Kadel, executive director of the Palm Beach County Substance Awareness Coalition. Addicted but cut off from their usual supply, they turned to another drug.
    The heroin business has changed as well. Since the 1990s, most of the heroin east of the Mississippi came from Colombia. “What we have seen in recent years is a dramatic increase in heroin production in Mexico, as well as refining of production methods,” Hall said.
    To increase the potency, heroin is mixed with fentanyl that is produced in clandestine labs in Mexico or China. Fentanyl, up to 100 times more powerful than morphine and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin, is even passed off as heroin because its euphoric effects are very similar, according to the substance awareness coalition.
    “Newer, more potent heroin cut with fentanyl is a far more dangerous and deadly addiction,” Hall said.

More treatment needed
    About 100,000 people are in treatment at the many rehab centers or sober houses in Palm Beach County and recidivism rates are high, Kadel said. That shows up in the overdose death statistics, he said.
    If people in treatment stop using drugs for a time, the tolerance they have built up decreases, Hall said. “If they go back to using the same amount, that can lead to an overdose death.”
    While the Florida Legislature has taken steps to eliminate pill mills and doctor shopping, it has reduced funding for treatment, Hall said.
    “Florida’s failure was it ignored the demand side and expanding treatment opportunities,” he said. “We are not getting rid of this until we expand treatment programs” and allow insurance to pay for it.
    Kadel, who heads a federally funded prevention organization, would like to see greater focus on prevention. “As a prevention organization, we are concerned (Congress) tends to throw money at the problem rather than trying to prevent the problem. I am hopeful some dollars will be sent to the prevention field.”

Researcher Michelle Quigley contributed to this story.

By Willie Howard
    
Delray Beach Fire Rescue Chief Danielle Connor will retire May 31 after more than 22 years with the department, including more than five years overseeing the city’s fire-rescue department.
“After five-plus years as fire chief, I have been presented with an opportunity that I simply cannot pass up,” Connor said in a Feb. 24 memo to fire-rescue personnel.
    Connor did not respond to requests for comment following her announcement to her staff and to City Manager Don Cooper.
    Cooper said Connor cited the need for more personal time in her decision to retire from the department, which provides fire and rescue services to Delray Beach, Highland Beach and Gulf Stream.
    Connor started working for Delray Beach Fire Rescue in 1993 and served as firefighter, paramedic, driver engineer, lieutenant, division chief and assistant chief before becoming chief.
    Connor became acting chief of the department in the fall of 2010, when former Chief David James was unable to serve because of an illness. She formally assumed James’ role as chief in December 2011, following his resignation.
    “I will forever be thankful to the city of Delray Beach and its residents for the opportunity to serve as the leader of the fire department,” Connor wrote in a Feb. 24 memo to the city manager.
    Cooper said in late February that the city had already begun the search for a new fire-rescue chief and will follow standard procedure by considering applicants from inside the department before conducting an outside search.
    Cooper said he would like to interview applicants in April and hire a new chief by early May, if possible, to facilitate a smooth transition.
    “My hope is to have somebody on board before she leaves, “ Cooper said. “She’s going to be missed.” Ú

