Once Lantana’s Ocean Avenue Bridge closes in March, island dwellers will be looking to other businesses and restaurants for some of the same services and foods. Some favorite Lantana spots will be worth the drive (of course) and many favorite restaurants and essential services can be found in Plaza del Mar in Manalapan, but for some foods and services residents will need to venture across either the Ocean Avenue bridge between Ocean Ridge and Boynton Beach, or the Lake Worth bridge.
    Here’s a guide to some of those across the Ocean Avenue bridge that may be a substitute while the Lantana bridge is out of commission.

Eats
    If you like Sushi Bon, give the intimate Sushi Jo (640 E. Ocean Ave.) — a local chain — a try. Also worth noting is Sushi Simon (1614 S. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach). Their fresh hand rolls and sashimi also have a fan base.
    There are no bakeries near Boynton’s bridge to replace Palm Beach Bakery and Café, but you can get espresso at Café Frankie’s (640 E. Ocean Ave., Boynton Beach), and maybe a sweet bite. Frankie’s also might become your go-to spot for pizza, though their traditional pies aren’t quite the same as Lantana’s Pizzeria Oceano.
Another traditional-style pizza to try might be the one at Josie’s Restaurante and Pizzaria (1602 S. Federal Highway) a little farther away near the Woolbright Bridge.
    For a waterfront dining experience starring seafood like the Old Key Lime House, give Prime Catch (700 E. Woolbright Road) a try. Every seat in the house has a water view, and it’s open for lunch and early dinners. You can also arrive by boat. Prime Catch has lobster dinners, too, so if you can’t get to the famed Station House, check out the crustaceans.
    More casual fare, like that at the tiki hut on the deck at the Old Key Lime House can be found at Two Georges Waterfront Grille, or the Banana Boat — both are on the water at the northwest side of Boynton’s Ocean Avenue Bridge. Or tuck into the raw bar offerings at Hurricane Alley (529 E. Ocean Ave.).
    Jamaican fare and some Caribbean flavors are found along with American favorites at the Secret Garden Café in the Boynton Greenmarket (410 E. Boynton Beach Blvd.). Open Thursday to Saturday for breakfast lunch and dinner, through Sunday (brunch only), it’s a hidden find — thus its name.

Sports
    For fishing, diving and boat charters like those at the Old Key Lime House Marina, head to Two Georges Marina (728 Casa Loma Blvd.), where a number of boat captains and dive masters are available for hire.
You can drift on the Sea Mist III, or hire Geno IV Charters, Miller Time Fishing Charters and Florida Fishing Academy. Underwater Explorers, Splashdown Divers and Starfish Enterprise handle SCUBA trips. You’ll find a small marina store (Waypoint Marine) and boat ramps here, too.
For your rods and reels as well as bait, head to Boynton’s Fisherman’s Supply (618 N. Federal Highway).
    Maybe you’re a spectator and just want to catch a game on the tube with your buds. Meet up at the Sweetwater Bar and Grill, a bit further down the road (1507 S. Federal Highway). Craft beer and cocktails are the specialty and the diverse menu will please the non-sports fan in your group.

Services
    You’ll need to gas up, and maybe a tune up to do all that driving around the bridge; Boynton Chevron is at 217 N. Federal Highway. It has bait and tackle (free ice for bait) and quick foods.
For that tune-up, try Pioneer Auto Care (401 N. Railroad Ave.) or Boynton Auto Clinic (409 N. Railroad Ave.).
    Get your car washed and waxed at Main Street Car Wash (201 E. Boynton Beach Blvd.) and Sunshine Car Wash (1310 N. Federal Highway).
    If you don’t want to leave the island, just head farther south to Gulfstream Texaco near Briny Breezes at 5002 N. Ocean Blvd. They also do repairs.
    Miss the Lantana Post Office? The Boynton Beach Post Office is at 217 N. Seacrest Blvd.
    There also is the Boynton Beach Postal and Gift Center (562 E. Woolbright Road) where you can pick up coastal-inspired gifts and mail them out here.
    For a pharmacy, there’s CVS (301 N. Federal Highway) and a little farther south, Gulfstream Pharmacy near Briny Breezes at 4998 N. Ocean Blvd.
    Several florists in east Boynton provide bouquets or wired gifts of blooms. Blossom Shoppe Florist (402 E. Ocean Ave.), Maddie’s Flowers by the Sea (112 S. Federal Highway), Flowers by Biana (625 S. Federal Highway), Florist Design by Rele (312 E. Boynton Beach Blvd.), the Boynton Flower Pot (402 E. Ocean Ave.) and Boynton Beach Florist (640 E. Ocean Ave.) are all near the Ocean Avenue bridge.
    Looking for a bottle of wine or your favorite vodka? A1A Discount Beverage (109 E. Boynton Beach Blvd.) would have the vodka, but try Crown Wine & Spirits (532 E. Woolbright Road) for the vino.
    For dry cleaning and alterations, there’s Fran’s Sew and Sew (640 E. Ocean Ave.), or the Boynton Beach Laundry (417 E. Boynton Beach Blvd.). One Price Dry Cleaners (407 S. Federal Highway) is a chain of discount dry cleaners.
— Compiled by Jan Norris

By Margie Plunkett
    
Despite years of budget scrimping, Lantana Council went on a spending spree in December, approving a $1.2 million waterfront land purchase and $38,735 in beach pavilion renovations.
    The bank-owned Intracoastal property to be acquired at 106-122 North Lake Drive was foreclosed on in 2008, but last traded hands in 2006 for $5.3 million.
    “In an effort to provide the long-term benefits of protecting the public’s access to the waterfront, acquiring appropriate properties is necessary,” according to a Lantana staff memo on the purchase.
    “With the bridge being closed and the opportunity to purchase a property at 15 to 20 percent of what it sold for five years ago, I think it’s a good move to purchase it at this time,” said Mayor David Stewart.
    Council doesn’t know what it will do with the property, which is described as vacant with a dock on the west bank of the Intracoastal, north of Ocean Avenue and the Old Village Point.
    Mayor Stewart, however, compared the opportunity to the historic $4,000 Lion’s Club purchase in the 1940s that ultimately provided Lantana with a beach.
    Whether the acquisition, funded from budget reserves, is foresight or folly was a matter of perspective at the Dec. 12 council meeting.
    “You need to spend your money wisely,” said resident Jane Hand. “You would be wise to spend your money on the waterfront. It’s wise to look ahead.”
    On the other hand, deep budget cuts forced by economic contraction slowed maintenance on town structures, halted employee raises and even meant the elimination of July Fourth fireworks in recent years, resident Joe Farrell reminded council, urging it to rethink the move.
    “Why do we have long-range plans to buy property for the future? What are we going to do with it? What are we going to do when we take it off the tax roll,” he asked.
    The total 2011 tax bill for the two properties is $32,986, according to town documents.
    The money could be better spent, he said, perhaps even toward buying the $10 million Cenacle property for public use — as council had earlier attempted a few years ago before a potential deal disintegrated.
    Council member Tom Deringer pointed to home prices that have drastically and persistently dropped over the last several years. While the price might seem attractive compared with $5 million, maybe next year the property could be had for $500,000, he said.
    “I disagree. I don’t think it’s the time to spend taxpayers’ money, take it out of reserve,” said Deringer, who along with council member Philip Aridas voted against the purchase. “We’re still in a recession. We’ve been nickeling and dime-ing everything to death.”
    The asking price of the property was $1.9 million, but an appraisal ahead of the deal rated it at $1.5 million, according to Lantana documents.  In addition, the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser listed the total 2011 market value of the two lots at a combined $1.5 million.
    Before finalizing the deal, the town will investigate to make sure no environmental issues exist, according to the staff memo.
    
