By Thom Smith

These are the times that try men’s souls …  especially in real estate.
    Blackstone Group, which owns the Boca Raton Resort & Club, Hilton Hotels and a few other big-ticket properties, is buying Motel 6 for $1.9 billion. (Don’t look for the Boca Resort to be converted.) And across Lake Boca Raton, at the inlet, is the spanking new One Thousand Ocean, the luxury condo marketed by Blackstone subsidiary LXR. Forty-four of the 52 units have been sold — the most recent in July closed for $5.15 million, all cash. You can bet they’ll leave the light on for the remaining units.
    A mile up the beach on Palmetto Park Road, more big players have come to town. On July 26, the Capponi Group, a Miami-based construction and development company, and Douglas Elliman, the largest residential real estate operation in New York, held a joint ribbon-cutting at their new Boca Raton offices. Handling the scissors were Michael Capponi and Elliman’s Florida boss, Vanessa Grout.
    Down south, Capponi is a household name. For two decades he was the king of South Beach nightclub and social scene. Forget the A-list. His was A-plus until the late ’90s, when a wealth of problems provided a large dose of maturity. Capponi still enjoys the good life, but now he shares his good fortune — American Red Cross, Feed the Children, Kosovo war relief, Caribbean hurricane relief. On the business side, in 2010 he signed on some of the best in the business, such as Boca’s Ken Gross, and founded Capponi Construction. Boca is his next frontier.
While Capponi was going wild in South Beach, Grout was cheerleading at The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach. She, too, had goals that included a law degree at the University of Miami and an MBA at NYU. Along the way, she clerked for lawyer Roy Black, who defended William Kennedy Smith, and did legal work for a Miami real estate company before signing on with the Vector Group, the New York-based parent of Elliman.
    “From there I worked up the ladder,” Grout said.
    To say the least. Now 33, Grout went from new hire to president and CEO of Elliman’s Florida operation in four years. Most of the credit, she says, goes to those who work with her. The company’s dominance in New York had helped to ease the move into South Florida, and international interest — “not just from South America” — hasn’t hurt either. “We’re already making $30-, $40-million deals in Miami,” she said.
    “The company’s growth and vision are so strong,” she said. “I strongly believe Elliman will be the strongest real estate firm in South Florida. To that end we’re always looking for talented individuals who share our goals.”
    Grout’s not all work and no play, although finding talent to top hers will not be easy. In her spare time, she plays classical piano, speaks fluent French and runs. Last November, she finished the New York City Marathon in 4:37:52, not bad for a first-timer.
    “It was my first and maybe my last,” she said. “It may take me a few years to get over it.”
    And this month, the old cheerleading memories will come back as she heads for her 15-year class reunion at The Benjamin School.
                         ***  
Thanks to a concerted effort by residents, businesses and city officials, Delray Beach beat out five challengers to be named “Most Fun Small Town in America” in the second annual Best of the Road Competition sponsored by Rand McNally and USA Today. In contention were Corning, N.Y., Santa Claus, Ind., Denton, Texas, Buena Park, Calif., and Geneva-on-the-lake, Ohio, but after diving on the 100-year-old shipwreck just offshore, visiting Old School Square for a performance by homegrown country star Amber Leigh and cruising Atlantic Avenue in a ’57 Chevy convertible, the judges were convinced.
“We’re so happy for you guys,” judge Anna Haas said in a note to the Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative after the winners were announced.  “It was such a hard decision, but we just kept feeling our hearts pulled towards Delray. At the end of the day, it’s not just the activities, it’s the people. You guys deserved the title.”
    It’s a pity the judges couldn’t enjoy one of the best deals of the year, the annual Tastemakers of Delray Beach. For a $30 passport bought at any of the 24 participating restaurants, participants enjoy food and beverage pairings Aug. 9 and 10, plus special Tastemakers promotions at the restaurants through Sept. 30. Take your pick, from Sundy House and 32 East at the west end to Deck 84 and Boheme to the east to Max’s Harvest, Solita and Off The Ave on side streets, this party delights the senses.  For details, check out  http://bocamag.com/blog/tastemakers-of-delray-beach.
                            ***
    Beach, Barbeque & Books is a crucial fundraiser every year for the Delray Beach Public Library, and especially this year with its centennial only months away. Set for Aug. 18 at the Delray Beach Club, this party for the entire family will be highlighted by a beach volleyball clinic and demonstration featuring Steve Grotowski, fresh from competing in the London Summer Olympics, plus several players affiliated with Incite Brands and other top-ranked East Coast professionals. Tickets — including one clinic, all the barbecue you can eat, nonalcoholic beverages, entertainment and swimming — are $50 for adults, $25 for 14 and under, and free for 3 and under. (www.delraylibrary.org or 266-0775)
                            ***
    It’s time for Boca Festival Days, a monthlong program organized by the Chamber of Commerce that pairs businesses and nonprofits to raise a little money for them and to bring a little zing to hot August nights. For a list of events, go to bocaratonchamber.com.
    One of the earliest bashes is Wine and All That Jazz, returning to the Boca Raton Resort & Club Saturday, Aug. 4. More than 100 fine wine tastings, food from Bogart’s, Blue Martini, Deck 84, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Oceans 234, the Resort & Club, Nipote’s Desserts, Red The Steakhouse, Rosso Italia and others. $50 or $100 for the VIP treatment that includes a casino (395-4433).
    It’s always one of the hottest events of the Festival Days — pun intended — and this year’s Boca Ballroom Battle, set for Aug. 17 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, will be no exception … even with not one Whelchel on the dance floor. Boca Mayor Susan Whelchel won the second battle and son Jay prevailed two years ago. But while the family is blessed with gifted athletes, the others are less terpsichorean.
    Asked if her husband, John, might consider giving it a shot, the mayor laughed, “only if it has something to do with golf.”
    The competition nonetheless will be fierce. In the spirit of Dancing With the Stars, the eight contestants have been practicing since May at Fred Astaire Studios, including Kristin Calder, who had delivered her third child only two months prior.
    Calder, who runs public relations for the Bethesda Hospital Foundation, will compete against Darci McNally from Lynn Cancer Institute, community volunteer Beth Osborne and philanthropist Lisa Pechter. Male challengers include Peter Baronoff of Promise Healthcare, JKG Group President Bob Gittlin, South Palm Beach  County YMCA CEO Richard Pollock and HSBC Bank’s Fernando X. Rodriguez.
    The Battle benefits the George Snow Scholarship Fund, which this year awarded $500,000 to 73 recipients. For tickets — $150 for members, $225 for non-members — call 347-6799.
                            ***
    Since we have our dancing shoes on, we’ll head across the Camino bridge on Aug. 25 to Carmen’s at the Top of The Bridge Hotel for “Dancing in the Sky IV,” a benefit organized by Shopping for Soldiers to help injured and ill soldiers, homeless veterans  and their families in Palm Beach County.
    In addition to the dancing, guests can enjoy hors d’oeuvres, a complimentary drink, chef’s tables, dessert and coffee. Tickets start at $40 ($45 after Aug. 20) and reserved tables are available. (860-3173)
                               ***

