As I walk into my home I’m greeted with an original encaustic painting of a palm. I love the textures and colors. It puts my mind instantly at ease after a hectic day at the office.

Encaustic (or hot-wax painting) is an ancient art form, but the artist who created my painting was not old. She was 66.

Terry Welty — one of the talented “Briny Artists” — died in September. She leaves many, many mourning friends and family members.

In her obituary published in Fenton Michigan’s Tri-County Times, it reads that Terry “loved painting, especially encaustic painting.” She did. I am lucky enough to have known Terry and to own a piece of her work. Today it reminds me how heartache and memories may eventually fade, but art — in all its forms — has the potential to live on and inspire us for generations.

Reading a good book, walking through a sculpture garden or listening to a string quartet inspire me. It’s stimulating to ponder form and physics and the
definition of beauty.

Taking the time to explore the art of others often sends me running home to pick up the pieces of my frequently abandoned novel outline. Oh, how I need the
inspiration of art! Especially after a long, hot summer.

That’s why I’m happy to welcome back the Palm Beach ArtsPaper to our publication.
After a summer reprieve, it’s nice to have back the educated and
insightful musing and reviews of these critics to get me off the porch swing
and out to experience the wonderful art created in our community.

I hope they do the same for you.

•

In this month’s Boca Raton/Highland Beach edition of The Coastal Star, Hap Erstein takes a look at the State of the Arts in Boca Raton. He’ll be doing the same in our area over the next two months. If
you’d like to read his Boca piece, you can find it on our website at:
www.thecoastalstar.ning.com.

By Thom Smith

In spite of the tough times and the crazy politics, life goes on in Boynton Beach. In fact, in some cases it’s getting better. Just ask Troy Wyman.

For Wyman, the sun is shining brightly in Sunshine Square Plaza at the corner of
Woolbright and Federal, where his Boynton Diner is taking a big leap to …
dinner!

As of Oct. 1, the diner will offer three squares a day. To the already ambitious
daily menu, add the likes of maple, peach and jalapeño-glazed twin boneless pork
chops, pineapple jerk-marinated jumbo shrimp brochette or smoked salmon penne
with asparagus and vodka dill cream sauce.

Wyman credits his new chef, Jim Grisbeck, who until recently cooked at Ta-boo on Palm
Beach’s Worth Avenue. Yeah, yeah, it’s hard to believe, but Boynton is doing
better than Palm Beach, at least where the Diner is concerned.

“There’s nothing in the area that does our kind of food, diner food that’s a step
above,” Wyman said. “The
opportunity was there and I picked up a great chef, so we decided to try
dinner. It’s the best value in the area.”

Wyman’s optimism is bolstered by the surge in occupancy at Las Ventanas, the massive
494-unit rental and retail project across the street, where occupancy has
already reached 80 percent.

“We really hated to lose him,” Ta-boo manager Mark Mariacher said of Grisbeck, “but
he was much better than what we had him doing here and with business being
slow, we had no choice.”

The breakfast menu offers 50-plus items, from basic bacon and eggs to fancy French
toasts. The Camp Fire ($9.50) is
two slices of graham-cracker-encrusted French toast stuffed with chocolate and
marshmallow. The seafood frittata ($12.95) includes grilled shrimp, crab and
lobster with three eggs and Swiss cheese topped with béarnaise sauce, plus a
side and toast.

A recent lunch menu included chicken pot pie ($8.95) and fried catfish jambalaya
with shrimp, mahi, crab and lobster with peppers, onions, mushrooms, garlic
rice and tomatoes, topped with cornmeal breaded catfish and jalapeno cornbread
on the side ($9.95).

Diner food? A step above? How about a
giant step?

***

Speaking of Palm Beach, the massive seven-month, $15.8 million Worth Avenue improvement
project is on schedule and by some accounts should be done before the projected
Nov. 30 finish date and under budget. The new clock tower is in place at the
ocean end of the street. Sidewalks have been widened and paved with tabby; new
street lights are going up; pedestrian rest areas will include shade trees.

Of course, the construction has snarled traffic and hasn’t been great for
business. County Road, which was closed just south of Worth Avenue in early
August, is scheduled to reopen Oct. 15. Some businesses have struggled.

“Our customers have been very loyal,” Ta-boo’s Mark Mariacher said. “Despite all the
mess and the inconvenience, they’ve kept coming back. Bice and Renato’s have
held on, too!

***

Word is finally out … Burt Rapoport’s new restaurant in Delray will be called Deck
84. Nestled along the Intracoastal at 840 East Atlantic — hence the name, which
Burt says “suited the concept well” — the former Busch’s Seafood site will seat
260 inside and outside along a 150-foot dock. Rapoport, who also has Henry’s on
Jog Road west of Delray and Bogart’s in Boca, will put the kitchen in the
competent hands of Bogart’s exec chef Chuck Gittleman. Look for a casual menu
of small plate dishes and finger food with an emphasis on fresh seafood.
Rapoport
had hoped to open in October, but now he’s pushed it back to mid- to late November.
“We had hoped to open sooner,” he said, “but it never goes the way you want it.
Little things always pop up, and I want to get it right first.”

***

Look for lunch service to begin in mid-October at Lantana’s newest eatery, Apicius.
After several delays, Leo Balestrieri finally began serving Florentine
specialities for dinner at his ristorante
and enoteca (wine repository) at 210
E. Ocean in early September. Balestrieri has turned it inside out with 4,000
square feet of inside and outside seating. Apicius has a lot of history on its
side, being named for the first Italian cookbook, but the site’s history has
been spotty. Four attempts since 2005 have failed: most recently R-Kitchen,
Sara’s Kitchen and the highly regarded Il Cioppino and Il Trullo.

***

Meanwhile in Lake Worth, Prime 707 which begat Ouzo Blue has begat Fiorentina. The names
have changed, but at least one face remains the same at 707 Lake Ave. That
being Josh Santangela, who has gone from manager at Prime 707 to chef/owner at
Fiorentina. He’s dishing out contemporary regional Italian, or as he sees it,
“like Paradiso but with a lower price point.”

More change in Lake Worth as we say good-bye to Yesterday’s, and say hello to Palm
Beach Home Interiors.

