By Brian Biggane

BOYNTON BEACH — Near the end of a lengthy interview with Ken and Cat Hilgendorf concerning the recent death of their daughter Capri Grotowski, Ken summed up all the two had said previously: “She was our hero.”
They are not alone. Mrs. Grotowski, who spent her formative years on Hypoluxo Island in Lantana before becoming a star beach volleyball player and spent the last eight years coaching the sport at Florida Atlantic University, died June 25 at age 38 after being treated for breast cancer for almost a decade.
“It never slowed her down,” said FAU volleyball coach and best friend Fernanda Nelson. “She made us better every day. It didn’t matter if she was going through chemo or in a bad depression, she came in with a smile every day ready to work.
“It was pretty impressive. She was a very special person,” Nelson said.
“Our student-athletes loved playing for her,” FAU Athletic Director Brian White said. “She was all about all the right things, and as a result they were all about all the right things. They had as strong a culture as any program I’ve ever been around.”
Ken Hilgendorf described his daughter as “kind of a tomboy” growing up who decided at one point that “grape soda wasn’t healthy, so she stopped drinking it.” She excelled in sports at Lake Worth High School, playing volleyball, softball and soccer — and didn’t allow anyone to push her around.
“She had a soccer game at Palm Beach Lakes and an opponent came up from behind and knocked her down,” he remembered. “Capri got herself up and near the end of the game she got her back.”
Named to the elite Super Six in volleyball, she earned a scholarship to Northwood University (now Keiser University) in West Palm Beach, earning MVP honors all four years. She then played the pro circuit before turning to coaching at FAU, taking over a beach volleyball program in 2014 that Nelson had begun only a year before.
It was during orientation that first year that the cancer was diagnosed.
“She had gone to her doctor nine months prior and told him she had a lump in her breast and he told her there was nothing to worry about,” Ken Hilgendorf said. “She trusted this doctor, and he basically took my daughter from me.”
Asked how she handled that news, he said, “Her oncologist said it perfectly. The reason why she loved coaching so much is she never identified herself as a patient or a victim. She just fought the fight.”
“Capri was one of those special people,” said Dave Stewart, next-door neighbor to her family on Hypoluxo Island and former Lantana mayor. “Very considerate, very caring, very ambitious.”
In a short time she built the FAU program into a powerhouse. The Lady Owls boasted four All-Americans during her tenure — including two last season, when they reached the 16-team NCAA Tournament and beat powerhouse Stanford before losing to eventual champion Southern Cal.
Her eight-year record was 128-86.
“The success they’ve had is unprecedented for any program here athletically,” White said, “and they also led the athletic department in team GPA. Just a very impressive group to be around.”
As the years passed and the hoped-for remedies failed to materialize, Mrs. Grotowski looked into dendritic cell treatment as a possible cure. Told her cancer was too far advanced for her to undergo the treatment in the U.S., she and her mom traveled to Cologne, Germany, for five weeks and had it done by the doctor who created it.
Mrs. Grotowski, who resided in Boynton Beach, leaves behind her husband, Steve, a former England Olympic volleyball player who was her assistant coach and is now head coach at FAU; along with son Cayd, 11, and daughter Kyah, 8, as well as her parents and older brother, Ken Jr.
FAU will hold a celebration of life to honor her from 1-3 p.m. on Sept. 11.
“She was an inspiration to all of us,” Fernanda Nelson said. “The way she handled the cancer, sometimes you wouldn’t remember she had it. She was just incredible.”

