Representatives from the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, an organization begun in memory of a fallen 9/11 firefighter, paid a special visit to Cheryl Barnard at Barnards Carpet One in Delray Beach to personally thank the business for supporting the foundation’s Building for America’s Bravest program. The program develops high-tech ‘smart homes’ for service members returning from war who have been injured. ABOVE: Barnard (center) with Delray Beach firefighters (l-r) Travis Franco, Capt. Joseph Falcone and Anthony Parlamento. Photo provided

Jestena Boughton, owner of the landmark downtown hotel, continued a family tradition that began more than eight decades ago by giving back – this year, to the Delray Beach Historical Society. Boughton presented a $10,000 gift that will help the society in its mission to educate the community about the city’s history and ensure maintenance of archives. ‘This gift and those we’ve received in the past are really gifts to our town and future generations who, through our exhibits and our archives, will gain a better understanding of how Delray Beach came to be what it is today,’ society President Leslie Callaway said. ABOVE: (l-r) Hotel Managing Director Hilary Roche, Boughton, Callaway and society Treasurer Howard Ellingsworth. Photo provided

Philanthropist Elaine Wold led the ceremony for the new home of the Gloria Drummond Physical Rehabilitation Institute. Wold’s $10 million gift named the facility in memory of her friend and founder of the hospital. The new 40,000-square-foot space will open next year and expand the Davis Therapy Centers, which provide specialized treatment to cardiac, neurological and orthopedic patients. RIGHT: (l-r) Jerry Fedele, Jan Savarick, Dr. Randy Scheen, Wold, Christine Lynn and Debbie Leising. Photo provided by Downtown Photo

More than $4,000 was raised at a fun foodie event for the Delray Beach Public Library’s Foothold on the Future Campaign. It marked the most successful Dine out for a Cause in the nonprofit’s history. ‘The Delray Beach Public Library is very grateful to our strong community partners and to the record-breaking crowd that enjoyed this tasty event,’ said Bonnie Stelzer, director of community relations. Funds will help renovate and expand the children’s department. ABOVE: (l-r) Howard Lewis, Stephanie Immelman and celebrity chef Fran Marincola. Photo provided

In conjunction with National Garden Week, the Boynton Beach Garden Club sponsored  a program designed for children grades two through five. The hands-on workshop Do You Want a Green Thumb? was presented at the Boynton Beach City Library and included an array of educational information on gardening. The club provided plants, pots and seedlings for each child. The children took home their potted plants along with instructions on how to care for them and watch them grow. ABOVE: (l-r) Jane Gavlick, Sonja Zalutko, Mary Scheitler, Marianne Madyda, children’s librarian Meghan Hoffman, Leslie Anne Carter and Joan Grace. Photo provided

The American Red Cross’ fifth-annual fundraiser swung into the Mizner Park hot spot with a ‘21 Club’ theme, celebrating the finale of WPTV-TV meteorologist Steve Weagle’s Ride for the Red Cross, a five-day bicycle marathon from Sebastian to Boca Raton that kicked off hurricane-awareness efforts. The fundraiser included specialty martinis, dinner stations, a silent auction and entertainment by a ‘Rat Pack’ tribute band. Nearly 100 attended. RIGHT: Tom White and Mark Begelman. Photo provided by LILA Photo

The Teen Advisory Board partnered with sponsor Levenger for the successful, fifth-annual event. The reading-incentive program for ages 13 to 17 also serves as a community-service project because the youths create their own questions to prepare for the ‘battle’ and use them to help members of their team. At the end of the program, they compile all the questions and put them in a packet that other librarians, schools and teen centers can use. This year, the two teams read three books: Wonder, The Unnaturalists and Hallowed Ones. ABOVE: (l-r) Librarian Loanis Menendez with winning team members Morgan Taylor, Taylor Chapman, Erica Mungin, Lawisha Cajuste, Lahisha Cajuste and Coach Lana Golden. Photo provided

Instead of letting mangoes go to waste, donate them!

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

This season we seem to be having a bumper crop of mangoes. “It’s hard to miss them hanging on trees throughout the county. They have such a presence,” says Pablo Del Real, founder of Auroras Voice, a nonprofit incubator in Delray Beach.
Although Del Real doesn’t have a mango tree in his own backyard, he knows how sweet and juicy a tree-ripened mango can be. But he also has noticed that a lot of the fruit is on the ground going to waste. Or it’s being scavenged by trespassers picking the fruit for their own purposes.
That’s why he’s created MangoesForCharity, which is collecting and selling the mangoes to help fund local nonprofit agricultural projects.
Joining with other area nonprofits including Delray Students First and Passion Vine Farm, he’s inviting Palm Beach County residents to harvest and donate their excess mangoes to help these good causes.
Once collected, the mangoes will be made available to the public for a suggested donation of $1 for large, first-quality fruit and 50 cents for smaller, lesser pieces.
If you’d like to contribute or pick up mangoes to enjoy, there are four locations that will also benefit from the fund-raising: Delray Students Farm School 4-H Program, Delray Beach Children’s Garden, the Frog Alley Community Garden in Delray Beach, and Passion Vine Farm in Lake Worth. The Gladiolus Education Garden, a community garden under construction in northwest Delray Beach, also will benefit, says Del Real.
At the Farm School, minority children are tutored in an agricultural setting. “Science, math, engineering, art, technology and robotics are the focus but we use the garden as the vessel for study,” explains program director Faye Pelosi.
So at this mango pickup and distribution center, the children are learning from this mango project as they paint the signs, collect and count the inventory and sell the mangoes to parents picking up their children at the nearby Boys & Girls Club.
“This southern corridor of Delray, where fresh fruit isn’t always available at the corner stores, can really benefit from their efforts,” says Pelosi.
If you’d like to donate your excess mango crop, select slightly green fruit that will have some shelf life. Although drops are OK, avoid any fruits with broken skins or signs of critter munching.
If you can, place the mangoes in cardboard boxes that can be recycled as weed barrier in the gardens that benefit from the fruit, suggests Del Real.
It’s not critical, but if you know the cultivar of your fruit tree such as a Haden, Nom Doc Mai or Valencia Pride, please mark the boxes so that those who come to take the mangoes will know what they are getting.
This project should last for another month or so, says Del Real. “But the timing is up to Mother Nature.”