Yesterday’s Antique Mall, the popular but unprofitable (for the landlord) antique
consignment store on Lake Avenue, closed rather suddenly last month. But as of
Oct. 1, it’s home to Palm Beach Home Interiors, a furniture consignment store,
operated by Palm Beach Consignment Group. The company also owns Van Michael’s
Consignment in West Palm Beach and Jamie’s Classic Consignment in Lantana
and plans to open Antique Row Consignments on Oct. 6 at the
former Chris Ellis Collection space on Dixie Highway in
West Palm Beach. Offering “upscale furniture without the upscale price of new
retail,” the new store will offer a couple of other little twists: monthly
exhibits by local and regional artists and seminars in art and home design.

***

Both The Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach and the the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Race for
the Cure are celebrating their 20th anniversary in Palm Beach this year. Since
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the resort is teaming with the
foundation to offer a special deal that actually will continue until race day,
Jan. 20.

The purely pink “Sweet Dreams for the Cure” package offers each guest a pink
bathrobes and a pair of fluffy pink socks, a pink “Dream for the Cure”
pillowcase from Pioneer Linens, a pink pedicure from the resort’s Eau Spa by
Cornelia, and special pink welcome cupcakes.

Five percent of the proceeds ($399 per room) goes to the Komen Foundation. Call
561-533-6000.

***

Since he arrived on the scene in the early ‘70s, Dennis Koehler has been involved in
public service. A veteran of two tours of duty in Vietnam, he represented District
3 on the County Commission from 1976-1984. One of the first proponents for
controlled growth in Palm Beach County, he continued that role on the County
Planning Commission.
Koehler also is an advocate for veterans and veterans rights. Last month the
Vietnam Veterans of America recognized him with its highest honor, the VVA
Commendation Medal, for “outstanding, exemplary service to veterans, and to his
community.”
He’s still fighting . . . but now the foe is cancer. What started out as small
battle against melanoma has become a full-body war. The cancer and its
treatment have forced him to close his one-man law practice and the bills are
staggering, so fellow veterans and friends have organized a benefit at E.R.
Bradley’s Saloon in West Palm Beach at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 12. Sponsorships are
available, but friends are urged to come and contribute what they can. For more
info, contact thcorey@aol.com. mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt"">

Don’t miss

The first Oktoberfest of the season — Saturday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m., at the Count de
Hoernle Pavilion at the of F.E.C. Railway Station in Boca Raton. Benefits the
Boca Historical Society. Food, German bier,
bake sale (German) and music by the Sheffield Brothers. $75, 561-395-6766
or www.bocahistory.org.

The big daddy, the American German Club’s 37th annual fest, opens Friday, Oct. 8
and runs for two weekends at the club’s headquarters at 5111 Lantana Road. $7
admission, free parking, bands from Munich, German food and drink, carnival
rides and lots of dancing — belly, Irish and, of course, chicken. 561-967-6464.

***

While the Dolphins are away, the Dol-Fans will play …yes""> at Mizner Park in Boca. This year the Dolphins and the city
have teamed up to produce “South Florida’s biggest away-game parties” every
time the Fins are playing somewhere else. On Oct. 17, while the Dolphins are
playing the Packers in Green Bay, several thousand fans are expected to join
Dolphins alumni, cheerleaders and the T.D. Fins Force to watch games on
large-screen TVs. Area restaurants offer game specials and admission and
parking are free. See www.downtownboca.org.

***

He wasn’t around back then, but Harvey Oyer, III knows better than most what life was
like for Florida’s legendary “Barefoot Mailmen.” Oyer, an attorney and
historian, is the great-grand-nephew of Charles Pierce, one of that select and
celebrated group in the late 1800s who delivered the mail between Palm Beach
and Miami, almost 70 miles one-way by foot and by rowboat.

Oyer also is an author. To help celebrate Florida Heritage Month, he’ll discuss his
latest book, The Adventures of Charlie
Pierce: The Last Egret, on Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. at the Delray Beach Public
Library. No charge. 561-266-9490.

***

Just in case BP hasn’t learned its lesson, the Raging Grannies and supporters of
Clay Glass Metal Stone Cooperative Gallery in Lake Worth intend to make a point
from Oct. 1-13 with its latest exhibit, “The Raging Arts (or) What Are We Doing
to This Planet?”

To call attention to recent environmental disasters, the gallery’s sidewalk will
become a beach scene complete with sand, wildlife (extant and extinct) and an
oil-pumping derrick. Local artists will be joined by the Raging Grannies, part
of a national movement of activist grandmothers, who perform parodies that
promote peace not war.

The Oct. 1 opening will include wine and cheese tastings. Call 215-205-9441.

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

By Margie Plunkett

Police officers will be paid for a full, 104 extra hours they will work annually because of a schedule change to 12-hour shifts, a reverse by Ocean Ridge commissioners who initially agreed to pay for only 44 additional hours.

“The commission felt that since the officers would be working the hours, they should be paid for them at their present salary rate,” Town Manager Ken Schenck said in an e-mail.

Commissioners voted at their Sept. 8 meeting to pull $34,000 from budget reserves to pay for the hours.

The Police Department started moving to 12-hour shifts in late July to ease scheduling and save the town money. Patrolmen were expected to receive the same annual pay, but the new schedule would have meant lower hourly rates and less overtime pay. Commission’s move at the Sept. 8 meeting restored the hourly rate.

Under the 12-hour-shift schedule, officers will work 84 hours every two weeks instead of 80. While sergeants are already working the new schedule, officers are expected to start in November, Schenk said.

The new work schedule doesn’t apply to dispatchers. The town had initially planned to compensate officers for 44 of the 104 added hours by giving them more holiday pay.

Ocean Ridge will see a savings in overtime as officers work four more regular hours each pay period and fewer overtime hours will be required.

Officers voiced concern at the July town meeting when the change was first discussed and later took a step toward unionization with a petition for collective bargaining.

Officers then pointed out that other towns that had made the move to the 12-hour shift had not reduced police officers’ hourly wages.

