Briny Breezes resident Ann Carmody receives a COVID-19 nasal swab test from Palm Beach County Health Department nurse practitioner Guerlyne Estime during the one-day testing June 16. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

It lasts about 10 seconds, demands some careful nasal navigation and nearly always leads to a snotty, yet relatively happy ending.
People are really happy to get it over.
As of the summer of 2020, testing remains the most effective weapon in the fight against the growing COVID-19 pandemic.
On June 16, a steady stream of residents and neighbors came to the Palm Beach County Health Department’s medical truck parked outside the Briny Breezes Clubhouse to be tested for coronavirus infection.
“It’s a little uncomfortable,” said Briny resident Nancy Signorielli. “But, you know what? It’s something we should do to protect ourselves and to protect everybody else.”
The truck with a half-dozen county health care workers and hundreds of nose swabs spent seven hours administering the free tests to anyone willing. By day’s end, 151 people had been tested.
Town Council President Sue Thaler arranged to bring the mobile unit to Briny. She heard complaints from a few residents who thought that it was unnecessary because the town has had no confirmed COVID-19 cases. Testing is how to keep it that way, the skeptics were told.
“We have a fair number of people who find it difficult to get to the other testing sites,” Thaler said. “I heard they had the unit in other towns. I called right away and asked, can you bring it to Briny?”
Thaler said she showed up when the truck opened at 9 a.m. to be first in line. “There were already people here waiting to be tested,” she said.
The unit has the capacity to test about 300 people a day, said Wendy Shields, a member of the county crew who was soon to graduate with a degree in health care management from South University in West Palm Beach.
“The line moves pretty fast,” Shields said. “We’ve been to Boynton Beach, Palm Springs, Lantana and Lake Worth — all around the area.”
No news is good news when it comes to COVID-19 tests. If your results are negative, you will hear nothing from the Health Department. If the test comes back positive, then the department will contact you in three to four days.
Brinyites James and Brenda Dooley were among the first to be tested.
“It’s like they told us — uncomfortable but not at all painful,” James said.
“There is no pain involved,” said Brenda. “It was nice of the county to set this up for us.”
Longtime County Pocket resident Stuart Malin walked over to take advantage of the testing next door. Thaler put the word out to neighboring communities, and people from Ocean Ridge, Lantana and West Palm Beach came to the Briny test site.
“What they told us was right,” Briny resident Peter Theodoroff said after exiting the swab tent. “It’s uncomfortable but bearable. I’ve had many worse operations than this.”
Ann Carmody rose from the test seat laughing. “I wasn’t screaming,” she said.
Having lived in Briny for 31 years, Carmody, 85, has witnessed her share of crises, natural and manmade, local and global. But 2020 is a year unlike any other in the last three decades.
“I’ve seen a lot, but never a world like this,” she said. “Isn’t it awful?”

Crowds that gather on the Ocean Avenue Bridge and its fishing pier helped leaders decide to postpone this year’s fireworks in Lantana. 2019 photo by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana reversed course during the June 22 Town Council meeting, postponing its Fourth of July fireworks show. Until then, the town had planned to have the pyrotechnics display from a barge in the Intracoastal Waterway next to Bicentennial Park but without the traditional celebration in the park.
With the coronavirus pandemic lurking, one by one towns and cities up and down the coastline have been putting the kibosh on fireworks.
Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Deerfield Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth Beach and North Palm Beach canceled or postponed fireworks and other Independence Day gatherings for fear of community spread of COVID-19. Like cities nationwide, they have been advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not to hold events with large crowds.
Since March, council members in Lantana said they wanted the $30,000 Zambelli fireworks show to go on, even if the party in the park wouldn’t be part of it. Residents were being encouraged to watch from their homes. All town parks in the vicinity — including Sportsman’s Park across the street from Bicentennial; Lyman Kayak Park just around the corner; and the beach, a short hike over the bridge — would be closed, blocked off with police officers standing guard.
Then on June 29, Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner announced that all beaches — including Lantana’s — would be closed for the July 4 weekend, as well.
Before making the decision to postpone fireworks, Lantana officials were asking people not to cram together to watch the show from the bridge — or anywhere.
But Police Chief Sean Scheller said keeping people off the bridge — historically a favorite spot for watching the fireworks — would be a problem. He said he was concerned about crowd control.
He wasn’t the only one worried about unruly crowds. Dave Arm, president of the Lantana Chamber of Commerce, begged the Town Council to cancel the fireworks. He said he feared mayhem on East Ocean Avenue, the town’s downtown restaurant and shopping district.
“Considering what’s going on in the country, where people are using different circumstances as an excuse to make trouble, I don’t want to see windows broken from my member businesses on Ocean Avenue,” Arm said. “I don’t want to see people hurt. And I don’t want to see Lantana in the national news because we were stupid enough to have fireworks.”
Arm said it would be “insane and irresponsible” to have fireworks this year.
Council member Malcolm Balfour, who made the motion to postpone fireworks until a later date — perhaps New Year’s Eve or next April for the town’s centennial celebration — said he thought fireworks should not be held, especially with the number of COVID-19 cases steadily increasing.
Vice Mayor Lynn Moorhouse said he couldn’t second the motion for postponement — the thought of it made him sad, he said — but inevitably he voted in favor of delaying fireworks, as did all council members.

Fireworks a go in WPB

One city you can find fireworks is West Palm Beach. The Flagler event at the waterfront will not happen this year. Instead, fireworks will be launched from two different and undisclosed north and south locations so as many people as possible can see them.
Residents are encouraged to have a “POP” — a party on the porch. The city created a series of videos to help patriots party at home. Content includes how-to videos for recipes, decorations and games.
While many will be able to see the fireworks from their homes, anyone can watch by tuning into WPBF 25. Through a special partnership, the Hearst Television-owned ABC affiliate will broadcast the fireworks live to everyone in the station’s viewing area. Hubbard Radio’s seven West Palm Beach stations will broadcast fireworks music in concert with the event.
West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James said that, while Fourth of July plans might look a little different, they are no less significant for the city. “In fact, I’d say they are more significant this year than in years past,” James said. “We are celebrating the culmination of 125 years strong and pushing through this pandemic together.”
Residents and others from the area are encouraged to partake in a full afternoon of at-home entertainment, with the 15-minute show as the grand finale. Before the fireworks show begins, residents are encouraged to support local businesses by ordering takeout through West Palm Beach Eats, a restaurant delivery service, and stage their POPs. The DIY Event Guide (www.wpb.org/government/community-events/diy-event-guide) content will help people host their own events, using common and inexpensive household items. The videos were released on June 14. People are encouraged to post pictures and videos of their POPs to social media, using #WPBTogether, to join the virtual DIY Fourth of July celebration.

Other holiday plans

Delray Beach: Although the city canceled its fireworks display on the beach and Atlantic Avenue festivities leading up to the main event, some family-friendly festivities remain. They include: adorning houses and yards with red, white and blue decorations to compete for the Most Patriotic House honor; submitting favorite patriotic family or pet photos, and family recipes for the Fourth of July Digital Scrapbook; and joining the first virtual Independence Day Parade on July 4. For more ideas, visit www.delraybeachfl.gov/our-city/things-to-do/4th-of-july.
Boca Raton: The Recreation Services Department will present “Red, White & Blue in Boca,” a weeklong virtual celebration ending on July 4, on the Boca Raton Recreation social media pages and the city’s YouTube channel. 
 “In lieu of our annual Fabulous Fourth of July Celebration, we will be celebrating virtually as a community all week long,” said Monika Amar, community events coordinator. “Families are welcome to join in on any of the activities to create their own fabulous and festive Fourth of July holiday from home.”
Throughout the week, several patriotic-themed videos will be posted, including how-tos, festive craft and game ideas to do at home, backyard grilling tips, recipe and drink tutorials and much more. A few of the features include: the Children’s Science Explorium with a fireworks experiment; Mizner Park’s Cielito Artisan Pops with a patriotic popsicle demo; Tomasso’s with a patriotic pizza how-to; and blogger Heather McMechan from Local Mom Scoop with a recipe for making a Star Spangled Watermelon Salad with your kids. 
For details, follow Boca Raton Recreation on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Boynton Beach: The city postponed its fireworks celebration, which was supposed to include city centennial-related events during the day. The fireworks will be rescheduled when Zambelli, the fireworks supplier, has time to suggest options to the City Commission. Stay tuned.
Lake Worth Beach: The city postponed its Fourth of July fireworks and celebration until Labor Day.

