Mary Kate Leming's Posts

Coasting Along: At Mercer Wenzel, it's all in the family

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 17:18

By Tim Norris

As customers come through the door of Mercer Wenzel off Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, owner Bruce Wenzel and his son, Mark, can size them up.
The department store’s whole staff can.
This man’s a 42 regular, long in the shoulders, short in the arms. That woman’s a 12 dress, a little wide in the waist. The young girl there is a size 8.
That much they know. The mystery is how, and whether, and on what (or not) the newcomers are focused, like the man just coming in on this Monday morning, casting glances, looking baffled. Or the two women behind him a few minutes later, bright-eyed, laughing, searching.
“You need any help, sir?” Mark Wenzel says, and the man says, “Yeah, a little bit. I need trousers, and maybe a jacket.” Right over here, Mark says, leading him.
For customers, quickly sized-up, sizing up the store isn’t as easy. They see a wide racked and stacked and fanned out, and they note that the staff appears more veteran than the mall-outlet youth corps. They have little idea that most have worked in New York’s garment district, or that Mercer Wenzel still maintains a crucial connection there.
Many customers also experience a feeling, one they often share with staff, that they have seen this place before, seen it in childhood, now in memory.
“People tell us this reminds them of the (department) stores they knew when they were young,” Mark Wenzel says.
Nostalgia might deepen with Perry Como singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town from the store’s speakers, followed by Bing Crosby and I’ll Be Home for Christmas.
The holidays bring a retailer’s season of promise, too, and Mercer Wenzel has seen many.
What most newcomers miss are larger lessons to be found, in retailing and in living, and about an America swung toward chain stores and malls and catalogs and online sales.
They might also overlook the owner, just coming in from his daily brunch at the Green Owl across the street and crisply dressed in dark blue trousers, a sherbet-green Enro shirt and a silk tie showing sea horses and starfish.

One road to retail: Bruce Wenzel could tell them what it’s like to sell swimsuits and women’s sportswear to retailers from a suitcase in a hotel room in Pittsburgh, in dead of winter and in summer heat, black soot from the steel mills blowing onto his sample cases and tables.
Wenzel was Army, Korean conflict, sergeant, supply. From growing up on the near south side of Milwaukee and through the history and speech programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he found a knack for persuasion but wasn’t sure where to aim it.
In school, he worked for an upscale Milwaukee-Madison clothier, McNeil and Moore. In Seoul, he helped fit and dispense uniforms, and after his homecoming a help-wanted ad led him to Catalina swimsuits and women’s wear. Mercifully, Catalina pulled him from wintry Pittsburgh to the sunny shores of South Florida, where traveling sales led to a partnership and a new life in retail.
The senior Wenzel can weave a story of multiple stores and holding onto an enterprise amid the shifting patterns of fashion, if his balking memory will let him. At age 83, he says, “I have a bad memory, getting worse, taking medication for it.” He has watched a quiet town accelerate. He says, “Ever been here at night? You can’t believe how busy.” Amid the flashes of traffic and neon, among the brightly lit eateries and sidewalk sashaying, the Mercer Wenzel corner store is a calm, traditional presence.

Hard work behind the displays: At first glance, Mercer took top billing and then got off easy. Retail is nobody’s play place, unless you’re hiring it done, and when a road-weary Bruce Wenzel met him, S.L. Mercer had put in nearly 20 years in the business. Losing a son to cancer, he cashed out, leaving Wenzel to man the helm, and the hems, for another half-century. And counting.
“This was a beautiful town, still is,” Wenzel says. “People in other places say they wish they had a downtown like ours. Here, we’ve worked along, don’t owe anybody, don’t have a mortgage on the place. We’re fortunate with the help we’ve had from the people here.”
Clothing, jewelry, housewares, toys, notions, between the store’s two floors, the staff hopes, something will catch nearly anyone’s fancy. What might elude view is the hard work behind the displays and the secret to keeping a family clothing store in business on a main street when nearly all such stores, across America, have long since vanished.
Most Delray residents have never known another local department store. Mercer’s, soon-to-be Mercer Wenzel, opened for business 53 years ago, and before that the Zuckerman family sold goods there. The building itself dates from the 1930s. But no family business comes with a guarantee, any more than the lives of those working in it. In life, in work, the staff says, sometimes you find the fit. Sometimes the fit finds you.

An experienced team: That was Mark Wenzel’s experience in the ’70s, not long out of Palm Beach Junior College and Florida State with a business degree. “You can talk about what you want to do, but you go through things, and a lot of times what it boils down to is what’s needed out of you,” he says. “I was needed here.”
For the male customer who came in looking, the lost has been found, and he leaves with a dark blue jacket and coal gray slacks. The next man wanders in, gazes around, wanders out. In this business, the sales staff says, nobody can be taken at first blush. These sales people do not pounce. They approach, ask questions, listen, offer suggestions, even walk someone to a dressing room and lift away what’s cast off.
In the Men’s Department, Cy Baren helps a man picking up a pair of slacks. Not long ago, Baren sold clothes in Manhattan’s Saks Fifth Avenue, but the life circumstances were grim. “My son got very sick,” he says. “I went back to Manhattan, he passed away. I came back here.”
Connie Wickman stepped in off the street one day 39 years ago, just out of school, looking for work. “I loved the atmosphere, and Mr. Wenzel’s a wonderful person to work for,” she says.
Now, she serves in a crucial role; ladies’ wear buyer and merchandise manager, traveling to New York twice a year and to Las Vegas and Atlanta and West Palm to survey what’s new and also tried-and-true and to pick out what might fit her customers best.
“We’re extremely fortunate; we have our agent up in New York by the name of Joe Shultz, Richard Rosenbloom Associates,” she says. “He’s in the market every day, just an amazing man.”
She can run through the list of her more local help now, as she arranges sometimes-painstaking schedules for the part-time workers: Frances Reichenbach and Helene Reeder upstairs in the children’s and housewares departments, and the ladies specialists, Ann Gray, Jeanne Michaels, Anna Caruana, Roz Capp, Bea Schiff, Liz Kirby, Joyce Gassar, Gloria Fucillo. A long-time and well-loved saleswoman, Mary Lehtinen, just retired.
“The girls do a much better job of selling than I ever would,” Connie Wickman says. She can do windows; the decorative displays in front windows, changed every week or so, are hers.
Bruce Wenzel can still sell and serve, too, and he is still there, at work, six days a week. He knows, and his children know, that his run will end, sooner rather than later. His daughter, Chris Wenzel, manages the office and buys for the upstairs and will step into the store’s leadership, with her father’s blessing. He’s glad to think that Mark, with his laid-back manner, will stay with it, too. He has not, happily, outlived the enterprise itself. That would hurt.
“My worst day at my house is Sunday afternoon,” he says, “when I don’t have anything to do. I work six days a week here, and I enjoy it. One of my doctors says, ‘Bruce, that’s what’s keeping you alive.’ ”
Connie Wickman says this: “Here, w-o-r-k not a dirty four-letter word.”
It shouldn’t, they add, be drudgery, either. As Wickman says, “This is a very rewarding job, good people, always something new. We give you the personal attention.”
They can see the result, they say, every day, watching their customers walk back onto the avenue, carrying Mercer Wenzel bags with clothes they’ll wear into the rest of their lives.

In Coasting Along, our writers occasionally stop to reflect on life along the shore.