By Ron Hayes

HYPOLUXO ISLAND — Don and Alice Edge moved into their Hypoluxo Island home on April 9, 1959.
Two years earlier, the young architect had bought the 6,000-square-foot lot on Southeast Atlantic Drive for $6,000. He designed the house, paid a local contractor to put up the walls and supports, and then built the rest himself.
In the early hours of Aug. 24, Mr. Edge died in his sleep in that home. He was 95, and during 63 years on the island, he devoted himself to the area’s past and future with a spirit that made his time there local history, too.
“Don Edge and I became good friends over a shared passion for history,” said Michelle Donahue, publisher of the Brown Wrapper, the island’s history newsletter. “His first-person account of many Palm Beach County and Hypoluxo Island historical events brought stories to life in ways you just can’t get from a book.”
Donald Richard Edge was born in Detroit on Jan. 25, 1927. He joined the U.S. Navy at 18 and then attended the University of Michigan on the G.I. Bill, graduating with a degree in architecture.
Mr. Edge delighted in telling friends he decided to move to Florida after stepping off a Detroit sidewalk into a pile of cold winter slush.
Arriving in 1952, he found work with architect Byron Simonson in a one-room Palm Beach office. When the firm won a contract to build La Coquille, a small resort hotel in the Manalapan dunes (where the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa now stands), Simonson created a rendering and Mr. Edge drafted the detailed drawings from which the contractor worked.
Until its demise in 1986, La Coquille was a fashionable gathering spot for the Vanderbilts, Fords and Whitneys.
“I didn’t associate with the classy members,” Mr. Edge recalled for The Coastal Star in 2019. “They knew I was a flunky. But I did get the first drink from the bar. The bartender was setting up for the opening night gala, and he asked me if I wanted a drink.
“A Manhattan, I think.”
In the late 1950s, when William Benjamin was developing Point Manalapan and had applied for a permit with the Army Corps of Engineers to construct a small bridge connecting the island from Audubon Causeway to A1A, Mr. Edge joined his neighbors in opposing the proposal.
“Together with a group of Manalapan residents, Don took Benjamin to court to stop construction of the bridge and won,” Donahue said. “Today, Hypoluxo Islanders truly enjoy and are grateful for the open waters of the lagoon due to Don’s efforts and perseverance.”
In 1956, he married Alice Nan Divine, and four years later he opened his own office in the same Palm Beach building where he’d first found work eight years before.
As an architect, Mr. Edge designed the Lantana Town Hall, Recreation Center and Beach Pavilion. He built Seventh-day Adventist hospitals in several states, and drafted plans for the 1972 wraparound of the county’s 1916 courthouse, his firm’s most controversial project.
When the wraparound was removed in 2004 to reveal the original courthouse, now the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, Mr. Edge was not pleased.
“I still don’t think that old courthouse is a gem,” he would say. “I guess I’d consider myself a modernist.”
But he didn’t hold a grudge. In 2007, he donated 270 historic architectural drawings to the historical society, some from architects Addison Mizner and Marion Sims Wyeth.
Alice Edge died in 2009 after 53 years of marriage.
“She was fantastically good for me,” Mr. Edge said. “She was outgoing while I was kind of inward bound.”
The couple had three children, including Nancy Davis of Seattle.
“He was very gentle and kind,” Davis said. “He was a true inspiration to me. He made every day worth living. There was no sadness in his world. He was, ‘I’m just going to get up and go as long as I can.’ He was out in the workshop making things until the day before he died.”
The secret of a good life, Mr. Edge believed, was a good wife and a lack of stress — and a lack of stress came from having a good wife.
In his home, he kept a photograph of Alice as a teenager on a table in the living room, where each evening he enjoyed a glass of wine, as they had shared one together for so many years.
In his final years, after his doctor forbade alcohol, Mr. Edge switched to nonalcoholic wine, but kept the evening tradition.
When his caretaker arrived on Aug. 24 to find him dead, he was still wearing his wedding ring.
In addition to Nancy Davis, he is survived by another daughter, Carol Edge of Fernandina Beach, and a son, Karl Edge of Tallahassee.
A celebration of Mr. Edge’s life will be held later.

By Larry Barszewski

The Coastal Star received five first-place awards and 14 overall in the Florida Press Association 2022 Weekly Newspaper Contest for non-daily newspapers.
The articles receiving first-place recognition covered a variety of topics, from inspections of aging condos, to newly found photos of a ship that wrecked off Manalapan’s coast more than a century ago, to a Valentine’s look at the love letters and the enduring affection between former Florida Atlantic University head football coach Howard Schnellenberger and his wife, Beverlee.
“These awards recognize the excellence our experienced reporters and editors bring to the local community,” said Executive Editor Mary Kate Leming. “Their contributions shine a light on the people, places, governments and activities in our coastal cities and towns, giving readers a sense of place and inclusion in our unique coastal area.”
The association presented the awards at a ceremony Aug. 5 in Ponte Vedra Beach near Jacksonville.
Though it comes out monthly, The Coastal Star competed against weekly newspapers in a division for papers with circulations over 15,000.
The paper’s top awards went to:
• The staff, led by reporter Joel Engelhardt, for in-depth reporting, non-investigative, with its look — following the Surfside condo collapse — at the number of aging condos in coastal South Palm Beach County.
• Ron Hayes, with two first-place awards. The first, in the feature story, non-profile category, was for his story about the Delray Beach Public Library providing free laundromat services to homeless people. His second came in the community history category, for a story about one historian’s efforts that uncovered photos of the Lofthus, which ran aground off Manalapan in 1898.
• Brian Biggane, in the sports feature story category, for his poignant telling of the Schnellenbergers’ decades-long love story.
• Janis Fontaine, in faith and family reporting, for a pair of pandemic-related stories: one on how the musical director at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Boynton Beach was able to rediscover his creative passion during the pandemic lockdown; the other on how Jehovah’s Witnesses responded after they had to put their communal gatherings and door-to-door visits on hold because of COVID.
Second-place awards went to:
• Rich Pollack for general news story;
• Larry Keller for education feature story;
• Gretel Sarmiento for arts, entertainment and review reporting;
• The Coastal Star staff, for general excellence.
Third-place awards went to:
• Keller for faith and family reporting;
• Tara Mitton Catao for arts, entertainment and review reporting;
• Pollack and Jane Smith for local government reporting;

• The Coastal Star staff for overall graphic design and for website excellence.