Boca resident Elaine Jahnsen has a burger with her friend Danny Catalano at Boca Burger Battle.

When it comes to home cooking, it looks like Boca is the place …  for burgers, anyway. In the first Boca Burger Battle, held July 14 in Sanborn Square, 20 restaurants from Pembroke Pines to Palm Beach Gardens competed. But when the smoke cleared, the 10 judges awarded Boca restaurants first and third in the traditional division and first and second in the alternative group.
    The chefs offered a kitchenful of ingredients including knockwurst, turkey sausage, fried eggs, cucumber salad, roasted pear, grilled eggplant, pickled onions, pickled tomatoes, stouts and ales and some potent spirits (Jack Daniels was a sponsor).

The Rebel House’s Tuscan burger won first place.
 Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Setting a high bar in the traditional category was the entry from one of Boca’s newest and totally untraditional restaurants, The Rebel House — a Tuscan-style burger with Charm City Sauce, pickled tomatoes and crispy onions on a toasted sesame bun. Taking a close second was Gimme a Burger, a popular Deerfield Beach joint, with prime Angus stacked with applewood-smoked bacon, pepper jack cheese and fried egg, set on a challah bun; followed by Boca’s Big Joe’s Burgers & Wings with his Big Joe burger — a thick patty with house-made tangy blue cheese and bacon.
Winning the alternative division was The English Tap & Beer Garden’s ahi tuna slider with wasabi mayo and seaweed salad on a mini baguette. Taking second was Boca’s 4th Generation Market with an American cheeseburger made with and served alongside an English beer, while Irie Spice, a Fort Lauderdale bistro offered a turkey burger with a cilantro-lime sauce, tropical slaw and mango dressing.
 Rebel House also took the People’s Choice vote, followed by Super Dave’s Diner and Red’s Backwoods BBQ. Organizers were thrilled with the turnout and promise a second burger battle next summer.
                            ***
    Not all news in burger-land is good. After six decades on County Road, Palm Beach’s legendary Hamburger Heaven has closed. Landlord troubles, claimed owner Cynthia Rosa, who promises to reopen somewhere else, possibly Palm Beach Gardens.
                            ***
    Back to the subject of wine, L’Escalier at The Breakers once again has received Wine Spectator’s Grand Award for its superb wine service, one of only 75 restaurants worldwide to be so honored. Of 17 South Florida restaurants earning the magazine’s second-tier Best of Award of Excellence, five are in Palm Beach County: Arturo’s in Boca Raton, noted for its California, Italy and Bordeaux selections; Café Boulud, Palm Beach (France, California); Café l’Europe, Palm Beach (California, Bordeaux, Burgundy); Fifth Avenue Grill, Delray Beach (California, Bordeaux); and Marcello’s La Sirena, West Palm Beach (Italy, California, France).
    Constantly rated among the top restaurateurs for food and wine in South Florida is Angelo Elia. His Casa D’Angelo in Fort Lauderdale, with a cellar boasting 20,000 bottles, is on Wine Spectator’s second-tier list for the 12th year. Its Boca Raton sibling, also called Casa D’Angelo, again earned the magazine’s Award of Excellence.
    His newest baby, D’Angelo Trattoria in Delray, is not yet 2, but Elia is giving it a fatherly nudge with its first premiere wine dinner on Aug. 7. Chef Rickie Piper will present four courses, highlighted by braised lamb shank and paired with appropriate Italian wines for a mere $50. Obviously, reservations (330-1237) are a must.   
                               ***

