Pilot Elizabeth Ackerly joined Alan Anders, Jeff Geer and Mark Kandianis on a flight in a T-6 warplane from Bellingham, Wash., to Great Falls, Mont., then to Fairbanks, Alaska. Photo provided

Related story: Wartime challenge begets lifelong dedication to WASP legacy

By Ron Hayes

    After the long flight across the Atlantic, the Boeing 767 taxies to the gate at Miami International Airport.
The hatch opens, passengers scramble, the pilot stands in the cockpit doorway to thank them for choosing American.
And almost every time, one of those departing passengers says, “Oh, are you the pilot? Oh!”
    American Airlines has about 10,000 pilots, of which a mere 400 are women.
    Elizabeth Ackerly of Ocean Ridge is one of them.
    For the past 15 years, she’s flown those big 767s from Miami to Paris, Barcelona and Madrid.
    And then, for eight days in June, she flew back to 1943, on a mission to honor the female pilots who helped make her career possible.
    “I’m always up for an adventure,” Ackerly explained recently, relaxing at home on a break between flights, “but I didn’t know anything about Lend-Lease or the contribution these women had made.”
    Not enough Americans do.
    WASPs?
    White Anglo-Saxon Protestants — right?
    Wrong.
    Women Airforce Service Pilots.
    From the summer of 1943 until Dec. 20, 1944, more than 1,000 women pilots helped the Allies win World War II by ferrying warplanes from 120 air bases to embarkation points in the U.S.
    About 25,000 women applied for the job. Fewer than 1,900 were accepted, and that September — after four months of training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas — 1,074 had earned their wings.
For the next 15 months, these women flew more than 60 million miles, delivering 12,650 airplanes of every type and, most important, freeing men for combat flight duty.
    Considered civil service employees, they received no military benefits. They were paid a stipend of $150 a month and had to provide their own transportation to Texas.
    Thirty-eight of them died.
    Among the more secret of their secret missions, WASPs delivered T-6 Texan warplanes to Great Falls, Mont., where men of the Air Transport Command took them on to Fairbanks, Alaska. In Fairbanks, the planes were passed on to Russian pilots, who flew them on to Nome for maintenance, then across the Bering Sea to Siberia to join Russia’s war against Hitler.
    The 6,000-mile Montana-Siberia route was part of the Lend-Lease program through which the U.S. supplied its allies with war materiel.
    “The Soviet government didn’t even acknowledge the flights until after the Berlin Wall came down,” says Jeff Geer, a telecommunications executive and private pilot from Ferndale, Wash. “A lot of people thought we were just moving our planes to the Aleutians.”

Documenting a ‘great story’
    Geer is the president and CEO of the Bravo 369 Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aviation history and education.
    What a great story this is, he thought. What a great documentary it would make.
    Warplanes To Siberia: Uncommon Allies.
    Next July, Geer and his crew plan to fly a historic T-6 Texan with a support plane and film crew from Great Falls to Fairbanks, where they’ll be met by a Russian crew and fly on to Krasnoyarsk, Russia, filming all the way.
    In June, Geer scheduled a practice flight for the first leg of the journey, from Bellingham, Wash., to Great Falls, then on up to Fairbanks.
    Geer and Alan Anders, owner of the T-6, would fly the historic warplane, while another friend, Mark Kandianis, would be in the support plane, a single-engine Cessna 206.
    Of course, if they truly wanted to honor the WASPs, a woman pilot should be part of the crew.
    Well, Kandianis said, I’ve got an old friend down in Florida …
On June 22, Ackerly left Bellingham, flying with Kandianis.    “We called ourselves the chuck wagon,” she says with a laugh. “We carried guns, fishing poles, sleeping bags, freeze-dried food — what-if stuff, as in, what if something goes wrong and they have to land in the middle of nowhere.”

Wanderlust came on early
    Ackerly’s personal ascent to the skies began during Sunday afternoons in White Plains, N.Y., when her father took her out to the local airfield to watch the planes take off.
    “This airport was so small it had pony rides,” she recalls. “But my fascination with airplanes was never anything technical. It was always wanderlust. Oh, they’re going somewhere!”
    In 1988, she earned her commercial license. Flying commuter flights out of Memphis early on, she remembers the time a male passenger spotted her in the cockpit and demanded that the plane return to the gate so he could get off.   
    “That’s not possible,” the flight attendant told him.
    Ackerly flew the plane. The passenger arrived safely.
    Later, she worked as a private pilot for famed attorney F. Lee Bailey.
    “He was very nice to me. If there was a speaking engagement, he took me along. He didn’t make me wait at the airport. If there was a dinner, I went, too.”
    In 1998, she became a pilot for American, after 11 years as a flight attendant.
    Ask her about the movie Flight, in which Denzel Washington prevents a crash by rolling the plane, and Ackerly rolls her eyes. “Unrealistic. It couldn’t happen.”
    On the other hand, the plane crash in Cast Away that left Tom Hanks marooned on a desert island is, she says, quite real.
    “I go through it every nine months in Dallas,” she says. “It’s recurrent simulator training where we go through everything that can go wrong.”
    On the eight-day flight from Bellingham to Fairbanks, nothing went wrong.
    Crossing the Atlantic, she flies at 35,000 feet. Flying to Fairbanks, they maintained an altitude of about 6,500 feet, rising to 12,000 over the Cascades.
    Flying to Paris, you don’t stop midway. Flying to Alaska, they stopped every two hours to refuel.
    Along the way, a two-man film crew followed in a camper truck to photograph their takeoffs and landings. They were interviewed by local newspapers and television stations.
    In her 15 years as a commercial pilot, Ackerly has flown longer flights, and higher flights, but not more inspirational flights.
    “The trip was wonderful,” she says. “I went to places and saw things I’d never seen, but what surprised me most was learning about the WASPs.”
    After the war, all records of the Women Airforce Service Pilots’ contributions were sealed by the U.S. government.
    The records were finally opened in 1977, after a press release mistakenly reported that the Air Force was training its first women fliers.
    That same year, Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., succeeded in having the WASPs granted full military status for their service.
    And on July 1, 2009, about 300 surviving WASPs gathered at the U.S. Capitol to accept the Congressional Gold Medal.   
    In the decades since World War II, an increasing number of women have learned to fly.
    As of 2010, there were 627,588 licensed pilots in America, of whom 42,218 are women, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Of them, 8,175 are commercial pilots.
    Elizabeth Ackerly is one of them.
    But she still has one more challenge to conquer.
    “I’m not afraid of flying to Europe,” she says, “but I’m afraid to drive on I-95. I won’t drive to work in Miami anymore. I take Tri-Rail.”

