Boca Raton artist Santiago Perez, left, speaks about his work with Chris Theodore, center, as his wife, Christine, views a painting behind him on Jan. 25 during the Boca Raton Fine Art Show at Royal Palm Place. Kurtis Boggs/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

      After the doctors told him he would die soon, Tim O’Meilia did what tough and true old newsmen often do.

      He had a party.

      On a Saturday evening in early December, Tim and his wife, Debbie, opened their Palm Beach Gardens home, and dozens of friends and colleagues gathered to wish him well on his final assignment.

      A “Celebration of Life,” they called it, but it was a party. Old friends flew in from Virginia and Pennsylvania. Others drove up from Miami. Some brought covered dishes and home-baked sweets; salads, six-packs and bottles of wine. Everyone brought stories.

      Tim held court in his easy chair, chatting, joking, posing for pictures. He’d lost weight and his hair had thinned. A black patch covered his left eye.

      “That eye just suddenly crossed on Halloween,” his wife confided to a friend. “That’s how they knew the cancer had reached his brain.”

      Out by the pool, a second Christmas tree stood bare, waiting to be decorated with all the stories — handwritten anecdotes and cheeky poems to honor a man who had chronicled Palm Beach County for more than four decades.

      Tim O’Meilia wrote hard stories about city governments, large and small, and soft stories about St. Patrick’s Day parades and school cafeterias.

      When the turkey vultures returned to a little island off Palm Beach each spring, Tim wrote the story. When the love bugs arrived each summer, he was there to greet them, and when Palm Beach Atlantic College held its annual roach race, Tim reported the winners.

      He could make you feel Hurricane Wilma’s fury, then walk you through the rubble the morning after.

      He did it all, and nobody did it better.

      Tim came to The Palm Beach Post in 1972, stayed for 36 years, retired, and then, when The Coastal Star appeared in 2008, he brought all that knowledge and experience along and helped make this little Star shine.

      “I suspect that words were a wonderful puzzle to Tim,” Mary Kate Leming, the Coastal Star’s editor, reflects. “Even with dry situations, like municipal meetings, he could boil down the essence of what happened and write it in such a way that readers would read it and be glad they did. I always saw Tim as sort of a puzzle-master, and I believe he really loved writing and enjoyed the challenge of word-play.”

      He covered South Palm Beach for this paper, Manalapan and Ocean Ridge, Gulf Stream and Briny Breezes, too.

      Before serving as Briny Breezes’ mayor for eight years, Roger Bennett directed the journalism department at Texas State University in San Marcos.

      “When Tim covered our Town Council meetings, he was a true journalist,” Bennett recalls. “He asked the true questions and didn’t just bolt from the meetings when they ended. He’d buttonhole you because he was really interested and wanted to get the facts right.” 

      Timothy Joseph O’Meilia was born on Oct. 6, 1948, in San Antonio, Texas, grew up in Oklahoma City and came to Florida at 15. At Melbourne Central Catholic High School, he edited the yearbook.

      “I tried out for the high school paper,” he explained. “Fifty guys wanted to cover sports and six guys wanted news, so I went into news.”

      In 1971, he earned a degree in communication arts from Notre Dame. “And then I couldn’t get a job for a year.”

      Back home and living with his parents, he finally got his big break: Part-time work as The Miami Herald’s Action Line reporter in West Palm Beach.

      Six months later, The Palm Beach Post brought him aboard to cover Delray Beach, and over the next 36 years, he covered nearly every municipality in the county.

      “The only town I didn’t cover was North Palm Beach,” he said, “because my dad worked there.”

      In those early days, his editor was Gayle Pallesen, now the executive director of The Forum Club of the Palm Beaches.

      “Put him in front of a computer keyboard and it was like putting a master pianist in front of a piano,” she remembers. “His words were music to the eyes.”

      In the newspaper business, where accuracy is paramount, reporters take a perverse pleasure in misspelling the word “lead.” It’s lede — the first sentence in the story. The sentence that has to hook you, charm you, lead you into reading on.

      “What’s my lede?!” they cry on deadline, desperate for a clever idea.

      Tim never had to ask. Give him the Delray Beach St. Patrick’s Day parade and he would give you:

      “It was only a wee bit of a pig, and a wee bit of an idea, but Maury Power is only a wee bit of a saloon keeper, even wearin’ his top hat.

      “And ol’ Blue now was a horse of a different color. Green, he was. And more handsome than a squealing pig just beggin’ to be bacon.”

      Tom O’Hara was Tim O’Meilia’s managing editor. “Tim was a gifted writer. I presume that’s because he was Irish,” O’Hara says of O’Meilia. “It was always a thrill to edit his stories because they flowed effortlessly and always contained an elegant turn of phrase. He was an editor’s dream.”

      Tim met Debbie Valente at the North Palm Beach community softball league, where he coached teams throughout his newspaper career.

      “Eventually we coached together,” Tim would say, “and then we got together.”

      Debbie is, as usual, more blunt.

      “I didn’t like him at first,” she recalls. “We’d known each other forever, then we dated for a month and got engaged.”

      They were married on Aug. 1, 1987, and had two sons, Roland and Casey. Tim learned the joys of fatherhood, and Debbie learned the pitfalls of being a reporter’s wife.

      When the space shuttle Challenger exploded on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, Tim was at his desk in West Palm Beach. By evening, he and a photographer were in Concord, N.H., hometown of Christa McAuliffe, a local high school teacher chosen to be the first civilian in space.

      “We got to Concord about 5 p.m., and they wanted a story by 8 p.m.,” he recalled. “It’s 6 p.m. and we were driving down the street and saw black wreathes on all the doors. Then we found a church that was holding a memorial service and I found a girl who had been in her class.”

      He made the deadline:

      “When she came home, there was to have been a bagpipe parade, and all the young soccer players in town were to have marched with her down Main Street …

      “Instead, shuffling in groups of twos and threes through a bitter 14-degree night, Concord residents went to hastily organized memorial services …”

      “We were up there three or four days,” Tim said, “and I didn’t change my clothes until the third day when I went to the store.” He smiled at the memory. “That was not nice.”

      On his 15th wedding anniversary, rumors flared yet again that Cuban president Fidel Castro was near death. Tim was drafted to report the local anticipation — and missed his anniversary dinner.

      “That happened more than once,” Debbie recalls. “Castro got sick in August a lot.”

      Tim’s work schedule was unpredictable, his devotion to his sons unshakeable.

