Andy Thomson and his attorney Leonard Feuer review the results of the accuracy test that was performed on the tabulation machines prior to the official election recount Friday morning at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office.The elections office completed the final recount for the Boca Raton mayor's race shortly after 5 p.m. Following that process, Thomson was confirmed as Boca Raton's newly elected mayor. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Hladky

Andy Thomson has won Boca Raton’s mayoral race, narrowly edging out challenger Mike Liebelson.

In official results posted shortly after 5 p.m. Friday, Thomson had prevailed — but just barely — in both a machine and a manual count of the ballots.

The machine count showed that Thomson, first elected to the City Council in 2018, won by one vote — 7,568 votes to 7,567. In the manual count, Thomson received 7,572 votes to Liebelson’s 7,567.

Thomson and Liebelson could not immediately be reached for comment after the final count was announced.

The election results were so close that no winner could be declared after polls closed on March 10, requiring Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link to hold both recounts.

Left unclear, however, is whether Liebelson will challenge the results.

His attorney, Ricardo Reyes, sent a letter on March 12 to Link, saying he had found a “huge discrepancy” in vote-by-mail ballots.

When the final batch of vote-by-mail ballots were tallied on election night, 32 were for Liebelson and 63 were for Thomson. That difference, he wrote, was “highly unusual and concerning” since the overall election results showed Thomson and Liebelson were nearly tied.

“Accordingly, please be advised that, as of now, Mr. Liebelson intends to contest the results of the Mayoral Election,”… the letter stated.

Boca Raton mayoral candidate Mike Liebelson asks Wendy Sartory Link, Palm Beach County supervisor of elections, a question about the recount process Friday morning at The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Liebelson did not respond to The Coastal Star to clarify his intentions after final results were posted on Friday.

Thomson beat back a challenger who was not a member of Save Boca but strongly supported many of that grassroots organization’s goals. Those included opposition to redevelopment of the downtown campus by developers Terra and Frisbie Group, which had rebranded as One Boca.

Thomson also opposed the redevelopment plan and called on fellow City Council members in September to allow residents to decide whether the project would go forward or be scrapped. They agreed the matter should be decided by voters.

The final tally after the last recount on Friday. It shows Andy Thomson won the mayor's race by five votes. Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Office

The vote results in the City Council races are clear that the council now is firmly in the hands of Save Boca members Jon Pearlman, the group’s founder, Michelle Grau and Stacy Sipple.

Current council member Yvette Drucker was not up for re-election.

Thomson is no stranger to a narrow victory. In 2018, following six hours of recounting, he won by 32 votes.

The election winners will be sworn into office on March 31.

By Mary Hladky

Mayoral candidate Andy Thomson gained seven votes when the final votes were counted in the city's election on Thursday, while opponent Mike Liebelson gained 11 votes.

As a result, Thomson, with 7,569 total votes, remains two votes ahead of Liebelson’s 7,567.

But such a slim margin doesn’t cinch the election for Thomson yet.

The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office has at least one more recount to make -- and probably two -- that will take place on Friday.

The election results first posted after polls closed on March 10 showed Thomson trailing by 26 votes. But a final update that night showed him ahead by six votes.

That lead has now dropped to two votes.

The Thursday tally was done after determinations were reached on provisional ballots that had been cast on Tuesday, It also included problem mail-in ballots where voters "cured," or corrected, signature problems on their ballots by Thursday's 5 p.m. deadline.

The first Friday recount will be a machine recount of the votes. If the two candidates are still within 0.25% of each other after that, then there will be a hand recount of overvotes and undervotes. Overvotes take place when voters select more ballot choices than they are permitted to. Undervotes are when they choose too few.

The election was a watershed event for Boca Raton, with three City Council candidates backed by anti-development group Save Boca winning election.

Voters also soundly defeated the city’s effort to redevelop its downtown government campus and also killed city plans to replace its old police headquarters with a new police campus on city-owned land.

First-time candidate Liebelson is not a Save Boca member but supported many of that grass-roots group’s positions. Thomson is an incumbent first elected to the council in 2018.

In a strange twist of fate, Thomson also faced a recount that year.

Sixty-seven hours after the polls closed and following six hours of recounting ballots, Thomson won by 32 votes.

By Mary Hladky

New Boca Raton City Manager Mark Sohaney has revamped the city’s leadership in a massive executive-team shake-out that was announced late Thursday.

Gone are Police Chief Michele Miuccio and Deputy City Managers Chrissy Gibson and Jorge Camejo.

 Miuccio joined the Police Department 37 years ago and rose through the ranks to become deputy chief and then police chief in 2020.

 Assistant Police Chief Elizabeth Roberts has been appointed acting chief.

 Most recently, Miuccio had pressed for a new police headquarters to replace the current facility, which is old and in poor condition.

 Voters in Tuesday’s city election voted down financing a new police campus on city-owned land at the intersection of Spanish River and Broken Sound boulevards. The new buildings, which also would have included a firing range and building to store evidence, would have cost as much as $190 million.

 Gibson is a longtime employee who served as assistant city manager until her promotion in 2024. She oversaw the office of city clerk, emergency management, sustainability, public art, and communications and marketing.

 Comejo is the city’s former city Community Redevelopment Agency director who left to head up Hollywood’s CRA before returning to the city last year. His focus was on Boca Raton’s CRA.

 The city’s announcement did not say why the three were pushed out. But it said that the city has conducted a review of its leadership structure over the past five months “to ensure it aligns with operational needs and long-term priorities.”

 “These changes are being implemented as part of this strategic realignment to ensure continuity of service, maintain public safety, and position the city to move forward with a strong and effective leadership team,” the city statement said.

 Sohaney joined the city in September, replacing City Manager George Brown, who retired.

Gulf Stream's incumbent town commissioners all won re-election on March 10. They are, in order of their finish: Mayor Scott Morgan and Commissioners Tom Stanley, Joan Orthwein, Michael Greene and Robert Canfield.

By Steve Plunkett

As they’ve done in the past, Gulf Stream voters March 10 chose to keep the five incumbents running for Town Commission.

Returning to the dais are Scott Morgan, Tom Stanley, Robert Canfield, Michael Greene and Joan Orthwein, all unofficially receiving at least 293 votes, according to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office.