Bartender Mark Neumann speaks with customers at The Little House in Boynton Beach. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

    At 823 square feet, The Little House isn’t the biggest restaurant on the planet, but it’s a big deal in Boynton Beach. Its grand opening is still a couple of weeks away, but in mid-July Chrissy Benoit opened softly to make sure the breakfast burritos, Benedict Benoit, mac and cheese and Indian butter chicken cook up just right and the 20 craft beers flow from their taps at the  right temperature.
    It’s a far cry from the 1940s and ’50s, when it was a small frame cottage a few blocks away and Ruth Jones was raising a carload of kids in it. The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency bought the cottage and moved it six blocks to Ocean and Fourth hoping it will give the downtown area new life. The Jones kids are grown and Ruth is still around, so when Benoit opened the doors for business, she was there and spent several hours greeting customers and regaling them with stories about the old days.
Definitely a good start.
    Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Find him at thomsmith@ymail.com.

By Steve Plunkett

Fond recollections and a stirring tribute to the late Mayor William Koch Jr. marked the Gulf Stream Town Commission’s first meeting in the post-Koch era.

Town Attorney John “Skip” Randolph remembered being a “wet behind the ears” lawyer in 1971 and meeting the “somewhat intimidating” mayor.

“It took me a while, but I ultimately learned that Bill Koch’s gruff exterior was just a facade and that his bark was much worse than his bite,” Randolph said. “In truth he was a pussycat.”

Randolph said he had many reasons to enjoy being Gulf Stream’s town attorney but that the primary reason was Koch.

“I will miss the way that Bill Koch could always bring harmony to the town in those rare instances in which there was disagreement,” Randolph continued.

“I will miss watching him trim the budget at budget time in an effort to keep the millage rate one of the lowest in Palm Beach County, and I will miss watching the managers squirm as he hacked away at their budget.”

Randolph said he was surprised to hear how sick Koch had been in his final months, how Town Clerk Rita Taylor would take documents to his bedside for him to sign and how the mayor would still preside over commission meetings.

“I remarked to him recently how good he looked and how amazed I was that he was able to come to these commission meetings. His response to me was characteristic.

He said, ‘I’m a tough guy.’

“Yes, Mayor Koch, you were a tough guy, or so you would have had us believe,” Randolph said.

“But I learned in knowing you for 41 years, whether you would admit it or not, you were a kind and gentle man who had a heart of gold. “So here’s to you, Mr. Tough Guy. We miss you. And let all who are listening hear this: Your little town of Gulf Stream will never be the same without you.”

Taylor read letters of condolence from Boynton Beach Mayor Woodrow Hay, former League of Cities executive director Jamie Titcomb and current league director Richard Radcliffe.

“We can only pray to have a legacy that comes close to that of Mayor Koch,” Hay wrote.

“We are certain that he will be missed for his talents, his contributions to the community at large and his wry sense of humor,” Titcomb said.

Commissioner Garrett Dering was so moved by Randolph’s remarks that he asked for a copy of the tribute to be hung in the lobby of Town Hall and mailed to every household.

“You’re not going to charge us anything for it, are you?” he asked Randolph, invoking one of Koch’s familiar barbs.

In the audience were Koch’s daughter, Claudia Burns, and her husband, Scott, who left after the tributes.

“I know Mayor Koch would want you to get on with the meeting,” Scott Burns said.

In a public hearing over whether to permit Paul Lyons Jr. to add 324 square feet to his residence on Polo Drive, architect Roy Simon began by saying he, too, missed Koch.

“Mayor Koch?” Taylor asked one more time, seeking a yea or nay in the resulting roll call vote. She quickly corrected herself to say, “Mayor Orthwein?” After so many years it will be a hard habit to break, Taylor said. 

Delray Beach City Manager David Harden reflected on Boca Raton when he announced his retirement after 22 years.
“I encountered a lot of Boca envy when I came in 1990,” Harden told city commissioners at a July 17 meeting. “People were ashamed to admit that they had a Delray address,” said Harden, the longest-serving city manager in Palm Beach County.
    Delray won the prestigious All-America City award twice during Harden’s tenure. He said the envy between Boca Raton and Delray Beach has switched.
    “To see that totally reversed is of great satisfaction to me,” Harden told commissioners. “Now Boca wants to be like Delray.”
    Harden, who turns 70 in November, listed construction of the tennis center and relocation of Atlantic High School as his two most challenging projects. The city also eliminated flooding problems, built or rebuilt four of its fire stations, expanded parks and landscaped medians under his direction.
    Harden said he inherited a sense of hopelessness on the city’s west side in 1990. “While many challenges remain in race relations, I find that residents in those neighborhoods are hopeful for a better future,” he said.
    Harden will leave his job in January.
—  Tim Pallesen

Workers from GLF Construction Corp. use a crane to hoist materials while demolishing and rebuilding the Ocean Avenue Bridge in Lantana. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Tim O’Meilia