By Tim Pallesen

    East Atlantic Avenue traffic congestion remains a concern as the proposed Atlantic Crossing development goes before Delray Beach officials for site plan and design approval.
In response to residents’ concerns, the developer drew a site plan that shows delivery trucks unloading at the center of the mixed-use project.
“We moved all the loading internally into the site,” project manager Don DeVere said in announcing his revised 9-acre site plan to neighboring residents last month.
The project is under development by the Edwards Co. in a joint venture with Carl DeSantis.
But now city planners will oppose the central loading location, saying delivery truck drivers might reject it because it is too far from the project’s Atlantic Avenue shops and restaurants.
“My fear is that delivery trucks such as UPS are going to park in the traffic lanes of Atlantic Avenue, which would result in an unsafe situation at the foot of the Atlantic Avenue Bridge,” said senior city planner Scott Pape.
Coastal residents are still asking for an entrance from Federal Highway into the project as an alternative to entering from Atlantic Avenue.
“We feel an entrance from Federal Highway makes a lot of sense because it is a commercial road,” said Beach Property Owners Association President Andy Katz.
DeVere said the Florida Department of Transportation has approved an exit onto Federal Highway from the project’s 440-car underground parking garage.
But FDOT has refused to allow an entrance into Atlantic Crossing from northbound Federal Highway because of insufficient space for a right-turn lane, Pape said.
City planners also question street closings north and south of the project that residents are seeking to prevent traffic and parking problems in their neighborhoods.
Pape said the proposed closing of Northeast Seventh Avenue north of Northeast First Street would block access for city fire-rescue vehicles. “We have great concern,” he said.
The developer also promises to pay for the closing of Palm Square south of Atlantic Avenue, but that issue is unresolved with city officials.
Discussions between the developer and city planners continue this month before the proposal goes before the city’s Site Plan and Appearance Board for a recommendation to the City Commission.
The site plan shows Northeast Seventh Avenue as the main promenade for the mix of 264 apartments and 82 condos with 76,000 square feet of retail and 83,000 square feet of offices. The mix is similar to CityPlace in West Palm Beach and Mizner Park in Boca Raton.

This view, heading west on Atlantic Avenue from the Intracoastal bridge, shows the varied design of buildings within the complex. Base map and rendering provided by Edwards Companies

But unlike those two developments, the six buildings at Atlantic Crossing have been designed by different architects to appear as though they were built at different times.
“We rejected the monolithic look,” DeVere said of the eclectic design that has won support among some residents who took issue with the density of 40 units per acre that city commissioners approved for Atlantic Crossing last year.
“The developer has made an effort to listen to what the community would like to see,” Katz said. “Making the project look as though it was built over time by different people makes it look much more Delray-like.”
The proposed site plan shows four restaurants, retail shops and offices in two three-story buildings that front on Atlantic Avenue. More restaurants and shops are shown on the ground floors of a second set of taller buildings with residential units on the upper floors.
Cars carrying restaurant, retail and office patrons will be directed to valet parking, under a rooftop swimming pool for residents. Motorists will be alerted by electronic signs to avoid Atlantic Avenue if the bridge is up when they exit the project.

A business spotlight in August about Colonial Animal Hospital may have given the wrong impression about the type of veterinary care practiced by Colonial’s vets. They strive to give the highest level of care possible by a group of general practitioners. Dr. Robert Martin said it was important to him personally that this clarification be made.

A story in the August issue on the town of Gulf Stream budget incorrectly stated the status of proposed police salary increases. The police have no contract, and all town employees are being considered for 2.5 percent raises.

When we can, my husband and I try to escape the seemingly endless Florida summer.  This year in July and August we headed to Connecticut and Oregon. Both trips took us to beautiful locations for family gatherings.
With the passing of our parents, both of our families have made a commitment to gather every two years.  Sometimes it’s for a wedding or an anniversary. But more often, it’s simply a reunion of siblings and their children — and their children! These gatherings are a chance to get together without sorrow or grief: we’ve had our share and know there will be plenty more in the coming years. These summer reunions are for nothing more than to laugh, share stories, (maybe drink a bit) and just relax.  
At both gatherings a refreshing, cool evening inspired a blazing bonfire. And then, before you could blink, there were graham crackers, and marshmallows and chocolate.  To hell with weight loss and high-fructose sugar concerns: These were S’Mores. We were kids again. All was right with the world.
Now it’s back to the remainder of the long Florida summer. It will be months before it’s cool enough for a beach bonfire; but for now we have our memories.
Sweet memories of family and S’Mores.

Mary Kate Leming
Executive Editor

By Tim O’Meilia

Best case scenario: seven submerged groins and a beach 50 feet wider in South Palm Beach and Lantana by February 2016.
That’s not as much as everyone wants, but it’s likely the most anyone’s likely to get.
South Palm Beach Mayor Donald Clayman wants offshore breakwaters. Surfrider Foundation wants the sea turtles to be able to nest. Manalapan wants to make sure the sand still drifts south. Reef Rescue wants the hardbottom uncovered for marine life. South Palm Beach Councilwoman Stella Jordan wants geo-tubes considered.
And everyone wants someone else to pay for it.
The long-running saga of protecting South Palm Beach oceanfront condos and Lantana’s public beach took favorable turns last month:
• A $561,000 environmental study critical to the approval of a beach renourishment project will be completed by April. A favorable conclusion means a $3 million to $5 million groin-and-fill project could be approved and started by the winter of 2015, assuming state and local money is available, said Leanne Welch, Palm Beach County environmental resource manager.
• There’s enough sand off shore in Palm Beach County for the next 50 years to assure the area’s current nine beach renourishment projects (plus additions) will have beach-worthy sand, although the quality will diminish with time. A federal and state study concluded that after studying the sand needs for the five-county area from St. Lucie to Miami-Dade counties.
• Neither South Palm Beach nor Lantana  nor Manalapan nor Lake Worth will have to pay a share for long-term monitoring of the beach, hardbottom or sea turtles along the 15-mile stretch between the Lake Worth and Boynton inlets. Palm Beach County and the town of Palm Beach will pick up the tab for that, estimated at $475,000 annually.
That makes it more likely that those towns will sign a regional beach management agreement designed to streamline and shorten the permitting process and take a broader approach to beach management.
“It’s the first time in history the state and federal and local governments are working together,” Danielle Irwin, state deputy director of water resource management, told the Manalapan town commission Aug. 27, only half-joking.
Once approved, projects included in the BMA would have an easier path to re-approval for follow-up restoration, estimated at every three years for the South Palm Beach-Lantana work.
Palm Beach and the county both signed the agreement last month. Manalapan commissioners want to poll beachfront owners before signing.
“This is a point for Manalapan. Something that doesn’t cost us a dime that lets us know what’s going on on our beach,” said Commissioner Howard Roder.
South Palm Beach council members favored signing. “It’s a better, faster, less costly way of doing business,” Palm Beach Mayor Gail Coniglio told South Palm Beach council members Aug. 27.
“We need to do it. We need to sign it,” said South Palm Beach Councilman Robert Gottlieb after a joint meeting with Lantana commissioners Aug. 13 in South Palm Beach.
Lantana Mayor David Stewart was skeptical that his commission would sign the agreement, although he supports the local project. “You don’t know the costs down the road. If it’s $5,000 to $10,000 then you know but if it’s more, that’s not something we want to commit to,” he said.
Aside from long-term monitoring costs shared by Palm Beach and the county, those who sign the agreement would not be committing to any expenditures beyond whatever projects they are involved in, such as the South Palm Beach-Lantana project, Irwin said.
The cost of the environmental study, which includes a companion beach restoration project in Palm Beach and is not a part of the regional plan, will be shared. Palm Beach will pay $335,000, the county $173,000 and South Palm Beach $43,000 for the study.
While South Palm Beach officials favored a more aggressive approach to beach protection, Welch reminded them that county commissioners dropped plans and the Army Corps of Engineers would not approve plans for breakwaters last year.
“No one want to go in with something that’s not going to be permitted,” said Lantana’s Stewart. “Even if it’s not the best answer, it might be the only answer to get permitting.”