Newcomer Michael Glennon, who campaigned on bringing “a fresh perspective” to the commission, garnered 241 votes, more than double the 112 that Julio Martinez got in his losing effort in the last contested election in 2017, but 53 shy of winning a seat.

It was the first time Greene and Canfield stood for election after being appointed to the commission. Greene had 304 votes; Canfield 293.

Morgan, Stanley and Orthwein each received the most votes they’ve ever had. Morgan had 339, or 14 more than in 2014; Stanley clocked in with 332, up 15 from 2014; and Orthwein had 317, or 4 more than in 2014.

A PAC supporting the five incumbents took out an ad telling voters that “results require a team” and listing the commission’s accomplishments over the years, including zero tax increases for 10 years and 25% lower costs for drinking water once Gulf Stream switches to Boynton Beach’s system in 2027..

Commissioners will choose a mayor and vice mayor from among themselves on March 13.

Outcome of mayor's race could still change

FAU students Owen Servetas (partly behind sign), Cameron Jones, center, and Tony Cedeno display “Save Boca” election signs to passing cars in front of Grace Community Church in Boca Raton. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Hladky

Save Boca trounced establishment candidates in the city’s March 10 election, with its own candidates sweeping City Council races and soundly defeating the city’s effort to redevelop its downtown government campus.

Voters turned out in droves to cast ballots in the most consequential city election in memory, with the almost 19,100 voters casting ballots — a 31% voter turnout — vastly outpacing the more typical city election turnout of about 12,000.

Initial, unofficial election results showed two council members vying to become mayor heading for defeat. First-time candidate Mike Liebelson, who is not a Save Boca candidate but supported many of its goals, appeared to narrowly edge out Andy Thomson, while Fran Nachlas trailed far behind.

Thomson, then seemingly losing by 26 votes, said he would seek a recount. But shortly thereafter, updated results showed him ahead by 6 votes.

The results become official once any ballots that have been mistakenly rejected are counted.

Because Thomson’s victory margin is so small — less than one-half of 1% of total votes cast — a machine recount is required. The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections has scheduled it for March 13, beginning at 10 a.m. As of March 11, the office also planned to conduct a manual recount.

Thomson could not be immediately reached for comment.

“The citizens of Boca Raton have spoken clearly. They want our city to head in a new direction,” Liebelson said in a statement. “We need to make sure every vote is counted so citizens get the leadership they deserve.”

Andy Thomson, center, looks at his phone after his friend Alex Price, second in from left, tells him that the latest numbers have him up by 6 votes just a little before 10 p.m. on March 10 at Thomson's election night gathering at Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant in Boca Raton. After leading most of the evening, Thomson appeared to fall behind as the final votes were tabulated, only to move ahead in yet another elections office update. Rachel O'Hara/The Coastal Star

Besides Nachlas, also losing out was incumbent Marc Wigder, who was trounced by Save Boca founder Jon Pearlman. The third candidate in that race was Meredith Madsen, the founder and CEO of Sunshine & Glitter, which makes sunscreen and beauty products.

“We did it!” Pearlman said in a statement on Save Boca’s social media site on March 11. “Thanks to you, 75% of voters stood with us in the voting booth yesterday to Save Boca!

“Today, we celebrate this milestone in the fight to preserve the city we love. Tomorrow, the work begins to ensure City Hall responsibly manages our hard-earned tax dollars on the things that will best serve us, the residents of this city and not developers and private interests.”

Pearlman swept into Boca Raton politics last summer as he launched a grassroots effort to defeat the city’s redevelopment plans.

His supporters flocked to City Council meetings, demanding that the city scrap its plans. In short order, they managed to force significant changes that reduced the project’s size and density and preserved green and recreation space on the western portion of the city's 31.7 acre downtown campus site.

Save Boca also fielded two other election candidates.

Michelle Grau, a certified public accountant, convincingly defeated her two opponents, Christen Ritchey, a family law attorney and former member of the Planning and Zoning Board, and Bernard Korn. a real estate broker and a perennial candidate who has never won election.

Stacy Sipple, a clinical oncology pharmacist, easily prevailed over her two well-known opponents — former City Council member and County Commissioner Robert Weinroth and former Community Appearance Board and Planning and Zoning Board member Larry Cellon.

The defeat of the government campus redevelopment means that more than a year of city planning goes up in smoke.

Council members had promised residents that they would make the final decision on whether that project would live or die. Nearly 75% of voters killed it.

Now, the new council will have to decide, at the very least, how they will go about replacing the old and crumbling City Hall and Community Center.

If they do so, it will undoubtedly mean more modest and cheaper buildings than what the former council had envisioned.

Voters wait in line at Grace Community Church. Citywide, more than 19,000 people cast ballots, while a typical election draws about 12,000 to the polls. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Also killed decisively by the voters are city plans to replace its old police headquarters building by building a new $190 million police campus on city-owned land at the intersection of Spanish River and Broken Sound boulevards.

Nearly 55% of voters said they did not want to finance the construction by paying for most of it with a modest property tax increase.

The mayoral race determined who would replace term-limited Scott Singer. Singer now is seeking to defeat U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz to represent Florida’s 23rd Congressional District.

Nachlas supported the redevelopment, while Thomson is the only council member who opposed it. Liebelson also is opposed.

The mayoral candidates raised an astonishing amount of money for their campaigns, stunning election observers.

Nachlas and Thomson will top a combined $1 million in contributions once the totals raised by their political action committees are tabulated and reported in April.

Liebelson, who has had leadership roles with energy companies, has raised $203,390, mostly from loans and donations he had made to his campaign, as of year’s end. He said in March that his PAC had received another $25,000.

The city had entered into a public-private partnership with developers Terra and Frisbie Group, now known as One Boca, to implement the downtown redevelopment project.

After One Boca reduced the size and scope of the project several times to appease Save Boca, the developers would have leased from the city 7.8 acres on the east side of Northwest Second Avenue immediately east of the current City Hall.

Save Boca denounced the project as allowing overdevelopment, traffic woes and ruining the character of a beloved downtown property that would turn Boca into another Fort Lauderdale or Miami.

Originally, One Boca planned redevelopment across the entire 31.7-acre downtown campus.

Over time, the developers agreed to leave nearly 17.3 acres west of Northwest Second Avenue largely as recreation and park space. Their plans include turning a section of that land, known as Memorial Park, into an actual commemoration of veterans.