Related stories: Boynton Beach: City, PBSO end talks on merger|Commission selects police captain to be city manager

By Tao Woolfe

Boynton Beach’s two top public safety officers — the police and fire chiefs — have been elevated from interim to permanent status.
Interim City Manager Jim Stables, in announcing the appointments last month, said he hoped the promotions would bring stability to the city’s leadership team, which has been in flux since early spring.
Police Chief Joseph DeGiulio had served as interim chief of the Boynton Beach Police Department since May, when acting chief Vanessa Snow left the force.
Fire Chief Hugh Bruder stepped up to serve as interim chief in April when Stables, the former fire chief, left his post to serve as interim city manager.
Both DeGiulio and Bruder have extensive leadership experience.
DeGiulio has been with the Boynton department for more than 20 years. Before becoming interim chief, he served as assistant police chief for the uniform services division.
DeGiulio brought advanced training programs to the department, including tactical first aid, fair and impartial policing and de-escalation.
He was also responsible for implementing the body camera program, the Narcan/naloxone program and tactical fitness and wellness programs.
The police chief earned a master’s degree in leadership from Palm Beach Atlantic University, and a bachelor’s degree in police studies from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
Bruder has had more than 42 years of fire service experience. He joined the Boynton Beach Fire Rescue Department in 2020 as deputy fire chief. Since then he has reorganized the department’s administration so that more firefighters could be deployed in the field.
His other priorities have been fostering labor/management relations; improving staff morale; and helping secure grants for a new fire boat, EMS equipment and infrastructure for emergency communications.
Bruder also revamped critical incident management and peer support programs for the police and fire departments, and helped create a new community outreach program.
Bruder, an Air Force veteran, holds an associate’s degree in emergency medical services, and a bachelor of science degree in public administration/fire service management — both from American Medical Academy in Miami.
“Both of these public safety leaders have spent a lifetime nobly serving others, while qualifying and climbing the promotional ladders in their respective areas and collaborating to enhance the mental wellness of their employees,” Stables said in a prepared statement.
“These well-deserved promotions will bring further stability to our leadership team and to the overall public safety of the community.”

Harvey E. Oyer Park, on North Federal Highway, will be closed for renovations from Sept. 12 through mid-November.
During those months the Boynton Beach park’s three boat ramps will undergo a $1.25 million face-lift and are scheduled to reopen just in time for the winter season.
The work will be paid for by Palm Beach County’s 1-cent sales surtax and the Florida Inland Navigation District.  
For more information call 561-742-6239.

Pioneer Canal Park seeks your votes for prize money
In other boat ramp news, the city is competing for $75,000 in prize money to add a boat ramp and observation deck at Pioneer Canal Park at 848 NW 13th Ave.
The city is asking residents to visit niagaraperkyourpark.com/parks/pioneer-canal-park and vote for the Pioneer Canal Park project.
The “Perk Your Park” contest is offered by the National Recreation and Park Association. Pioneer Canal Park is one of five South Florida parks in the competition.
If the city wins one of the top three spots — and the $75,000 in prize money — the improvements would allow access to waterway activities that include kayaking, boating, fishing and observing wildlife.
Voting runs through Sept. 12, and each individual may cast a vote daily. Winners will be announced on Oct. 12.
For more information call 561-742-6220.

Related stories: Boynton Beach: City, PBSO end talks on merger|Interim public safety chiefs win permanent status

By Tao Woolfe

Daniel Dugger, a captain in the Boynton Beach Police Department, was chosen as the new city manager after a lengthy and contentious special City Commission meeting on Aug. 30.
The field of three candidates was unexpectedly winnowed to two early in the evening when interim City Manager Jim Stables announced he was dropping out of the running.
Stables said he would resign from his post as of Sept. 30 to return to Tennessee and his family.
“I have been honored to serve with such a great team,” Stables said, referring to the city staff.
Stables had been a top-choice candidate of all five city commissioners. Besides Dugger, the other top candidate was Robert Curnow, a deputy city manager in Coral Springs.
At a City Commission meeting on Aug. 16, Mayor Ty Penserga had asked his colleagues to choose three to five favorite candidates from a pool of about 40. The special meeting on Aug. 30 was to determine what steps to take next.
Penserga said the commissioners had three options — continue to choose among the existing candidates, hire an outside headhunting firm to broaden the search, or have the Boynton Beach Human Resources Department re-advertise the job.
Then he opened the discussion up to the public.
The rest of the evening was a kind of verbal free-for-all, with many residents and non-residents speaking for and against Dugger and airing other grievances about the city and the commission.
Those who praised Dugger — and there were many — said he was invested in the city and its people, he is well liked, and brings 18 years of experience with the city to the job.
“We need somebody who is passionately invested, someone who has the whole city in mind — Dan Dugger,” said resident Jim Sussic, summing up the prevailing sentiment.
Those who spoke against Dugger knocked him for not having the minimal qualifications for the job.
Even before the special meeting, residents familiar with the candidates were urging commissioners to hire a headhunter to conduct a nationwide search for more qualified candidates.
That advice was repeated throughout both meetings, but the commission chose to ignore it.
“We are not Greenacres. Hire a headhunter to bring in executive level professionals,” resident Barbara Ready said at the Aug. 16 meeting.
Ready said she had looked at the entire pool of candidates and found most of them lacking in city manager-level experience.
At the Aug. 30 meeting, Ready again urged the commissioners to hire professionals to help find a city manager who would understand the complex workings of government and truly be a leader.
Commissioner Woodrow Hay, the only commissioner to vote against Dugger, was also in favor of hiring a headhunter.
Vice Mayor Angela Cruz said she had interviewed Curnow for two hours and found him qualified, but that once she had determined he was unwilling to move to Boynton Beach, she decided against him.
Commissioner Aimee Kelley agreed.
She added that Dugger’s experience with the city police force more than made up for his lack of credentials.
Penserga did not really discuss his rationale, but voted with the majority.
The city attorney and human resources staff will draft an agreement and contract with Dugger and bring it back to the commission at a future meeting.
Dugger holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Phoenix. He has risen through the city police ranks from patrol officer to detective first-grade. He became a sergeant in 2016 and last year was promoted to captain, according to his application.
Curnow holds a master’s degree in public administration from Barry University.
Curnow has worked for the city of Coral Springs for the last 10 years. He joined as an infrastructure manager, made his way up to assistant city manager and was named deputy city manager in 2019.
Stables was tapped for the interim city manager position at an April 25 special City Commission meeting. He had been the city’s fire chief for a little more than a year at the time.
The unanimous vote for Stables as interim city manager came days after the commission fired City Manager Lori LaVerriere after 10 years on the job.
It remains unclear exactly why LaVerriere was fired.