“Manalapan, Delray Beach, South Palm Beach and Boca Raton pay the four hours to their officers in straight time,” Officer Bob Massamino had told commissioners. “We want what our neighbors get.”

Additional municipalities that earlier made the move included Boynton Beach, Gulf Stream and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, according to Ocean Ridge Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi.

Under the new schedule, officers choose their shift every six months, Yannuzzi said at the July meeting, adding that the schedule means every other weekend off with a three-day weekend.

By Ron Hayes
Sally Leyenberger came to Delray Beach in 1978, and for the first decade or so, she was an average citizen. She did not attract attention. She did not spread stories.
And then, in 1988, Sally Leyenberger turned herself into a big red dog, and the stories began.
Since then, she has become a starfish, a snowman, a Mad Hatter and dozens of other, shall we say, “characters.”
At 2:30 on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 10, she’ll greet children as a caterpillar, tell them a story about caterpillars, and say goodbye as a butterfly during “Fall Fun at the Lantana
Nature Preserve.” Sponsored by the Friends of the Lantana Nature Preserve, the free event will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Geared to children ages 5 to 10, it will also feature games, prizes and drinks.
“My mission statement says I want to delight, amaze and educate through storytelling,” Leyenberger said during a recent chat at Starbucks on Atlantic Åvenue, where she showed up dressed as herself. “But do you want to see why I really do it?”
She opened a scrapbook to a snapshot of children listening to one of her stories. She is not in the picture, but the expressions on the faces of those 4- and 5-year-olds, sprawled on a floor, chins in hand, grinning, tell a story of their own.
“That’s why I do it.”
In a sense, Leyenberger’s own story is also one of transformation. Instead of a caterpillar who became a butterfly, she was a grieving widow who found a new zest for life through storytelling.
After working for 24 years as a bookseller and bookstore owner, she combined her bookselling experience with a love of storytelling, used connections in the publishing industry to obtain permissions, and began appearing at summer camps and public schools as Clifford, the Big Red Dog.
In time, her business, Pretend Party Productions, grew as big as a big red dog.
She developed other characters — the Cat in the Hat, a dinosaur, a monkey, a snake. A pirate, a pumpkin, a sugar plum fairy.
“I used to be a princess,” she says with a laugh, “but I’m too old, so I changed it to a duchess.”
As the Mad Hatter, she changes hats to teach children about the jobs each new hat represents.
As Safari Sal, she leads them on an imaginary visit to Africa.
For her Arctic adventure, Leyenberger appears as a snowman, and brings along a Sno-cone machine to delight those Florida natives who have never seen snow.
Today, she appears as 32 different characters, garbed in custom-made costumes from Costume World in Deerfield Beach.
After each appearance, Leyenberer poses for pictures with the children and hands out bookmarks or, for the teachers and parents, bibliographies for future reading on story’s subject.

“The secret of storytelling is simply getting over the initial shyness,” she says. “Everybody has a story, and people are thrilled that you want to share it. All you need is a beginning and an end, and a little piece of yourself in the middle.”
The Lantana Nature Preserve is an ideal spot for stories about butterflies. Situated on 6 acres at 400 E. Ocean Blvd., the preserve offers winding paths through native habitat and mangroves, and includes a real butterfly garden.
At the end of her appearance, Leyenberger said, she will offer each child a packet of milkweed seeds with which to start his or her own butterfly garden.
“This keeps me young,” she said. “I have no children of my own, I’m a widow — this keeps me young.”
For information about Fall Fun at the Lantana Nature Preserve, call
Ilona Balfour at (561) 588-7427.

By Steve Plunkett

Construction is on pace for a mid-December reopening of the George Bush Boulevard Bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway.

“There’s been no change in the schedule,’’ said Kristine Frazelle-Smith, an engineer
with Palm Beach County’s Roadway Production Division.

The bridge was closed to road traffic and pedestrians July 20 so workers could
install new pilings, repair others and replace sidewalk railings on both
ends. Work is to continue until 6 p.m. Dec. 13.

Motorists must go almost a mile south to Atlantic Avenue or nearly 3 miles north to
Woolbright Road in Boynton Beach to reach the mainland while the George Bush
span is being worked on.

Construction has left some businesses along George Bush Boulevard feeling almost marooned.

“It’s truly hurting the retail people big-time,’’ said Susie McTighe, owner of the
Great Stuff art and antiques shop just west of the bridge. She asked the city to put up a sign on U.S. 1 saying businesses are still open, but was told she needed more people to complain.

“We’re trying to get 10 people to e-mail [Delray Beach chief building official] George
Diaz,’’ she said.

Bridge construction updates are posted at
www.pbcgov.com/newsroom/roads_print.htm.

By Christine Davis

Acqua Liana, the Tahitian-Fijian inspired estate at 620 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan,
has been sold for $15.5 million by real estate developer and president of Venture Concepts International Inc, Frank McKinney.
Unveiled early in 2009, the seven-bedroom estate was originally priced at $29 million,
and was most recently listed with Pascal Liguori of Premier Estate Properties for $22.9 million.
“The high-end real estate market is taking the lead in the real estate recovery,”
Pascal Ligouri said. “Acqua Liana is the latest of four oceanfront sales that I
have made over the last 10 months.”
The buyer was Bali 620 Realty Trust, which had Ronald Kochman listed as trustee, according to the warranty deed filed Sept. 13. On top of the $15.5 million, the buyer also purchased furniture, electronics and media equipment equal to 20 percent to 25
percent of the purchase price, McKinney said. “In this market, we are pleased
with the sale.”
Palm Beach broker Lawrence A. Moens, principal of Lawrence A. Moens Associates Inc.,
represented the buyer.
The green-certified, 15,000-square-foot Acqua Liana, or Water Flower, sits on 1.6
acres with 150 feet of ocean frontage as well as a dock on the Intracoastal Waterway.
It features solar panels, renewable wood, high-energy efficiency, and multiple water features inside and out, including swimmable water gardens, a 2,200-gallon fish tank, a glass floor over a lotus pond, spa with a fire pit and pool with windows.
“In the past, it took us about three months to sell a home. Pundits said to me,
‘Frank, your bubble is bursting,’” McKinney said. “This home did take longer,
but we got it done.”