Separately, council approved spending $38,735 on beach pavilion renovations, including work on the beach pavilion Lantana reacquired as part of the Dune Deck Café lease. The project would be funded with money left over from the second phase of construction on the new seawall.
    About $18,000 would be used on the beach pavilion and would include demolition of walls, a new sink that meets the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, hurricane shutters and an aluminum safety rail, among other things.
    The balance of the funds would be spent on other beach projects, for sidewalk repair and relocation and adding picnic structures, according to a staff memo.                           

A group of sixth graders from Gulf Stream School, led by
Philipp Reutter (far right), came up with a novel idea to celebrate the holidays while also benefitting kids at the Achievement Centers for Children & Families in Delray Beach.  Each guest brought a present to a spaghetti dinner at Philipp’s home in coastal Delray Beach.

Food was served by the students, including Julia Sperduto (below).  The diners contributed almost 60 gifts and donations.
Photos by Jerry Lower

By Tim O’Meilia
    
The future of the Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn — which pitted neighbor against neighbor and roiled South Palm Beach politics for four years — is now in the hands of a foreclosure judge.
    The owners of the two-story, 58-unit motel, restaurant and bar have been battling foreclosure since February when PNC Bank filed suit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court to collect on a $3.4 million loan.
    That didn’t prevent the owners, the Paloka family, from suing the town of South Palm Beach in April after the motel’s second attempt to build a high-rise hotel-condominium was denied by the Town Council in 2009. The suit also named five current or former Town Council members, three planning board members and the town manager.
    In that lawsuit, the inn’s attorney withdrew his firm from the suit since it had represented the family of Pat Festino, one of the town officials named in the suit, in an unrelated case.
    The owners claimed the town officials violated their federal civil rights, conspired against them, refused to release public records, denied use of their waterfront rights, illegally appointed planning board members and enacted charter amendments in violation of state law, among other things.
    Shortly after the town successfully moved the suit to federal court, the Palokas withdrew the suit in May.
    “We’ve always got a lot of stuff on our plate. Not having this hanging over our heads is helpful,” said Town Manager Rex Taylor, who added that he was confident the town handled the motel’s applications properly.
    The motel has been a landmark since it opened as the Palm Beach Hawaiian Inn in 1964. The inn is the only commercial property in town.
    The Palokas, under the name Kosova Realty, obtained the loan from Fidelity Federal Trust in 2004 when they bought the property. Fidelity Federal was later taken over by National City Bank, which, in turn, was absorbed by PNC.
    In 2006, the inn applied to build the $250 million Palm Beach Picasso — 150 units in a 14-story building with two underground parking levels.  The family later reduced the scale of the project by two stories and 51 units, but the Town Council unanimously denied the application in 2007.
    The Palokas returned in October 2009 with a 10-story design but that, too, was defeated by a 3-2 vote.  In early 2010, town voters took the right to change zoning out of the Town Council’s hands and made changes subject to a town-wide referendum, making it more difficult for the inn to get approval for its plans.
    In its foreclosure suit, PNC Bank claimed the inn failed to pay its property taxes in 2008, 2009 and 2010, prompting the bank to seek full repayment on the note. The property taxes have since been paid, according to court records.
    In October, Circuit Judge Lucy Brown ordered the motel into receivership after finding that deterioration of the property, including its need of a new roof, required a third-party manager. Hotel revenues would be put in escrow.
    The Paloka family appealed Brown’s ruling to the 4th District Court of Appeal in November.
    Meanwhile, the court-appointed receiver, Wayne Ginter, withdrew after meeting with Paloka family in early December and after questions arose about whether he could post the required $850,000 bond.
    PNC has asked that a second receiver be appointed. The Palokas, through their third law firm, are challenging that request.                                     

By Ron Hayes
    
GULF STREAM — On the wall of his New York study, the celebrated journalist Bill Moyers keeps signed photographs of the great men he has known — John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson.
    He also keeps a photograph of Robert Ford Schumann, a seasonal resident of both Ocean Ridge and Gulf Stream for more than 30 years.
    Mr. Schumann died on Dec. 8 at his winter home in Madison, Conn. He was 90.
    A friend and colleague since 1991, Moyers is the president of The Schumann Center for Media and Democracy and spoke at Mr. Schumann’s memorial service Dec. 16.
    “Bob believed in public parks, public libraries, public broadcasting and the public square,” he told those gathered in Madison’s First Congregational Church. “The last big effort of his life was to enlist in the fight to protect the land of the old airport here in Madison from development — to save it for the public.”
    But the Schumann Center was only a small part of the Schumann family’s generosity.
    Locally, Mr. Schumann helped underwrite the cost of adding a library to the campus of the Achievement Centers for Children and Families in Delray Beach.
    “We have lost a dear friend,” said Nancy K. Hurd, the center’s chief executive officer. “Mr. Schumann was a kind and thoughtful man who cared enough to share his resources with hundreds of children whose lives are better because of his generosity. I always looked forward to his visits, and feel a great loss at his passing.”
    An avid golfer, he had been a member of the Gulf Stream Club, the Little Club, the County Club of Florida, and maintained his membership in the St. Andrew’s Club until his death.
    “He was a modest man of wealthy means whose basic philosophy was giving something back,” recalled Ed Bates of Ocean Ridge, a friend of 20 years. “He was a humanitarian and philanthropist.”
    Eileen Augustyn met Mr. Schumann when both moved into the Ballentrae condominum in 1980.
    “He was affable, philanthropic, a wonderful friend, fun, with a great sense of humor, and he cared about people.”
    Robert Ford Schumann was born July 25, 1921, in Montclair, N.J., and graduated from Wesleyan University in 1944.
    In 1949, he opened the Schumann Buick dealership in Binghamton, N.Y., where his philanthropic endeavors flourished for the next 50 years.
    Mr. Schumann was a devoted birder, an avocation to which he’d been introduced in childhood and maintained throughout his life.
He served for many years on the board of both the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. A chair in ornithology has been established in his name at his alma mater.
    “He was a good, quiet person who was very generous, very fair and very honest,” recalled his son, Robert Ford Schumann. “He was a wonderful model for all of us.”
    In addition to his son, Ford, Mr. Schumann is survived by his wife, Marilyn Hotchkiss Schumann; their sons, David Dickinson Schumann and Edgar James Hotchkiss; daughters Mary James Schumann Hurley, Lola Ford Schumann, Carol Hotchkiss Potts, Linda Hotchkiss and Barbara Hotchkiss; seven grandchildren; two great-granddaughters; and a brother, Ward Ford Schumann.
    The family asks that donations be made to a charity of choice.

Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway changed life in Southeast Florida. A century ago, it made its way over the waters of the Keys.

By Nancy Klingener

    As early as the 1830s — within the first decade of Key West’s settlement — town boosters were suggesting that the island should be connected to the Florida mainland by rail. The first survey of a route was finished in 1866. The first franchise was obtained in 1883.
    But it took the money, political power, experience and determination of Henry Flagler, the oil tycoon turned magnate, to undertake and complete the unlikely, difficult, expensive and life-altering enterprise that was the Florida East Coast Railway Key West Extension.
    The “Overseas Railroad” was completed in January 1912 and this month Key West and the entire Florida Keys are celebrating its centennial.
    It’s a bittersweet anniversary in many ways; the Keys are still connected to the mainland but the railroad is gone, undone by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, a Category 5 storm that swept across Islamorada, killed more than 400 people and washed out the tracks in numerous places.
    In the midst of the Depression, the FEC did not rebuild; many of the railroad bridges were repurposed for the Overseas Highway.
    Still, the reminders of the railroad remain throughout the Keys, from the original bridges to the restored camp on Pigeon Key, the island in the bend of the old Seven Mile Bridge.
    According to John Blades, executive director of the Flagler Museum at Whitehall in Palm Beach, Flagler had been thinking about extending his Florida East Coast Railway to Key West “for at least 15 years before he officially announced his plans in 1905.” Flagler was 75 years old.
    “His grand vision for developing this part of the world had long included the Bahamas and Cuba,” Blades said. “So, his primary motivation seems to have been about realizing that vision rather than living to profit from its completion. In fact, one could argue that all the evidence points to the fact that Henry Flagler’s motivation for all his development was about realizing a grand vision rather than making money, since simply reinvesting his earnings from Standard Oil in more Standard Oil stock would have made him many times more money than his development in Florida was ever likely to.”
    Flagler had already changed Florida’s eastern mainland coast by bringing his railroad — and building luxury hotels along the way — south from St. Augustine, through Palm Beach to Miami.
    The tiny community of Linton went from being a few widespread settlers to the prosperous farming community of Delray Beach.
    “The idea of making a good living in agriculture is probably why most settlers came,” said Dottie Patterson, archivist at the Delray Beach Historical Society. “Flagler’s company invested in a pineapple canning plant and helped the townspeople in several other ways. The railway was essential to the economy and was the most important impetus to settlement and a growing, improving town.”
    Key West had already seen prosperity, from the shipwreck salvaging and cigar manufacturing industries but the Over-Sea Railway led to the first real development along the rest of the Keys.
    And it provided a shipping connection to the Caribbean and, more importantly, to the Panama Canal, which was under construction at the same time.
    Flagler’s crews endured the challenging conditions of building a railroad across muck, marl, mangroves and, in some places, open water — while also coping with heat, humidity, mosquitos and disease.
    And then there were the hurricanes — catastrophic storms in 1906 and 1909 killed 132 men and altered the building plans when it became clear that the fill for the railroad bed would wash out and longer bridges were needed in some areas.
    The statistics are astonishing. When completed, the Over-Sea Railway included 22 miles of filled causeway and 18 miles of bridges. Almost 18 million cubic yards of material was moved.
    Fleets of boats were built, for everything from dredging to housing workers to ferrying dignitaries along the project.
    An estimated 200,000 piles were driven into Florida Bay. Key West itself grew by 400 acres to create the railroad yard, the area now known as Trumbo Point that serves as the island’s Coast Guard base.
    One of Key West’s most prominent citizens, Jefferson B. Browne, wrote a history of the island on the occasion of the railroad’s reaching Key West and one of the last chapters extols the achievement, citing “the magnificent genius and Roman courage of Henry M. Flagler, who in building this road has made use of a construction rivaling that of the aqueducts of ancient Rome, which will last long after the accretions of centuries shall have filled the space between the islands, and in the aeons to come, the archeologist will marvel as he uncovers these remains of a vanished and forgotten civilization.”        

LINKS
Flagler Centennial: www.flaglerkeys100.com/
Key West Museum of Art & History, which is hosting an exhibit, “Flagler’s Speedway to Sunshine”: www.kwahs.com/
Flagler Museum at Whitehall, which has an exhibit called “First Train to Paradise” through Jan. 8: www.flaglermuseum.us
Read Together Palm Beach County, which has Les Standiford’s book Last Train to Paradise on its selection list: http://readtogether.palmbeachpost.com/
The Monroe County Public Library in Key West, which will also be reading Standiford’s book for its One Island One Book program, including an online readalong: www.oneislandonebook.blogspot.com
The Monroe County Public Library’s online collection of 700 images of the railroad:
www.flickr.com/photos/keyslibraries/sets/72157624587492499/

IF YOU GO
What: Author Les Standiford presents his book First Train to Paradise: The Building of the Over-Seas Railroad as part of the 27th Annual Whitehall Lecture Series.
Where: Henry M. Flagler Museum, 1 Whitehall Way, Palm Beach
When: 3 p.m., Jan. 29
Cost: $28/includes museum admission
Information: Call 655-2833 or visit www.flaglermuseum.us.

Eleanor and Heath Larry stand beside their Bentley at the Ballentrae condominium in the late 1970s.
Photo provided

By Ron Hayes

        GULF STREAM — Heath and Eleanor Larry were married for 73 years.
She died on Nov. 20, at 95.
He died on Dec. 18, exactly four weeks later, at 97.
“He always wanted to live to be 100,” his son, Dennis Larry, recalled recently. “He’d say to me, ‘I’m 100, aren’t I?’ So I decided to tell him he was 100. Why not? He died thinking he was 100.”
R. Heath Larry was born Feb. 24, 1914, in Huntington, Penn. In 1934, he graduated with honors from Grove City College, where he met his wife.
After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh Law School, again with honors, Mr. Larry went to work for U.S. Steel, where he remained for 40 year, retiring in 1977.
Mr. Larry then served four years as president of the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, D.C., before retiring to Delray Beach.
“He was a fighter,” his son said, “and in his earlier years he had some tough negotiations with the steel and coal industry unions, but he had a heart of gold.”  
In 1972, the couple moved into the Penthouse Towers in Highland Beach, where they spent the winters until 1980, when they became one of the early residents of the Ballentrae condo in Gulf Stream, where Mr. Larry served as both a president and a member of the board.
Tom Hill, the condominium’s manager, arrived at the same time.
“Mr. Larry was very quiet and unassuming,” Hill recalled, “but when he was involved he was very engaging and knowledgeable and helpful.
He was always pleasant to the employees and an asset to the community.”
Locally, he was also active in the First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach, where he was an elder and also served terms on the denomination’s session, its national governing body.
He served on the board of Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach, where two private suites bear his name.
In addition to his son, Dennis, Mr. Larry is survived by two other sons, David and Dick; four grandchildren, Demian, Christa, Kate and Keith; and by two great-grandchildren, Emma and Grant.
A small family service will be held in the garden of the First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach at a later date.