The Ocean City Lumber Co. property in Delray Beach, with its distinctive water tower and historical train depot, owed much of its preservation to Janet and Tim Onnen, who sold it in August. The original lumber company’s history dates to 1920. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

The distinctive water tower in downtown Delray Beach marks the charming Ocean City Lumber Co. property, which sold for $30 million in a deal recorded on Aug. 8.
Owned and developed by Janet and Tim Onnen, the 48,474-square-foot mixed-use complex was sold to Delray Trio LLC and is managed by Nader Ohebshalom, Babak Ebrahmizadeh and a trust in the name of Isaac S. Ohebshalom, all executives at Gatsby FL.
Representing both sides were Laura Allen and Cecelia Boone, of Southdale Properties Inc.’s commercial division, who brokered the off-market property on behalf of the Onnens. The 2.5-acre site is on the south side of Northeast First Street, from Railroad Avenue to Northeast Second Avenue.
For the Onnens, Ocean City Lumber Co. has been part of their lives since the 1980s. For Delray Beach, it has a history that spans from 1920.
Janet and Tim moved to Florida from Iowa to operate her father’s business, Meisner Electric, in 1983. Soon after, the Onnens decided to move the Meisner offices closer to the center of town.
They started by buying two properties — one where the old Sundy Feed Store used to be, and a window and screen repair shop, which was once part of the Ocean City Lumber Co.’s operation. Then the couple added the lumberyard to their portfolio when the owner defaulted and it went to auction in 1992.
A history buff who was involved with the Delray Beach Historical Society, Janet Onnen became intrigued with the stories of Ocean City Lumber Co.
“I kept its name, because it had historical significance to me,” she said. One bit of folklore that she had heard about: “It was considered a decent place for a husband to hang out, rather than the brothels and bars Delray had at the time,” she said.
Another tidbit she shared: “I found in the old records that the lumberyard was essentially a bank in the early days. When people wanted to build their home or business, the lumber company would lend them the money. The lumberyard was where they could go to make their American dream happen. It financed Delray in the early days for regular people.”
And that makes sense, in a way. In 1920, the lumberyard was started by three partners, Fred Benson, a local bank chairman, J.C. Keen, who ran the company, and attorney C.Y. Byrd.
In 1993, the Onnens added the final parcel of land, an FPL property, and then they replatted their properties.
“We redeveloped it using the same building footprint mostly, with architect George Brewer, between 1993 and 1996,” Janet Onnen said. “With Tim and I in construction, George being a young fun-loving architect, and our great construction team, it was a great project, and by 1996, we started leasing out space. At one time, a water tower was on the lumberyard property, and that’s how we came to build the water tower.”
They added a dilapidated 1896-era Florida East Coast railway station that had been moved west to Sims Road but was originally located across the FEC tracks diagonally from its current location. The railway station is owned by the Delray Beach Historical Society.
After years of involvement with the property and many memories — including sheltering friends and employees at their site during hurricanes — the Onnens are moving on to the next phase of their lives.
“I’m divesting of my responsibilities. I want to do some traveling and sit back and watch the world go by,” she said, adding that her husband is looking forward to that plan, too. “It’s a great location with great tenants and I hope that everything works out for both the tenants and the new buyers.”
Current tenants include the Bru’s Room, PurLife Fitness Center, Ramen Lab, Bond Street Salon, and Coco Sushi Lounge and Bar.

***

Related Group, a Coconut Grove real estate company headed by Jorge Pérez and Jon Paul Pérez, paid $48 million for an apartment complex that is restricted to low-income senior residents, according to public records dated July 22.
The Boynton Bay community, on the southwest corner of Northeast Fourth Street and Northeast 20th Avenue in Boynton Beach, was bought from Boynton Bay Ltd., an affiliate of Delray Beach-based affordable senior housing developer Auburn Communities, managed by Brian Hinners.
KeyBank provided a mortgage in the same amount as the purchase price.
Related Group also signed an agreement with the Florida Housing Finance Corp., a state Legislature-created authority that in part oversees various financing options for affordable housing. The 240-unit Boynton Bay complex was constructed in 1991 on 21.4 acres. It last traded in 2009 for $21.1 million. Related Group’s Related Urban Development Group focuses on building affordable housing.