Members of the staff of Cornell Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine at Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach. Photos provided

Stories from pandemic are being preserved for posterity

By Ron Hayes

On July 3, 1918, a Boca Raton pioneer named Frank Chesebro made a brief notation in his diary: “Got out egg plant seed,” he wrote. “Buried a boy named Rogers in cemetery.”
Three days later, he made another notation:
“Buried second Rogers boy. Got out pepper seed. Picked pines.”
The cemetery was a single acre then, situated at what is now an entrance to the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, just across the roundabout from the Boca Raton Resort & Club.
We know Frank Chesebro had donated that acre in 1916. We know John E. Rogers was only 10 years old when he died, and we know his brother, Jasper H., was 8.
But we don’t know what killed them.
Could it have been the Spanish flu pandemic, which appeared that spring and would claim about 50 million lives, including as many as 800,000 in the U.S., before subsiding the following summer?
“We’ve always wondered,” says Susan Gillis, curator at the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum. “Could they have died of the Spanish flu? But we haven’t been able to document that.”
Now, a century later, another pandemic is sweeping away lives throughout the world. This time, area curators and archivists want to make sure that people 100 years from now will know what life was like for us during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.
In addition to the Boca Raton Historical Society, the Boynton Beach City Library and Delray Beach Historical Society are asking residents to share memories, photos and other memorabilia of their lives under quarantine.
“We’ve been getting a lot of photos, a donation of face masks, and student submissions from the schools,” says Patricia Fiorillo, the assistant curator at the Boca Raton Historical Society, who’s leading its campaign. “We’ve had a lot of photos of graduation signs in front of houses. I’d like one of those signs.”
A fourth-grader named Jacob took the lockdown with grown-up patience.
“My cousin Chris graduated,” Jacob wrote, “so we celebrated at our house. Quarantine changed our lives but there is still joy to spread; we’re in this together.”

At the Boynton Beach City Library, archivist-librarian Georgen Charnes wants residents to know they don’t have to be a doctor on the front lines of the virus or an ICU nurse to have a story worth saving.
“We tend to think of history as famous people or wealthy people,” Charnes says, “but it’s the stories of ordinary people that give people in the future a sense of what life was really like now.”
Hudson Hilburn arrived in Fort Pierce on April 8, a healthy baby girl born during an unhealthy time.
“This is not how I expected to bring a baby into the world,” Julia Christy Hilburn wrote the Boynton library’s project. “I pictured a waiting room full of family all anxiously awaiting Patrick to tell them Hudson has arrived and how much she weighs.
“Instead we asked a friendly neighbor to FaceTime so my grandma could see her first great-grandchild. Instead, we nervously told everyone we were headed home only to tell them they couldn’t stop by.”

 Kenya Spear of Delray Beach shows her crocheting.

Winnie Edwards, executive director of the Delray Beach Historical Society, began soliciting donations in early March.
“When you’re researching things like an old hurricane, you go to mainly the newspapers, but it’s really hard to find those personal stories unless somebody wrote them down. With this pandemic happening in our lifetimes, I know everybody’s got stuff on their phone, and I thought we’d better collect it now.”
So far, Edwards reports, she’s gathered more than 100 contributions, including this optimistic essay from Kenya Spear of North Swinton Avenue.
“I swim about four times weekly, participate in Yoga/Meditation at The Delray Beach Library on Atlantic Avenue. (Now, I meditate here, at home alone, and some times do Yoga, but it is not the same as being in a group.)
“I miss volunteering at The Arts Garage and at The Boca Raton Library Bookstore, tutoring children, helping with their reading and math, playing cards with friends, visiting The Norton Museum, walking in the park near Lake Ida Road.
“Amazingly, I now have time and finally, patience and I have rediscovered an old favorite passion, crocheting. It is tremendously relaxing, rewarding. And I feel accomplished, productive. I look at my completed items and know that I am blessed. I have options. I am thankful. I am safe and alive.”
Someday, Edwards hopes, she will work with commercial photographer Matt Sturgess of 4th Avenue Photography to turn the videos, photos and poetry into a documentary. But like the other archivists, she has put no deadline on submissions.
The history hasn’t ended because the pandemic hasn’t ended, and so the collecting continues.
Someday soon, they hope, the COVID-19 pandemic will become, like the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, history.
And this time, that history will have been preserved.

Delray’s Jim Chard in mango season.

The Rogers boys did not stay in Frank Chesebro’s cemetery. When Addison Mizner began to build his resort, the cemetery was moved to 10 acres on the northeast corner of Second Avenue and 16th Street. And in 1943, they were moved again, to the present cemetery on Southwest Fourth Avenue. Their graves are still there.
Did they die of the Spanish flu?
Perhaps. But in 1918, the entire state of Florida had fewer than 1 million residents, and fewer than 1,000 deaths were reported statewide.
“Palm Beach County was not super densely populated, so there was a lot of space between people in 1918,” Patricia Fiorillo of the Boca Raton Historical Society said. “Social distancing wasn’t that hard back then.”

How to contribute
• Boca Raton Historical Society: Send submissions to research@bocahistory.org with the subject line “Letters to the Future,” or mail to the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum, 71 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton, FL 33432.
• Boynton Beach City Library: Go to boynton-beach.org/library/share-your-covid-19-stories for instruction and links.
• Delray Beach Historical Society: Email video diaries, essays, poems, photos and artwork to info@delraybeachhistory.org

Intense rains the weekend of May 25 flooded many of the town’s roads, including Briny Breezes Boulevard.
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

A healthy 11.1% rise in taxable property value means the Briny Breezes Town Council will have more revenue to work with as it takes on several important projects during the next budget year.
Town Manager William Thrasher told the council during a budget workshop on June 25 that the Palm Beach County property appraiser has assessed the town’s valuation at $59.7 million, up from last year’s $53.8 million, the fourth-largest percentage increase among the county’s 39 municipalities.
That’s the good news. The challenging news is that Briny has some bills to pay.
Most notable among them is the cost of doing major maintenance work on the town’s seven lift stations. The pumping units are essential to moving stormwater out of the town and into the sewage collection system.

Thrasher said the lift stations will need an extensive overhaul after many years of service, and they are needed more than ever now because of the new Gulf Stream Views development in the County Pocket that is straining the area’s drainage capability.
“The estimated cost for each lift station is $11,000, somewhere in that range,” Thrasher said, citing evaluations from Harvel Utility Construction, the town’s contractor. “These things are really essential. It’s kind of scary if something malfunctions.”
Thrasher recommended using a $25,000 surplus from last year’s budget to begin overhauling the stations. Council members agreed, and said they wanted to try to complete work on two stations per year until all were restored.
Other significant expenses include $30,000 for a Tallahassee lobbyist to help bring state grant money to Briny and $8,500 to complete work on changes to the town’s charter and put them on the ballot in March 2021.
On Thrasher’s recommendation, the council approved a 9.2% raise to $32,500 a year for Town Clerk Sandi DuBose, who oversees building permit processing. Council President Sue Thaler suggested setting money aside to give Thrasher a raise, but he rejected the idea, saying he didn’t need one and the budget was too tight. The manager, who earns $37,500 a year in the part-time position, told the council to give his raise to the town’s staff instead.
“You help me when you help them,” said Thrasher, who with DuBose started working for the town in January.
Briny will again be capped at the statutory tax maximum of $10 per $1,000 of homeowners’ property value. The town receives about 36% of the cost for fire-rescue and police services from the Briny corporation — an annual total of roughly $417,350 goes to Boynton Beach for fire-rescue and $192,300 to Ocean Ridge for police.

