Workers tear apart the last vestiges of the old Delray Beach pavilion on A1A, just south of Atlantic Avenue.  Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Construction is under way on the new $249,210 pavilion that will be the centerpiece to adorn Delray Beach’s municipal beach.
    Completion is tentatively set for Feb. 25.
    The new pavilion at A1A and Atlantic Avenue improves upon a smaller one that had to be replaced because its steel rods and ties had rusted, making it structurally unsafe. The old pavilion was demolished last month.
    The contractor, All Phase Roofing and Construction, is now installing footers and electrical and plumbing lines. Construction begins late this month.
    The sidewalk in front of the construction site remains open. Beach access is immediately south.
    The new structure was designed to hurricane standards, with stainless steel rods and ties, by local architect Robert Currie.  The design pays homage to Delray architecture in the 1920s.
    The Beach Property Owners Association raised $59,165 for the pavilion by hosting two Delray’s Got Talent competitions at Old School Square. The city will pay the rest of the construction cost.
— Tim Pallesen

By Dan Moffett
 
    At the urging of the town’s civic association, Gulf Stream commissioners are planning to take a hard look at their elections and consider changes to the charter.
    Last month, the civic association sent a letter to the commission that called for staggering the three-year terms of commissioners so that seats come open in different years. Currently, Gulf Stream is one of only a handful of South Florida municipalities that elects all its officials in the same year.
    The civic association wants the commission to put an amendment to change that on the ballot in March. But Town Attorney John “Skip” Randolph says that isn’t feasible because there isn’t enough time, as it would take several meetings to examine the proposal properly. He urged commissioners to take a more thoughtful look at the staggered terms idea and perhaps also review the entire town charter in the process.
    “The charter right now is very sparse,” Randolph said. “There’s nothing wrong with a small charter, a sparse charter.”
    Commissioner Bob Ganger pointed out that the civic association represents about 75 percent of Gulf Stream’s residents, so the group’s input is important.
    “I think this is big stuff,” Ganger said. “I applaud the civic association for bringing this to our attention. I’d like to find out if there’s a better way to govern and take our time to do it right.”
    Commissioner Thomas Stanley said other communities that have made similar changes typically hold workshops and get residents involved in the process.
    “I’m sure changes probably need to be made,” Stanley said. “But I’m unsure about the timing.”
    Commissioner Garrett Dering said that term limits on commissioners should be part of the discussion, too.
    Mayor Joan Orthwein said the commission would invite representatives of the civic association to come to the Dec. 13 commission meeting and discuss their proposal in greater detail. “We’re here listening with open ears,” Orthwein said.
    In other business, commissioners:
    • Told town consulting engineer Danny Brannon to do all that’s possible to get the landscaping for the underground utilities project moving. Brannon said contractors and landscapers are mobilizing and a “detailed, tentative plan” for moving forward should be ready early in December. “I understand your frustration,” Brannon said. “Somehow it takes longer than we all want it to take.”
    • Gave unanimous approval to move money from the town’s reserves to cover a shortfall in last year’s budget, attributed largely to about $412,000 in legal expenses. Much of that came from the cost of defending 21 lawsuits filed by resident Martin O’Boyle, who sued the town over his home renovation, public records requests and the town’s sign code. 

An artist rendering of the new logo for Eau Palm Beach.

By Dan Moffett
    
After grumbling for months over the loss of the Ritz-Carlton name at Manalapan’s landmark hotel and spa, town commissioners took a major step toward acceptance when they gave the resort’s owners permission to install permanent signs on Nov. 19.
    The newly minted Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa now will have its name chiseled in stylish stone and shiny metal.
    Not that a sign will end the complaining, however.
    “Some people say the service at the hotel has deteriorated,” said Mayor  David Cheifetz. “Some think it has improved. But clearly, there is a consensus that nobody likes the name.”
    But Cheifetz said the town has no control over what a private enterprise chooses to call its business. “We do not own the naming rights,” he told the packed commission chamber.
    On a 4-1 vote with Commissioner John Murphy dissenting, the commission gave the resort owners the go-ahead to etch their name in stone. The amendment also clarified the definition of what the luxury resort should be and removed references to the Ritz-Carlton from the town’s documents, describing it instead as “the Hotel and Spa located at 100 South Ocean Blvd.”