How to help
 To donate fruit to MangoesforCharity (www.MangoesForCharity.org), visit the following locations where the fruit also will be available to take home for a suggested donation of 50 cents to $1. If you’re picking up fruit, call ahead to check availability.
Delray Students Farm School at the Boys & Girls Club, 1451 SW 7th St., Delray Beach; 289-1767. Hours: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday.
 Delray Beach Children’s Garden, 137 SW 2nd Ave., Delray Beach; 901-3467. Hours: 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday
Frog Alley Community Garden, 250 SW 4th Ave., Delray Beach; 445-4293. Hours: 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday.
Passion Vine Farm, 1134 19th Ave. N., Lake Worth; 424-1499. Hours: 2 to 6 p.m. daily except Friday.

By Thom Smith

   Alex Callegari should know how to handle heat. After all, he’s been fighting fires with Boca Raton Fire Rescue for 10 years. But he can also stand it in the kitchen. Callegari’s a finalist in the Bud & Burgers Championship, a national contest to find the nation’s best amateur burger chef. It’s set for July 11 in St. Louis. He qualified by winning a semifinal at Taste of Cincinnati with his Ladder 7 Burger (named for the fire truck he drives).

ABOVE: The winning Ladder 7 Burger, created by Boca firefighter Alex Callegari. Contributed by Instagram: @TheFirefighterFoodie

    He starts with half a pound of ground chuck for each burger blending with sea salt, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce. In a cast iron skillet preheated to medium-high, he sears the chuck for three minutes on each side, tops it with a slice of Gouda and transfers the skillet to a hot oven for eight to 10 minutes. He then removes the patties to a plate to cool for eight minutes. The buns, potato rolls buttered on both cut sides, are then placed in the skillet and popped back in the oven till golden brown.
    Toppings include a garlic herb aioli, red onion relish, Portobello mushrooms baked for 20 minutes in a balsamic vinaigrette (balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey and Dijon mustard) and oven-browned sliced pancetta.
    Assembly: to the bottom of each bun add two tablespoons of aioli, then the meat, topped by two slices of pancetta, three tablespoons of relish, the mushrooms and the bun top. Simple.

Callegari is headed to the finals. Contributed by Rebecca Massimino

    For the backyard chef, the recipe may be daunting; for Callegari, it’s a chance to display his skill and raise money for the John Snow Memorial Scholarship fund. Snow, a 15-year veteran and acclaimed firehouse chef, was killed in 2011 while riding a bike near his home in Jupiter. Sponsors of last year’s Steak-Umm Firehouse Challenge were so impressed by Callegari’s dedication that they raised his first-place award for “Boca Steak-umm Sliders” from $1,000 to $5,000.
    A Bud & Burgers victory would generate an additional $100,000, plus an invite to a new series, United States of Burgers, on the Esquire Network.
    “I’m excited about it, and I’m a little nervous,” said Callegari, a longtime resident of southwest Miami — but he’s adjusting to the spotlight. The Steak-Umm win was announced on Steve Harvey’s show, and he cooked live on Fox & Friends. He prepped for Bud & Burgers by cooking for 75 firefighters in convention at the Boca Raton Resort & Club.  
    But his favorite audiences remain the crew at Station 5 on Glades Road, and especially his wife and four kids: “They like everything I make.”