In other business, Bobby Jurovaty, chair of the town’s charter review committee, told the council during its regular meeting on June 25 that he expects the panel’s work to be done by September.
Jurovaty said the goal is to make changes “that are cost-effective and improve the town’s ability to function.”
Since its incorporation as a municipality in 1963, Briny has operated without a formal town charter, relying instead on a hodgepodge collection of resolutions, ordinances and amendments.
The review committee hopes to update existing rules, procedures and definitions and send the revisions to the voters for approval in the March election.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach commissioners decided unanimously June 16 to rehire the previous internal auditor on an as-needed basis.
Julia Davidyan, who resigned in January, will be paid $160 an hour and junior accountants in her firm, JMD Premier Group Inc., will receive $80 an hour.
City voters overwhelmingly said in a March 2016 referendum they wanted an internal auditor. It took more than two years for the city to hire one. The internal auditor reports directly to the commission, as do the city manager and city attorney.
Davidyan played a lead role when her investigation found the prior city manager had engaged in “unprofessional and arguably unethical” actions. She testified at a special commission meeting held March 1, 2019, that led to the firing of Mark Lauzier.
But in early June, two city commissioners did not think Delray Beach needed an internal auditor. Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston and Commissioner Adam Frankel wanted to have a workshop to discuss the need for one.
“We have a new city manager who is getting his team in place, then we were hit by the pandemic,” Boylston said at the June 2 meeting.
But Commissioner Juli Casale wanted to move forward.
Davidyan’s “audit plan for fiscal year 2019 found we were high risk in four areas: information technology, finance, purchasing, and parks and recreation,” Casale said June 2. “Everyone will know what she is doing.”
The June 2 vote was split, 3-2, with Boylston and Frankel voting no.
Then-City Manager George Gretsas entered the fray when he met individually with commissioners to try to convince them an internal auditor was not needed.
The main reason, according to his PowerPoint, was that city department heads had at most three years’ experience in their positions.
On two slides, he questioned whether the internal auditor was “an in-house assassin.”

Lisa Marie Browne, standing in front of a mural inside Dreyfoos School of the Arts, fell in love with the mission of the school. Her involvement grew to the point that she now chairs its foundation. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

An invitation to a Dreyfoos School of the Arts luncheon 15 years ago proved to be more than an eye-opener for coastal Boca Raton resident Lisa Marie Browne. It was a revelation.
“The last board chairman, Simon Offit, invited me and he told me how successful these students were and how hard they work,” said Browne, who was recently named to succeed Offit as board chair of the Dreyfoos Foundation.
“At the luncheon a girl named Ariel, who weighed about 98 pounds, got up and belted out these songs from Broadway,” Browne recalled. “And then two pianists sat down and played side-by-side and I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing. I found myself sitting there saying, ‘These are students. These are students.’”
Browne was so intrigued she asked to take a tour of the school, after which she was invited to serve on the board. A few years later she became vice chair, a position she held 10 times prior to succeeding Offit, who retired after serving as chairman for 23 years.
“At the time Louis was about 9, and I found myself getting more and more involved,” Browne said of her son. “It was, ‘OK, you’re having an event, I’ll do this. You need someone to tutor, I’ll do that.’”
Her observations made her admiration for the school grow.
“I learned how hard the students work, and how they come from every walk of life imaginable. From the student whose mom is bagging groceries at Publix, to ones coming from other countries — we even had students we took care of during hurricanes. It’s a great public high school.”
Browne’s loyalty to the program was tested a few years ago. She was involved with the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, had close friends in Broward County and was considering a move to get closer to both.
“But I have to live in Palm Beach County to be on the board,” she said of Dreyfoos. “Ultimately I knew if I moved that would no longer be the case. So, it played into my decision to stay.”
Browne, 60, is the single mother of Louis, now 24, an aspiring actor living in Manhattan.
Dreyfoos is not her only passion. A trip to Florence, Italy, years ago introduced her to the Uffizi Gallery art museum and she’s been closely connected ever since. Today, she serves as executive director of Friends of the Uffizi Gallery, a U.S.-based nonprofit whose mission is one of art conservation, historic preservation and education.
An opera lover, she is a lifetime member of the Florida Grand Opera. She is also a member of the Highland Beach chapter of UNICO, the largest Italian-American service organization in the country. In February she accompanied six friends on a three-week trip to Australia and New Zealand.
“I enjoy experiencing firsthand new customs and cultures,” Browne said. “This time we were extremely lucky, to make it back before our country shut down” because of the coronavirus.
— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I grew up in the small peninsula town of Bayonne, New Jersey, and attended Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School in a community dominated by Italian-Americans.  It was there that I developed my lust for travel.
In the 1980s, I moved to Boca Raton and attended Florida Atlantic University, earning a B.S. in developmental psychology.  During an art therapy master’s course I was invited to join a docent program at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, which changed my course of study to this day.  I was enchanted with the arts and how art reveals history, both past and present. I have been supporting and teaching the arts on a daily basis ever since.

Q: What professions have you worked in?
A: My very first work experience was at Burger King … my dad called me the Burger Queen. I then worked in business in different office positions. My favorite position found me 14 years ago when I was asked to become the executive director of the Friends of the Uffizi Gallery, a 501(c)(3) U.S.-sanctioned organization created in Palm Beach County supporting the preservation of the artwork in the Uffizi in Florence, Italy.

Q: What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: Laocoön and His Sons was a monumental yearlong onsite restoration at the Uffizi Gallery set behind a plexiglass barrier allowing museum visitors to see the restorers at work. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Adoration of the Magi was a 6-year-long restoration project that at completion revealed never-before-seen areas on the masterwork.
In 2019 my friends and family supported the Uffizi’s newest room, The Titian Room, featuring the Venus of Urbino.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Never be afraid to embrace a second chance.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in coastal Boca Raton?
A: I remember vividly the first time I entered Boca Raton via A1A from Deerfield Beach.  The street screamed out to me as the asphalt changed from black to white upon entry. I was enchanted at that moment and still today I am thankful to be a Boca Raton resident. 

Q: What is your favorite part about living in coastal Boca Raton?
A: The sunshine and easy access to everything — especially the beach, parks, the turtles, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, the proximity to airports and the smiles on the face of every tourist that enters our magical world.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: I am reading Art in Renaissance Italy for an art and architecture class I am taking online. 
The “Crazy Rich Asians” series was my last fun read, so much so that I read it twice. Historical fictions are my all-time favorites.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: Andrea Bocelli for relaxation and soulful pop for inspiration.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: Yes, I was blessed with strong, intelligent and kind parents as my first mentors.  One girlfriend that inspired me was my friend Davey, who is now in heaven.  Davey’s wisdom was worth writing in books. During a crisis she traveled to Florence, Italy, to study art.  Years later, I mimicked her therapy during my own change in life. Studying art history in Italy for me was life-changing.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: Julianna Margulies. She’s someone I admire as an actress.