      “Throughout his battle with cancer, my father did not miss a single one of my lacrosse games my senior year at Florida State,” says Roland “Rolly” O’Meilia, 23, a banker in West Palm Beach. “He planned his chemotherapy treatments around my schedule. He traveled the six hours to and from Palm Beach Gardens to Tallahassee many times, only hours after his treatments.”

      Casey O’Meilia, 21, is a senior majoring in computer engineering at Notre Dame, his father’s alma mater.

      “My dad was always the person I went to with questions,” he explains. “I’d sit on the chair he was sitting in and just start talking. Sometimes it would be a philosophical question and we would have a little debate. Other times it was a ‘what if’ question and we’d talk about how the world would be different. Mostly it was me thinking myself clever, making some smart-aleck remark and him trying to put me back in my place. But every time was a chance to get a little closer.”

      Tim didn’t keep a bottle of whiskey in his desk drawer. He didn’t pepper his conservation with cynicism or bray his opinions around the newsroom. Tim sat at his desk and wrote, and rewrote, until each story sang. He was constant and dependable, and made the long drives from his Palm Beach Gardens home to council meetings in Manalapan or South Palm Beach until shortly before his Celebration of Life.

      A few days after that party, one of Tim’s colleagues at The Coastal Star, a man he had worked with for 22 years, came back to visit one last time. He brought a notebook and pen. Tim was in his easy chair. The word “obituary” was never spoken.

      On a nearby coffee table, all those stories that had hung on the memory tree lay in a pile, read and reread.

      “Those really help him,” Debbie said.

      She picked up a poem by Jane Musgrave, the Post’s courts reporter:

      “T’was the day after Wilma

      When all through The Post

      Reporters were scrambling

      To cover the coast.

      To assure that our coverage wasn’t one big disaster

      A man named Paul Blythe turned to the master.

      More rapid than twisters the interminable feeds came

      And Tim O’Meilia, as usual, was at the top of his game.”

      For nearly three hours they chatted and laughed and reminisced about all the stories they had covered, and the stories behind those stories. Finally, Tim tired and his colleague rose to go. They shook hands.

      “So,” the colleague said, with a sad smile, “what’s my lede?”

      And Tim replied, as tough and true old newsmen often do, with a mordant joke.

      “I don’t know,” he grinned. “What’s my deadline?”

      Tim O’Meilia’s deadline came late on Saturday, Jan. 11, when he died at home with his family gathered around. He was 65.

      He is survived by Debbie, his wife of 26 years; his sons, Roland and Casey; a brother, Frank, of Sylva, N.C.; two sisters, Marianne, of Alvin, Texas, and Christine, of Huntsville, Ala.; friends, colleagues, and a lifetime of stories.

    A funeral Mass will be held at St. Clare Catholic Church, 821 Prosperity Farms Road, North Palm Beach, at 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16.

    In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Hospice of Palm Beach County, 5300 East Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33407.

Carol Wittenberg

By Rich Pollack
    
Carol Wittenberg loves her 2013 Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid that runs on both gas and electricity.
    “It’s environmentally friendly, it’s economical and it’s comfortable and quiet,” she says.
    But when Wittenberg and her husband, Larry, returned to their condominium in Highland Beach last month, the Volt remained in their Michigan garage.
    “There isn’t a charging station nearby to make it worthwhile,” says Wittenberg.
    As the number of electric cars on the road grows, condominiums with shared parking facilities and even small municipalities are wrestling with the question of how, if at all, to accommodate people like the Wittenbergs and others in a small group of electric-car owners seeking  convenient ways to plug in.
    “It’s something that’s creating a buzz in our industry,” says Lisa Magill, an attorney who specializes in community association law for the firm of Becker & Poliakoff.
    At the heart of the issue is the question of who should pay for installations of charging stations, and then once they’re in, how to ensure residents of an entire building don’t end up paying for the electricity used by a few individuals to charge cars.
    Even municipalities are facing the challenge, with the town of Highland Beach deciding against the installation of a community charging station because the benefits for a few would not justify the expense paid by all of the town’s taxpayers.
    Compounding the problem are the regulations in condominium documents that can range from requiring a majority vote of the board of directors for approval of a charging station to a favorable vote by 75 percent of the unit owners.
South Palm Beach resident Paul J. Least learned first hand about those rules and regulations when he tried to charge the Nissan Leaf he just purchased, using an extension cord that he ran from his first floor condo unit to a parking spot right out front.
Soon he was told by the condo association management that he could face hefty fines if he didn’t remove the extension cord.
Least says he offered to pay for electricity and for proper wiring but the condo management refused. Now, he says, he’s forced to keep the car in storage until he returns up north where he doesn’t anticipate any problems plugging in.
“If I knew I was going to have these problems, I wouldn’t have bought the car down here,” he said.
    As more and more situations like Least’s arise, condo boards and managers are seeking guidance on how to proceed.  “A week doesn’t go by when I don’t get a call from a condo manager,” says Anne-Lousie Seabury, electric vehicle program manager for Florida Power & Light Co. “They’re wondering where to start.”
    The answer is not an easy one.
    “I’ve worked with a lot of condos and everyone is different,” she says.
    For their part, condo association managers and leaders say that there aren’t enough electric-car owners living in condos to make installations of community charging stations an issue.
    That was the consensus during the October meeting of the Beach Condominium Association of Boca Raton and Highland Beach, according to Jack Fox, president of the group, which includes the managers, directors and officers of 63  communities.
    “At this point the feeling is that there aren’t that many people with electric cars,” Fox said. “I think going forward, if electric cars become more prevalent, condos will respond to the demand.”
    In the short term, he says, some condos are allowing owners to have charging stations in their garage parking spots, but they’re asking them to pay for the full cost of installation and the electricity they use.
    That’s exactly what happened at The Yacht and Racquet Club of Boca Raton.
    During the summer, the Rev. David M. Franco, O.S.F.S., a retired priest from Michigan living in a condo he inherited from his parents, purchased a pre-owned Nissan Leaf and went to his condo association to let the manager know he wanted to install a charging station that he could use in the garage.
    “The manager said as long as I pay for the installation and my own electricity, it’s fine,” Franco recalls.
    After doing a bit of research, Franco discovered that the costs of buying a Level 2 charging station — which can charge his Leaf in just a few hours — and installing it, were fairly affordable.
    The charging station itself cost about $1,100, while running the necessary wiring from the garage electrical panel cost about $900.
    In addition, Franco paid an extra $50 for a meter that measures the amount of electricity he uses. Every quarter he sends a check to the condo association, which pays for electricity used in common areas. The first check, written for four months, came to just $67.50.
    While Franco’s is a success story, he says that the idea of a community-wide charging station —activated by credit cards — is not gaining much traction at the condominium.
    “The problem is people have to look at electric cars not as a novelty but as a mode of transportation,” he said.
    