***

The Delray Beach Housing Authority and AffordableHousing.com conducted their annual children’s backpack giveaway on Aug. 4, inside the Delray Beach Housing Authority. Six hundred backpacks with school supplies were given away.
“We are so glad to have the support of AffordableHousing.com every year. And this year certainly is going to be one of the most important years for kids of all ages to get back to school and back into a routine,” said Charmaine Jackson, executive assistant at the Delray Beach Housing Authority.

***

Airbnb shared findings from the North American Digital Nomad Index that Delray Beach has been named a top-earning destination for hosts with long-term stays. Demonstrating a pandemic-era trend, the report also found that 1 in 5 guests used Airbnb to work remotely while traveling in 2021, and that hosts in the U.S. earned a combined total of $2 billion from long-term stays alone. The report comes just months after Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky told the company’s employees that they could work from anywhere.

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The Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education at Florida Atlantic University recently announced the Gutterman Family Outstanding Holocaust Educator Awards for 2022.
The awards recognize educators who have exemplified through their teaching a positive impact on their schools and the wider community in the field of Holocaust, genocide and human rights education.
Among those recipients was Boca Raton High School teacher Maureen Carter, a resident of Boynton Beach, who has been involved in Holocaust education for more than 25 years. The Gutterman Center will recognize her and two other educators on Nov. 7 at the annual awards dinner honoring outstanding Holocaust educators. The awards enable recipients to participate in an educator field study at Holocaust sites in Poland and Israel. The field study trip should occur in early summer 2023.

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Todd Jackson, president of Fox Public Insurance Adjusters Inc., received the Recognition Award from the Boynton Beach Professionals. The award is the result of a review process and is voted on by the management team of the Boynton Beach Professionals leads group. Awards are presented on an every-other-month basis. 
John Campanola, chairman of the group, said: “This award was created to honor the member who has done the most for the group and the Boynton Beach community. Todd has been tirelessly working to promote the group and all of its members. He is an ardent networker throughout Palm Beach County and especially Boynton Beach.” 
For information on the Boynton Beach Professionals leads group, contact  boyntonbeachprofessionals@gmail.com.

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Flavor Palm Beach is back throughout September, with more than 60 of Palm Beach County’s bistros, diners and restaurants added to its list. It also has a new CEO, Kerri Paizzi, a 20-year restaurant and marketing professional who has helped launch a new mobile app for Flavor. 
At select eateries from Tequesta to Boca Raton, customers can enjoy prix fixe menus for three-course meals for lunch and dinner, with prices ranging from $35 to $65. This year’s most renowned celebrity chef is Michelin Star and James Beard Foundation Award winner Daniel Boulud, who owns Café Boulud in Palm Beach.
To participate in Flavor Palm Beach, simply make a reservation, visit the restaurant and enjoy the menu. For more information, visit flavorpb.com. 

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Boca magazine was named the Magazine of the Year and Best Overall Magazine at the 2022 Florida Magazine Association’s Charlie awards on Aug. 5, in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Boca magazine, produced by JES Media since 1981, also won top awards in several categories, including Best Overall Writing; First Place, In-Depth Reporting; Best Custom Publication, and Best Advertising for a Client.
Boca magazine received silver awards for Best Feature and the “Women in Business” advertising section. Finally, it received a bronze award for Worth Avenue in Best Custom Publication. 

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The Boca Raton Historical Society and the Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum are seeking nominations for this year’s Walk of Recognition. The honor serves as a permanent memorial to individuals and local institutions whose public service has helped build the city and enriched the lives of residents.
The Walk of Recognition is located in Mizner Plaza at Royal Palm Place. A ceremony and reception for honorees will begin at 6 p.m. Nov. 29 at the Addison, 2 E. Camino Real in Boca Raton. Tickets are $85 per person.
For tickets or more details, call 561-395-6766, ext. 106 or see www.bocahistory.org.

***

On Sept. 24, the Boynton Beach-based nonprofit Feeding South Florida, a hunger-relief organization, will host its annual Outrun Hunger 5K in celebration of Hunger Action Month. It will take place at Okeeheelee Park, 7715 Forest Hill Blvd., West Palm Beach. Cost to participate starts at $20. To register visit www.feedingsouthflorida.org/outrunhungerpbc.

Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.