Eau, well
    Former Mayor Kelly Gottlieb told commissioners the town has to move on and get over the relationship that has ended.
    “Many of us have been married and then divorced,” Gottlieb said. “We get married and we say we’re going to be married forever. I think we should look at this as a divorce. Very simple, it’s two people who did not get along.”
    The Ritz became The Eau officially on July 1, when owners RC/PB Inc. announced their management agreement with Ritz-Carlton was canceled after a two-year legal dispute over management fees. Preferred Hotels, which runs 15 other five-star, five-diamond hotels worldwide, was hired to set the resort’s course as an independent operation.
    Ray Royce, attorney for the owners, said they had spent “millions and millions” in improvements over the last decade and were committed to keeping the resort’s exclusive ratings. Royce said many in the chamber came to the meeting with the misguided assumption they could prevent the name change.
    “I don’t tell them what to name their children or their businesses,” he said, noting that no one tries to tell businesses such as “Guido the Tailor” or “The Ice Cream Club” across from the resort what they should be called. “Nobody has the right to name the hotel but the hotel themselves.”
    Commissioner Peter Isaac said that, apart from the name, the commission had a duty to stand up for the town’s interests. He said the owners should commit to aggressive marketing because they no longer have the benefit of name recognition.
    “We want the hotel to succeed,” Isaac said, “and we want to protect the town if it doesn’t.”
    Michael King, the resort’s general manager, said the owners had just begun a marketing campaign that included advertising in The New York Times.
King admitted there was a dropoff in business last summer, but corporate bookings were coming in stronger than expected. He said it could be that putting Eau on company expense forms is more acceptable to accounting departments than having to justify stays at the Ritz.
    “We’re better today than where we thought we’d be,” King said. “It’s about the destination. It’s not about the name.”
    Commissioner Chancey Johnstone asked how long it would take for the Eau to build name recognition.
    “Eighteen to 24 months,” King answered, citing his 30 years’ experience in the hotel business and his knowledge of similar transitions to independent operation.
    Still, Murphy was unconvinced. He said, on his last visit to The Eau, his wife had trouble finding towels by the pool and the staff didn’t greet him in “the over the top” way they used to. “Service has, without a doubt, gone down,” he said.
    In other business: The commission gave preliminary 5-0 approval to an ordinance that will clarify responsibilities when one neighbor’s landscaping encroaches on a neighbor’s property. A second vote is scheduled for Dec. 17.
    Commissioners also decided to hold off considering a possible deal to sell water to Boynton Beach until the city provides the commission with more information. 

By Dan Moffett

    Probably the only population at Briny Breezes that’s shown any real growth over the years is its colony of feral cats.
    Town officials say there are more than several dozen of the wild felines roaming the community, and soon management and law enforcement will be trying to round them up.
    General Manager Carl Forrest says the plan is to trap the cats and turn them over to Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control.
    “The corporation has ordered 10 Havahart traps and will be placing them around the park,” Forrest told the Town Council at its Nov. 21 meeting. “We’re not stating exactly where. The last time, people decided to remove the traps. This time, we’re going to chain them so they can’t be moved.”
    Forrest says the hope is that feral facilitators don’t release cats from the traps before police or staff can get to them. Residents with pet cats are warned to comply with county leash laws and keep their animals in their homes.
    “If we trap them and we don’t know if they belong to somebody, they’re going to go to animal control,” Forrest warned.
    Ocean Ridge Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi says his officers will be backing up the plan with enforcement and education.
    “We’ll take whatever action we need to make sure that those who are feeding the cats come into compliance,” Yannuzzi said. “It is against county ordinance; it is unlawful for any person to feed, water or provide other forms of sustenance to feral cats.”
    The chief said his officers will handle violations much in the same way as code violations in Ocean Ridge. First offenders will be warned about possible civil citations and fines if they don’t comply.
    “I’m not interested in putting somebody in handcuffs,” Yannuzzi said, “and not interested in filing criminal charges.”
    Feral cats carry disease and are virtually impossible to adopt, says Dianne Sauve, Animal Care and Control director, who takes in about 13,000 cats annually at the county shelter.
    “I understand the emotion behind feeding feral cats,” she says. “It makes people feel better but it only contributes to the overpopulation problem.”
    Feral cats can start reproducing at 4 months of age and can have up to three litters per year with at least two kittens per litter. Colonies can double their size in a matter of months.
    Residents who catch feral cats and want to turn them in to the county can drop them off at the shelter at 7100 Belvedere Road, West Palm Beach, at no charge. For a $20-per-cat fee, the county will come to Briny and pick them up.
In other business:
    • Jerry Lower, Planning and Zoning Board chairman, told the council that the new comprehensive plan has passed muster with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, two of the last hurdles on the way to approval.
Lower said the board has scheduled public hearings at 4 p.m. on both Dec. 12 and 19 in the Briny Breezes Community Center.
    • President Sharon Kendrigan reaffirmed her intention to leave the council after its Dec. 19 meeting. Two other veteran aldermen, Nancy Boczon and Pete Fingerhut, are expected also to step down early next year. The potential of three empty seats prompted calls from the council for Briny Breezes residents to step up and serve.
    If the town can find willing and qualified candidates in a timely manner, the council can appoint them on an interim basis and then allow them to keep their seats when they’re unopposed by the March election filing deadline. This would save the town thousands in election costs.
    “It doesn’t hurt to sit up here,” Alderman Karen Wiggins said, imploring residents to consider serving. She said the meetings are “less than an hour and we don’t argue.” 

    Editor’s note: Jerry Lower is publisher of The Coastal Star.

Nancy Hurd sits with a few of children of the Achievement Centers. 2008 photo provided