McKinney plans to build another oceanfront home, a bit smaller than Acqua Liana, but in the same exotic design style. “What’s clear,” he said, “is supply and demand.
There are very few new oceanfront homes from Manalapan through Palm Beach built
in the last five years, and people want them.”

The town of Ocean Ridge is now a bird sanctuary, taking on the distinction with a vote of the commission at its Sept. 8 meeting. The ordinance prohibits trapping or molesting birds, or robbing their nests.

The sanctuary status means that “you can shoo them (birds) away, but can’t shoot them away,” said Commissioner Betty Bingham in response to public comment during a hearing on the ordinance.

Another thought from the public: “I want to know how it would affect the cat population.”

— Margie Plunkett

By Margie Plunkett

The buzz of Jet Skis on the Intracoastal Waterway likely won’t subside after Lantana’s Town Council denied issuing a business tax receipt to a rental company that serves the Ritz-Carlton. Captain Morgan’s Watercraft Rentals said it can continue to use the Sportsman’s Park area to launch its jet skis anyway.

The company’s request for the tax receipt for two Jet Skis drew protests from Intracoastal neighbors who objected to noise and added safety hazards from the watercraft. They also feared the business, which would serve Ritz guests as well as walk-ins, would ultimately grow and add more Jet Skis.

A contingent of residents, however, endorsed supporting a business whose operators said they educate renters on the use of Jet Skis and impose prohibitions in an effort to reduce safety risks. Resident-owned Jet Skis are also responsible for existing noise, they said. And advocates pointed out the business tax receipt gave Lantana a greater opportunity to control the company.

The company currently rents Jet Skis from the Ritz-Carlton location, but also transports clients to the Intracoastal, using the boat ramp at Sportsmen’s Park to launch and pick up the Jet Skis. It is now planning to rent private dock space nearby to store two of the Jet Skis so that it doesn’t have to transport them back and forth. The Intracoastal is the preferred location in rougher weather or for Jet Ski riders who are afraid of the ocean, the operators said.

“The Jet Skis are there. They will be there,” said Harvey Tucker of Captain Morgan’s. “We’re trying to eliminate our trailers and trucks there.” He also said that the marina they are renting space from has lost five boats in the last few months — so their rental business will help it and bring money to the town.

“If we do not get a license or tax receipts, we will still put the Jet Skis there,” Tucker later said. “We need no license to be there.”

When asked if the business was expected to grow, Tucker said, “God willing, maybe,” pointing out that it wasn’t likely in the current economy.

The operators said they follow all the Coast Guard rules. “We feel it’s safer from us than the public,” Tucker said. “We’re teaching them to operate safely.”
Renters, who are given a safety course, must be 18 years old — although the company is considering reducing the age to 16 — and are not permitted if they have been drinking. The company, which has been doing business with the Ritz for four months, has insurance of $5 million, the operators said.

Renters are instructed to use the watercraft south of the Lantana Bridge through Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, owner Morgan Baer said. “That’s really the widest and safest area to ride.” They’re not allowed to dock, beach or leave the vehicle, and must wear life jackets at all times.

“Jet Skis are often considered a nuisance. How won’t they be?” asked council member Elizabeth Tennyson, adding that rental companies often have problems finding locations for that reason. “Whether it’s a nuisance would be determined by the people living there.”

The operators said they use the quietest of equipment — that the four-stroke Jet Skis are equipped with mufflers and 82 percent quieter than diesel.

Erica Wald, who is an Intracoastal neighbor, said, “I have never seen a Jet Ski that doesn’t bother me. I’m going to be hearing them go round and round and round. It’s very noisy, it’s a nuisance. You are going to accommodate the Ritz-Carlton and these two nice gentlemen, and you are going to hurt every other resident.”

Jet Skis contribute to a dangerous scenario with fishing near the bridge and an abundance of fishing hooks there: “Someday, someone’s going to lose an eye,” resident Al Pezzuto said.

Other residents welcomed the business. “I think they’re doing us a service. They’re going to teach people what to do,” said Theresa Wilhelm. “We can’t stop people from using the lake. It’s not yours, it’s not yours, it’s not yours,” she said, looking to the crowd. “It’s open to the public.”

Christopher Smith said, “I think we should roll out the red carpet” to find and encourage businesses to come to town. And “having a layer of control by selling the license, the permit — you have more control. The noises will be there with or without those Jet Skis.”

Looking at the steel Bahama shutters on Old Key Lime House, Mike Bornstein can picture their evolution: first, wood, with down-tilted slats to let in air and light; then steel, later treated for added strength, then aluminum, later extruded for the same reason; then plastics, and Plexiglas, and Fiberglas clamshells, and carbon composites, and glass annealed or coated with various films, to keep it from shattering. He can see corrugated panels, and more expensive roll-down shutters and form-fitting accordions.

He learned the importance, he says, of proper bolting and materials, and of price. “There’s always the plywood option, but the steel panels have come down considerably,” he says. “You want to make sure your installation is up to code, hurricane-rated.

“After Andrew, everybody was scrambling to reassess. A lot of the need was for better inspection. You want to find that balance of what’s truly needed for safety and what’s reasonable. If you like the look, that’s even better.”

— Tim Norris

The evolution of hurricane shutters

By Tim Norris

Rebuffing hurricanes is not an open-and-shutters case, Michael Bornstein concedes, but for most area residents, openings and shutters are weapons of choice.

Learning where and how to use them is a lesson in technology, folk wisdom and history.

As Lantana’s town manager, Bornstein knows that another storm will find Palm Beach
County sooner or later. The area’s oldest buildings and their button-ups might
offer lessons in how to come through.

Where Bornstein is standing one recent afternoon, bright blue and pink Bahama
shutters belly out from windows near the northeast corner of Old Key Lime House.

“Even in ancient times, without glazed surfaces,” he says, “this was the obvious
solution for safety in a storm.”

Storekeeper and postmaster Morris B. Lyman — who later named Lantana for a flowering plant — and relatives built the wood-frame house by hand, from Dade County pine, the hardest wood locally available. The year was 1889 and the location a point on the Intracoastal Waterway’s west bank .