By Rich Pollack

After a month of contentious comments, with each side taking offense by what was said by those on the other side of the Intracoastal Waterway, Delray Beach and Highland Beach may be going back to the negotiating table in an attempt to hammer out a mutually agreeable fire-rescue service agreement.
In a reversal of tone from where it was just a month ago, Delray Beach City Commissioners agreed at its March 1 meeting to try to restart negotiations with Highland Beach.   
“Providing we can reach an agreement where the city is made whole financially, I suggest we give it another try,” Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein said.
The reception Delray Beach’s outstretched hand receives, however, may not be a warm one.
Highland Beach town commissioners are still reeling over what they say is the heavy-handed way their larger neighbor handled the negotiations.
Delray Beach currently provides fire and rescue services to Highland Beach, staffing a rescue wagon and a ladder truck at a fire station owned by Highland Beach.
The 15-year agreement between the two municipalities expires at the end of September 2017.
Negotiations had been ongoing for months and Highland Beach had agreed to a new contract. Last month, however, in a move that surprised the smaller town’s leaders, Delray Beach commissioners rejected the proposed new agreement unless a 20 percent administrative fee was included on top of a $3.3 million annual charge.
That infuriated several Highland Beach commissioners, who called the move immoral and instructed their staff to begin looking at alternative fire-service options. They ranged from contracting with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue to starting a town fire department.
The abrupt change of course for the Delray Beach City Commission at its March 1 meeting may have been sparked by information showing the rescue wagon, owned by Highland Beach and staffed by Delray Beach personnel for which Highland Beach pays, responds to about 35 calls per month in nearby areas of Delray Beach.
“The notion that Highland Beach gets more out of this than we do is not factually accurate,” Glickstein said.
Other commissioners, concerned that response times to residents living east of the Intracoastal Waterway would be longer if the city no longer served Highland Beach, agreed with Glickstein.
They rejected a recommendation by City Manager Don Cooper to sever fire-service ties with the smaller community.  In his recommendation, Cooper had said he thought the priority needed to be on improving the services Delray Beach provides to its own residents.
Glickstein and the other commissioners, however, said they see a benefit to their residents in continuing the Highland Beach contract.
“We’re neighboring communities and we need to work together,” Glickstein said. “There’s a history and a bigger picture here that none of us had the benefit of hearing about. This is a relationship worth saving”
Following Delray Beach’s decision to invite them back to negotiations, Highland Beach officials said they are still continuing to explore options and renewing negotiations with Delray Beach was one more option to consider.
“We’ve had a long-standing relationship with Delray Beach and our residents are happy with the service and with the personnel,” Town Manager Beverly Brown said. “I sure hope we can work something out.”
Brown thinks if the Highland Beach Commission agrees to go back to the table to negotiate, things could go better this time around because both groups are better informed.
“We both know more about costs and revenues, and about response times and service areas than we did before,” she said.  
Highland Beach Commissioner Lou Stern said he is open to once again consider receiving fire rescue service from Delray Beach.
“It would be a shame if our relationship came to end on bad feelings,” he said. “We should keep an open mind.” Ú

