Dorothy Kellington has helped the library grow from a small part of Town Hall into ‘the crown jewel of Highland Beach.’ She has volunteered since 1998 and for the past six years has been co-president of the Friends group. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Libraries and books have always been a part of Dorothy Kellington’s life.
    So it’s not surprising that soon after she and her husband, Doug, arrived in Highland Beach in 1998 from Long Island, she began searching out the town’s library.  
    “The first question I asked after we got here was, ‘Where’s the library?’” she said.
    The answer to that question led Kellington to what was then a small make-shift library in Town Hall.
    It also led her to a two-decades-long commitment to the library as a weekly volunteer. And for the past six years she has served as co-president of the Friends of the Highland Beach Town Library, a nonprofit organization that helps fund cultural programming and items not requested in the town budget.
    Over the years, she has watched the library blossom into a stand-alone 11,000-square-foot building, which today is a community focal point offering a variety of programs, classes and other learning opportunities.
    Growing up in New York, Kellington spent a lot of time at the public library and developed a deep appreciation of books.
    “People of our generation grew up with a library,” she said. “The library was very important to me.”
    Kellington, 68, says she would frequently walk to the library in Queens, about a mile from her home.
    “I love books,” she says. “There’s always books around. If I’m without a book, I’m in trouble.”
    That love of reading played an important role in her decision to become an educator.  
    Prior to coming to South Florida, Kellington spent 29 years working in the New York City school district. She spent 14 years in the classroom teaching elementary-school children in Queens before running a gifted program. She later became a trainer working with new or struggling educators, to help them improve their teaching skills.
    While she was working in the school system she met her husband, who was a facilities manager within the district.
    The two enjoyed a love of horse racing, frequently visiting tracks, and eventually they joined a group that owned thoroughbred race horses. One of their most successful Florida horses, King Cugat, ran in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. He started out as the favorite in that race, but was kicked and finished out of the money. He had previously won several races, including his first races as a 2-year-old in Saratoga.
    Although they’re still horse racing fans, the Kellingtons no longer own horses.
    Dorothy spends much of her time helping out at the library, which is in walking distance from their home in the Highland Beach Club, and volunteering for the Palm Beach County chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
    She began volunteering in that organization’s office and helping with fundraising efforts in 2002 after learning that one of her grandchildren was diagnosed with the disease.
    About the same time, she was asked to join the board of the Friends of the Highland Beach Town Library.
    Then six years ago, she was asked to serve as co-president of the organization, a job she now shares with another longtime Friends member, Karen Brown.
    The group underwrites the cost of one monthly cultural program — a concert or a presentation — during the summer and as many as five or six monthly programs during the season. The group, which has about 300 members, also pays for receptions at art openings in town.
    The Friends also hope to launch a monthly health and wellness seminar at the library this season, Kellington said.
    For Kellington, who can still be seen checking in books or returning them to the shelves on her volunteer days, the library has become almost like a second home where she can interact with people and get to know them. It also provides an opportunity for her to share all the library has to offer with residents.
    “This library is the crown jewel of Highland Beach,” she said.
— Rich Pollack

Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
    A. Queens, N.Y.  I went to New York City public schools, Queens College of the City University of New York. It made me appreciate the public school system.
    
Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
    A. Teaching, etc., while working for the New York City School Board. Hopefully, I made some beginner teachers better able to do a good job.
    
Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today? 
    A. Do something you love and believe in, not just to make a big salary.
    
Q. How did you choose to make your home in Highland Beach?
    A. We wanted to be near the water.
    
Q. What is your favorite part about living in Highland Beach?
    A. It’s coastal but quiet.
    
Q. What book are you reading now?
    A. House of Spies, by Daniel Silva.
    
Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax? 
    A. Broadway show music, Chicago, The Beach Boys.
    
Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions? 
    A. The Golden Rule, which can morph into “don’t get mad, get even” for me.
    
Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
    A. My third-grade teacher Mrs. La Marca, who gave me my love of reading and made me want to share it.
    
Q. If your life story were made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
    A. Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

By Jane Smith

Commissioner Joe Casello thinks the time has come for Boynton Beach to allow dogs on its beach.
“We’ve taken our dog up to the Jupiter beach and he really loves it,” Casello said. “There’s nothing close by.” His family has a Cairn terrier, Charlie.
The closest dog beach is about 13 miles away in Boca Raton’s Spanish River Park. There, at Bark Beach, dogs are limited to Friday through Sunday on early mornings and late afternoons. A permit is required for each dog, and Boca Raton residents receive a reduced rate.
At Jupiter Beach, about 30 miles north of Boynton Beach, no permits are required for the 2.5- mile length of the beach. Friends of Jupiter Beach runs the dog beach and its website reads, “Well-behaved dogs and their conscientious owners are welcome.”
Boynton Beach city commissioners agreed Aug. 1 to have the city manager talk to Ocean Ridge staff.
“To be a good neighbor,” Casello said.
Ocean Ridge police patrol Oceanfront Park, so their input is needed, he said.
Mayor Steven Grant said he supported the idea, suggesting something similar to what Jacksonville Beach has: limited hours outside of the beach’s most popular time of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Casello said many details have to be worked out, including hours, which section of the beach, whether passes will be sold to raise money for dog waste containers, whether dogs can be off-leash and other such issues.

Ocean One’s residential units will rise just south of Boynton Beach Boulevard on Federal Highway. Rendering provided

By Jane Smith

    Boynton Beach commissioners, sitting as the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board in early July, unanimously approved a subsidy worth about $4.1 million to the developer of Ocean One.
    The first phase of the project will be an eight-story complex with 231 apartments on Federal Highway, just south of Boynton Beach Boulevard. The subsidy will be spread over eight years.
    As a part of the subsidy approval, the developer will build 8,765 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, create 50 public parking spaces, make a diligent effort to hire city residents and contractors, hold a job fair and use green-building standards.
It took nearly two years to get to this agreement.
    “It’s a large development,” said Bonnie Miskel, the developer’s attorney. “It took us that amount of time to usher through the process.”
    The second phase of the project, with at least 100 hotel rooms, will come back this month for its taxpayer dollar request of about $2.8 million.
    The board members wanted the hotel to be built first, but the developer asked for this to be included in the second phase. An additional 50 public parking spaces will be included.
    For both phases, developer Davis Camalier is asking for additional money: 75 percent of the difference in the project’s assessed value in the first seven years after it is built and 50 percent in the last year. He paid $9 million for his 3-acre property in 2005.
    The agency’s advisory board had recommended capping that taxpayer dollar amount in case the property values soar, but the cap was not part of the agreement. Instead, Mayor Steven Grant, who also is the agency chairman, asked that the agency hold back the entire taxpayer subsidy if the retail space is not filled in the first phase. He did not want to have another Casa Costa, with a mostly vacant ground-floor retail space fronting Federal Highway. Casa Costa is adjacent to the Ocean One property.
    “That would be the tail wagging the dog,” Miskel said in July. “We don’t have control over the market. The developer is motivated to fill the space for the apartment tenants.”
    Board member Christina Romelus said holding the developer to a performance standard is not unfair, “You are talking about taxpayer dollars.”
    Miskel and agency board members compromised: No requirements of filling the retail space in the first year, 25 percent in years two and three, and then 50 percent in years four, five and six after the complex is built. If the retail space is not filled according to this plan, the agency can withhold 10 percent of the taxpayer subsidy.
    “But that’s only for the first [retail] tenants,” Miskel said.
    The CRA also agreed to sell a half-acre parcel, appraised at $480,000 in December 2015, for $10. City commissioners must approve the sale because it is below market value.
    As part of negotiations, the Ocean One developer agreed to turn the agency-owned land into a public plaza. 