Former South Palm Beach Mayor Martin Millar filed a complaint last month with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, claiming that South Palm Beach Police Chief Roger Crane threatened him in the Plaza del Mar parking lot.
    A Sheriff’s Office detective has interviewed Millar, Crane and Manalapan Police Chief Carmen Mattox, who witnessed the July 11 incident. A Sheriff’s Office spokesman confirmed that an investigation is ongoing but would not comment further.
    Millar said he was leaving a jewelry store in the shopping center when he saw Crane and Mattox. He said he asked Crane for the return of property his ex-wife left at the South Palm Beach Police Department. He said that police previously had refused to return his property, which he said included a registered handgun, when he went to the police station.
    “He called me a punk. He came towards me. I had to retreat,” the former mayor said. Millar said Crane should be arrested for assault.
    Crane said he told Millar that he was unaware of Millar’s attempt to retrieve his property until after the incident. He said Millar harangued him over the property and also complained about his photograph being removed from an array of former mayors in the Town Hall. “I might have taken a step toward him but there was no threat,” Crane said. He admitted he called Millar a punk.
    Crane said Millar needed the receipt his ex-wife was given when she left the property at the police station to retrieve the gun and other property.
Receipt in hand, Millar picked up his goods several days later, Crane said.
    Millar later tried to file a complaint with Manalapan police, since the incident occurred at the shopping center in Manalapan. Mattox said that because he was a witness, he advised Millar to file his complaint with the Sheriff’s Office. Mattox would not comment further on the incident.
    Millar was a councilman for four years and mayor for almost two. He resigned in December 2010 after the state ethics commission fined him $3,000 for trying to to influence West Palm Beach officers after he was tossed out of a strip club.    

By Tim O’Meilia
    
The South Palm Beach Town Council set a tentative tax rate of $4.39 per $1,000 of taxable property value for next year, but promised to try to trim that figure during budget workshops and hearings this month and in September.
    The new rate would be a 1.6 percent increase over the current $4.32 rate if it remains unchanged.
The rate would bring in roughly the same amount of property tax as this year. The town’s property values continued to decline, falling by 1.7 percent — $4.5 million.
    “I’m very disappointed we have the rollback rate,” said Councilwoman Stella Jordan. “It may not be a tax increase to the state, but it is to residents because the tax rate increases.”
    The council set a budget workshop for 8:30 a.m. Aug. 7 and budget hearings for 7 p.m. Sept. 4 and Sept. 19. The council also moved its Sept. 25 council meeting to Sept. 19.
    The budget proposed by Town Manager Rex Taylor anticipates no salary increases for town employees.
It includes $38,000 for new video and audio equipment and new audience chairs for the council chambers, $20,000 for building improvements and $15,000 for replacement office equipment.  

    In other business, Taylor said the town and the police bargaining unit expect a magistrate’s ruling by September following a July hearing. The town and the Police Benevolent Association are at an impasse on the town’s first collective bargaining agreement, prompting the hearing.  

By Tim O’Meilia

    It’s the old “good news/bad news” cliché.
    The good news is that the elusive environmental impact study for the perhaps illusory plan to save South Palm Beach’s eroding beach and maintain Lantana’s seawall is being revived.
    The bad news is that the project has been removed from the list of beach projects to be included in the new inlet-to-inlet beach management plan being written by state, county and municipal officials to guide future work.
    The not-so-bad-after-all news is that the project likely will be placed back on the list once engineers and biologists decide the newest approach to save South Palm Beach condos from falling into the sea.
    “We’re going ahead with the environmental impact study with the idea that there will be no structures,” meaning breakwaters or groins, said Dan Bates, deputy director of Palm Beach County’s Department of Environmental Resource Management.
    The original 1.3-mile project from southern Palm Beach to Manalapan included a series of off-shore concrete breakwaters and several groins, but the plan stalled after county commissioners rejected a similar plan for Singer Island. Commissioners were concerned about the effects on sea turtle nesting and sea grasses.
    South Palm Beach Town Manager Rex Taylor was pleased that the environmental study had been revived, although he blamed county commissioners for the delay.
    In June, county commissioners made clear that the environmental study should emphasize solutions that do not include hard structures. The difficulty is that extensive hardbottom off the South Palm Beach shoreline makes a simple sand restoration project nearly impossible to be permitted.
    Scientists concluded that sand renourishment would result in the hardbottom being covered, destroying the habitat of near-shore marine life. Bates said a scaled-back sand restoration project may be possible, depending on the results of the environmental study.  
    However, the county already has indicated the area would not be eligible for any more sand dune restoration because the sand is too quickly washed away in the next storm.
    The study is being combined with a similar study of Reach 8 in Palm Beach, from the Lake Worth beach to the northern boundary of South Palm Beach. A restoration project there had been previously denied because of similar environmental concerns.
    The regional plan would allow a regional approach to beach management resulting in more effective projects and quicker state approvals for individual projects. The proposed plan includes seven projects that have been approved or will be renewed between the Lake Worth and Boynton inlets.
    “We can’t include a project that the Corps of Engineers may not approve,” said Danielle Fondren, director of the state Bureau of Beaches and Coastal Systems, referring to the South Palm Beach and Reach 8 projects.
    A first draft of the regional plan will be considered at a Sept. 18 meeting in Palm Beach. State organizers hope five municipalities — including Lantana, South Palm Beach and Manalapan — will sign on, as well as Palm Beach County, the primary source of money.
    Included is an annual inlet-to-inlet shoreline monitoring program that would be paid for by all five towns, even if they have no projects imminent. Each would be assessed based on its amount of shoreline: a half mile (3.2 percent) for South Palm Beach, 0.2 miles (1.3 percent) for Lantana and 2.7 miles (17.2 percent) for Manalapan.
    The town of Palm Beach would pay more than 75 percent of the cost. The annual cost has not been determined.
    Lantana Town Manager Deborah Manzo said that signing the agreement will be the council’s decision. She urged that the agreement have an endpoint, such as five years, so partners could decide whether to continue.                  