Gulf Stream: Historic early home demolished

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 17:11

A 1940 home on Gulf Stream Road was demolished to make way for a new 6,605-square-foot home. Photos by Jerry Lower

By Steve Plunkett
A gray two-story, wood-sided house that’s a piece of Gulf Stream history had a date with the wrecking crew in mid-November.
County property records say the residence at 3288 Gulfstream Road was built in 1940, one of the first in the town’s so-called core area, outside the original polo grounds. People who have called it home include a town commissioner, a doctor of internal medicine and a member of Russia’s onetime nobility.
“I hate to see it torn down. It was one of the first cottages they built here, kind of opened up the area down there,’’ Mayor William F. Koch Jr. said.
The house’s new owners, Howard and Bonita Erbstein, razed the 3,131-square-foot home and plan to build a 6,605-square-foot Bermuda Style dwelling. It too will have a detached garage, guest house and swimming pool.
Bob Ganger, who chairs the town’s Architectural Review and Planning Board, regretted not asking to look for artifacts at 3288 when the board approved the demolition permit.
“Gulf Stream still prides itself on quiet, understated elegance — all those things we try to preserve. That’s part of the story’’ the house might have helped explain, Ganger said.
Koch remembered the place being rented for a time to a descendent of the Russian Romanovs who everyone called “Ogi.’’
Town Commissioner Fred B. Devitt III, who owned the property from 1992 to 1999, said he and his family enjoyed living there but that even two decades ago the house was ‘‘worn.’’
“It wasn’t set up for the amenities a modern family needs,’’ he said.
Devitt said he thought about doing some renovations until an empty lot came onto the market just seven or eight houses away. “I got to build fresh down the street,’’ he said.
The wood-frame house was built by the town’s founding Phipps family, either for guests or staff, Devitt said, and sold to Winthrop and Agnes Winslow in 1943. Other owners of the home were Josephine Keyes, Lynn Williams and Dr. Andrew Ladner.
Ganger said Winslow was a direct descendent of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts and had an insurance business in Rhode Island.
“His pedigree takes him to John Winslow, brother of Edward Winslow, the first governor of New Plymouth,’’ Ganger said. “On the maternal side, it is believed that a direct line goes to John Winthrop, governor of the Bay Colony. All three arrived on the Mayflower.’’
The Winslows have another link to the nation’s past. Their home on Harkney Hill Road in Coventry, R.I., is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ganger, who has written a history of his own home, said he was curious why Winslow bought a house in Gulf Stream during World War II.
“He was in his 50s at the time, and Gulf Stream was really a barracks for Sea Bee and Coast Guard personnel,’’ Ganger said.
Ladner sold the house in June for $1.5 million and moved to a home just off the fairways in the Village of Golf.
Howard Erbstein, the current owner, is the chief investment officer at Kolter Group in West Palm
Beach.

Obituary—Mildred Toledano Barrett: Delray Beach

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 17:05

By Ron Hayes

DELRAY BEACH — Mildred Toledano Barrett loved bright red lipstick, getting her hair curled, collecting antiques, dancing, horror movies, red beans, white wine — and people.
She hated being called Mildred.
To friends, she was always Millie. To her four children, she was “Big M.” To her grandchildren, she was MeMe. And to all who knew and loved her, she was an unforgettable character.
Mrs. Barrett died November 17. She was 67, and had been a resident of Boca Raton and Delray Beach since 1972.
“Millie not only had a good sense of humor, she had an outrageous one,” her children recalled during her funeral at St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach. “Her sense of humor ranged from the genteel to the dry to the sarcastic to the witty, and even to the naughty.”
She was born Mildred Pratt on March 12, 1943, in New Orleans, LA.
At 16, she spied a lifeguard named Jimmy Barrett by the pool at the Hilton Airport Hotel there and stuffed her bikini top to attract his attention.
Seven years later, while studying sociology at Lousiana State University she proposed to him. He put her off until he finished medical school, then proposed to her.
Dr. Barrett, a dermatologist, died in 2000, after nearly 34 years of marriage.
After their wedding, the couple moved to San Francisco, where Mrs. Barrett worked as a store detective for Macy’s — briefly.
“She once found an elderly lady shoplifting and felt so sorry for her that she told her to ‘Run like the wind,’” her daughter, Ashley Dalzell, recalled. “She wasn’t that effective as a detective.”
Later, she found work with AAA, preparing maps for travelers.
“She got fired because she was routing people into the ocean,” her daughter said. “Her geography was not the best.”
Mrs. Barrett found her true calling as a homemaker and mother. Driving through Boca Raton one day, her daughter remembers, Mrs. Barrett was abruptly cut off by another driver. She pulled up beside him and yelled, “Children, man your birds!” Waiting for the light to change, the offending driver was saluted by an array of pre-adolescent middle fingers.
In later life, she took to watching horror movies while exercising on her treadmill.
“It gets my heart rate up, dahlin’,” she would explain.
Mrs. Barrett was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, the Junior League, the Boca Raton and Delray Beach historical societies, and was a fundraiser for the Morikami Museum and Bethesda Memorial Hospital.
Now, instead of saying, “Let’s have a really good time,” her children say, “Let’s have a Millie good time.”
In addition to Ashley Barrett Dalzell, of San Francisco, she is survived by daughters Elizabeth Hadley Barrett of San Francisco, and Eileen Nicole Barrett of Boynton Beach; a son, James O’Connor Barrett of Los Angeles; and two grandchildren, Kaelin and Chloe Dalzell.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation the National Brain Tumor Foundation, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Editorial: We think locally, and we hope you'll shop locally this season

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 17:01

Now that all the hype of Black Friday and Cyber Monday has passed, it’s time that the less shopping-crazed of us shake off the Thanksgiving food-fog and begin to think about holiday gifts. To that end, I hope you’ll find this edition helpful.
Please scan our advertisements (there are more than 100!) for great local gift ideas. Many, like Village Square Home Interiors on Page 23, offer a variety of gift ideas and are offering special holiday pricing.
Our Holiday Shopping Guide is a “pull-out” within the Coastal Life section, and includes calendar listings for free holiday events, gift suggestions from advertisers, ideas for packaging cookies for giving (with a yummy recipe) and, of course, our annual Holiday Gift Guide.
As always, Scott Simmons, our consummate shopper, visited many of the gift shops in our area to locate our Tropical Treasures. You’ll find his gift suggestions on Pages 34 and 35. If any of these strike your fancy, please take the pages with you and tell the shop owners that The Coastal Star sent you!
Regardless of where on the political spectrum you are — and it seems no one is the middle anymore — most Americans appreciate the importance of small businesses to the quality of life in their communities. As the governor-elect opens Florida “for business,” we hope both he and Washington understand there are plenty of small businesses that have been serving local communities in boom and bust: some for decades, like Delray Beach’s landmark department store, Mercer Wenzel (see
Page 1), and some just opening their doors. All of them understand the importance of building relationships with their customers.
At The Coastal Star, we are proud to be a small business in this very special community. This holiday season we’d like to suggest that you support our advertisers — and all the other local businesses. Shop the shore.
— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Correction

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 16:59

In our November story regarding the state ethics commission’s probable cause findings regarding South Palm Beach’s mayor [Millar to face hearing on ethics], we stated the proposed height of the Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn’s redevelopment was 19 stories. The current proposed height is 10 stories. We regret the error.

