By Emily J. Minor
DELRAY BEACH — Scott Ellington, a Florida native who grew up in Panama City and always loved the water, died in July after a battle with a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 66.
Ellington, who lived in coastal Delray Beach with his wife, Linda, was the executive director of Florida Atlantic University’s Research and Development Park.

For 12 years, he worked to pair FAU students and professors with research companies. It is largely through Ellington’s work that FAU now houses 28 high-tech businesses at its research center in Boca Raton. Mr. Ellington was also head of the research park authority.
Formerly with IBM, Mr. Ellington had a knack for pairing research with researchers. He also had an infinite love for the water, said his wife, Linda.
The two married two and a half years ago — after Mr. Ellington was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma.
“We took that journey together,” she said recently.
A member of the U.S. Coast Guard Flotilla No. 36, headquartered out of Boca Raton, Mr. Ellington kept his boat, a 42-foot Jefferson, behind their home on South Ocean Boulevard.

Besides his volunteer work with the auxiliary, he also taught sailing lessons.
His wife said her husband was a very special man and described him as “witty, scholarly, bright, funny, loving and caring.”
He was also a member of the Boca Raton Rotary Club.
Besides his wife, Mr. Ellington is survived by two children: Christopher, of Lighthouse Point, and a daughter, Deborah, of Ocala. Two stepsons, Brian and Kyle, also survive him, along with eight grandchildren.
The family asks that donations be made to Rotary International, or the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

By Greg Stepanich

Beginning with this coming season, the Boca Raton Museum of Art will mark its 10th anniversary at its lovely building in Mizner Park.

It moved there in January 2001 after having been in a small space on Palmetto Park Road since 1950, now home to the museum’s art school. The opening major exhibit was a fascinating look at the late career of Pablo Picasso, a body of work that critics such as Simon Schama dismiss as a lamentable falling-off after Guernica in 1937.

But that show suggested otherwise, with beautiful drawings of bullfights and erotic scenes, colorful linocuts and bold ceramic work, among many other things. It was an auspicious and canny debut, and it raised the profile of the museum at a single stroke.

You’ll have to hurry to see what’s there now, because the museum is closing for renovations Aug. 9, and will reopen Oct. 12 with three exhibits featuring work by Valerio Adami, Robert Cottingham and a look at European Modernism in graphic art called “Romanticism to Modernism: Graphic Masterpieces From Piranesi to Picasso.”

On view now is the 59th Annual All-Florida Juried Exhibition and Competition, featuring 92 works by 81 artists from around the state, and the biennial Boca Museum Artists’ Guild exhibition. Both shows present a good opportunity to see the breadth of artistic talent in this area and this state, and they also make a nice way to sum up the museum’s first 10 years in its current home. Call 392-9500 or visit www.bocamuseum.org for more information; tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, and $4 for students.

Theater: If the true test of a work of American theater is its durability in professional and amateur productions everywhere, then D.L. Coburn’s 1976 two-person play, The Gin Game, long ago passed with excellent marks. Originally starring Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, it’s the story of two seniors in an elder home who meet over gin rummy, have long conversations about their lives, and end up trying to humiliate each other.

Palm Beach Dramaworks is mounting the show this month in a production featuring two veteran area actors, Barbara Bradshaw and Peter Haig. Coburn’s play, which won the Pulitzer Prize, offers rich roles for its two actors (it won Tandy the 1978 Tony for best actress) in a story that’s usually considered a dark comedy, but that Coburn has said is really about two people who are unable to learn from their mistakes.

J. Barry Lewis directs The Gin Game, and the show runs through Aug. 15 at Dramaworks’ home at 322 Banyan Blvd. in West Palm Beach. Tickets are $42-$44. Call (561) 514-4042 or visit www.palmbeachdramaworks.org for more information.

Meanwhile, over at the Rinker Playhouse, Florida Stage has settled into its new Kravis Center home with a production of Low Down Dirty Blues, a four-person revue by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman of mostly ribald blues songs and minimal dialogue set during the after-hours in a club on Chicago’s South Side.

The members of the cast — Felicia P. Fields, Mississippi Charles Bevel, Gregory Porter and Sandra Reaves-Phillips — sing 22 classic blues songs, such as Muddy Waters’ immortal Got My Mojo Workin’ and Eubie Blake and Andy Razaf’s My Handyman, a hilariously filthy exercise in double entendre made famous in the late 1920s by Ethel Waters (He threads my needle/Creams my wheat/Heats my heater/Chops my meat).

Low Down Dirty Blues runs through Sept. 5 at the Rinker, which is inside West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center. Tickets are $47-$50. Call 800-514-3837 or visit www.floridastage.org.

Music: The Lilith Fair, the all-woman alt-rock music festival begun in 1996 by Canadian songwriter Sarah McLachlan, was to have played the Cruzan Amphitheatre this month (Aug. 10), but organizers canceled it along with nine other shows, citing the terrible economy.

But you can still get your Lilith fix this month if necessary by heading to the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale on Aug. 25 for a concert by Natalie Merchant, who has just released her first album of new material in seven years, Leave Your Sleep. For me, a little of Natalie goes a long way, but she represents an original, uncompromising voice, one of the few popular artists with a consistent message of social critique and engagement. Tickets are $35-$60; call 954-462-0222 or visit www.browardcenter.org.

And the Cruzan recovers from its Lilith snub with the Rockstar Mayhem Festival, with Korn and Rob Zombie (Aug. 11), country megastar Brad Paisley (with Hootie and the Blowfish lead singer Darius Rucker, on Aug. 14), mellow rocker Jack Johnson (Aug. 26), and Creed (Aug. 31). All those shows are available through Live Nation.

Over in Delray Beach, it’s another visit to the world of Baroque music, this time from Spain. Keith Paulson-Thorp’s Camerata del Re, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church’s resident Baroque ensemble, offers music on Sunday, Aug. 22, by a group of fine composers whose work is little-known to audiences today: Juan Astorga, José Herrando, Francesc Manalt, and the Pla brothers, José and Joan Baptista. Also included is a quintet for flute and strings by Luigi Boccherini, an Italian who lived for decades in Spain under the patronage of the Infante Luis Antonio, archbishop of Toledo.

The concert begins at 4 p.m. Tickets are $15-$18. Call 278-6003 or visit www.stpaulsdelray.org.

Greg Stepanich is the editor/founder of the Palm Beach ArtsPaper available online at www.pbartspaper.com

Hurricanes can put the hurry in you. When Hurricane Andrew took aim on South Florida in 1992, I stood inside my bathtub with my roommate and three puzzled cats. Living just a mile from the ocean in Lantana, we waited for the Category 5 storm to strike.

But Andrew fooled the meteorologists and abruptly changed course at the last minute to aim its eye farther south in Miami. When he let out his final breath, Andrew racked up $30 billion in damages.

Now in the heart of hurricane season, just how prepared can one be for Mother Nature’s blow-hard side? My answer: It is better to be over-prepared, especially when you have pets. Hurricanes answering to the names of Charley, Frances, Wilma and Katrina convey the urgent need to provide safe havens for people with pets.

Liz Pinson endured a handful of hurricanes while living on Hypoluxo Island with her dogs and cats for 15 years before recently relocating to North Carolina.

“There was no way we could stay on the island because of the storm surge and there was no way I was going to evacuate without my pets,” says Pinson, who once cajoled friends who had a white-carpeted condo in Sarasota to allow her to bring her three cats and two large dogs named Lucas and Annie. “Leaving my pets behind during mandatory evacuations was never an option for me. I’ve spent time in hotels and friends’ homes with my bunch during each hurricane. We were just lucky to have friends who welcomed our pets in their homes.”