By Mary Thurwachter

    BOCA RATON — Ed Morse, who built one of the most respected automobile dealer groups in the country, died of natural causes on June 29.
Mr. Morse, 91, began his automotive career in 1946. At the time of his death, Morse’s company had 15 locations in Florida. He and his son, Ted, served as co-chairmen.
Mr. Morse was born in 1921 and served as a navigator on a B-25 during World War II. When a pilot was wounded and co-pilot killed in a mission in the South Pacific, Mr. Morse helped fly the plane back to the base in New Guinea. That effort earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the country’s highest military honors and one of several military honors he received.
    Back from war, Mr. Morse worked as a doorman at a Miami Beach hotel. Along with his father, Alex, he founded Morse Motors, a 20-car fleet rental company, in 1946. After the fleet grew to 20,000 cars, the company merged with National Car Rental and Mr. Morse became chief executive officer.
    In 1961, he bought his first dealership, Morse Holland Ford in Miami. By 1968, he had built a solid relationship with General Motors and started Ed Morse Chevrolet in Lauderhill and Ed Morse Bayview Cadillac in Fort Lauderdale.
In the 1980s, eight more dealerships were added, followed by 20 more in the 1990s.
    Mark Jones of Fort Lauderdale began working with Mr. Morse’s company as an apprentice in 1981.
    “I had many opportunities to meet Mr. Morse,” Jones said. “His great business sense and motto to promote from within has left the organization with many dedicated, long-term employees.”
    The Ed Morse Automotive Group has received numerous recognitions over the years, including being recognized as the World’s Largest Automotive Dealer by Automotive Age magazine and Largest Volume Chevrolet, Cadillac and Mazda Dealer by Automotive News.
    He supported many charities, including the Muscular Dystrophy Association, for which his company has raised more than $1.3 million through the Ed Morse annual MDA golf tournament.
    He is survived by his wife, Carol; son Ted (Patti) and daughter, Betty Anne Beaver (Dick); grandchildren Teddy Morse (Erica), Catherine Morse Martinez (Chris), Richard Danahy (Laura), and Brian Danahy (Jolie); five great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Nancy Stringer (Jack) and Pricilla Ropp.
    Services for were held on July 6 at the FAU Auditorium. The family asks that donations in Mr. Morse’s name be sent to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Lupus Foundation of America.

By Price Patton

DELRAY BEACH — John Frederick Peart, a soft-spoken and humble Canadian native who moved to Delray Beach in the late 1960s and became a champion and protector of Florida’s fragile shoreline, dunes and the turtles that nested there, died July 1. He was 75.
Mr. Peart founded Universal Beach Services in 1973. He won contracts to clean beaches from the Panhandle to the Florida Keys, as well as contracting with many Palm Beach County cities and private beachfront homeowners.
A man of few words, he became animated whenever the topic around the table turned to beach preservation and dune restoration.
    During his nearly 40 years in business, he moved hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of sand to restore dune lines and protect property on the shore, yet always mindful of the endangered turtles that nested there each season.
    He reconstructed a beach in the Florida Keys that had been decimated by a hurricane, using only the resources available at the site.
    Mr. Peart, a sun-bronzed man with strong, calloused hands, was an entrepreneur and a tireless worker. He designed and built all of his own equipment.
    His son, Clayton Peart, who manages the business, has been involved in the operations for the last 10 years.
    “I’ve learned a lot from him and one of the things I learned was that he didn’t get complacent but always looked for new ideas and approaches.”
    In 1977, Mr. Peart became Delray Beach’s first turtle monitor.
On the eve of a massive beach renourishment program, Mr. Peart carefully dug up and transferred thousands of leathery, ping-pong-ball-sized turtle eggs to new homes so they would not get crushed under the tons of sand that were going to be pumped onshore.
    Newspaper articles at the time dubbed him the “midwife” of the endangered sea turtles.
    As a young man, Mr. Peart studied aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta for two years before moving to the Bahamas, where he bartended and worked for engineering companies so he could spend time free diving, which was what he loved most.
    After several years, he returned to Canada to get his bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Saskatchewan. He eventually came back to South Florida and settled in Delray Beach.
    One of his Canadian childhood friends, Ken Willoughby, remarked that it was fitting he died on Canada Day, July 1, the date in 1867 when Canada became a self-governing dominion of England.  As much as Mr. Peart loved Florida, the Bahamas, the ocean and the beaches here, his Cana-dian heritage was always close to his heart.
    He is survived by wife, JoAnn Kern Peart; sons Curtis (Joanne) Peart of Atlanta; Clayton Peart of Delray Beach; daughter Ann Margo Peart of Delray Beach; daughter-in-law Esther Peart of Miami; brother Tom (Margaret) Peart of Penticton, British Columbia; five grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by son Sean Peart, father John William Peart, mother Ruth Brown Peart, and sister Olive Peart Beveridge.
    A memorial service was held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Delray Beach on July 7. The family asks that in his memory, donations may be made to the Sandoway House Nature Center, the Delray Beach Preservation Trust and Trinity Lutheran Church.