By Tim O’Meilia
    
Out-of-towners traveling I-95 and headed for the Ritz-Carlton Resort in Manalapan or Grandma and Grandpa’s condo in South Palm Beach better have an updated GPS system.
    When the Ocean Avenue bridge is closed in March for replacement, visitors won’t learn that until they reach the U.S. 1 and Lantana Road intersection.  
    Even locals driving up or down U.S. 1 won’t know the bridge is out until they reach another sign at U.S. 1 and Ocean Avenue.
    Those little blue signs put up by the state road department that tell drivers that individual businesses on Ocean Avenue are still open are nowhere in Palm Beach County’s traffic plan.
    “We had never seen the signage plan (until Dec. 6) and what we saw, at first blush, seems less detailed than what we would have liked,” said Lantana Town Manager Michael Bornstein.
    After meeting with county officials and the construction firm in early December, Bornstein and officials from other coastal towns that will be affected by the two-year replacement project asked county engineers to consider more signs.
    South Palm Beach Police Chief Roger Crane sympathized. “It’s really an injustice to businesses not to have the signage. Either the county or someone needs to put signs up. Let’s help them out as best we can.”
    The detour signs will send drivers north to the Lake Worth bridge then south down State Road A1A, but the signs simply say to follow the detour signs. Bornstein wants them to say drivers are being sent over the Lake Worth bridge.
    But, open-for-business signs are critical at the west end of Ocean Avenue. “We need permanent notice that our downtown is still open for business,” Bornstein said.
    GLF Construction’s $33.2 million contract to replace the 61-year-old bridge officially began Dec. 20, but the bridge won’t be closed for demolition until March 19. The first three months will be spent moving materials and equipment onto the staging areas at Bicentennial and Sportsman’s parks at the west end. The new bridge will be 11 feet taller at the center and remain two lanes, but the lanes will be slightly wider and include shoulders/bicycle lanes and sidewalks on both sides. A fishing pier will run beneath the Lantana side. The new bridge is scheduled to re-open in October 2013.
    Other bridge-related topics:
    Lantana, South Palm Beach and Manalapan police are still mapping out police coverage on Hypoluxo Island. Lantana may stage a patrol car on the island for several hours a day. In times when no patrol car is close, South Palm Beach likely will be the first to respond to 911 or other calls.
    “There’s not only police but garbage, trash, utilities, water and sewer to deal with. A lot of logistics, but we’re good at it and will handle it,” said Lantana’s Bornstein.
    “We’ve all worked well over the years so it should not be a problem,” said former Manalapan Police Chief Clay Walker. “We’ll be meeting more as things get closer.”
    With the bridge closed, officials speculate that there will be less traffic into the residential neighborhoods. The island, like Manalapan, has cameras that snap license plate photos of each entering and exiting vehicle.
    County traffic engineers estimate that 25 percent of the detoured traffic will travel south and reach the barrier island by the Ocean Avenue Bridge between Ocean Ridge and Boynton Beach. That could increase traffic on the bridge by 62 percent.
    County project engineer Kristine Frazell-Smith assured Ocean Ridge Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi that timing of the traffic lights on both ends of the Boynton bridge will be adjusted if traffic warrants it.
    For their historical value, Lantana will salvage the roof of the bridge tender’s house, the gearbox that raises the spans, a light on the span, plaques on the bridge and other items.

By Steve Pike
    
You might say Tony Chateauvert owes his job to two things: A navy blue blazer and a box of crayons. The blazer goes back more than 25 years and the crayons go back less than one year.
    An explanation: As an aspiring golf professional, Chateauvert, PGA professional and manager of the Palm Beach Par 3 Golf Course on Palm Beach, endeared himself to the head professional at fabled Garden City Golf Club on Long Island by showing up for an assistants tournament in the blazer. Garden City Golf Club, understand, is one of those “old world” golf clubs where etiquette (and jackets) are still required.
    “I had done my research and knew you needed a sports jacket,” Chateauvert said. “Of all 120 guys playing, I was the only one with a sports jacket. I ended up having lunch with the head professional (Gil McNally). A couple of months later he offered me the job. We’re still close friends.”
    The crayons? As part of the interview for the Palm Beach Par 3 manager’s job, Chateauvert was asked to draw his résumé.
    “I started out at the bottom with stick figures of my caddying days; I had a lot of circles with smiling faces (that represented networking) and then me on top at a desk with two kids and wife,” Chateauvert said. “It was terribly drawn. But I was told I was the first person who went from the bottom up. Everybody else started at the top. I told them I don’t want to go down, I want to go up.”
    That’s certainly the direction Chateauvert has taken the Palm Beach Par 3 since he started this past Feb. 22. During his first six months, Chateauvert said, rounds played increased 40 percent and revenue increased 32 percent.
    “It’s not that I’m a genius,” said Chateauvert as he looked out over the Atlantic Ocean from behind the wheel of a golf cart. “My background is in private clubs — I like tradition — but you go to a lot of them and no one is smiling. That’s not the way it is here. You can come here and play and no one is looking down their nose. You can play golf and shoot as many balls on the range as you want.
    “My job is to make sure this is a fun place to play golf. You treat everybody the way you want to be treated, and they come a second and third time.”
No jacket required.  