Manalapan: Library benefactors' recognition plaque gets moved indoors

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 16:37

During a celebration for donors to the refurbishing of the Manalapan Library, librarian Mary Ann Kunkle said that she is very pleased with the work that was recently completed.
Photo by Jerry Lower

By Steve Plunkett

A 15-by-18-inch plaque at the library’s front door sparked a new rule that signs cannot be attached to public buildings without express permission from the Town Commission.
The plaque thanked some contributors to this year’s refurbishment of the J. Turner Moore Library, listing in silver letters on a black background 12 new “Friends of the Library’’ who contributed at least $5,000 and 11 “Benefactors’’ who gave at least $2,000.
But residents who gave smaller amounts complained to Vice Mayor Basil Diamond that the very public plaque ignored their gifts. Diamond said donors in previous fund-raising campaigns had been listed on framed certificates inside the library and urged commissioners to adopt a rule that no sign be put on a town building without prior approval. He also wanted the new plaque taken down.
He found an immediate ally in Commissioner Louis DeStefano, who grumbled that his mother was one of the aggrieved contributors.
Commissioner William Bernstein, whose wife, Joan, headed the fund-raising effort, argued that the plaque was tastefully designed and that this year’s donors deserved special recognition.
And Mayor Kelly Gottlieb said she was comfortable with the decision to recognize only the bigger donations.
“You don’t honor people who give $100. You honor people who give significant amounts,’’ she said.
But new Commissioner Donald Brennan, who took Marilyn Hedberg’s place on the dais, asked whether donors had been promised an outdoor plaque to tempt them to increase their gifts.
When Bernstein replied no, Brennan said he thought it was poor judgment to have some names displayed outside and some not at all.
And without a policy on getting town approval first, “I could put a picture of my dog outside,’’ Brennan said.
Mayor Pro Tem Robert Evans suggested that the new plaque be moved inside rather than discarded and that the names of smaller contributors be listed as well.
Commissioners agreed 5-1, with Bernstein dissenting.
By doing that, Brennan and Commissioner Howard Roder were opting to take their names out of the public eye. The plaque lists both as benefactors.
The refurbishment project collected $107,000 from 85 donors in amounts ranging from $20 to $10,000. The money paid for a new ceiling, new lights and carpets, a paint job and new furniture.
The library has 8,000 books and opened in its current location in 1981. It’s not part of the county library system; residents pay a $25 annual membership fee. In return, they do not pay the county library tax, which fund-raisers said was worth $550 for each $1 mil-
lion of assessed value.

Manalapan: Stumpf contract still to be negotiated

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 16:34

By Steve Plunkett

Linda Stumpf is still Manalapan’s acting manager and is still negotiating an employment contract.
When town commissioners fired Town Manager Tom Heck in late October, they merged his position with Stumpf’s job as town finance director and named her acting town manager pending a “mutually satisfactory’’ agreement. Stumpf and Mayor Kelly Gottlieb were to negotiate the new terms.
But the proposed contract was taken off the Nov. 16 agenda at the start of the meeting.
“Linda felt that it would not be approved so she asked me to pull it,’’ Gottlieb said.
The negotiated contract called for $109,980 in salary and contained a clause that Stumpf could revert to her finance position if she or the commission requested it. If she was fired without cause within a year of reverting, she would have received three months’ severance pay.
Heck was paid $123,000 a year and received six months’ severance when he was terminated.
Commissioners Louis DeStefano was tasked with renegotiating the agreement.
“For the record, Linda Stumpf has been a dedicated, very hardworking employee for about eight years in town,’’ DeStefano said. “We are not going to be in trouble; there’s nothing to worry about. It is our job … to make sure that Linda Stumpf, our dedicated employee, goes nowhere.’’

Ocean Ridge: Veteran officer joins PD

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 16:30

The Ocean Ridge Police Department is fully staffed after commissioners approved hiring 27-year veteran David Ralph Kurz.
Kurz, who started in October, filled an opening created when Officer Gene Rosenberg retired last December. The department has since reorganized, moving to 12-hour shifts to help alleviate expenses including overtime in another tight-budget year for Florida municipalities.
The new officer started his police career at 24 and has worked in police departments in Coconut Creek, Plantation and Deerfield Beach and with the Seminole Tribe, according to Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi. Most recently with the Indian River Sheriff’s Office as a crime scene detective, Kurz also has worked for the Broward County and Palm Beach County sheriffs’ offices.
Kurz served 20 years on road patrol and has “advanced proficiency” in crime scene investigation and is an expert witness.
— Margie Plunkett

Coastal Star: Manalapan woman fights for underdogs

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 16:30

Noreen Papatheodorou with her dog Beau, has made working with children, diabetics and the mentally ill her passion. Photo by Jerry Lower

By Emily J. Minor

Noreen H. Papatheodorou is a persevering sort.
She’s raised two kids, handled a chronic disease since she was 6 years old, rekindled her career into something even more powerful on more than one occasion.
She’s traveled. She’s networked.
She’s fought for the underdogs.
And she’s done all of this ever-mindful of a simple motto: Pay it forward.
“I always feel it’s important, if you’ve been blessed with good education and a good career and good health, to give back to your community in some way,” says Papatheodorou, a licensed clinical social worker, who has done everything from treat patients one-on-one to clinical work and research to help produce educational films for the health industry.
“I raised my children the same way. My kids were volunteering for the Special Olympics when they were young.”
Papatheodorou and her husband, Christos, have lived full-time in Manalapan since 1995, moving here about 10 years after they discovered this pretty island town during a business trip.
The couple weren’t too keen on Florida back in 1985. “We’d heard about the humidity and all the bugs,” she says, laughing. But they found a place Christos liked, so they made a low-ball offer and — voilá!
For a while, they came only occasionally — and then Washington, D.C.’s loss was this county’s gain.
Later, they upgraded to a better home, at Christos’ insistence. “He said, ‘I’m not going to live forever in that little house with no garage and no storage,’ ” she remembers.
And that’s when the couple pretty much got used to the Florida heat.
Noreen Papatheodorou, 77, is a bit of a renaissance woman. A type I diabetic diagnosed in 1940, she bustled through her early life without any newfangled medical technology like a glucose monitor or disposable insulin needles. She attended Tufts University, then Bryn Mawr College, eventually choosing clinical social work over her beloved pediatric medicine.
She really wanted to be a doctor, but her personal physician recommended against it. Too grueling for a young woman with a chronic disease like hers.
Papatheodorou didn’t skip a beat, paying it all forward every place she went. She married her husband, a neurosurgeon, and the couple lived and worked in Europe, California and D.C.
After a life-changing car accident, Christos traded in neurosurgery for a Harvard degree in public health and Papatheodorou continued her prestigious career. Mostly, she’s met with clients, one on one, for intense psychiatric help, hooking up with bigwigs and forming policy as she went. Children and diabetics have always been her first loves.
“You don’t retire, you re-career,” she says, about moving to Florida. “You retire to something else.”
And so, it was not too long after Papatheodorou had moved to Florida, bugs and all, that the good people at the Palm Beach County Mental Health Association found her. She sat on their board from 1997 to 2008 and has helped both initiate and invigorate many of the association’s programs.
Through the years, they’ve become accustomed to Papatheodorou’s no-nonsense viewpoints.
What about the veterans that are coming home to us, so sick?
What about the kids coming home from school and taking care of sick parents?
What about women’s health?
But it all these programs take the same thing, and there’s never enough.
“We don’t have the funds now to do (some of) these public education programs,” she says. “There’s just no money.”
And that’s why giving is so important.
Two philanthropists will be recognized when the association has a Dec. 9 open house to show off its new learning center at the downtown offices in West Palm Beach.
The center gives the mentally ill a place for things like personal support, employment training, and help with relaxation activities.
“The mental health association has a great deal to offer, but it just doesn’t get enough exposure,” Papatheodorou says.
“We should be focused on things like this, not waiting for people to get sick and need help.”