Finally, a pet-accepting shelter is now available in Palm Beach County, specifically at the West Boynton Recreation Center, 6000 Hightree Blvd., Boynton Beach. This facility permits only those pet families who are in an evacuation zone or who live in a mobile home in the county.

Dial 561-233-1266 to hear more details, but the most important rule is that you must pre-register with Animal Care and Control. Do it today by filling out the forms available at www.pbcgov.com/pubsafety/animal. The site features a hurricane-preparedness pet brochure as well as a detailed list of hotels, motels and pet boarding facilities in the county that accept pets during a hurricane.

Whether you are a hurricane veteran or bracing for your first one, here’s a checklist of must-dos:

• Prepare today, not tomorrow. Hurricanes and other disasters never accommodate your busy schedule.

• Post a disaster checklist on your refrigerator or other visible place that includes key phone numbers, including veterinary clinics, boarding facilities, local police, and local Red Cross.

• Make sure your pets have microchip identifications in case they lose their collars and ID tags. And keep them up-to-date on vaccinations and flea/tick medication. Bring proof, otherwise, they will be turned away from pet shelters.

• Create a pet evacuation kit in advance that includes a pet first-aid kit, spare collars, ID tags (with your cell phone and vet hospital phone numbers), a few days’ worth of pet food, bottled water, a week’s worth of medications; toy, litter, food and water bowls. Some places require muzzles for dogs, so pack one. And include copies of your pet’s medical records and medication needs. Keep a spare copy in your car and update it every six months.

• Acclimate your dogs and cats to being inside pet carriers. Make the carrier a fun, safe retreat for your pet and never put him in a carrier as punishment.

• Select collapsible carriers, if possible and use permanent markers to clearly identify the pet’s name, your contact info and tape a photo of your pet on the carrier.

• Pre-arrange with pet-welcoming hotels, boarding facilities and friends ahead of time and remember that the storm’s path can change abruptly, so you need to select welcoming places in different directions.

• Write out specific care instructions for your pets in the event that a disaster strikes when you are away from home. Post this in a visible place for neighbors or friends who will need to care for your pets.

• Post rescue alert stickers on your front and back windows that alerts rescue works as to the number and type of pets you have inside your home. To obtain a free sticker, contact the ASPCA at www.aspca.org and use the keyword disaster.

I can’t even imagine leaving my dogs, Chipper and Cleo, and my cats, Murphy and Zeki, to fend for themselves if a natural disaster strikes. They are four-legged members of my family. After all, they make my house a real home.

To learn more, the following groups provide detailed info on how to prepare for — and cope with — emergencies:

• American Veterinary Medical Association: Saving the Whole Family — www.avma.org/disaster/saving_family.asp

• American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Disaster Preparedness — www.aspca.org/pet-care/disaster-preparedness/

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.

Picturesque outside and serene within, the First Church of Christ, Scientist sanctuary almost belies its amazing journey from an Air Force base in Boca Raton to its
200 SE Seventh Ave. home in Delray Beach. The January 1949 move was a
logistical challenge. For example, the building had to be cut in half for the
move, and reassembled at the current site.

The Christian Science Church has branches around the world and was organized by Mary Baker Eddy in the late 1800s. “In her book, Science and Health, she wrote down her discoveries of the truths
embodied in the Bible,” said Pat Archer, the First Reader, or primary conductor
of Delray’s church services. “She was able to develop a method and approach
that actually brought about healing just the way healing was brought about
through Jesus’ time, and through his followers.”

Christian Science services were held in Delray as early as 1914 in members’ homes. In 1923, seven members founded the Christian Scientist Society, recognized as a
branch of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston,
Mass. In 1939, the society became the First Church of Christ, Scientist of
Delray Beach. Services were held in a former real estate office on Southeast
Fourth Avenue.

But by December 1947, Boca Raton Field was deactivated. Its three regulation Army chapels were placed on sale, for church purposes only. In a February 1948
report, the church’s board of directors announced a goal of acquiring one of
the buildings — “constructed of excellent material” — as a permanent church
edifice:

“The investment required to complete the building as we would like it, will be about $30,000, including the lot, cost of moving, landscaping, interior furnishings,
organ and some exterior and interior alterations. The completed building will
seat 300 persons without enlargement.”

By that December, the church had purchased for $1,500 a chapel the government had built for $30,000. The eight-mile move, however, involved major hurdles, such
as permits from city and state authorities. Even with the steeple removed for
transit, the building required a 35-foot clearance.

Says a church historical sketch:

“A maze of wires — including those of Florida Power and Light Company, the Southern Bell Telephone Company, the Western Union, the American Telephone ad
Telegraph Company and the Florida East Coast Railway — all had to be moved,
lowered, raised or cut to allow passage of the building. The move across the
railroad tracks had to be carried out during a specified time when there were
no trains, and railway signalmen were posted north and south to stop any
possible movement on the tracks at the time. All of this had to go on
simultaneously and it was necessary that exact coordination as to time be
secured from all the agencies.”

The new Christian Science church was dedicated on Nov. 13, 1949.

In October 1991, the Sunday school extension wing was added to the south side. Its pipe organ was updated in 2007 with a state-of-the-art digital console that,
along with John Heckrote, the church’s master organist of nearly three decades,
is more than worth the price of admission.

That price, of course, is free. Visitors are welcome for the 10:30 a.m. Sunday services, and the 7:30 p.m. Wednesday evening services that include testimonies
of Christian Science healing. For more information call the church at
561-276-4551.

In addition, all Christian Science churches maintain a public reading room with a librarian, a quiet atmosphere and Christian Science literature for study, to
borrow or purchase. The congregation maintains one at 900 E. Atlantic Ave., at
Waterway East, Suite 6, 561-278-0665.

C.B. Hanif will be visiting our local places of worship on an occasional basis and sharing his experiences with our readers. His InterFaith21 column returns in September. Find him online at www.interfaith21.com

DELRAY BEACH — Dr. Peter T. Janulis struggled with his health recently, spending the last four and a half months in and out of Bethesda Memorial Hospital. He and
his wife, Lyn, knew his heart condition was very serious, but he had improved
lately and they thought he’d have another year, Lyn Janulis said.

Having survived a heart attack and quintuple bypass surgery in 1991, he was proactive in managing his condition and had many good years since that happened.

But on July 7, Dr. Janulis suddenly died of cardiac arrest in their home at Seagate Towers. He was 84.

Dr. Janulis practiced psychiatry in New York City for 40 years until the couple retired to Delray Beach in 1993.

His son, Ted P. Janulis of New York, N.Y., described his father as a dedicated doctor, “always helping patients, working 13 hour days, most often back-to-back.”

“He was a born scientist who delighted in understanding how things work, whether it was a well-designed kitchen gadget or the intricacies of the human mind,” said
his daughter Lori Closter of Plympton, Mass. “He had a keen sense of humor and
a great zest for life — and a lifelong love of tennis and sailing,” Closter
added. “He adored spending time with his grandchildren and he loved teaching
them chess and doing science experiments. He was an early enthusiast of home
video equipment and his 26 years worth of family footage are among our most
treasured possessions.”

Another daughter, Karen Bouffard of Montpelier, Vt., called her father “a gifted man whose talents and abilities far exceeded those of many. His mastery of the
dynamic of interpersonal relationships and their inherent complexities was
perhaps his greatest achievement. He dedicated his life to helping people
identify and reduce emotional suffering. Above all, he was a true healer.”

Mrs. Janulis recalls how much of a couple they were. “Like an envelope and a stamp, we went everywhere together,” she said. This summer, on their
58th wedding anniversary, they went to Prime Catch for dinner. “I had lobster,
he had filet of sole,” she recalled. He gave her money to buy black pearl
earrings to match a necklace he had given her for her 80th birthday. “He was
too exhausted to go to the jewelry store himself.”