The new Fire Station No. 1. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

Boynton Beach held a soft opening of its new Fire Station 1 on June 3. As part of the city’s Public Art program, a mural featuring a collage of photos of the city’s fire rescue staff had been installed in the station’s lobby windows the day before, facing Northeast First Avenue.
Elected leaders, development partners and the media joined the walk-through of the new station, as mural artist Lynn Doyal enthused about her first public art project.
The next day, the mural was removed.
The reason? The mural was altered from what had initially been approved by the city’s Arts Commission. The faces of two Black ex-fire-rescue leaders had been whitewashed and made indistinguishable. Photos of the altered mural were posted on Twitter and Facebook starting on the afternoon of June 3.
The altered mural created an uproar in the community at the same time as widespread unrest over race and policing followed the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man who died while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
In Boynton Beach, Black people make up nearly 32% of the population, according to the July 2019 U.S. Census estimates.
Retired Deputy Chief Latosha Clemons, whose mural images were altered, grew up in and still lives in Boynton Beach. She and local Black church leaders say her legacy as the city’s first Black woman firefighter was erased.
“I sincerely apologize this occurred and will take every measure necessary to ensure this never happens again,” wrote Lori LaVerriere, city manager, in a public apology issued late June 4. “Please understand that this unfortunate incident is not indicative of our values.”
At the Arts Commission’s June 11 meeting, members agreed to reinstall the mural they approved in November, restoring Clemons’ image.
But the controversy led LaVerriere to fire Debby Coles-Dobay, the Public Art director, and seek the resignation of Fire Chief Matthew Petty on June 6. Both former staffers are white.
Still, the Black community was outraged.
Rae Whitely, spokesman for the Boynton Coalition of Clergy, said someone sent him photos of the doctored mural on the morning of June 4.
“I was upset because I know Latosha personally, knew her passion for the job and firefighting,” Whitely said. “Throughout history there were examples of Black history being erased. Here, it was happening in our backyard.”
Whitely immediately called Woodrow Hay, a Black city commissioner for District 2, where the new fire station sits. Hay promised to do something, according to Whitely.
As the clergy spokesman, Whitely sent the city a massive public records request on June 8.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Whitely said. “A lot of people are wondering: What is the full story? We are not jumping to conclusions. We want to know what happened.”
For Clemons, her emotions ranged from shock when she first saw photos of the altered mural to hurt to disrespect to outrage.
“I was on the committee that created the artwork,” she said at a June 17 news conference held outside her West Palm Beach attorney’s office.
She explained how she came to be a Boynton Beach firefighter. Back in 1995, she met with the city’s first Black fire chief, Floyd Jordan. He stood 6 feet 7 inches, and Clemons’ height is barely over 5 feet.
“‘Chief, think I have what it takes to do the job?’ He rose from his chair. He takes hold of my shoulder and says, ‘Latosha, you can do this,’” she said.
When Clemons saw photos of the altered mural, she felt bad for herself and the Black girls in Boynton Beach.
“I had a sense of pride as the first and only Black female in the department. It was bigger than me. It was for the whole community to be able to walk by the mural,” she said. “The hopes and dreams are shattered of the young girls.”
She wants to know why it happened and who made the changes. She also wants to see a thorough investigation. Clemons and her attorney, Nicole Hunt Jackson, filed a public records request with Boynton Beach to find the answers.
“We’re reviewing all of our options,” Hunt Jackson said, when asked if Clemons was planning to sue.
Clemons did not apply to be the chief after Glenn Joseph left that position in late November. As the city’s second Black fire chief, his face also was whitewashed. He did not respond to numerous phone messages seeking comment.
Little information has been revealed about why the mural was modified, and many questions remain.

The top half of the image shows the altered portion of the mural and the bottom shows the photo used by the artist.
Photo provided

At its November meeting, the city Arts Commission members approved a mural called Community Heartbeat. The mural is a collage of firefighters in action and at city events with a red heartbeat line running through. Doyal was paid $7,500 for her work.
Commission member Clovis Moodie, who is Jamaican American, wanted to ensure the photos represented the city’s culture and diversity.
The members did not see the altered mural that was installed.
Coles-Dobay, the fired Public Art manager, wrote in a June 4 email to the city manager that the mural was modified in April at the direction of Petty and Fire Marshal Kathy Cline.
Cline was also a participant in the April 20-23 emails with Petty and Coles-Dobay about the mural changes, but Cline’s role was not described.
Cline referred questions to the new Assistant City Manager Kathy Matos. Matos sent the questions to the city spokeswoman, who declined to explain Cline’s role in the altered mural.
On June 19, Coles-Dobay told The Coastal Star that senior fire rescue staff assured her the city manager would approve the changes.
Petty did not return cellphone messages.
Matos said she heard that retired Fire Chief Joseph did not want to be in the restored mural. Nicole Banks, the assistant Public Art manager, will contact the current and former firefighters who appear in the mural, in case they change their minds about wanting to be in it.
The results will be given to the Arts Commission members at their July 9 meeting.
At the City Commission meeting on June 16, LaVerriere announced that Ray Carter, retired fire chief, has agreed to lead the Fire Department for the rest of the year.
“That will allow us to do a nationwide search,” she said.
The commission had received numerous emails in support of Coles-Dobay’s contribution to the city’s Art in Public Places program and her professional role as a mentor to artists locally and internationally, Mayor Steven Grant said.
“Please reconsider her firing,” said artist Barb Lentz, who owns the ArtSea Living Studio in Boynton Beach. Lentz was one of 13 artists who spoke at the webinar-style meeting.
Despite the pleas, the commission supported the city manager’s decision to fire Coles-Dobay and seek the resignation of Petty.
“Two prominent Black individuals were removed. One still lives in District 2 and has family here. I am offended,” Commissioner Christina Romelus said at the June 16 meeting. “I’m grateful for the work of Coles-Dobay in helping put us on the map for the arts. But erasing and defacing people is not an excuse.” Romelus is Haitian American.
“Debby Coles-Dobay became a close friend of mine when I entered the political world in 2007,” Commissioner Hay said. “It still boggles my mind — what was she thinking that this would not come out?”
The new fire station is part of the city’s ambitious Town Square project, estimated to cost $250 million. The city’s estimated share is $118 million. The station began operating on June 10 and provides service in east Boynton Beach and the barrier island towns of Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes.
The city has announced that the new City Hall and Library building will open on July 7.

On May 25, Liz Loper photographs the muddy waters that flowed into her home on Winthrop Lane for multiple days. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

May storms turned into floodwaters in some parts of the county. Especially hard hit were the County Pocket and Briny Breezes.

By May 29, the waters on Winthrop had receded, but not disappeared as state Rep. Mike Caruso and County Commissioner Gregg Weiss toured the area and sought input from a dozen of the neighbors.

‘This is Palm Beach County and we should not have homes underwater,’ Caruso said.

On June 24, Caruso sent a letter to the Palm Beach County administrator requesting a meeting to clarify road ownership and discuss health and public safety in the County Pocket.

Mary Ford, manager and employee of Vince Canning Shoes for over 14 years, helps Judy Uhrman, a customer of seven years, try on shoes during a going-out-of-business sale. The family’s store Tootsies remains across the street. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Christine Davis 

Mark and LaRonda Denkler, owners of longtime family-run Atlantic Avenue store Vince Canning Shoes, announced that it was closing in June.
The Denklers have owned the store since 1994, buying it from Mark’s uncle, Vince Canning Jr., when he retired. Canning took the reins from his father, Vince Sr., in 1957, and Vince Sr. bought the shoe store in 1952.
“It was a timing thing,” Mark said. “The lease came up. We still have the lease on Tootsies just across the street, which we bought in 2015.” That shoe store will continue to operate with the best selections from both stores.
In 2015, the Denklers decided they could run both stores in the 300 block of East Atlantic and share staff. Tootsies carried styles with a more contemporary vibe, such as 3-inch heels, a little different from the more “mature, sensible shoes” that Vince Canning sold, Mark said. “But once we figured out what the market was, we don’t have 3-inch heels anymore.” It’s the 1.5-inch heel that appeals, he’s learned.
In addition to the lease’s ending, “we really didn’t want to fight the coronavirus slowdown,” he said. “We missed out on our two biggest months and we were overstocked in both stores. We got caught with tons of inventory.”
Nonetheless, it’s sad to see Vince Canning close, he said. “It’s a family legacy. My family has owned it since 1952. We tell our customers — they are sad, too —  that Tootsies will have a lot of the brands that they liked. We’ve taken the best of both stores, molding them into a shoe store to service our clients.”
Remaining shoes from Vince Canning are being sold at a discount at Tootsies. Employees at Tootsies wear masks or face shields; surfaces are sprayed clean; employees wash their hands often; and customers are limited to 20 at a time. “We are trying to operate as safely as we can for our customers and ourselves,” Mark said.