However, a new City Hall, Community Center and police substation would have been built there. Based on city project presentations, residents were led to believe that One Boca would pay for that.

It then turned out that the city would assume that $201 million cost, although  it would eventually have gotten that money back from land lease payments and increases in property valuations.

Development would have been confined to the east side land south of the Downtown Library and Brightline station.

It would have included an office building, grocery store, parking garage, hotel, four apartment buildings and a condo.

Source: Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Office

March 13 update: After a machine recount on Friday, the South Palm Beach Town Council race stayed the same as it had been on election night on Tuesday. Adrian Burcet expanded his second-place lead to four votes, creating a big enough spread between him and third-place finisher, incumbent Sandra Beckett, so that a manual recount was not needed. Burcet and first-place finisher Francesca Attardi have been elected to four-year terms and Beckett will serve the remainder of a two-year unexpired term.

South Palm Beach Town Council member Sandra Beckett, center, listens intently to the details of how the recount would be handled Friday afternoon. South Palm Beach was part of the March 13 recount to settle the election results for Town Council. After a machine recount, the county canvassing board determined that newcomers Francesca Attardi and Adrian Burcet had won seats on the Town Council, and council member Sandra Beckett had won reelection. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The final vote in the South Palm Beach Town Council race after the March 13 machine recount. The top three finishers were elected.  Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office

March 12 update: The Supervisor of Elections office will conduct a recount in the South Palm Beach Town Council race, where only three votes separate the second- and third-place council candidates. While both are elected -- newcomer Adrian Burcet and incumbent Sandra Beckett -- as there were three council openings, the second-place finisher will receive a full four-year term and the third-place finisher an unexpired two-year term.

The latest South Palm Beach Town Council results released March 12. A recount will be held March 13 because of the closeness of the race for the second- and third-place spots. The second-place finisher gets a four-year term and the third-place finisher a two-year unexpired term.

By Brian Biggane

In a surprising vote that almost certainly puts the prospects of the South Palm Beach Town Hall project in jeopardy, mayoral candidate Rafael Pineiro and his slate of two other council candidates swept to victory in Tuesday’s town election.

While results from the Supervisor of Elections Office are unofficial, Pineiro ended the 11-year run of Mayor Bonnie Fischer with about 52% of the vote, while newcomer Fran Attardi led all five Town Council candidates and newcomer Adrian Burcet was second.

Pineiro and Attardi won four-year terms. Unless a recount changes the order of finish, Burcet as the second-place council finisher would also get a four-year term, while Council member Sandra Beckett, who finished third in the unofficial results of the council election, would serve the remaining two years of an unexpired term. Ray McMillan was the lone incumbent not up for election; his term runs until 2028.

None of the three newcomers have any experience in town government.

Vice Mayor Monte Berendes, who finished fourth in the council election, said the results caught him totally by surprise.

“I am in complete shock,” Berendes said. “This just blows me away. I did not expect this at all.”

Fischer, who had served on the council since 2011, including the last 11 years as mayor, was more subdued.

“It’s a disappointment,” she said. “We had a good council, working together, and it will be interesting to see now what happens with the town.”

The council spent much of the past two years working toward building a new Town Hall to replace the existing one. Fort Lauderdale-based CPZ Architects was hired and delivered drawings for a new two-story building expected to cost about $6-7 million. One of the agenda items for the upcoming March 17 meeting is to review bids from applicants for the general contractor position.

Pineiro, who did not return two phone calls or text messages asking for comment, made the focal point of his campaign a push to hire an engineering firm to study the possibility of renovating the existing building. He and his fellow challengers are expected to dismiss CPZ and essentially start over.

Berendes and Fischer have both gone on record in the past saying Pineiro didn’t have all the facts and that, after nearly 10 years of planning, the time for a new building had come.

“I feel like Rafael misled a lot of people,” Berendes said, “putting out a lot of misinformation on what was going on. But it’s on him now.”

“It’s just very unfortunate,” Fischer added. “We were finally moving forward. It’s just unfortunate to have this change in council.”

Fischer said she was “calmer than I thought I would be” upon getting the results and reflective as she looked back on her 15 years in town government.

“I’ve had a good run,” she said. “I would have liked to have done more, especially with the beaches and the things I was working on. I’ve spent many years on beach issues.

“I never looked at it being a burden, I really didn’t. I enjoyed it, My position allowed me to meet a lot of people I probably wouldn’t, and that’s very important to me.”

By John Pacenti

You’ve heard of the luck of the Irish? Well, now there’s the curse of the Carney.

Real estate broker Judy Mollica, a familiar face in local civic circles, defeated well-funded political newcomer Andrea Keiser Tuesday in a race she believed hinged on voter turnout and her long‑term ties to the community.

Her victory came in a three‑way race in which Mollica argued that roots and record should matter more than last‑minute campaign gloss. 

Mayor Tom Carney endorsed Keiser, saying she was the most qualified candidate on budget and policy matters. 

Mollica replaces Rob Long, who left the commission to become a state representative for District 90. Mollica captured 40% of the vote to Keiser’s 34%. A third candidate, Delores Rangel, a former executive assistant for the city, had 26% to finish third.

Commissioner Angela Burns won her seat without opposition.

“I think it’s just the work I’ve done in the community and that many of the residents saw my commitment,” Mollica said after the votes were counted. “I am incredibly grateful for the voters putting their trust in me.”

Mollica -– a member of the city’s Planning and Zoning Board -– got some key endorsements from the police and fire unions. She opposed the city's ousting of the nonprofit that ran Old School Square and praised the Downtown Development Authority, often criticized by Carney as wasting taxpayer dollars.

On coastal issues, Mollica campaigned that the city should pursue reef‑based shoreline protection guided by marine scientists, rather than relying solely on trucked‑in sand and offshore dredging. She also backed exploring noise‑camera technology to ticket modified exhausts on vehicles on State Road A1A and address a long‑running quality-of-life complaint on the island.

In an era where campaigns often measure strength in the number of lawn signs lining major intersections, Mollica intentionally bucked that strategy. She said she refused to “litter the world with lawn signs,” opting instead for targeted yard placements only where homeowners specifically requested them.