Theirs was a love story dating back to 1951, when he was an intern at New York State Hospital at Syracuse. “I was the football queen at Syracuse University and he
was the 50th man to call me,” Mrs. Janulis recalled. “Everyone called the
football queen.”

There was something very special about him, she said. He asked her out for coffee and she was immediately struck by his smile and warmth. “He had very blue eyes,
chestnut hair and a flash of white teeth. I didn’t know yet how caring he was,
as well.”

Nine weeks later, he proposed and they married in June of 1952. He always sent her flowers on special occasions, usually her favorite — white freesia. Other times
after a long day at work, he’d stop to buy her a single yellow rose.

In Delray Beach, the couple took frequent walks on the beach, sometimes stopping at Boston’s for an iced tea and maybe a slice of Key lime pie. They were
members of the Delray Beach Club, where up until a few years ago, he played
tennis regularly. Other favorite outings were to the Morikami Museum and the
Kravis Center, especially for opera.

During his final years, he took a special interest in politics, lamenting recent developments in the direction the country is taking, his wife said.

Born in Newark, N.J., Dr. Janulis was a the son of the late Theodore and Helen Janulis of Pompano Beach. Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by his
brother, Dr. Alex Janulis.

Dr. Janulis received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and New York City. His internship and residency in psychiatry
were also served at the Weil Cornell Medical College, after he served in the
Navy during World War II. He was an associate clinical professor at Cornell
Medical College.

In addition to his wife and three children, he is survived by his grandchildren: Jennifer, Julian, Matthew, Elizabeth, Catherine, Peter, Helena and Christina.

A private graveside service was held in Beechwoods Cemetery, New Rochelle, N.Y. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Delray.

Memorial condolences may be made to Class of 1951 Scholarship Fund, Weil Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Ave., New York, N.Y. 10021, or Bethesda Heart Institute,
Boynton Beach, FL 33435. Lorne & Sons Funeral Home, Delray Beach, was in
charge of arrangements.

By Tim O’Meilia

Manalapan Mayor Tom Gerrard resigned abruptly Wednesday, delivering a five-sentence resignation letter to town hall just before 5 p.m.

“Pressing family issues require that I spend extended amounts of time away from the town and the state,” he wrote in the letter.

Gerrard left Thursday for Big Sky, Montana where other members of his family live and where he has a home. He anticipated spending most of the rest of the year there.

“Obviously I can’t be effective when I’m not there,” he said by telephone from Palm Beach International Airport Thursday.

Gerrard was present for Tuesday’s town commission meeting which was cancelled for lack of a quorum. He gave no hint of his intention to resign then.

“I enjoyed my time on the commission,” he said. “It was a good experience for me and the net result is that we’ve come a long way during that time.”

He was appointed mayor in October 2008 after William Benjamin resigned and was elected to a full two-year term in March 2009. He was a member of the town’s Architectural Commission when he was similarly appointed to the town commission
in February 2004. He won full terms in 2005 and 2007. He never faced opposition
in his three runs for office.

Gerrard, 63, moved to Manalapan in the mid-1990s after retiring from the telecommunications industry.

“We have a new town manager and I’m sure the commissioners will carry on well without me,” he added. He hoped to be back in Manalapan by the December holidays.

By charter, the commission has 45 days to appoint a replacement. That could happen as soon as Wednesday, during the rescheduled commission meeting. In the past the commission has appointed one of its own to
the mayoral post. If that happens, commissioners would have another 45 days to
appoint a new commissioner.

Ask Nancy Barnett, managing director of the award-winning Florida Stage, what she will miss about the
Manalapan playhouse now that the company is leaving and she mentions the baby crabs.
Baby crabs?
“Every year in October, when the baby crabs come out, they come under the door into
the offices, so we’d have to chase them out, sweep them out, carry them out in
shoe boxes,” says actress-turned-administrator Barnett. “We’re not going to
have that at the Kravis Center.”
After 19 years as the anchor tenant of Plaza del Mar, Florida Stage is moving to West
Palm Beach this summer to become a permanent resident of the performing arts
complex’s Rinker Playhouse.
Subscribers are split between those who see the financial and architectural advantages of
the move and those who worry about the personal inconvenience and loss of
theatrical intimacy. But for the staff, those crabs are a metaphor for the
behind-the-scenes struggles that were always a part of the theater’s life in
Manalapan.
“Sure, the space had its limitations,” concedes producing director Louis Tyrrell. “The
ceiling height limited us to plays with sets on one level and there was never
enough room backstage. But we’ve always felt that limitation feeds creativity.”
At Tyrrell and Barnett’s opening night speech prior to the world premiere of When the Sun Shone Brighter, the company’s final production at Plaza del Mar, there were more than a few misty-eyed recollections of the past two decades.
“Being here all those years, it just all washes over you for a moment,” says Tyrrell.
“You hear the ringing of all of those words and all of those stories in your
head.”
In 1991, Florida Stage had been in existence for four seasons at Palm Beach Stage
College — then Community College — in Lake Worth. That is when Palm Beacher
Mary Montgomery introduced Tyrrell to philanthropist Lois Pope, who had offices
in the plaza and thought an available space there might be worth considering.
“It was a vacant gourmet grocery store, all one level, with beautiful
black-and-white tile that’s still under there, I think,” says Barnett.
Scenic designer Victor Becker drew up plans for the conversion to a performance space
and a contractor was hired. “It happened very quickly, like three months, over
the course of the summer,” recalls Barnett. “Presto-chango, we had a theater.”
Looking back, Barnett admits there were doubts that their audience would follow them to
this new location. “Sure, because who knew where Manalapan was? I think we did
worry about it at the time, just because it was such an unknown place.”
Tyrrell remembers being more upbeat about the move. “I truly felt that it would give us
a higher profile, because we were going to be in our own space.” Still, in his
mind, this was always intended to be an interim residence for the company. “It
wasn’t long before we were looking and talking to people about a permanent home
in the center of the community,” he says.
Those talks reached fruition on Nov. 30, when Florida Stage and the Kravis Center
announced their partnership plan. “They’re so positive, so productive, so
helpful,” says Tyrrell of the Kravis staff. “We’re so lucky to have that kind
of attitudinal collaboration.”
With sufficient time to plan an orderly move, the transfer of 19 years’ worth of
theatrical and institutional history began following the final curtain on June
20. Included were more than 200 lighting instruments, the sound and infrared
hearing systems, some 75 to 100 boxes of files, books and binders, plus
computers, phones and office equipment, packed and carried in caravans of
company vehicles.
Summing up Florida Stage’s time in Manalapan, Tyrrell says, “It’s been such a great
adventure. Just think of it, exactly 120 productions here. It’s been a
fabulous way to spend a life.”

Hap Erstein is a freelance arts writer and contributor to Palm Beach ArtsPaper.com. He can be reached at hapster11@att.net.

Florida Stage’s first performance at the Rinker will be the Southeastern premiere of a new musical revue, Low Down Dirty Blues, written
by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman. It’s a compilation of classic earlier
20th-century blues songs with an emphasis on the ribald double-entendre (My Stove’s in Good Condition, for
instance), made famous by masters of the form such as Howlin’ Wolf, Bessie
Smith, Ethel Waters, and others. The four-person show opens July 17 and runs
through Sept. 5: Wednesday through Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m., and Wednesday,
Saturday and Sunday matinees at 1:30 p.m. Tickets range from $47-$50. Call
585-3433 or visit www.floridastage.org
.