Other nearby retail businesses in Delray Beach that closed when their leases were up include Fresh Produce and Shining Through. Two new restaurants are Hawkers Asian Street Fare, 640 E. Atlantic Ave., and End of the Ave., 1155 E. Atlantic Ave. A Blast from the Past moved to 812 E. Atlantic Ave. and Johnnie Brown’s, 301 E. Atlantic Ave., reopened after renovations.
“The downtown is currently still in a reopening phase based on the current order,” said Laura Simon, executive director of the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority. “We have several businesses that have not renewed their leases — some based on timing and others related to closure due to the pandemic. The vacancy rate is still very low considering the situation, and rests at 7%, which is where we normally hover.”

U.S. Construction is proposing its second oceanfront condo project in Delray Beach. The city’s Site Plan Review and Appearance Board on June 24 approved plans for Echelon at 1625 S. Ocean Blvd. A subsidiary of U.S. Construction, 1625 South Ocean LLC, purchased the 1.17-acre site for $12.3 million in January from the owners association of the Delray South Shore Club. The 15-unit timeshare would be demolished to make way for construction.

Plans for Echelon received preliminary approval from Delray Beach in June. The proposed three-story condominium will have 14 units and be just south of Atlantic Dunes Park. Rendering provided

The three-story Echelon will have 14 units ranging from 2,745 to 3,543 square feet, each with three bedrooms. The development will have a pool deck facing the ocean, a fitness center and 35 parking spaces, two underground for each unit and seven for guests. There will be a 24-hour concierge.
Prices have not been announced, but condos at Ocean Delray, which National Realty Investment Advisors and U.S. Construction are building nearby at the former Wright by the Sea, are listed from $5.7 million to $9 million.
The site is a block north of Linton Boulevard and just south of Atlantic Dunes Park. Part of the project is east of the Coastal Construction Control Line and will need approval to build from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, city staff said.
Four former timeshare owners unhappy with losing Delray South Shore are continuing a lawsuit seeking to unwind the sale.

The 10,154-square-foot waterfront home owned by Lars Nilsen at 1428 N. Ocean Blvd., Gulf Stream, sold for $10.5 million to Matthew H. Peltz, a board member of Wendy’s Co. The sale was recorded June 9.
The seller, a real estate investor from Norway, was represented by Candace Friis of the Corcoran Group. Devin Kay of Douglas Elliman represented the buyer. Nilsen paid $8.7 million for the property in 2008, and then built a new home situated on 1.87 acres, with highlights that include a home theater, a gym, a massage room, a guesthouse and a dock. 

Crocker Partners, a company that owns, operates and develops office and mixed-use projects, donated 1,500 square feet of space at its Boca Raton Innovation Campus to The Junior League of Boca Raton’s diaper bank, which serves 5,000 children annually and has distributed over 4 million diapers since 2011.
“This incredibly generous gift will help us provide diapers to local families in need, enabling babies and toddlers to attend day care, thus allowing their parents to go to work,” said Cristy Stewart-Harfmann, president of the Junior League.
Crocker Partners’ Angelo Bianco, managing partner, and Giana Pacinelli, marketing director, were instrumental in arranging the lease and partnership agreement in May.

The diaper bank recently distributed 100,000 diapers to 19 nonprofits that help needy people.
Typically, the group distributes 600,000 diapers each year, but the demand has grown because of the economic repercussions of the coronavirus. Some of the diapers were secured through the organization’s Amazon wish list and some were made possible through monetary donations.
Some 280,000 diapers were donated by the National Diaper Bank Network, to which the league belongs. All My Sons Moving & Storage delivered them.
“We are glad we were able to help with this large shipment that will in turn be delivered to so many families in need during these challenging times,” said Jameson Olsen, the company’s director of marketing and business development.
To donate diapers, email diaperbank@jlbr.org and a volunteer will pick up the donation. Or use the Junior League’s Amazon wish list and have diapers shipped directly to the organization’s headquarters. The link for the wish list is  http://a.co/6hoQI8P.

The Senada Adzem team of Douglas Elliman recently delivered more than 1,000 washable children’s masks and several infrared thermometers to Florence Fuller Child Development Centers in Boca Raton, which reopened its doors June 1.
Adzem’s team turned to a second nonprofit, one based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for assistance with its contribution to Florence Fuller. Adzem commissioned the Association of Persons with Cerebral Palsy and Dystrophy in Goražde to produce the face masks for children of different ages. The nonprofit employs family members of patients with cerebral palsy and dystrophy.

National Council on Compensation Insurance recently donated almost three tons of food to Boca Helping Hands, which is seeing an average of 2,025 new families and individuals needing food services each day. Its pantry bag distribution has risen from 150–180 bags per day to more than 230, and it now serves an average of 324 meals per day — double what the organization usually serves.
NCCI employees recommend and select the charities that the company supports each year through the NCCI Cares program, which has helped many charities near the company’s Boca Raton headquarters.
The program also has generated community support that included more than $460,000 raised in the last two years for the United Way of Palm Beach County; more than $15,000 donated to Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse; more than $20,000 raised to support hurricane relief efforts; 263 pairs of shoes donated to children in need; and care packages totaling 260-plus pounds sent to Kids’ Chance of Florida scholarship recipients.

 A Delray Beach-based company, Safe Space Scan Technologies, recently made available its new infrared temperature scanning technology. It complies with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards for business reopenings.
The 3S07T scanner, which features proprietary technology, is FCC certified and can scan for elevated temperature and mask compliance in less than one second. People without masks and/or with elevated body temperatures will receive audio alerts, as will business or building management. The Safe Space Scanner sells for $1,499.
For more information, visit www.safespacescan.com or call 888-819-7226. 

Steve Plunkett contributed to this column.
Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com. 

By Steve Plunkett

Boynton Beach has wrested the lead from Boca Raton as South County's coronavirus hotspot, with 669 cases reported as of June 4.

Boca Raton has 660 cases, while Delray Beach has 518 reports.

By Mary Hladky

Former Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie’s trial on public corruption charges has been postponed until Sept. 21 due to disruptions caused by COVID-19.

Prosecutor Brian Fernandes and Bruce Zimet, Haynie’s criminal defense lawyer, agreed to cancel a scheduled July 20 trial and to set the new trial date because the pandemic has made it difficult to complete pretrial discovery. They also were concerned that not enough potential jurors would be available in July. Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen agreed to the new trial date on May 28.

A March trial date also was postponed.

Haynie was arrested on April 24, 2018, on charges of official misconduct, perjury, misuse of public office and failure to disclose voting conflicts. She faces more than 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors contend that Haynie, 64, used her position on the City Council to vote on six matters that financially benefited James Batmasian, the city’s largest downtown commercial landowner, and failed to disclose income she had received from him.

Haynie has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Zimet has repeatedly said she will not accept a plea deal.

Then-Gov. Rick Scott suspended Haynie from office, but she never resigned. Her option to reclaim the mayor's post ended March 31 after Boca Raton voters elected Scott Singer, who was elevated from deputy mayor to replace Haynie during her suspension, to a full term as mayor succeeding her.

By Jane Smith

The city’s reclaimed water program, spawned in 2006 with the intent to stop the spewing of millions of gallons of wastewater into the ocean each year, was haunted from the beginning by mismanagement and lack of oversight, City Manager George Gretsas said on May 5.

“There was negligence and a lot of things that should not have happened,” Gretsas told Delray Beach city commissioners at their virtual meeting. “The mismanagement is very clear. There was a decade of it … lack of contractor oversight. No records were kept. It was a real problem for us as we’re trying to fix it.”