By Ron Hayes
    Would you spend a little time to give the past a future?
    In 1986, the Delray Beach Historical Society created a time capsule to mark the city’s Diamond Jubilee.
    Among other items, the capsule held a cassette tape from C. Spencer Pompey, a local civil rights activist and teacher; letters from former Police Chief Charles Kilgore, photos of area residents and a letter from Ruth Ann Kuehn to her infant nephew, Jared Charles Malke.
    To mark the city’s centennial this year, that capsule was opened on Oct. 9 and the items put on display at the society’s Ethel Sterling Williams Learning Center, 111 N. Swinton Ave.
    Now the capsule is empty again — and waiting for you to help fill it.
    “We’ll be accepting items through Jan. 31,” says the society’s archivist, Dottie Patterson. “It’s $10 per item, with the money going to the Delray Beach Historical Society.”
    Only nonperishable items, please. They have to survive until Oct. 9, 2036, when the city turns 125 and the capsule is opened once more.
    “At first we were thinking of 50 years,” Patterson says, “but I asked them to change it to 25 because in 50 years most of the connections and people who would be interested will probably be gone.”
    As time capsules go, this one is a bit eccentric.
    “It’s a bright blue metal box,” Patterson says. “About 20 inches by 20 inches. It’ll be screwed down and hermetically sealed.”
    But not buried.
    “The publicity for the 1986 capsule said it was going to Old School Square, but it actually came to the historical society and was sent to a storage unit at Merritt Transport & Storage,” Patterson says.
    Items are already arriving.
    Michael Zaidman, senior archivist at the Jim Moran Foundation in Deerfield Beach, is donating his first-place medal from the 2010 Pineapple Grove Bed Race.
    McCall Credle-Rosenthal has donated a copy of her book, Images of America, Delray Beach, and Sharon Kosoff has donated an article about local artists.
    Local real estate agent Kathie Karp has included a photograph of the ocean.
    “She thought the beach might change,” Patterson said.
    Patterson is especially eager to have people include letters they’ve written to yet-to-be born family member, or a grandchild who’s still quite young.
    “Somebody asked me about putting in a pair of stylish shoes,” she added “That might be kind of fun.”
    For more information, call the Delray Beach Historical Society at (561) 274-9578.   

By Ron Hayes
    How many families does it take to sell a light bulb?
    In Boynton Beach, just one.
    But they have to sell it for 40 years.
    This year, Dale and Edris Hatch, their children, their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren will celebrate four decades as the owners of the city’s oldest, and no doubt friendliest, hardware store.
    In a world where giant corporations try to pass themselves off as folksy family businesses, the Hatch gang are the real thing.
    On May 1, 1972, Dale and Edris Hatch, transplants from Ogdensburg, N.Y., opened a Western Auto store in the old Winn-Dixie shopping plaza on Federal Highway.
    Two years later, they moved down the block to 510 E. Boynton Beach Blvd.
    In 1978, they dropped Western Auto and became Boynton Ace Hardware.
    And they’ve been here ever since. 
    That’s four decades of light bulbs and housewares, door knobs and toilet plungers, bicycles and Christmas trees, not to mention countless hours of neighborly conversation.
    “We bought out the old Austin Supply store, which began in 1908,” says Dale Hatch, “so actually, the business has only been owned by two families in all that time.”
    He laughs at the memory of that first, 2,000-square-foot store. “When we started, it was just myself and a little retired lady in her 80s. We had cross-cut saws, ice tongs and horse collars, and we used to have stuff piled up halfway to the ceiling.”
    Now they have 6,000 square feet and 21 full and part-time employees.
    “We like to hire old people for their knowledge and young people for their muscles,” says Valerie Hatch Pleasanton, the couple’s daughter.
    When her parents bought the business, Valerie was a teenager. Now she’s the president and CEO of the company, and the mother of Megan Pleasanton, who also works in the store.
Her sister and brother, Darlene and Larry, make up the Val-Da-Lar of the corporate name. And her husband, Loran, whom she first met in first grade at Forest Park Elementary School, is a partner of the business, too.
    In those early days, before Home Depot and Wal-Mart, the Hatches ran a small department store. They sold furniture, appliances and toys along with the light bulbs.
    “Now we’re more service oriented,” Valerie says. “We have a specialty lighting department for hard-to-find bulbs, and we make screens and do knife and scissors sharpening.”
    They don’t sell guns anymore.
    “Things change,” Dale Hatch says, “and I figured somebody might buy one and shoot me.”
    And even the sexual revolution has caught up with the hardware business.
    “I remember one man wanted a stem for a faucet,” Megan Pleasanton recalls. “I got it, and he said he wanted to speak to a man to make sure it was the right one. Now we’re in the do-it-yourself era, so we have a lot of women taking charge of their own home improvement projects.”
    In the old days, Ace was the place for Christmas toys.
    “We had a Christmas layaway plan,” Dale recalls. “On Christmas Eve, we always wound up with 100 to 125 bikes here, waiting for people to pick them up. And then on Christmas day, we’d see all the kids out riding our bikes around town.”
    But while Wal-Mart and Kmart rode off with some of their bike business, the little family-owned hardware store is still riding high.
    “People who are building a house go to Home Depot,” says Loran Pleasanton. “People who are fixing something come to us.”
    Home Depot can sell you an entire kitchen, but Boynton Ace has shuffleboard equipment.
    “We created our own niche,” Valerie boasts.
    After all, how many hardware stores grow their own Christmas trees?
    Every year, families up and down the coast get their trees from the Hatches. The Gulf Stream Bath & Tennis Club, the Little Club, the Ocean Club.
    And where do the Hatches get the trees?
    From a little farm Loran and Valerie own outside Asheville, N.C.
    “This year, we’ll sell about 600 Fraser firs,” Loran says.
    And this year, once again, they’ll get people asking for a double-male plug.
    “Every year, people put up their Christmas tree lights backwards, so they wind up with two female plugs. We have to tell them to turn the string around,”Valerie says with a laugh.
    But it’s a patient laugh. Not long ago, she spent about 20 minutes on the phone, helping a customer figure out how to install an air conditioner filter.
    Her family has been providing that kind of service for 40 years.
    Dale is 82 now, and Edris is 85.
    “I’m cutting back,” he says. “I want to spend some more time fishing, and I have a friend who wants to teach me how to play golf.”
    Don’t worry, though. Ace will remain the place.
    Dale’s great-granddaughter, Allianna, who is 8, draws little bookmarks, sets up a table in front of the store, and sells them for a dime apiece.
    “I came in one Sunday,” Edris says, “and she had an Ace apron on down to here and a spray bottle, cleaning the windows.”                                 

Bethesda Ball supporters attended a luncheon and fashion show at 32 East in December featuring the fashions of Miami couture designer Rene Ruiz.
The 57th Ball coincides with the 65th year of the Bethesda Hospital Foundation. Activities planned for the Bethesda Ball weekend include a golf tournament at Breakers West on March 2 and a ‘Phantom of the Opera’ gala on March 3 at The Breakers, which will feature Davis Gaines, who portrayed the Phantom on Broadway. Tickets to the gala are $350.
For information, visit BethesdaHospitalFoundation.org or call 737-7733, Ext. 84445.

Kay Harvey, Deborah Sargeant, Betty Devitt and Carrie Hill

Jan Kucera, Gina Brody, Luane Venables and Penny Kosinski

Peggy Henry, Becky Walsh, Carrie Lanoce and Sylvie Bergeron

Stephanie Morfogen, couture designer Rene Ruiz and Alexandra Williams

(l-r) Event Co-Chair Heidi Sargeant; anchor WPEC, CBS 12  Suzanne Boyd; library director Alan Kornblau; and Event Co-Chair Becky Walsh.