Joan Lorne checks a loggerhead nest the morning after the eggs hatched and finds a couple of stragglers, who are set free.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

    Venture down to Delray Beach not long after sunrise, and you can’t miss her.
    While most of the early-morning beachgoers stroll or jog the day awake, Joan Lorne bounces over the sand in a Yamaha Ultramatic Grizzly 350 ATV, a slender woman with a sun-bleached ponytail dangling out the back of her white ball cap and the kind of deep tan that tells you she’s been doing this quite a while.
    Thirteen years, in fact.
    A couple of mornings a week since 2000, Lorne has monitored the 3-mile stretch of sand between Adams Road in Ocean Ridge and Pelican Lane in Delray Beach, doing her part to make sure the sea turtle eggs that are laid between March and October each year survive.
   She scans the sand for turtle tracks, marks the new nests with a “Do Not Disturb” sign, notes the date and checks again after they hatch for any left behind.
    “I grew up here, and I don’t ever remember people talking about sea turtles,” she says, “but I want to keep doing this. I see what’s washed ashore each morning, I wave at people, and I’m doing something worthwhile.”
    One day back in 1995, Lorne and her then-13-year-old daughter, Jackie, visited the Loggerhead MarineLife Center in Juno Beach.
    “I want to volunteer here,” Jackie announced, so the Lornes drove their daughter to Juno Beach and back every Saturday morning.
    Jackie became a turtle monitor, and when she left for college, her mother said, “I’ll keep doing it.”
    She’s been doing it ever since, but not alone. Her colleagues Darlene Duggan, Margie Talbott, Jim Jolley and Billie Johnston monitor the coast on her days off.
    “We call ourselves the Keepers of the Nest,” she says.
    Marine biologists tell us that only one in every 1,000 eggs produces a hatchling that survives. But when your family business is a funeral home, those are good odds.
    Joan Lorne’s history in Delray Beach is complicated but delightful.
    She and her twin brother, Tim, were born on Christmas Day 1951 in Chicago and came to Delray Beach at 6 weeks old.
    Her husband’s father, Wilbur Lorne, opened the Lorne & Sons Funeral Home here in 1957. Joan’s husband, Patrick, and Patrick’s brother, Michael, run the business, with help from her son, Colin, and Michael’s son, Kevin.
    Her other daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Jon, are the parents of twin girls.
    And one more thing: Michael, her husband’s brother, is married to Joan’s sister, Mary.
    “We’re one of the few family-run funeral homes in the area,” she says, without a hint of irony.
    As for Jackie Lorne, the 13-year-old girl who taught her mother to love sea turtles, she’s Jackie Kingston now, a marine biologist who works as an environmental project manager for Florida Power & Light.

Rendering provided

By Betty Wells

The luxury theater complex and office space planned for Delray Beach should produce more than 400 jobs and bring more than 400,000 visitors a year to the downtown, according to the developer.
“We aim to create a unique and much-needed entertainment destination for downtown Delray that makes a positive contribution to the local economy,” said Hamid Hashemi, president and CEO of iPic Entertainment.
The Community Development Agency accepted unanimously a plan from iPic, over three other proposals.
The complex will include an eight-screen, 529-seat luxury movie theater; 42,869 square feet of Class A office space; 7,290 square feet of retail space; and a 279-space parking garage.
Diane Colonna, CRA executive director, said the CRA staff was excited about the choice, and that the project “has all of the elements people have been asking for.”
“It will bring a state-of-the-art entertainment experience that will benefit residents, visitors and local businesses alike … We’re also thrilled that iPic Entertainment plans to move their corporate headquarters here and add their creative talents to our downtown mix,” Colonna said.
The Fourth and Fifth avenues Site includes the Old Library Building on Southeast Fourth Avenue, the Chamber of Commerce office building on Southeast Fifth Avenue, and the adjacent public parking lot. iPic’s Delray Beach Holdings LLC offered $3.6 million for the 1.57-acre site, about a half-block south of Atlantic Avenue in the downtown core.
The CRA and iPic are beginning contract negotiations to finalize the deal. Once there is an agreement and the city approves the plans, iPic says, the construction should take about 20 months and the complex should open in 2015.
iPic theaters feature leather seats and gourmet dining. Top-price ticketholder get full-leg reclining seats, pillows and blankets and personal service-call buttons that summon servers to deliver dishes or cocktails to their seats.
Hashemi said the Mizner Park theater has been a success from the beginning.
“From the moment we opened the doors … the response and feedback from our guests has been very positive” he said. “It has been a rewarding experience to see our guests’ reaction and their loyalty to the concept.”
Boca Raton-based iPic-Gold Class Entertainment LLC operates premium movie theaters, restaurants and stylized bowling centers. iPic Entertainment operates nine theaters with 67 screens in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