“I'm door-to-door every single day, and I’ve got groups making phone calls, so we’re fighting till the end,” she told The Coastal Star before the vote.

Mollica also openly questioned Keiser’s $102,000 investment of her own money in the race, saying it showed her opponent did not have name recognition or a track record of civil service in the community.

Mollica is president of Friends of Delray, which has the motto “accountable government, sensible growth and civic pride.” She said she closed the gap with some late donations but ran her campaign “on a shoestring budget.”

On the trail and in interviews, Keiser framed herself as the most technically prepared candidate for a commission that spends much of its time on development and budgeting. The land-use and zoning attorney has touted that she is a board member of the Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County, which manages a $300 million budget with 5% administrative costs.

She also promised to address permitting delays for residents.

"Although this election did not end the way we hoped, I remain incredibly optimistic about the future of our city," Keiser said. "This campaign brought together many residents who care deeply about Delray Beach, and I look forward to continuing to stay involved in our community and working to make our city even stronger."

Rangel was hampered by the flu during a key stretch of candidate forums and struggled with public speaking, failing at times to get her positions across. However, in a one-on-one interview, Rangel showed her expertise on a wide range of issues.

At one point, a meme surfaced on Delray Beach social media circles asking, “Where’s Delores?” showing a Where’s Waldo scenario with Rangel in front of the “Invisibility Office.”

Rangel, before the election, told The Coastal Star that the direction of the city regarding development and policies was at stake. She said she was the “only candidate who does not have donors hidden in a PAC, and I’m not supported by any developers and special interest groups.”

Mollica says she has no hard feelings towards Carney – who sent out a long memo endorsing Keiser.

“I’m not one of those vindictive people,” she said. “I just want to work and get the work of the city done.”

Update: This story was updated to include post-election comments from Andrea Keiser.

Unofficial results

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Downtown campus referendum

Unofficial results

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Police headquarters bond referendum

Unofficial results

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

A developer is seeking approval for The Oval project adjacent to Wildflower Park. City Council members and residents have mixed reactions about the proposal, with some saying it would detract from the park’s beauty. Rendering provided

By Michael Cook

Boca Raton’s Wildflower Park might get a new next-door neighbor, as a developer is asking the city for the green light to build a five-story luxury development called The Oval. 

The mixed-use project has community members on the fence, with some seeing it as a potential boost to downtown and others worried it could disrupt views of the park.

“I don’t like it. We got enough here,” said city resident Alan Peterman, 67, who passes through the waterfront park as part of his daily walk. Peterman said he wouldn’t want to see a multilevel development rise right beside the park, which he said could detract from the park’s natural beauty and add traffic to an already congested area. 

“To do the high-rise and change the whole thing, personally, it hurts me,” he said. “Keep it part of the park.”

The Oval is proposed for the vacant, fenced-in lot on the northeast corner of East Palmetto Park Road and Northeast Fifth Avenue. Calvin Haddad, president of Fifth Avenue Associates that owns the property, is seeking to build an oval-shaped structure with 10 residential units and 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, intended to provide walk-up amenities for those strolling through the downtown area. 

The proposal is in the city’s review pipeline and must be approved before moving forward, though there is no official timeline yet.

The site is adjacent to the 2.3-acre art-filled park, to which the city been working to attract more visitors. The most recent efforts include the rollout of free weekly recreation programs and four new permanent public art projects inspired by the city’s centennial, which cost the city more than $500,000. In another effort to boost foot traffic, the city launched Food Truck Fridays in February, which will continue on the last Friday of each month.

The park, named after a 1980s restaurant and bar that previously stood there, opened in 2022 after a multimillion-dollar construction project.

It fronts the Intracoastal Waterway at the western end of the Palmetto Park Road bridge.

Park expansion an option?
Boca Raton City Council member Marc Wigder, who also chairs the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, prefers a permanent concession stand at the park and is not in support of The Oval project. Wigder, who is up for reelection March 10, hopes to convince the private landowner to reverse the development plan and sell the lot at 501 E. Palmetto Park Road to the city for a potential park expansion.

The idea would create extra space for amenities, such as a standalone shop for a hot-dog vendor or an ice cream parlor, something he says the park is missing. Another part of his plan would be to improve traffic flow by widening the roads at the heavily trafficked intersection and to provide additional parking for visitors. 

Wigder said it seems more logical for the property to be acquired by the city to meet the community’s needs, but any purchase would require City Council approval. He made clear the city can’t force the private developer to do whatever the city wants, as the company owns the land.

“But if that piece of property was built with a commercial structure, I think the park might lose its visibility or access,” Wigder said. He pictured Wildflower Park tucked behind the proposed development, with only a narrow pathway leading in from Palmetto Park Road.

On the other side of the conversation is former Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke, who would be in favor of a mixed-use development on the lot west of the park. She said a coffee shop or an ice cream parlor in the retail area could create walkability to nearby restaurants and shops. “I think anything that’s built downtown or adjacent should consider the human element,” she said.

Art and activities
O’Rourke, a key figure in launching the city’s public art program in 2023, said it is heartening to see pops of colorful artwork installed throughout the park as part of efforts to activate the space. Boca Raton invested about $540,000 in the four art projects inspired by the city’s history, installed at the end of last year. 

New features include environmentally themed murals under the bridge along a pedestrian path connecting Wildflower to the south with Silver Palm Park, which is popular for its boat ramp and docks. Other additions are centennial mosaics on the restrooms and a sunrise-inspired splash pad mural. The most popular attraction is Mi Casa, Your Casa 2.0, a house-framed swing set repainted in the city’s centennial colors, which draws hundreds of visitors each week to take action on the four swings that face the Intracoastal.

There’s also the Bloom in Wildflower series of pop-up wellness activities, which cost the city about $1,200 to produce since launching last fall. The weekly instructed classes include yoga and Pilates and attract about a dozen attendees per session. The city said the program has been well-received and it plans to continue building on that success. 

Highland Beach woman a socialite on Netflix’s ‘Members Only: Palm Beach’

At home in Highland Beach, Rosalyn Yellin models one of her favorite dresses. Her dog is Lou Lou. She plays a socialite on Netflix's Members Only: Palm Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Stuck at home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, raising five kids just six years apart, Rosalyn Yellin escaped from the daily pressures of motherhood by watching “The Real Housewives” reality television, with a special fondness for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

“It was my guilty pleasure, my release from diapers, bottles and laundry,” she said.