By Rich Pollack
    
For 44 years, Nancy Hurd followed a simple guiding principle as she led Delray Beach’s Achievement Centers for Children & Families, a nonprofit organization that provides child care and educational services for families needing a helping hand.
    “I said that if I wanted something for my own two children, I wanted it for the kids at the center,” she said. “I looked at it as if all of those kids were mine.”
    Today, the flock of children whose care has been shepherded by Hurd numbers well into the thousands, perhaps into the tens of thousands with the center, started with just 20 kids in a spare room at a local church, today serving more than 700 children and 200 families each year.
    Now, however, Hurd is watching over the center from a little farther away, having officially retired as its executive director — a job she held from day one — in October.
    Still, she remains connected to the organization, serving as a consultant and working behind the scenes to pitch in whenever needed.
    “The agency is kind of like my baby. I’ll always be there for it,” Hurd says.
    Hurd, 66, says her decision to retire was a well-planned choice. She wanted to ensure that the transition for her successor, Stephanie Seibel — who led the center’s fundraising foundation for almost a decade — was a smooth one.
    “I’ve been around long enough to know that many people don’t know when enough is enough,” she said. “I didn’t want the good people who came after me to say ‘What are we going to do about Nancy?’ ”
    For Hurd, stepping away from her role of executive director means giving up her first — and only — job.
    “I’ve never had another job in my entire career,” she says.
    Hurd had graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in social work and had just gotten married when she and her husband, Bill, moved to Delray Beach to be near his family.
    While attending a service at the First Presbyterian Church with her in-laws, Hurd heard about a free child-care program a group of residents wanted to put together to serve working families. With a nonprofit organization formed in 1969, the group hired Hurd on the spot and soon the Community Child Care Center of Delray Beach opened in a spare room at the church, with just a handful of children from working families arriving by bus every day.
    Over the years, the program evolved and grew to meet the ever-changing needs of the community, with Hurd leading the charge to eventually move the center into its own facilities off of Lake Ida Road. Along the way, the name has also changed to better reflect the services provided by the agency.
    Accommodating children from 12 months to 18 years old, the center offers pre-school and after school programs. It also provides adult and family support services.
    Throughout the years, Hurd has stayed in touch with many of her former charges, including several who now work at the center.
“I hardly go anywhere where someone doesn’t come up to me and remind me that they were once in our program,” she said.
    Hurd says she is pleased to be leaving the center in good shape with full enrollment, a complete staff, no debt and a national accreditation at the highest level.
    “I always looked at this as a calling. I never looked at it as a job,” she said. “All of this ultimately was in God’s hands and I feel privileged to have been along for the ride.” 

I can’t really explain why I have written a children’s book about a sea star named Rosie — although, I do fancy myself a writer, and The Coastal Star’s masthead does feature a sea star.
    So … mix those elements with a friend’s recommendation that I write a children’s book, and voilà!, you have Rosie’s Song, a story of family love, wrapped up with a quiet message of ocean conservation and courage.  
    To bring Rosie and her seven, busy brothers to life, I hired local wildlife artist, Deborah LaFogg Docherty. Her illustrations bring a smile to my face.  I think you will love them, too.
    So, if you have children in your life, I hope you’ll pick up a copy this holiday season.
    You can find our distribution locations on the back page of this month’s Holiday Gift Guide insert. To purchase a signed copy of the book ($20 including tax), please join Deb and me from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 14 at Family Fun Fest at the Delray Center for the Arts at Old School Square. Or, bring the kids to join us for a reading and book-signing at 11 a.m. Dec. 21 at Sandoway House Nature Center on A1A in Delray Beach.
    We will continually update our websites with additional reading locations, book-signings and retail outlets. We hope to have the book available on Amazon.com very soon. In the meantime, visit us at: www.cs4kidsbooks.com and www.facebook.com/CS4Kids.

A calendar, too!
After five years of publication, we’ve compiled an amazing portfolio of photographs from along our beautiful shore. This year, we’ve pulled 13 of these stunning photographs into a 2014 calendar. For $10 you can enjoy Coastal Star photographs throughout the year. For more information on locations for purchase, please see Page 2 of this month’s Holiday Shopping Guide insert.

Paper carriers
Since we have shifted delivery routes and added new carriers in the past couple of months, we will not be distributing holiday solicitation cards for our home-delivery carriers this December. If you’d like to send a note of gratitude to your Coastal Star carrier, you can mail a note to our office. Please be sure to include your street address, so we know which carrier should receive your note.
    It continues to be our pleasure to produce and deliver The Coastal Star each month. The “thank you” comments we hear from our readers throughout the year are inspirational. Thank you.    All of us at The Coastal Star wish you the happiest of holidays.
— Mary Kate Leming,
Editor

Tim Paller stands with the wine bottle that carried a message sent by Russian newlyweds in Cuba. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

Early on the morning of his mother’s death, Tim Paller went for a walk on the beach.
“I was just watching the sunrise, seeing what had washed up overnight,” he remembers. “I was almost exactly in front of the Gulf Stream Golf Club, just about to leave, when I looked down and there it was in the weeds.”
A green wine bottle.
“I could see the message immediately, so the first thing I did was take a picture on my smartphone.”
This was Thursday, Oct. 31. Halloween. The label was all but washed away, the message neatly folded, the neck plugged with a cork. The time-stamp on the picture says 7:10 a.m.
Paller was not unfamiliar with messages in bottles. A year before, on Aug. 12, 2012, while walking that same stretch of beach, he’d happened on another message in a bottle, set adrift by a Danish family on a passing sailboat.
Paller tossed the new bottle unopened in his Ford van and drove off, intending to read the message later.
And then, shortly after 8:30 a.m., the smartphone rang. His twin sister, Joan Lorne, was calling, and Paller forgot all about that bottle for two days. Their mother had just died in her Boynton Beach home.
    Paller and Lorne are familiar with death. Lorne & Sons of Delray Beach, founded by Joan’s father-in-law, has been in the funeral business since 1957. Their mother, Colette Paller, was 84 and had been in failing health. The news was saddening, but not surprising.
    Two days later, on Saturday evening, Joan invited Tim; her daughter, Jackie Kingston; and son, Colin Lorne, over to her Delray Beach home for a simple meal. A thoughtful neighbor had dropped off a taco casserole. Tim was relaxing after the meal when he suddenly remembered the message in the bottle and fetched it from the van.