By Ron Hayes

    BOCA RATON — Try to imagine Boca Raton without any jewelry stores.
    First, you would have to imagine Boca Raton without Joseph Altier.
Today, the city is home to at least 12 prominent jewelers, but when Altier Jewelers opened in 1960, it was the first.   
    Mr. Altier died on July 15 with Marjorie, his wife of 58 years, by his side. He was 88.
    “My grandfather was the kindest person I’ve ever known,” recalls his grandson, Cutler Altier. “He was known for giving away bottles of wine. He would just carry all this wine around in his car, and if he got into a conversation with anyone, he’d say, ‘Here, I’ve got something for you,’ and hand them a bottle. He would carry shoes in his car and give them to the homeless. Clothes. Money. He was a one-of-a-kind guy.”
    Was Mr. Altier a wine connoisseur?
    “No, he just liked to give it away,” his grandson laughed. “He liked his beer. Beer and a handful of peanuts.”
    Joseph R. Altier was born on Dec. 16, 1923, in Scranton, Pa., the youngest of 13 children, and educated in its public schools.
    A tank driver with the U.S. Army during World War II, he served in both North Africa and Europe.
    After the war, a vocational guidance counselor suggested he would be a good watchmaker. Mr. Altier opened a small watch shop, which he developed into Altier Jewelers in Scranton, where it is still owned and operated by nieces and nephews.
    The Altiers vacationed in Fort Lauderdale, where friends told him, “There’s a little town just north of us with no jewelry store,” his grandson said.
    Altier Jewelers has been a fixture in Boca Raton ever since.
    In later years, it was operated by Mr. Altier’s son, William, who died in 1993. His grandson now runs the business at 701 S. Federal Highway.
    In addition to his wife and grandson, Mr. Altier is survived by two sons, Joseph Jr. of Delray Beach, and Alex of Coral Springs; seven other grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
    A funeral Mass was held July 20 at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, followed by interment at Boca Raton Mausoleum.
    Donations in Mr. Altier’s memory may be made to the George Snow Scholarship Fund, 1860 N. Dixie Highway,  Boca Raton, FL 33432, or to the Louis and Anne Green Memory & Wellness Center at Florida Atlantic University.

By Liz Best
    
BOCA RATON — Gene Ehlers will be remembered not only for his professional accomplishments, but also for the way he lived day-to-day: with elegance, dignity, generosity and an ever-present twinkle in his eye.
    “I hope everyone will live the way he did,” his stepdaughter, Jackie Westerfield, said. “The world would be a better place. And that twinkle in his eye — it seemed like he knew something the rest of us don’t know.”
Mr. Ehlers, 83, died at his Boca Raton home on July 18.
A native of Reinbeck, Iowa, Mr. Ehlers served in the United States Army before launching a successful business career. He worked in both sales and management positions before purchasing General Leaseways Inc. in 1971. Mr. Ehlers grew General Leaseways from a small local car and truck-leasing company to the second largest family owned truck rental and leasing firm in the nation. Renamed General Car and Truck Leasing System Inc., the operation owned more than 5,000 trucks in 13 states. He also began General Logistics, a specialized trucking company, in 1987.
    After moving to Florida in 1988, he and his wife, Carolyn, founded Grandview Preparatory School of Boca Raton in 1997. Mr. Ehlers also served on the board of trustees for Lynn University and was a longtime member of the Congregational Church of Boca Raton.
    “It was always a pleasure to see Gene and his family entering our church for worship nearly every Sunday morning, all with smiling hellos,” said the church’s lay leader, Sarah Hugus.
    In the eulogy she delivered at his memorial service, his stepdaughter credited the man she called “Dad” for shaping her world.
    “The world I know was made possible by this hardworking, brilliant, witty, often stubborn, always generous, man from Iowa,” she wrote. “In my entire life I never (witnessed him) curse, keep his hat on indoors, or do anything the easy way. From the smallest to the largest of things, he stood taller and walked further than what was expected.”
    In addition to his wife and stepdaughter, Mr. Ehlers is survived by two sons, Michael Ehlers and David Ehlers; a daughter, Jamie Ehlers; and eight grandchildren.
    A memorial service was held July 25 at the Congregational Church of Boca Raton. The family asks that memorial donations be made to the church, the Grandview Foundation, or Hospice By The Sea.