Everybody needs a good laugh. So why not get some giggles and help raise money for a good cause at the same time?
    You can do that by attending Laugh with the Library, Chapter 6, billed as ‘a casual, fun-filled night of comedy cocktails and supper by-the-bite’ at the Delray Beach Marriott beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3.
    Stand-up comic Sebastian, style correspondent for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and performer on Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show, will be the featured funny man.
    WPEC-TV news anchor Suzanne Boyd, a Delray Beach resident, will be mistress of ceremonies.
    Library board members Becky Walsh and Heidi Sergeant are co-chairwomen.
    Money raised will be used to enhance programs and materials for children and teens. Last year’s event netted more than $40,000 for the library.
    Tickets are $150. For information, or to receive an invitation or become a sponsor, call 266-0775.

Stand-up comic Sebastian

Carnivale of Caring: The Circle of Hope Gala to benefit the Women’s Circle will be held Feb. 20 at The Hamlet Country Club, 3600 Hamlet Drive, Delray Beach. Cocktails and silent auction at 6 pm, and invocation, dinner and dancing with special guest retired WPTV NewsChannel 5 anchor Jim Sackett and music by Will Bridges at 7:30 pm. Business/cocktail attire. $90. RSVP by 2/10.  244-7627, Ext. 105, or www.womenscircle.org.
Honorary Chairs Janet and Jerry Soderberg (above) and chairwomen

(l-r) Eileen Augustyn, Peggy Martin and Helen Babione. Photos provided

By Margie Plunkett and Tim Pallesen

                  Beach area residents rallied in protest of planned luxury beachside sober houses in December, filling commission chambers at two meetings and spurring city leaders to scour law in search of changes that will protect residential neighborhoods.

                  Neighbors protested laws that allow houses in residential neighborhoods to be rented in such a way that dozens of unrelated people can reside there during the course of a year.

                  Residents argued that the safety and security of their neighborhoods were compromised by allowing sober houses — which they claimed is big business that’s contrary to residential use.

                  “We’re asking for support for preserving single-family neighborhoods,” said Mary Renaud, president of the Beach Property Owners’ Association.

                  The outcry was sparked when word leaked out that a Pennsylvania-based addiction treatment center had purchased a house at 740 N. Ocean Blvd. for $1.6 million and been approved to house up to seven people while they went through treatment.

                  Owners of beach side homes pored through a stack of city records and determined that the treatment center, Caron Foundation, had made a "reasonable accommodation" request for a second beach side house.

                  While the application from West Palm Beach attorney James Green did not divulge the intended address, citing confidentiality issues, it did note that the house contained 7,481 square feet of living space.

                  Through other records, they learned that a six-bedroom, five-bath house at 1232 Seaspray Ave. was on the market for $2.995 million. 

                  It has 7,481 square feet of living space. As of late December, the house was still on the market.

                  Andrew Rothermel, a spokesman for Caron, a nonprofit drug and alcohol abuse treatment agency with a center in Boca Raton, declined to comment on whether Caron had purchased the house at 740 N. Ocean Blvd. Asked if there were any other houses Caron was interested in, he said, “There may be one more.”

                  Rothermel added: “We’ve been good neighbors in Delray for 20 years,” noting Caron owns a 46-unit apartment building off Lowson Boulevard for clients who need more support.

                  “We have every intention of maintaining the character of the neighborhood and being good neighbors.”

Change sought requiring fewer annual tenants

                  Within a week of the initial Dec. 13 commission meeting where the BPOA and other neighbors first protested, the Planning and Zoning board recommended commissioners lower the number of times a home in a residential neighborhood can be rented to twice a year. That was stricter than both the three-times-a-year policy commissioners had asked the board to consider at its Dec. 19 meeting and current law, which allows for six rentals a year.

                  The number of rentals, however, is only the beginning of review of the complex issue, City Attorney Brian Schutt said, adding there’s much research to do.

                  Planning and Zoning Chairman Cary Glickstein acknowledged: “We’re not going to accomplish everything tonight. This is a step. We want to draw a line in the sand and build from that.”

                  Members of the Beach Property Owners’ Association plus others grew noticeably perturbed at the Dec. 13 meeting when told that an oceanside sober house had already been approved — but that the name and location of the property were protected by law and would not be revealed.

                  Another outcry went up when Mayor Woodie McDuffie said that if sober house properties are kept up, they won’t affect neighbors’ property values.

                  The mayor cut the public hearings short when the crowd’s emotions heated further.

                  Warned at both meetings against making remarks that could be discriminatory when directed at “sober” or “halfway” houses, residents said they are against “transient” housing in all uses in residential districts, not just those that may be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Fair Housing Amendment.

                  Treatment centers have successfully argued in federal court that cities cannot discriminate against people with alcohol or drug addictions. In addition, locations of sober houses do not have to be disclosed by the health care provider because the addresses of people in treatment are part of their medical records, and thus, confidential.

Complex ordinance requires careful review

                  During the commission meeting, former Commissioner Gary Eliopoulos said that in July 2009 he and other city lawmakers had changed regulations, addressing the number of rentals as well as limiting the number of unrelated adults living in a house to three.

                  Eliopoulos said there are instances in which the law has been interpreted to mean that each bed or room in a house can be rented six times a year.

                  “I’m urging this commission to go back and look at that ordinance,” he said. “If we got it wrong, I would urge you to get outside counsel and get it right. There’s no reason we have to tolerate this.”

                  McDuffie later in the meeting discussed “not rushing it” in reviewing the complex ordinances. He also noted that it could cost the city to boost enforcement to make sure transient housing is following code.

                  “This is going to send a clear signal that transient housing is going to be scrutinized,” he said.

      Heeding those words, the city is planning to hire recently retired Police Lt. Marc Woods to help with license compliance and educating owners of transient housing throughout the city.

                  McDuffie later sent a letter to members of the local legislative delegation, urging the state to step in to license and regulate the substance-abuse treatment industry.

                  “We need your help on this issue more than anything else I have confronted since taking office,” McDuffie wrote.

                  “Our Village by the Sea receives rave reviews for the beach, Atlantic Avenue, our events and how well it is run, but we have another name that is not so complimentary: The Drug Rehab Capital of the United States.”

                  During the Planning and Zoning board meeting, Director Paul Dorling said that housing owners come before his office to ask for “reasonable accommodation” to allow more residents than the law permits. He did not recall denying any of the dozens of requests for sober houses throughout the city.

Concern about ‘strangers’ and employee parking

                  Resident Bill McCauley said he had been good friends with the owner of the home at 740 N. Ocean Blvd. that apparently was purchased by attorney Michael Weiner for the Caron Foundation.

                  “Rick was a great neighbor,” McCauley said, noting he died last year of cancer.  Caron plans 48 or more different tenants each year, McCauley said. “How can I have a neighborhood relationship with 48 different strangers?”