By Dan Moffett

    South Palm Beach taxpayers will see some eye-popping numbers when they look at their town’s proposed budget for 2017-18.
    But the large figures come with back-stories that help put them in perspective.
    Yes, the town has listed $6 million on its budget for rebuilding the aging Town Hall. And there’s also $1.5 million for a beach stabilization project.
    For a town that runs on a total budget of just under $10 million, these would be huge expenditures. But the price tags for both projects are deceiving.
    The $6 million for a new Town Hall is a ballpark estimate on what it would take to reconstruct the building from the ground up. The Town Council is waiting on an architect’s final report to decide what to do. Council members could choose to replace the building, renovate some of it at a much lower cost or forget the whole idea and live with the existing structure.
    “It may be that nothing happens at all,” says Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb.
    If the council does choose replacement, the roughly $6 million would come from a bond referendum that voters would have to approve — a prospect that likely is many months away.
    Then there’s the $1.5 million for beach stabilization. The town actually has been setting aside that money for years but now is moving it into a spending account for possible action. The hope is the project to install groins along the shoreline could begin in November 2018.
    But that isn’t a certainty either. The plan still needs to obtain permits from a variety of overseeing federal and state agencies — and also faces possible legal challenges from neighboring communities, among them Manalapan.
    The numbers that are solid and reliable in the proposed budget tell an encouraging story for the town.
    South Palm Beach expects $9.8 million in revenues and $9.5 million in expenditures, creating a surplus of close to $300,000.
    Property values have gone up again this year, rising about 6.5 percent and adding $20 million to the town’s taxable value. South Palm Beach was one of the slowest communities in the county to recover property value from the recession but has finally caught up to where it was a decade ago with $305 million on the tax rolls.
    The future looks bright, too, with construction beginning on the 3550 South Ocean project on the old Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn site. Once built and sold, probably two years from now, the 30 luxury condominiums there could raise the town’s taxable value by at least 25 percent.
    More good news: Town Manager Bob Vitas says the penny sales tax increase that county voters approved in November “is tracking on target” and bringing a steady stream of revenue to the town for infrastructure improvements — about $83,500 a year.
    During a budget workshop on July 11, council members gave preliminary approval to maintaining the town’s current tax rate of $4.13 per $1,000 of assessed value, or roughly 6 percent above the rollback rate of $3.87 that would keep tax revenues flat.

By Dan Moffett

    The manager and attorney for South Palm Beach are pleading with the Town Council to renew their contracts and end months of delays, false starts and postponed negotiations.
    Town Attorney Brad Biggs and the council started talking about working out a new arrangement in early 2016. Council members said they wanted to evaluate his performance and redefine his job description. But that hasn’t happened.
    “Basically, I just have a letter with the town saying I’m willing to provide legal services,” Biggs said. “There isn’t really a contract.”
    Town Manager Bob Vitas was supposed to have a review completed in October as required by the town charter. The council postponed that and hasn’t revisited it.
    “It’s put me in an awkward spot,” Vitas said. “I shouldn’t be treated that way.”
    Both Biggs and Vitas allow that the last year has been about as challenging as any in the council’s history — with the deaths of two highly regarded councilmen, Woody Gorbach and Joe Flagello, illness and big projects such as beach stabilization and Town Hall renovation to consider.
    Mayor Bonnie Fischer had to cancel the July town meeting for lack of a quorum because Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb was out of state, Councilwomen Stella Jordan was ill, and the seat left open by Flagello’s death hasn’t been filled.
    As if that hasn’t been turmoil enough, the town is still fighting its way through a ransomware attack in June that paralyzed the administration’s computer systems and corrupted its website.
    Vitas said the town’s technical support contractor has been able to undo much of the damage, and no ransom was paid. But still, some documents are lost probably forever, employees are frustrated and so are residents who try to go online to keep up with the town’s business.
    “It’s been a very difficult year for the town,” Fischer has said more than once.
    The mayor said some promising candidates have expressed interest in the empty council seat and she hopes to fill it soon. Fischer said the council also intends to resolve matters with Vitas and Biggs.
    “I can’t believe that we’ve waited since May of last year” to deal with the town attorney’s agreement, Vitas said. “But I realize a lot of things have been out of our control.”
    Biggs, who has been South Palm Beach’s attorney for seven years, is charging the town $170 per hour, and $195 per hour for litigation services. He has offered to change to a retainer arrangement and work some days out of Town Hall to improve his accessibility to officials.
    “I really would like some action,” Biggs said.
    Vitas, who was hired in October 2015 and earns $103,000 a year, told the council he deserves a new contract that includes a merit raise, car allowance and benefit contributions — perks that his predecessors have received.
    “I want to be treated equitably with past managers,” he told the council. “I’m not going to beg. … I gave you the results. I’ve showed you the proof is in the pudding.”

The nearly 2-acre parcel is on the edge of the County Pocket, across the street from Briny Breezes. The owners bought it for $3.2 million in 2006 and are asking $6.895 million. Google Map

 By Jane Smith

The former Dog Beach property is on the market — again.
    This time, it carries a $6.895 million price tag for one of the last remaining vacant parcels of oceanfront land in southern Palm Beach County.
    Nearby property owners in Briny Breezes and the County Pocket likely saw the for-sale sign go up in mid-June. The nearly 2-acre site features 171 feet of oceanfront land. The property is zoned for eight units to the acre, but a postcard offering for the land said 36 units might be possible.
    The owner received that information from the county, said broker Steven Presson of The Corcoran Group’s Palm Beach office.
    “The broker got ahead of himself. That high figure is the ultimate the property would get with all of the variances,” said owner David Rinker. “The neighbors would never go for that.”
    The property zoning allows eight units to the acre, but Rinker said 14 are more likely to fit. “We have had the property for a number of years,” he said. Rinker and partners bought the land for $3.2 million in March 2006 and planned to develop it, then the recession hit.
    “I’m not crazy about it, but I knew the land would not sit empty forever,” said Mike Smollon, who lives in the pocket. “Oceanfront land is valuable.”         He said his area could see some improvements if that parcel were developed. “Maybe we would get sewers and paved roads,” he said.
    James Arena, a Briny Breezes resident who has a real estate brokerage in Boynton Beach, predicted it would be a long approval process for the developer. That company may end up putting up “a big wall that is 8 feet tall around the project, which would affect the drainage in the area.”
    He would like to see a park there “with space for golf-cart parking because so many residents have street-legal golf carts.” He suggests the county and Briny Breezes buy the 2 acres.
    “It’s a big-time crapshoot for a developer to buy it before Briny sells,” Arena said.
    Pocket resident Marie Chapman said, “Having it developed will help our area. But if it is not done properly, it would put us under water. We have lots of drainage problems.”
    Homeowners on Winthrop Lane in the pocket see water reaching their doors after a heavy rain, said Don Brown, who lives on Streamaire Lane in the pocket.
    The developer “will see a lot of resistance from neighbors if he tries to put 5 pounds into a small bag,” said Brown, who also owns the Southdale Properties real estate firm in Lake Worth.
    “The property serves as a retention pond for the County Pocket,” Brown said. “But a property owner should not have to do that [solve the area’s drainage problems].”
    Real estate broker Presson said he was receiving three or four calls a day about the property.
    “Activity is definitely there from builder-developers,” he said. “Where else in Palm Beach County can you find 2 acres on the ocean for sale?”

Newly installed LED lights bathe the Boynton Beach water tower (seen here from Briny Breezes) in a variety of colors. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dave Brousseau

    A July 27 ribbon-cutting event showcased Boynton Beach’s $30 million utilities project — complete with LED lights for the adjacent water tower — under budget and on time.
    Boynton Beach Mayor Steven Grant was pleased with the upgraded facility at the East Water Treatment Plant, at 124 E.  Woolbright Road.
    “Meeting budget is always what you want to hear in government and [saving] money,” Grant said.
    The project includes the largest and most modern magnetic ion exchange plant in the world for pretreatment of water, according to the city.
The MIEX pretreatment allows Boynton residents as far west as Military Trail to taste clean, fresh water.
 Boynton Beach also provides water to the coastal towns of Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes, residents in the County Pocket and St. Andrew’s Club.
    The water is pumped from the city’s western well field via a new pipeline. Pumping raw water from the west protects the eastern well field from saltwater intrusion. A resin plant that pretreats the 16 million gallons of raw water was built with an improved design, minimal footprint and reduced costs.
    The improvements will meet Boynton Beach’s water requirements for the next 20 years and for bigger population levels east of Interstate 95.
    A new 3 million-gallon potable water storage tank was also constructed. The completed project increased the east plant’s capacity from 19.2 million gallons to 24 million gallons per day.
    “We’ve been working on the project six to seven years, trying to work out the best way to do this and at the same time save our water resources.” said Michael Low, manager of technical services at Boynton Beach Utilities.  
    The project also will include public art in Edward F. Harmening Arbor Memorial Park at Woolbright Road and Seacrest Boulevard, titled Water, You and I. Once it’s completed, a grand opening event will be held for the public.