***
                                     
Ch-ch-ch-changes, as David Bowie once sang, have come to Lantana and to Delray Beach. And they’re all the doings of one person — Dak Kerprich.
 For several years, he’s run one of the most popular eateries along Ocean Avenue — Pizzeria Oceano. Lots of small, personal pizzas, some simple, some elaborate, some unpredictable with ingredients such as venison and octopus. Equally surprising and delectable are the appetizers and small plates accompanied by an assortment of craft beers.
 Well, the pizzeria part is gone — actually, more to the point, moved . . .  to Delray.
  “I’ve been working on this for several years,” said Kerprich at the counter of his new venture Swell Pizza. Set in the Pineapple Grove District on Northeast 2nd Avenue just north of Third, Swell is a prototype: custom pizzas fired in a wood-burning oven specially designed by Kerprich for takeout and delivery only.
 Swell opened in early June and business already is brisk, Kerprich said.
As for Lantana, it’s no longer serving pizza, just the specialty plates, appetizers and salads.
 “I had a night off from here a few nights back, so I had dinner at Oceano for the first time ever,” Kerprich said. “And you know, it was really good!”
                                  ***
Hard to believe it’s been 35 years since Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield tore up the fairways at Boca Raton Resort & Club for the comedy classic Caddyshack. In 1989, the legendary hotel was a location for Stella with Bette Midler and for one of Burt Reynolds’ B.L. Stryker episodes, but not much since — until a few weeks ago when director William H. Macy yelled “Action!” for The Layover.  No golf this time; it’s a sexy comedy starring Sports Illustrated swimsuit star Kate Upton and Parenthood’s Alexandra Daddario. They play close friends who compete for the character played by Matt Barr after a hurricane diverts their flight to St. Louis. Macy, who also stars, is making his directorial debut.
    Shooting wrapped in early June for a January release.
                                    ***
The night before his June 9 concert in Miami Beach, David Crosby, who turns 74 on Aug. 14, wife Jan Dance and son Django enjoyed dinner at Farmer’s Table in Boca Raton with longtime friend, entrepreneur Steve Sponder, wife Randi and daughter Sarah. Crosby is no stranger to the Palm Beaches — some visits inspiring, others not so.
    In 1985, he was sinking ever deeper into a maelstrom of drugs, health issues and criminal charges. According to one account, he stole a car and drove from Texas to Jupiter, where his beloved schooner Mayan, the inspiration for Wooden Ships and Southern Cross, was moored in the Intracoastal. His goal: sail to freedom in Costa Rica, which had no extradition treaty.
    However, friends here intervened and persuaded him to turn himself in. He was sent back to Texas, served some time and ultimately came to terms with the drugs and his health and his growing family.
    In 1998 he played the Carefree Theatre in West Palm Beach with CPR, a band that included his son, James Raymond — the product of a dalliance in the ’60s. Crosby only learned of Raymond’s existence in 1994, weeks before a liver transplant that kept him alive.
               ***                    
  Eerie coincidence. Jaws’ 40th anniversary, swimmers bitten, and now sharks in Phil Foster Park — concrete evidence that art can be dangerous and danger can be artistic. The park’s 800-foot Snorkel Trail has gained some new inhabitants: a trio of 5-foot-long concrete hammerheads.
    Sculptor/photographer/diver Tom McDonald, who splits his time between West Palm Beach and Roanoke, Va., wants humans to better understand what it’s like to live in the shark’s realm. Plus the concrete sharks’ intentionally rough texture will provide habitat for marine life — from algae to octopus and even the occasional live shark.   
                                    ***
    Boca resident Ron Wells is a civil engineer, who has done quite well in the construction business. He’s built bridges and dams, highways and power plants. He likes things that last, he’s curious about how things work and he knows what it takes to finish a job. So when the New Jersey native happened to meet some of the folks who run the George Snow Scholarship Fund, his natural curiosity was aroused.
    The Snow Foundation is a homegrown program that provides scholarships to worthy students, who otherwise might not have an opportunity to attend college. “The more involved I became, and the more I learned, the more it hit me, ‘I need to be a part of this in a big way,’ ” Wells said.
    Wells recently wrote a check for $100,000, but he hasn’t stopped there. To develop a permanent funding source for scholarships, the fund has launched an endowment campaign with a goal to raise $1 million in 2015. Wells has issued a challenge to the foundation and the community. If they can raise an additional $200,000, he’ll match it.
    “Ron has inspired us to raise at least $1 million over the next year, which will be added to our current $1,200,000 endowment,” Fund founder and President Tim Snow said. “His generous gift will serve as the foundation of what we hope will be a $20 million endowment that will serve the young people of our community in perpetuity.”
    “There is a tremendous amount of philanthropy in Boca Raton,” Wells said, “but many people really do not know where to give their money, whether it’s legacy gifting or people with excess money and no place to send it. There are a number of people who do not know about The George Snow Scholarship Fund, and they need to learn about it. That is now my mission.” (www.scholarship.org)
                                    ***
    One of the biggest shows of the summer no doubt will come from Tim McGraw, who has made Coral Sky Amphitheatre a regular tour stop for more than two decades. The show, however, likely won’t be as incendiary as those Spontaneous Combustion tours because Mrs. McGraw (Faith Hill) is staying home this summer … unless she just decides Tim needs company.
    Those shows were more searing than a six-burner grill. During their first visit in June 1996, sparks obviously were flying when the two, both recently divorced, joined on stage, first dancing, then kissing behind his Stetson. Rumors had them sharing the same bus, although tour managers played dumb: “We don’t get involved with our clients’ personal lives or their personal relationships.”
    Four months later they married.
                                    ***
    The Fourth of July kicks off the Coral Sky season, actually on July 3 with country star Dierks Bentley. A younger crowd will enjoy fireworks on several stages the next day as the Vans Warped Tour returns with a trainload of alternative rockers. Who wouldn’t be intrigued by acts with such names as Kosha Dillz, Lee Corey Oswald and I Killed the Prom Queen. Plus, parents get in free.
    The Coral Sky calendar is loaded with country: Rascal Flatts and Scotty McCreery on July 11; Toby Keith, Aug. 2; Lady Antebellum, Sept. 6; Kelly Clarkson, Sept. 17; Luke Bryan, Sept. 19 and 20; Brad Paisley, Oct. 3; Jason Aldean, Oct. 24; and a closing cookout Nov. 15 with Zac Brown.
    On the rock side, it’s Kid Rock and Foreigner on July 16; Slipknot (heavy metal from Iowa), July 24; Dave Matthews’ double header, July 31 and Aug. 1; Steely Dan and Elvis Costello (possibly the summer’s best!), Aug. 12; Incubus and Deftones, Aug. 14; Van Halen and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Sept. 15; hip-hopper J. Cole, Aug. 18; and Australian rockers 5 Seconds of Summer, Sept. 13.
    Coral Sky may have reverted to its original name, but sunsets can only be seen from the higher elevations of the grass berm. For a better view, head down to west Boca, where patrons at Sunset Cove Amphitheater can turn their lawn chairs around and watch the sun sink into the Everglades. Two shows are set there: Barenaked Ladies, Violent Femmes and Colin Hay on July 10 and Slightly Stoopid July 25.
    At Mizner Park Amphitheater, California pop rockers R 5 play July 8 and Tony winner Idina Menzel makes an early stop on her world tour July 26.
                                    ***

    Gulf Stream residents and long time library supporters Mark and Becky Walsh gave a surprise gift of $100,000 to the Delray Beach Public Library’s Foothold on the Future Campaign to renovate and expand the library’s children’s department. The gift was announced at a cocktail party given by Delray Beach residents Harvey and Virginia Kimmel. The Kimmels have also committed $100,000 in the form of a matching grant.
                                    ***
    The Sandbar at Boston’s on the Beach is the eighth best beach bar in Florida. So claims floridabeachbars.com, which compiled 15,000 online votes from 100 cities. While it’s good for Boston’s, the news comes with a few caveats, such as coastal favoritism.
    Of the top 10 bars, seven are on the Gulf Coast and six less than an hour’s drive from Clearwater, home of  floridabeachbars.com. Bars also got points for — another west coast bias — access to sunsets.
    The guide does give travelers some idea of where they can soak up the local vibe, although less than half of the more than 270 watering holes are listed as “on” or “by” the beach. Boynton Beach’s two listings, Banana Boat and Two Georges, are listed as “on water,” as are the Old Key Lime House in Lantana and Deck 84 in Delray. But they’re on the Intracoastal, not the beach.
    Hudson’s, directly across from Deck 84, isn’t mentioned. Nor is Bradley’s in West Palm Beach. And you can’t get much closer to the beach than the Dune Deck in Lantana, but it closes at 4:30 p.m.