The more time she spent soaking up stories about the lives of women living a luxury lifestyle 2,400 miles away, the more she admired the cast.

“I always wanted to be them,” she said. “I always dreamt I would be them but I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be on a reality show.”

Fast forward several decades to August 2024, and that long-ago dream came true when Yellin was chosen as one of five women to be cast in Members Only: Palm Beach.

A reality show with many of the same story lines as Real Housewives, the eight-episode Netflix program focuses on socialites who wade through squabbles and rivalries while cementing close friendships during last year’s Palm Beach social season.

“It was a lot of fun,” Yellin said about the show, which first aired in December. “It is just a show about five women, our journey and our lives.”

Much of the season’s last episode provides a close-up look at Yellin, especially when she challenges another cast member — the one who excluded only her from a party in the first show because she didn’t see Yellin as belonging in her same social circle.

As you might expect, a shower of tears and a crisscross of accusations take place. While it is good drama that follows a Real Housewives theme, it was also an opportunity for Yellin to define herself to viewers and — she says — to herself. Rosalyn Yellin exits a Lamborghini on the set of Members Only: Palm Beach. Photo provided

“I learned something about myself doing the show,” she said. “I learned to stand up for myself. I never had to do that in Bucks County.”

Despite some of the hurt feelings and subtle and not-so-well-disguised spite, Yellin says she is looking forward to returning to the show if it is renewed for a second season.

If that happens, viewers are likely to see more of the real Rosalyn Yellin.

“I think of myself as a simple person,” she said. “Lead with kindness and treat everyone the same. Nobody is better than anyone else.”

Members Only: Palm Beach has developed a strong following, with Yellin saying it’s not unusual for her to be recognized when she’s out and about.

Some, however, question the show’s Palm Beach moniker.

Yellin, like most of the other cast, doesn’t live in Palm Beach and instead has settled with her husband of more than 30 years in a multimillion-dollar home on the Intracoastal Waterway in Highland Beach.

While social-scene purists will say you’re not a Palm Beacher if you don’t live on “The Island,” Yellin is quick to point out that she is in Palm Beach almost every day during the social season, attending parties or chairing or participating in charity events.

“When you’re chairing an event, you’re in Palm Beach 95% of the time,” she said.

A member of one of the prestigious clubs on the island, Yellin is a strong supporter of several charitable organizations including those helping cancer patients, current and past service members, and young adults who have aged out of foster care.

The granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor and daughter of a mother who died of ovarian cancer, Yellin is a strong supporter of the Cancer Alliance of Help & Hope and is one of the celebrity dancers in the organization’s Dance the Night Away Gala set for March 13 at the Breakers.

A dancer in her earlier life who also taught Zumba-like exercise classes in Pennsylvania, Yellin has raised more than $138,000, far exceeding totals of the 11 other dancers.

Rosalyn Yellin, on the set of Members Only: Palm Beach, says the show taught her ’to stand up for myself.’ Photo provided

She has chaired the America First Gala, a fundraiser for The Grey Team, a Boca Raton-based organization that aims to prevent military and veteran suicides. Yellin is also a strong supporter of Place of Hope, which focuses on helping those aging out of foster care.

“I love helping charities that are helping here in Palm Beach County,” she said.

Yellin, 54, is also extremely proud of her family — her husband, three daughters and twin sons as well as four grandchildren.

“I’m very proud of the job I did as a mother,” she said. “All of my children are very high-achieving.”

Those who watch the show might take note that there is little mention of Yellin’s husband, Jonathan, a successful business owner, and that’s not by accident.

Yellen said her husband values his privacy and made it clear from the outset that he didn’t want to be involved with the show. In fact, it was her husband’s desire for privacy that almost led her to decline the invitation. A couple of her friends who auditioned for the show recommended Yellin, who made the cut while they didn’t.

“I was excited but I was really nervous about telling my husband,” she said. “After going back and forth, he agreed.”

The journey from Bucks County to Highland Beach, which took place five years ago, was one that Yellin began many years before while visiting the area annually on vacation.

“We love our lifestyle in Highland Beach,” she said.

Yellin also says she’s happy to be part of the Palm Beach social scene and involved in so many events like the women she admired on reality shows decades ago.

“I came to Palm Beach and I fulfilled my dreams,” she said.

Related: Lantana/Hypoluxo Island: Out on a limb: Hypoluxo Island residents grapple with how to protect their tree canopy

Related: Editor's Note: With mature trees threatened, the answer isn’t more palms

Related: Delray Beach: Fight to preserve massive banyan at golf course pits city against drainage district

By Mary Thurwachter

There used to be a sign on Lantana Road near the old A.G. Holley State Hospital, where Water Tower Commons stands today. The sign welcomed visitors to “Lantana, Fl, Tree City.” The sign is gone, but Lantana is still a Tree City.

Decades ago, to honor that distinction, Lantana adopted a tradition of planting a tree every Arbor Day, a practice the town continues to this day.

“We plant trees throughout the year, and we planted 100 for our centennial celebration” in 2021, Mayor Karen Lythgoe said. 

Is a palm a tree?

Ilona Balfour, who lives on Hypoluxo Island with her husband, former Lantana Vice Mayor Malcolm Balfour, recalls the 2019 Arbor Day tree planting ceremony in Bicentennial Park. Dave Stewart, who was mayor at the time, pitched a fit when town staff gave him a palm tree to put in the ground, she said. 

By then, Stewart had been educated on trees and refused to be photographed planting the palm tree, Balfour said. Stewart complained that the palm wasn’t a real tree but more of a grass.

That sent town staff scrambling to find what Stewart believed was a real tree to plant.

Stewart remembers that day and says Balfour was correct. “I didn’t want the Tree City officials seeing me plant a palm. It would have been an embarrassment. We had to plant real trees during my regime.”

The staff argued that a palm tree was a tree; it was called palm tree, after all. 

Stewart disagreed.

“My fellow councilmen said I was being a jerk,” Stewart said. (He used another word for “jerk,” but we’ve cleaned it up a bit.)

In the end, a small oak was planted, and the commemorative photo was taken. No one recalls what happened to the rejected palm.

Tied to a tree?

Balfour is also the subject of local tree lore.