By Angie Francalancia

After three tries to get Palm Beach County to allow Boynton Beach to remove an old building at the city’s marina, the Community Redevelopment Agency has pulled its request.
    But that doesn’t mean the building will remain in use, nor does it mean its former tenant, Splashdown Divers, will be back in the old spot.
    The city can move forward with renovation plans, including erecting a new, code-compliant building, ignoring the old building for now, City Attorney Jim Cherof said.
    County commissioners agreed, though, after the issue no longer was before them, that they wanted to work with Boynton’s CRA, and Commissioner Steven Abrams has scheduled a meeting with city and CRA officials Aug. 2.
    The meetings before the County Commission had hinged on helping the building’s former tenant, Lynn Simmons’ Splashdown Divers — a nonissue, according to CRA Executive Director Vivian Brooks.
    Simmons had sued the CRA, alleging she had been promised a permanent spot once renovations to the marina were complete. The CRA’s proposed new marina building could not be made large enough to accommodate a dive shop, though. Simmons signed a settlement agreement to the 2-year-old suit last fall that gave her a long-term rental guarantee on her dive boat slip and almost $19,000 credit on the slip rent.
    But Simmons continued to fight the CRA’s efforts, rallying friends to tell the County Commission the CRA had run her out of the marina.
    The CRA thought it had complied with everyone’s wishes earlier in the month because, at the county’s request, it had helped Simmons find another location within the marina. But when Boynton leaders returned to the County Commission on July 10, commissioners and Simmons again weren’t satisfied.
    “We’ve bent over backwards in trying to resolve this,” Mayor Woodrow Hay told commissioners at the meeting. “Whatever we do, it’s not good enough.”
At the CRA’s own meeting that night, the members agreed to pull their request.
    “Going back there is only going back to get slapped around a little,” Cherof said.
    The CRA had sought an amendment to the agreement it signed that prevents material changes to the marina.
As Boynton goes through its budget process, it will decide what steps to take next, said Brooks, including the possibility of erecting its new proposed building on marina property north of the existing building.
    Some Boynton officials pushed to have the old building razed immediately, believing the agreement didn’t specifically require Boynton to keep a space for the dive shop.
    “I think it’s time to move forward, just tear down the building and move forward with our plans,” Commissioner Bill Orlove said at the CRA meeting, one of his last before he resigned to take a new
job.              

By Christine Davis
    
Nine South County Realtors were named on the sixth annual “Top 250” lists of U.S. agents in The Wall Street Journal/REAL Trends Thousand report. Compiled as part of a special advertising section co-sponsored by The Wall Street Journal and Real Trends, the ranking was based on either the total dollar amount of their 2011 “closed transaction volume” or on the number of closed transactions for both Realtors and Realtor teams.
    Three area Realtors ranked in the category of Top 250 sales professionals by closed transaction volume.  David W. Roberts of Royal Palm Properties in Boca Raton was ranked No. 16 on the list, with a reported transaction volume of  $148,960,275. Pascal Liguori of Premier Estate Properties in Delray Beach was ranked No. 49, with a volume of  $85,850,000 followed by Scot Karp, of Premier Estate Properties in Boca Raton, who ranked No. 132 with a volume of  $51,584,500.
    Each was also on the 2011 list. Last year, Roberts ranked No. 36 with $88,542,000; Liguori ranked No. 50 with $72,465,000 and Karp placed No. 234 with $36,992,500.
    Roberts, Royal Palm Properties broker/owner, said he’s lived and worked in the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club for more than 25 years. “I’m established in that community. When it was time to re-price the market, people listened to me because of my longevity.
    “Interestingly, last year, a lot of my clients came from within the community. People bought additional or adjoining properties, so that helped the market.”
    In 2009, Robert was No. 7 on the list with a volume of $123,938,332.
“In 2010, I was No. 36. When the banking crisis came to the forefront, people were immobilized and didn’t take action. It took them to 2011 to feel confident again.”
    Concerning this year’s volume, Roberts says he’s having a good year and is on track again.
    Broker associate Pascal Liguori of Premier Estate Properties in Delray Beach said he’s proud to have maintained his ranking on the list, and has done so for the past four years, consecutively.
 “Agents from New York and California tend to dominate the list because their price-per-property is much higher, but the market shows significant improvement from two years ago. The number of closed transactions for single-family residences is up in my area, which includes Delray Beach, Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge and Manalapan,” he said.
    “Also, sale prices are rebounding, days on the market is down and inventory of active listings for sale has gone down from a year ago. June is a benchmark, and I see I’m on track to rank on the list again in 2013.”
    Scot Karp, director of the ultra-luxury division of Premier Properties in Boca Raton, attributes his higher placement on the list to be the result of the timing of his transactions coming together.
    “I don’t see the market as getting stronger, but it’s starting to stabilize,” he said.
    “We did make more transactions in 2011, and, so far, I’m on track for similar production this year. We are seeing that the ease of lifestyle of these condominiums has drawn people.”
 One individual Realtor and two Realtor-teams also placed in two of the three additional categories. In Top 250 sales professionals by closed transaction sides, Diane Keane of Coldwell Banker Palm Beach/NRT in Delray Beach, ranked 244 with 125.25 transactions.
    In the Top 250 Teams by Closed Transaction Volume category, the Carmen D’Angelo/Joseph Liguori/Gerard Liguori team of Premier Estate Properties in Boca Raton, ranked No. 63 with a reported transaction volume of $90,512,500, followed by the Mark Nestler/John Poletto team of Nestler Poletto Sotheby’s International Realty in Boca Raton, who ranked No. 124 with a reported transaction volume of $65,385,550.
    While Real Trends requests surveys from a wide variety of sources, sales professionals who meet Real Trends’ minimum threshold of business may also request an application. A $25 application fee per person is required upon submission. Data must be verified by an independent source and staff at Real Trends reviews submissions for accuracy.
    According to the July 19, 2012, report from the Realtors’ Association of the Palm Beaches, closed single-family home sales increased 65.2 percent, up from 824 in February 2012 to 1,361 in June 2012. The median single-family home in Palm Beach County increased 18.4 percent, up from $190,000 in February to $225,000 in June. The median price of townhomes and condos increased 17.3 percent, up from $75,050 in February to $88,000 in June, and closed sales increased 37.6 percent up from 913 in February to 1,256 in June.
    In Delray Beach, June’s year-to-date closed sales were 2.6 percent lower than in June year-to-date 2011. New listings were up 12 percent. Properties were on the market for 142 days and the percentage of the original price received was 86.2 percent, representing a 2 percent increase. The median price is up 34.8 percent, to  $120,000. In Boca Raton, closed sales were down 9.8 percent. Properties were on the market for 160 days and the percentage of the original price was 86.4 percent. The median price was up 14.5 percent, to $229,000.           