***
                                    
Not exactly sure what’s going on, but Delray libation army icon Sail Inn is shuttered... but only temporarily, people say. The half-century-old bar, a popular watering hole long before the street was renamed George Bush Boulevard, allegedly is being brought up to code — primarily improved handicapped access. But we also hear that owner Rick Janke wants to bring back limited food service. But that would make it a restaurant... and restaurants and smoking don’t mix.  But if he builds a patio, the smokers can stroll outside for a few carcinogenic puffs. Stay tuned.
                                   ***
No summer shutdown at The Wick, which now offers an on-site restaurant. And we’re not talking sandwiches and a soda machine. If the décor at Tavern at the Wick resembles another “tavern’ in New York, it’s no accident. And the food? Well, founder Marilynn Wick didn’t fool around, grabbing William Walden, who has run kitchens from D.C. to Boca, including The Goodstone Inn in Virginia horse country and Bistro Gastronomie locally. Look for a menu of modern American, French continental and country cuisine themed to the current production.
    That offers plenty of flexibility for The Wick’s next production, George M! In Concert, which runs through July 19. The cast of 20 includes narrator Susan Powell, who was crowned Miss America 1981 and then pursued a career in theater and TV. Filling the role of George M. Cohan is Scott Leiendecker, a veteran of Broadway, national tours and regional productions. After George M, he’ll return to his previous role as Flotsam in the national tour of Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
    Another classic follows with a “high-flying” version of Peter Pan from Aug. 6-30.
                                    ***
    Summer also means repertory, which is in high gear at FAU. The Department of Theatre and Dance is offering multiple performances of the George S. Kaufman-Edna Ferber classic The Royal Family; the musical She Loves Me; 352 Keys: Piano Gala Extravaganza and Big Band Hits from the Golden Age through July 25. For show times and tickets: www.fauevents.com.  
                                    ***
    She was the first queen of beauty, and while Helena Rubinstein was having famous artists design jewelry for the business, she had them capture her as well. Picasso, Dali, Man Ray, Warhol — those portraits are on display in Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power through July 12 at the Boca Raton Museum of Art. The exhibition also includes selections from her jewelry and clothing collections, photos of her residences, spas and salons and even advertisements. (www.bocamuseum.org)
                                    ***
    Thanks to a gift from Damon and Katherine Mezzacappa, the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach is offering free admission every Saturday … for two years. Current exhibitions include Going Places: Transportation Designs from the Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Collection. The multimedia assemblage features planes, automobiles and trains … although nothing from All Aboard Florida.
                                    ***
    The Delray Center for the Arts and Arts Garage have busy calendars starting July 3. World Music 5 offers jazz in the Garage while Higher Ground plays pop tunes on the Old School Square lawn.
    Grammy-nominated percussionist Sammy Figueroa plays the Garage on July 10, followed by jazz vocalist Lenard Rutledge, July 11, Nicole Henry, July 25, and Little Feat alums Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett, Aug. 15.
    The Old School Square dance parties — backed by food trucks —continue with free shows on the outdoor stage by Mike Mineo, July 10; Flavor, July 17; Libido, July 24; and The Clique, July 31. (www.artsgarage.org or 450-6357; www.delrayarts.org or 243-7922.
                                    ***
The Allman Brothers Band may have “broken up,” but while its members may be slowing down, they aren’t about to desert the music. Gregg Allman, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks — all have their own bands, and now founding member and drummer Butch Trucks is back in the picture.
On Sept. 19, Butch Trucks and the Freight Train Band will take the stage at the Funky Biscuit in Boca. Joining him will be Florida west coasters Berry Duane Oakley (bass),  Damon Fowler (guitar) and Biscuit owner Al Poliak (keyboards).
Freight Train isn’t Trucks’ first other band experience. A couple of decades ago, the Palm Beach resident ventured into the realm with Frogwings, a jazzy-bluesy-rock group with a flexible lineup comprised of members of the Allman extended family and assorted friends. It even played in Delray at the Musician’s Exchange, long ago reconceived as City Oyster.

Contact Thom Smith at thomsmith@ymail.com.

The Plate: Chicken Milanese
Where: Mario’s Ocean Ave., 225 Ocean Ave., Lantana; 582-3013
The Price: $16
The Skinny: We were hungry, but it was still more than 80 degrees outside with humidity to match, so we didn’t want to stuff ourselves. What were we to do?
We stopped in at Mario’s, started to order a salad, then compromised.
After all, the restaurant’s variation on chicken Milanese practically was a salad in itself.
For this dish, Mario’s, owned by Henry Olmino, who at one time owned Mario’s of Boca at Glades Plaza, brings together wonderfully tender chicken that was perfectly battered and fried, fresh greens and tomatoes, marinated red peppers and creamy mozzarella.
It was perfectly dressed in a tangy vinaigrette that highlighted the flavors, rather than competing with them.
Remember the lighter-than-air garlic rolls at Mario’s of Boca? Olmino and company also serve them in Lantana.
Service was great, too, thanks to our super-efficient waitress, Sue, and we’ll give a shout-out to the good-humored Olmino, who runs the open kitchen, and his wife, Kim, who serves as hostess.
— Scott Simmons

By Janis Fontaine

    Palm Beach accountant Richard Rampell admits he is “not a happy camper.”
    And NPR radio listeners aren’t going to be happy either. It looks like they won’t be hearing popular shows like Morning Edition or Marketplace over Palm Beach County’s airwaves for much longer.
    Rampell has been a member of the board of trustees of Classical South Florida for four years. CFS, which owns WPBI-FM and its broadcast license, is a subsidiary of American Public Media Group, the largest station-based public radio organization in the U.S. WPBI is the only NPR affiliate in our neck of the woods.
    At an executive board meeting on June 25, board members discussed the sale of WPBI-FM to Educational Media Foundation, a religious broadcasting company based in Rockland, Calif.
    Rampell is constrained from saying exactly what happened, but he called APMG’s handling of the sale “unconscionable.”  
    Rampell said APMG’s leaders “agreed to sell the station without our permission, and they concealed it from us. They had no right to do that.”
    Rampell says the execs at the St. Paul, Minn.-based company stacked the “local” board with part-time Florida residents who weren’t invested in keeping NPR programming available in Palm Beach County and they reneged on their promise to relinquish control of the station to the local board. Then, they relegated the NPR broadcast from 90.7 to a weaker signal at 101.9, which has such a limited range it can’t even reach most of the county’s residents.
    Now, “half the board has quit,” he said, and those who remain have been told that if they cause trouble, they could be fired and even sued, and APMG could simply appoint a new board.
    Rampell said he would like to rally public support before it’s too late: “I think people should write to the FCC and say that our local NPR station is being sold to a religious broadcaster and we object to it.”
    Phone calls to AMPG were not returned.

By Tim Pallesen

The abduction and drowning of Circuit Judge Curtis Chillingworth and his wife, Marjorie, from their Manalapan oceanfront home still ranks as the county’s most terrifying crime 60 years later.
It was 1 a.m. on June 15, 1955, when the county’s senior judge answered a knock at his back door. The judge and his wife were abducted in their bedclothes by two thugs, forced into a boat, weighted down and thrown in the ocean to drown.
The case was a twisted tale of judicial betrayal. The thugs later testified that a corrupt West Palm Beach municipal judge had ordered the higher judge’s killing.
Chillingworth was one of only two circuit judges in Palm Beach County at the time.
The county had only 150,000 residents back then, compared to more than 1.3 million today. Manalapan had only 27 registered voters.