Related: Tailwaggers and owners lap up beach time in Boca Raton

By Steve Plunkett
    
Delray Beach dog owners, like any nonresidents, will pay $165 a year to bring their pets to Boca Raton’s new Bark Beach.
    But Boca Raton officials wondered if they should do something extra for their northern neighbors, especially given that Delray Beach nixed the idea of a dog-friendly beach the same time Boca Raton approved its pilot program.
    Council member Constance Scott said she spoke with Delray Beach commissioners who want their own dog beach but lack evidence of the need. She recommended Boca Raton color-code permits to make it easy to spot Delray visitors.
    “That’s just an idea, a way of doing research for them,” Scott said. But council member Michael Mullaugh thought the added effort was not necessary.
    “I have been to plenty of public meetings in Delray, and there’s no hesitancy among residents of Delray Beach to express their opinion on virtually everything,” he said. “So I believe if they are concerned about having a dog beach in Delray they will say so.”
    His comment drew knowing chuckles from his colleagues on the dais.
    “My point is, they will get a dog beach there if enough residents in fact want one,” Mullaugh said. “If they have a good experience at ours, believe me, something will be said at a public meeting.”
    Fears of an invasion of Boca Raton’s dog beach by Delray Beach pet owners caused council members to reject a $60 nonresident fee originally proposed. Recreation Services Director Mickey Gomez upped his recommendation to $165. Residents of the city and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District pay $30 per dog.
    Mayor Susan Whelchel said “numerous people” think the pilot program may not be a success. “If a person, especially a nonresident because of the amount of money, has paid a year’s fee and the park doesn’t make it … will they be reimbursed?” she asked.
    Mullaugh said council members could order reimbursements if they vote to discontinue Bark Beach.
    The pass for one three-day weekend is $10 for residents and nonresidents alike. Gomez said his staff has no way of checking residency for the passes, which are sold at the dog beach.
    But, Gomez said, the city requires documentation for annual passes so there is no need to color-code permits for Delray Beach pet owners.   
“When they come to purchase a permit we require proof of residency, so we know exactly where all the nonresidents are coming from,” Gomez said.
    Boca Raton modeled its pilot project after Fort Lauderdale’s Canine Beach. Jupiter also has a dog-friendly beach.

Kim Bates and Dominee Banks, vet techs at Imperial Point Animal Hospital of Delray, with dogs Ruby and Tikea, talk to Boca Raton resident Sophy Salsburg, with Shelby, on the dog beach at Spanish River Park. Photos by Kurtis Boggs/The Coastal Star

Related: Delray dog owners get no special treatment from Boca

By Steve Plunkett

Friday the 13th was a day of firsts for city resident and pet owner Darlene Ward.
It was the first official day she could take Toby, her yellow Lab, onto the city’s new Bark Beach. Ward and her pet were also the first to hit the sand. And Ward was first in line two days earlier to buy the first permit Boca Raton issued.
“He’s been jumping in the waves,” said Ward, who arrived before the beach opened at 7 a.m. “I’m so excited.”
Bob Davidson, one of two park rangers assigned to the 300-yard-wide stretch of dog-friendly sand, confirmed Toby’s celebrity status.
“That’s the inaugural legal dog on the beach,” Davidson said.
The dog beach, at the northern end of Spanish River Park, admits canines from 7 to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to sunset on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Dog owners need an annual permit ($30 for residents of the city or the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District and $165 for nonresidents).
A three-day pass is $10 and can be purchased at the Spanish River Park gatehouse.
Bark Beach welcomed a dozen or so dogs in its first hour. Dominee Banks, who lives in Boca Raton and works in Delray Beach, brought her 2-year-old Great Dane, Tikea, whose size unsettled some.
“He says I’ll love you to death,” Banks said.
“I’m just so excited you have no idea,” said Laurie Spear, who brought Luna and Caffie, her Portuguese water dogs.
Spear lived for a while in the Bahamas, which allows pets on its beaches, unlike most of South Florida. Fort Lauderdale and Jupiter were the only cities with dog-friendly sand until Boca Raton joined them.

Quincy, an Australian Labradoodle, plays with a tennis ball.

The first joint exposure to sand and surf left Susan Aronberg and her labradoodle, Quincy, wanting more. “I just wish they were open during the week as well,” she said.
The city wants it clear that “Bark Beach is a pilot program.” Permit applications have that statement printed across the top, Recreation Services Director Mickey Gomez said.
Permits are available at the community centers in Patch Reef and Sugar Sand parks. The city sold 346 resident permits and seven nonresident permits as of Dec. 30, making it more popular in its first month than Fort Lauderdale’s Canine Beach. Fort Lauderdale sells 250 permits a year (and charges nonresidents $45 a year).
Assistant City Manager Mike Woika said Bark Beach attendance averaged 20 dogs in the mornings and 35 dogs in the evenings for the first three weekends. A dog bit a 7-year-old boy on the beach Dec. 28. He was treated and is OK, Woika said.
“So far staff has reported only one instance of dog waste left on the beach,” Woika said.

David High is enjoying his life in ‘retirement,’ including an active lifestyle from his home. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter
    
Ten years ago, David High and his wife, JoAnne, joined some friends in attending a few meetings of the University Club at Florida Atlantic University. Their friends were already members, and it didn’t take long for the Highs to realize that the organization — a branch of Florida Atlantic University’s Foundation devoted to helping the university’s library and raising money for scholarships — was a good fit for them, too.
    Today, the Delray Beach couple serves as co-chairmen of the club’s membership committee and are helping to promote the organization’s main fundraiser, Casino Royale, on Jan. 25 at Via Mizner.
    “It’ll be a night of gaming, and prizes and an auction,” High said. By the time the evening is over, the club hopes to have netted $20,000-$30,000 for the FAU library and for scholarships.
    Since the University Club was founded by eight women in 1976, the organization has raised more than $1 million, High said.
    Being in the club, High said, “gets us connected with projects that help others,” he said. “Plus, it’s a good opportunity for us for volunteering and networking. And it keeps us up to date on concerts and other events.”
    The Highs moved to Delray Beach from Reading, Penn., in 1996, after High, 73, retired from his job as an electricity industry executive. For a few years, they were snowbirds, but in 2005, they moved here year-round. “We chose Delray because it put us midway between two airports and two cultural centers (Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach),” he said. It is, he added, a perfect location for a couple who enjoys the arts and loves to travel.
    Their home is between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.
    “I can see boats cruising down the Intracoastal,” he said during a phone interview.
    Their home also is close to the Delray Beach Club, where he is president of the board of governors. With the beach, tennis courts and many activities, not to mention its good restaurants, the club is the perfect place to take their two sons and their families when they come to visit. 