If Gretsas had to give the program a grade, he said it would be D-minus, and only that because it was well intentioned. Delray Beach shut down the system Feb. 4 to avoid a citywide boil-water order that the Florida Department of Health wanted amid an investigation into complaints that reclaimed water had mixed with drinking water.

The city is turning on the reclaimed water in phases with approval from the health department. Of the city’s 1,236 reclaimed water customers, 72% have that service restored, Gretsas said May 19. Another 15% are awaiting some type of property owner action, according to Gretsas. An additional 13% are awaiting inspection.

Thirty barrier island homes were found to have the reclaimed lines installed closer than 3 feet to the drinking water lines, according to an April 29 city email to state health officials. A 3-foot distance between pipes is required by Florida Department of Environmental Protection rules. The city wants to restore the reclaimed water now and move those pipes later. Local DOH leaders were mulling whether to allow that as of mid-May.

Once the system is restored, all violations will be forwarded to the local health department legal team, Steve Garcia, a DOH environmental supervisor, wrote in a May 11 email.

The reclaimed water lines provide partly treated wastewater meant solely for lawn watering. The lines were installed as part of a settlement that Delray Beach reached with state and federal regulators to stop sending raw sewage into the ocean.

The city must reuse 3.85 million gallons a day by 2025, according to the settlement. Its current level is 2.85 million gallons daily.
Most of the city’s water customers on the barrier island have reclaimed water service for lawn irrigation. The golf courses, city parks and facilities and master-metered communities west of the interstate also use reclaimed water.

On April 22, the city found its first crossed connection under the current investigation, according to DOH emails. Crossed connections happen when the drinking water lines are mistakenly connected to the reclaimed water lines. The DOH insisted the city issue a boil-water order for the 30-unit condominium, Ocean Place at 120 S. Ocean Blvd.

“I remember my wife boiling pots of water,” said Bob Victorin, an Ocean Place resident and Beach Property Owners’ Association president.

The condominiums were approved to use potable water for the irrigation system for 90 days while the property manager locates and corrects plumbing issues, Missie Barletto, assistant Public Works director, wrote in a May 18 email. “Once the repair has been completed, the condominium property will be returned to reclaimed water for irrigation.”

Debbie Lynott, who lives on Miramar Drive, said she noticed residents using old-fashioned sprinklers to water their lawns in February. Her reclaimed water lines were not installed until early April. Her service was turned on April 30, according to the city. “I’m used to being forgotten,” she said. “My house is the only home on Miramar between Gleason Street and Venetian Drive.”

Former Mayor Cary Glickstein wrote in a May 11 email to The Coastal Star that he was not told of any problems when he was in office from 2013 to 2018. “Further, neither I nor my commission colleagues were made aware of any system functionality problems during any public meetings.”

Glickstein, who lives on Waterway Lane, as of May 11 was among those waiting for his reclaimed water to be restored.

Current Mayor Shelly Petrolia said, “I’m hoping this is a one- and only-time debacle. The system has to be revamped. We need to figure out who is responsible, including for the backflow devices — the homeowner or the city.”

Even so, the city’s delayed response caused frustration.

In mid-April, after the reclaimed water system was restored along Del Haven Drive, the city failed to open all valves. That forced Ken MacNamee to spend time checking his sprinkler system, checking the circuit breaker and finally opening the meter pit where he discovered the closed valve. He borrowed a plumbing tool from a neighbor to open the valve.

“This is just another gaffe in this drawn-out debacle,” MacNamee wrote in an April 20 email.

Residents on Del Haven and four streets north were the first on the barrier island to see their reclaimed water restored, on April 17. Their systems were activated in late 2018. Gretsas, who started as city manager on Jan. 6, received a letter on Feb. 4 requiring the city to issue a boil-water order citywide.

The Florida DOH had received a complaint Jan. 2 about cross connections between drinking and reclaimed water. Christine Ferrigan, an inspector with the Utilities Department, provided notes to the investigation showing how the program was mismanaged from the start.

Gretsas, though, persuaded the DOH leaders to agree that the city would shut off its reclaimed water citywide to investigate. He wanted to avoid the boil-water order, which would have forced the hospital and restaurants to comply.

The city had to hire a contractor to create a database showing the locations of the drinking water and reclaimed water meters and the presence and types of backflow preventers on the drinking water systems.

City staff discovered that 237 reclaimed water customers citywide didn’t have backflow preventers, Gretsas said March 2.
The devices are an extra layer of protection against the mixing of reclaimed and drinking water.

“We were not doing the types of things that need to be done in asset management,” Gretsas said. “We just didn’t know where the devices were.”

That lack of information was evident in a spreadsheet the city sent to the DOH on March 6. It had many blank spaces, lacking dates when the reclaimed water was first connected, when the backflow devices were installed and when they were reinspected.

In addition, Delray Beach went with backflow preventers that have a 5-year lifespan because they were cheaper, Gretsas said city staffers told him.

But that should change soon with new management, he said.

Hassan Hadjimiry will start June 2 as the city’s water utilities director.

Gretsas said he did a national search and found the best candidate nearby. Hadjimiry retired May 5 from the county as its deputy director of water utilities.

Hadjimiry, who started with the county in 1982, was named as the Water Reuse Person of the Year in 2009. The Florida Water Environment Association has given the statewide award annually since 2004.

Once Hadjimiry starts work, city commissioners will have options put before them.

They can select the types of backflow preventers, an inspection and replacement program or, if they prefer, go to injecting the reclaimed water underground — which would be more costly, Gretsas said.

The commissioners also will hear about the costs of fixing the system. They include paying overtime for city staff, hiring contractors and consultants, adding new backflow devices, and providing water and a crew to irrigate lawns while the reclaimed water system was down. The amount spent since Feb. 4 was not available.

Delray Beach has hired a company run by Fred Bloetscher, a Florida Atlantic University associate dean in the engineering department, to investigate the reclaimed water program, Gretsas said.

To the city’s reclaimed water customers, Gretsas said, “I’m sorry this happened and sorry it went on for a decade.”

By Steve Plunkett

Businessman and magazine publisher Richard Lucibella has lost his courtroom quest to be cleared of all charges resulting from a backyard dustup with police in 2016 when he was the town’s vice mayor.

The 4th District Court of Appeal affirmed without comment Lucibella’s February 2019 conviction of misdemeanor battery on Ocean Ridge police Officer Richard Ermeri.

The appellate judges delivered comparatively swift justice, issuing a “per curiam affirmed” on April 16, just seven weeks after oral arguments. The court’s website advises that a panel can take up to six months to reach a decision. Despite losing his appeal Lucibella, 66, hailed the overall case as a win. During his criminal trial he was found not guilty of two felonies: resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer.

“In the end, I’ll settle for 99% vindication, for now,” he said.

The charges stemmed from an Oct. 22, 2016, confrontation in Lucibella’s backyard as police investigated reports of gunfire phoned in to 911. During a face-off Lucibella poked Ermeri with his finger through the officer’s bulletproof vest, “a forceful poke,” Ermeri, who has since been promoted to sergeant, testified at the original trial.

Leonard Feuer, Lucibella’s appellate lawyer, told the judicial panel on Feb. 25 that Lucibella had a right to defend himself after Ermeri, Officer Nubia Plesnik and Sgt. William Hallahan showed up.

“I’m not seeing this show of force” by the police, Judge Alan Forst said. “Clearly they weren’t invited in, but they didn’t come in with guns blazing.”

Senior Assistant Attorney General Melynda Melear, representing the state, told the judges that Lucibella “walked into” Ermeri’s extended arms before he was arrested.

“It was the defendant who provoked the aggression in the first place,” she said.

Feuer filed a motion on April 27, a Monday, asking the court to rehear the case, issue a written opinion and certify it as “an issue of great public importance.” The judges denied the request the following Friday.

Lucibella criticized the decision.