Police arrived at the couple’s two-story cottage near 1550 S. Ocean Blvd. after the judge didn’t appear for a 10 a.m. hearing and his courthouse colleagues became concerned.
Police found a shattered porch light, blood on the walkway to the beach and two used spools of adhesive tape, one in the living room and one in the sand.
The keys were still in the ignition of the couple’s Plymouth. Money was still in the judge’s wallet and his wife’s pocketbook, ruling out robbery as the motive.
Their swimsuits were dry, indicating that they hadn’t gone swimming in the ocean that morning. But a pair of men’s pajamas, a nightgown and two pairs of slippers were missing.
An air and sea search was unsuccessful. The bodies never were found and the Chillingworths were declared legally dead two years later.

The mystery began to unravel in 1959 when one of the hired thugs, Floyd “Lucky” Holzapfel, began talking. The other thug, Bobby Lincoln, agreed to testify, too.
The porch light was on when the two arrived by boat at the Chillingworth home at 1 a.m., the killers told authorities. Lincoln crouched in the bushes as Holzapfel knocked on the door.
“Aren’t you Judge Chillingworth?” Holzapfel asked the man in his pajamas who answered.
“Yes, I am,” the judge replied. Lincoln rushed from the bushes to smash the porch light with his gun.  
Holzapfel pulled a pistol and asked if anyone else was in the house. The judge called for Marjorie, who came pulling a robe over her nightgown.  The couple’s hands were taped. Mrs. Chillingworth screamed on the way to the boat. Holzapfel hit her with his gun, drawing blood. Once aboard the boat, Chillingworth offered to give Lincoln $200,000 to save their lives.
“Boy, if you take care of us, you will never have to work again,” Lincoln later quoted him as saying. But the killers instead strapped lead weights to the judge and his wife.
“Ladies first,” Holzapfel said, pushing Mrs. Chillingworth overboard.  
“Honey, remember, I love you,” the judge told his wife. “I love you, too,” she replied. Mrs. Chillingworth went down “with a few bubbles,” Holzapfel recalled.
But the judge, a Navy veteran from both world wars, fought to stay afloat. The killers tied a 25-pound anchor around his neck and pounded him down with a shotgun before he sank. Holzapfel, who had served time for bookmaking and armed robbery, and Lincoln, a moonshiner, both testified that they “did it for Joe.”

Joe Peel was a flashy young lawyer in West Palm Beach who wore white linen suits. He drove a Cadillac and his beautiful wife, Imogene, drove a Lincoln Continental.  
As a part-time municipal judge, Peel would sign warrants for police to raid gambling dens. Gambling operators paid Peel to tip them off before the raids.
Chillingworth, who had served three decades as Palm Beach County’s chief judge, wasn’t aware of the bribes. But he had disciplined Peel for a divorce case and was blocking his dream to become state attorney and governor someday. Peel went to trial on the charge of being an accessory to the Chillingworth murders.  
“The ghost of Judge Chillingworth will not rest until his killers are shoveling coal in the fires of hell and damnation,” State Attorney Phil O’Connell said in requesting the death penalty. The jury convicted Peel but recommended life in prison. Peel denied everything during his trial and remaining life in prison. But he granted an interview with a newspaper reporter one week before he died in 1982.
“There’s no one to blame but myself,” Peel finally confessed on his deathbed. He admitted to taking payoffs from gambling figures and moonshiners. A Miami Beach nightclub owner was hoping to use Peel to bring open gambling to Palm Beach County nightclubs.
“I was one of his fair-haired boys — the one who would go up in the judiciary,” Peel said. “But I was greedy and too anxious.”
Before Judge Chillingworth got in his way, the plan was for Peel to permit gambling houses when he became Palm Beach County’s state attorney.
“Then I was to go from state attorney to attorney general to governor,” he said of his dream. But the corruption that shook Palm Beach County’s criminal justice system ended when Peel was convicted in 1961.  Holzapfel was sent to Death Row despite his cooperation. His sentence was later commuted to life in prison, where he died in 1996.
Lincoln, who got immunity to testify against Peel, moved to Chicago where he worked at the Tender Touch Laundry before his death in 2004.
“People who have done what Joe, Bobby and I have done should be stamped out like cockroaches,” Holzapfel summed up the Chillingworth killers. “We’re not fit to be with decent people.”

Tim Pallesen was the Miami Herald reporter who took Peel’s deathbed confession in 1982. His story here was compiled from Palm Beach Post  and Miami Herald archives and The Murder Trial of Judge Peel by Jim Bishop.