A portion of the letter Elena Ustinova and her husband, Kirill, placed in a bottle and dropped in the ocean from Cuba that made its way to Gulf Stream beach.

    The family read it together:
    Dear Someone!
    We are 2 crazy guys from Russia! We’ve just married and like to wish you all the best in the world!! First of all LOVE. It makes us happy!!!
    This is our last day in Cuba after the great adventure travelling across the island’s by car, boat, etc. Our advice to you: Enjoy your life! Each moment. Memories are the most important.
    P.S. If you find this msg please let us know. Drop the mail. Pls indicate your location.
Elena & Kirill from Russia.
“I thought it was very moving,” Paller says. “I didn’t want to puddle up in front of my nephew, but I was moved.”
    Enjoy your life! Each moment. Found just as their mother was about to die. Memories are the most important.      

 “We were comforted by it,” Joan Lorne says.
    Now they wanted to know whom to thank for the comfort that bottle had brought.
    Elena From Russia had included her email address in a margin. The next day, Jackie Kingston responded.
    “Hi. We are in South Florida and found your bottle on the day our grandmother died (yesterday). Very very touching, Please write back.”
    The day after that, Elena Ustinova wrote back, from Moscow.
    “This is great that you found my message!”

Elena Ustinova and her husband, Kirill, stand on a boat near Varadero, Cuba, where he dropped the bottle in the Gulf of Mexico. Courtesy photo

Elena Ustinova and Kirill Gagin had met in Moscow four years ago and wanted to be married on a sunny beach somewhere far from Russia. Contacted by The Coastal Star, Ustinova elaborated on their adventure.
“We traveled across Cuba almost 10 days by car visiting different places,” she wrote.
“We talked a lot with locals about Cuban history and traditions. People with open hearts and minds. They are proud of their country suffering from poverty and hoping for future changes.”
The couple spent their final week in Varadero, an upscale resort area on Cuba’s northern coast, east of Havana. On Oct. 3, they were married in a luxury hotel there, then went by boat to a small offshore island for a wedding dinner and dancing on the sand.
“Can you imagine how much happy I was at that time?! I desperately wanted to share my feelings with someone who needed it... I took bottle and put there a message.”
Her new husband tossed it into the sea on their wedding night, and the next morning they flew home to Moscow.
“The main idea in it was that the best in our life are memories. No matter of problems we have we should ‘lock’ moments of happiness in our hearts and keep them through the whole life. When you really love someone even if you have lost him or her you need to enjoy the moments when you were together.”
The message will probably wash ashore somewhere in Mexico, she thought. Instead, the bottle was  caught by the Gulf Stream and carried, 28 days later, to Gulf Stream beach.
    “I am very sorry about your grandmother,” she wrote to Jackie Kingston.  “I want to believe that my message was a sign to you that she feels good now and she wants you to enjoy the memories of the time you spent together.”
    “The timing was just unbelievable,” Paller says. “It was such a lovely, sweet, beautiful message. I wanted to show it to everyone I met.”
    In the weeks since the message arrived and her mother departed, Joan Lorne has sent occasional emails to family and friends, sharing the comforting coincidence.
    In the subject line, she writes, “From Russia With Love.”

A view of the planned Atlantic Crossing project seen from Atlantic Avenue at Veterans Park. Rendering provided

By Tim Pallesen
    
City commissioners will review Atlantic Crossing, the $200 million proposed centerpiece for East Atlantic Avenue, one last time on Jan. 7 after residents filed appeals.
    The developer thought the controversial project had cleared the final hurdle Nov. 20 when the city’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board approved the project site plan by a 5-1 vote.
    But because the project is designed without the need for any waivers from city guidelines, a vote by city commissioners to approve the site plan and design hadn’t been necessary until the appeals.
    Those who had filed appeal letters by Dec. 3 are Kelly and Jack Barrette, Arlen Dominek, Benita and Jordan Goldstein, Mary Whittemore and Carolyn Patton, who also represented Marina Historic District residents Charles Dortch, Alexander Zeller, Noel Smith and Claudia Willis. The filing deadline is Dec. 6.
    Several of those residents have paid for a private traffic study of Atlantic Crossing that wasn’t ready for the SPRAB meeting where developer Jeff Edwards tried to overcome neighborhood traffic concerns.
    Both the Beach Property Owners Association and the Florida Coalition for Preservation had requested the Federal Highway entrance to ease traffic congestion along Atlantic Avenue. Edwards won SPRAB support when he promised to build the entrance if the city and state approve.
    “The mother of all issues is traffic coming across the bridge. It’s already a zoo and it could get worse,” Florida Coalition president Bob Ganger told SPRAB members before their vote. “The issue of how to reduce traffic on Atlantic Avenue has just not been addressed.”
    SPRAB chairman Rustem Ruvi and others agreed, prompting Edwards to pledge the Federal Highway entrance.
    “This developer has gone to great detail to meet every part of the city’s design guidelines,” Planning and Zoning Director Paul Dorling said in recommending approval.
    The final commission hearing on Jan. 7 comes after a tumultuous 2012 in which neighboring residents opposed the project’s original design and density request for 73 housing units per acre. City commissioners approved a reduced density of 40 units per acre in December 2012 and architects have spent most of this year on redesigning the project.
A total of 261 apartments and 82 condos now would be built, for a final density less than 40 units per acre.
Local architect Robert Currie, who supervised the redesign, described it to SPRAB as “seven different buildings with seven different characters so it looks like the project was developed over time.”
The redesign, except for traffic flow, satisfied the BPOA and most other neighbors. “We think the developer has made great strides to design an excellent project that will bring value to Delray Beach,” Ganger said.
The business community has been highly supportive, particularly because Atlantic Crossing will bring 83,000 square feet of office space to the downtown.
“We’re excited that the developer and the neighbors have come to terms,” Chamber of Commerce chairman Francisco Perez-Azua said.
    “The developer really listened to the community and tried to implement what they heard,” Currie said. “This is the most important project that has ever happened in Delray Beach and ever will happen.”
    Edwards and partner Carl DeSantis plan a mix of residences, restaurants, shops and offices, where they say their residents will be able to live, work and play.
    “This is going to fill that dead zone out there,” SPRAB member Jim Knight said of the nine-acre site on the north side of Atlantic Avenue east of Federal Highway.
    Burt Handelsman, who owns the two blocks on the south side of the street, said Atlantic Crossing “will awaken an entire portion of the city.”