By Rich Pollack

Should Delray Beach knock $175,329 off a $3.2 million annual fire-service contract with Highland Beach because the rescue vehicle owned by the coastal town is being used to transport Delray Beach residents to the hospital?
Highland Beach commissioners and their town attorney think so.
As Highland Beach and Delray Beach wrangled over a proposed contract in which Delray Beach would continue to provide personnel for the small town’s fire station, questions arose as to who should get to keep the fees Delray Beach charges to residents transported in the back of Highland Beach’s rescue wagon to a hospital.
Under the current agreement signed by both Delray Beach and Highland Beach almost 15 years ago, Delray Beach Fire-Rescue personnel staff a fire station and ambulance owned by Highland Beach.
The agreement specifies that all hospital transport fees paid by Highland Beach residents or their insurance companies following a call for a medical emergency should go to Delray Beach.
What the agreement doesn’t address, however, is who should receive the money paid by Delray Beach residents who are transported by Highland Beach’s rescue wagon.
According to numbers provided by Delray Beach to Highland Beach, almost 400 of the 517 patients taken to the hospital by the Highland Beach-based ambulance were not Highland Beach residents. In all, Delray Beach received about $130,462 in revenue as a result of those calls. The city also received about $44,866 for transporting Highland Beach residents.
“Based on the information Delray Beach recently provided, it appears that personnel and equipment Highland Beach is paying 100 percent for is being used 75 percent of the time in Delray Beach,” Highland Beach Town Attorney Glen Torcivia said. “It appears that Highland Beach is now subsidizing Delray Beach.”
Delray Beach officials pointed out that the agreement between the two cities allows Delray Beach Fire-Rescue to use the Highland Beach-based truck to respond to calls within the Delray Beach city limits.
But the question of who should keep the fees received as a result of calls from outside the Highland Beach town limits hadn’t surfaced until after Delray Beach city commissioners asked for an additional 20 percent administrative fee before they would agree to renew the agreement, claiming the city was losing money by providing the service to the town.
In his letter to Delray Beach City Attorney Noel Pfeffer, Torcivia is asking for reimbursement of all transport fees collected during fiscal 2015.
“It would appear that Highland Beach should receive a credit for the full amount of revenue ($175,329) received by Delray Beach,” he wrote.
So far, Torcivia said, Delray Beach has not responded to his request. At least one city commissioner, Mitch Katz, said he needs more information from the city attorney’s office and from the finance department before drawing any conclusions.
Having fire-rescue vehicles transport patients to a nearby hospital instead of waiting for an ambulance is a common practice in South Florida as well as in other parts of the country, according to Robert Finn, a senior manager with the Matrix Consulting Group. That firm is conducting a study to determine the feasibility of a barrier-island fire district that would include Highland Beach and several other coastal communities in Palm Beach County.
Finn said the agreement between Delray Beach and Highland Beach is also common practice within the industry.
“Whoever is providing the service generally keeps the revenue,” he said.
That’s the case in neighboring towns.
Currently, the city of Boynton Beach provides fire-rescue service to Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes and keeps fees charged to residents of those towns who are transported by paramedics. During the last fiscal year, Boynton Beach transported 110 patients from those two communities to the hospital.
In Manalapan and South Palm Beach, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue provides fire and emergency medical services. The county took 232 patients from South Palm Beach to the hospital and transported 133 patients from Manalapan during the last fiscal year.
Delray Beach also provides fire and rescue service to Gulf Stream, however transport numbers were not available. In all cases — with the exception of Highland Beach — the agency providing service owns the rescue wagon used to transport patients.
The practice of having three paramedics assigned to a rescue vehicle helps make transportation of patients by fire and emergency medical service providers feasible.
“That’s more common in Florida than anywhere else,” Finn said. 

Whitney Crowder and David Anderson check on Bruce’s wound.  Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Sallie James

A critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle that nearly became a shark’s lunch is the newest star at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, where he’s recovering nicely under the care of doting volunteers.
“He either would have gotten really sick and not survived or his flipper would have fallen off,” Whitney Crowder, sea turtle rehabilitation coordinator for Gumbo Limbo, said as she helped another worker lift the 40-pound creature onto an examination table so she could cleanse his wounds. “I’ve seen a lot worse. He’s pretty lucky.”
“Bruce,” named after the devilishly grinning shark in the movie Finding Nemo, escaped his hungry pursuer but suffered a nasty flipper bite that required 10 stitches, along with some deep gashes. He arrived at Gumbo Limbo on Feb. 1 after being discovered struggling in the waters near Florida Power & Light’s nuclear power plant in Port St. Lucie.
Bruce’s road to recovery may take several months, but his cure is about as sweet as it gets. The rare sea turtle is healing with the help of raw honey. But he’s not eating the sticky stuff, he’s wearing it. Gumbo Limbo workers pack raw honey into Bruce’s wounds daily, where it’s left for 20 minutes to promote natural healing, explained David Anderson, marine turtle specialist.
“Raw honey acts as a natural medicine, an antifungal and antibiotic. It will draw all the infection out of the wound,” Anderson said.
Bruce’s rescue comes at the start of sea turtle nesting season, which begins in March and continues through October.
The facility’s turtle rehabilitation center has 11 recovery tanks currently occupied by six green sea turtles, two hawksbills and three loggerheads in addition to Bruce, who will be released back into the wild when he’s healthy enough.
The Kemp’s ridley is the smallest and most critically endangered sea turtle species. It is typically found in the Gulf of Mexico and nests in a large group known as an arribada, Spanish for “arrival by sea,” on beaches in Mexico and Texas. Full-grown adults weigh 75 to 100 pounds with shells that range from gray to olive.
For now, Bruce is taking it easy in a spotless, 12-foot-diameter tank that’s pumped with fresh seawater 24 hours a day. He dines on squid and fish and regularly draws “oohs” and “aahs” from admiring nature center guests.
“It must have been hard for him because his arm was hurt,” Elliott Levine, 9, of Atlanta, said as he peered intently into Bruce’s tank to catch a glimpse of the turtle’s stitched flipper. “He’s very cute.”
The injured turtle’s luck wasn’t all bad.
After he was carried through the intake canal leading to the power plant, Inwater Research Group biologists, whose job is to watch for injured wildlife, promptly plucked him from the water.
Research biologist Cody Mott spied Bruce and knew he needed medical attention. After assessing the turtle’s injuries, he contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which located an open tank at Gumbo Limbo.
“We don’t see [Kemp’s ridley turtles] frequently on Florida’s east coast,” Mott said. “The most we have ever had in a year is seven. The majority of cases that go to rehab aren’t anything to do with the power plant. We just happen to opportunistically catch them.”
That small number of Kemp’s ridleys compares to approximately 200 to 400 loggerheads and 200 to 400 green sea turtles that make their way into the waters near the power plant, he said. He noted that an estimated 90 percent of the sea creatures that end up near the power plant are uninjured and released safely into open waters without incident.
“Anytime we have the opportunity to make sea turtle conservation real to people, it helps the conservation cause,” said environmental specialist Steve Weege, also of the Inwater Research Group. “This gives an opportunity for people to see a rare sea turtle.”