                  Heidi Sargeant said she is a next door neighbor, has three children and is vehemently opposed to transient housing.  She said it has the potential to be unsafe, adding, “Where are we going to put the eight cars?”

                  The house will have a chef and a masseuse, she said, adding, “Where are these people parking? I’m concerned about the value of our homes. Do you want that next to you? I don’t think so.”

                  The possibility of a lawsuit blanketed discussion at both government meetings, from note of previous Boca Raton litigation that has guided Delray Beach policy over concerns of potential suits from neighbors or sober home operators.

                  In that vein, attorney Weiner brought a court reporter and videographer to record the Dec. 19 Planning and Zoning meeting. 

                  Residents urged officials not to be swayed by the threat of a lawsuit.

                  “There are going to be lawsuits no matter what,” said resident and lawyer Scott Richman, explaining that the board’s actions shouldn’t be formulated merely to avoid a suit. “First thing: You need to protect the citizens.”

                  Resident Mark Fields suggested that Planning and Zoning not move too quickly and that the city should hire “excellent” outside counsel. “If you’re going to do something, do it right and fairly,” he said.

                  Warned Caron’s Rothermel: Other cities have lost lawsuits when they opposed similar requests for sober houses in residential neighborhoods.

                  “They suffered in court and spent a tremendous amount of money fighting it.”

By Emily J. Minor

                  This is the time of year so many of us dread — packing up all the Christmas gear, and stowing it away until next — but at Valerie Miller’s house in Delray Beach, they’re probably doing it with happy hearts.

                  Christmas, you see, came to them this year courtesy of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, a husband-wife team with great generosity, and an amazing lady named Jeanne Bice — perhaps best-known for slapping glitter on just about everything, including a bad mood.

                  Confused?

                  Hang in there, because this is a nice one.

                  Jeanne Bice was the Quacker Lady on QVC, the funny single mother-turned-mogul who created the line of Quacker Factory apparel and loved anything sparkly — including holidays, family and kids. When the Boca Raton entrepreneur died in June, her family wasn’t just left with a broken heart.

                  After all, Bice was only 71 when she died.

                  They were also left with all her Christmas decorations — boxes and boxes and boxes of them. Enough to fill her very large attic.

                  Eventually, Bice’s Christmas tidings — everything from gift bags and ribbon to delicate tree ornaments and life-sized Santas — made it to the Naoma Donnelley Haggin Boys & Girls Club in Delray Beach, where several hundred families got to shop — for free.

                  Bice’s daughter-in-law, Karin, and Bice’s son, Tim, gave away all of Jeanne Bice’s decorations just before Christmas so the Boys & Girls Club kids would have a family tree with decorations and lights and ornaments.

                  They gave it away so the kids could have Christmas.

                  “We haven’t had a Christmas tree in three years,” admitted Miller back in December, packing up one of Bice’s 8-foot trees along with bags of lights and baubles. “We’ve been going through some pretty hard times.”

                  Her daughter, Andriana, 9, was downright giddy in the parking lot.

                  “I can’t believe we’re going to have a tree!” she said, twirling.

                  The idea, say both Karin and Tim, evolved from a very simple truth: This woman who loved the holidays so much that she’d put up a tree for everything from Fourth of July to Halloween would have wanted these families to have her things.

                  “A lot of these families don’t have money to get the kids a little something for Christmas, let alone decorate the house,” said Tim Bice, who lost his sister, Lee, just a few weeks after his mom died.

                  “It’s just been unbelievably emotional to deal with all this, so it’s nice that something nice is coming out if it.”

                  Dolly W. Steinman, who’s chairman of the Delray board, said the idea came to them when she and her husband were out to dinner with Karin and Tim Bice. Steinman said nearly 200 families were able take home a generous sampling of Jeanne Bice’s cheer.

                  “She’s up there loving this,” said Steinman, who said Jeanne Bice “would walk into a room and light it up.”

                  Most of the kids at the December event probably didn’t know who Jeanne Bice was. They didn’t know about her personal struggles or her perseverance or her devoted family that misses her so.

                  But people like Tedra Hall and her four kids now know this: Someone very special put some sparkle in their Christmas this year.

                  “We didn’t have any decorations until we came here,” Hall said.

                  “I’m so excited,” said her daughter, 11-year-old daughter, Teandra — beaming from ear to ear.

By Steve Plunkett

Police Chief Clay Walker will end 12 years of safeguarding the town when the holidays are over.

‘’Careers do come to a close and I have decided to retire effective at the end of the business day January 2, 2012,’’ Walker said in an e-mail giving Manalapan residents a month’s notice. ‘’I look forward to the opportunity to say personal goodbyes to as many of you as possible over the next few weeks.’’

Walker was named the town’s director of public safety in October 1999 after a 21-year career with the North Palm Beach Public Safety Department, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant, and a rookie year with the Clewiston Police Department, where he grew up.

‘’I wish to thank each of you for supporting me while I fulfilled this lifelong goal of being a police chief,’’ Walker continued in his e-mail to residents. ‘’During my tenure, I have had the opportunity to meet many special people in Manalapan.’’

The native Floridian has a bachelor’s degree in criminology from Florida State University.

Walker supervises a lieutenant, eight police officers, and four full-time and four part-time dispatchers. The department’s $1.35 million budget makes up 42 percent of the town’s total expenses.

Mayor Basil Diamond said Lt. Carmen Mattox would likely be named interim chief and that Walker had prepared the force for his departure.

‘’He’s not leaving us in the lurch at all,’’ Diamond said, noting the Town Commission would give Walker a formal thank-you at its Dec. 20 meeting.

The soon-to-retire chief has been working with Ocean Ridge Chief Chris Yannuzzi since last summer refining Ocean Ridge’s proposal to take over Manalapan’s ‘’white glove’’ level of police dispatching.

 Manalapan commissioners are eager to combine services with neighboring towns where possible to save taxpayers money.