By Antigone Barton

A break in the current that could carry oil from BP’s exploded Deepwater Horizon site from the Gulf of Mexico to these shores has added uncertainty to local response preparations.

But a plan for training that will enable local government employees and volunteers to deal with whatever the disaster may bring is set for July.

The training is part of a stance that Palm Beach County oil disaster task force members say will remain firm. If oil arrives here, they will not depend on BP to protect local beaches.

“If BP is unable to clean up the beach, we will do it,” Assistant County Administrator and Public Safety Director Vince Bonvento said. “Whatever it takes to protect our estuaries and our communities and our beaches, we will do.”

That is the backbone of a draft plan that task force members discussed at a June 10 meeting and sent to disaster response coordinators that include state, federal
and BP officials.

By federal law, BP bears responsibility for addressing impacts of the disaster.

“That makes a few people uncomfortable,” Dan Bates, who directs beach enhancement and restoration efforts for the County Environmental Resource Management Department.

While Bates said plans call for “BP showing up and cleaning up in a timely and efficient manner,” designated county and municipal employees will receive eight hours of training through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in early July to assess damage from oil. In addition, a half-day training for those who may participate in
cleanup efforts is in the works, Bates said.

Training is critical because the oil from the spill — whether it turns up in the form of tar balls, or mats embedded in seaweed — is considered hazardous waste and must
be disposed of appropriately.

For that reason, Gary Solomon, founder and coordinator of Sand Sifters, a volunteer group that cleans beaches from the Boynton Inlet to Gulf Stream, is directing volunteers interested in helping oil cleanup efforts to sign up on the county’s website at:
http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/publicsafety/emergencymanagement/deepwaterhorizon/feedbackapp/

“They will need training we don’t provide,” he said.

Solomon, who attended the June meeting, asked county officials to post signs directing beach goers not to touch or try to dispose of oil they find on the beach on their own. The county has ordered signs, but will not install them until more is known on the path of the oil.

With the eddy that broke off from the loop current in mid-June still swirling in the Gulf of Mexico at the month’s end, that remains unpredictable, according to county officials.

In the meantime, Solomon says, while Sand Sifters will be available to help when called, he is not soliciting volunteers now.

“I don’t want to be like the boy who cried wolf,” Solomon said.

For the volunteers who gather cigarette butts and bits of plastic from local beaches on a weekly basis, the wait to see the impact of the oil disaster is grueling.

“Our goal is to make sure the beaches are healthy and wildlife is protected,” he said. “So this whole thing is one big blow to the bottom of our hearts.”

On a hot summer morning, the temperatures already topping the 80-degree mark at a little after 9 o’clock, key members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 54 have reported for duty.

Happily.

They’ve checked the boat from bow to stern, distributed the five life jackets, reviewed the day’s assignments.

Today, it’s an aid-to-navigations mission, a volunteer outing of great importance because it helps keep the water safe for boaters. These guys are looking for everything from disabled markers to an oil sheen on the water to a sailboat that’s sprung free from its anchor.

They’re looking for anything that’s not right — like the plastic grocery bag someone
deliberately placed over a channel marker. The crew sees it the minute they set off.

“For me, it’s a way I can do some useful things for the benefit of my community and my country.”

The U.S. Coast Guard has been around since 1790 and operates under the Department of Homeland Security, although during conflict its services can be transferred
to the U.S. Department of the Navy. The Coast Guard has maritime jurisdiction
in both domestic and international waters. And according to numbers from last
summer, there are 42,000 men and women on active duty, 7,500 reservists and
30,000 auxiliary volunteer members.

Sixty-five of those auxiliary volunteers are right here, working the shorelines of Manalapan, Gulf Stream, Hypoluxo Island, inspecting and assisting from the C-15
Canal in Delray Beach to the Southern Boulevard bridge in West Palm Beach.

“I wanted to get into something where I could become a participant and help others, and boating seemed to be a natural area,” said crew member Bruce
Parmett, 79, who sold outdoor entertainment equipment, then boats, before he
retired to Boynton Beach.

The auxiliary members have an odd combinaton of power and lack thereof. They can’t arrest anyone. They can’t write a ticket. But they can talk to a business owner
about the crumbling pier surrounding an outside deck. They can approach a boat
and remind the captain that everyone on board needs a life vest. And they can
inspect, inspect, inspect until the cows come home: bridge lights, channel
markers, abandoned vessels that have appeared seemingly from nowhere.

Each inspection requires either paperwork or a phone call to the U.S Coast Guard station.

In this case, it’s the U.S. Coast Guard Station Lake Worth.

Auxiliary Commander Jerry Schnur has been around boats most of his life and says his Flotilla 54 men and women take what they do very seriously. Being out on the
water isn’t fool’s play — and the volunteers are constantly reminding boaters
of that.

Things can go wrong, very quickly. That’s why Schnur thinks the boating safety classes they offer on the last Saturday of the month are so important.

“We’ve really been trying to stress our classes these last few months,” he said.

Volunteer members patrol in uniform, but use their own boats. (They get reimbursed for the fuel.) They get specific assignments and must always radio in, several
times, with their duties and their location on the water. At SunFest, the
flotilla works the water, and they’re there during Fourth of July events along
the coast.

And the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that has everyone worried about contamination off the Florida coast? They haven’t seen anything, Schnur said, but they recently
got a list of environmental consultants who can train auxiliary members on how
to handle the oil, if the pollution reaches us.

All that means more time off and on the water, of course.

“It’s really a way of life,” says Schnur, 82, of Lake Worth. “It requires a very big commitment.”

Jerry Mullinax, the chief warrant officer at the Lake Worth station, says they couldn’t keep the waters as safe without his auxiliary volunteers.

“I’m not surprised at the number of people who volunteer,” he said. “I’m surprised at the quality of people who volunteer.”

There are electricians, doctors, teachers. Everyone from lawyers to carpenters.

“We have some retired CEOs,” Mullinax said. “Some of these people can buy and sell you 10 times over. They could be somewhere else, enjoying the sunny sands, and
they’re not.

“They’re still working for their country.”

Flotilla 54 offers a safe boating class from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the last
Saturday of each month. The cost is $36, pre-registration is required and bring
a sack lunch. The course is taught on land and is offered at the auxiliary
office at Boynton Beach Boat Club Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach.
Call 561-966-2158 for information.

About Boating Safety is offered by the Coast Guard Auxiliary of Boca Raton at the headquarters building at Spanish River Park on A1A. 9 am-5 pm. Boating safety class teaches requirements for boaters under 22 years old to obtain a Florida boating ID card. $35. 391-3600.

“On this side of the bridge, people wave with all five fingers.”

I laughed out loud when Ocean Ridge Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi said this to help explain why his department was better suited to provide protection to Briny Breezes at its June 24 town meeting. After 25 years with the Boynton Beach police, he knew what he was talking about.

I think we all do.

After much thought, discussion and a hard look at the financial implications of the two contracts, Briny made the right decision by agreeing to return their protection to their neighbors. We can only hope this is the beginning of a return to friendly relations between the two towns.

Boynton Beach’s lack of ability to negotiate a better contract for water, sewer, fire or police protection should have come as no surprise to the Briny commission. Boynton is a big city with big city problems. That’s what drives their financial decisions — not an attempt to thumb their noses at Briny.

Consider Boynton Beach’s willingness to respond to fire-rescue calls in the unincorporated pocket when the county requests mutual aid or when a 911 caller requests Boynton’s response. Boynton Beach Fire Chief William Bingham was the first to step forward to work out an agreement with the county to renew services to this area.

Are there financial repercussions for his doing so? No doubt. But I’ve heard Chief Bingham speak about this arrangement, and believe he genuinely cares about the safety of residents in our area.