If you go
The Open House to show off the new learning center at the Palm Beach County Mental Health Association will be held 5-7:30 p.m., Dec. 9, at 909 Fern St., West Palm Beach. They ask that you call 561-832-3755 and let them know you plan to attend.

Delray Beach: Survey to decide premium trash pickup

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 16:21

Coastal Delray Beach residents are being asked whether they want to continue back-door garbage pickup or save $10 a month by bringing their refuse to the curb.
A survey sent to residents on the barrier island last month asked them to indicate which method they preferred and noted that many were bringing their garbage to the curb while still paying back-door pick-up rates. They were asked to mail the survey back by Dec. 21 with the results presented to the city commission in January.
The survey resulted from an almost six-month review by the city of Waste Management billing. The inquiry, which ended in July, found that there were flaws in the billing process. Now, the city is working on improving the accuracy of billing.
—Pilar Ulibarri de Rivera

Lantana: Seawall to fill missing gap between public beach and condo border

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 16:15

Surfers and sunbathers enjoy the portion of Lantana beach that is already protected by a seawall. Plans are under way to protect the remaining gap between the public beach and the Imperial House seawall, visible in the top center in black. Photo by Jerry Lower

By Margie Plunkett

Newly hired Murray Logan Construction Inc. is soon expected to start its race to complete Lantana’s seawall before turtle season, but not before it agrees to the Town Council’s condition that its equipment not cross over the town’s seawall during or after construction.
The same company that built Lantana’s seawall and that of neighboring Imperial House, Murray Logan was approved to construct the gap between the two and connect to the completed Imperial House wall for a project cost of $384,000. The company was the low bidder among six competitors for the job, for which the town had previously budgeted funds and taken them from reserves. The town will buy the supplies with its tax-free rate to save money.
“I would like some guarantee there’s no damage to our wall,” said council member Cindy Austino, who kicked off officials’ concerns on the issue. Town Manager Mike Bornstein said he anticipated no issue, that the company planned to complete the construction from the west and wouldn’t need to cross the town’s seawall.
The contractor intended to go over the dune on the north side and build the seawall from the ocean side. Before constructing the last 10 feet, however, it would move the equipment to the west to complete it, Bornstein explained. The construction wouldn’t necessitate moving equipment over the seawall.
The town was also still working with the Imperial House in South Palm Beach toward an agreement covering the connecting of the two walls. The town manager wasn’t concerned about damage to the neighbor’s wall by vibration, because Murray Logan will use a higher-grade, vibrationless procedure than it did for Imperial House.
To connect with the Imperial House wall, Lantana has to build 3 or 4 inches over the condo’s property line, according to Bornstein. He didn’t foresee a problem there either, because it’s in the best interest of the Imperial House to close the gap.
The bigger issue, Bornstein said, was that the town has a permit that says it will connect with the other seawall. “We’ve had a long relationship with the Imperial House. I think we’ll reach an agreement,” he said.
When Lantana built the first segment of its new seawall, the Imperial House didn’t have a completed seawall that the town could connect to. The Imperial House ultimately built its seawall under emergency conditions, with the sea threatening to sweep away the unprotected condo.
Lantana and the Imperial House butted heads on several occasions, when the condo wanted to run construction equipment over Lantana’s seawall. Lantana wasn’t willing to risk damage to its new wall except for a high price.
Lantana’s approval of its latest contract with Murray Logan won with two dissenting votes, from Mayor David Stewart and Dr. Lynn Moorhouse. Stewart didn’t want to add the condition and run the risk of tying the contractor’s hands, he said, complimenting Murray Logan’s performance on its previous seawall work.
While the council’s concerns centered on damage to Lantana’s seawall and bridging the 3-inch gap with the Imperial House, Bornstein pointed out that leaving enough time to get the job done is imperative, because spring — and turtle season — comes around fast. Construction isn’t permitted on the beach during turtle season because it interferes with the creatures’ nesting habits.
“I wouldn’t recommend that you delay too long,” said Bornstein, renewing a caution that’s been present through-
out seawall construction.

Along the Avenues: Rapoport revives restaurant with Deck 84 debute

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 16:07

By Thom Smith

Deck 84 is finally a reality, and Burt Rapoport’s new restaurant on the Intracoastal in Delray Beach appears to be a hit. After a soft opening in mid-November, the veteran restaurateur held two opening parties Nov. 18 and 19 and went public a day later.

“It took me three months to get the money and three months to finish it,” said Rapoport, who also runs Henry’s in west Delray and Bogart’s in Boca Raton and claims a share of Max’s Grille in Boca. “I think it looks pretty good.”
The biggest feature, of course, is the water access. With 150 feet of dock space, Deck 84 can handle anything from Jet Skis to mega yachts. Anglers can clean their catch at a dockside table and the staff will prepare it with sides, salad and drink for $9.
The décor is simple. Seating is ample inside and out, with banquettes, lots of bar space and a soon-to-be-added ground-level patio out back.
That may not go over too well with some Deck 84 neighbors who already have expressed concerns to the city about noise and about patrons and staff parking where they shouldn’t, blocking driveways and generally making life unpleasant.
“It was the biggest opening ever for one of my restaurants, which is great,” Rapoport said, “but all the guests plus all the employees really caused some problems. We want to be good neighbors. That’s why we’re not having any music at night.”
To solve the parking problems, Rapoport has arranged for additional parking at a nearby private lot and has contacted the city about improving signage in the area around Deck 84, so guests know where they can and cannot park.

***

More live music for Delray. Pineapple Groove opened quietly in late November, a couple nights here and there to work out the kinks, but if things go as planned, the new club by the tracks will be rockin’ by early December.
“We’ve got great sound and a great concept. We’ll have a wide variety of music — blues, classic rock, even some jazz,” co-owner Randy Grinter said.
The building, just north of Atlantic and east of the FEC tracks, originally a vegetable packing house and more recently a warehouse for Hand’s Office and Art Supply, was City Limits until April 2009. To Grinter, who’s been involved in several South Florida live music clubs and Club Ovation in Boynton Beach, and Miami-based partners Mitch and Richard Clarvit, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
“It’s got great sound and it’s a place where people can do a lot of things,” Grinter said. “Club owners always wish they could do it like this.”

***

With visions of cheesecake dancing in her head, Taylor Morgan, host of South Florida Dines radio show and founder of SouthFloridaDines.com, envisioned a calendar, racier than a triple chocolate mousse — a ladle here, a toque there — of South Florida’s hottest chefs.

Only one problem, chefs may subject chicken skin to air, but not their own.
So nudity was out, but Morgan got her calendar, with her chefs — properly dressed for the kitchen — and at $19.95 at featured restaurants, bookstores and www.myhotechefs.com, it’s selling like hotcakes.
Why? Because it includes recipes and cooking tips plus $25-off certificates redeemable at each of the 12 chefs’ restaurants and 10 percent of the proceeds will go to the Big Heart Brigade, which prepares and delivers meals to needy South Floridians every Thanksgiving.
Not surprising, most of the hotties were local: Allen Susser, Taste, and Bruce Feingold, Dada, in Delray Beach; Dudley Bell Rich III, Carmen’s at the Top of the Bridge, Boca Raton; David Hagan, City Cellar, West Palm Beach; Jayme Franklin, Couco Pazzo, Lake Worth; Zach Bell, Cafe Boulud, West Palm Beach; Charlie Soo, Talay Thai Cuisine, Palm Beach Gardens.