The building, always a family home and harboring a succession of restaurants, has
weathered Florida’s worst tempests, including the Lake Okeechobee hurricane of
1928, the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 and the triple whammy of 2004 and 2005:
hurricanes Frances, Jeanne and Wilma.

The third strike almost was a game-ender. At the Key Lime House and the whole
coastal area around it, Wilma found the atmosphere congenial.

In the restaurant’s casual waterside dining space, the storm tossed aside silverware and shot glasses and other souvenirs and, instead, took the tin roof, twirling it up and over the house itself and dropping it in the parking lot out front. Any opening into a sealed building brings a dramatic increase in pressure that can literally raise the rafters.

Whenever co-owner Kathy Cordero glances at historic photos on the restaurant’s wall
gallery, she sees the result: a crazy quilt smash-and-scatter of ruin. “It was a typical Florida tin roof, and it just went,” she says.

The main house and its steel Bahama shutters, meanwhile, suffered dents and dings
but stood fast.

Traditional crafts still work

Although side-mounted colonial and top-mounted Bahama shutters made of wood have covered windows in America’s coastal areas for more than 300 years, one storm changed the material game. After Hurricane Andrew and its spawn of tornadoes flattened a good part of Homestead in 1992, construction codes statewide started
mandating better protection, bringing new plastics and carbon fiber and metal alloys into play.

From where she sits, in the coffered library of the Preservation Foundation of Palm
Beach, Janice Owens, its director of education, appreciates the importance of technology and style. She also sees a simpler story, one she grew up with in Palm Beach County.

“We had aluminum awnings that you bolt down, and they’re still on my father’s
house,” she says. “Now I have corrugated aluminum. A lot of people still use plywood on their buildings, and it works.”yes"

Plywood sheets 5/8-inch to 3/4-inch thick, anchored to sturdy window frames or walls
with barrel bolts, can match steel panels for strength. History might seem to promote technology, Owens suggests, but it also reveals simpler truths.

The day that Wilma hit the Old Key Lime House, something else stood fast: the roof
on its outdoor bar. The bar is a chickee — palmetto thatch on a bald cypress log frame — installed by Seminole craftsmen and women. It stood partly because it allowed air, even driven at 125 mph or more, to pass through openings at either end. The Cordero family hired Seminoles to rebuild the open-air restaurant the same way, and, even in summer heat and gearing up for football crowds, it stays remarkably cool.

Sometimes simpler, Kathy Cordero says, is better.

Tradition can be, too. Colorful shutters such as the Key Lime House’s Bahamas, Bornstein says, help celebrate the life here.

“I love the ocean in all its temperaments,” he says. “It’s beautiful when it’s flat and shiny, but there’s something wonderful about the danger of it when it’s really stormed up. The shutters can show that beautiful village structure so familiar in Florida, but there’s still a hint of danger that makes you feel closer to reality. Shutters are there for a reason.”

By Angie Francalancia

For the first time since the sale of WXEL-FM 90.7 was announced six months ago, the
public broadcasting station’s Citizens Advisory Board had a chance to tell its board of trustees why the members and the community oppose the sale.

The board of trustees met Sept. 23 for its annual meeting. It was the first time the board met since its April 20 special meeting in which it approved the station’s sale by Barry University to Classical South Florida.

Citizens Advisory Board President Pablo del Real, who had asked for time on the agenda to speak, reminded the trustees that having a citizen’s advisory board is a requirement of its license.

“It’s supposed to operate as a conduit for community input,” he told the board. “It’s
difficult to advise someone on a decision after they have made that decision.”

Del Real told the trustees that the advisory board opposes the sale because the new
owners wouldn’t be local, they’d move to an all-music format rather than community programs, and the sale would split the licenses of the radio station from the public television station, WXEL TV.

The transfer of the station’s license to buyer Classical South Florida must be approved by both the state Department of Education and the Federal Communications Commission.

The license transfer is anticipated to be on the DOE’s agenda at its Dec. 17 meeting, which will be held in Miami. The location has not been identified, said a department spokeswoman.

The Citizens Advisory Board told the trustees it had the same concerns as those raised in past months by the DOE, including the position that the broadcasting license is a public asset and that “Barry is profiting from the sale of a public asset,” del Real said.

Pat Meehan of the law firm Holland Knight, which represents the trustees in the sale, said the trustees had addressed all the concerns raised by the DOE, adding that the lawyer who described the station as a public trust “was misguided.”

James Roth, a West Palm Beach resident who opposes the sale, said he’s forming a
grass-roots group to fight it, called SOSWXEL.

Last month, the Boynton Beach City Commission sent a letter to the DOE expressing
concern about the potential loss of community programs and loss of jobs in the city. Boynton Beach deeded the land on S. Congress Avenue that is home to WXEL specifically for the community to have a non-profit public voice, said City Commissioner Bill Orlove.

By Mary Thurwachter

But on one bitter cold day last February, Strippel discovered something he didn’t know existed — a small, rusty copper box neatly tucked into the side of the church. He could see it that day because a cornerstone in place for 81 years suddenly slid off the building, revealing the hand-made container, which turned out to be a time capsule.

“It just all of a sudden popped out,” said Nancy Young, First Presbyterian’s historian. “What a wonderful surprise!”

“I couldn’t wait to find out what was inside,” Strippel said, “but I knew it wasn’t up to me to open.” He took it to Dr. Theodore Bush, the senior pastor, and Nancy Fine, the office manager, and together they opened the old copper vessel.

“Once we looked inside, we immediately decided, due to the condition of the items, not to touch them with our bare hands,” Fine said.

Inside, they found old newspapers, a sermon about the church’s great beauty and design, and a Bible, all of which they turned over to the Delray Beach Historical Society for careful examination.

“I was kind of disheartened at first,” said Dottie Patterson, archivist for the historical society. “The top had come loose and there was damage from insects, water and humidity. It was like little pieces of ashy paper.”

Her spirits lifted as she carefully sorted out the contents, piece by piece, often using tweezers, and realizing she could decipher enough words to know from which paper they came. Then, as she looked at archives of old newspapers, she found copies and had them photographed and enlarged on poster board.

“I got excited that I could re-create the papers and people could see what was in them,” Patterson said.