By Thom Smith

    So much for the bad news at FAU. Since Dennis Crudele took over as interim president after Mary Jane Saunders’ embarrassing debacle that peaked with the plan to name the stadium for the prisons-for-profit company GEO International, all the vibes from campus have been positive.
First, of course, was the elevation of Crudele, former senior vice president for financial affairs. Then came word that the stadium might be in the running for a postseason bowl game, a new Interstate 95 interchange would be built at Spanish River Boulevard and, most recently, that the university intends to build a hotel and conference center on campus.
    The still unnamed bowl game will be an ESPN product that will debut in December 2014. It will match a team from Conference USA, of which FAU is a member, against an opponent from the American Athletic Conference, Mountain West or Mid-American.
    Athletic Director Pat Chun says he envisions the game as a 3½-hour informercial for the school, but hopes FAU won’t be playing in it … because he hopes the Owls will be playing in a bigger bowl game.
    Of course, the next task is local support. FAU is still considered a commuter school. Its alumni are not yet as passionate as those from University of Florida and Florida State. Compared with Seminole war chants and Gator chomps, FAU “hoots” aren’t quite as abundant or dramatic.
    Stadium and campus access certainly will be improved by the new interchange. The $77 million project has been approved by the Florida Department of Transportation and will include widening of I-95 from Glades Road to Congress Avenue and redesign of the Yamato Road interchange. City officials and developers are certainly enthusiastic, as it likely will spur interest in 78 acres of scrub northeast of the interchange. The land is owned by Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
    Students and football fans, however, will have to be patient: While design work has begun and construction is expected to begin early next year, the project is expected to take three years.  
    As for the hotel, school officials on Aug. 19 unveiled plans for a 200-room hotel and conference center. The price tag: $45 million. FAU would provide the land, but it would be built and paid for by a private developer. In addition to providing rooms for prospective students and visitors, the facility would provide on-the-job training for business and hospitality management majors and space for academic conferences and symposiums. At 200 rooms, it would be the third-largest hotel in between Federal Highway and the turnpike. First choice for a location would be in the southeast corner of the campus along Glades Road.  Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!
                                 The Giragos family, owners of John G’s (l-r): Wendy Yarbrough, Jay, Tess, John and Keith Giragos.  2003 family photo provided

    When the popular restaurant John G’s opened 40 years ago, owner John Giragos had no idea it would become a community staple, said his daughter, Wendy Yarbrough, who now runs the restaurant with her brothers Jay and Keith. “He just wanted to create a place where someone could get a good meal.”
    That was 40 years ago, and to celebrate John G’s anniversary on Sept. 21, owners and waitstaff invite everyone to drop by. Customers who bring in old photos of themselves at the restaurant will be entered into drawings for giveaways of gift certificates, T-shirts, hats and more (images will be accepted up to Sept. 15).
    And when diners buy John G’s breakfast special, The Big One (one egg, one piece of bacon, one piece of toast, and a cup of coffee) or the lunch special (40-cent Detroit Sliders), John G’s will match their price and make a donation to the Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation. John G’s is in Plaza del Mar at 264 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan. For information, call 585-9860.
                                 ***
    Instead of titles such as “executive chef” or “chef d’cuisine,” some restaurants should consider “chef du jour,” at least at Malcolm’s just up the beach at The Omphoy. In April 2011, big-bucks Palm Beach investor Jeff Greene bought the resort and brought in celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein to run the food side. She stayed 10 months and passed the mantle to her protégé and Top Chef finalist Lindsay Autry. Complaining about Greene’s meddling in the kitchen, Autry left early in 2012 and then turned up 10 months later at The Sundy House in Delray. She was replaced at The Omphoy in mid-spring by Michael Wurster, who had tons of New York experience, but barely a year later, he’s headed back to The City. … Next!
    A little farther north, Rick Mace has checked in as executive chef at Café Boulud at The Brazilian Court. He replaces Jim Leiken, who checked out after two years to spend more time with his family that includes toddler twins. Mace arrives from RT Lodge, a boutique hotel in Maryville, Tenn. As with Leiken, he’s a veteran of Daniel Boulud’s system, having served as executive sous chef at Boulud’s db Brasserie at The Wynn Resort Las Vegas.
                                 ***
    Call it a cross-track merger … of  Lantana eateries the Grumpy Grouper and Lantana Jack’s. The Grumpy Grouper is gone from the small strip center just west of the railroad tracks in Lantana. But if you look across Federal Highway, you’ll discover that Lantana Jack’s is gone, too, replaced by Jack’s Grumpy Grouper.
    After nearly 18 years in business, Grouper owners Rick and Mary Smith were holding on, but two years of reduced traffic attributed to the rebuilding of the Ocean Avenue Bridge had taken a toll. Rather than risk closing down for good, they proposed a merger to Lantana Jack’s Kevin Walters, David Thall and Charles Skidmore. Along with dozens of other businesses in Lantana, including the Publix near I-95, Jack’s, too, was feeling the pinch. So it was a no-brainer, Walters said.
    Same folks in the kitchen, most of the serving staff, best recipes from both. And with its opening expected in early November, there’s a light at the end of the bridge.
                                 ***
    In other restaurant news, a new branch of Sloan’s Ice Cream, complete with toy trains and now-you-see-through-now-you-don’t glass in the restrooms, is coming to Delray Beach. It’ll take over the old Theo’s at 111-b E. Atlantic.
    Ellis Cooley is the new chef at 3rd and 3rd. He came to the Palm Beaches from Cleveland, where he was named best new chef of 2010.
    Though the name remains, Angelo Elia is no longer involved with D’Angelo Trattoria on Southeast Seventh Avenue. The legendary South Florida restaurateur is not leaving Delray Beach; he’s just moving west to open D’Angelo Pizza ▪ Wine Bar ▪ Tapas in The Shoppes at Addison Place on Jog Road. Contemporary yet authentic Tuscan cuisine, but at price levels to suit any diner. Look for a late October or early November opening.
    Eleven restaurants will offer up tasty treats at this year’s Tastemakers of Boca Raton in Mizner Park, Sept. 24 and 25. A $30 ticket includes one tasting and beverage at each restaurant, plus ticket buyers can take advantage of special dining offers at each restaurant through Oct. 31.
                                 ***
    The sandhills are alive … with the sound of music. The legendary Steely Dan brings its “Mood Swings” tour to the amphitheater at Mizner Park on Sept. 12, and six days later the kids’ll get New York pop band fun., and Canadian duo Tegan and Sara.
    Even the Boca Library is hosting concerts. Its Sunday Music Matinee Series, hosted by the library’s “Friends,” will feature cross-genre Brazilian guitarist Cezar Santana on Sept 8. Even better, it’s free.
    A few miles north, Delray’s Arts Garage is proving that jazz can draw crowds. Jazz pianist Kenny Drew Jr., winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville, pulls up a stool Sept. 6, and N’awlins Jazz & Blues Voodoo Night with Leslie Blackshear Smith follows on Friday the 13th, with percussionist Sammy Figueroa Sept. 14, Latin jazz keyboard wizard Kiki Sanchez Sept. 20 and sax man Uri Gurvich on Sept. 28.
    Later in the fall and winter, look for Nicole Henry (Oct. 11), Jonathan Kreisberg (Oct. 12), Downbeat Award-winning sax man Troy Roberts (Oct. 26), piano man Billy Stritch (Nov. 29), Dr. Lonnie Smith (Dec. 21), Randy Brecker (Jan. 25), Dick Hyman (Feb. 22) and more to come.
    If blues is/are your color, Lake Worth’s Bamboo Room launches its season of weekly headliners Sept. 27 with The Georgia Satellites. If it has strings, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder John McEuen can play it. Catch him Oct. 19. Before the Grateful Dead was formed, many of its members played in New Riders of the Purple Sage. The Riders, unlike the Dead, are still at it (Nov. 2). Hammer Heads should be out in force Dec. 7 for another legendary picker, Pat Travers.
                                 ***
    Across the bridge, Lake Worth has that new pavilion at the beach, so why not use it? Local artists are invited to design a poster for the first Arts & Crafts Festival, set for Nov. 23 and 24, which will feature nearly 100 arts and crafts vendors. The pottery, ceramics, raku, glass, wood, paintings, photography, mixed media, jewelry and who knows what else will be perfect for holiday shopping.
                                 ***
On the tube …
    So far so good for Boca’s Alexandra Agro, who hopes to become America’s Next Top Model. The FAU marketing major has no modeling experience, but she’s already survived several elimination rounds on the show that for the first time includes male contestants.
    Born in Lauderdale and raised in Palm City, Agro, who turns 22 in October, wants to be a businesswoman like her idol and the show’s producer,  Tyra Banks.
    In early August, Boca teens Brandon and Savannah Hudson were voted off America’s Got Talent, but hardly bummed, they’re heading west to seek fame and fortune in California. They’ve already played the House of Blues in L.A. and are weighing some recording offers.
    Boynton Beach real estate agent Amanda Zuckerman is having an interesting run on Big Brother. One TV blogger calls Big Brother 15 “pretty much Amanda Zuckerman’s Variety Hour,” but she’s also been accused of having one of her frequently exposed legs up on the other cast members because she’s friends with the show’s producer, Allison Grodner. Watermark Realty, a subsidiary of Prudential Florida, reportedly had the state “pull” her real estate license because of inactivity. She’s also made a few untoward remarks on camera that could be perceived as ethnically insensitive or worse. Stay tuned.
                                 ***
    The Marlins whetted his appetite, then John Henry bought the Red Sox and they won their first World Series titles in nearly a century. Next up, with an eye on regaining its traditional dominance in England’s Premiere League, Henry, who still owns a sprawling $7.5 million home in northwest Boca, bought the Liverpool Football Club. Seventeen months later, the Reds won the league championship. But the latest news may be the most ambitious, the most shocking and the most baffling. He recently bought the Boston Globe … for a comic-book price — $70 million.
The Globe was among the nation’s most respected and influential newspapers, but like many others in this crazy cyber age, it’s losing money faster than a Big Papi home run leaves Fenway Park. We can only wonder what Henry has in mind, but with Amazon Wunderkind Jeff Bezos buying The Washington Post, we can also wonder whether they have some new ideas that will wean readers from news “papers” to news “pods” and “tabs.”
                                 ***
The Wick Theatre debuts Sept. 19 in the old Caldwell Theatre building in Boca with The Sound of Music. The cast includes former Channel 12 news anchor Alan Gerstel.
                                 
Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Contact him at thomsmith@ymail.com.
                                                        
Christine Davis contributed to this column.

By Dan Moffett
    
Delray Beach commissioners’ campaign to tighten up their business dealings has grown so heated that even a contract for beach chairs can raise emotional warnings about extortion, loss of integrity and “whoring the city.”
    The commission voted 3-2 on Aug. 6 to seek bids from companies for leasing chairs and cabanas on the city’s beach — despite the fact that Oceanside Beach Service already has a contract to do it and came to the meeting offering commissioners a $45,000 payment if they’d give up on the bidding idea.
    Mayor Cary Glickstein called the offer “extortion” and said “some people would call it whoring the city.”
    “What is the fear of bidding?” Glickstein asked. He said the payment offer was an attempt at “circumvention of our city’s process” and warned that Delray’s image is already tarnished enough: “The city’s reputation is that it’s for sale.”
    Commissioners debated the matter for two hours during the stormy August meeting, after considering it for two hours during the July meeting when Oceanside brought in dozens of satisfied customers to help plead the company’s case.
    The commission has gone back and forth over the contract for months — twice voting to bid it out — since Glickstein and Commissioner Shelly Petrolia won their seats in March after campaigning to make city dealings more transparent.
    The argument against Oceanside isn’t over service, but the way the contract was signed. Former City Manager David Harden renewed the deal in 2012 without getting the commission’s approval and without getting bids.
    Petrolia says that way of doing business has to stop. “What message was sent when we allowed an unauthorized city employee to unilaterally renew a contract when we knew full well there was another vendor waiting in the wings waiting to pay more?” she asked. “What message did we send taxpayers of this city?”
    Petrolia said that allowing the contract to stand “will further tarnish the image” of the commission. “Our integrity is at stake,” she said. “This is no witch hunt. It is righting past wrongs.”
    Glickstein and Petrolia persuaded Commissioner Al Jacquet to side with them and vote for putting the beach contract out for bids. Commissioners Adam Frankel and Angeleta Gray dissented, arguing that seeking bids on an existing contract without cause for termination sends a bad message to the business community.
“The city manager at the time, Harden, is no longer here,” Gray said. “We can’t punish him. I don’t know why we’re punishing the vendor. Some would say we’re making things right. I don’t believe we’ve done anything wrong.”
    Over the course of two meetings, Jacquet had openly negotiated with Michael Weiner, attorney for Oceanside, over the size of the payment the company might make to keep the contract, saying he wanted a “win-win situation” for the city and vendor that would “bring some money into the city’s coffers.”
    But Gray called the idea “extortion,” and Glickstein and Petrolia agreed. The mayor said Oceanside could participate in the bidding like any other vendor, but the process would determine how much the contract was worth.
    “Why do you think he’s offering $45,000?” Glickstein said of Weiner’s proposal. “He’s offering it because he knows, or he thinks he knows, the competitive bidding process will produce bids much higher than that.”
    Weiner has suggested that Oceanside might sue if the commission decides to hire another vendor and warned that the company’s customers, who have seasonal contracts to rent chairs and cabanas, will be left in limbo. The company has been working on the beach since 2002.
    “There will be a consequence to pay if you end it early,” Weiner said. “It’s just not going to be a pleasant situation.”
    Anger over no-bid contracts helped carry Glickstein and Petrolia to office after trash hauler Waste Management landed a $65 million extension deal in 2012 without competition. Jacquet, Gray and Frankel were on the commission that let the controversial trash deal go through. “I would agree that the city has a history of cronyism that we need to address,” Jacquet said.
    Minutes later, he tried selling Weiner’s $45,000 offer to commissioners again, calling it “a decent number” and an improvement over the $30,000 offer he made in July.