If You Go
What: Casino Royale, the annual fundraiser for the University Club at FAU. Where: Via Mizner Golf and Country Club, 6200 Boca Del Mar Drive, Boca Raton.
When: 6-10 p.m.  Jan. 25
Tickets: $125; $150 for VIP (open bar).
Info: For tickets, underwriting or sponsorship opportunities, call Janice Abreu at FAU,  297-6144 or Alene Brewer, president of the University Club, at 706-3053.

 Donna Clarke (left) is taking over the helm of the Briny Breezes library from Lu McInnes. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

Lu McInnes has closed the book on more than two decades as Briny Breezes’ town librarian.
    And Donna Clarke is checking out her new job.
    “I’d talked about retiring,” McInnes says. “I knew I’d had it too long. People said, ‘Oh, you do such a great job, don’t go.’ But then when Donna came along, she had everything you need for it. I chose her.”
    On a recent Wednesday morning, the two women sat at a table across from the bodice-ripper shelf and chatted about what the little town’s little library was, and what it might become.
    The room was appropriately quiet. The women laughed a lot.
    “How long was I here? Well, let’s see,” McInnes began. “I’m in Briny 40-something years. Forty-five, I think. And permanently for 20-something.”
    Eventually, she decided she’d been the town’s unpaid, untiring librarian for 22 years.
Clarke was equally specific.
    “My great-grandparents came to Briny in 1960-something,” she said. “Sixty-seven maybe?”
    Her great-grandparents came, and then her grandparents, her parents, and now she’s here, a fourth-generation Brinyite after 28 years teaching special ed and pre-K in Marion, Ohio.
    The library takes a relaxed approach to dates, too.
    Officially, the little room beside the shuffleboard courts is open 365 days a year from
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. But most of that time, it’s empty.
    The librarian is there 10:30-11:30 a.m. on Mondays, and 2-3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The rest of the time, borrowers drop in, make their selections, write down the titles on a book card and leave the card behind. The librarian stamps it with a date when the book’s returned.
    The official borrowing period is seven days. Or 14 if the book’s more than 350 pages.
    “It’s the honor system,” McInnes explained. “I bought a really big Washington Irving story collection with really small print once and we didn’t see it for over a year.”
    Most libraries have a children’s section. Briny Breezes’ has a grandchildren’s shelf.
    Still, the librarian’s simple life was even simpler 20-something years ago.
    “There were no DVDs then,” McInnes recalled. “No VCRs.”
    She looked around the room, cataloging the changes she’s seen. Her husband, Bob, built the bookcase in the west wall, she said; the reserve case in the north wall, the little VCR room, the checkout desk. He donated 80-some Louis L’Amour books for the Westerns section, too.
    One summer, she painted all the shelves in the fiction section.
    “The most popular title?” She thought a moment.
“If I said The Bible, that’s what you’d expect,” she said, and thought some more. “James Patterson,” she decided.
    Officially, the librarian’s torch was passed during the town’s Nov. 21 council meeting. But the real moment came earlier that day, when the two women drove to the Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Boynton Beach on a buying trip.
Why not just order from amazon.com?
McInnes almost gasped. “That would take all the fun out of it! The book trip — that was the fun of being librarian! That and the friendliness. I loved working Monday morning, when the people came in to get their books for the week.”
The town contributes $1,500 a year to the library budget, McInnes said, but most of that goes for supplies. The real bulk of the books’ cost is paid by its “Library Angels,” residents who donate to have a memorial plate put in a book to honor a deceased loved one.
“But the book has to be a distinguished biography or something,” she warned Clarke. “You can’t put a memorial plate in a bodice-ripper.”

Some romances are aptly nicknamed ‘bodice-rippers. ‘ Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

     Now, McInnes said, she can go to the pool and take long walks along Old Ocean Boulevard without having to worry about getting her list of new books and bestsellers to the The Briny Bugle on deadline.
That’s Clarke’s challenge now.
    “Lu’s done such a great job, my first goal is to continue that,” she said. “I want to keep the old charm.”
    Her second goal is to enlarge the DVD collection from its current 150-some titles.
    And then she wants to winnow out the unused books to make room for newer, more popular titles.
    Recently, the library donated any novels not checked out for five years to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, to be placed in the county jail for prisoners.
    “Except the bodice-rippers,” McInnes noted.
    She scanned the room she’s tended for 20-odd years, the books she’s loved, the changes she’s seen.
    “I remember when the bodice-ripper section was enlarged so we could carry more large-print books,” she said.
Large-print bodice-rippers!
“No, no, no! We used the extra space for large-print books. Not large-print bodice-ripper books.”
Clarke chuckled. “You know,” she mused, “I bet there’d be an audience for that …”
For two seconds, the two women looked at each other in silence, and then the library rang with laughter. 

Sharks fill the water along the shore of Gulf Stream. Photo provided by Florida Atlantic University