When Ocean Land Investments rolled into town with its snake oil of a deal to buy Briny, there was a lot less concern for the residents on this side of the bridge. They pitted good, honest Briny shareholders — with a dream of being able to provide an increased inheritance for their heirs — against good, honest residents of the neighboring towns with a dream of maintaining their existing lifestyle into their retirement years. The proposed sale built a wall between neighbors.

If Briny’s earlier choice of Boynton for police protection was retaliation for Ocean Ridge’s stand against the Ocean Land development, then this decision to return police protection to Ocean Ridge can be seen as an olive branch — finally. Let’s hope so.

Regardless of Briny’s long-range plans for the park, let’s hope they include their neighbors in the discussion. We all want the same thing on this side of the bridge: to live in a place where neighbors smile and wave at each other — with all five fingers.

— Mary Kate Leming, editor

Disclosure: The editor and publisher of The Coastal Star own properties in both Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes, and did at the time of the proposed sale.

Maybe it’s because she was a reading teacher and librarian “in another life.”
Perhaps it’s because she wanted to give back to her small hometown of five years.
Whatever the reasons, when Joan Bernstein was asked to lead a fundraising drive to update and refurbish the Manalapan town library, she quickly agreed.
When she started in February, the goal was $75,000 to replace the ceiling, lighting and carpets, panel the sweeping curved wall, repaint and add new furniture to the library, which was built in 1981.
Two fundraising letters, some gentle arm-twisting and a couple of months later, Bernstein and her committee had raised $107,000 in contributions from 85 donors. Gifts came big ($10,000) and small ($20).
“I’m proud of the people of Manalapan,” Bernstein said. “They were extremely generous.
“The fact that we could accomplish all that we set out to do was tremendous.”
Bernstein shares credit with designers Mary Thornton of MET Interiors and Sophy Isaac, who are volunteering design services, and town Commissioner Marilyn Hedberg, who served as town liaison with the fundraisers.
“They are working very hard to spend the money as well and as decoratively as possible,” Bernstein said.

Bernstein and her husband, William, moved to Manalapan from Atlanta in 2002. She said she soon realized that Manalapan is a ‘wonderful little town, which deserves residents to be active.” She serves as a member of the town’s architectural commission; her husband is on the town commission.
The library was established in 1971, named for former mayor J. Turner Moore and moved into its current space in 1981.
It is not part of the county library system; residents pay a $25 annual membership fee. The 8,000-volume library also hosts town gatherings, meetings, book clubs, a reading hour for children and computer classes.
The building’s design is somewhat unique, since it was built to surround the town’s 400,000 gallon water tank. Hence, the sweeping curved walls of the interior.
Town records show the structure garnered national architectural recognition when it was built, but subsequent years had not been completely kind.
Town officials are planning a grand opening sometime this November after the work is complete.
“We’re absolutely amazed and delighted,” said town librarian Mary Ann Kunkle. “I cannot say enough good things about Joan.”

A twin-engine Cessna plane that hit the new Ocean Ridge Town Hall in July 2008 crashed because of a partial loss of engine power due to fuel starvation, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report in June.

Contributing to the crash, the NTSB report said, was the pilot’s decision to add only a limited amount of fuel before the flight. The pilot said he bought 10 gallons of fuel for each of two main tanks and had planned to fly 22 miles from Palm Beach County Park Airport to Pompano Beach Airpark.

According to the report, the pilot said that five minutes after takeoff, the plane lost engine power, started to rapidly lose altitude, struck Ocean Ridge Town Hall and hit the ground. The new Town Hall was still under construction at the time. The pilot, Laurent Gillot of Boca Raton, survived the crash.

— Margie Plunkett

By Thom Smith

Heads turned. Hands waved. Horns honked.

Motorists and pedestrians from Sebastian to Boca Raton had no trouble recognizing the familiar cyclist during the first week of June. Steve Weagle was at it again, biking north to south to raise awareness and money for the American Red Cross.

No easy task either for the WPTV-Channel 5 weatherman. When temperatures weren’t in the 90s, he and his occasional riding companions were being buffeted by energy-sapping headwinds and pelted by stinging rain.

Yet after 11 years and more than 1,200 miles, he’s ready to do it again.

“It’s amazing how many people recognize us,” Weagle said as he pedaled through Lantana on the final 25-mile leg along U.S. 1 from CityPlace in West Palm Beach to Boca’s Mizner Park.

Joined by Stan Kilbas, owner of Wheels of Wellington and who, as usual, donated the bike, Weagle covered the 25 miles in a wearying four hours, slowed significantly by rain and an unrelenting headwind.

The entourage still managed to arrive in time for the final party at ZED 451, where a couple of check presentations and an auction of Weagle’s bike brought his total for the week to an impressive $52,000. (Two bidders, Toyota-man Earl Stewart and an anonymous one, put in $12,500 for the bike.)

“We covered 130 miles,” Weagle said. “We started 10 miles farther north this year, but it was worth it. The ride doesn’t just raise money. It calls attention to the Red Cross’ work and brings in a lot of volunteers, too.”

•

With folks like Rush Limbaugh spending millions on his umpteenth wedding (He reserved 200 rooms for guests and paid $1.2 million just for Elton John), The Breakers is having a good year.

Other Palm Beach hotels also are doing well, too. Business at the established restaurants hasn’t returned to the heady, pre-Bernie Madoff levels of five years ago, but with the exception of Amici, which has been sold to a Monte Carlo group and will reopen in the fall as Cafe Milano, most are bearing up.
To ensure that customers keep coming in during the slow summer months, 14 restaurants from Manalapan to Palm Beach are reviving “Palm Beach Restaurant Summer.” The Ritz-Carlton’s Temple Orange and The Four Seasons Ocean Bistro are joining a dozen Palm Beach eateries to offer three-course lunch specials for $20.10 and three-course dinners for $35 through Sept. 30.

Additionally, several restaurants are offering a variety of specials featuring happy hours, take-outs, and themed meals.
In the Restaurant Summer mix: Bice, Café Boulud, Café Cellini, Charley’s Crab, The Chesterfield’s Leopard Lounge & Restaurant, COCO Palm Beach, Renato’s, Michelle Bernstein at The Omphoy and The Breakers (including Echo, Flagler Steakhouse, Italian Restaurant and Seafood Bar).
Other specials: Café L’Europe, 264 The Grill, Michael R. McCarty’s, Cucina dell’Arte and Nick & Johnnie’s Patio Bar and Grill, The Colony’s Polo Steakhouse, Testa’s.
And let’s not forget the Circle Dining Room at The Breakers, where Sunday brunch with unlimited champagne, mimosas and Bloody Marys (be sure to bring a designated driver) is summer-priced at $75.

•

“It’s heartbreaking, but it’s what I had to do,” Amici proprietor Maurizio Ciminella said about closing after nearly 17 years. Big customers aren’t eating out as often. Hotels are adding more restaurants; you can’t blame them.”

The Breakers offers nine restaurants on and off the grounds, the newest being Top of the Point, formerly the Governor’s Club, in Phillips Point in West Palm Beach.

•

Delray Beach, however, hasn’t been hit so hard — far fewer Madoff victims, a less transient population, more dining variety and lower rents. Its problem may, in fact, be too many people. Not that the city wants to drive them away, but it would like to make it easier for them to drive away.

“Our restaurants are pretty solid,” Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Marjorie Ferrer said. “Our problem is that by 2 a.m. everything is closed and at 2:30 the street is packed with people. It’s almost like a sports event ending.

“In some places they turn their valet stands into taxi stands, so the people who shouldn’t be driving can find an easy ride home. We’re looking into that.”