***

Another longtime food fixture in Boca was Tom Wright, whose literally had ’em waiting in line for barbecue and soul food for three decades. Tom’s Place started in a flat-roofed blockhouse at the corner of Dixie and Glades and later moved to a brand new building on North Federal. When Tom died nearly five years ago, the restaurant went with him, but the operation had always been a family affair, and family members never gave up hope.
Son Tom Jr. tried and failed to revive the concept in West Palm Beach, in a building formerly occupied by Blue Front Bar-B-Q. Now two other offspring hope they have the Wright stuff.
Kenny Wright and his sister, Belinda Johnson, are running Tom’s Place right next to the FEC tracks on Boynton Beach Boulevard in Boynton Beach.
You won’t find much signage; just follow the aroma to the “mobile unit” — a step van in the parking lot — or to the adjacent small dining room at the Green Market Cafe. They’re open Tuesday through Saturday. (561-843-7487).

***

Up in Palm Beach, Ristorante Amici was a fixture for two decades and proprietor Maurizio Ciminella was one of the area’s most popular restaurateurs.
A few years ago, Ciminella and his partners added Forte on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach. Reviews were uniformly good, but bad times hit downtown and Forte was morto.
Ciminella, however, never says die. A few years ago, he began selling his own brand of sopressata, Italian-style sausage, so he decided why not market it in his own market. Just so happens, one was available in Palm Beach — Market Salamander. Sheila Johnson, a co-founder of BET cable network, had paid $2 million for Herbert’s Lafayette Market at 155 N. County Road in 2004 and poured another $2 million into renovations before opening in early 2007. Never caught on.
Ciminella and partner Bob Cuillo cut a deal and Amici Market opened Nov. 30.
“We have a little bit of everything,” Ciminella said, showing off his 300-bottle wine cellar, self-serve espresso/cappuccino/latte/hot chocolate machine, gourmet kitchen for pizza and other take-out, fresh bakery, produce, seafood counter, even cereal and packaged pudding. “And I’m competitive. I’m priced below Publix.”
Cranking out the pizza and other delights will be Johnny Contreras, his former chef at Amici.
And most important for folks to the south: “We deliver,” Ciminella said. “We have lots of customers in Manalapan, and lots of our restaurant customers came from Boca. Now we will go to them!”

***

Ah, the sweet life has been so good on J Street for Cindy White and Jay Simpson that they needed more room for their Dolce Vita wine bar. Just like that, something fell into their laps, and it wasn’t pinot noir.
When Soma Center, the yoga and vegan center at 609 Lake Ave., was evicted, Cindy and Jay jumped at the opportunity and will open Dec. 11. The new space includes an outdoor patio, and will permit an expanded menu that includes draft beers, tapas and, to attract the former clientele, organic dishes.

***

Celebrating its 25th season, Miami City Ballet made its first of several visits to the Kravis Center Nov. 19-21. Why a Miami troupe in the Palm Beaches? Because a disproportionate amount of its patronage is up here compared to Dade and Broward counties. To get a greater feel for the program, a busload of supporters and donors rolled to South Beach recently to tour the company’s headquarters, take in a rehearsal and lunch with Founding Artistic Director and CEO Edward Villella.
Among the group, Nancy Hart of Palm Beach Gardens and her daughter, Lisa Leder of Boca Raton, especially wanted to get the inside scoop as they’re chairing The Gala, A Prelude to Romeo & Juliet Feb. 18 at the Flagler Museum. (Tickets $500, 561-674-9978.)
They saw firsthand that dancers who seem to float so effortlessly on stage pay a price for defying gravity. To make the point, Villella held up three fingers to represent his hip replacements. “And I may have to have a knee done, too,” he said.
The wear and tear is so great that the staff includes trainers and therapists who help dancers work out kinks and treat injuries in a special therapy room and gym.

Thom Smith is a freelance writer. He can be reached at thomsmith@ymail.com

South Palm Beach: Millar to pay $3,000 fine, retire from politics in spring

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 15:50

By Tim O’Meilia

Come March, South Palm Beach residents won’t have Martin Millar to kick around anymore.
The embattled mayor said he is bowing out of town politics when his term ends in the spring.
“I’m finished. I’m done. Politics is not my forte,” Millar said before the Nov. 23 Town Council meeting.
His retirement decision comes after he agreed to pay a $3,000 fine levied by the Florida Commission on Ethics for his behavior during a visit to a West Palm Beach strip club and steakhouse in August 2009.
“There are other things in life I’d rather do. It’s time to move on,” said Millar, who served four years as a councilman before his election as mayor in 2009. “If you count my six years here along with all my civil service time as a police officer and firefighter, I’ve been a public servant for 32 years.”
“Let other people take their part,” he said.
Millar signed a consent agreement with the state ethics officials in early November, agreeing to a civil penalty of a $3,000 fine and censure and a public reprimand. The commission will consider the agreement at his Dec. 3 meeting, but such consent agreements typically are approved.
The mayor could have demanded a public hearing and fought the charges.
“It’s what they offered me,” Millar said of the fine. “I felt I should take my punishment and move on.”
In the agreement, Millar admitted he violated state law “by attempting to intimidate or impress a club manager and police officers to secure special privilege and benefit or exemption for himself.”
Investigators found that Millar was tossed out of the club after he refused to stop shining a flashlight on the dancers. Millar flashed his badge and told West Palm Beach police that he knew various high-ranking law enforcement officials and he should be allowed back into the club.
Later, after riding home with a tow truck driver, Millar asked a South Palm Beach police officer for a ride to the emergency room for his aching neck. He was refused, paramedics were called and transported him.
He also sought a ride home from the hospital from police, but Police Chief Roger Crane said an officer could pick him up on his break, using the officer’s own car.
Last month, Millar said the evening at Rachel’s was a mistake. Resident John Taft, who has since died, filed the ethics complaint in November 2009.
The mayor also paid two fines totaling $450 in 2009 for circulating campaign material without the proper paid political advertisement disclaimer.
Five ethics complaints and one elections complaint against other South Palm Beach officials remain unresolved. All six were filed by Pjeter Paloka, a co-owner of the Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn.
Paloka alleged that council members Stella Jordan and Susan Lillybeck benefited from campaigning against the expansion of the inn from two stories to 10 stories before they sought office. He also claimed that Planning Board members Michael Nevard, Dee Robinson and Pat Festino were biased against the inn’s proposal.
Paloka complained to elections officials that Jordan used the name of a defunct political committee without permission on petitions in which she sought signatures to change the town charter.
Millar, who opposed an earlier plan to expand the inn to 14 stories but backed the later 10-story proposal, said he won’t disappear from the scene.
“I’ll still come to meetings,” he said. “I’ll be gone but I
won’t be forgotten.”

The boys and girls of another era reunite in Delray

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 15:46

Students look at old photographs and clippings from the Delray Beach School, circa 1954-55. Photos by Tim Stepien

By Ron Hayes

The first rule of etiquette at high school reunions is very simple.
Everybody present is a “boy” or “girl” — even if they’re in their 70s or 80s.
“That girl I just kissed was my high school sweetheart,” Ernest Simon boasted, nodding toward a figure just disappearing into the luncheon crowd at the Delray Beach Golf Club. “Gloria Gove. She’s Gloria Gove Allen now.”