“In order to issue an opinion, the 4th DCA needed to rule on the legality of these officers entering my property. They chose to kick that down the road by not issuing a written opinion,” Lucibella said.

“Regardless, the (Circuit Court) jury found the officers to be acting outside their authority — that’s why they ruled my actions as simple battery vs. the original charge of battery on a law enforcement officer.”

Lucibella, who is chief executive of an “accountable care organization” for doctors and publishes a magazine for gun aficionados, is still the target of a civil lawsuit by Plesnik that accuses him of battery and negligence. His lawyers in that case have scheduled a deposition of Ermeri in June.

Friday, May 1, was a beautiful morning. The ocean was radiantly supercharged from the rainstorm the preceding afternoon and crystal-clear smooth from a cool, offshore breeze. How well I know and love these weather metrics!

Under normal circumstances, I would have pursued my swimming regimen: 350 strokes freestyle out, float, pause, somersault in about 10 feet of water a half-dozen times, 350 strokes parallel to the shore and then back to sun dry on a beach towel. Then I return home from my secluded spot, 2-plus miles past the catamaran hangar site at the north end of Delray Beach.

And, yes, I go on foot, along the shoreline. I enjoy the solitude my regimen provides. I stand about as much chance of catching the novel coronavirus en route as a snowball has of being made in hell.

The Gulf Stream police know who I am: A worried member of a nearby roofing crew summoned them because he spotted me so far out to sea swimming with joyful abandon.

Hey, bungee boarders, surfers, sailboarders, kayakers, fellow distance swimmers, snorkelers, paddleboarders: We’re “together, forever, as one!” to quote Chris Cuomo.

It ought to be readily apparent to the police, lifeguards and all others in positions of authority that the folk engaging in these activities, while doing so, pose no threat to social distancing. These are not contact sports, people!

And since we arrive accessorized for our chosen activity, we are readily discernible from the throngs who want to sunbathe, wade, socialize and party hearty. (Mind you, I’m not condemning anyone for that, but now we are living the “new normal.”)

Undeniably, tri-county South Floridians must heed concessions to their lifestyles. However, I was aghast to see people paddleboard and kayak in the Intracoastal Waterway, with the beach being a prohibited access to the ocean. The Intracoastal is neither a healthy nor safe place for those activities. I recently spotted the “beach closed” sign at the intersection of A1A and Woolbright — how draconian! The virus doesn’t care … people need to use good judgment and common sense to avoid it.

And finally, there is the sargassum seaweed cycle, which will soon head toward our local beaches. It’s part of the natural world here and we have to allow for it, unpleasant though it may be. The ocean beckons and we must make smart choices with regard to the health benefits it offers us.

— James W. Stonehouse
Delray Beach

LETTERS: The Coastal Star welcomes letters to the editor about issues of interest in the community. These are subject to editing and must include your name, address and phone number. Preferred length is 200-500 words. Send email to editor@thecoastalstar.com.

While many of us could choose to live anywhere in the world, we chose to live in Ocean Ridge because it is a small, welcoming and tightknit community. We love the beach, we love interacting with our neighbors, we love our freedom and we love our police force and safety.

I ask that we embrace these strong core values as we continue to transition to our “new normal.”

We have pulled together as a community. We have made meals and regularly check on our housebound and elderly neighbors. The Ocean Ridge Garden Club sewed and distributed over 350 masks to the town staff and the community at large.

Town staff have been dedicated and worked countless hours of overtime. And we have done our best to keep everyone safe and informed with flyer distributions, signage throughout the town and over 25 update messages to residents in the area.

We are grateful that Ocean Ridge — and the surrounding barrier island communities — have remained relatively healthy. Our long term, solid relationships with our neighboring elected officials have proven to be an asset during these uncertain times.

We are cautiously optimistic as we reopen our tennis courts, golf courses, clubhouses and community pools on a limited basis. Our beaches are now open also. Forced isolation is waning.

Yet, the need for social distancing, wearing face coverings and being a good neighbor is as important as ever. I ask all residents to remain vigilant and patient.

Our goal is and always will be the safety of our residents and staff. Be safe and be well.

Kristine de Haseth
Mayor, Ocean Ridge

LETTERS: The Coastal Star welcomes letters to the editor about issues of interest in the community. These are subject to editing and must include your name, address and phone number. Preferred length is 200-500 words. Send email to editor@thecoastalstar.com.

By Jane Smith

When Neal de Jesus abruptly left the Delray Beach fire chief position earlier this year, he received $136,300.56. His contract called for 180 days’ pay, or $131,198.40. “The 180 was not severance,” City Attorney Lynn Gelin wrote in an April 15 email to the city manager. “Instead of keeping him on paid leave during the 180 (which would have included payment for his benefits, his housing allowance, his use of the city vehicle, and his phone allowance), this was how the matter was settled.”

If it had been severance, de Jesus would have received only 20 weeks of pay, or $72,888, the maximum allowed under state law. City staff, including Gelin, declined to discuss the de Jesus payout, saying they do not discuss personnel matters.

De Jesus, though, did not give 180 days’ notice. He resigned and left his city job on the same day, March 10. His annual salary was $189,508.80.

He left during an investigation of sexual harassment claims involving a woman employee. De Jesus had hired the woman while he was serving his second stint as interim city manager.

On Feb. 27, Gelin hired the labor law firm of Allen Norton & Blue to investigate the claim, based on allegations of suggestive texts that de Jesus had reportedly sent last fall. Suhaill Morales, of the firm’s Coral Gables office, issued a report on March 26 stating she had interviewed several female city workers, including department heads, along with the woman employee. She tried to interview de Jesus, but the ex-fire chief declined unless his lawyer was present.

Morales found “insufficient evidence to conclude that (the woman employee) was subjected to unlawful harassment.”

She recommended that all employees be issued copies of the city’s harassment and reporting policy and acknowledge receiving them with signed receipts. Also, Morales advised the city to provide its managers with training on its harassment and complaint procedures.

Gelin declined to say whether she followed the suggestions, again saying the city does not comment on personnel matters.

By Rich Pollack

In what might be shaping up as part of a continuing battle over beach-compatible sand offshore, Highland Beach is hoping to find ways to keep the valued but rapidly vanishing resource off its coast from going to neighboring cities.

It may be an uphill fight, however. The town has no legal claim to the sand used to replenish beaches, according to one attorney who specializes in coastal issues, and state regulators have already approved plans to dredge offshore for Boca Raton beach restoration projects for the next several years.

The question of whether Highland Beach has a way to stop another government from removing beach-compatible sand from a nearby “borrow area” surfaced after residents complained about offshore dredging done in March to restore Boca’s public beach.

That North Boca Raton Beach Nourishment Project is complete, but additional projects in Boca that may result in dredging off the Highland Beach coast could begin in 2026.

The issue of how to preserve offshore sand first surfaced in Highland Beach during a commission meeting in May after Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman began looking into the residents’ complaints. She told fellow commissioners that a limited quantity of beach-compatible sand exists off Highland Beach — sand that is about the same size and color as that on the beach — and that much of it is likely to go to other communities for their restoration projects.

She also found that Boca has a permit good through 2028 from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to remove sand off the town’s coast for additional projects.

“We are aware the town of Highland Beach does not own the sand off our shores,” she said. “Our concern is that if a catastrophic hurricane such as Michael or Andrew strikes Highland Beach, wipes out our beaches and puts residents’ homes at risk, we could not rebuild our beach with our offshore beach-compatible sands because it would have already been removed.”

Sand for Boca Raton beach renourishments through 2028 will come from the shaded area, the same area used for a project finished in April. SOURCE: City of Boca Raton

What the town can do to prevent other communities from depleting sand off its shore, if anything, is still being explored. During their second May meeting, commissioners agreed to hear a presentation at their June 2 meeting from a coastal engineer and discussed possibly interviewing environmental attorneys should legal action be needed.