•

Like Gol! and The Blue Anchor to the east, Paddy McGee’s, the first Irish Pub on Atlantic, has become a haven for soccer fans during World Cup matches, opening early to accommodate all the bleary-eyed fans. And you can bet no tears were shed when France was sent packing. Full menu. Door prizes. Drink specials, including a Harp’s 20-ounce World Cup glass that costs $8 with unlimited $3 refills during cup play.

Also coming soon to Delray is Caliente Kitchen, billed as Atlantic Avenue’s “Spicy” New Mexican Dining Concept. Ole!

Tucked two doors south of Atlantic on Swinton, Jimmy’s Bistro is just off the beaten path, but despite seating for about 30, it’s quickly making a name for itself. Jimmy Mills learned his trade for a decade in New York at Le Chantilly and Aureole plus a year in France, before settling in Delray late last year.

Everything is fresh and the eclectic menu — on a chalkboard — changes daily. Point of information, an 86 on the board is not the price; it means that dish is sold out. And word has it that if you want the killer three-course $25 summer special, arrive early. (Call 561-865-5774.)

•

When in Rome … cook as the Romans cook. That’s what is about to happen down on Ocean Avenue in Lantana, where Apicius Ristorante E Enoteca will be opening soon at what was once Il Trullo and most recently R Kitchen. The name is Italian for a Florentine-style restaurant and wine bar. It’s the brainchild of Palm Beach developer and restaurateur Leo Balestrieri.

Apicius was the first known Roman cookbook, and Balestrieri and his partner and general manager Nubar Talanian want to bring something original to South County: a wine bar with small, tapas-like plates, plus a full menu of meats, seafood and game, much of it imported from Italia, including venison, pheasant and wild boar.

For several years, Balestrieri ran Mulberry Street, a restaurant in Boone, N.C. That space is now occupied by Gol! Express, a Brazilian steakhouse, partly owned by Luciano Madeiros, who also has a share of Gol! in Delray.

The colorful Balestrieri made news of a different sort last year in West Palm Beach when he took issue with a Democratic Party activist over an anti-Rush Limbaugh moving billboard that was parked on Clematis Street.

Sounds like diners are in for an original experience.

•

Remember when Howard Johnson’s 28 flavors posed the ultimate indulgence for a youngster? Of course, by 2010 standards, 28 is a paltry number. The ice cream shelves at Publix take up an entire aisle. In this decade alone, the company has introduced more than 40 new products and flavors.

It makes sense that July, being one of the hottest months of the year, is National Ice Cream Month. To celebrate, the Ritz-Carlton in Manalapan is hosting Ice Cream Sundays, from noon to 5 p.m. throughout July, and on Fridays and Saturdays as well. Customers at Cool Breeze on the Resort Lawn can build their own cone with ice cream made in-house and topped with sprinkles, gummy bears, Oreos, M&Ms and, of course, a cherry on top. Price: $4 per cone.

Also on tap are snow cones, $4 for regular, or $9 for the more daring — flavored with strawberry, cherry, lemonade, lime, peach, mango, raspberry or banana vodkas.

•

If you build it they will come. And if they come, they’ll need places to eat. Which is why The Promenade in Boynton Beach will have two restaurants by year’s end, rising like a pair of phoenixes from the ashes, or rather the rubble, of the old shopping center that gave way to The Promenade. Margy’s, a 2,500-square-foot sit-down restaurant, and Happy Garden, 1,000 square feet of take-out, enjoyed long and productive histories before the walls came down. Let’s hope they haven’t been away too long.

•

Across the bridge on A1A, Wachovia Financial Center customers have been notified that the Ocean Ridge branch — across the street from Nomad Surf Shop — will be combined with the branch at Woolbright and Federal in late September. That's one less banking opportunity on the East side of the bridge.

•

Coming Aug. 13 and 14, it’s Tastemakers of Delray 2010. The ultimate restaurant crawl features samplings from 24 of the city’s top restaurants, paired with wine, beer or cocktails, all for the price of a “passport,” only $25. And the deal continues long after the 14th, as passport holders can continue to use them until Sept. 30 for special deals at participating restaurants.

Tastemakers is sponsored by the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority (DDA), Boca Raton magazine and Florida Table magazine and benefits the American Cancer Society. For details, call (561) 243-1077 or visit www.bocamag.com, ; www.floridatable.com or www.downtowndelraybeach.com.

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

Ocean Ridge came a step closer to becoming a bird sanctuary with an ordinance Commissioners passed on first reading at the June 7 meeting.

By Thomas R. Collins

Faced with less federal money, and slashes to its own department budget, Palm Beach County has cut back on its surveying of sea turtle nests on a beach that had
been one of the most closely watched.

The stretch of beach, from just north of the Boynton Inlet south nearly to the southern town limit of Ocean Ridge, no longer has every sea turtle nest marked
as it had in the past. But all nests are still counted every day, said Paul
Davis, environmental manager with the county’s Department of Environmental
Resources Management.

He said the change just brings surveying on that beach — which has been done by Boca Raton contractor Db Ecological Services Inc. for the past two nesting
seasons — down to the same level as at other beaches. But it has some
observers concerned about the safety of the nests and the county’s dedication
to protection of the fragile creatures.

The main problem that led to the diminished surveying was that the county was no longer required under a permit for beach renourishment to survey for the sea turtles. When the requirement ran out, so did the federal government’s matching money for the surveying — $64,395. That funding was intended for about half of the Ocean Ridge stretch of beach.

So the county cut what it considered “nonessential.” The county has made up more than $60,000 of what was lost, but it’s not enough to keep things as they were.

“We don’t have the funding to do so as intensively as we have in the past,” Davis said.

The county’s own budget for sea turtle surveying also has continued to decline in recent years, adding to the hardship, Davis said.

He noted that Ocean Ridge has just 115 nests per mile, compared to the county average of 358 nests per mile.

In Delray Beach, the budget for surveying has not been cut, and all nests are counted and marked, senior planner Scott Pape said. “We still do the full turtle survey.”

In Manalapan and Gulfstream, contractors are hired privately for beach cleaning and surveying for sea turtle nests is done as a requirement for those contracts.

Davis said the unmarked nests are not considered to be in jeopardy. Normal beach activities, such as people walking across nests, don’t harm them, he said.
Nests where the markers have been removed have historically been found to
remain viable, he said.

“We don’t believe that there’s a greater risk to the nests,” he said.

Local environmental activist Kim Jones thinks otherwise. She said she runs along the beach every day and has seen unmarked turtle nests in areas where the beaches
are raked to clean them — a big no-no.

“There are nests that are vulnerable that are not even being acknowledged,” she said. “And I tell you, I’m ripped about it.”

She also said nesting may be lower in Ocean Ridge specifically due to the beach renourishment project.

Jones said she has offered to round up volunteers for more extensive surveying, but said the county hasn’t taken her up on it.

She said she doesn’t understand why all nests can’t be marked, since someone is out on the beach every day anyway.

“How difficult is it to just put a stake in the ground, or two or three, like we’ve always done, and just cordon it off?”

By Margie Plunkett

A dozen kids in sports uniforms fidgeted outside Lantana Town Hall on a night late in June, while many of the 118 residents crammed inside to voice fears that the town’s youth will likewise be left out because the town can’t afford to keep the Lantana Sports Complex open.

“Our children will be turned into second-class citizens without travel programs and access to the fields,” resident Helen Snider said.

Lantana Council’s budget meeting made clear the tough choices as revenues plunge again in the endless fallout from the housing market collapse. At least four town jobs will be cut, with warnings that more may come in a year when ad valorem taxes are expected to generate about $2.25 million compared to $7 million in 2005, Mayor David Stewart said.