See More Photos

Robyn Nassetta performs to Ease on Down the Road from The Wiz with her partner, Ivan Rivera. She was honored as Best Female Dancer.

 Dorothy MacDiarmid and partner Eric Dehant dance to Money, Money, Money from Mamma Mia.

Gary Collins grins as he accepts the trophy for Best Male Dancer.

More than 750 guests attended the event, which raised more than $230,000 for The George Snow Scholarship Fund.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Tim Pallesen  
    
Nights will be quieter in east Delray than in the downtown under the city’s new noise ordinance approved by commissioners on Aug. 20.
    The new law allows outdoor music until midnight on weeknights and until 1 a.m. on weekends along Atlantic Avenue from Federal Highway west to Swinton Avenue.
    But nightclubs and restaurants east of Federal must turn down the music after 11 p.m. seven nights a week.
    Tough new penalties will kick in for violations after those hours. Any sound that is plainly audible from 100 feet away can result in a conviction by the Code Enforcement Board, with fines that rise to $15,000 for five convictions in one year.
    “The fines are draconian,” protested Nick Nicholas, the co-owner of Johnnie Brown’s nightclub. “Either they cost you thousands of dollars or they put you out of business.”
    Commissioners were split on whether to allow the later hours for downtown nightclubs.
    “I have a problem linking loud outdoor music beyond midnight to the success of the downtown,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said.
    Commissioner Shelly Petrolia urged the others to consider the impact of late-night music upon residents who live near Atlantic Avenue.“Many have been there for 30 years. It’s our job to protect them,” Petrolia said. “I wouldn’t want to live next to raucous music until 1 a.m. on weekends.”
    Nicholas countered that the residents were being unfair.
    “People who live near a successful downtown know we have noise,” he said. “When I bought Johnnie Brown’s, I never believed it would be a problem to have bands there.”    
    Commissioners Angeleta Gray, Al Jacquet and Adam Frankel finally joined to vote 3-2 for the later downtown hours. Glickstein and Petrolia were opposed.
    “We don’t want to put anyone out of business,” Gray said.
    City police also will continue to issue civil citations for any noise that they believe is unreasonably loud, excessive or unnecessary anywhere in the city at any time of day. The citation, which doesn’t require a Code Enforcement Board hearing, carries a $250 fine.

By Tim O’Meilia

South Palm Beach Town Council members will hold the tax rate to the current level and give non-union employees their first pay increase in years if they approve a $1.7 million budget proposed by Town Manager Rex Taylor.
The council will dip into the town’s $2 million in reserves for $89,000 to balance the budget, $27,000 less than this year.
Included in the budget is a $33,000 police car and $62,000 for costs associated with an environmental study for a proposed beach project.
“This is a very good budget, a good millage rate. The employees have not received raises in two years,” Councilman Robert Gottlieb said at the conclusion of the Aug. 12 workshop.
If the proposed budget is unchanged during Sept. 10 and Sept. 24 public hearings, non-union employees will receive a $1,500 one-time bonus and a 1 percent cost-of-living increase. The town’s unionized police got the $1,500 lump sum payment this year and will receive $1,000 in the new budget.
Councilwoman Stella Jordan preferred giving dollar amount cost-of-living increases rather than a percentage pay raise.
“I believe it is critical that some salary adjustments occur this next year,” Taylor said.
The owner of a condo with a taxable value of $100,000 paid $432 in town taxes this year. If the value of his home increased the average 5.4 percent of other South Palm Beach condos, he would pay $455 under the new budget.
In other business last month, council members unanimously approved a new five-year contract for Taylor, who has worked under an open-ended agreement since he was hired in 2005.
Taylor will earn $106,000, his current salary, unless the town council makes cost-of-living adjustments. He also will receive 11.5 percent in deferred compensation and a $425-per-month car allowance. He’ll receive five months’ severance if he is fired without cause.

 South Palm Beach and Manalapan police officers were awarded commendations in  August from their town lawmakers.
Lt. Nick Alvaro of South Palm Beach was honored for guiding the police force to third place in a statewide Law Enforcement Challenge, earning $10,000 in police equipment for the department.
Competing with departments of similar size, Alvaro attended the seminars, compiled the statistics and conducted assessments to gather points for the department in traffic control, training, communications and other categories.
In his 13 years with South Palm Beach, Alvaro has earned the department an additional $65,000 in grants.  
Manalapan police officer Keith Shepherd was recognized for coordinating the rescue of an endangered swimmer off Ocean Inlet Park on Aug. 21. On patrol, Shepherd discovered the swimmer caught in a riptide, tracked his movements, alerted lifeguards down the beach and directed the lifeguards to the swimmer,  who was rescued without serious injury.
— Tim O’Meilia

By Tim O’Meilia

Twice before, Briny Breezes Mayor Roger Bennett has threatened to quit because of ill health, but he always returned. Now he really means it.
Bennett, who has guided the town of mobile homes with a quick quip and a gentle hand for seven years, announced at the Aug. 22 Town Board of Aldermen’s meeting that he would resign effective Oct. 24.
Bennett, 80, cited a health scare during the summer, from which he’s not fully recovered, and the ill health of his mother-in-law, who is 101. “Now I’ll have a happy home,” he teased.
“Our best mayor ever,” summed up Town Clerk pro tem Nancy Boczon, who joined the board of aldermen a year before Bennett.
In a town with a single part-time employee, the mayor’s post is largely ceremonial and doesn’t even have a vote. Over the years, Bennett has become the town’s unofficial operations manager, making sure the water lines are flowing and the sewage pumps working.
“Roger is concerned. He wants Briny to be good. He wants Briny to work. So Roger works,” Boczon said.
Bennett was elected mayor in 2007, during the tumult over the possible sale of the park to a developer. He has been elected to successive one-year terms ever since.
“I’ve been here since 1952, and I kind of know who is leading in the right direction,  and he’s been a well-liked leader,” Alderman Pete Fingerhut said.
Bennett has been the town’s primary contact person with other government agencies. “He’s been an excellent liaison with other towns,” said Board President Sharon Kendrigan.
He also has a knack for handling angry constituents and defusing volatile situations. “Roger’s never going to upset anybody, but he always gets his way,” Boczon said.
Bennett learned that skill as chairman of the Mass Communications Department at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.
 “When you’re dealing with 25 faculty members and 3,600 students, it’s always fraught with drama,” he said. “I’ve never been one to bulldoze people. I try to be sensible and forgiving.”
Bennett and his wife, Barbara, bought a lot in Briny in 1991 and moved there full time in 1995 when he retired. They’ve been married 52 years.
“I’ve had a good crew,” he said of Boczon, Kendrigan and Fingerhut, who served on the board with him for more than five years. “They’re a stable, bullheaded group. The town is in good hands.”
The Bennetts intend to stay in Briny. A son and daughter live nearby. His daughter was married on the beach this winter. “We’re Briny people,” he said.
He and Barbara intend to finish their 55-day cruise to England and Ireland that was interrupted by his illness this summer.
“We need to get our traveling done before our hips and knees give out,” he said.