By Cheryl Blackerby
    
 Marine animals are coming south to Palm Beach County seeking warmer weather and water — ocean snowbirds, if you will.
    Blacktip and spinner sharks are just starting to show up offshore in their annual migration south from the Carolinas. And manatees are traveling south from north Florida to warm up in subtropical lagoons.
Ninety percent of the migrating sharks, which travel in huge numbers within eyesight from the shore, are blacktips and 10 percent are spinners, said Stephen Kajiura, Florida Atlantic University professor, who researches sharks.
    They started arriving in late December and will peak in mid- to late January. Most will be gone by late February, he said.
    Last year, the large numbers of sharks thrilled local photographers and tourists, who snapped photos of the sharks that clearly could be seen tumbling in waves rolling onto shore. The previous year was even better.
“We saw 15,000 sharks in Palm Beach County alone within 200 meters from shore, and that doesn’t count those sharks going deeper,” Kajiura said. “That was our peak a couple of years ago. Last year was a relatively mild winter and we didn’t see that many.  I don’t know what we’ll see this year.”
    Since 2011, Kajiura has conducted aerial surveys of the sharks off the coast, many cruising past unaware swimmers.  FAU graduate student Shari Tellman painstakingly counted the sharks frame by frame from Kajiura’s video for an accurate assessment of the numbers.
    Kajiura has lost funding for the surveys this year, but will still do the shark counts for his research. “I’m just doing the surveys out of my own pocket because this is so important.”
    Previous funding came from Florida Atlantic University and Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center. Kajiura said he is getting help from Paul Kramer, pilot and owner of Learn to Fly Center at Pompano Airport, who is flying him along the coast to film sharks for surveys, which Kajiura started in late December.
    As the southern terminus of the shark migration, southeast Florida is in an excellent position to monitor the habits and health of the sharks, he said.
    “Large numbers of sharks are indicative of a healthy ecosystem.  If you have a lot of top-level predators able to come down, it’s a healthy ocean and a good food base to support them. Sharks follow the bait fish,” he said.
    If the ocean warms up too much, the sharks will stay farther north, he said.
    “We have this strong correlation between shark abundance and water temperature.  The oceans are getting warmer, and what may be happening is that as the water warms up, 20 or 30 years from now sharks could be wintering farther north, and what will that mean to the ecosystems as a whole?” he said.
    Kajiura welcomes the sharks even as most people are leery of so many sharks lurking in the water.
    Although blacktips are probably the cause of the greatest number of bites in Florida, this shouldn’t be cause for too much concern, he said.
    “There are about 1,000 sharks per square kilometer of ocean, and so when you put that in perspective, the number of incidents are remarkably small, and very few people are bitten and if they are the bites are minor,” he said. “Florida has such clear water that sharks are able to see that you’re a person and not a fish, and they’re not interested.”
    The best way to avoid shark bites, he said, is to stay away from large schools of baitfish, and to stay out of the water at dusk and dawn at low light, “when it’s harder for them to see the difference between the sole of your foot and a fish.”

Dismal year for manatees
    Manatees began showing up in small numbers in Palm Beach County in December. In mid-December there were only 19 manatees found during an aerial survey, said Paul Davis, division director of the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management.
    “When we get cold weather in Brevard and St. Lucie counties, we will see a big jump. The highest we’ve had is 800 at the peak,” he said.
    This has been a dismal year in the state for manatee deaths, although Palm Beach County had six mortalities for the year up to Dec. 6, which is a little below the average of 10, said Davis.
    Statewide, 803 manatees died this year as of Dec. 13, compared to 392 deaths last year, said Kevin Baxter, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman. Red tide on the west coast accounted for 276 deaths. The previous high death total from red tide was 151 in 1996.
    There were more than 90 deaths in the Indian River lagoon in Brevard County. “We’re still investigating the cause of those deaths. It appears to be the loss of sea grass in that area because of algae blooms,” Baxter said.
    Other causes were watercraft and cold stress, he said.
    The number of manatees in Florida, according to aerial surveys in 2011, was 4,834, which is a minimum count.

PBIA’s Comfort Zone offers spa services including haircuts, manicures, pedicures and massage. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Terminal upgrades include new shops, restaurants and a fountain.

By Mary Thurwachter

Before you fly the friendly skies, you’ll be spending some time at the airport, where things are changing all the time. Here’s the latest news at three nearby international airports:

Airports are constantly evolving to meet the needs of passengers and those who come to see them off or greet them upon arrival. New flights, services, restaurants and shops and even new positions are being added to streamline travel time.
“There are so many new and exciting things happening at Palm Beach International Airport,” said Stephanie Richards.
New herself, Richards was hired in 2013 as PBIA’s first marketing director.  
“The website (www.pbia.org) has been completely redone, along with a full branding change including a new logo,” she said.
Richards is plugged into social media, too. When a local radio personality recently posted a gripe on Facebook about the worn-out upholstery on chairs in a waiting area, Richards wasted no time is responding, also on Facebook.
“You are 100 percent right, the fabric is already ordered,” Richards replied. “The guys are making their way around the terminal reupholstering. It’s like laundry, it’s never done. By the time they get them all recovered, it is time to go back to the first ones and recover them again.” She even posted pictures of fabric swatches.
What else is new at PBIA?

ABOVE: PBIA has installed charging stations for electronic devices at each gate.

To keep passengers’ electronic devices (laptops, smart phones and tablets) powered up, PBIA installed charging stations at each gate.
Also new last year is a loyalty program, called “Thanks Again” (thanksagain.com/pbi/) to reward passengers with airline miles for every dollar they spend shopping, dining or parking at the airport with a registered credit or debit cards.

Keeping your shoes on
TSA PreCheck, which allows low-risk travelers to experience faster, more efficient screening at participating U.S. airport checkpoints for domestic and international travel, became available at PBIA in 2013.
PreCheck permits some passengers to keep belts, shoes and light outerwear jackets on when going through the checkpoint. Other passengers will still have to take off their shoes, Richards said.
Passengers who are eligible for TSA PreCheck include U.S. citizens of frequent traveler programs invited by participating airlines, U.S. citizens who are members of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Trusted Traveler programs, Canadian citizens who are members of CBP’s NEXUS program and passengers traveling on a participating airline who TSA proactively prescreens using its Secure Flight system.
Those who aren’t eligible by being invited by an airline participating in the program, or by applying for membership in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Trusted Traveler Program, can apply online (www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck/application-program).
To qualify, you need to complete the online application. Pay an $85 fee, verify your identity and provide fingerprints at a TSA PreCheck enrollment center. If approved, you remain eligible for five years before having to reapply.

In-air and on-land service
New air service from PBIA to San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and New York LaGuardia began in 2013, as did a nonstop (American) flight to Los Angeles. Additionally, NetJets, a Berkshire Hathaway charter company, opened a private terminal at PBIA. More than 10,000 NetJets flights come in and out of the airport every year. The facility offers a children’s entertainment room, conference and business center, flight planning facilities, crew lounge and six acres of paved ramp and car-parking area.
PBIA recently opened Comfort Zone, a full-service spa offering haircuts, manicures and pedicures and massage, all good news for those seeking a little stress release before boarding.

A putting green (above) and the KidsZoo play area (left) at Palm Beach International are not new to the airport but helped earn PBIA the designation of ‘Airport With the Most Unique Services.’

The popular little putting green (near Sam Snead’s Tavern), pool table, KidsZoo play area and rotating art exhibit are not new. But those features earned PBIA a designation as the “Airport With the Most Unique Services” by the Airport Revenue News in 2013 in the small airport category.
Not new last year, but still popular, is PBIA’s cell phone parking lot for those waiting to pick up arriving travelers. Another perk airport-goers make good use of is being able to pay for parking with their SunPass.