The transport carriers are loaded and gone, there’s room to spread a blanket at the beach, and the sea turtles have returned. Ahh … must be summer.
Of course it’s not really all that quiet: A “culture of cronyism” is being investigated in Delray Beach with possible criminal charges pending, ethics violations have been alleged in Boca Raton and we’re still waiting on a judge’s ruling on a recall effort in Ocean Ridge and the beginning of a RICO trial in Gulf Stream. Looks like it’s going to be a pretty busy summer for The Coastal Star.
We’ll be watching as municipalities along the coast make some staffing changes over the summer.
In Ocean Ridge a new town manager and town clerk will be coming onboard by October; Briny Breezes is looking for a town clerk and an alderman; Highland Beach has a high-paying librarian position open, and the town manager of South Palm Beach is tossing all of his cards into the wind to see what direction the townsfolk want to pursue for their future.
So, throw in the inevitable tropical weather warning and the summer seems off to  anything but a slow start.
Snowbirds likely don’t realize that our municipalities begin their budget process each July leading up to the beginning of their budget year in October. This pushes a lot of big decision-making into the summer months when many residents are at their Northern homes.
With taxable values up on real estate, there shouldn’t be any draconian staff cuts to worry about this year, but legal fees and aging-infrastructure costs concern most of our communities.
Plus, this newspaper will be checking to see whether Lantana, Manalapan and Ocean Ridge address the public’s “right to know” by renegotiating with their telecommunications providers to allow logging of local phone calls at town hall to meet public record access expectations.
Many on our staff do take time off in the summer months,  and I’ll be doing the same this year. So, if you find our office door locked, you’ll know that we’ve “gone fishin’ ” — but we will be back.
There’s too much going on along the coast to stay away for long.  
While we are away off-and-on over the next few months, we will be depending on our year-round readers to keep us informed of news and issues in our community.
Don’t hesitate to call (561-337-1553) or email (news@thecoastalstar.com). Even when I’m off watching white sails catch the breeze on azure seas, someone will be around to respond.
We continue to take our watchdog responsibilities seriously even during the “slow” season.
Have a great summer.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Wayne Barton inside his Boca Raton office. As a police officer, Barton envisioned a study center designed to get young people off the streets and guide them toward a successful future. The challenge to meet the needs of these youths resulted in the formation of Barton’s Boosters, a group that worked tirelessly to raise $2.3 million to construct today’s Wayne Barton Study Center. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Wayne Barton never really wanted to be a cop.
In fact, not knowing what he wanted to do, a young Wayne Barton applied for a job at the Boca Raton Fire Department and the Boca Raton Police Department at the same time.
It was the Police Department that offered him a job first, and before he knew it, he became only the third African-American to wear a Boca Raton police uniform.
It was during his 19 years in the Police Department that he developed a vision for the Pearl City neighborhood.
Today, 35 years after he first put on a badge, Barton has retired from police work and is now founder and CEO of the Wayne Barton Study Center, a community-gathering place — focused mainly on children — that has served thousands of kids.
“I was a person who wanted to do some good for the neighborhood,” he says. “I didn’t know what I was getting into.”
Walk into the cavernous 25,000-square-foot Wayne Barton Study Center that stands on what was once a vacant lot in Pearl City and you see kids, lots of them.
The current building, which Barton opened in 1999 after raising $3.1 million in just nine months, is home to a variety of programs. They range from an after-school program with a strong focus on academics to three different types of summer camps. The center also runs a community food program as well as a scholarship program.
It is here that children can get help with their homework, improve their reading skills and prepare for the FCAT. But it’s also a place with a gymnasium that features an indoor stage for performances and an outdoor amphitheater.
Barton is understandably proud of all that the center has to offer and proud of the role it plays in changing lives.
So far, more than 162 kids who have been through the center have gone on to college, thanks in large part to scholarships that pay for just about everything. One young woman who came through the center recently received a master’s degree in nursing. Two more center alumni are working toward their master’s degrees.
“I get my joy out of seeing people become empowered and self sufficient for the rest of their lives,” he says. “People just want you to point them in the right direction.”
Barton believes that through empowering young people, he and the center have played a key role in transforming Pearl City into a neighborhood where residents feel safe and the drugs and thugs once prevalent are no longer commonplace.
“I took a weed-and-seed approach,” he says. “We planted the seeds and now those seeds are trees that are beautifying the area.”
Barton, 54, has been planting those seeds for more than three decades, initially as a police officer who helped define Boca Raton’s community policing efforts.
During his first three years in the department, Barton was assigned to other areas of the city, as were most officers, but he made it a point to get to Pearl City as often as he could.
“I was working in this community on my own time,” he says. “I sat on the porches with the pioneers and heard about how it used to be, about their struggles and their pain.”
By the mid-1980s he was assigned to the area and by 1991 he had started the Wayne Barton Study Center in a community center, later moving it to an apartment in the Dixie Manor public housing complex.
The program quickly outgrew its quarters and Barton set his sights on vacant property not far from the Florence Fuller Child Development Center.
“My motivation was not wanting a kid to go through what I went through as a child,” he says. Barton grew up in a Deerfield Beach neighborhood facing many of the same problems he saw in Pearl City. “I saw a guy get shot in the face for a pair of boots.”
But Barton doesn’t dwell on the past. Instead he focuses on the present and on providing kids with tools and inspiration to create a positive future.
“My goal used to be just getting these kids through high school,” he said. “Then my goal was getting them into college. Now my goal is helping them get their master’s degrees.”

David and Edith celebrate their marriage.

By Ron Hayes

Quiet, please, we’re about to begin.
Shortly after 2 p.m. on a sweltering Saturday in May, a caterer moved among the tables in the Briny Breezes Oceanfront Clubhouse, gently ringing a dinner bell to calm the guests.
The tray of cheese-and-cracker hors d’oeuvres was set aside, Jimmy Buffett silenced on the stereo.
The Rev. Ray Brower, a minister of Briny Breezes Community Church, took his place at the front of the hall, smiling as the bride and groom stepped slowly forward to join him.
“I’m so glad I can be here with you today,” the reverend began with a great, wide smile. “Because this could have been done some time ago.”
And the guests chuckled, knowingly.
After nearly 60 years together in Briny Breezes — first as children, then neighbors, adults and romantic partners — David Hugh David, 63, and Edith Louise Behm, 66, are getting married.
At last.

•

Edith and David outside their home in Briny Breezes.

When they arrived at this little trailer campground in the 1950s, the sandy dune where the clubhouse stands today was occupied by a tiny office, a general store and a restaurant called the Seascape, where the red snapper entrée cost $2.75 and the shrimp cocktail a dollar.
He was from St. Louis, Mo., a toddler blessed with the wonderfully redundant name, “David David.”
“I’ve had more fun with that name,” he says. “In the Army, I never did guard duty because they’d call for David Davis and I wouldn’t go. I thought, ‘Well, I’m not David Davis.’ Was I teased? Never. People thought it was cute, and it gave me a sense of humor. I’d never change it.”
She was “Edith,” legally, but already known to one and all as Corky.
“I was a C-section,” she explains, “and when they brought me out I was blowing bubbles and my father said, ‘It reminds me of a champagne cork,’ so they started calling me Corky.”
The David family moved to Briny permanently in 1953, when David was 2, and except for seven years in the Army, he never really left.
Corky’s family came down from Elizabeth, N.J., and bought a trailer in the late 1950s. After graduating from Florida Southern College in 1970, at 22, she moved back to Briny to teach art at Boca Raton Middle School — and never left.
David and Corky grew up together. Grew close together. Grew memories together.
“In the summertime you had it all to yourself,” he remembers. “The only telephone was in the office, so they had a loudspeaker that would announce when you got a call.”
Corky attended Gulf Stream School through 11th grade, she says, then transferred to St. Ann’s Episcopal in Boca Raton for her senior year. She graduated in 1966.
“All my friends were from Gulf Stream,” she says. “Wealthy kids, but they wanted to come play in Briny Breezes. The Crown Colony Club used to be nothing but virgin forest.”
David once built a treehouse in that forest. “It was 30 feet off the ground, and when they finished dredging it, it was 3 feet off the ground.”
He remembers vividly when the old auditorium caught fire, where the shuffleboard courts are today.
“It went to the ground in 45 minutes. I was just a kid and I remember standing across the street and you had to turn your face away or it would burn you.”
In 1963, when the trailer park incorporated and became a town, his father, Hugh David, was elected mayor and held the post for the next 34 years.
“My dad had to quit going to church because people would keep stopping him to talk town business,” David says. “He said, ‘I don’t even get to eat lunch. By the time I get home, the bread’s stale.’ ”
They were teenagers then. Now they’re in their 60s, sharing a home with a black cat named Ebony and a large collection of cowboy hats.