Dave Arm is retiring as Chamber of Commerce president and from his gym business, but won’t leave his love of fishing behind. Here he reels in a sailfish on a trip to Costa Rica. Photo provided

Lantana businessman and Chamber of Commerce president Dave Arm is bidding farewell to the small fishing village he and his wife, Renee, fell in love with in 2006. The couple recently bought a house in Vero Beach, another fishing village about 90 miles north.
“It’s actually very Lantana-ish with a fun little downtown,” said Arm, who turned 70 this year. “It’s time to sit back and relax. Renee deserves to retire, and we want to enjoy our time while we’re still fairly young.”
The Arms owned and managed a gym, Lantana Fitness at 700 W. Lantana Road, for 16 years and sold the property to Enterprise Property Group LLC of Delray Beach for $2 million on June 2.
The building will remain a gym managed by Sarah and Dawn Malega, owners of the Zoo Gym in Lake Worth Beach, where Sarah is also a city commissioner.
Lantana Fitness was to officially become Zoo Health Club of Lantana on Sept. 1.
Arm will also be retiring as president of the Lantana Chamber of Commerce, a post he has held for 10 years — and from being chairman of the fishing derby, the chamber’s biggest fundraiser, for 13 years.
Arm recalled several major highlights of his time with the Lantana chamber.
“One was being involved with our members who are developers who make such an impact on Lantana, from Water Tower Commons to the Related Group’s Water Tower Commons apartments to the 7-Eleven, the Dollar Tree and anything that’s been built recently in Lantana. We’ve tried to help guide them along.
“The other thing was just to be involved in this great community and especially running the fishing derby for so long.”
He has enjoyed working with the town. “The Town Council and the chamber have a great symbiotic relationship, we work so well together on events like the Fourth of July and Winterfest, and their support of the derby.”
No word yet on who will replace him at the chamber.
Before moving to Florida, Arm, who was born in New York City, spent 30 years working for investment firms on Wall Street.
Arm doesn’t plan to retire from his favorite pastime, though.
“Renee and I still enjoy fishing and are looking forward to exploring the Indian River Lagoon and the ocean off Vero,” he said.

— Mary Thurwachter

The Grand Hall at Whitehall, Henry Flagler’s 1902 mansion in Palm Beach. A model of innovation in its day, the house is now home to the Flagler Museum. Photo provided by Henry Morrison Flagler Museum

Beat the heat in five air-conditioned house museums open to public

By Scott Simmons

Let’s get this out of the way first — it’s hot!
And, we know, we know: You’re looking for places to chill this never-ending summer.
So, we invite you to get out of the house by cooling your heels inside a house.
That’s right — inside a historic house, something built before there was air conditioning and interstates and, in some cases, electric lighting.
The history of South Florida as we know it is fairly recent. But you don’t have to drive far to travel back in time at these houses of history.
Best of all: They’re air-conditioned.

The Spady Cultural Heritage Museum is in the former home of educator Solomon D. Spady. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The Spady Cultural Heritage Museum

The Spady Cultural Heritage Museum is dedicated to discovering, collecting and sharing the African-American history and heritage of Palm Beach County.
The building from 1922 to 1957 was the home of Solomon D. Spady, a prominent African-American educator and community leader in Delray Beach. It marked its 20th anniversary as a museum last year.
Black people arrived in Delray Beach in the late 19th century, migrating from the Bahamas, North Florida and the coastal communities of the Carolinas and Georgia.
At that time, the South was deeply segregated — Jim Crow laws were in force, dictating how and where people of color could live, work and worship.
Entrepreneurship was a necessary part of survival for Delray Beach’s Black residents, who had a thriving community separate from that of the white residents to the east.
As for Spady’s Mission Revival house, built around 1925-26, it’s a stucco-over-frame two-story residence, with four rooms downstairs and four upstairs. It is filled with exhibits year-round.
The museum is at 170 NW Fifth Ave. Hours: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Info: 561-279-8883 or​ www.spadymarketplace.org.

The Cason Cottage offers a peek at early 20th-century life in Delray Beach. BELOW RIGHT: The cottage’s furnishings reflect life in the early 20th century. Photo above by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star, below right provided by Delray Beach Historical Society

The Cason Cottage

Delray Beach has undergone many changes over the past century.
But one thing remains the same — the Cason Cottage.
Since 1989, the Delray Beach Historical Society has operated this modest frame vernacular 1924 structure as a house museum to help interpret the city’s history from 1915 to 1935.
Its builder, the Rev. J.R. Cason, was a community leader who served as a municipal judge and as chairman of the Palm Beach County Board of Public Instruction.
He also was the founder of Florida’s first orphanage, at Enterprise, in Volusia County north of Orlando. Cason United Methodist Church, a few blocks northwest of the cottage, was named for the reverend.
The house is furnished to reflect life in the early years of the 20th century. The current exhibition is “Delray Beach: WWII Homefront.”
The cottage is at 5 NE First St. Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Info: 561-274-9578 or delraybeachhistory.org.

Whitehall, now the Flagler Museum, was Henry Flagler’s gift to his bride in 1902. Photo provided by Flagler Museum

The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum

Like so many dwellings of its day, Henry Flagler’s Whitehall almost met the wrecking ball.
But thanks to his granddaughter Jean Flagler Matthews, the house, built in 1902 as a wedding gift to Flagler’s bride, Mary Lily Kenan, endures as a testimony to his love.
The Gilded Age palace left visitors to Palm Beach awestruck — the home even had central heating.
After Flagler’s death in 1913, the house became part of the Whitehall Hotel, with an 11-story tower built behind it. The original part of the house was used for lobbies, card rooms, lounges, a bar and guest suites.
When the hotel became obsolete in 1959, it seemed the house might be demolished. But Matthews raised the money to preserve the house once the tower was demolished.
Over the decades, the museum has acquired furnishings original to the house. In more recent years, the place has been air-conditioned to stabilize it for the antiques and artwork on display.
Flagler’s private railcar No. 91 is on display in the Flagler Kenan Pavilion.
Starting in September, the museum will offer musical performances on select Sundays on Flagler’s 1902 J. H. & C. S. Odell & Co. organ in the music room and the 1901 Steinway and Sons model B art-case piano in the drawing room.
The museum is at One Whitehall Way. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, noon to 5 Sunday. Info: 561-655-2833 or www.flaglermuseum.us.