“Didn’t Ilona tell you about the time she tied herself to a large ficus tree when the Nature Preserve was being built in 2000?” Stewart asked. “She held a sign that read ‘Leave my tree Ilona,’” a wordplay on her first name.

However, that’s not exactly what happened. 

Ilona Balfour said she threatened to tie herself to a “huge ficus tree full of birds. I wanted to save it” from being taken down.

“I got wind of it early one morning when I was in my nightgown,” said Balfour, whose home is close to the preserve. “I didn’t march over there in my nightgown, but I did say if the tree was touched, I would tie myself to it.

“Because it wasn’t a native tree, the ficus wasn’t protected, only the plants that were there before the white man came were allowed in the park,” she said. The town “made me sign a document that I would do nothing to stop them from cutting this tree down. 

“Then Town Manager Mike Bornstein and arborist Mike Greenstein thought this was funny and took a little Bellie (a troll doll promotional gift from Burger King) and tied it to the branch they had taken from the ficus tree. Along with the doll (representing Balfour) there was a little sign tied to the branch that said, ‘Leave my tree Ilona.’ 

“They all got a good laugh from it,” Balfour remembered.

The ficus was taken down and replaced by a strangler fig. 

The birds seem to like it — and Balfour’s story remains part of local lore, even if it stretched the truth. 

Protected trees 

The following trees are protected by the Town of Lantana:

Bald cypress 

Black ironwood 

Blolly 

Cabbage palm 

Chapman oak 

Dahoon holly 

False mastic 

Fiddlewood 

Florida elm 

Geiger tree 

Green buttonwood 

Gumbo limbo 

Lancewood 

Laurel oak 

Live oak 

Mahogany 

Myrtle oak 

Paradise tree 

Pigeon plum 

Pond cypress 

Red bay 

Red maple

Royal palm 

Sand live oak 

Sand pine 

Satinleaf 

Sea grape 

Silver buttonwood 

Shortleaf fig 

Slash pine 

Soapberry 

South Florida slash pine 

Southern magnolia 

Southern red cedar 

Spicewood

Strangler fig 

Sweet bay 

Torchwood

The list of protected trees and list of trees that can be used for mitigation are interchangeable.

Construction of new and larger houses has been chipping away at the tree canopy that used to shade most of Hypoluxo Island.  Many residents would like to see tougher rules to protect the trees. Google Maps 

Related: Lantana: Tales from a Tree City

Related: Editor's Note: With mature trees threatened, the answer isn’t more palms

Related: Delray Beach: Fight to preserve massive banyan at golf course pits city against drainage district

By Mary Thurwachter

Longtime Hypoluxo Island residents fondly remember the binoculared birders who roamed the island in Lantana in the mid-1990s. 

They were Audubon members who came from all over the world to spot birds on the Atlantic flyway, an avian superhighway that ran through the barrier island, designated as a bird sanctuary as indicated by signs leading into both the north and south sections of the island.

Patti Towle and others who have lived on Hypoluxo Island for three decades or more also fondly remember the shade trees where so many birds perched. Over the years, many of the trees have come down to make room for new and larger houses. The bird population has plummeted, too.

“You could hear the birders speaking different languages like German or Finnish,” Towle, a 35-year resident, remembers of that earlier time. 

When Towle noticed that a hardwood tree in her neighborhood was cut down recently, she emailed the Town Council and town manager on Jan. 5, not to complain but with hopes that together they could find a solution for the protection of native hardwood trees.

Towle had been instrumental in helping to draft some of Lantana’s tree protection laws. “These laws are currently shown in our Town Code but do not seem to be enforced,” Towle wrote.

“Over the weekend — when code enforcement could not be contacted — a spec builder removed a large hardwood tree, in the swale area, in front of the property at 505 SE Atlantic Drive,” Towle wrote. “The tree was home to one of the great horned owls who live on Hypoluxo Island. The owl is a desirable bird to have with benefits for conservation.”  

This mature ficus tree was cut down without permit at a spec home job site. Photo provided

The exterior of the house had already been constructed, and the hardwood tree posed no threat to the dwelling or the house’s future driveway, according to Towle. 

The tree was in the swale area adjacent to the street, an area which belongs to the town, not the owner. 

Towle said that last fall she wrote the building department and code enforcement calling their attention to a large, endangered tree at the corner of a new construction site at 717 SE Atlantic Drive, a tree that remains standing. 

“I believe the tree to be a kapok, which is a celebrated tree that other Florida townships protect,” she wrote. “I was informed by our building department that nothing could be done to protect our Lantana hardwood trees. I find that hard to believe, especially when they pose no threat to construction. There has to be a solution.”

Towle says hardwood trees were being removed in significant numbers “because out-of-town buyers are attracted by the lure of palm trees. If the property owner has not obtained a permit to remove the tree, he pays the town a fine and then is allowed to replace a hardwood with one or several small palm trees. Often developers factor these fines in as their cost of doing business.”

Back-and-forth with town

Her plea was slow to receive responses. She first heard from Vice Mayor Kem Mason, who told her he had asked Town Manager Brian Raducci to investigate what is happening at the two locations she referenced. 

“From your description, it is disturbing, but we do have to investigate and get all the facts before we take any actions,” he said.

Towle repeatedly asked the manager for a meeting with her and other residents, and one finally took place Feb. 9.

“Our most important result is the town door appears open, and so far reception has been graciously received,” Towle said. “Let’s see what happens when we follow up with our strong language to strengthen our town’s tree ordinances.”

After the meeting, Towle contacted Town Clerk Kathleen Dominguez about the establishment of a Lantana architectural review committee, a volunteer group used by other municipalities to ensure new construction and landscaping are compliant and the ordinances enforced.

After being reviewed by Town Attorney Max Lohman, that request was denied. Lohman determined that Lantana does not meet any of the narrow exceptions required by the state to enforce such regulations. One of those exceptions requires a board to have been created before Jan. 1, 2020. 

According to Towle, there doesn’t appear to be any accounting for the nearly $107,000 the town collected for the tree removed at 505 SE Atlantic Drive. “The money can be spent anywhere in the town on various and sundry” things, Towle said. “A Tree Fund does not even appear on the town budget. Where the money goes, I have no idea. I had hoped it would be used for replanting more hardwood trees on Hypoluxo Island. Sadly, that is not the case.”