Atlantic Crossing
by the numbers
261 Apartments
82 Condos
83,000 square feet Offices
39,000 square feet Restaurants
37,000 square feet Retail Shops

Editor’s note: Carolyn Patton is a founding partner of The Coastal Star and owns property in the Marina Historic District.

Before and during construction, merchants on either side of the Intracoastal Waterway fretted about how the Ocean Avenue bridge closing would hurt their businesses. Now that the new span has opened, some confess it wasn’t so bad, after all. But others found their revenues dipped significantly.
Here’s a sampling of comments from merchants.
— Jane Smith

Old Key Lime House
Built in 1889, the Old Key Lime House bills itself as the oldest waterfront restaurant in Florida. Owner Wayne Cordero had predicted his business would fall by 20 percent to 25 percent when the Ocean Avenue Bridge closed. But he was surprised when it actually increased by a few percentage points, he said.
His eatery is a destination restaurant for locals and out-of-towners who want a waterfront view while eating. “It gives you the Keys experience without having to leave town,” Cordero said.
Parking is a perennial problem along Ocean Avenue. Cordero solved his restaurant’s parking issues by buying nearby houses, knocking them down and paving the land.
He thinks the town should provide more parking for Ocean Avenue restaurants and merchants. But the town doesn’t necessarily agree.
The Town Council dipped into reserves to buy the 1-acre piece of land on the north side of Ocean Boulevard. The council bought it because waterfront property is not often for sale (and the reduced price, thanks to the sagging economy, made it especially attractive).  They decided to put a park there, said Dave Thatcher, the town’s development services director.
“About 30 parking spaces will be available for use in the evening after the park closes,” he said. “Others wanted more parking. But did you ever hear the song [lyrics], ‘They paved paradise and put up a parking lot’?”

Pizzeria Oceano
Owner Dak Kerprich believes in organic and local ingredients for his handmade pizzas.
He lost some business from the conversion this year of the Ritz-Carlton resort on the east side of the bridge to Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, but overall his sales are not down. “We have clientele from West Palm Beach, Wellington and Miami who drive to eat here,” he said.
His menu changes daily, he allows deletions only for allergy reasons and he accepts only cash. There is an ATM nearby.
It’s open Tuesday through Saturday, from “5:30ish until the dough runs out.”
Shades of Time
 Owner Alan B. Ross doesn’t mince words.
For his sunglass shop, the Ocean Avenue Bridge closing has “been a bloody disaster. Nero fiddled while Rome burned. They left the merchants to their own devices,” he said.
The Lantana police were the goodwill ambassadors who checked on him often, Ross said.
He thinks that when officials plan for a bridge replacement, they should do similar planning for merchants.
Take out ads, place road signs and hold events are among his ideas.
“The town did take the initiative and arranged a meeting with the (Greater) Lantana Chamber of Commerce and the business community,” Thatcher said, “but nothing was ever done.”
At the time, the chamber was going through a management change. Executive Director Lynn Smith, who started in January 2012, said as far as she knew her group was never asked to help.
Shades of Time display cases nearly sparkle. Ross quips, “I’ve had a lot of time to clean them.”

Palm Beach Bakery and Cafe
The small bakery and cafe caters to the local Finnish community.
“My clients are mainly Finns who live on this (west) side of the water,” said owner Jouko Vaskivuo. His business was not affected much by the bridge closing.
The cafe also serves as a meeting place with its offerings of open-faced sandwiches of hard-boiled egg and anchovies and Scandinavian chocolates and sweets.
“I can’t wait,” Vaskivuo said about the bridge opening. He kept his business open during the celebration, offering coffee and pastries. “Last time, when they closed the bridge, there was no place to get coffee.”
Jeannie’s Ocean Boutique
On the east side of the bridge in Plaza del Mar in Manalapan, Jeannie Drummond opened her ladies’ fashion boutique a few months before the bridge closed.
Her business was down so much she had to let her part-time sales staff go and run the shop on her own.
But with the bridge opening, she now has a full-time salesperson and one part-timer, in addition to herself.
“We are over the moon about it,” she said about the bridge opening.

Evelyn & Arthur
 Store manager Maryann Diller said her customers complained all the time about the bridge closing.
“It was a major inconvenience for customers to get here,” said Diller, who runs the Plaza del Mar store.
To counter that, the store stayed open later or opened earlier.
“We did whatever it would take to keep the customer satisfied,” she said. The store sells women’s resort wear for the Florida lifestyle.
“We have a great rapport with customers,” she said, so the store did not lose any business.