By Tim O’Meilia

Elected officials in Ocean Ridge and Manalapan questioned the legal fees they are paying in a dispute over who pays for the Palm Beach County Inspector General’s Office.
While Ocean Ridge is considering reducing the fees or bailing out of the lawsuit, Manalapan took no action to leave the suit.
Ocean Ridge is spending more than three times the legal fees that other coastal communities — including Delray Beach — are paying in the 2-year-old disagreement with Palm Beach County.
 “We’re kicking in far more than our fair share,” said Ocean Ridge Town Commissioner Ed Brookes during a July 31 budget workshop in asking for an explanation.
Fourteen cities claim their residents are being double-taxed if the inspector general’s budget is paid by both Palm Beach County and the cities.
Ocean Ridge commissioners made clear at the Aug. 6 commission meeting that they wanted alternatives to the status quo, either opting out of the suit or assigning the legal dealings to another firm that is handling the suit for numerous cities.
Ocean Ridge has been billed $16,510 by its legal firm, Lewis, Longman & Walker, since the lawsuit over the inspector general was filed in November 2011 through April 2013.
Other South County plaintiffs in the suit — Delray Beach, Gulf Stream, Highland Beach and Manalapan — have paid a combined $17,226, according to each town’s records. Boca Raton’s legal fees could not be estimated by their in-house attorneys.
“On the face, it looks like Ocean Ridge has spent more than anybody,” said Town Attorney Ken Spillias.
In fact, Ocean Ridge is spending more on legal fees in the dispute than all but one of the 14 other municipalities involved, including Palm Beach Gardens. Only West Palm Beach has spent more, according to an analysis by The Palm Beach Post.
“If there’s a concern about that, I would point out the significance of the case,” Spillias said. He noted that Corbett, White & Davis is able to spread out its cost over the five towns it represents. Another firm, Jones Foster, represents three towns in the dispute. Spillias’ firm represents only Ocean Ridge.
Spillias said his firm does not intend to participate when the dispute goes to trial.
“I think we’d be better served going with Corbett, White,” Brookes said.
Ocean Ridge Commissioner Zoanne Hennigan and Vice Mayor Lynn Allison also questioned the costs. Hennigan asked whether the town could still benefit if it dropped out of the lawsuit and the cities won.
Spillias cautioned that withdrawing from the suit, as Wellington did in 2012, would “give the impression that the cities were buckling. It shows there’s a breaking of the will.”
If the town eventually has to pay a share of the Inspector General’s budget, Ocean Ridge would pay between $2,700 to slightly less than $4,000 annually.
“Are we spending a dollar to save a dime?” said Brookes.
Manalapan has paid $5,974 to its law firm, Corbett, White, and Commissioner Howard Roder charged that that the town attorney had promised the town’s involvement would have no cost because West Palm Beach in-house attorneys would be handling the case.
But a transcript of the October 2011 meeting when Manalapan commissioners voted to join the suit shows that then-Mayor Basil Diamond said there would be “minimal cost” in asking Town Attorney Trela White to review the pleadings to make sure the town was protected.
“I was authorized to do exactly what I have done,” White said. She said the fees increased because the inspector general tried to intervene in the case and that part of the case went to appeal, requiring her to examine more filings. The case is likely to go to trial.
Roder, who originally voted to join the suit, urged his fellow commissioners to abandon their involvement in it, especially since town voters supported the creation of the Inspector General’s Office.
 “I’ve learned differently. It is not double taxation. We should get out of this suit,” he said.
No one followed up on his request. 

By Tim O’Meilia
    
The choice for the Gulf Stream Town Commission was time or money.
    Award the long-awaited contract to put overhead utilities underground now or wait two months to make the award and perhaps save $165,000.
    They chose time.  
    By a 4-0 vote at their Aug. 13 meeting, commissioners awarded a $1.75 million contract to Hypower Inc. of Fort Lauderdale to begin work in September on the first phase of the $5.4 million project.
    Already 16 months behind schedule, commissioners said they didn’t want to further delay the project that residents voted to pay for in November 2011.
    “People coming down (from summer homes) will say where the heck’s the digging,” said Commissioner Bob Ganger.
    Although four contractors bid on the project, two were rejected because they did not include a crucial work schedule. One of them, Mastec North America, was the low bidder by $165,000.
    Hypower’s bid is less than town consulting engineer Danny Brannon’s estimate.
    Brannon recommended re-bidding the work anyway because he said that having only two responsive bidders was a solid reason for a do-over and a good chance for a lower price.
    “I’m always reluctant to award something to someone who can’t follow the rules,” Ganger said.
    Town Manager William Thrasher recommended accepting the low bid since Hypower was also more highly ranked on other criteria. Brannon said all four contractors were well-qualified.
    “There’s something to be said for those who come in with a complete bid,” said Commissioner Donna White.
    “Is $100,000 worth two months?” asked Mayor Joan Orthwein.
    Brannon expects landscape removal to begin immediately in the Phase 1 area, south of Golfview Road. Construction is set to begin in late September. If the work remains on schedule, the first phase would be completed by late September 2014. The work includes $228,000 for installation of 22 street lights that were not included in the original project.
    Phase 2 is scheduled to begin construction in May 2014 and be completed by August 2014.
    Even with the power, telephone and cable lines underground, the overhead lines and poles might not be removed by Florida Power & Light until months after the project is complete, Brannon said.