Sea Turtle Day
What: Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s 11th annual Sea Turtle Day Festival
When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. March 5
Where: 1801 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton
Admission: Free
Info: www.gumbolimbo.org

When it opened in 1991, the shopping complex transformed Boca Raton’s downtown into an urban hub

Courtesy of the Boca Raton Historical Society

TOP: The Boca Raton Mall in the ’80s. ABOVE: Cars turn onto Plaza Real in Mizner Park, which replaced the mall in 1991. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Related Story: Shopping Hotspots - Mizner Park

By Mary Thurwachter

With gurgling fountains, inviting gazebos, alfresco (and indoor) dining options, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, an amphitheater that hosts major concerts and community events, and dozens of shops, Mizner Park remains a popular destination for locals and visitors alike.     

But this shopping center, which is 25 years old this year, is more than just a pretty face.
Mizner Park, off Federal Highway a block north of Palmetto Park Road, has had a big impact on stimulating growth in downtown Boca Raton. Before it was built, there were only 73 housing units in downtown Boca Raton and office rents were the lowest in the county. Those numbers changed drastically after 1991 with the development of Mizner Park, the 29-acre mixed-use project with shops, restaurants, offices and apartments.         

Looking south from Mizner Park toward what is now the Bank of America tower at 150 E. Palmetto Park Road. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The tower stands prominently on the Boca Raton skyline while Mizner Park is under construction around 1990.  Courtesy of the Boca Raton Historical Society