High school sweethearts Gloria Gove Allen and Ernie Simon catch up at their high school reunion.

In the early 1940s, when Simon and Gove graduated from Delray High School, the town was small, they were young, and Old School Square had schools.
Now those high school seniors are senior citizens, and for two days over the weekend of Nov. 12-13, more than a hundred alumni of Delray and Seacrest high schools came together to share old memories, and make a few more. They lunched at the golf club, reminisced at Old School Square, danced at the Delray Dunes Country Club, and promised to do it again in 2014, if the fates allow.
Both Simon and Gove wed others, but they stayed in Delray Beach, and so did many of their classmates.
“I was born on Atlantic Avenue in 1921,” said Bob Miller, Class of ’41. “Born in a house right about where the Arcade Tap Room [building] is now.”
Thornton Wilder, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, was never a student at Delray High School, but without him there might not have been a reunion.
In 1974, Simon, now a successful lawyer, took on the role of the Stage Manager in a local production of Our Town. He was struck by the cemetery scene in which the deceased Emily Gibbs reflects on how fleeting life is.
“It really hit me,” Simon recalled. “I wanted this so we would see each other from time to time.”
At that first reunion, 20 of the 35 students from his Class of 1942 turned out. In time, the reunion expanded to welcome anyone who had attended Delray High School or its successor, Seacrest.
“At first we did it every four years,” he explained, “but then we decided that was too long between. We were losing people.”
At the 2007 reunion, 135 graduates attended the luncheon. This year, co-chairman Dot Baker counted 109.
The earliest students represented were Laurabelle McNeece Brola and Dr. Fred Love, from the Class of ’38.
Brola, longtime editor of the school newspaper, The Highlights, echoed many of her former classmates in waxing nostalgic for the town she knew growing up.
“I felt so privileged to have grown up here,” she said. “This was the best place in the world to have grown up during the Depression because we learned to depend on each other. Five families went to school together, and we’d pick up each family as we walked to school.”
Love, 88, left for a career with the public health service, but returned to town in 1988.
“This is my one chance to see a lot of people I used to see every day on the street,” he said. He looked around the banquet hall. “I don’t see many people I know here.”
When Simon asked how many had served in the military, more than half the “boys” held up hands.
When he called for an a cappella rendition of God Bless America, everyone seemed
to know the words.

Briny Breezes: Water, traffic issues key to any future redevelopment

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 15:38

By Emily J. Minor

The first round of reviews on Briny Breeze’s proposed changes to its long-range comprehensive plan are in, and there are two apparent trouble spots, according to agency and town officials who have filed initial comments.
Water and traffic.
Although those two growth issues plague many of Florida’s towns and cities, the state-required Evaluation and Appraisal Report that Briny officials sent to the state in September could make way for an increase in both new construction and residents.
Officials have done this with a vision that high-rise condominiums and low-impact businesses might one day replace existing mobile homes.
But — for starters — any changes like that means the town would need more water, says Peter Mazzella, deputy director of utilities for Boynton Beach.
So far, Briny officials haven’t talked to Boynton officials about this, Mazzella said.
“Briny hasn’t approached them (Boynton commissioners) about re-doing anything,” Mazzella said.
For years, the town has bought its water from Boynton, and Mazzella said there have been just very minor changes to the agreement since it was signed in 1984.
When Boynton rewrote its 20-year water plan last year, Mazzella said they left the Briny part as-is, with no accommodations for increased water use in the coming years.
“That doesn’t mean that one can’t be negotiated, but that’s a step that hasn’t been taken,” Mazzella said.
One of the major worries would be the water lines, he said, which couldn’t handle the increased pressure needed to provide fire service to high-rise buildings.
“There would certainly have to be a lot of improvements to the infrastructure for that velocity at that rate,” he said, adding that it’s not a deal-breaker. “All it takes is time and money.”
Briny Breezes Mayor Roger Bennett said they realize this is an issue.
“We talked to them briefly, but we haven’t really updated,” he said. “That’s something we need to do, and we’ll be talking to Boynton about that.”
Currently, Briny’s water use is capped at 448 gallons per minute. For high-rise fire protection, they’d need more like 1,500 gallons per minute, Mazzella said. And that doesn’t even address the issue of providing more water to more people, he said.
Briny’s EAR plan is under review by the state Department of Community Affairs, which is expected to release its preliminary comments in mid-December.
During this time, towns and agencies can comment on the proposed EAR.
The final DCA review of the plan is due back to the town by mid-January.
In addition to the water issues, any construction that would increase population would also require attention to the roads, a Tallahassee official for the Department of Transportation wrote in his comments to DCA.
Gerry O’Reilly, DOT’s director of transportation development, said they’d like to see “data and analysis” that demonstrates new construction and residents “can be accommodated with the existing transportation infrastructure.”
In other comments filed with the state, a top official with the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council said they see “future development of the town as the single issue of major concern.”
An official with the South Florida Water Management District honed in on water, asking town officials to “demonstrate coordination with the city of Boynton Beach.”

Board gathers opposition to WXEL sale

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 15:36

By Angie Francalancia

The Community Advisory Board of WXEL has a seat on the bus for anyone willing to help show the state Board of Education that there’s local opposition to the public radio station’s sale to Classical South Florida. The Board of Education is set to consider the sale at its Dec. 17 meeting at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave. It’s a required step before the sale can be closed.
A small group of loyalists gathered last month in the parking lot of WXEL studios and held a subdued rally to get the word out to the community about the impending sale of the station to Classical South Florida.
“Our purpose today is to see who’s interested in taking a bus to go attend the meeting and let them know what the community wants,” Citizens Advisory Board President Pablo Del Real told the group of about 20 people.
Del Real said he’s asked for 20 minutes on the Board of Education’s agenda, but was given no assurance he’d be allowed to speak. Nor was there a definite time for the issue to be addressed on what is expected to be a daylong agenda, Del Real said.
Originally desiring a meeting to determine the community’s interest, the morning event became an outside rally when the CAB was denied meeting space inside WXEL studios, where it always has met for its regular board meetings, Del Real said. The idea of a rally came from station listener Mike Paschkes.
“I though wouldn’t it be something if a bunch of us could descend upon the Board of Education and tell them how we feel,” Paschkes said. “I was hoping it would draw a number of people. Most people here already are involved.”
It drew support for the bus, though.
“I’ll pay for the bus,” said Joe Ferrer, president of Sunset Entertainment Group Inc., which provides classical programming for several area venues, including Florida Atlantic University and Palm Beach State College’s Eissey Theatre. “We have classical art programs dying in this county because we can’t get people to pay attention. We’ve got to stop that.”
“WXEL is a community asset. We need to be there if for no other reason than to show our concern,” Ferrer said.
Barry University, the Coral Gables-based Catholic school that owns WXEL, signed an agreement to sell WXEL to Classical South Florida in April — without getting input from the community, Del Real has said.
The CAB held two public forums over the summer, then delivered the results of those forums to the WXEL board at its meeting in September.
The Community Advisory Board questions the legality of Barry to profit from the sale of the station, and objects to a sale that would split WXEL-FM 90.7 from WXEL Television.
The CAB also says selling to Classical South Florida, which already operates a classical music station out of Miami, would eliminate local programming from WXEL.