Among other news contained in the capsule was a story about how the historic Spanish/Italian-style church — the only church on the barrier island between
Highland Beach and Palm Beach — had survived the hurricanes of 1926 and 1928.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Swinton Avenue, on the other hand, was wiped off
the ground in the 1928 hurricane.

The capsule was concealed in 1929, a year or less after the church became Community Presbyterian Church. It was built in 1924 as Gibson Memorial Baptist Church for
35 Baptists who had left another church with their minister, the Rev. Samuel
Gibson. By 1928, membership had grown to 135, but they couldn’t afford to keep it. They turned the deed over to F.J. Schrader, the builder and architect, and one of the church’s members.

The Presbyterians rented the church for $30 a month. Schrader, a devout Baptist, had offers from others who wanted to buy the building, but insisted the purchaser be another church. So he sold it to the Presbyterians for $19,000.

Contents of the time capsule will be on display during a special reception after church on Oct. 17, according to Young. Then the capsule will once again be stored beneath the cornerstone, although new items, as yet undetermined, will be added.

“It’ll be some things that will be of significance in another 80 years,” Young said.

Mary Thurwachter is a West Palm Beach freelance writer and founder/producer of the travel e-zine INNsideFlorida.com (www.innsideflorida.com).

By Ron Hayes

BRINY BREEZES — Charles Murn had a degree in mechanical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and a citation from NASA for his contributions to the manned space program. In Briny Breezes, he put that know-how to work fixing items donated to the town’s annual charity auction.
“Charlie could fix anything,” remembers Mary Lou Meunier, a friend and neighbor for 25 years. “Any items anybody donated that needed to be repaired, he’d sit there and fix them
so they could be auctioned.”
Mr. Murn, who died Sept. 2, lived in Briny Breezes since the 1970s, but had been in a nursing home for the past several years. He was 91.
“He was just a good person who minded his own business,” Meunier recalled. “He was one of those quiet people who are there if you need him. We all played cards together, and I would care for his wife every Thursday while he played golf.”
A native of Syossett, N.Y., Mr. Murn was also a World War II veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps, and was awarded the Bronze Star for his heroism during the war.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia; a brother, Stanley; and two sisters, Amelia Martin and Frances Elsdon.
He is survived by a nephew, Stanley Murn.
A funeral Mass was celebrated Sept. 9 at St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Boynton Beach, followed by buried at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Cemetery in Royal Palm Beach.

Being retired and enjoying physical activities outside is great, agree Jeff and Ruth Stein. But, they add, there’s only so much swimming and golfing they can do.

They do not sit around waiting for the world to happen, and even if they were so inclined, “how long can a person sit at the beach?” Ruth asked.

“My background is in physical education,” explained Jeff. “But you have to keep the mind active, too.”

So, on top of enjoying Florida’s great outdoors, they’ve heaped on interesting volunteer work. Ruth is active in her synagogue, Temple Emanu-El, and Jeff is president of his condo association. Both go to Town Council meetings, and, new members of the Community Affairs Advisory Board, they took on chairing Spotlight, the town of South Palm Beach’s 2011 cultural series.

“We wanted to give back a little bit,” Ruth said.

Keeping pace with the world and what’s going on in it is a passion for the two.

“There’s no such thing as the news anymore,” Ruth said. “We only have one extreme or the other. There are the people who listen only to Fox and those who listen only to MSNBC, for example.

“I want to better understand some of the chatter, what the issues are and what’s happening.”

Deepening their understanding of current events is a trait that they share with their neighbors, they found. Which is why the Steins (and their neighbors) have taken
such an intense interest in Spotlight, a 15-year-old program in which
knowledgeable presenters offer insights into today’s local, national and
international issues.

“There are so many bright people from wonderful backgrounds in this town that want this kind of stuff, and that’s why the series has gone on for so long. They are sharp, and that’s what makes the whole thing go,” Jeff said.

The Steins have added new faces to this year’s program. They invited Edwin Black to speak, for example, after learning about him from his father, Harry Black, a friend
they know from Temple Emanu-El.

“When we did call Edwin, he’d already been warned. ‘Oh, you’re the people from that small town that does the lecture series,’ ” Jeff said.

Black, an investigative author will speak on oil addiction and offer a plan, said Ruth. “I think that’s timely. Jeff and I do wonder if we are going to have a beach in the future.”

And a hint as to the plan Black intends to share? “You’ll have to come to the lecture to learn about that. I’m not telling,” Jeff said.

— Christine Davis

10 Questions

Jeff: I grew up on Brooklyn and Long Island, N.Y. I attended undergraduate school at Adelphi University and majored in physical education. My graduate studies were done
at Syracuse University in counseling. I still enjoy participating in physical activities such as bicycling, jogging and kayaking. I still use the interpersonal skills that I learned in graduate school in my everyday interactions with people.

Ruth: I grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., and attended the University of Buffalo for my undergraduate degree in English and education. Jeff and I met at Syracuse University while doing our graduate studies in counseling. We lived many years on Long Island, but I think I still have some of the small town in me. I prefer to be outdoors and be a part of a small community.

Q. How and when did you become involved in the South Palm Beach Cultural Series?

Jeff and Ruth: We bought the apartment in 1998 and did not move down full time until May 2007, when we retired. We bought series tickets for the 2008 season. At the end of the season, we completed a questionnaire and said we would be willing to help. Nobody turns down a volunteer. I don't think that we expected to be chairing it so soon.

Q. What other careers have you had, what were the highlights?

Jeff: I have been involved in education for over 40 years as a physical education teacher and guidance counselor on the elementary and secondary school levels and as a financial aid counselor and admissions director at the college level.

Ruth: I taught English at the middle school level before I was married and for a few years before the children were born. When I was ready to return to work, I decided to make a career change and went back to school for a certificate in employee benefits. I worked for 25 years as a pension administrator for an actuarial firm, then for Barnes & Noble and finally in a law firm. Barnes & Noble was a real challenge. There were over 20,000 employees and about five different entities that had been acquired each with its own different plan. It took a lot of organization.