The Plate: General Tso’s Chicken
The Place: Pine Garden, 1668 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton; 395-7534 or pinegardenbocaraton.com.
The Price: $11.95
The Skinny: Those who attended Florida Atlantic University back in the ’80s may remember Pine Garden for its extensive menu of vegetarian items.
Three decades later, the Boca Raton eatery still has that extensive menu.
But we have grown beyond strictly vegetarian fare, and so we opted for a classic Chinese-American dish, General Tso’s chicken.
At Pine Garden, the chicken is served as tender, breaded chunks that are fried, then tossed in a sweet, savory sauce that packs the right amount of heat.
We ate ours with white rice, and started with a cup of hot and sour soup, which had a rich broth that transported us back to the ’80s.
It’s nice to know some things don’t change.
— Scott Simmons

Butch and Melinda Trucks join Rena Blades and Brad Deflin at the Cultural Council’s Culture & Cocktails event at The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach. Photo by Corby Kaye’s Studio

By Thom Smith

    A whole lotta love was present at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County’s first Culture & Cocktails night of the season, but a little lust also crept into the conversation. Titled “Hits and Mrs.”, the early November session at The Colony hotel in Palm Beach featured longtime Palm Beach residents Butch and Melinda Trucks. He’s best known as the drummer and one of three remaining original members of the Allman Brothers Band, and she’s a highly regarded artist whose work has attracted national attention.
    Longtime Palm Beacher, Allman fan and Total Digital Security founder and President Brad Deflin handled the interview that was illustrated with dozens of slides.
    One, way back in 1976, featured presidential candidate Jimmy Carter with the band, which played several concerts to raise campaign dollars. “Remember when Carter said he had lusted in his heart?” Trucks beamed. “Well, he was talking about Melinda. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.”
    For decades, rock ’n’ rollers have been dispelling the myth that life ends at 30. They just keep playing  — well past their 30s, into the 40s, 50s and now in their 60s. Many still produce significant music, taking their cues from the bluesmen, jazz legends and, yes, the classical masters who continue to perform well into their 80s.  
    But the road does not go on forever. The band’s chemistry has always resembled that of a family, close-knit but always branching out. Guitarist Warren Haynes is often referred to as the “hardest-working man in show business.” Likewise, when the Allmans are off the road, percussionist Marc Quinones and bassist Oteil Burbridge are playing somewhere.
    Trucks is 66, has an autobiography coming out in February. He and Melinda split time between Palm Beach and their “new” home, a pre-liberté farmhouse in French wine country. He hinted privately that change is gonna come, but not because he, Gregg Allman (turns 66 Dec. 8) and fellow drummer Jai Johnny “Jaimoe” Johnson (69) are eligible for Social Security.
    Butch’s nephew, guitarist Derek Trucks, a mere 34, injected new life into the band when he joined in 1999. Two years later he married blues singer Susan Tedeschi and in 2010 they formed Tedeschi Trucks Band. Their blend of blues, jazz, rock, world music and fusion has earned two Grammys. Rolling Stone ranks him 16th among the best guitarists of all time.
    “We may lose Derek,” Trucks admitted. “He’s got his own career to pursue.”  
    Indeed. Tedeschi Trucks will be at Mizner Park on Jan. 18 to headline the Sunshine Music & Blues Festival. On the bill: Leon Russell, Hot Tuna, Stanley Clarke, Tab Benoit and others.
    Culture & Cocktails returns Jan. 6 with “Jewelry & Palm” a conversation between Stefan Richter, longtime Palm Beach specialist in rare and estate jewelry, and John Loring, design director emeritus at Tiffany & Co.
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    Out of Denmark, in Delray. Six years after closing shop a little farther up Federal, the Moller family is back in business with their seductive Scandinavian specialties in Delray. Vater und sonne Jorgen and Christian Moller have set up shop in the Delray Plaza, on Federal just a few blocks south of Linton. It’s all there: the warm bread with herb butter, the koldt bord (the Danish version of smorgasbord), steamed mussels in mustard garlic sauce, roasted crisp duck with sweet and sour red cabbage and light berry sauce, Copenhagen crepes with Kijafa.
    And just as with the late, great Charlie Trotter, who learned his culinary ropes at the Jupiter Beach Resort, they have no walk-in freezer. That way, it’s fresh, every day.
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    Big change at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. After two decades at the helm, Randi Emerman is off to helm a movie. Her replacement: Caroline Breder-Watts, a familiar voice since 1992 when she signed on at WXEL. Watts also served as communications director at the old Florida Stage and in 2012 joined WLRN, where she hosted and produced South Florida Artsview and Listening to Movies.
    Breder-Watts has lots up her sleeves. To study the art of film, its historical significance and its relevance today, she’s expanding an earlier series at the Delray Beach Center for the Arts with Cinema Talk at The Crest.  The first session, “Movies That Changed the World” in November, featured clips from films including The Jazz Singer, King Kong and Psycho. The topic on Dec. 16 is Jaws.  (DelrayArts.org.)
    Though respected internationally, the festival locally is “the best-kept secret,” festival chairwoman Yvonne Boice said. Unless it can raise more revenue, it may not be around much longer. Step one is a membership drive for contributions from $100 to $1,500: the highest included at one-year membership in the Sundance Institute.
    Additionally, Breder-Watts and her husband John, through their Arts Radio Network, have teamed with Arts Garage just down the street to produce a series of radio plays based on classic movies in the spirit of Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre. Next up is It’s a Wonderful Life on Dec. 12 (www.artsgarage.org).  On with the shows.
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    Speaking of theater, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Wick Theatre’s second production, continues through Christmas Day, followed by 42nd Street on Jan. 9 with Loretta Swit.
    If you have spare time during the day, The Wick has added Costume Museum to its marquee. Theater owner Marilynn Wick started in the business by providing costumes for Broadway, Hollywood and lots of stages and sets in between. Now she’s showing them off — Yul Brenner’s gilded King and I tights, Mae West’s furs, Richard Burton’s Camelot armor. (thewick.org).