Meet your neighbor: Dorothy 'Dottie' Patterson — Delray Beach

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 15:32

Delray Beach Historical Society archivist Dorothy ‘Dottie’ Patterson’s base of operations is in the Ethel Sterling Williams Learning Center at Hunt House. Photo by Jerry Lower

Dorothy “Dottie” Patterson has a passion for art, history and barrier islands. She grew up in southeast Georgia and lived on St. Simon’s Island before moving to South Florida in the early 1980s. Today, she lives on another island — Delray Beach’s barrier island.
Her passion for history is obvious in her role as the archivist for the Delray Beach Historical Society. As the sole staff member, she’s responsible for planning exhibits, maintaining the Cason Cottage collection, and the archives of historical photographs and documents that are housed in the historic Cason Cottage House Museum at 5 NE First St., one block north of Old School Square.
Patterson’s favorite collections are the paintings and architectural drawings, the original mid-century cartoons and the Beachcomber Collection, with items as diverse as baby seahorses, Florida land snails from the Everglades and even Coppertone sun lotion caps, which residents find combing the local beaches.
She loves to frequent East Atlantic Avenue and to dine in many of the restaurants that are housed in historic buildings, such as Jimmy’s Bistro on Swinton Avenue, Gol! Restaurant in the Arcade Building, the Falcon House or even Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, which is located in a former Howard Johnson’s.
And when she’s is not enjoying the ocean or Atlantic Avenue, Patterson likes to travel to her rustic cottage on yet another island, Guanaja, part of the Bay Islands off the north coast of Honduras.
While visiting Honduras with a friend, Patterson fell in love with the peace and quiet of the island. She later purchased a small beach cottage with her brother. Hurricane Mitch destroyed the original cottage in 1998, but Patterson rebuilt and now vacations there when she is not in Delray or in California visiting her son and grandsons.
In Guanaja, says Patterson, “I sit in the hammock and read book after book. I can really concentrate when I am visiting. The island only recently got electricity and I don’t have a TV or computer there. I have the time to cook everything from scratch. I relax, go boating, fishing and hiking — it’s a true getaway.”
— Jan Engoren

Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A. I grew up in Southeast Georgia, although my family lived in Florida for many years. I was a pre-med student at Emory University in Atlanta and then transferred to the University of Florida, where I earned my BA in history. I earned a second undergraduate degree in art at FAU.

Q. Tell us about your role at the Delray Beach Historical Society.
A. In 1991, I was hired by the DBHS as a docent and arranged tours for the local schools to come and visit the Historical Society. At that time we were transitioning the archives from the Cornell Museum to the new Ethel Sterling Williams Learning Center and I helped raise funds to convert the former classroom into a state-of-the-art archival center.
My primary role at the DBHS is to protect the archive, to add to the archive and to develop programs related to that archive. I use the archive to reach out to the community, to invite them to participate in cultural events, to alert them to what we are doing and to use it as a way to convey our history as a community in Delray Beach. The archives are the foundation of everything we do.
I create lectures based on the archive, I write articles, create exhibits, give tours, etc. Last year we had an exhibit of vintage clothing, circa 1915-1935, and this year I am planning an exhibit on the handicrafts of local women and one on our collection of World War I memorabilia. I always have a lot of ideas.
Q. Have you had other careers (or hobbies), and what were the highlights?
A. Yes. I’ve had a very varied career. During the 1970s, I worked as a social worker for the state of Florida with the mentally handicapped. After that, I earned my real estate broker’s license and worked for the GE Real Estate Project at the Coronada Ocean Club in Highland Beach as an office manager. I also earned my American Society of Interior Decorator’s license and helped people choose their tile, flooring and color choices for their condo unit.
But, my favorite job is my current job. I am doing what I love — historical research and creating exhibits on a variety of topics of interest to me, and I hope, to the visitors who come to the museum every day.
Q. How did you choose to have a home in Delray Beach?
A. Before moving to Delray Beach, I lived in both Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton. In 1983, I wanted to buy property and was looking in Delray. At that time, some of the neighborhoods were deteriorating and in disrepair and prices were low. I bought a small, 1925-era apartment building on Northeast Second Avenue and lived in the owner-unit in the building until 2000, when I sold it and moved to a townhouse by the beach.
During the mid-1980s, I was actively involved in the revitalization of Pineapple Grove. We have these pictures in our archive. In the 1950-’60s, Pineapple Grove was a thriving commercial thoroughfare but fell into neglect in the 1980s. Now, in 2010, it is once again a vibrant, thriving commercial district.
Q. What is your favorite part about living in Delray Beach?
A. I like everything about Delray. I like my house; I like my job; I like the beach, even though I don’t go as often as I would like. I like the history, I like the palm trees, I like the old buildings and the sense of community. When you go out and about in the old part of town, (east of I-95), you always see someone you know.
Q. What book are you reading now?
A. I think about books a lot and even keep a book journal. I belong to a book club and just reported on the book No Ordinary Time, an insight into the Roosevelt presidency during World War II by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.
I have several books I would like to read, including Monuments Men, by Robert M. Edsel, detailing the true story of how special forces of American and British museum directors, curators and art historians risked their lives after WWII to recover and prevent the destruction of thousands of years of art and culture looted by the Nazis.
As you see, this book combines both of my favorite topics — art and history.
Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
A. I love Latin music, including Mexican-style ranchero music, flamenco, romantic bachata music from the Dominican Republic, and Portuguese fado music. I love the rhythm. It gives me energy to work and inspires me to take tango lessons.
To relax, I listen to Latin ballads and ranchero music by Mexican singer Vicente Fernández and fado music by the Portuguese singer Mariza. I also love NPR’s classical music programming.
Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A. I like quotes from Shakespeare and the King James version of the Bible — anything with beautiful, colorful words, but with a sharp edge. ... Favorites include the Creole proverb: “When you die, the grass grows over the door,” and the Greek adage, “Count no man fortunate until he is safely dead.”
Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A. Both my parents and grandparents were strong influences in my life. I also had a chemistry teacher in college we called “Tiger Jones,” because of his red hair and the way he paced back and forth in the classroom. Most schoolwork came easy to me, but his class was a difficult mathematically based chemistry class. He taught me to dig deeper and harder and how to study effectively. I used to get test anxiety and I was a bit dyslexic. In those days we didn’t use calculators and had to work out the problems manually. With his help, I went from a D to a B+ and learned a good lesson and work ethic from him. I will never forget him.
Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A. Usually, I don’t focus on the celebrity culture, but a more serious British stage actress might be able to portray me. I’ve been told I resemble the British actress Emma Thompson, so I would honored to have her play me. ... Most people think that being an archivist is boring or bookish. But, my life has not been boring or normal at all. I’d say I had an unconventional life.