Fort Lauderdale
Two of the biggest news items at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (www.fll.net) were the addition of numerous destinations and the opening of three new restaurants.
Greg Meyer, an airport spokesman from the Broward County Aviation Department, said JetBlue added flights to Medellin, Colombia; San Jose, Costa Rica; Lima, Peru; Worchester, Mass.; and Port Au Prince, Haiti.
Also new in 2013 was a United flight to San Francisco, Silver Airways service to Orlando, and a Frontier flight to Trenton, N.J.
In November, Norwegian Air Shuttle (a new airline for FLL), added service to Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo, and on July 4, Norwegian will start a nonstop service to London.
Three new restaurants opened in the food court in Terminal 3 — Jamba Juice, Pei Wei and Steak ’n Shake.
A TSA PreCheck express lane has also been added at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, offering expedited screening to select travelers.
A new runway is under construction, but that shouldn’t be a problem for those driving to the airport unless they travel south on U.S. 1, said Allan Siegel of Broward County Aviation. “This ramp is closed,” he said, “so drivers have to travel north on U.S. 1, then make a U-turn to travel south.”
 
Miami
At Miami International Airport (www.miami-airport.com), 36 new automated passport control kiosks were added in the Customs and Border Patrol Protection area. MIA is one of three U.S. airports using the new technology, which allows U.S. and Canadian citizens to have their passports processed in less than two minutes via a self-service kiosk instead of waiting in line for a CBP officer. In fact, every four kiosks do the work of one CBP officer, making the 36 kiosks the equivalent of adding nine new CBP officers, said March Henderson, media spokesman for the Miami-Dade Aviation Department.
Passengers who fly American, Delta and United Airlines can participate in the TSA PreCheck program.
 Henderson said that several new flight routes were added in 2013 or will be added in 2014.
American Airlines launched service in November to four new destinations: Cozumel, Mexico; Curitiba and Porto Alegre, Brazil; and Milan, Italy.
A new daily service to Brazil, which makes a stop in Curitiba before continuing to Porto Alegre, brings the number of Brazilian destinations served by MIA to nine — more than any other U.S. airport.
New service to the Caribbean resort island of Cozumel represents MIA’s fourth destination in Mexico, which ranks second to Brazil among MIA’s top international markets, with more than 1.2 million passengers annually.
American’s new daily nonstop service to Milan marks the airport’s 14th European destination, and low-cost carrier Jetairfly is set to launch MIA’s 15th route to Europe in April with nonstop service between MIA and Brussels.
American inaugurated service to San Diego in 2013, making this the third destination in California with nonstop service from MIA in addition to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
In October, WestJet launched nonstop service to Calgary, Canada.
MIA gave its military hospitality lounge a renovation last year. The facility has a main lounge, two private rest areas, a children’s play area and computers for servicemen and women to access the U.S. Military database with their military I.D. Complimentary refreshments and computer, Internet and telephone service are also offered for veterans and active duty military members and their families.
When it comes to shopping and eating, new options were also been added in October: GNC, a specialty retailer of health and wellness products, and the Clover Irish Pub, which offers a taste of the Emerald Isle.