By Dan Moffett

    Briny Breezes Town Council members have a reasonably good idea of what they’re looking for in a town manager.
    But salary and benefits limitations may make hiring the right person difficult.
    A volunteer committee made its report to the council on July 20, recommending the duties and qualifications for the new town manager position. Town Attorney John Skrandel told council members to consider that their requirements for candidates have to fall in line with what the town is able to offer in compensation.
    “You can create the position however you want to create it,” Skrandel said. “But in reality, anyone who’s willing to take this job and has the experience and education, they’re going to want a contract that essentially provides them with a specific amount of pay, a specific amount of work over a specific period of time.”
    Skrandel said most of the qualified and experienced candidates are also likely to want some protection against unreasonable termination.
    “That’s going to be another thing the town is going to have to look at — what it’s willing to offer, not just salary but other benefits,” said Skrandel. “Keep that in mind.”
    The council hopes to hire a part-time manager, the first in the town’s history, for $50,000 a year.
    Nearly all full-time managers in small towns along the Palm Beach County coast are paid at least $100,000 a year, with full retirement and health benefits, paid vacations and often car allowances.
    Council President Sue Thaler has been doing the administrative work of a manager on a volunteer basis for the last several years but says she can’t continue putting in roughly 20 hours a week to keep the town running.
    “Every other municipality in the county has a manager,” said Alderman Bobby Jurovaty. “The world is changing. We need this.”
    The council voted to accept the committee’s report and do more research on how best to create the new position. Council members said they plan to continue the discussion at their Aug. 24 meeting.
    In other business:
    • The council unanimously approved setting the tax rate for the 2017-18 fiscal year at $10 per $1,000 of taxable value, the statutory maximum and the same since 2009.
    According to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office, Briny has recovered its valuation from the South Florida real estate crash 10 years ago, with $45 million in total taxable property values, up 8.6 percent over last year.
    Public hearings on the budget are scheduled beginning at 5:01 p.m. on Aug. 24 and Sept. 28,     • Boynton Beach Police Lt. Chris Yannuzzi says state Department of Transportation officials have set tentative dates for closing the Ocean Avenue bridge 24 hours because of construction work. The round-the-clock closures are slated for Aug. 13-15 and Aug. 20-22.

By Mary Hladky

    Four years after the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it was making the first changes to Palm Beach County flood maps in 30 years, it has released maps that are slated to go into effect on Oct. 5.
    Property owners can now see if their flood zone designations have changed. The county has created a searchable application that is accessible on the county’s website at  http://maps.co.palm-beach.fl.us/cwgis/?app=floodzones
It shows a property owner’s old flood zone designation and the proposed new designation. All flood zone designations that touch a property are indicated. If owners are in doubt about whether individual properties are in high-risk flood zones, owners in unincorporated areas also can call the county at 561-233-5306, while those in cities and towns can call their local governments.
    FEMA provides flood zone information on its Flood Map Service Center at http://msc.fema.gov/portal.
    The new maps are important because they show whether property owners must have flood insurance. Homeowners with federally backed mortgages, and some with private lenders, are required to buy flood insurance if they live in high-risk zones that are labeled with letters starting with A or V.
    But even if a homeowner has paid off the mortgage, or lives outside the high-risk zones, flood insurance is often advisable because homeowner policies typically do not cover damage caused by flooding. The cost of flood policies varies according to the level of flood risk.
    The county’s flood insurance rate maps were last revised in the early 1980s. When FEMA issued new maps in 2013, protest quickly followed.
    County and city officials said the maps were based on outdated and faulty information, resulting in possibly tens of thousands of properties erroneously being included in high-risk flood zones.
    The problems were greatest in the central and western communities, including Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee and The Acreage. But most, if not all, cities and towns found errors.
    The county and many cities appealed, and FEMA agreed to allow local officials to submit data so corrections could be made.
    FEMA returned with revised maps in 2014 that dropped about a third of the parcels that had been added to high-risk flood zones in the 2013 maps. More revisions followed.
    Meanwhile, the county and cities joined forces to make the maps more accurate. The county used LiDAR, or light detection and ranging, which uses laser pulses to get accurate ground elevation data, and shared it with the cities. Some cities hired consultants to help them improve the maps.
    “Kudos to the county for doing that,” said South Palm Beach Town Manager Bob Vitas. “I was able to rely on that data to amend the maps that were presented to us.”
    The latest FEMA maps, issued on April 5, incorporate the data the county and cities have submitted since 2013.
    This time around, local officials are generally satisfied with what they see.
    “There was a lot of improvement,” said Doug Wise, the county’s floodplain administrator, who concentrated his efforts on the unincorporated areas in the central part of the county. The new maps for the central area are very good, he said.
    “The risks are much more accurate,” Wise said. Before the map revisions, “there were thousands of property owners paying for flood insurance when they were at minimal risk of flooding.”
    But Wise said the county and cities did not seek flood map changes to save people from paying for flood insurance. The goal, he said, was to accurately reflect risk. He encourages property owners to buy flood insurance even if their properties are removed from a high-risk flood zone, since flooding can occur anywhere for a host of reasons, including unusually heavy rainfall. Those removed from high-risk zones will pay lower rates, he said.
    Neither FEMA nor the county has done an analysis to determine how many parcels were added to high-risk flood zones in the new maps and how many were removed, or where those with changed risk status are located.
    Some cities, including Boynton Beach and Delray Beach, are crunching the numbers, but did not have data as of late July.
    City or town councils must approve the new maps before October, but no obstacles are foreseen.

Towns took closer look
    A very general overview of maps of Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach indicates that properties adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway remain in high-risk flood zones, while many located farther inland have been taken out. But the changes are scattered across the cities.
    Boca Raton was among cities that hired a consultant to help it update the maps.
    “We believe the new maps to be about 95 percent accurate and FEMA did accept the changes,” Keith Carney, senior zoning officer, said in an email.
    The changes were substantial, he said, and would result in a decrease of millions of dollars spent on flood insurance premiums. Yet some properties that weren’t in flood zones before now are.
    Boca Raton’s old maps included 5,656 buildings in high-risk flood areas. The 2013 maps that the city challenged increased that to 6,736 buildings. After FEMA accepted the city’s changes, the number was reduced to 3,350 buildings, and that remains substantially unchanged in the latest maps.
    In Boynton Beach, many of the properties removed from high-risk flood zones are located inland, and include the large Leisureville community west of Interstate 95 and properties along the east and west sides of I-95, said Shane Kittendorf, the city’s building official and floodplain manager.
    Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein said in an email that the city found most of the changes in the 2013 maps to be acceptable. The city did not appeal, but did work with FEMA to make some “minor adjustments” that included removing some properties from high-risk flood zones.        Vitas said the FEMA maps included parts of Lantana in South Palm Beach’s boundaries. He and the town engineer made corrections, and FEMA accepted them. Properties on high elevations along the dune that were not included in flood zones in the old maps remain outside flood zones in the new maps.
    “The objective was not to tell people you don’t have to buy flood insurance,” he said. “Our job was to make sure … the new maps were accurate.”
    For Manalapan, the status quo prevails. The entire town was and remains in a high-risk flood zone.
    The new maps “haven’t changed anything,” said Mayor Keith Waters. “We have always been in a floodplain.”

Rates’ rise an issue
    The map approval process is taking place as Congress is struggling to meet a Sept. 30 deadline to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program. Allowing it to lapse could disrupt home sales in flood-prone areas across the country.
    Congress wants to overhaul the program, but is divided on how to do so.
    Critics contend that the program has the unintended effect of encouraging people to repair or rebuild damaged homes in areas that repeatedly flood, rather than move to higher ground.
    A series of storms since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has left the program $25 billion in debt. Raising rates to reflect a homeowner’s true flood risk would improve the program’s finances, but big premium increases are certain to cause an outcry.
    A 2014 law required gradual rate increases as a result of strong pushback against earlier legislation that would have sharply raised rates. This year, premiums nationwide increased by an average of about 6 percent to about $878, according to FEMA, which administers the flood insurance program.
    Florida is the nation’s top flood insurance market. Of 5 million policies nationwide, more than 1.7 million are in the Sunshine State. Palm Beach County has about 150,000 policyholders, including nearly 15,000 in Boca Raton, more than 9,000 in Boynton Beach and nearly 8,000 in Delray Beach.