Obituary—Virginia Lyne Sloan: Gulf Stream

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 15:24

By Ron Hayes

GULF STREAM — During the three decades Virginia Lyne Sloan lived in Gulf Stream, she played golf, tennis and bridge, did some needlepoint — and wore a bunny suit, in season.
“For several years, she would dress as the Easter bunny for the children at the St. Andrews Golf Club. She’d be holding a big Easter basket,” recalls her daughter, Laura. “She was game for anything. She just loved life.”
A native of Pittsburgh, Mrs. Sloan died Nov. 2, surrounded by her family. She was 88.
After graduating from the Winchester Thurston School, she worked as a hat designer at Miss Rose Chapeau and as a buyer for Mary Binns, an exclusive dress shop in her hometown.
She married William Lytle Sloan II, an investment banker, and they honeymooned on a train to California, where Mr. Sloan left for active duty in World War II.
The couple were married more than 50 years. Mr. Sloan died in 1995.
Leaving work to raise her family she still found time to volunteer with the Shadyside Hospital Auxiliary Board, the Junior League, Shady Side Presbyterian Church and other organizations.
“She never had an unkind word to say about anyone,” her daughter remembers. “Even if we encouraged her to do so, she always saw the best in everything. She was very funny, and up until the very last moment she always had her hair done, her nails done. Even when I would drive her to all those doctors’ appointments, she had earrings on and her hair done, even though she wasn’t feeling well for most of the last 10 years.”
In addition to her daughter Laura, of Boynton Beach, Mrs. Sloan is survived by two other daughters, Margaret and Barbara, also of Gulf Stream; a brother, Robert A. Lyne Jr., of Atlanta; four grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.
A reception in her memory was held in the Governor’s Room of The. St. Andrews Club on Nov. 10, with a burial to follow in Pittsburgh next spring.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers donations may be made to Hospice By The Sea, 1531 W. Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton, FL 33486.

Obituary—Mildred "Mim" George: Delray Beach

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 15:23

By Mary Thurwachter

DELRAY BEACH — Colleagues called on Mildred McKinnon George, known to friends as “Mim,” to help with projects right up until the day she died at age 85 on Nov. 6.
“I called her that day to ask her to help us with a special assessment at Spady Cultural Heritage Museum,” said Vera Farrington, the museum’s founder and a longtime friend.
“She was a fantastic person and I wanted her to chair that committee,” Farrington said.
Unfortunately, it was too late. Mrs. George’s daughter answered the phone and shared the sad news.
Passionate about preserving the history and culture of Delray Beach, Mrs. George was on Spady’s board of directors.
“She was a strong person to accomplish all she had done. She was loved by so many. I don’t think she ever met a person who was not her friend,” Farrington said.
Farrington, a historian who grew up in Delray, said she had known the George family all of her life.
“They were friends when it wasn’t cool for whites and blacks to associate and let it be known,” Farrington recalled.
Mrs. George was born in Erie, Penn., and served in the Navy WAVES during World War II.
She met her late husband, Delray native Edward M. George of the A. George family, in 1947 when she came to town to join her sister, Charlotte, who ran a deli across from the Colony Hotel. The George family had a general store on Atlantic Avenue.
Mrs. George was a homemaker, volunteer, PTA president, Cub Scout den mother and Sunday school teacher who, after 20 years of marriage, returned to school at Palm Beach Community College and later, Florida Atlantic University.
Her son Ed was in some of the same classes with his mother.
“You can’t do much whining when you’re in a class with your mother and she’s getting an easy A and you are struggling to get a C-plus,” her son remembered. “At one time, four of us (Georges) were going to PBCC at the same time.”
Mrs. George worked with the Florida Probation and Parole Commission in Delray for 11 years.
After graduation from FAU, she joined the county public defender’s office, becoming director of alternative sentencing, advising attorneys and judges on better options than prison for defendants with special circumstances.
She was a champion for women with no voice in the criminal justice system, her son Ed said. She was a pioneer in this field, her program becoming a model for public defenders in Florida and the nation, gaining wide recognition.
In a 1993 news story about Mrs. George, Palm Beach County Judge Nancy Perez, who worked in the Public Defender’s Office, described her this way: “She’s a unique lady. She has the energy of 10 people 30 years younger. She’s the one I went to when I had a client who needed an unusual type of treatment.’’
Mrs. George was a founding member of the National Alliance of Sentencing Advocates. Her legacy lives on through the Mim George Award, presented in her honor each year by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association for outstanding work in this area.
She received many awards, including the Urban League of Palm Beach County’s Beacon of Light Award, the Harriette S. Glasner Freedom Award, the Wayside House Butterfly Award and the Award for Service to Indigent Clients. She also received awards from the Comprehensive Alcoholism Rehabilitation Programs, Soroptimist International, Executive Women of the Palm Beaches and others.
Mrs. George served on more than 16 boards and associations. She was appointed by the governor to the District Health and Human Services Board and served on the Palm Beach County United Way Volunteer Bureau.
A celebration of her life will be held at 11 a.m., Dec. 11 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Delray Beach.

South County public access golf courses

Posted by Mary Kate Leming on December 1, 2010 at 15:17

Links at Boynton Beach
Address: 8020 Jog Road, Boynton Beach
Phone: 742-6500
Layout: 18-hole championship course
Length: 6,297 yards; par 71
Greens fees: $48 per person. After 11 a.m., $39; after 1 p.m. $32; after 2:30 p.m. $28
9-hole family course
Fees: $14 walk, $21 ride
Comments: One of the best municipal courses in the country with a solid layout and new greens that are full grown in after one season.

Lake Worth Municipal
Golf Course
Address: 1 Seventh Ave. N., Lake Worth
Phone: 582-9713
Layout: 18 holes
Length: 6,100 yards; par 70
Greens fees: $39. After noon, $34; after 2 p.m., $29.
Comments: Built in 1924, the course has new golf carts and new sand in the bunkers for this season. Renovation of nine greens is scheduled to begin in May.

Delray Beach Golf Club
Address: 2200 Highland Ave., Delray Beach
Phone: 243-7380
Layout: 18-hole championship course
Length: 6,884; par 72
Greens fees: (Palm Beach County residents) Until 1 p.m., $43 weekday, $46 weekend; 1-2:30 p.m. $33 weekday, $36 weekend; after 2:30 p.m. $23 weekday, $26 weekend. Fees lower for Delray Beach residents.
Comments: A Donald Ross design (1923) that still maintains some of the look and feel of classic Rossian green complexes.

Palm Beach Par 3
Address: 2345 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach 33480
Phone: 547-0598
Layout: 18-hole par 3
Length: 2,572 yards; par 27
Greens fees: Morning, $38. After noon, $35. After 3:30 p.m., $24. Cart fees: pull carts $5, $3 in the afternoon. Riding carts: $14, $9 in afternoon.
Comments: On the Intracoastal and Atlantic Ocean, Raymond Floyd did a great job on what is a Par 3 masterpiece.

Osprey Point Golf Course
Address: 12551 Glades Road, Boca Raton
Phone: 482-2868
Layout: Three nine-hole layouts
Length: 6,800 yards; par 72
Greens fees: (18 holes) Weekend, $47 morning, $41 after 12:30 p.m.; weekday, $45 morning, $39 after 12:30 p.m.; nine-hole rates: $14, walk or ride, before 8 a.m. Mornings, $29, afternoon, $20.
Comments: Newest kid on the block with a natural look and feel that should only get better as it matures.

Red Reef Executive
Golf Course
Address: 1221 N. Ocean Blvd, Boca Raton
Phone: 391-5014
Layout: 18-hole par 3
Length: 1,357; par 32
Greens fees: (Through Dec. 10) nine holes: walk, $10.50, ride, $18. 18 holes: $18 walk, $22 ride.
Comments: Tougher than it looks, especially on the back side.

Boca Raton Municipal Golf Course
Address: 8111 Golf Course Road, Boca Raton
Phone: 483-5226
Layout: 18-hole championship course, nine-hole executive course
Length: 6,714 yards; par 72
Greens fees (Through Dec. 10): nine holes: walk, $16.75, ride, $25.25; 18 holes: walk $25, ride $35.50
Comments: First renovation in 16 years gives the course a much-needed makeover.