The ‘volunteer pack’ of people who organized the seventh annual garage, estate and bake sale to benefit Dezzy’s Second Chance Animal Rescue Inc. said they brought in more than $6,000 at this year’s event. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Artist Paul ‘Paulo’ Slater displays art elements during the ‘pre-release’ of the Jellyfish Drift Project at Oceanfront Park in Ocean Ridge. The ‘Jellyfish Drift Project’ is a community-sponsored project by ‘PAULO,’ to boost beach cleanup efforts. Slater was unable to release the Jelly Fish Drift artwork in the Gulf Stream as planned. Efforts to find a boat to launch the artwork are still being made.  Below is a detail of one of the art pieces.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Chefs and others meet at the Spice & Tea Exchange in Mizner Park to prepare rubs/spices for Boca’s Burger Battle. Pictured are (l-r) Felicia Steinberg, whiskey ambassador for Brown-Forman; Mary Lou Smith, manager of the Spice & Tea Exchange; Chef Christopher Grieco of Boca di Beppo; Chef Lee Blakley, executive chef of the Boca Burger Battle; and Donna Ferguson of the Spice & Tea Exchange. Mary Thurwachter/The Coastal Star

The city of Delray Beach honored longtime historic preservationist Carolyn Patton with a proclamation on July 5. Mayor Nelson S. ‘Woodie’ McDuffie cited her work preserving Cason Cottage and the Franklin House, with special notice of her longtime involvement to preserve the Sandoway House Nature Center on South Ocean Boulevard. Pictured are Patton (center), her husband, Price, and son Price Jr. Photo provided

By Tim O’Meilia

For the fourth consecutive year Briny Breezes homeowners likely will pay the maximum tax rate allowed by law — $10 for every $1,000 of taxable property value.
The tentative rate set by town aldermen after two budget workshops and a council meeting in July also means homeowners will pay the same amount of town taxes as this year if their property value remains the same.
Alderman Sue Thaler opposed the maximum rate. “In a town this small, it creates too much of discrepancy in the taxes paid by those with homestead exemptions and those without,” she said. Alderman Lowen Poock was absent.
Mayor Roger Bennett said the maximum rate was necessary because of the possibility that Briny Breezes Inc., which owns the mobile home park, could withhold money as it did last year over water and sewer legal fees.
“The threat of the board withholding money still exists and we have no other way to make that up,” Bennett  said at the July 11 workshop. “If nothing else, it’s for our protection although I don’t think the corporation would do that again.’’
The corporation pays 30 percent of the $305,000 cost of fire-rescue and of the $185,000 police contract. “We’re in a fortunate position to have the corporation as our backstop because our property taxes don’t pay all our bills, ” he said.
Property values fell 4.1 percent this year in Briny Breezes despite a slight increase last year, according to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, resulting in a loss of $14,000 in property taxes for the town. The town figures a $15,000 increase in its share of local sales tax.
The council set a tentative budget for next year of three percent less than the current budget — $599,455 — despite a four percent hike in the cost of fire-rescue service and an anticipated 5 percent increase in water and utility service, all provided through contracts with the city of Boynton Beach.
The council estimated that the cost would be made up by about a $1 per share annual increase to corporation shareholders, who are the homeowners. Shares are based on lot sizes. A typical owner has about 26 shares.                   
Both the tax rate and the budget must be approved at public hearings set for 5:01 p.m. Sept. 13 and 27.                   

Malena Ohl, a 2012 graduate of The Benjamin School and a resident of Ocean Ridge, has received a $2,000 scholarship from the Financial Service Centers of America, the national trade association representing the financial industry. Criteria for the scholarship include commitment to community service; perseverance in the face of significant obstacles; display of leadership skills in school; academic achievement; and an original essay written specifically for the competition. Malena will attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall. Her parents are Lorna and George Ohl of Ocean Ridge. Photo provided

Mark and Susan Reingold were among the more than 100 supporters of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum who attended the event that raised more than $6,100 to support the museum.
Photo provided