More flooding at sea level
    The FEMA maps do not take into account sea level rise, an increasing problem in South Florida. It’s a critical issue in Miami Beach, where the city is spending as much as $500 million on pumps to keep streets dry and on elevating roads.
    The problem is far less severe in Palm Beach County so far, but that will change, although not as quickly as in Monroe, Miami-Dade and Broward.
    The Union of Concerned Scientists mapped the rate of sea level rise for hundreds of coastal communities in a July report. National Geographic’s website featured the report and an interactive map that allows viewers to get a national or local view of areas prone to flooding, even down to the street level.
    The report said that more than 90 coastal communities across the country are battling chronic flooding now, and the number will grow to more than 170 in less than 20 years, and to 670 by the end of the century.
    No communities in Palm Beach County are at risk of chronic flooding today, the report said.
    But by 2100, flooding will be significant on both sides of the Intracoastal from Boca Raton to Boynton Beach and farther north. Towns on barrier islands, including Ocean Ridge, Manalapan and South Palm Beach, also will bear the brunt.
    Cities and towns in south Palm Beach County are beginning to think about how to adapt. For example, the Delray Beach commission in 2014 requested the formation of the Rising Waters Task Force, which issued a report and recommendations in April.
 Boca Raton in May adopted a “climate action pledge” and affirmed support of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact created by Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in 2010 to address the impact of climate change.
    “Now that we are having more and more nuisance flooding and the king tides are getting worse, it will have to be dealt with,” said Nancy Schneider, who chaired the Delray Beach task force and is a senior program officer for the nonprofit Institute for Sustainable Communities.

ABOVE: Police hope a new marine patrol will control rowdy behavior and trespassing onto residents’ docks. BELOW: Summer weekends often see dozens of boats moored in the shallow waters to the north of Bird Island at the Boynton Inlet. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

    Complaints from residents along the Intracoastal Waterway in south Manalapan have increased in recent months as growing numbers of weekend boaters congregate on the sandbars around Bird Island.
    Town police have a hard time reining in the loud music, underage drinking and raucous behavior the offshore partying too often brings.
    That could change soon. At the town’s July 17 budget workshop, commissioners approved adding a marine unit to the Police Department that will patrol the sandbars on weekends and holidays.
    Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the town intends to hire two part-time officers certified for marine duties and equip them with a 21-foot flat boat.
    “They will only patrol the Intracoastal and won’t go into the ocean,” Stumpf said. “It should cost about $60,000 for the two part-time officers and another $20,000 for maintenance and operating costs for the boat.”
    That boat is the best part of the plan for taxpayers. A resident with an interest in peace and quiet has offered to cover the $20,000 to $30,000 cost of purchasing one for the town.
    Stumpf said the marine unit will follow a model successful in controlling sandbar partying at Peanut Island in northern Palm Beach County. Officers don’t have the authority to disperse the gatherings but can check IDs, watch for safety violations and keep the noise down.
    “They will have sound meters and will be monitoring the decibel levels to enforce our noise ordinance,” she said. “Having a police presence out there should make a difference.”
 Stumpf said the town is negotiating with county  officials to dock the boat at Ocean Inlet Park.
    In other business:
    • Commissioners are waiting on a consultant’s report to begin working on a water contract buyout agreement with the town of Hypoluxo.
    In June, Hypoluxo decided to end a decades-old relationship with Manalapan and begin buying water from Boynton Beach. The roughly 550 customers affected still have three years remaining on a 10-year contract with Manalapan, however. A consultant is working to put a price tag on that obligation.
    Stumpf said Manalapan wants to treat its neighbor fairly but has to make a deal that protects its water plant’s bottom line.
    “I don’t know what that cost will be,” she said. “I’ve told [Hypoluxo officials] that this is a business issue and it’s not the town’s intent to lose any money in business.”
    Boynton Beach officials have told Hypoluxo they will cover at least some of the buyout expenses to help make the transition as painless as possible.
    Manalapan Mayor Keith Waters thinks Hypoluxo will regret leaving. “I think they will find over time that this was not the decision they meant it to be,” he said.
    • The commission approved maintaining the current tax rate of $2.79 per $1,000 of taxable property value for the 2017-18 fiscal year, roughly 5 percent above the projected rollback rate that would keep total tax revenues flat. Commissioners scheduled public budget hear-ings beginning at 5:01 p.m. for both Sept. 13 and Sept. 26.

By Rich Pollack

    Attorneys for convicted double-murderer Duane Owen hope a Palm Beach County judge will grant their client a chance to get off Death Row.
They hope to persuade a new jury to reconsider two death sentences Owen received for the murders, which took place more than three decades ago.
    In what amounts to a complicated legal maneuver, based in part on a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, attorney James Driscoll asked Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley to set aside Owen’s death sentences and present his case to a new jury for sentencing.
    Driscoll said he is not asking for jurors to overturn the two guilty verdicts; instead he wants to focus on the jury recommendations that his client be put to death.
    “We’re asking for a jury trial on the penalty phase,” Driscoll said.
    Jurors convicted Owen, one of Palm Beach County’s most notorious Death Row inmates, of fatally stabbing Delray Beach babysitter Karen Slattery, 14, and a few months later, of beating Boca Raton single mother Georgianna Worden to death with a hammer while her children slept in another room.
    In both cases, juries voted 10-2 in favor of the death penalty for Owen.
    In January 2016, however, in Hurst v. Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida’s death sentence process was unconstitutional because it allowed a judge to be the final finder of facts in determining the sentence, rather than a jury.
In a subsequent ruling, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that all death penalty jury recommendations must be unanimous.
    The Florida Supreme Court later determined that some cases after June 24, 2002, in which a death penalty verdict was not unanimous might be eligible for relief. That was the day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Arizona’s death penalty unconstitutional in Ring v. Arizona on grounds similar to those in the Hurst case.
    Owen’s situation is complicated because, although his death sentence in the Worden case became final in 1992, it was not final in the Slattery case until December 2002 because he had been granted a retrial.
    In making his case to Kelley, Driscoll argued the 2002 date is arbitrary. He contended that seeking a reversal of the death penalty should be open to all Death Row inmates who qualify regardless of when the punishment was handed down.
    In response, attorneys representing Florida claimed the 2002 date should be binding because until that point there was no reason to believe the state’s death penalty was unconstitutional.    
    Attorneys have until Sept. 15 to submit additional information to Kelley before the judge makes a ruling.

Groundbreaking
3550 S. Ocean Blvd., South Palm Beach – July 12

A special ceremony was held on site of the long-awaited replacement for the old Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn. The 30 planned luxury condominiums will swell South Palm Beach’s tax base by 25 percent. ABOVE: (l-r) South Palm Beach Councilwoman Elvadianne Culbertson; Douglas Elliman CEO Susan de França; Joe McMillan, chairman and CEO of developer DDG; South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer; Douglas Elliman Realty Chairman Howard M. Lorber and Florida Brokerage CEO Jay Parker; and Town Manager Bob Vitas. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Christine Davis