Both Edith and David are fond of wearing hats. A portion of their sizable collection occupies a shelf at their home.

“I’ve had diabetes for 15 or 20 years,” David says, “and up at the VA they said wear hats to guard against melanoma, so that’s how that started. Now everybody at the VA knows me because of my hats. And my name. They’ve got a Dr. Thomas Thomas up there, too.”
His 20 cowboy hats are displayed on a shelf above his bed, the crowns adorned with feathers and shells and jewelry — 20 hats from which to choose for his wedding.
They’ve grown older, and Briny Breezes, the campground that became a trailer park and a town, has grown older, too.
“It’s changed and it hasn’t,” David says. “The trailers are bigger.”
In the old days, people would park their small travel trailers in the low dip of land to the west of the road in the winter, then haul them up to the beach come summer.
Ask for the biggest change they’ve seen and David and Corky pause, then decide it’s the golf carts.
“Everybody has one,” David says. “They can’t walk the dog 5 feet. They get in the cart, take the dog 5 feet, and when the dog pees they ride it back. Of course, I’m exaggerating, but still …”
Now they have a golf cart, too, adorned with a Ben Carson bumper sticker. Run, Ben Run.
“We don’t think he’s got a chance,” David concedes, “but we like him.”
They are both “devout Republicans.”
“If you want to see my blood pressure go up, mention Obama,” Corky says. “I admire Michelle, though. She’s done a lot for obese kids.”
Everywhere they look, it seems, they see memories.
“When I was a kid,” David says, “the west side of Old A1A was all freshwater ponds. Now it’s all condos — which Florida needs more of.”
By their trailer door, a rustic wooden sign hangs: Welcome To Our Little Piece Of Paradise.
“I bought that at the Delray Affair,” Corky says.
“When I was a kid,” David says, “it used to be called the Gladiola Festival.”

•

For his wedding, David has chosen a black hat encircled with bright turquoise stones, a black belt, also with matching turquoise, black jeans and a black shark’s tooth necklace dangling in the open collar of a stylish white shirt.
Corky is wearing a knee-length dress of magenta lace from Nordstrom’s, tastefully bright and colorful like you’d expect of a woman who taught art for 25 years.
Standing side by side before the guests, they seem a perfect match.
“Repeat after me,” the reverend says. “I, David, take thee Edith …”
Hugh David died in 1997 after 34 years as Briny Breezes’ mayor, but Marilyn David, his wife and David’s mother, is still living in the same family home on Mallard Drive. Today, she is seated at the front, not 15 feet from her son and his bride.
“I, Edith, take thee David …”
David’s sister and brother-in-law, Judy and Tim Wood, are here. They met on this beach in 1957, when Tim spied her, liked what he saw and asked a friend to toss the football her way so he could fumble it and strike up a conversation.
They were married in 1961.
“To have and to hold, for richer or poorer …”
Nearby sits Rita Taylor, the town clerk from 1970 to 2007, who bought her trailer in 1967, one row behind the Davids’.
“Til death do us part.”
Next to Taylor are Pete and June Fingerhut.
“I’m 90, and I remember David as a little boy,” Pete says. “Nice as he could be.”
“Well,” says June, “he was like all boys …”
David and Corky exchange rings, and after a short prayer, the reverend turns to the guests and proclaims, “I present to you Mr. and Mrs. David Hugh David.”
And no sooner are the words out of his mouth, then the groom’s mother, 93 in July, calls to him in a loud voice:
“Oh, David, you finally did it! I thought I’d be stuck with you for the rest of my life!”

David gets a congratulatory kiss from his mother, Marilyn,after the  ceremony.
A bamboo frame complements a photo of their fishing boat. The couple jokingly describes it as their ‘Briny Yacht.’
Photos by Jerry Lower/
The Coastal Star

By Tim Pallesen

An investigation shows that city employees might have benefited financially by purchasing goods and services for the city from companies that they or their relatives owned.
Investigators from the State Attorney’s Office already have seized records indicating that a company owned by two Environmental Services employees received $230,000 from the city for signs and poles.
The city says several more employees in the Police, Fire, Finance and Parks and Recreation departments also may have violated city and county ethics rules which prohibit a government employee from making money from a privately run business.
“This reflects a culture that’s unacceptable and will be changed,” City Manager Don Cooper told city commissioners on May 19. “This is one of the most disheartening things that I’ve ever had to deal with in my career.”
Cooper has been working with the State Attorney and Inspector General’s offices  since an audit showed the irregularities in February. He said the “ongoing failure of management oversight” has been systematic under three city managers since 2006.
“This particularly gross misconduct has gone undetected for nearly a decade,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said. “I’m pleased during this administration the investigation identified that wrongdoing that may lead to criminal prosecutions.”
Cooper notified commissioners of the investigation after a search warrant was executed last month against the two Environmental Services employees, Cesar Irizzary and Orlando Serrano.
Irizzary is on unpaid administrative leave and Serrano has resigned. They face potential criminal charges involving theft, bid tampering, a scheme to defraud and a violation of the Florida Money Laundering Act, according to the search warrant.
Cooper is creating a new city purchasing department to oversee all city purchases over $2,500. All city employees received a letter stating the city ethics rules with their paycheck last month.
“We’ve made great strides bringing an end to the mismanagement and cronyism that tainted our city in the past,” Glickstein said. “Hopefully this is the final chapter.”