    In other business, commissioners:
    • Agreed unanimously to appoint a five-member ad hoc committee to recommend changes in the town’s design guidelines, including roofs, colors and home styles.
“Times have changed. There’s a lot of new construction in town. We’re interested in the town keeping its character but also being more flexible,” said Orthwein, who has pushed for changes.
The commission is hoping for volunteers and expects to consider applicants at the Sept. 9 meeting.
    • Briefly discussed the proposed budget, which would give 2.5 percent raises to town employees. Ganger noted that the pay raise is higher than this year’s Consumer Price Index uptick of 0.6 percent. Thrasher said the increase would cost the town $28,000 in a $3.2 million budget. The commission took no action. Final budget hearings are scheduled Sept. 13 and 24.
    • Approved unanimously the site plan for the fourth of six lots carved from the former Spence estate on North Ocean Boulevard. The plan for the Harbor View Estate lot is a 8.726-square-foot Colonial West Indies-style home, partially two stories with a three-car garage, pool and cabana.

Fannie James served as post mistress of the first post office in Lake Worth. Courtesy of Historical Society of Palm Beach County

By Ron Hayes

On June 15, 1889, a former slave named Fannie James filled out a lengthy form, asking the First Assistant Postmaster General in Washington, D.C., to approve a new post office on the western shore of Lake Worth in Dade County, Fla.
    It would serve a community to be called La Paz, she wrote — Spanish for The Peace.
    But no, on second thought, Mrs. James decided the community should be called Deer Park. She thought some more and X’d that out, too.
    Finally, she settled on Jewell, perhaps because she and her husband, Sam, were called the “black diamonds” by white homesteaders in the area.
    In her application, Mrs. James reported the population to be served would number 13.
    The post office was approved that September, and for the next 14 years, Mrs. James was its mistress, handling mail and operating a dry-goods shop she and Sam, a carpenter, ran on their 187-acre homestead.
    But the name Jewell didn’t last. In 1909, the northern chunk of Dade County became Palm Beach County, and on June 4, 1913, Jewell was incorporated as Lake Worth.
    Today, the tiny postal code that began with 13 residents boasts 39,000 citizens, 6.46 square miles, and a hundred years of history.
    In January 2012, when the Lake Worth Centennial Foundation gathered to plan the celebrations, a retired financial adviser from Wisconsin volunteered to explore the town’s past.
    “And what I found is that the history of the city since incorporation has been pretty well documented,” says Ted Brownstein, 62. “So I decided to write about the people who settled here before we were called Lake Worth.”
    A year and a half later, his research has given us Pioneers of Jewell: A Documentary History of Lake Worth’s Forgotten First Settlement (1885-1910).
The 236-page book is carefully documented, rife with reproductions of legal forms and property records, including Mrs. James’ post office application, and unsparing in its look at race relations.
    “What surprised me most was how well-respected the Jameses were during that homesteading period,” says Brownstein, who has a degree in ancient Near Eastern history from the University of Wisconsin. “They were well-liked, and they made a lot of money at that time, selling parcels of their land. They even loaned money back to the bank at interest.”
    Brownstein posits three distinct areas of racial history in the area: A homesteading era, when black residents like the Jameses were accepted; the Jim Crow period, from 1910 to 1960, when neighborhoods were segregated, and the modern period, as integration began to triumph.
    Brownstein explores the lives of a dozen little-known pioneers, the Jameses’ lives before Jewell, the history of the segregated “Osborne Colored Addition” and Ku Klux Klan activities during the 1920s.
    “I want people to come away from the book appreciating that we have a very diverse history, even though we went through a bad segregation period,” he says. “In a sense, we’ve returned to our roots, and the city is proud that Sam and Fannie James were our first citizens.”
    Sam James never knew Lake Worth. He died in 1909, age 81.
    On May 6, 1915, when Lake Worth was almost 2 years old, Fannie James was driving her horse and buggy north to West Palm Beach. Stopping to chat with a friend passing in the opposite direction, she was struck by a motorcar traveling south. She was 73, and died hours after emergency surgery.
    In its next edition, The Lake Worth Herald reported her death. She was, the paper said, a “pioneer of the Lake Worth district and once owner of all the land now embraced within the town limits.”
    The story was published on the front page.

    Pioneers of Jewell is available for $20 at Lake Worth City Hall, the Lake Worth Public Library and through amazon.com. All proceeds will be donated to the Friends of the Lake Worth Library.

By Tim Pallesen

    Get out the green confetti but not the green beer — the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade is a go for next year without alcohol.
    Delray Beach commissioners have approved the March 15 event with a $31,273 cost for the promoter.
    The fate of the 46th annual parade became uncertain last May when commissioners said they were being asked by downtown merchants to reduce the number of special events that close Atlantic Avenue.
An estimated 100,000 spectators watched this year’s March 16 parade, when the city waived enforcement of its law against open alcohol containers.
    Responding to the merchant concerns, Mayor Cary Glickstein asked the city’s special events coordinator at a May 14 meeting to rank downtown events for elimination.
Assistant City Manager Bob Barcinski named the St. Patrick’s Day Parade first.
    But Barcinski negotiated a compromise with parade promoter John Fischer that commissioners approved 4-0 at their Aug. 20 meeting.
    Fischer agreed to pay $17,503 for city overtime costs so police officers can be added to enforce the alcohol ban.
    “You’re going to need more police,” Glickstein told Fischer. “That’s critical as you move forward.”
    The promoter also must pay $12,030 for steel barricades to be erected from Federal Highway to the city tennis center to prevent children from running into the street for candy and trinkets.
    City officials haven’t decided whether to make arrests for drinking in public during the first year of the alcohol ban.
    “We’re asking the police to take a light hand the first year,” parade consultant Bern Ryan told commissioners. “We’re requesting that you get to dump your drink in the trash.”
    Ryan had warned after the May threat to discontinue the parade that the Irish in Palm Beach County would rise up to protest. “There will be a green storm,” he predicted at the time.
    The parade in recent years has evolved into what Fischer, a county firefighter, described in his application as “a tribute to firefighers worldwide.”
    More than 500 firefighters from Florida as well as New York City, Boston and two foreign countries marched in the parade last March. Twelve ladder trucks from Miami to Martin County hoisted giant banners along Atlantic Avenue proclaiming their hometowns.
    Fischer wrote in his parade application that firefighters “march shoulder-to-shoulder with pride, honor, tradition, patriotism and teamwork as a role model for our children to see.”
    Fischer could have avoided the $12,030 expense for barricades. But he said firefighters ignored his request to stop throwing candy and trinkets to children.

Alessandra Medri, the marine animal stranding coordinator for Palm Beach County’s Environmental Resources Management Department, checks on a pygmy sperm whale found near shore in Delray Beach on Aug. 28. Passersby and Delray Beach lifeguards stayed with and comforted the whale. After being examined by a veterinarian, the whale was found to be in failing health with no chance of recovery. It then was euthanized and transported to the Palm Beach Zoo for a necropsy. According to Dr. Kirt W. Rusenko, the marine conservationist at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, this is the sixth pygmy sperm whale stranding in the area since May. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star | More Photos