According to the real estate market reports for May, the 4.9 months’ supply of inventory for single-family homes in Palm Beach County is the same as last year. The median sales price has increased 7.9 percent to $335,000.
    Year-over-year increases in home sales showed a 45.1 percent increase in the homes sold between $600,000 and $999,999, 19.8 percent increase in homes over $1 million and 18.6 percent increase in homes between $400,000 and $599,999. 
    Additionally, there was a 4.3 percent year-over-year increase in closed sales to 1,768 with a 14.3 percent increase in cash sales.
    “Statistics for May reflect double-digit increases in closed sales above $300,000, which contributed to the rise in our median sale price,” said Jeffrey Levine, president-elect of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches. 
                                ***
Douglas Elliman released its second-quarter 2017 South Florida market reports in July, as written by consultant Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc.
Highlights that Miller noted in Boca Raton and Highland Beach: “Median sales prices for both property types moved higher; condo sales surged as inventory edged higher, while single-family sales declined and inventory fell sharply; the pace of the market moved a lot faster than the same period last year.”
Compared to the same period a year ago, for luxury condominium sales (with an entry threshold that began at $540,000), median sales price declined 19.8 percent to $842,500. Days on the market were 112, up from 109 days. Listing inventory increased 62.6 percent to 374. For luxury single-family homes (with an entry threshold that began at $1.175 million), median sales price declined 9.1 percent to $1.995 million. Days on market were 165, down from 188. Listing inventory fell 15.6 percent to 353.
    Highlights that Miller noted in Delray Beach: “Median price by property type moved higher as did the number of sales; east of Federal Highway, prices showed stability as the houses were smaller this year in square footage; the luxury condo market was up, showing more sales than last year.”
    For luxury condominiums (with an entry threshold that began at $458,465), the median sales price slipped 1 percent to $640,000. Days on the market were 116, up from 73. For luxury single-family homes in Delray Beach (with an entry threshold that began at $1,070,000), median sales price declined 9.5 percent to $1,547,500. Days on the market were 118, up from 116.
    Miller said it’s important to note that across the area over the past couple of years, “the higher-end markets have noticeably improved from where they were a few years back.”
                                ***
In the Hypoluxo Island to Highland Beach barrier island area, sales were down significantly for condos, co-ops and single-family homes, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of declines, according to Corcoran’s quarterly report.
    Also, “there were six fewer sales of single-family homes compared to last year, resulting in a decline in sales of 15 percent. Last year saw four sales over $15 million, including one sale for $40 million, while this year had zero sales over $15 million.”
                                ***
    The Boca Real Estate Investment Club’s “Back to School, Real Estate Investing 101” at 7 p.m. Aug. 10 will teach investing basics for new real estate investors. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m. It will be held at 2600 N. Military Trail, Suite 150, Boca Raton. The cost is $10 and free for attendees who present college ID. For information, call 391-7325 or visit www.bocarealestateclub.com.
                                ***
    The Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches’ Young Professionals Network hosts its fifth annual White Attire Fundraiser from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Aug. 11 at a multimillion-dollar estate listed for sale in Boca Raton’s Woodfield Country Club. 
    The event is open to agents and affiliate members of the Palm Beach association as well as the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors. Proceeds will benefit the Realtors Helping Realtors Pay It Forward Foundation, which provides financial assistance to agents and their families in times of need, and Rebuilding Together, a division of the Solid Waste Authority that rehabilitates the homes of low-income homeowners. All My Sons Moving & Storage and Cornerstone Home Lending are sponsors.
                                ***
    Despite the slowdown in Palm Beach County mansion sales in 2016, six county agents reported sales of $100 million or more, according to the annual RealTRENDS/Wall Street Journal ranking.
    Agents included Pascal Liguori of Premier Estate Properties in Delray Beach, who ranked 20th nationally in sales volume with deals that totaled $224.8 million last year, up from his $81.2 million total in 2015. Ranked 30th on the list is David Roberts of Royal Palm Properties, Boca Raton, with a sales volume of $180.6 million.
                                ***
The Realtors Association’s Spread the Love food drive brought together (l-r) Harry Drier, Lake Park Food Pantry; Jana Torvia, the association’s Central/South Community Outreach chair; and Jack Porrata, vice chair. Photo provided

Throughout June, the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches’ Community Outreach Committee collected 1,000 jars of peanut butter and jelly, which it donated as part of the Spread the Love campaign to benefit the Lake Park Food Pantry and Club 100 for local families and children in need of assistance this summer. Club 100 and its 30 pantry volunteers feed more than 400 families monthly and provide clothing and other essential household items.
                                ***

The Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Ambassadors Social was July 7 at Crane’s Beach House Boutique Hotel & Luxury Villas. BACK ROW: (l-r) Ed Boyd, Nancy Reagan, Bill Morse, Steve Shelby, Lynn Van Lenten, David Beale, Jeff Dash, Louise Petraitis and Larry Kristiansen. SECOND ROW: (l-r) Rich Pollack, Chris Therien, Sally Areson (seated), Carol Eaton, Monique Young and Jessica Rosato. KNEELING: Diane Jeffers and John Campanola. Photo provided by Debra Somerville

    The Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce’s July 7 Ambassadors Social, hosted by Crane’s Beach House Boutique Hotel & Luxury Villas, was attended by Chamber ambassadors and their guests.
    The ambassadors, a group of 30 volunteers, welcome and mentor new members and attend new-member ribbon cuttings. “The annual social is an opportunity for us to get to relax and celebrate all our efforts. It’s also a way for our leadership team to thank every member for the work each does on behalf of the chamber,” said ambassador Chairman Rich Pollack.
                                ***
    At the 2017 Golden Bell Education Foundation Fundraiser, more than 250 people gathered at Piñon Grill in Boca Raton to celebrate Golden Bell’s 26th anniversary as well as the sixth anniversary of the Inner Circle Executive Club. The June event raised $5,500 that benefited the public school system in Boca Raton and local educational programs.
    The Boca Chamber’s Golden Bell Education Foundation announced that $85,000 was granted to Boca Raton public schools and scholarship programs for the 2017-18 academic year. Also, applications for the 2017-18 Young Entrepreneurs Academy are now open for middle and high school students in the Boca Raton area. Contact Christie Workman for information on the program at cworkman@bocachamber.com.

                                ***
    The Boca Chamber and JM Lexus present “Wine & All That Jazz,” the Boca Chamber Festival Days signature event, from 7 to 10 p.m. Aug. 26 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. The event will offer more than 100 wines as well as food from some of Boca’s restaurants.
    Boca Chamber Festival Days was designed to connect nonprofit members in Boca Raton with the for-profit community. It runs throughout August and features 22 total events.
    A portion of the proceeds from “Wine & All That Jazz” will go to support the efforts of the Golden Bell Education Foundation. To register, visit the Chamber’s website: www.bocachamber.com/events.
                                ***
    The Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce hosts guest speaker Felicia Combs, meteorologist on WPTV, at its networking event starting at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 9. The price is $25 for admission purchased online in advance or, if available, $35 when purchased at the door. The event will be at Benvenuto, 1730 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. To RSVP, visit www.boyntonbeach.org or call 732-9501.
                                ***
    After 23 years on South Federal Highway in Delray Beach, Bill Hood & Sons Art & Antique Auctions has moved to a bigger location at 2885 S. Congress Ave., units A and B, Delray Beach. Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, the auction house is accepting consignments and holding its monthly auctions at its new facility.
    Carolyn Hood, owner partner with her son, Christian Hood, and a third partner, Dan Perry, explains that after all those years, they had “totally outgrown” their location. Also, she said, “Our warehouse had been separate from our business location. It is a dream come true to now have the warehouse and our gallery under the same roof.”
    An official grand opening, with a two-day auction, is scheduled for Aug. 15 and 16. A tag sale will also be held on a Saturday following the auction. To find out when, call 278-8996 or email info@hoodauction.com.
                                ***
    Dash Travel, an agency established in 1959, has moved to 280 NE Second Ave., Cottage 2, Delray Beach. Very Delray Beach vintage in feeling, Dash Travel is now headquartered in a renovated cottage with a wood interior, efficiency kitchen and designer bath. It is surrounded by tropical landscaping and has ample free parking.  
    “We are delighted to stay in downtown Delray, while upgrading our headquarters for the discerning traveler,” said owner Jeff Dash. “More than ever, with the internet overload of information, Dash Travel serves to streamline options and offers valued advice and resources so that travel need not be chaotic, messy or confusing.”
    For information, visit www.DashTravelandCruises.com or drop by its new location. The phone number remains the same: 498-8439.
                                ***
    Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa was included in July’s Travel + Leisure magazine’s annual “World’s Best” list as one of the 10 best resort hotels in Florida. Based on the magazine’s survey of readers, hotels were rated on their facilities, location, service, food and overall value.
                                ***
    Members of Liberty Property Trust’s South Florida office spent June 16 at the Palm Beach County Food Bank, organizing and packing food for families as part of the 14th annual Bill Rouse Day of Caring. The company’s offices in the United States and United Kingdom closed for a day of service in memory of founder Willard G. Rouse III. 
                                ***
    For its fourth event this summer, the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County hosts a free panel discussion on “Fake News (Alternative Facts or Just Not True)” from 9 to 11 a.m. Aug. 12 at the Palm Beach Post Auditorium, 2751 S. Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. Speakers include Howard Goodman, editorial writer at The Palm Beach Post; panel moderator Joyce Reingold, former publisher of the Palm Beach Daily News; Brett Sandala, founder of Ocean Drive Social, a brand consulting firm specializing in social media marketing and online branding; and Brian Williams, former managing editor of the National Enquirer.
This presentation is underwritten by Lytal, Reiter, Smith, Ivey & Fronrath. People interested in attending are encouraged to register in advance at www.lwvpbc.org.
    
Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com

Matthew Raptis sits surrounded by the hard-to-find volumes he loves at Raptis Rare Books on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

You’re bound to be drawn to this Worth Avenue antiquarian bookstore

By Ron Hayes

“I was a unique child,” Matthew Raptis remembers. “My parents did not allow me to have video games, so I read books and played outside.”
Reading gave Raptis a love of books. Books gave him a love of history. History gave him a passion for the Civil War. And together they gave him a career.
“In 1989, when I was about 10, I bought a first edition of Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs,” he explains. “They’re not that rare. You could get a copy for about $50.”
Now that first barely rare book has grown into a catalog of about 10,000 titles, and in November 2016, Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue became home to Raptis Rare Books, an antiquarian bookstore where George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln share the shelves with James Bond, Tom Sawyer and the Beatles.
“This is the first venture I’ve not run out of my house,” says Raptis, who grew up near Saratoga, N.Y., and came to Palm Beach from Brattleboro, Vt. A rare book dealer for 16 years, he’d sold his wares through online and printed catalogs until now. “I had a couple of clients who live here and I wanted more direct contact with clients,” he says.
Now he’s the archivist to an enterprise that seems more museum than retail business. Browse the shelves, ponder the framed photographs on the walls, and prepare to be humbled.
Here’s the first English edition of Michel de Montaigne’s essays, printed in 1603.
There’s Profiles in Courage, signed by John F. Kennedy.
Here’s an edition of Alcoholics Anonymous signed by Bill Wilson, the organization’s founder.
There’s John Lennon’s In His Own Write, signed by both Lennon and Paul McCartney.
On the wall, a very rare Charlotte Bronte autograph hangs not far from a Thomas Jefferson letter and an autographed photo of Jacqueline Kennedy.
And here’s a 1974 first edition of Jaws, signed by the author and a catch at $1,000.
But isn’t Jaws far better known as a movie by Steven Spielberg than a pop bestseller by Peter Benchley? What, after all, makes a rare book rare?
“With a book like that, it’s all about the condition of the dust jacket,” Raptis says. “A rare book is something of limited quality. It can be rare if the condition is still very nice, or if it’s something that’s still in demand.”
So what’s the rarest of the rare, the Holy Grail for rare book collectors? Raptis considers.
“It would probably be a first edition of Don Quixote,” he decides. “One went on sale in 1989 for $1.1 million.”
Nonfiction is more sought after than fiction. “In Palm Beach, we sell a lot of Winston Churchill and Ayn Rand,” he says. And here’s a 1943 first edition of Rand’s The Fountainhead in the original dust jacket, priced at $70,000.
You might assume collectors are looking for items in perfect or near-perfect condition, but sometimes it’s the flaw that adds value.
On one wall, Raptis displays a note card from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, dated June 3, 1990.
“Dear Mikhail & Raisa, Welcome to California,” the former U.S. president wrote to the former Russian president and his wife. But he’d misspelled and crossed out the incorrect “Mihkail.” The corrected version is in the presidential library. The discarded copy, signed “Ron,” is available here for $8,200.
First editions of Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal sell for about $1,000, Raptis said.
A thousand dollars for a book is not cheap, even a book co-written by the president of the United States. At the high end of Raptis’ inventory is Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. Of 1,000 copies printed in 1776, only about 200 survive, which explains the $160,000 asking price.
So who buys rare books?
“My customers share a mystique about rare books,” Raptis says, “or they want a book they fell in love with as a child. Yes, prestige may be a factor, a little bit, but for the people I see, there really is an element of passion. I’ve built collections for hedge fund guys who want to own these great books they read at Harvard. I’ve sold The Wealth of Nations a few times.”
In the course of an hour, three potential buyers come through the door, even on this overcast Monday morning in the off-season. One is in search of medical textbooks and books about public health. Another asks for Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. And a young couple seeking a Father’s Day gift want to know if Raptis has the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.
He does, the two-volume, 1884 first edition, published by Charles L. Webster & Co., founded by Mark Twain and named after Twain’s niece’s husband, who ran it.
In a lifetime of failed business ventures, publishing Grant’s memoirs was the only one that made Twain any money. The book was a huge bestseller, and Twain was able to give the late president’s widow a royalty check for $200,000.
The copy Raptis shows his young customers (and recently sold for $750) is not the same one he bought all those years ago, as a boy of 10. He won’t part with that, or his copies of One Hundred Years of Solitude or To Kill a Mockingbird, personally autographed to him by Gabriel García Márquez and Harper Lee.
And speaking of Mark Twain, here’s an 1876 first edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and a letter from Twain to Bram Stoker, author of Dracula.
How must it feel to get a new rare book or letter for his catalog? Does Raptis hold it lovingly, turn each page, ponder the binding, contemplate the genius that wrote it, the hands that have held it?
“No,” he says. “I smell it. I love the smell of rare books. That old paper. It fills me with emotion and sentiment.”

A first edition of The Catcher in the Rye, inscribed by author J.D. Salinger, is priced at $125,000. 

A first edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is priced at $10,000. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Raptis Rare Books, 226 Worth Ave., Palm Beach, is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Call 508-3479.

The Department of Music at the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters received a $50,000 donation to continue funding the Georgina Dieter Dennis Vocal Scholarship Fund. This year marks the sixth that the college received the donation, which awards scholarships to students who graduate from a Florida high school and enroll in vocal studies at FAU. Elias Porras and Ron Schagrin presented the gift. ‘Students in the arts have extra financial challenges when, in addition to general college expenses, they must also incur costs related to their field of study, including equipment  costs and lab fees,’ said Patti Fleitas, director of vocal studies at FAU. ‘Also, with performance and ensemble rehearsals, students’ available hours to work are greatly reduced, making the possibility of scholarship funding a defining factor in their college choice.’ ABOVE (l-r): Porras, Michael Horswell, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, Schagrin and Fleitas.
Photo provided

The more than 100-year-old club awarded grants to seven local nonprofits. The grants, plus money contributed by the club for leadership, scholarship and training programs and the Thanksgiving feeding effort, total $10,000. ‘We’re very proud to be supporting organizations that are doing great work in Delray Beach,’ club co-president Trish Jacobson said. ‘All of the nonprofits receiving grants are having a positive impact in our community.’ Added club co-president Joann Haros, ‘Our club traces its roots back to Delray Beach’s early years and has been supporting community efforts ever since. We’re pleased to be able to continue the tradition by providing grants to these many organizations in Delray Beach.’ ABOVE: Blaise Maris and Vince Farfaglia of the South Florida Collegiate Baseball League, one grant recipient, kneel with (l-r) Lauren Fournier, Patti Alexander, Michele Harrington, Jacobson, Haros, Kae Jonsons, Adrian Rackauskas and Leanne Griffith. Photo provided

At the 40th conference, Lake Worth resident Sophie Paris Ginsburg competed — after earning a first place at the state competition and second place at the regional competition — and earned a gold medal in the category Medical Interviewing Skills. Ginsburg, 16, will be a junior at Somerset Academy Canyons High School in Boynton Beach, where she is in the Science Pre-Medical Academy. Her teacher, Kristin Berry, encouraged her to become active in HOSA, an acronym for Health Occupations Students of America. ‘It was surreal to stand up in front of 10,000 science and medical competitors at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort convention center to accept a gold medal in my category for Interviewing Skills,’ Ginsburg said. ‘I was honored and humbled and happy to bring it home to share with my school and community.’ Photo provided

Members of the Soroptomist International of Boca Raton/Deerfield Beach chapter presented scholarships to female heads of households in college. President Kathi Pease conducted the installation of officers. The 2017-18 slate includes honorary director Helen Babione; co-presidents Marybeth Keenan and Dr. Heidi Schaeffer; vice presidents Elke Schmidt and Kim Champion; treasurer Jennifer Fulton Styblo; secretaries Judith Hinsch and Carole Wilson, and directors Cynthia Cummings and Connie Siskowski. ABOVE: (l-r) Champion, Rania Jawde, Schmidt and Babione. Photo provided by Barbara McCormick