Q. Why are art and culture important to you?

Jeff: I was brought up in a home where music, art and theater were important. We were exposed to the theater at a young age. I can still remember my mother yelling to be heard to tell my father to turn down the volume on the stereo as he listened to his beloved classical music and opera.

Ruth: As a former English teacher, I still look for not only the entertaining quality of a book or movie or play, but I still enjoy digging a little deeper. This is a way for me to keep my mind active.

Q. Tell us about the South Palm Beach Cultural Series.

Jeff and Ruth: The Cultural Series consists of five musical concerts and a series of six lectures. We bring to the town some of the best singers, performers and diverse musical programs. We have several new lecturers for this year’s series that will cover such topics as oil addiction, foreign policy issues, and terrorism and current legal battles. We
feel it is an exciting and varied program.

Q. How did you choose to make your home in South Palm Beach?

Jeff and Ruth: Jeff's parents bought in South Palm Beach in 1974. We knew we always wanted to live on the ocean when we retired. During one of our visits and on our way to the airport to return home, we decided to make a spontaneous offer on an apartment. The phone was ringing as we opened the front door on Long Island telling us we had just purchased an apartment.

Q. What is your favorite part about living in South Palm Beach?

Jeff: I have always enjoyed the ocean. Growing up on Long Island we always had the ocean close by. As a teen, my friends and I used to spend our weekends at Jones Beach. For me, it’s a real treat to be able to go downstairs and be at the beach. For a small town, South Palm Beach offers so much. This town does so many things for its residents. I can imagine that we are the envy of many similar small towns. From the cultural series to the ice cream socials to the bus trips to the book reviews and more there is always an activity available to the people of South Palm Beach who want to take advantage of them.

Ruth: I love the ocean, the small-town environment and the fact that we are away from the hustle and bustle.

Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?

Jeff: ‘Poor planning on your part doesn't make an emergency on my part.’ I like to think things through before making decisions.

Ruth: When we were selling our home on Long Island to retire, a dear friend told me she was unhappy about it and did not like change. I responded that ‘you might not like change but if you stand still, change will happen around you.’ I think about that conversation all the time and keep reminding myself that everything always changes. You have to decide how you are going to cope with the change.

Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?

Jeff: My college wrestling coach. After graduating from undergraduate school I would speak to him and seek his advice. If it weren’t for his advice to attend Syracuse University for graduate school I would not have met my wife, Ruth. I might not even be here answering these questions.

Ruth: I fondly remember my third-grade teacher and my seventh-grade English teacher. Both of them taught me that you have to master what is set before you.

Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?

Jeff: Pat Riley, head coach of the Miami Heat. When I had hair, I was told that we looked somewhat alike. He is a take-charge kind of guy, which I admire.

Ruth: I really enjoy a summer show on TNT, The Closer, with Kyra Sedgwick. I love her character. She is a strong but feminine woman who works hard and is good at what she does. She makes her mind known and is good with words. I think I would choose her to portray my character.

The thought of long, slender legs and a home draped in colorful silk conjure up an image of royalty and elegance. But couple those things with cunning, stealth and entrapment, and we’re likely to be wary.

Fascinating yet scary is one way to describe spiders, yet some undeservedly deem them evil or dangerous.

“The mystique of the web and the cultural misconception of sucking the life out of its prey add to the stigma,” says Dr. Gregg Nuessly of the University of Florida Everglades Research Center.

According to Nuessly, there are only four dangerous spiders in Florida: the brown recluse, the black widow, red widow and brown widow. They are all shy and are usually encountered by accident.

More common are the harmless and beneficial spiders.

One of these is the golden silk orb weaver. It lives in mature woodlands and yards with tall vegetation. It needs tall trees to launch a thin thread in the wind. When the thread catches on something, the spider walks along it trailing a stronger non-sticky thread. It repeats the process in the center of the line to form a strong Y-frame. Around this, it spins the rest of the web out of sticky capture silk.

The web is large and is built to last, up to 18 feet high and 6 feet across. The angled web is usually off-center and its golden color gives the spider its name. It is strong enough to capture small birds — which the spider doesn’t eat. The birds’ thrashing destroys the web, so the spider will leave “signature” threads or a line of insect husks in it to deter them, like the decals on our glass doors.

This year it seems golden orb weaver spiders are everywhere. Because they need tall trees to start their webs, the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 took a terrible toll on their ability to build. Plus the wind and driving rain undoubtedly destroyed populations.

Now, with the recovery of our canopy — and some rest from high wind — the golden orb weavers have been busy.

Tribal peoples have used the golden orb weavers’ webs for fishing lures and nets, and to stop bleeding. Today, the silk from the orb spider is being considered for uses such as parachutes, bulletproof vests, lightweight clothing, seat belts, light but strong ropes, as sutures in operations, artificial tendons and ligaments.

Most spiders, including the orb spider, are relatively harmless. They all can bite, but most don’t, even when we destroy their web. They are beautiful animals, graceful, skillful and elegant in their architecture. Their benefits greatly outweigh any misconception we may have about them.

This Halloween, catch a look at the beauty of our “spooky” friends. Orb weavers are fascinating neighbors.

By Arden Moore

You’re never too young to make a difference. Just ask 12-year-old Monica Plumb of Powhatan, Va. After reading in her local newspaper about firefighters using a pet oxygen mask to save the life of a dog in a house fire two years ago, the then-10-year-old did some research and was dismayed to discover that most fire departments across the country lack pet oxygen masks.

With the help of her parents, Monica created the www.petmask.com website and started to raise money to buy pet oxygen masks for fire stations. Thanks to her efforts, more than 320 fire stations from Maine to Alaska — plus some in Canada — now carry these specially
designed oxygen masks, including three departments in Florida.

“I am an animal lover and care a whole lot about all animals,” declares Monica. “At the time, I was too young to be able to volunteer at my local animal shelter. I wanted to do something to help animals and that’s when I realized I could raise money and awareness about pet oxygen masks.”

Her proud father, William, adds, “Monica surprised my wife, Wendy, and me by her determination. We thought she was going to just do this locally for about a
month and stop, but she told us she wanted to do more to help pets all over the
country. We’re happy to help her.”