The Sample-McDougald House was built in 1916 in Pompano Beach. Scott Simmons/The Coastal Star

The Sample-McDougald House

Old-timers may remember seeing the Sample-McDougald House on its original site, along the west side of Old Dixie Highway in Pompano Beach.
Built in 1916, the majestic Colonial-Georgian Revival home stood alongside a very busy stretch of commercial highway, a testament to when Dixie was the main artery to Fort Lauderdale and Miami beyond, and Broward County was an agricultural hub.
It originally was home to Pompano Beach pioneer and farmer Albert Neal Sample, for whom Sample Road is named.
After Sample’s death in 1941, the house was sold to William and Sarah McDougald, whose family lived in the home until the 1990s. At that point the McDougald family donated the house to the Sample-McDougald House Preservation Society Inc., which raised the money to move the house to Centennial Park, where it now serves as a museum and events center. It boasts some original furnishings.
Outside, the 5-acre Centennial Park also is home to a heritage garden, planted with seasonal heirloom fruits and vegetables. 
The house is at 450 NE 10th St. Hours: noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Info: 754-307-5446 or www.samplemcdougald.org.

The Stranahan House is Broward County’s oldest surviving building. Below is the dining room. Photos provided by Fort Lauderdale Historical Society

The Historic Stranahan House Museum

When Frank Stranahan, credited as Fort Lauderdale’s founding father, built this two-story wood frame house on the New River in 1901, the area that’s now home to skyscrapers was a wilderness. The house now is Broward County’s oldest surviving building.
Frank and Ivy Stranahan took leadership roles in the community and donated land for public projects, but Frank Stranahan suffered economic misfortunes worsened by the 1926 and 1928 hurricanes. Friends who had invested in him also were ruined, according to the Historic Stranahan House Museum’s website.
In 1929, he committed suicide, drowning himself in the New River in front of his home.
The structure served as a trading post, post office, community gathering place, as well as a home to the Stranahans. Ivy Stranahan lived there until her death at age 90 in 1971. She left it to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and it later was bought and restored by the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society and the Fort Lauderdale Board of Realtors and opened to the public as a historic house museum in 1984.
It’s open at 335 SE Sixth Ave. for guided tours only at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. daily. 954-524-4736 or stranahanhouse.org.

By Amy Woods

The George Snow Scholarship Fund is bringing Boca’s Ballroom Battle back to the dance floor. The popular Dancing with the Stars-themed fundraiser — always a sellout — returns Sept. 10 to The Boca Raton for its 15th anniversary.
“This is going to be the first time that we are going to be holding it live and in-person since COVID,” said Laura Gilli, the fund’s director of special events. “Ticket sales from the get-go were off the charts.”
In 2020 and 2021, Boca’s Ballroom Battle was broadcast on WPTV-TV. To celebrate the pent-up demand for glitz, glamour and grand dance moves, the 2022 theme is One Hit Wonders.
“We want the dancers to have a great time as they’re practicing their routines, but we also recognize that we’re putting on a show, and we want our guests to have a good time as well,” Gilli said. “People are pretty excited. It’s become a well-known event.”
Proceeds benefit not only scholarships but also support services for students with other needs. Among those are motivational mentoring, health care checkups and access to technology, all with the goal of helping build a better life through higher education.
“Many of our scholars don’t come from environments that you or I may have,” Gilli said. “We try to be the support system they need.”
The dancers vying for the coveted Mirror Ball trophy given to the top fundraisers are Lynn Aronberg, Paul Bonaros, Jay Brandt, Ryan Haines, Howard Kanner, Erica Kasel, Tracey McCutchen Rossi and Andrea Virgin. They began their weekly lessons in April at Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Boca Raton.
“In any way that people can contribute to Ballroom Battle, all of that money goes to support our Snow scholars who really are going on to do incredible things,” Gilli said. “We just look forward to being that second chance that all our scholars deserve.”
In addition to the pop, rock and disco routines, activities will include a raffle, live and silent auctions and lots of food and drink.
“Judging by the demand for tables, tickets and sponsorships, our supporters are just as excited as we are about being live once again,” President Tim Snow said.
“It is going to be an amazing show and so good to see everyone in person for this very important event for the scholarship fund and the young people we serve.”

Send news and notes to Amy Woods at flamywoods@bellsouth.net.