By Tim O’Meilia
   
It’s been more than four years since the $510 million sale of Briny Breezes blew apart like, well, a mobile home in a hurricane.
And it’s not likely anyone will offer anything near half a billion dollars for the 43-acre oceanfront mobile home park in the 16 months remaining that the Duane Morris law firm has to sell the park.
“There’s no interest and they’re not marketing it,” Briny Breezes Inc. board President Mike Gut said of Duane Morris’ efforts.
He gave corporation shareholders — the lot owners — an update during a November meeting.
The corporation’s strategic planning committe will meet Dec. 8 to discuss the park’s future. “Do we want to make improvements to the park, to the infrastructure or do we want to consider a sale at some point down the road?” Gut said. “It’s all up to the shareholders.”
But neither would happen until Duane Morris’ March 1, 2013 deadline to sell the park expires.
“Whatever happens is years from now.” Gut said.
The corporation hired the law firm to sell the park for at least $500 million, but a deal with a Boca Raton developer collapsed in 2007.
 Ocean Land Investments Inc. wanted to erect a dozen 20-story buildings but the plan ran afoul of neighboring towns and regulatory agencies, who concluded that the high rises didn’t fit the neighborhood.
The deal would have made some lot owners millionaires.
While the days tick down to the March 1, 2013, deadline to sell, legal fees continue to accrue, Gut said, although he wasn’t sure of the current amount.
About $1.1 million in legal fees had amassed when the deal collapsed, but Ocean Land’s $500,000 deposit went toward the fees, according to reports.
Whatever the fees are, park residents are likely to escape having to pay them.
Under the agreement with the law firm, if the park isn’t sold by the deadline, “Duane Morris eats the fees,” Gut said.        “Given the current economic condition, someone who would come in with half a billion dollars would not be possible at this point,” Gut said.      

12/3 - Winterfest Lantana is presented by the Greater Lantana Chamber of Commerce and Palm Beach School for Autism at the Lantana Sports Complex on Lantana Road just east of I-95. Rides, food, crafts, Santa, entertainment and more. Noon-midnight. Free. 585-8664.
12/3 - Boynton Beach Holiday Extravaganza and Annual Holiday Parade is held at the Ocean Avenue Amphitheatre, East Ocean Avenue between Seacrest Boulevard & NE 1st Street. New, unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots welcome in front of the Schoolhouse Children’s Museum. Presented by the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. Events include: 5 pm Parade - north on Federal Highway (form SE 12th Street to Ocean Avenue); 6:30 pm - Tree Lighting Ceremony on Ocean Avenue between Seacrest Boulevard & SE 1st Street and 7 pm - free concert featuring Brass Transit, a “Chicago” Tribute Band. Food and beverages available, no pets allowed. Park at Bank of America, E. Ocean Avenue and Federal Highway and ride the free trolley (6-11 pm) to the event. Free. 742-6237.

12/3 - Lake Worth Holiday Stroll is presented by the Downtown Cultural Alliance along Lake and Lucerne Avenues in downtown. Merchants vie for best decorated holiday windows. 5-9 pm. From 6-10 pm the Community Redevelopment Agency presents Holly-Days, Lake Worth with petting zoo, letters to Santa and tree lighting ceremony with “I Love Lucy” theme. Free. 215-205-9441.
12/7 - 41st Annual Boca Raton Holiday Street Parade on Federal Highway from SE 8th Street north to Mizner Park. Theme is “Having a Ball in Boca.” 7:30 pm. Free. 393-7806 selection 2 or or www.myboca.us.
12/8 - Holiday Party & Show at the Senior Center, 1021 S. Federal Hwy., Boynton Beach. 10 am. Free. 742-6570 or www.boynton-beach.org.
12/9 - Boynton & Delray Beach’s Annual Boat Parade - Brightly-decorated boats line up at the Boynton Beach Inlet and travel south along the Intracoastal Waterway to the C-15 canal in Delray Beach. Viewing areas are located at the Boynton Harbor Marina and along the parade route. Please bring new, unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots. Parking available at First Financial Plaza, NE corner of Ocean Avenue & Federal Highway. Food and drink vendors available. No pets allowed. Pre-party starts at 5:30 pm, featuring live music, pictures with Santa and more, at the Boynton Harbor Marina by Two Georges Waterfront Grille. To enter your boat, call 737-3256 ext. 219. Parade: 6:30 pm. 742-6246.
12/10 - Kids Day at the Tree at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Visit Santa and play in the snow at the Famous 100-Foot Christmas Tree. 10 am-4 pm. Free. 279-1380 ext. 17.
12/10 - Delray Beach Holiday Parade presented by Delray Beach Parks and Recreation. Theme is “Celebrating the Centennial.” Parade begins on Atlantic Avenue at Venetian Drive and heads west to the Courthouse. 6 pm. Free. 243-7277.
12/10 - Santa’s Wonderland Workshop and Light Up the Night Parade is held at the Cultural Plaza, 414 Lake Ave., Lake Worth. Family event sponsored by Kiwanis Club and the Greater Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce. Noon-6 pm. Bike giveaway in afternoon, parade with local high school bands and floats is held from 6-8 pm. Free. 493-2550.
12/13 - Family Holiday Open House at the Boynton Beach City Library, 208 S. Seacrest Blvd. Entertainers perform interactive story The Great Pizza Contest where the audience helps the Mayor of Mozzarella decide who makes the best pizza in town. Make a craft and enjoy light refreshments. Sponsored by the Friends of the Boynton Beach City Library. All ages. 6:45-8 pm. Free. 742-6397.
12/17 - Tuba Christmas at Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center, 201 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. Holiday music performed by tubas and euphoniums. Outdoor event, bring chairs or blankets. 5 pm. Free. 297-3853.
12/17 - Sounds of the Season at the Lake Worth Cultural Plaza, 414 Lake Ave. Local choirs perform holiday music, plus local high school and community bands. 5-9 pm. Free. 493-2550 or www.lakeworthcra.org.
12/17 - 35th Annual Boca Raton Holiday Boat Parade along the  Intracoastal Waterway beginning at the C-15 Canal (Boca Raton/Delray Beach border). Bleacher viewing at Silver Palm Park & Red Reef Park. 6:30 pm. Free. 393-7806 selection 2.
12/20 - Menorah Lighting at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave. Time: sundown. Free. 279-1380 ext. 17.
12/23&24 - Christmas Eve Concert by Journey Church at Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. No coolers, chairs, pets, umbrellas, outside food or beverages or backpacks. 4:30-7 pm. Free. 393-79847 or www.myboca.us.

Here are 10 holiday safety tips from the Boca Raton Police Department:
1. Minimize the amount of cash and the number of debit or credit cards you carry.
2. Keep gift cards close and secure. They are easily redeemable and difficult to recover once they are stolen.
3. If you are shopping with small children, have a plan in place if you are separated. Teach them to get help from a store clerk or a police officer.
4. Stay alert and avoid talking on your cell phone while walking through parking lots.
5. Do not overload yourself with packages and do not leave your purchases unattended, not even for a moment.
6. Do not make multiple trips out to your car while shopping; purchases can be easily stolen from a locked trunk.
7. Go immediately home after large purchases, such as televisions, computers, and jewelry. Criminals have been known to follow their victims to another destination and break into their car.
8. When shopping online, ensure your computer is equipped with updated security software, you are shopping on secured websites and you are only using reputable company sites.
9. After the holidays, do not advertise gifts. Destroy the boxes and place them in an opaque bag or trash can.
10. If you see something suspicious, call the police immediately.

Crime and Safety Tips are provided by members of the Boca Raton Police Services Department’s Crime Prevention Unit. For information, see www.BocaPolice.com or call 347-3938.