The Gulf Stream Town Commission poses with the Palm Beach County League of Cities’  Defender of Home Rule trophy awarded at a May luncheon. PHOTO: (l-r) Town Manager William Thrasher, Commissioners Tom Stanley, Donna White , Joan Orthwein, Mayor Scott Morgan, Vice Mayor Robert Ganger and outgoing League president, Mayor Steve Wilson of Belle Glade. Photo provided

By Dan Moffett

Gulf Stream town commissioners want to explore the possibility of forging partnerships with other neighboring coastal communities to handle fire and emergency medical services.
The move toward coalition-building comes in the wake of new rumblings in Delray Beach about eliminating the city-run Fire Department and contracting with Palm Beach County. Delray currently provides fire services to Gulf Stream and Highland Beach, and cost to the towns would soar if they have to find other providers.
“For a lot of people, this looks like a seminal event that Delray is going through,” said Gulf Stream Vice Mayor Robert Ganger. “Inevitably, it’s going to cost us more, no matter what.”
Commissioners hope to find support from Highland Beach, Ocean Ridge and others for a study to assess the prospect of collaborating on services, perhaps even creating a barrier island fire district.
“It’s a big jigsaw puzzle that has to be very carefully put together,” Ganger said. “It absolutely has to start with a study.”
The worries about the Delray Beach contract, which expires in 2019, surfaced during a rare afternoon meeting on May 13 to consider long-range planning and budget matters. The special session filled the Town Hall chamber with about three dozen residents.
Mayor Scott Morgan said the commission is considering raising the town’s tax rate about 15 percent — from $3.90 per $1,000 of assessed property values to $4.50 — to replenish general fund reserves that have been depleted by several years of legal battles with residents Martin O’Boyle and Chris O’Hare.
Morgan said the town has about $750,000 in reserve but should have at least twice that to cover emergency expenses. He said the tax hike should  put another $800,000 into the town’s coffers and offset its legal costs.
“Gulf Stream is way below other towns, even at 4.5 mills,” Morgan said.
Town Manager William Thrasher gave commissioners another reason to have a healthy reserve fund: aging water lines. Thrasher said most of the town’s water infrastructure is 50 to 80 years old and prone to costly failures. Three years ago, it took about $1.5 million to fix a broken pipe along A1A. Thrasher said the town would need about $8 million to replace all the old lines, but only about $4.8 million of that amount would have to be done in the next 10 to 20 years.
The commission has two discretionary projects on its wish list: expanding Town Hall, and replacing the aging maintenance building in back of it. “It’s a 1930s facility in a 2015 town,” Ganger said.
In other business:
• After a couple of months of negotiating with developer Tom Laudani, commissioners signed off on his plan to build two adjacent houses at 3410 and 3424 N. Ocean Blvd.
Morgan led a chorus of commissioner complaints that the original designs were too  similar and violated town rules aimed at preventing speculative “cookie cutter” development. Laudani, whose Seaside Builders company built Harbour View Estates several years ago, agreed to make architectural changes to the houses to satisfy the commission.
• The Palm Beach County League of Cities has honored Gulf Stream with two awards that recognize the town’s handling of the public records disputes with O’Boyle and O’Hare.
The league gave the town its Defender of Home Rule Award and gave Thrasher its William “Bill” Moss Memorial Award. Named for the former West Palm Beach city commissioner, the Moss award goes to public servants who demonstrate “exemplary involvement, support and dedication to the priorities, principles and programs of the League of Cities.” Ú

Delray Beach police Officers (l-r) Andrew Collaretti and Jared Schumer speak with Lakeland residents Steve and Christa Harold June 1 as they patrol the beach area to meet and greet residents and engage in conversation. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Through a series of new community initiatives and practices, Delray Beach police are making an enhanced effort to get to know residents before problems arise.
“Our mantra is ‘Before 911,’” Chief Jeff Goldman said. “We need to connect with the community before residents call 911, before there is a crisis.”
Since October, the department has rolled out several new programs designed to increase interaction between officers and residents. Among the initiatives are the Walk and Talk program, the Donuts with Delray PD program and an enhanced Vacation Watch program.
In addition, Goldman has changed the road patrol structure so that officers are now assigned to the same area every time they’re working.
“Before they would rotate around the city,” he said. “You lost the opportunity for community engagement and you lost accountability.”
With the new structure, officers can become more familiar with the residents of their assigned area. They also have better communication with other officers assigned to that same area on different shifts.
Building connections with residents is the goal of the Walk and Talk program, in which officers are asked to get out of their cars for 15 minutes and meet residents in the community they’re responsible for.
Goldman said the program is working well, with him getting calls from residents surprised to be meeting the officers.
“I get constant feedback,” Goldman says.
Building better relationships with residents is also one of the benefits of the department’s improved Vacation Watch program, where residents can go online and request that officers check on their homes while they’re away.
In the past, Goldman said, residents had the opportunity to call the department and ask for extra checks while they were away but the program didn’t include any measure of accountability to ensure checks were being done as frequently as necessary.
With the new computerized system, officers are now able to document each time they check on a home. Residents receive a notification when they return listing each time the home was checked.
Goldman says officers now have the opportunity to meet with the residents before they leave whenever possible and also now have an opportunity to become more familiar with the property, which could be beneficial in a future emergency situation.
Like the officers they supervise, Goldman and his senior staff also make it point to get out and meet residents through initiatives like Donuts with Delray PD. Through the program, officers are invited to gatherings such as homeowner association or Chamber of Commerce meetings, where they can talk informally over doughnuts and coffee provided by the Police Department.
In addition, the department has an active Facebook page that includes videos in the Spotlight Series, highlighting specialized groups or activities within the department.
“We tell our people that if you connect enough before 911, you’re building relationships that will help you do your job better and help you serve the community better,” Goldman said.

Following a few days of heavy rain in early May, a pair of roseate spoonbills was seen feeding in the shallow waters in the retention pond at Woolbright Road and A1A.  Typically seen much farther inland, the pair departed after the water drained. Jerry Lower/ The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

An administrative law judge in Tallahassee has rejected developer William Swaim’s request for a permit exemption that would allow him to build an access road behind the Ocean Ridge Town Hall.
Judge Bram D.E. Canter agreed with attorneys for the South Florida Water Management District that Swaim’s plan to fill in up to three acres of the lagoon raised environmental concerns and also was a potential impediment to boaters.
If Swaim’s project went forward, “maneuvering a boat in and out of the docks at Wellington Arms or between the docks and (the) proposed eastern wall would be difficult,” Canter wrote in his 15-page opinion released May 14. “It would be unsafe in windy conditions.”
The SFWMD had opposed the project also because it would mean destroying much of the mangrove forest in the lagoon.
Canter rejected Swaim’s argument that the waterway did not deserve special environmental protection because it was a “dead muck zone” created decades ago when the Army Corps of Engineers dredged it for mosquito control.
Canter found that the lagoon “is not an artificially created waterway” and that “the project would violate state water quality standards.”
Swaim says he wants the road so he can build a single-family home on a lot north of Town Hall. He proposed the idea to Ocean Ridge town commissioners last year, and they have been waiting to take it up until Swaim received permits from SFWMD.
The ruling is a victory for a coalition of condo residents and property owners along the lagoon who opposed the project. “This would do damage to a natural wetland,” said Jeff Eder, one of those opponents. “I honestly don’t think this project can get off the ground — because it doesn’t deserve to.”