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    Gone west, young man. Angelo Elia, regarded as one of the top restaurateurs in South Florida, may no longer have a stake in D’Angelo Trattoria in downtown Delray, but he’s not far away. Elia’s Casa D’Angelo still flourishes in Boca Raton, and now folks in the suburbs can try his pizza and a few other delights at D’Angelo Pizza in The Shoppes at Addison Place on Jog Road, just north of the Boca city limits. Peter Masiello, formerly at San Domenico in Manhattan and Frank and Dino’s in Deerfield Beach, runs the kitchen that offers such delights as zucchini flowers tapas, octopus and potato salad, an assortment of red or white pizzas, cannelloni, lasagna, calzone and frittata. Mangia.
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    His grandmother fought breast cancer for 20 years, but eight months after his mother was diagnosed, actor Rob Lowe’s mother was dead. “How does it happen?” Lowe asked the more than 1,500 guests at the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation’s Go Pink Luncheon on Oct. 25 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club.
    The disease also killed his great-grandmother, so Lowe knows the odds were against his mother, but when she was diagnosed at Stage 4, she had never had a mammogram.
    You’re never too young to pay attention to your body, he stressed, emphasizing early detection. Fear, he said, is “the most powerful enemy we face.”
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Hot dates: Jazziz is promising a wild New Year’s Eve party as it launches its second season, but the lead-ins won’t be bad either. Guitarist Lee Ritenour drops in Dec. 10-11, and flutist Nestor Torres on Dec. 15 and 16. Actress/chanteuse Molly Ringwald returns Jan. 7.
    Two very different women are on the bill in January at The Crest Theatre at Old School Square.
    If you’ve ever heard Paula Poundstone, you’d never dream she’s from Huntsville, Ala. Actually, a month after her birth, her parents headed to Sudbury, Mass. Poundstone, who’s been delivering her special brand of stand-up comedy since 1979, will perform Jan. 11. For a weekly dose of the 2010 inductee into the Comedy Hall of Fame, catch NPR’s Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!
    On Jan. 16, Linda Evans likely will tell some tales of old flames, including Manalapan resident Yanni, with whom she had a relationship from 1989 to 1998. The couple made one of its first public appearances at Chris Evert’s inaugural pro-am tournament in 1989.
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    So much has happened since Evert’s first event —  which incidentally featured Whitney Houston as the headliner —  especially good things for programs supported by Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida and the Drug Abuse Foundation of Palm Beach County. Such stars as Jon Lovitz, Elisabeth Shue, Alan Thicke, Gavin Rossdale (pregnant wife Gwen Stefani stayed home in L.A.) and American Idol’s David Cook joined Martina Navratilova, Pam Shriver, Brad Gilbert and Patrick McEnroe on court and at the gala to raise $600,000 from Nov. 16 to 18. In 24 years the event has raised nearly $21 million, and Evert  already is working on the silver anniversary bash.  
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    Three local authors have been honored with gold medals in the 2013 Florida Authors and Publishers Association Book Awards competition. “Old Floridian” Harvey Oyer III was cited in the Florida Children’s Fiction category for his latest book The Last Calusa: The Adventures of Charlie Pierce. The latest in Oyer’s series about the legendary Florida pioneer and “barefoot mailman” — his great grand uncle — also received a silver medal in the general children’s book category.
    Pioneering Palm Beach: The Deweys and the South Florida Frontier won a gold medal in Florida adult nonfiction for Ginger Pedersen and Janet DeVries. Acclaimed as the “lost story of Palm Beach,” it chronicles the arrival in “the Lake Worth country” in 1887 of homesteaders Fred and Byrd “Birdie” Spilman Dewey. They could be considered the area’s first developers and later whirled in Palm Beach social circle with the Flaglers, the Phippses and the Vanderbilts. Pedersen, of Boynton Beach, is dean of curriculum and educational technology at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth. DeVries, who lives in Lantana, is a historian and archivist.
    Incidentally, at Pedersen’s urging, the Boynton City Commission voted to rename Veterans Park, a half-acre at the corner of Ocean and Northeast Fourth Street, as Dewey Park to honor the city’s founders.
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    Next spring, Lake Worth will open a new glassworks, as an old beer warehouse is converted into the Benzaitan Center for the Creative Arts.  A unanimous City Commission approved the project in early November. The project eventually will include a foundry and a ceramic center, as the city continues to provide working and living spaces for artists and craftsmen. Benzaitan is a joint venture between Jupiter-based Living Arts Foundation and IBI, an international firm that promotes development through the arts.
    Living Arts is well-connected. Jupiter artist JoAnne Berkow is its president and founder. The board includes Berkow’s husband and developer, Steve Tendrich; gallery owner Paul Fisher, who also is business manager for legendary glassman Dale Chihuly; politically connected businesswoman Elizabeth Fago; retired developer, philanthropist and arts patron Willaim Roebel; real estate broker and arts patron Honey Bryan; and Syndie Levien, a financial adviser with Morgan Stanley and an art collector.
    With interest in the arts community rising as interest in shuffleboard fades, Lake Worth’s old stick and disc center on west Lucerne will be converted into a community cultural center. The city will offer art classes, after-school programs and exhibit space, but it still has to come up with some money.
The Community Redevelopment Agency is chasing a $150,000 state grant, and ideas are being sought from area cultural groups
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    Not everyone comes to Delray for St. Patrick’s Day. The Boca High School band, 73 strong, will march in the Big Apple’s parade, the world’s oldest, but it needs money, about $900 per member. The city is coming up with $12,000, but that’s barely enough for the trombone section. Band members are hosting bake sales and car washes and welcome any donations (338-1400).
    Speaking of parades, Delray’s Holiday Parade is set for 6 p.m. Dec. 14 and runs from the Intracoastal bridge to West Fifth Avenue.
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Bright spots: Despite losing a football coach in mid-season because of marijuana use, the FAU football team, responded by whomping Tulane, 34-17, and ending the Green Wave’s four-game win streak.
Tulane’s starting quarterback, Nick Montana, completed only seven of 22 passes for 76 yards, three interceptions and no touchdowns. In the stands, his father, Joe, who played a little at quarterback in his day, could only watch.