The sports complex was discussed as a possible budget casualty, but it could still remain open: The Lantana Athletic Association and Town Manager Michael Bornstein plan to meet to discuss prospects, including that group’s taking over the 22-acre sports park, which features baseball, soccer and other facilities.

Some residents spoke hopefully at the meeting of helping the complex get closer to financial viability by seeking corporate sponsors and shedding costly limitations thanks to their new league. “Let us help,” Lantana Athletic Association President Brenda Northup offered, later adding that fewer restrictions by the new Dixie Youth league let the teams play when they don’t need light, saving at least one hefty cost.

“I don’t want to close the ballfield,” said council member Elizabeth Tennyson, but increasing taxes isn’t an option. “I know people who are hanging on by their
fingernails financially. We can’t burden our residents by raising taxes. I will
not drive a family out onto the streets.”

“There are many homes in foreclosure in Lantana,” council member Cindy Austino said. “I’m not in favor of raising the millage rate.”

Council says it’s down to the nitty gritty of providing only services that are essential for public safety. But that didn’t help police force job security: Lantana had already found budget cuts by making it possible for Police Chief Rick Lincoln to retire six months early, come autumn, and will replace him with Capt. Jeff Tyson. Meanwhile, Capt. Andy Rundle, one of the names that had surfaced as a possible replacement for Lincoln, volunteered to take early retirement in what Bornstein called a noble gesture.

Mayor Stewart recalled what now seems a distant past, when aptly named benefactor Generoso Pope, the late publisher of the National Enquirer, gave Lantana its legendary Christmas tree each year. He was quick to buy an ambulance when Lantana needed it and put a bang into July 4 celebration by picking up the fireworks tab. Wayne Akers, of car dealer fame, also contributed heavily to the municipality’s abundance, although he preferred to keep his giving quiet, Stewart said.

Both Pope and Akers are gone now and no one has emerged to replace them. The economic landscape is changed beyond recognition.

The town pays about $250,000 annually to operate and maintain the sports complex, and it needs to find about $120,000 to keep it open in the new budget year that begins Oct. 1, Stewart said. He and other council members encouraged residents to come up with ideas to keep it open.

“The town can’t fund it. We don’t have the money this year,” said council member Tom Deringer. “I’ve never seen it this bad. My dad grew up in the Great Depression and told me how bad things were. I never thought I’d see it in this lifetime.”

Mary Kate Leming contributed to this story.

By Margie Plunkett

The Ocean Ridge Police Department will begin patrolling Briny Breezes in October after winning council’s unanimous support with last-minute contract concessions in its competition with current provider Boynton Beach Police Department.

Briny Breezes voted to pay $185,000 a year under a three-year contract after Ocean Ridge eliminated a 4 percent annual increase. The package saved about $129,000 over the Boynton Beach proposal of $219,350 a year and was particularly alluring as Briny Breezes faces a budget year pinched by falling property tax revenue and a maxed-out tax rate.

The concessions turned the vote of aldermen including Frank Barba, who said he had supported Boynton Beach but was swayed by the increase in the already substantial dollar difference in proposals.

The tiny town opted for a three-year pact — Ocean Ridge offered the choice of one-, two- or three-years — with a clause that allows it or Ocean Ridge to get out of the contract with 60 days’ notice. The council’s unanimous vote included new Alderman Peter Fingerhut, sworn in at the June 24 meeting to replace Karen Wiggins after she joined the corporate board.

Mayor Roger Bennett sought concessions from both Boynton Beach and Ocean Ridge as Briny Breezes neared its June 30 deadline for notifying Boynton Beach if it would renew its police contract.

Boynton Beach City Manager Kurt Bressner, who indicated the 4 percent increase would likely remain even with a one-year contract, said he would take the requests to his June 15 commission meeting, according to a letter by Briny Breezes attorney Jerome Skrandel.

But Bressner delayed submitting them until a July 20 commission meeting and lifted Briny Breezes’ June 30 deadline, the letter said. The morning of Briny Breezes June 24 meeting, Boynton Beach said it would allow a one-year contract with two one-year renewal options and the 4 percent increase would apply throughout, according to Skrandel.

When Mayor Bennett approached Ocean Ridge, Town Manager Ken Schenck and Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi agreed to a one-year contract, although both preferred three
years. Schenck took the request to eliminate the annual increase to his town commission meeting June 7 where it was approved.

Skrandel’s letter “really shows the Ocean Ridge Commission wants to be our police,” Briny Breezes Alderman Nancy Boczon told Ocean Ridge officials Yannuzzi and Schenck, who attended the meeting where the new police contract was approved. “I feel very confident with what the Boynton Beach police are doing for us. But their city council is not interested in us at all. Yours bent over backwards. Especially today we’re feeling it.”

Ocean Ridge patrolled Briny Breezes for many years before the Boynton Beach Police Department was hired. “You know the entire department,” Yannuzzi told aldermen
before the vote. “We worked in Briny Breezes for the 30 years up to the (proposed) sale of the property. We’re asking you to come back.”

Resident and former Briny Breezes Town Clerk Rita Taylor brought up a point she hadn’t heard mentioned at all: “You have a big benefit in Ocean Ridge because they have their own dispatch center. They’re all familiar with all our streets as well as Ocean Ridge.”

Wayne Segal, Boynton Beach public affairs director, said in a later e-mail regarding Briny Breeze’s vote: “It was a business decision. Nothing more. It’s no reflection on the service that was provided in the past.”

Briny Breezes leaders had often appeared to lean toward re-hiring Boynton Beach police over the several months they’ve considered the contract, despite the higher cost. They’ve praised Boynton Beach Police Department for its performance and noted advantages in its dedicated eight-hour shift, the resources available from a larger police department and ancillary services including a marine patrol.

Some residents had even suggested that information sent out about both police department proposals with an earlier poll of residents was skewed in favor of
Boynton Beach. The survey itself resulted in 118 supporting re-hiring Boynton
Beach police and 72 in favor of Ocean Ridge.

By Margie Plunkett

Residents of this usually quiet coastal area have lately raised an assertive voice on two separate issues, urging northern neighbor Gulf Stream to annex them and objecting to the latest development of the Sea Horse condominiums that includes a height much greater than the initial plan.

The oceanfront Sea Horse project has been drawing outrage from residents who protest its height, potential drainage problems and an approval process that has provided no forum for public comment. County Commissioner Steven Abrams assures them, however, the issues they’ve raised will be part of a meeting between developers and county officials to hash out some of the concerns.

Meanwhile, Gulf Stream is taking the next step toward annexing the pocket of unincorporated county territory where the Sea Horse project is located, following a study prompted by nearby residents requests to join the town.

At their June 11 meeting, Gulf Stream commissioners voted to support Urban Design Kilday Studio’s recommendation for voluntary annexation of the pocket south of Little Club Road and north of Sea Road, which is next to Gulf Stream.

Voluntary annexation is the quickest method, in which property owners petition to become part of the Gulf Stream. The town would need 100 percent consent by residents
in the pocket.

Urban Design also recommended the town simultaneously pursue a second method, Interlocal Service Boundary Agreement annexation, in case voluntary annexation
doesn’t succeed, according to the report from Joni Brinkman and Marty R.A. Minor. ISBA needs 51 percent approval from owners or voters. ISBA provides for counties and towns to
negotiate agreements and processes for annexation and land use.

Boynton Beach is forming an ISBA, the report pointed out, noting Gulf Stream opted not to take part. Boynton Beach’s move to study annexation of other areas at least in part precipitated the outcry from pocket residents who fear becoming part of that city’s jurisdiction.