The commission is also considering asking for reports from the state Department of Environmental Protection to show that all permits are being complied with.

“The goal here has got to be to stop further removal of the sand,” Commissioner John Shoemaker said.

While the dredging has stirred up concerns among some vocal residents who want to act quickly and firmly, Mayor Doug Hillman favors a more methodical approach.

“We need to hear from people who know more about this than we do,” he said. “We haven’t heard from somebody who knows what damage has been done to Highland Beach other than taking sand we might need someday. We still have a lot to learn here.”

Engineers and scientists studying coastal areas say the concern about the limited quantity of beach-compatible sand is legitimate.

Dr. Stephen Leatherman, a professor and director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University, says such sand is getting harder to find, especially off the South Florida coast.

And once the sand is taken from borrow areas, it is essentially gone.

“Borrow areas do not regain sand within the time span of hundreds of years except in rare situations,” he said.

As a result, sand has to be trucked in from other areas, including from mines southwest of Lake Okeechobee. Bringing sand in by truck could be costly.

“Cost is related to distance,” said Gordon Thomson, a South Florida-based coastal engineer with W.F. Baird Associates. “Therefore most municipalities will take it from as close as possible.”

In the case of the North Boca Raton project, which began on March 10 and ended on April 7, sand was taken from a spot about 1,600 feet offshore designated by the state as Boca Raton Borrow Area V.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project (Boca Raton was the non-federal sponsor) placed about 550,000 cubic yards of sand on Boca’s beach, according to a city spokeswoman.

Borrow Area V held 1.35 million cubic yards of sand before the project, according to the permit for the work issued in February. Two more areas off the coast of Highland Beach that are listed on the permit application as borrow sites hold about 5.65 million cubic yards.

Boca Raton estimates that two additional projects scheduled for 2026 would likely draw sand from the borrow areas and would result in about 1 million cubic yards being placed on its beaches.

An additional permit for the future projects would not be required unless the plans have significant changes, according to a spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

One issue that concerns Gossett-Seidman and some residents is what they consider a mislabeling of the location of the borrow areas in the permit application. Although a map in the application labels the area west of the borrow area as Boca Raton, the area is in fact Highland Beach.

That is not an issue, the state DEP spokesperson said, because the agency uses “reference monuments” or coastal survey markers to map project boundaries, not municipal boundaries.

Should the town challenge the existing permit for Boca, it would likely have a tough time.

“The town of Highland Beach has a lot of obstacles if it wants to challenge the permit now,” said Ken Oertel, a Tallahassee lawyer who specializes in environmental and land use law.

Oertel said that challenges to a permit are accepted during a 20- or 30-day review period prior to approvals. After that time, it is very rare for challenges to be considered.

“Once that door closes, you’re pretty much out of luck,” he said.

Gossett-Seidman and other commissioners said they hope the issue can be resolved amicably through conversations with neighboring towns.

“A long-term cooperative program is what I’m currently proposing,” she said.

By Mary Hladky

Michele Miuccio, who had served as Boca Raton’s interim police chief since Dec. 1, has been promoted to police chief.
She assumed her new role on April 27.

Miuccio has been with the department for more than 30 years, starting as an officer and rising through the ranks to deputy chief.

Miuccio replaced Dan Alexander, who retired as chief on Nov. 30 after he was hired by the Palm Beach County School District to fill the newly created position of director of school police, serving as second-in-command to school district Police Chief Frank Kitzerow. Alexander led the city police department for 13 years.

“While serving as the interim police chief for the past five months, Michele’s steadfast leadership has provided consistency in the department’s mission and service,” City Manager Leif Ahnell said in an announcement of her promotion. “I’m confident the police department will continue to thrive and grow under her direction as chief.”

“I’m humbled by the opportunity to serve in this position and work alongside the dedicated men and women who keep Boca Raton safe and protect our residents,” Miuccio said in the announcement. “Together, we can make one of the finest police agencies even better.”

The city’s police department has 216 officers and 107 civilian employees. Police officer starting salaries were increased to $70,198 last year.

By Jane Smith

Boynton Beach and Delray Beach have promoted their interim fire chiefs to chief in their respective cities.

In Boynton Beach, Matthew S. Petty, 39, was promoted to fire chief on March 9 by the Boynton Beach city manager.

In Delray Beach, Louis “Keith” Tomey III, who had served as interim fire chief three times, was named the chief on March 31.

Petty, previously deputy chief, took over as interim chief on Nov. 29, after Glenn Joseph resigned to contemplate a career move.

In 2008, Petty joined Boynton Beach as a firefighter. Over the years, he rose through the ranks at the department.

“I’m very excited to lead the organization and better serve the community,” Petty said.

His salary is $150,000. Boynton Beach has contracts with the barrier island towns of Briny Breezes and Ocean Ridge to provide fire-rescue services.

Tomey, 56, is making $165,239. He became the interim chief on March 10 after Neal de Jesus resigned while the city was investigating harassment claims against him.

Tomey has spent more than 33 years in the fire service.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to be appointed to lead this great department,” Tomey said in a prepared statement. “Together, we have accomplished so much in the past few years. My goal is to keep moving forward and to keep improving.”

Tomey, whose father was also a fire chief, started his career in Miramar in 1986, when he was hired as a firefighter/paramedic. He rose through the ranks at Miramar Fire Rescue and eventually served as fire chief from January 2014 to December 2016. Then, he was hired at Delray Beach Fire Rescue as assistant fire chief.

Tomey promoted Battalion Chief Greg Giaccone to the rank of assistant chief in charge of operations.

Delray Beach provides fire-rescue services to the towns of Gulf Stream and Highland Beach on the barrier island.

Increase mainly due to thefts from unlocked cars

By Rich Pollack

South Palm Beach County’s small coastal communities saw crime increase in 2019, bucking both countywide and state trends, but their total number of crimes still remained low.

While Highland Beach, Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge, Manalapan and South Palm Beach saw an uptick in major crimes, the area’s larger cities all experienced declines.

Numbers released by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for 2019 show that South Palm Beach, Manalapan and Ocean Ridge each had small increases in reported crimes, while Gulf Stream and Highland Beach saw larger increases.

In all, the five small communities had 117 reported crimes, up from 78 in 2018.

Larcenies, which can be anything from missing items to thefts from unlocked cars, were up significantly in Gulf Stream and in Highland Beach.

Gulf Stream recorded 12 larcenies in 2019 compared to two the year before, while Highland Beach had 28 larcenies compared to 19 the prior year.

Seven of the dozen Gulf Stream larcenies were thefts from unlocked cars and one was theft from an unlocked landscape trailer. The town reported one auto theft, which was the result of keys being left in an unlocked car.

Thirteen of Highland Beach’s 28 larcenies were thefts from mostly unlocked vehicles, according to Police Chief Craig Hartmann.

“The simple message we’ve always had is lock your car doors,” Hartmann said.

That message has also been extended to lock all the doors in your home.

Highland Beach saw burglaries jump just from one in 2018 to six last year, with four of those occurring a few minutes apart. They were attributed to three females who entered the homes through unlocked back doors. The out-of-town suspects, two juveniles and an adult, were arrested and charged in connection with the break-ins.

Locking doors, Hartmann says, not only helps reduce the loss of valuables but can also serve as a deterrent for future crimes. If thieves find that residents are locking doors, they are less likely to return to that community, he said.

Crime in South County’s larger cities continued to fall for the second year in a row. Boca Raton recorded a 7.7% decline, Boynton Beach a 7.5% drop and Delray Beach a 6% reduction.

In Lantana reported crimes dropped 9% following a 6.2% increase the previous year.

Any crime in Briny Breezes prior to Oct. 1 was included in the Boynton Beach numbers while those after Oct. 1 were reported by Ocean Ridge.

Countywide, major crimes declined about 8% while crime statewide dropped 6.3%, according to the FDLE’s Uniform Crime Report.