How does it work?

“Protected trees are permitted to be removed if mitigation is provided,” Development Services Director Nicole Dritz told Towle. “If mitigation cannot be provided because of certain factors, such as space constraints, the code allows for payment to be made to the Tree Mitigation Fund. 

“We, of course, always encourage the protection of any protected tree, but it is not a code requirement. There are also state statutes which allow for protected trees to be removed in certain cases, sometimes without a permit from the town entirely.”

Few fines for tree removal

A public records request on how many tree fines had been issued during the past five years showed none. Going another five years back, the search showed that two fines (for $15,000 and $1,000) were assessed in 2019 and one fine (for $2,500) was assessed in 2021.

Dritz’s assistant, Elizabeth Eassa, explained the dearth of fines.

“Trees by code are required to be removed with a permit,” she said. “When they are removed without a permit and code enforcement gets involved, there are two options that we can take. One is fines and the other is mitigation.

“Our preference is to protect the tree canopy so that was always done via mitigation. Either paying into the Tree Fund or replacing trees on their property.  There’s a formula to it. It’s like one and a half of what was removed has to be provided on site. That’s why the number of fines in the past five years was zero. In every situation we went for mitigation instead of assessing a fine.”

The town, Eassa said, is more interested in the tree canopy and replenishing it than to impose a code enforcement fine.

The code does allow for trees to be removed, both protected and non-protected trees. “There are property rights and we have to allow people to take trees down,” she said. “If it is a protected tree, they are required to mitigate for it and there’s list of trees they can choose from and some of them are palm trees.”

In the case of the protected tree removed at 505 SE Atlantic Drive, the tree was where the owners proposed putting a driveway, Eassa said, although Towle says the tree would not have been in the driveway’s path. 

“We have to accept their application, their request, but we can push back and encourage them to keep trees,” Eassa said.  “We prefer them not to remove trees, but at the end of the day, we come to some sort of agreement. In this case it was a large amount of money ($106,400) they paid into the Tree Fund to offset the tree’s removal. That’s money the town can use to replant new trees on our public properties to keep the tree canopy for the whole town intact.”

Property owners, in order to have the tree cut down, “provided an arborist’s report saying the tree had been compromised and wasn’t in the best condition and it wasn’t a great candidate to be relocated,” Eassa said.

The property owners provided their own arborist, although the town now has an arborist on staff.

Eassa said the Tree Fund  (no one could say when it was founded) currently has $185,480 in it. In the past year, Lantana Public Services planted trees in the swale along Marbella Lane and is proposing to install trees on Ocean Avenue and at the tennis courts.

Town Finance Director Stephen Kaplan said the Tree Fund is an account used to track related purchases. “Historically, we adjust this account during the fiscal year through a budget amendment, increasing the budget based on the payments received for that specific purpose,” he said.

The removal of this mature ficus without permit is one case in a growing concern. Photo provided by Town of Lantana

One resident’s initiative

Some residents aren’t waiting for the town to replace or plant new trees. Ellen Schweber is one of them. The former New Yorker moved to the island less than 10 years ago and found the block on which her house stands was “very uninspired,” with none of the canopy trees that made her fall in love with the neighborhood.

“It had been stripped of its old beauty, its jungle-like quality,” she said. “It looked so bare.”

To remedy that, Schweber began buying trees with her own money. Some of her neighbors chipped in, and a little money came from the town.

She asked her neighbor, Media Beverly, if they could start a group to inspire others to plant trees. “It turned out it would cost a lot of money to do it properly, so I did it improperly.”

Schweber began planting live oak trees with the goal of getting a canopy. “I know it’s a slow growing tree, but it’s native and we wanted something that would one day go over the road and be very beautiful.”

Eight trees were purchased for her block and the first ones are coming together. “They are not very lush yet, but they are actually meeting. I’d love to extend the project around the island,” she said. 

Schweber, Beverly and Towle are working on that.

A tree saved

Occasionally, efforts to save protected trees have been successful. 

The large ficus on the curve at 707 S. Atlantic Drive, adjacent to Pelican Lane, survived thanks to the efforts of former island resident Richard Schlosberg.

“The developer was about to saw it down,” Towle said, “having clear-cut the lot to build his house, when Schlosberg intervened and pointed out that the tree was in the swale and belonged to the Island — not the developer’s lot. The tree was spared. And it remains a lovely tree, still standing.”

Beverly called on future homeowners to make mindful choices. “Thirty-five years ago, we chose to live on historically significant Hypoluxo Island, a place of unique architecture surrounded by a lush, beautiful tranquility rarely found elsewhere,” Beverly said. “Sadly, this paradise is being slowly eroded by new huge structures replacing ageless landscaping. I am hopeful that future owners will be more mindful of their precious new surroundings.”

On a bright note, the great horned owl who lost his home in the tree cut down at 505 SE Atlantic Drive, appears to have found news digs — in one of Towle’s hardwood trees. 

Briny Breezes author Lee Godby published his auto-biography at the ripe old age of 100. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

A word of advice.

If you should meet Lee Godby, please do not congratulate him on having lived 100 years.

“I’m 100 and a half,” he will correct you — with a smile. “I was born on June 25, 1925, so that makes me 100 and a half. Every half counts when you’re 100.”

In addition to being 100 and a half, Godby has the honor of having published his autobiography at 100. Last year, before the half.

Age aside, he is not alone. In Briny Breezes, a town of 532, Godby is one of about 15 residents, children of residents, and grandchildren of residents, who have written books on display in this little town’s little library.

Here you’ll find a history of the town itself, mysteries, children’s books, World War II memoirs, and a celebration of dance.

Also, the story of one’s man triumph over prostate cancer called Bend Over and Say AHH!

“I figured I’d better get it down while my mind is still sharp,” Lee Godby said, sitting with his wife, Josefina, by the shelf where his book Ensley is waiting to be read.

Ensley is his given name, Ensley Godby, but he goes by Lee.

“I hated the name for a long time,” he recalled, “but then I thought, I’ve never heard of another Ensley in the world, so I thought it must be unique. Now I don’t hate the name anymore.”

Ensley the book began when Ensley the author started writing about his father, a steam engineer who ran a power plant up home in Canada, back in the days before electricity.