    That’s what Lindsay Autry promises after her departure from the kitchen at Sundy House. The award-winning chef, who moved to the popular Delray Beach restaurant from The Omphoy, said she is leaving to pursue other projects. No hard feelings about Sundy, Autry says. She planned to stay only six months but liked it so well she stayed 18.
    Those other projects include helping with Palm Beach Wine Auction at Mar-a-Lago, Jan. 30 with Zach Bell of Addison Reserve and executive cheffing Swank Farms’  table luncheons. With proper backers, a restaurant of her own — in Palm Beach County — is a definite possibility.
    Sundy House promises a new chef with a new concept … from Florida.
    Also look for some changes at Benny’s on the Beach, on Lake Worth Pier. After 28 years, John Tsakon and Peter Thanopoulous waved goodbye in November. They handed the keys to Lee and Max Lipton, who have teamed with Jeremy Hanlon, a chef with impressive credentials.
    “We’re just getting our hands around it,” Hanlon said of Benny’s. “For now, we’ll serve breakfast and lunch and may extend to happy hour. We’re gonna have some fun.”
    A finance major in college, Hanlon spent a year in a Wall Street cubicle before deciding he wanted to cook. He made his way to Daniel Boulud’s kitchen in New York, with a short stint at Café Boulud in Palm Beach, then shipped out to study under some of Europe’s top chefs.
    Back to the States, he made his way to West Palm Beach, starting MyFreshChef, a personal chef service. In 2010, he won the National Restaurant Association’s Hot Chef Challenge, then joined Carlson Restaurants (TGI Fridays) as director of international culinary and menu development.
    His credo: The fresher the better.
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    The way to a touchdown is through a man’s stomach.
    Heart, skill — and a little luck — may also play a role, but Patrick Delaney can claim the Miami Dolphins were on a mid-season winning streak because they started eating right … at least on Fridays.
    Delaney, former executive chef at The Polo Club in Boca Raton, is the man in the kitchen for the Boca-based Fresh Meal Plan. The fledgling company expects to deliver more than 1 million gourmet fresh meals in South Florida in 2014. But to get it off the ground two years ago, partner Marc Elkman, a 27-year-old Boca entrepreneur, had what seemed a harebrained idea.
    Traditionally, Friday meals at the Dolphins training camp at Nova Southeastern University consisted of wings, pizza or subs. Monster calories for the monsters, or as Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland called it: “trans-fat Friday.” But Elkman persuaded Ireland to give his always fresh, never more than 500-calorie meals a shot.
    Not only are the meals served at training camp on Fridays and after home games, but quarterback Ryan Tannehill, defensive end Cameron Wake, center Mike Pouncey, receiver Brian Hartline and several other Dolphins have them delivered to their homes year-round.
    Plans start at $75 for two meals, five days a week and customers can work with staff nutritionists to set goals and track progress. (www.freshmealplan.com)
                                 ***
    We have a new bird in Owl country. A Partridge now rules the roost in FAU’s football stadium.
    Charlie Partridge gave up his assistant head coach and defensive line coach jobs at Arkansas to come back home … almost. He was born in Plantation and graduated from Plantation High School. He played at Drake University in Iowa and then spent nearly two decades gaining the experience that FAU Athletic Director Pat Chun believes will lead the Owls to greatness.
    Partridge has never been a head coach, but Chun is impressed with his ability to recruit, especially players from Florida, even to the not-so-sunny Midwest.  But can he persuade top recruits to forsake offers from a Southeastern Conference school such as Arkansas or Big 10 stalwart Wisconsin for the fledgling program at FAU?
    A bowl bid would have helped, and after winning its final four games to finish with a 6-6 record, the Owls were bowl-eligible. But bowl-bound teams should have fans. Rarely did more than 10,000 fans attend a game. Fewer than 5,000 bought season tickets. Bowl sponsors want to attract loyal fans who not only attend the game but also will spend several days in town, fill hotels, dine in local restaurants, rent cars and visit attractions.
    Of course, FAU isn’t alone. Big rival Florida International in Miami sold 10,045 season tickets yet could be dropped from Division 1 because it can’t average 15,000 per game.
    At least FAU’s program is gaining some recognition. Former star Alfred Morris (Washington Redskins), among the top five NFL rushers, is one of four former FAU players on NFL rosters.
    The new stadium has certainly caught the NCAA’s attention. It announced Dec. 19 that the Division 1 semifinals and championship game for women’s soccer next December will be played in Boca. The tournament will be a joint effort by FAU and the Palm Beach County Sports Commission.
    Partridge also persuaded assistants Brian Wright and Jovan Dewitt to remain. As acting head coach and acting defensive coordinator, respectively, they guided the Owls to four straight victories. He made another savvy move by hiring famous grandson Dan Shula as receivers coach. A graduate of national prep powerhouse, St. Thomas Aquinas in Lauderdale, Shula should be a recruiting asset in South Florida.
    Ironically, disgraced former head coach Carl Pelini apparently had everything about the program on the right track — except for himself.
    Chun, on the other hand, has more than football to worry about. Aside from baseball, no program has showed consistent championship quality. Don’t be surprised to see more new coaches.  
                                 ***
    FAU is wasting no time making a name for itself in other areas. No Heisman Trophy looms, but one grad did grab a Grammy and a former student won TV’s X Factor.  
    Eighteen years after earning a degree in fine arts, Marlow Rosado and his salsa orchestra, La Riqueña, was a surprise winner of the 2013 Grammy for Best Latin Tropical Album, Retro. Latin artists regularly seek out the Puerto Rico-born Rosado as a pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He’s worked with the late Celia Cruz, Selena, Tito Puente Jr., Marc Anthony and most recently arranged and directed the horn sessions for Ricky Martin.
    “FAU provided me with the tools I needed to go on and face a professional environment and move swiftly within the music industry,” said Rosado, the first in his family to earn a college degree.
Two years ago, Alex Kinsey was singing in his dorm when he was overheard by Matt Smith, student president of Hoot/Wisdom, FAU’s on-campus recording company. Submit a demo, Smith urged. Kinsey’s recording of I Like It made Hoot/Wisdom’s Compowlation 2 album in 2012.
Kinsey, from New Smyrna Beach, later transferred to the University of Central Florida to join his girlfriend, Sierra Deaton of Winter Springs. Both took failed shots at American Idol before teaming up big time on The X Factor. They won the latest competition, and with it $1 million and a future steered by their mentor, Simon Cowell. Stay tuned.
                                 ***
    Santa arrived early at The Wick Theatre. On Dec. 19, during a performance of White Christmas, Countess Henrietta de Hoernle opened her legendary pocketbook and contributed $250,000 to the new theater’s donor naming rights program. The lobby will bear her name.
    De Hoernle, 101, urged guests to support the Wick while honoring someone they love. Naming rights range from $1,000 for a seat to $750,000 for the costume museum. The Wick’s next production, 42nd Street, opens Jan. 9 with Loretta Swit in a featured role.
    Up the road in at The Plaza Theatre, Manalapan, another veteran of the boards, Renee Taylor, stars in My Life on a Diet, Jan. 16 to Feb. 9.
    Claiming to offer more fun per square foot than any other arts entertainment center in the region, the Lake Worth Playhouse presents Ain’t Misbehavin’ from Jan. 16 to Feb. 2. And on Jan. 8, you can catch Barbara Van Eycken’s one-woman show, Country to Pop, A Tribute to Patsy Cline. Tickets are only $20, and it’s live, a lot better than a movie.
                                 ***
    If you missed Itzhak Perlman’s performances at the Kravis Center in December, don’t despair: The violin virtuoso will open Boca’s eighth annual Festival of the Arts on March 6 and return March 9. Both shows are at Mizner Park. Those in a jazzy mood can catch Arturo Sandoval’s tribute to Henry Mancini with special guest Monica Mancini and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra March 8.
    As a preview, the Festival will offer four-time Grammy winner David Holt and rising star Josh Goforth Jan. 12 at Mizner Park in a pickin’ and grinnin’ tour de force. Tickets are $30, $20 for students.
                                 ***
    The death of Palm Beach Pops founder and impresario Bob Lappin in August forced cancellation of the subscription concert season. But while the organization decides its future course, the Pops remains active, with music education in schools and the occasional concert. The first will honor Lappin.
    Lee Musiker, Grammy and Emmy-winning music director and pianist for such legends as Tony Bennett, Barbara Cook, Mel Tormé and Buddy Rich will serve as guest conductor Feb. 4 at the Kravis Center. He’ll be joined by an all-star ensemble of Pops veterans including vocalists Lynn Roberts and Tony DeSare, trumpeter Longineu Parsons and violinist Mary Rowell.
    To buy tickets, sponsor, underwrite or inquire about the Pops or its Music and You Program, visit www.palmbeachpops.org or call 832-7677.
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    Arthur Godfrey and Jake Shimabukuro may not have started this way, but the Delray Public Library is inviting ukulele lovers of all ages to “Get-Togethers” at 6 p.m. Jan. 14 and 28. Leading the strumming and singing is uke-meister Tavit Smith. P.S. He was born Thomas Smith (no relation) but changed it to Tavit in honor of his grandfather. And he has lots of stories to tell.  (266-9490)
    To celebrate National Book Month, the Delray Beach Public Library will host its 15th annual Author’s Showcase at 2 p.m. Jan. 12. The free event features 13 authors, most with local ties, including two who deal with coincidental subjects:
    At Coral Springs High School and Penn State, Nick Gancitano was one of the top football kickers in the nation, but a knee injury in his first season with the Detroit Lions ended his pro career. He tried selling insurance and taught school but, unsatisfied, he turned to meditation, yoga and creative visualization to find fulfillment. Ultimately he used them to develop a holistic approach to train place kickers. Now one of the nation’s top kicking trainers and a motivational speaker, the Boca resident has written The Edge of Glory — The Athlete’s Inside Guide to Greatness.
    Ethan Skolnick began his sportswriting career in earnest at The Palm Beach Post and covered the Miami Heat’s championship seasons before moving on to Bleacher Report and Turner Sports. Raising Your Game, written with Lighthouse Point psychologist Dr. Andrea Corn, offers child athletes and their parents advice about playing and not playing youth sports from 100 accomplished athletes, from LeBron James to Brandi Chastain.
    The featured authors will speak briefly about their books and sell and autograph them as they meet the public.
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    Its title, 7 F Words for Living A Balanced Life, should attract attention. But the three South County businesswomen who wrote it — Cathy Lewis of Delray Beach and Deb Bacarella and Barbara Agerton of Boca Raton — are no slackers when it comes to marketing. To learn more, check their website, www.7Fwords.com. And don’t worry, none of the seven contains four letters.
    Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Email him at thomsmith@ymail.com.