Hungry seafood lovers seize the opportunity to get a fish fix Nov. 9-10 during the second annual Delray Beach Wine & Seafood Festival on Atlantic Avenue east of the Intracoastal bridge. Among the restaurants participating were such local favorites as Boston’s, Ceviche, Caffe Luna Rosa, Eclectic Eats and 50 Ocean.  Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Email him at thomsmith@ymail.com.

Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program kicked off 17 years of helping at-risk girls in South Florida — and 11 years in Palm Beach County —  by welcoming volunteer counselors, school-district personnel and other community partners to a gathering celebrating the 2013-’14 season, which will mark the program’s expansion into all 24 Palm Beach County public high schools. Photo: Don Browne, Susan Brockway, Deborah Dowd and Jennifer Valoppi. Photo provided

This fashion show sponsored by Wells Fargo Private Bank helped benefit Dress for Success Palm Beaches, a nonprofit organization that promotes economic independence for disadvantaged women by providing them with professional attire, career-development tools, networking opportunities and support.  Photo: (seated) Karen Beach, Kelly Thill, (standing) Melissa Van Putten-Henderson, Dress for Success Palm Beaches CEO Diane Wilde and Stefanie Lewis. Photo by Janis Bucher

ElevenSpa celebrated its ninth anniversary as a destination for salon and spa services in Delray Beach. The evening of elegance included music, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a silent auction, of which 100 percent of the proceeds went to Saluting Our Heroes, a local nonprofit honoring those serving at home and abroad. Photo: Teresa Deaz, Tatiana Reginello, Alexia Rouquette, Ileana Garrido, Nikki Oden and Seth Elting. Photo provided

Anne and Louis Green were two of the more than 400 walkers and sponsors who came out to support the eighth annual affair that raised more than $310,000 for Florida Atlantic University’s Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center at the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing. Downtown Photo Fort Lauderdale

The Junior League of Boca Raton’s 26th annual celebration of women honored Peggy Jones (LEFT), the nominee from Boca Helping Hands. Patricia Thomas, who was nominated by two organizations — Caring Hearts Auxiliary of Florida Atlantic University’s Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center at the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Debbie Rand-Memorial Service League — received the Lifetime Achievement Award. More than 650 attended. BELOW: Crystal McMillan, Jan Kucera, Patricia Thomas, Jan Savarick and Linda Gunn Patton. Photos provided

The Greater Boca Chamber of Commerce recognized and thanked outgoing Chairman Keith O’Donnell and welcomed incoming Chairman Randy Nobles during an annual event celebrating the past year of success. An estimated 250 guests enjoyed a performance by the Fred Astaire dancers, a cigar bar, dinner, dancing and entertainment. Photo: Carmel Pasquale, Peter Baronoff and Linda Petrakis. Photo by Janis Bucher

ABOVE: The Bethesda Hospital Foundation honored Michelle Rubin, Susan Duane, Sandra Greenblatt, Bettina Young and Patricia Brown-Paytee for exemplifying a true spirit of caring and for providing hope and help to the community. BELOW: Sponsor Tammy Fender, of Tammy Fender Holistic Skin Care, is joined by past event Chairwoman Deborah Sargeant. Photos provided

Longtime Wayside House board Chairman Perry O’Neal poses with board member Pat McElroy during the Alice & Pete Dye Invitational Golf and Bridge Tournament to benefit Wayside House at St. Andrew’s Club. Wayside House is a 40-year-old addiction-recovery nonprofit in Delray Beach that was founded by the grand-niece and namesake of Susan B. Anthony, the women’s rights activist. O’Neal was honored for his years of service to the organization. Photo provided

This year’s festively female fundraiser was another stellar success for the Delray Beach Public Library and paid tribute to Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The fun-filled afternoon of fashion included a buffet lunch, complimentary bubbly, a trunk show, raffle prizes and a silent auction enjoyed by 225. More than $12,000 was raised. ABOVE: Board President Nancy Dockerty with Candace Rojas. Photo provided