“I had written quite a bit when I saw an ad for LifeBook Memoirs,” he said.

An international company, LifeBook Memoirs works with aspiring memoirists to create their autobiographies, from the first word to the finished volume. The service is not cheap. According to the company’s website, Godby’s volume cost $18,000.

“They sent a really fantastic lady, and I started talking and she started recording,” recalled Godby, a year-round Briny Breezes resident.

Every Friday for three months, a freelance interviewer named Lauren O’Farrell interviewed Godby for 90 minutes. Her interviews were then forwarded to a ghostwriter, who returned written drafts for him to review, criticize, correct and expand on.

He told O’Farrell about growing up in Mountain Park, Alberta; about earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering; about his summer job with the Eldorado Mining & Refining Co., when he used a Geiger counter to look for uranium under the earth.

“At breakfast one day,” he remembered, “an old guy named Ed Cody announced that the atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, and I realized why we were doing what we were doing.”

He told O’Farrell about his time in Ottawa, working with the government’s National Research Council, using magnetometers to look for submarines.

He told her about his four children, Gavin, Scott, Mark, and Howard, all in their 70s except for Howard, the baby at 69. His six grandchildren, his six great-grandchildren.

He told her about his four wives, and how he met Josefina in 2013, when his son Scott introduced them.

“I liked that his name has ‘God’ in it,” Josefina says.

They married in 2017.

“It’s not just the final product,” O’Farrell says, “but the interaction between the subject and the interviewer and the writer. Working with Mr. Godby was amazing. He’s an incredible person who’s lived an incredible life. We had a great time working together.”

Ensley is an impressively produced, hardcover volume filled with photographs, many in color, and a century of memories.

The author was more than satisfied.

“I got 40 copies,” he said, “and I’ve ordered some more.”

Ron Vaughn, author of three books.

Working on his fourth book

None of Lee Godby’s fellow writers is 100 and a half, yet.

Ron Vaughn is a mere 84. His nickname is Butch, and it’s the title of his autobiography.

“It’s about growing up in a rural community outside Flint, Michigan, until the age of 11,” he says. “I never got in any real hard trouble, but I was always in mischief.”

A part-time Briny Breezes resident since 2000, Vaughn still spends most of the year up North, but between here and there he has found time to write Butch, as well as a crime novel and a medical memoir.

Skeeter Jones, the novel, is loosely based on a true story.

“A guy I knew had a son on drugs, and he took a shotgun and shot the pusher’s head off,” Vaughn explains. “I had Skeeter go on the run after shooting the pusher, but what really happened is, he put the gun down on the bar and said, ‘Call the police.’”

Which brings us to Bend Over and Say AHH!

“It’s rated G,” Vaughn quickly notes. “About my experience with prostate cancer four years ago. I was lucky, they caught it in the first stage. Twenty-eight treatments and so far, so good. There’s nothing to it if it’s caught early.”
The title is funny, but the message is serious. Get tested, and you can live long enough to be writing your fourth book.

“It’s another true story, about a young couple who tried to rob a gas station back in 1976,” he explains. “The gun went off and killed a guy in a paint shop across the street. The wife was pardoned after 26 years, but the guy’s still in prison.

“I’ve been working on it about six months, and I like this one even better.”

Andrea Olsen with her book The Place of Dance. 

Dancing, writing and beach

Most books by Briny authors are self-published, but not all.

Andrea Olsen’s The Place of Dance is available from Wesleyan University Press, along with her three previous books.

“The Place of Dance is about the role of dance in culture,” she says, “and how place influences dance.”

Briny Breezes has influenced Olsen’s dance for a very long time.

“We first visited Briny when I was 5 in 1953,” she explains. “We towed a long green trailer down from Decatur, Illinois, and then bought two lots in 1958. I’m 77 now, so I’ve been in Briny for 72 years.”

For 32 of her 77 years, Olsen taught dance and environmental studies at Middlebury College in Vermont, and she still leads workshops. Over her lifetime, dance has taken her to Paris, Denmark, New Zealand — and of course, Briny Breezes.

“I dance on the beach every morning at 9 a.m.,” she says, “and then I journal on the beach, writing about what happened the day before. Walking on the beach every day, you get used to the broad horizon, the seashells, the palm fronds, the breeze. Dancing outdoors changes how you move. In Briny, it’s the sense of being by the ocean and the rhythm of the waves.

“I wrote parts of all four books in the winters here.”

For the young ones

And there are children’s books.

Rosie’s Song, by Mary Kate Leming, The Coastal Star’s founder and editor emeritus, with illustrations by Deborah LaFogg Docherty, follows Rosie the sea star’s search for her brothers lost in a storm.

Sassyquatch: Yeti Or Not, Here I Come is inscribed, “This book was written by Lindsey Stansfield, daughter-in-law of Patricia Stansfield, K-28. For all the youngsters at Briny.”

Turtlee in Paris notes it was written by “Paris Stankewich, granddaughter of Stan and Carole Brunell.”

And other books:

From a Branch and a String by David Lindmark tells how his fishing guide service grew into a Christian ministry.

Suzanne Snyder-Carroll offers her “Joe The Plumber” mystery trilogy.

And of course, the writings of Dorothy McNeice, the town’s historian.

100 and then some

And now for the inevitable question before Lee Godby returns to his trailer: How do you get to be 100 and a half?

“The secret is having the right ancestors,” he says. “But I can’t prove that because most of mine died of tuberculosis. My father’s mother and father both died of TB, and my mother’s father died of TB. But my mother’s mother lived into her 90s.”

He never drank or smoked, and he never followed any strict diets. “I eat whatever she cooks,” he says, nodding at Josefina. “She’s my life.”

Being memorable

For You The War Is Over: A Flyboy’s Experience of World War II by Carl Weller is in the Briny Breezes library.

And so is Seagoing Veterinarian, by Harold “Doc” Burton, a memoir of his work delivering farm animals to Europe in the 1940s.

Both Weller and Burton have died, but their memories still live, on the shelves of that tiny, one-room library next to the shuffleboard courts in Briny Breezes.

At 100 and a half, Lee Godby spoke for all the town’s writers.

“Why does anybody write anything?” he asked. “The feeling of wanting to be immortal.

“I’m happy about that.” 

A set of shelves in the Briny Breezes library celebrates the town’s authors.