However, Steve Lewis, spokesman for the Boynton Beach Fire Department, confirmed that they have pet oxygen masks on their trucks, thanks to a fundraiser organized by the Boca Raton Dog Club.

“We’re on a mission to help animals,” says Diane Wagner, president of the Boca Raton Dog Club. “We want our county prepared and we believe strongly that no one — and no pet — should die from smoke inhalation.”

Adds Lewis, “Pets are very much part of families. A couple years ago, we had a house fire that had a cat stuck inside a closed room. Luckily, the fire was contained, but the cat was unconscious. We were able to provide that cat oxygen using a pet mask. The cat was revived, taken to a local veterinary clinic and made a complete recovery.”

Pets, especially cats, are often more vulnerable to smoke inhalation in house fires because they hide. In addition, human oxygen masks don’t fit properly on their faces. Originally developed for use by veterinarians, this cone-shaped, plastic pet mask forms a seal around an animal’s muzzle to allow firefighters to deliver the right amount of oxygen.

The mask also protects firefighters from an injured pet who may try to bite out of fear.

Dave Bailey, battalion chief of the Chesterfield Fire Department in Chesterfield, Va., has been a firefighter for 32 years. His department was among the first to receive pet oxygen masks thanks to the efforts of Monica Plumb.

“We responded to a house fire last year on Christmas Day and were able to revive a large Labrador from one of the pet oxygen masks,” says Bailey. “There are a lot of deadly toxins present during a structure fire and having the right oxygen mask for family pets is crucial to saving their lives.”

The U.S. Fire Administration estimates that nearly 100,000 animals die each year in fires, mostly due to inhaling poisonous gases. Earlier this year, a cat suffering from smoke inhalation after an apartment fire in Winnipeg, Canada, was revived after receiving a dose of pure oxygen from one of Monica’s donated pet masks. In Bonner Springs, Kan., a cat was rescued from a house fire and resuscitated with one of the pet masks donated to the fire department.

Each pet oxygen mask kit costs about $70 and includes three sizes. Each set can help revive cats, dogs, rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs and even birds.

Monica’s future goals include becoming a veterinarian, but she is quickly picking up skills in marketing and sales. If you would like to make a donation and/or become a sponsor for a specific fire station, please contact Monica at sponsorship@petmask.com.

As Monica says, “Every penny counts! I hope to provide pet oxygen masks to every fire station that needs them.”

Monica’s efforts have earned her the 2009 ASPCA “Tommy Monahan” Kid of the Year Award and 2009 United Animal Nations’ Animal Choice Award.

Not bad for a kid who is still a year away from becoming a teenager.

Tune in to learn more

Hear more from Monica Plumb as well as fire safety tips from Battalion Chief Dave Bailey by tuning into to Arden Moore’s “Oh Behave” show on Pet Life Radio
(www.petliferadio.com), Episode 119. Click on the “Episode Info” link to see
firefighters using a pet oxygen mask to revive a dog rescued from a house fire.

Arden Moore, Founder of Four Legged Life.com, is an animal behavior consultant, editor, author and professional speaker. She happily shares her home with two dogs, two cats
and one overworked vacuum cleaner. Tune in to her “Oh Behave!” show on Pet Life
Radio.com and learn more by visiting www.fourleggedlife.com.

“For those of us who experienced 9/11 in America, our hearts were heavy in two respects. One, because of the senseless loss of innocent life. But then there was a double blow to us, because in the process, the religion of Al-Islam was blemished, by the conduct of people who called themselves doing something in the name of Islam.”

Those thoughts come from David Shaheed, Superior Court Judge in Indianapolis, Ind. He’s also an assistant imam, chairman of the Interfaith Alliance and one of the founding members of the Coalition for Good Government.

He’s a sign of the longtime positive participation of Muslims in American life — and as such, someone of whom the Rev. Terry Jones of Gainesville might find it hard to conceive.

Shaheed’s comments, from a previous lecture at Yale, underscore Jones’ mistake at the foundation of much of the angst of recent days: the failure to distinguish between the overwhelming majority of Muslims — good people living their lives alongside those of other faiths or no particular faith — and the comparatively few but murderous extremists. Even when the former are labeled “moderate Muslims,” they wrongly get blamed for the latter.

It’s that conflation of blame that had Jones threatening to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks against America — and Islam. That, in turn, brought him the condemnation even of folks who admittedly know little about Muslims, but who recognize the contradiction of a purported man of faith burning other people’s religious texts.

With the reverend having backed off, the focus shifted back to the Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan that has been misidentified as “the mosque at ground zero.”

Again the same misperceptions persist. The proposed equivalent of a YMCA or Jewish Community Center not only would serve the hundreds of thousands of New York City’s Muslims — policemen, firemen, teachers, lawyers, accountants, cab drivers, etc., its very concept serves notice to the extremists that Muslim Americans in particular are not with their program — and that perhaps they should take a look at America’s pluralistic expression of Islam.

Unfortunately, the rhetoric of Jones and others has encouraged verbal and physical attacks against innocent Americans already twice victimized by 9/11.

In contrast, countless other individuals and organizations made plans to pray, read the Quran or otherwise support their Muslim neighbors, co-workers and fellow citizens in the face of the reverend’s spiritual assault.

And at the clergy’s September meeting, their speaker, retired Army Maj. Joseph Bernadel — also founder of the Toussaint L’Overture High School in Boynton Beach, and representative of the Haitian Diaspora on the Haitian Reconstruction Commission — gave a warm nod to Imam Yahya Islam of Columbus, Ga., who had delivered to the school a U-Haul truckload of spontaneously collected Haiti relief items from his congregation.

That was a just another routine act of kindness among good people, as when Heartsong Methodist Church opened its doors for the congregation across the street when that Memphis Islamic Center’s renovations weren’t completed in time for worship services during Ramadan.

It also was a reminder of the increasing awareness that the unity of humanity is our ace in the race against insanity. Said one woman of the church’s example of “What Would Jesus Do” — as opposed to Jones’ misguided plan: “We share Earth together. So what’s the difference between sharing Earth and sharing a street?”

C.B. Hanif is a writer and inter-religous affairs consultant. Find him at www.interfaith21.com.