The Bellamar House on North Ocean Boulevard submitted a letter to Gulf Stream checking on the status of its request of several months ago to be annexed. The same letter also raised the issue of the 4001 development — formerly called the Sea Horse project, which Bellamar House said it is “vehemently opposed to.” The letter cited the project’s density as well as its design as factors in the protest.

“The design is not in keeping with the surrounding buildings on the barrier island,” said the letter signed by Bellamar House Condominium Association. “Of much greater concern are drainage issues which were brought to the attention of the previous developer and not yet addressed.”

Another property just north of the Sea Horse, the Ballantrae Condominium Association, said that the development’s height should be limited to 35 to 40 feet with a density per acre of six units, said President David G. Frey in a letter. He, too, feared a serious drainage problem.

Frey wanted the project approved consistent with Gulf Stream’s zoning ordinances — or said it should be delayed until “the annexation issue is resolved,” when Gulf Streams ordinances would govern.

Gulf Stream Town Manager Bill Thrasher reported at the June 11 commission meeting that Gulf Stream officials met with the county after a “considerable” amount of resident feedback opposing the Sea Horse project. The project’s height is in dispute at between 70 and 90 feet, Thrasher said. “We feel that’s incompatible with the area and are making that position known to various regulating bodies in the area.”

A recently published plan showed the redeveloped oceanfront condominiums with six stories facing the ocean at 81 feet.

Mayor William Koch said the county is using a fast-track procedure which doesn’t involve public hearings to move the project approvals along, despite the growing objections of residents in the area. “It’s a ballgame we don’t have a bat in,” Koch said.

The county had earlier responded to a letter from Sea Horse developers that the project didn’t have to go through public hearings if its new design constituted only a minor change from a 2006 proposal for the initial project.

“This is a massive change vs. what was there when it was the old Sea Horse and it is a substantial change from what was proposed in 2006,” said Bob Ganger, president of the Florida Coalition for Preservation. “Residents here want to find out how to let the county know that they don’t like what’s being done.”

The coalition wrote Abrams requesting a full public administrative hearing on the fast-track treatment of the controversial plan, which it said could be approved as early
as July 14. County “staff contends that the plan represents ‘a minor site plan modification’ that does not require public review. We take strong exception to this position,” the letter said.

The meeting that Abrams set up, arranged for late in June, was “to address issues related to the project. I’ve gotten tons of e-mails,” Abrams said, noting the neighbors are being represented by the coalition.

While the meeting isn’t a public hearing, Abrams said, “The bottom line: I’m seeing to it that the public’s concerns are being addressed in the process by this meeting.”

By Kelly Wolfe

The U.S. Supreme Court in June affirmed a ruling that said when public money is used for beach re-nourishment, the beach then becomes publicly owned, despite deeds indicating buyers owned the beach down to the high water mark.

The ruling is confusing to landowners like Merrilee Lundquist of Ocean Ridge, who said she signed an agreement allowing the state to re-nourish the beach when needed, but she wasn’t told at that time she would be giving up ownership of the land. Plus, Lundquist said, what happens when the re-nourished beach has washed away.

“At first, it was like a road in front of our house,” Lundquist said in the months after the state poured sand onto her property. “Now, all that sand is gone.”

The Supreme Court, in an 8-0 vote June 17, rejected a challenge by six homeowners in Florida’s Panhandle who argued that a beach-widening project was essentially a taking of property without “just compensation,” as the Constitution requires.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs did not return calls seeking comment.

Justice John Paul Stevens recused himself from the case, presumably because he owns a waterfront condo in Fort Lauderdale.

Daniel Bates, director of environmental enhancement and restoration for Palm Beach County, said he was glad the Supreme Court upheld the ruling, and said he hasn’t had many complaints from property owners on this coast, anyway.

“In our experience, property owners support our re-nourishment agreements,” he said.

There was only one property owner in recent memory that didn’t, Bates said. But that man eventually sold his property to Merrilee Lundquist, who did agree to allow for re-nourishment.

The homeowners who filed suit in Destin wanted the state to pay them undetermined compensation for “taking’’ their property, which Florida law had long recognized as extending to the water line at high tide. New sand along seven miles of storm-battered beach had essentially deprived homeowners of the exclusive beach they once enjoyed, they argued.

Lundquist said she doesn’t like the way the lawsuit painted beachfront homeowners.

“I think beach owners are good stewards and why not,” Lundquist said. “I go down and pick up garbage all the time.”

Lundquist said she loves living on the beach, and doesn’t mind when people lay out in the sun on what is essentially her property. But it often doesn’t end there.

“I came home one day to find a teenage couple in my pool,” she said. “I had a $600 gate broken. People have stolen my plants. It’s not frightening, but it’s part of being there.”

Bates said both Jupiter and Ocean Ridge are up for beach re-nourishment projects within the next two to three years.

By Tim O’Meilia

South Palm Beach voters may be asked to make a nearly irreversible decision on the future of the Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn this fall.

The Town Council voted 3-2 to consider placing a pair of town charter amendments on the ballot that would limit the height of new buildings east of State Road A1A to 60 feet and would prohibit new or the expansion of existing non-residential buildings.

Twice since 2005, the owners of the two-story inn, the only commercial building in town, have failed to persuade the council to allow zoning changes that would permit a 10-story or higher hotel-condominium.

Councilwoman Stella Jordan, who proposed the charter changes, said they would preserve the residential nature of the town. “It puts control of redevelopment of the town in the residents’ hands,” she said, and takes it away from the council.

Both the height and land-use restriction are in the town’s zoning code, which can be amended by ordinance by the council.

Mayor Martin Millar complained the council did not have sufficient time to study Jordan’s proposal since she didn’t provide the specifics until the meeting, although the subject of charter change was on the agenda.

“This could cost the town money and we could have a lawsuit by an outsider,” he said.

Millar and Councilman Brian Merbler opposed the charter vote. Merbler questioned whether the hotel, if damaged in a storm, would be allowed to be rebuilt.

“My concern is that we would eliminate any window of opportunity to update (the hotel),” he added.

Jordan and council members Donald Clayman and Susan Lillybeck approved the measure.

The proposal drew the angry opposition of motel co-owners Peter and Michelle Paloka. “I want to express my vehement opposition. I have no choice but to consider it a taking under the Bert Harris Act,” Peter Paloka said, referring to the state law allowing landowners to sue for compensation if a land use change restricts the potential value of their property.

“You are putting your town in a precarious situation,” said Michelle Paloka. She also called Clayman “a bully and a hypocrite.”

Former Councilwoman and planning board member Pat Schulmayr said such changes required hours of consideration of the intricacies of the issues by the planning board and the council.

“There is no way the people of this town will have the intelligence or the information to make this sort of decision,” Schulmayr said.

In July, the council will consider two ordinances drafted by the town attorney that would put the questions on the ballot. The proposals could be revised then. A second approval is required in August.

This is Jordan’s second attempt to change the charter. In January, before she was elected, she submitted petitions signed by more than 20 percent of the town’s registered voters to put three changes on the ballot, including the two the council considered.

But Town Clerk Janet Whipple rejected the petitions, ruling that they were not submitted 90 days before the requested election date. She also ruled they did not comply with other technical requirements, including the formation of a five-member committee, and they conflicted with the state law on comprehensive plans.

In other action, the Town Council:

• Approved, by a 4-1 vote, a $1,000 donation to the town of Lantana and the Greater Lantana Chamber of Commerce for the Fourth of July celebration. Merbler dissented.

• Approved unanimously an agreement with Phillips and Jordan Inc. for emergency debris removal and disaster recovery services after a storm.

• Gave final unanimous approval to abolishing the board of adjustment and transferring its powers to the planning board.