Boca Raton Mayor’s Ball committee members (l-r, seated) Gwen Herb, Dyana Kenney, Marilyn Wilson, Constance Scott, Penny Morey, Kim Champion, Bonnie Halperin, Arlene Herson; (standing) Michael Walstrom, Marleen Forkas, Gloria Wank, David Freudenberg, Carole Boucard, Jon Kaye, Michelle McLean-Bailey, Lewis Fogel, Alan Kaye, Kari Oeltjen, Jonathan Whitney, Linda Petrakis, Dr. Allen Konis, Dr. Ron Rubin and Deborah Freudenberg. Photo provided by Gina Fontana

By Amy Woods

Rotary Club Downtown Boca Raton has announced the committee, honorees and sponsors for this year’s Boca Raton Mayor’s Ball, a red-carpet, black-tie dinner dance set for Oct. 14 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club.
The third annual affair lauds elected officials who exemplify Rotary International’s motto, “Service Above Self.” Money raised will go toward the health and wellness needs of Boca Raton nonprofits.
“The Mayor’s Ball is an annual beacon of city pride,” club President Penny Morey said. “The best part of the evening is seeing personal and professional reconnections made and relationships renewed and strengthened as, together, we celebrate Boca at its best.”
(l-r) Milagro Center board Chairman Kurt Knaus, Harvey Kimmel and Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein.
Photo provided

Milagro Center receives dual grants from local donors
Delray Beach residents Harvey and Virginia Kimmel provided a grant that will help sustain the musical-instrument instruction program at the Milagro Center along with a matching grant that will strengthen the organization’s ability to provide arts and education programs to at-risk children.
“Milagro Center has been fulfilling a critical need in the local Delray Beach community for many years,” Harvey Kimmel said. “They are filling the gap, offering structured after-school programs, not a baby-sitting service. We are so impressed with their leadership and programs and deeply moved by the impact they are having on these children and their families.”
Milagro Center President and CEO Barbara Stark said the matching grant, designated for operations, will lead to additional donations.
“We are so grateful for the Kimmels’ commitment,” Stark said. “We now call upon the community to fulfill the matching gift. It will go a long way in ensuring the long-term success of children who start life at risk of academic failure. Even the smallest gift can help provide a brighter and better future.”

Class of ’17 Snow scholars hear from experts
More than 80 college-bound students benefited from the George Snow Scholarship Fund’s scholar-orientation program.
The Class of ’17 heard from local experts and current scholars and alumni on a variety of topics, including study skills and time management, the importance of exercise and nutrition and campus safety and the dangers of alcohol and drugs.
“The transition from high school to college can be challenging,” said Tim Snow, president of the fund. “We decided to do this orientation so that our students can learn the best way to adjust and get the most out of their college careers.”

Submit your news, event or listing to Amy Woods at flamywoods@bellsouth.net

John Tolbert (right) dances with Terry Fedele. The couple next to them is Heather Shaw Fairs and Logan Skees. Photo provided