By 2002, there were 689 housing units and more than 900 being built downtown. Office rents were the highest in South Florida, according to the records at the Historical Society of Palm Beach County.
The 14-fold increase in assessed property values from 1990 to 2002 improved the city’s tax base. In 2005, after property values rose again, Mizner Park started paying for itself.
“Mizner Park was highly controversial in the beginning, but it rolled with the punches and kept up with the times,” said County Commissioner Steven Abrams, who was on the City Council when the shopping center was built.
“Today, nearly everyone points to Mizner Park as an example of good urban design,” he said. “It was one of the first New Urbanist projects in the country, and yet after all these years, it is still a very popular destination.”  
But how did it all begin?
In the 1980s, according to the Historical Society, local builder Tom Crocker worked with Boca’s Community Redevelopment Agency to replace the old Boca Raton Mall. Residents voted to spend $50 million in infrastructure improvements and $68 million in bond financing to help the project get off the ground.
The controversies Abrams referred to resulted in higher local taxes, lawsuits and heavy debt, as well as new state laws and restructuring city government.  
But the shopping center was recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for removing blighted property and creating a dynamic community gathering place.
“Boca Raton residents love to take their out-of-town guests to Mizner Park to show it off,” Abrams said. “Mizner Park has also hosted many fine cultural and community events over the 25 years.”
The old Boca Raton Mall, torn down to build Mizner Park, opened in 1974 and survived only for 15 years. The mall housed the city’s first escalator. Stores included Jefferson’s department store, a movie theater, Orange Bowl beverage shop, Walgreens Drug (with a restaurant), Rock of Ages Records and a Bavarian restaurant.
Crocker bought the old mall in 1988 with the intention to raze it to make room for Mizner Park.
Today, Mizner Park includes 236,000 square feet of retail space; 267,000 square feet of office space; luxury rental apartments; town homes; and cultural arts space and a 5,000 capacity amphitheater.
Andrew McKinney, general manager of Mizner Park, said that although definite plans to mark the 25th anniversary have not been made, they are being considered.       

 “We’re aware of the milestone and we’re discussing plans,” he said in late February. 

Event Co-Chairs (l-r) Beau Delafield, Patsy Randolph, John Lynch and Kirsten Stanley, with board Chairman Tom Stanley.  Photo provided

By Amy Woods

    The Naoma Donnelley Haggin Boys & Girls Club of Delray Beach last year tapped Jerry Lower and Mary Kate Leming, publisher and editor, respectively, of The Coastal Star, with the youth-development organization’s community-partner award.
This year, the title goes to Tony Wilson, CEO of Seagate Hospitality Holdings, owner and operator of The Seagate Hotel & Spa.
    “The award is given to recognize a community member and/or company that has worked closely with the Boys & Girls Club of Delray Beach to help the club achieve its mission,” board Chairman Tom Stanley said.
The Coastal Star was recognized for its coverage and sponsorship of the club, while The Seagate Hotel & Spa is in the limelight for accommodating the annual Holiday Trunk Show. The club annually brings its three-day fundraiser to the downtown destination in December, when more than 30 vendors set up shop in the lobby to offer an array of gift items for sale to the public.
    “He has generously, over a number of years, allowed us to host the Boys & Girls Club trunk show,” Stanley said of Wilson. “We basically get the venue for free.”
    The 2016 honor will be bestowed at the Be Great Celebration Dinner on March 11. The ceremony will honor not only The Seagate Hotel & Spa but also the Youth of the Year, someone who has made significant strides in personal achievement such as learning a skill or participating in a program.
    “The goal is that, when the kids come to the club, they learn how to be productive,” Stanley said. “We’re just helping to mold them to be better individuals. That’s really the main goal, no matter what they do in life.”
    In its fourth year, the Be Great Celebration Dinner will add a new element to the evening — a locally produced video highlighting club activities and featuring interviews with Director Janice Clemmons. The five-minute film was made by Lynn University communications students, led by Andy Vermes, technical support coordinator.
“It kind of narrows down what goes on day-to-day at our club and helps us explain what our needs are, as well,” Stanley said. “We just want to walk everybody through it. It’s a great mission — to keep kids in school, off the streets and out of trouble.” 

If You Go
What: Be Great Celebration Dinner
When: 6:30 p.m. cocktails, 7:30 dinner March 11
Where: Delray Beach Marriott, 10 N. Ocean Blvd.
Cost: $200
Information: Call 683-3287 or visit bgcpbc.og

Who had the last laugh at Laugh With the Library, Chapter 10? The Delray Beach Public Library did, netting more than $111,500. The special anniversary of the event was punctuated by a record audience, the most comedians and the largest number of sponsors. Bobby Collins headlined the event. LEFT: Sponsors Virginia and Harvey Kimmel. Photo provided