 

A Friends of the Library benefit aimed at raising money to enclose the building’s waterfront porches edged the project a little closer to its $150,000 cost. When the screened-in terraces are finished, they will be turned into meeting rooms, Friends President Marge Lanthier said. Guests at the event enjoyed drinks, fine cheeses and chocolates and live music, as well as a raffle. Photo: Town Manager Kathleen Weiser enjoys the music with Friends member Mike Stein. Photo provided

Sponsor Mark Petersen of Bank of America with co-chair-women Becky Walsh and Heidi Sargeant. Photo provided

By Amy Woods
    
A class-act comedian with a pedigree that includes the Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, as well as Comedy Central and Showtime, will headline Laugh with the Library, Chapter 8, on Jan. 31.
The jokes will fly all night during the fun and friendly fundraiser that benefits the private, nonprofit Delray Beach Public Library on Atlantic Avenue.
“It’s hard to believe it’s our eighth year,” said Gulf Stream resident Becky Walsh, co-chairwoman of the event. “It’s like a well-oiled machine. We all work together so effectively. We have a terrific support group through our board and library staff.”
    While the committee has fine-tuned its event-planning skills, selecting the funnyman (or woman) who will make the 500 or so guests laugh out loud presents a challenge.
    “Whether it’s your neighbor’s suggestion, or you hear a bit on the radio or TV, or recommendations from talent agencies, we narrow it down to about five comedians,” Walsh said.
    “Then, we sit in a room and watch YouTube videos. Of course, we do have a budget, which does get in the way sometimes.”
    Walsh brought Laugh with the Library to Delray Beach in 2007, after she saw a similar fundraiser in New Hampshire featuring standup performer Bobby Collins. Last’s year’s Chapter 7 installment, with Tom Cotter of America’s Got Talent fame, sold out and raised more than $70,000.
    “You couldn’t ask for more,” Walsh said. “We already have a few ideas for Chapter 9.”
    Paul Castronovo, the hilarious host of the locally broadcast Paul & Young Ron Show, will serve as master of ceremonies. Warming up the crowd before Regan takes the stage at the Delray Beach Marriott will be Angela Manfredi, a Laugh with the Library favorite.
    “The idea was not to be a black-tie event,” said Bonnie Stelzer, director of community relations for the 100-year-old  library. “It was to be a casual, fun evening. People don’t always think of the library synonymous with comedians. Usually, it’s, ‘Shhh, be quiet.’ ”
    The evening will include a cocktail reception and dinner by the bite, and all proceeds from the $175 ticket price will benefit the library’s youth-outreach efforts.
    “We believe in education through literacy,” said co-chairwoman Heidi Sargeant, of coastal Delray Beach. “This event’s monies go directly to programs for our at-risk children and teens. It’s a feel-good moment to see these funds put into action.”

IF YOU GO
What: Laugh with the Library, Chapter 8, to benefit the Delray Beach Public Library
When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31
Where: Delray Beach Marriot
Cost: $175
Info: Call 266-0775 or visit www.delraylibrary.org

The League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County welcomed more than 90 supporters from around the state to a charity event that helped raise money for the education and advocacy on behalf of county voters. ‘In this coming year, (the league) will provide nonpartisan information about the issues and the candidates, and we will continue to advocate for the right of all citizens to vote,’ event organizer Dorothy Einstein said. ABOVE: Nancy Flinn, Nancy Nelson and Linda Sorenson. Photo provided by Michiko Kurisu

Soaring columns of fire and ice crowned by explosions of pastel hydrangeas wowed the crowd at the dream-themed benefit for Florence Fuller Child Development Centers. More than $400,000 was generated — to ensure that disadvantaged children will continue to have access to the centers’ programs and services. ABOVE: Jackie Reeves, Robin Deyo, Jerry and Terry Fedele and Karen Foreman. Photo provided by Janis Bucher

Volunteers, board members and employees of the YMCA of South Palm Beach County celebrated the success of the 2013 Annual Campaign with an event recognizing the $366,000 raised for the financial-assistance program. Each attendee received a YMCA-branded pedometer, as the campaign’s theme was ‘walk a mile in their shoes.’ ABOVE: Randy Nobles, President Richard Pollock and Charles Deyo. Photo provided

Best-selling author and Palm Beach resident James Patterson, along with wife Sue, a Dreyfoos School of the Arts Foundation board member, sponsored a sold-out performance of the school’s annual Prism Concert. For the second consecutive year, the Pattersons bought out the Kravis Center’s 2,100-seat Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. Concert Hall so all proceeds from the one-night-only show would go to the school. A cocktail reception for supporters preceded the concert. RIGHT: Don and Linda Silpe, with Jay and Ava Silpe. Photo provided by Lucien Capehart Photography

More than 500 hungry friends turned out for a restaurant competition and charity fundraiser featuring drum-line, jazz and patriotic performances. The winning establishment, Tryst Gastropub, received $500 to donate to Project Holiday, an organization that supports local families who have loved ones serving in the military. Nine other charities benefited from the event. ABOVE: Michael and Karen Crane, with Cathy Balestriere, general manager of Crane’s BeachHouse Hotel & Tiki Bar. Photo provided by Michiko Kurisu

The National Society of Arts and Letters, Florida East Coast Chapter, celebrated the start of the season with the music of Stephen Sondheim at an event themed ‘Broadway Under the Stars.’ More than 70 guests enjoyed an evening of socializing, spirits and stellar entertainment at the home of Robert and Dorinda Spahr. ABOVE: Jon Robertson and Alyce Erickson. Photo provided by Barbara McCormick

A luncheon and discussion with Brad Hurlburt, the new president  and CEO of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, highlighted an event designed to educate donors and supporters about the ways the nonprofit organization assists causes to build a healthier place to live, work and play. Guests at the luncheon shared stories about how the foundation has impacted their lives. ABOVE: Foundation board members Katharine and David Dickenson.  Photo provided by Janis Bucher