By Thom Smith

John Tolbert has crossed hundreds of ballroom floors during his hotel management career, but the president and managing director of the Boca Raton Resort & Club is the first to admit he is far more comfortable dancing unnoticed among thousands of revelers at a rock concert. That could change, however, as Tolbert hopes to trip the light fantastic at Boca’s Ballroom Battle, the local fundraising equivalent to Dancing With the Stars.
    Tolbert joins seven other contestants at the 10th annual event Aug. 18, but even though it’s being held at his hotel, he doubts he’ll be able to claim any home floor advantage.
    “If I went to a U2 concert, I could dance fine,” he said, “but when you’re talking about formal dancing, learning the tango and cha-cha, in a ballroom setting …  I was not trained in that regard.”
    For several weeks, he and the other competitors have been training at Fred Astaire Dance Studio with their professional partners, putting together the routines they hope will result in the Mirror Ball trophy.
    “That’s the fun part,” Tolbert said. “The teachers are amazing. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun. I’ve been trying to go two to three times a week, because I’m starting from zero.”
    Tolbert’s challengers, of varying talent, are Jim Dunn, vice president and general manager at JM Lexus; Terry Fedele, a registered nurse, retired hospital executive and community volunteer; Lisa Kornstein Kaufman, founder and creative director of Scout & Molly’s boutiques; Derek Morrell, proprietor of Ouzo Bay restaurant; Heather Shaw Fairs, vice president and general manager at Saks Fifth Avenue; Logan Skees, director of business development at Trainerspace; and Elizabeth Murdoch Titcomb, principal and founder of Iolite Creative, a multimedia company.
    Tolbert took over the reins at the resort in early 2016, but he’s hardly a stranger, having run the marketing department from 1994 to 2002. His career has taken him to Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the nearby Ritz-Carlton in Naples, working for the likes of Wayne Huizenga, the Blackstone Group and Marriott.
    Born in England when his father was in the Air Force, he grew up in Maryland in the family farmhouse built in 1780. “It’s really a special place, only 35 minutes outside of Washington and it was a dairy farm,” Tolbert said.  
    Now, however, he’s in unfamiliar territory, but he welcomes the challenge. After last year’s Ballroom Battle, the winners urged him to consider competing.
    “It seemed like a great idea last August and now all of a sudden it’s about to happen,” he said. “But the George Snow Scholarship Fund is a great organization, the Boca Ballroom Battle is fun and it’s just a great night.
    “I’m a work in progress. My goal is to evolve into a performance that will not embarrass the charity or myself.”
    The battle kicks off with cocktails at 6 p.m. Competition begins at 7 followed by an after party — and noncompetitive dancing in the Palm Court.  
    Since 1982, the Snow Fund has given more than $9.2 million in scholarship awards to more than 1,700 Snow Scholars. For tickets, $185, or to pledge support for a dancer, call 347-6799 or visit www.scholarship.org. ;  
                                ***
    Salud!
    In one of the most unusual proclamations ever issued by a government body, the town of Palm Beach on July 14 urged residents and her friends worldwide “with a martini in hand, to raise a toast” to Brownie McLean.
The occasion: her 100th birthday. For most of her century, Brownie, the undisputed queen of Palm Beach, brushed off speculation about her age, preferring to say she was “61-plus.” Recently, she told Barbara Marshall of The Palm Beach Post, “I think it’s quite an accomplishment to survive that long.” And she has definitely survived with style.
    Mildred Brown was a horse-riding tomboy on a Virginia farm when both parents died in accidents during the Depression. After working briefly in a pulp mill, she made her way to New York and landed a modeling job at 16. She married and divorced nightclub owner George Schrafft and eventually hooked up with Jock McLean, whose family developed McLean, Va., and owned The Washington Post and the Hope Diamond.
    To Brownie, its red sparks looked “evil.”
    The McLeans graced the social registers not only of Palm Beach, Washington and New York, but also Paris, London and various and sundry Mediterranean capitals. It wasn’t that long ago that she was hosting parties in Morocco.
    El Solano, their magnificent estate on South Ocean, was party central in Palm Beach. You name the charity, Brownie would host the fundraiser. But after Jock died in 1975, the house was too big to manage, so Brownie began renting it.
    One renter, Larry Flynt, shot pictorials for Hustler there, which didn’t please Brownie, and she finally sold it — to John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
    While money hasn’t been a problem since Brownie left the farm, it has never mattered.  Through it all, the driving force behind her success has been her kindness. Though she’s been provided many opportunities, she’s never had a bad word to say about anybody.
                                ***
    Another Palm Beach institution, not quite as old, has bid farewell to The Island, at least for a few years.
    Testa’s, which opened in 1921, has closed. The 1.3-acre site on Royal Poinciana Way that includes a long-closed gas station and several small shops will be redeveloped into six two-story buildings with a new restaurant, shops and six luxury condos. But the new complex won’t be ready for a minimum of 30 months or, more likely, three years.
    Whether Testa’s will return hasn’t been decided. The Testa family reportedly has received offers to relocate to Wellington and to other spots in Palm Beach, but for now the legendary crab cake sandwiches and strawberry pie are history.
                                ***
    Raise a stein to NoBo, the latest addition to Boynton Beach’s growing craft brewery community. NoBo (short for North Boynton) is nestled in the warehouse district just west of I-95 and north of Gateway, within walking distance of local pioneers Due South and Copperpoint.
    The June opening was a long time coming for brothers Steve and Tim Dornblaser, who had initially hoped to open in late 2015, first as Lagerhead Brewing, then as Driftwood Ales before they settled on the distinctive NoBo.
    The present menu includes four staples — a blonde ale, a hefeweizen, an American IPA 2.0 and a coffee porter. A constantly changing list of seasonals — presently six — includes The Funky Monk, a strong Belgian golden ale, and a sour hefeweizen with peaches.
    Guest taps include Crisp Cider from Broski Ciderworks in Pompano Beach and Mango Wit from Proof Brewing in Tallahassee.
    The Dornblasers will pour any legal size draft, from 5-ounce samplers ($2-$3) to 12- and 16-ounce drafts ($5-$6) and 32- and 64-ounce growlers ($9-$20).
    Open every day but Tuesday, NoBo is building a calendar of special events featuring food trucks and a football kickoff party Sept. 2 featuring FSU versus Alabama.
                                ***
    Speaking of football, the day before the Noles meet the Tide, we’ll know how far FAU has progressed under new head coach Lane Kiffin, as the Owls take on Navy.
    Those permanently attached to their TVs can catch the game on ESPNU. But despite replays, easy access to restrooms and cushy recliners, football games are better enjoyed live and in person. And FAU’s stadium is among the best. Tickets start at a modest $12.   
                                ***
    Just about anything except water can be fermented. Kombucha, for example, is tea with a kick and lots of probiotics, and it’s also being brewed in Boynton. A couple of blocks away from NoBo, Chris Montelius has opened Non-Prophet Brewing, producing such flavors as strawberry basil, blueberry mint, passion fruit and raspberry lime, plus a ginger ale and a dry-hopped version.
    Montelius only wholesales or fills growlers for individual customers for now, but he plans to add a retail space. Meanwhile, the curious and the enthusiastic can head back to NoBo, where his kombucha is among the guest offerings.
                                ***
    Locals who feared the worst can relax. Ken Dickey, who had announced plans to create a nude beach at Gulfstream Park, has turned his attention northward.
    His group, Palm Beach Naturists, now thinks MacArthur Beach State Park in North Palm Beach would be an ideal location to attract tourists and locals who enjoy nude sunbathing.
    The closest nude beaches now are Haulover on the north side of Miami and Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce. Dickey believes some of the money that goes to those areas should come to Palm Beach County.
    Actually, before being renamed MacArthur Park, for former owner John D. MacArthur, the 2-mile stretch was a popular, albeit unofficial, clothing-optional beach. Legend has it that during a visit to discuss building an amusement park in nearby Palm Beach Gardens, MacArthur took Walt Disney there for a skinny-dip.
                                ***
    Dr. Phil McGraw will head the list of celebrities for the 28th Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic to be held Nov. 3-5. An avid tennis player, McGraw will join Evert for the first time since 2002.
Other returnees include actors Timothy Olyphant (FX’s Justified), Jamie McShane (Netflix’s Bloodline) and Maeve Quinlan (CBS’ The Bold and the Beautiful), American Idol winner David Cook, and three-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves. Newcomers include Robin Givens (Head of the Class) and Tate Donovan (DirecTV’s Damages). Also returning: tennis legends Martina Navratilova and Luke Jensen.
    Since 1989, Evert’s event, which includes two days of tennis at the Delray Beach Tennis Center and a gala, pro-am and cocktail event at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, has raised $23 million to battle drug abuse and child neglect. (www.chrisevert.org)  
                                ***
    Another remarkable fundraising operation, the Boca West Foundation, has been in operation only since 2010 yet has already raised $4.8 million for local charities. Its most recent venture, a concert by Jennifer Hudson at Boca West Country Club, took in $1.45 million. The money will go to 25 area children’s programs, including Boys & Girls Club of Palm Beach County, Boca Helping Hands, Caridad Center,  Florence Fuller Child Development Centers, Viner Community Scholars Foundation and Sweet Dream Makers.
                                ***
The fifth annual FLAVOR Palm Beach offers discounted prix fixe menus at 50-plus Palm Beach County restaurants during September. Three-course lunches will be priced at $20 and dinners from $30. Each reservation made through FlavorPB.com’s OpenTable link will benefit The Palm Beach County Food Bank. For a full list of participants, menus and reservations, go to FlavorPB.com. Reservations are suggested.  
                                ***
    Boca Raton has lost a friend, a character, a legend. Just a few weeks shy of his 70th birthday in the early hours of July 20, longtime arts writer Skip Sheffield died in his sleep. The cause of death has not been revealed.
    Skip was a cancer survivor, but in a Facebook comment in May about a photo of his band, the Sheffield Brothers, at Tim Finnegan’s Irish Pub, he offered a hint:
“My newly installed Seymour Duncan pickup made my little 1976 Fender ‘baby bass’ a real powerhouse. I was less so. That’s why I am seated. I like to think of myself as a tough guy, but I am fragile. I thank my brothers for being patient with me. The spirit is willing but sometimes the body is weak.”
    Then in a reply to a friend he noted: “I have ‘persistent anemia.’ It has ebbed and flowed since childhood.”
    As sleepy Boca Raton woke up, Skip was there. Born Norman Sheffield in New Hampshire, he first moved with his family to Miami, then to Boca Raton when Federal Highway’s two lanes ran by Africa USA, Bethesda in Boynton Beach was the closest hospital and high schoolers went to Seacrest in Delray Beach. From 1968 to 1986 his father was general manager at the Hillsboro Club.
    As Boca grew, so did Skip. A renaissance man of sorts, he loved motorcycles and vintage automobiles, poetry and literature, surfing, rock ’n’ roll, theater and movies. He and brothers John and Richard formed a band, the Sheffield Brothers, and played concerts, local bars and parties along Florida’s East Coast. They never made the big time, but that didn’t matter. Said Skip, “Block parties are good because people of all ages get together.”
    He graduated from FAU with a master’s degree in English lit. All those habits, all those hobbies, all those loves came together in a perfect storm at The Boca Raton News, where Skip quickly strode from the mailroom to arts critic. He previewed and reviewed movies, plays and concerts yet still found time to work on the old cars and catch a few waves. He managed to form a family — with three daughters and grandchildren.
     He wrote for the News until the paper closed in 2009, then signed on with Atlantic Avenue magazine and the weekly Boca Raton Tribune, freelanced and blogged.
    Facebook has been flooded with comments.
    “We have all lost a kind soul, a caring friend, a maker of music, a teller of tales,” friend Marie Rocheleau Graves wrote. “Skip Sheffield could reach in and pull a memory of the past and make it our own. Life is a day at the beach — he took us there on his bike rides, photos and memories, documenting the changes taking place, recalling the times of old. Somehow he made perfect sense of it all . . . or at the very least kept us hanging for the next story.”
 In announcing his brother’s death on Facebook, John Sheffield wrote, “For me ... yesterday was the day the music died.”
A formal memorial service will be held Aug. 26 at First United Methodist Church in Boca Raton. However, friends and family are saving the real sendoff for the following evening at Tim Finnegan’s in Delray Beach with a performance by the remaining Sheffield Brothers and assorted musical guests. The brothers’ rationale: “In true Skip Sheffield fashion ... the show must go on!”

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

The Place: Junior’s, Mizner Park, 409 Plaza Real, Boca Raton; 672-7301 or www.juniorscheesecake.com.
The Price: $15.95
The Skinny: The original Junior’s opened in 1950 in Brooklyn and was known for its cheesecake.
We tried the cheesecake but found it to have a slightly off-flavor, like it had been in the refrigerator too long. Far better were the pickles and beets served up as appetizers.
But it was with its full-portion, larger-than-life sandwiches that Junior’s scored points with two friends and me.
My Turkey Reuben was loaded with fresh-roasted white meat turkey. It was topped with Junior’s creamy slaw, which was dressed with a slightly sweet, slightly tangy sauce.  My friends also enjoyed the pastrami on their Reubens.
— Scott Simmons