If You Go
What: Boca’s Ballroom Battle
When: 6 p.m. Sept. 10
Where: The Boca Raton, 501 E. Camino Real
Cost: Tickets start at $200
Information: 561-347-6799 or www.ballroombattle.com

September marks Hunger Action Month, and Boca Helping Hands is offering the community ways to contribute to the fight against food insecurity.
The public can get involved by donating nonperishable items, volunteering and contributing money.
“Hunger Action Month is a reminder that there are local families and children who do not know where their next meal is coming from, and as a community, we can help,” said Greg Hazle, executive director of Boca Helping Hands.
Feeding America projects that more than 180,000 Palm Beach County residents are suffering from food insecurity; of those, nearly 53,000 are children.
“Unfortunately, inflation being the highest it’s been in four decades has made it much harder for families to put food on the table,” Hazle said.
For more information, call 561-417-0913 or visit www.bocahelpinghands.org.

Joy Bauer to headline Meals on Wheels fundraiser
The keynote speaker for the “More than a Meal Breakfast” — a benefit for Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches — is Joy Bauer, the nutrition and healthy-lifestyle expert on NBC's Today show.
During the Sept. 14 event, guests will have an opportunity to mingle with supporters of the nonprofit and learn more about its role in addressing hunger among seniors in the community. Additionally, VIP attendees will be treated to a meet-and-greet with Bauer following the breakfast and offered a signed copy of her latest cookbook, Joy Bauer’s Superfood! 150 Recipes for Eternal Youth.
“We are so excited to have Joy returning to our ‘More than a Meal Breakfast’ as our keynote speaker,” President and CEO Pamela Calzadilla said, referring to the celebrity’s 2019 appearance at the inaugural fundraiser.
The breakfast will take place at 7:30 a.m. at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. Tickets start at $175. For more information, call 561-802-6979 or visit mowpb.org.

Help improve childhood literacy by being a tutor
With school underway, the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County is looking for tutors for its Building Better Readers children’s program.
Building Better Readers provides one-on-one assistance for elementary-age students in select schools as well as after-school assistance at the coalition’s Blume Literacy Center in Boynton Beach.
“In Palm Beach County, 47% of third-grade students are reading below grade level,” according to a news release. “To address this, the literacy coalition, in partnership with the School District of Palm Beach County, has completed its seventh year of Building Better Readers.”
Training sessions for interested volunteers are scheduled for Sept. 21 and 29. Both take place from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the center — 3651 Quantum Blvd. For more information, call 561-635-8423 or visit literacypbc.org.

The 12th annual reception raised a record $1 million in student scholarship funds that will help dress and equip the incoming class at the school’s Schmidt College of Medicine. The class of 72 aspiring doctors was selected based on both their academic accomplishments and their humanistic attributes. ‘Right now, South Florida as well as communities across the country are facing a significant shortage of health care professionals,’ said Dr. Julie Pilitsis, dean and vice president of medical affairs at the college. ‘FAU continues to aid in the charge of educating and training doctors, nurses and other front-line health care workers to reduce these gaps in accessible and quality health care for all.’ TOP: (l-r) Dr. Stuart and Beth Markowitz, Maurice Plough Jr., Bonnie Halperin and Dr. Joanna and Bryan Drowas. BOTTOM: (l-r) Tom Mersch, Susan Rutherford, Dr. Ron Rubin, Arlene Herson, Holli Rockwell Trubinsky and Joseph Trubinsky. INSET: (l-r) Pat and Rick Howard and Alisa Cohen. Photos provided by Ryan Merrill and Johnny Simmons

This mixed-breed is one of many dogs and cats available for adoption through the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League. Photo provided

By Arden Moore

The first time I spotted Casey, my ginger cat, he was a confident 4-month-old kitten making entertaining moves inside his mobile adoption unit at a Petco store. After he played, he cuddled in my arms, letting out loud, happy purrs.
The first time I locked eyes with Kona, my terrier mix, she shyly pressed her body against the front of her kennel cage so I could touch her scruffy fur. She had been in two shelters and her bio declared she really wanted to be in a home with other pets.
The connections I had with Casey and Kona were instant and strong. I knew a lifetime of friendships was just beginning for all of us.
Flash forward to today. Casey is now best known as Pet Safety Cat Casey and Kona is dubbed Pet Safety Dog Kona (as well as the playful moniker Ice Cream Kona). Both are 8 years old. Both assist me in my pet first aid and pet behavior classes. Both are certified therapy pets who visit memory care centers, libraries and shelter events for kids.
And, both are what I proudly call shelter alums. Kona and Casey are two of countless dogs, cats and other companion animals inside shelters just waiting for the chance to join families.
Admit it. Pets can change our lives for the better. When the coronavirus struck and forced us to stay home, many of us were doggone lucky to hang out with our loyal and loving pets. In 2020 and 2021, people flocked to shelters, locally and across the country, to adopt. Many of these places ran out of pets during the pandemic.
But that’s not the case any longer. This year, more people have returned to workplaces and are taking vacations. Shelters are filling back up with pets longing to win forever homes.
That’s why I am delighted to share big news.
Starting Sept. 24 through Oct. 1, the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League and Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control are teaming up to host the ninth annual Countdown 2 Zero Mega Pet Adoption Event.
“Adoption events, such as Countdown 2 Zero, are incredibly important to bring awareness to the community about the importance of pet adoption,” says Sue Berry, CEO of Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League. “It’s wonderful to see all the rescue organizations collaborate and join forces to find as many loving homes as possible. In fact, over the eight years of the C2Z Adoption Event, nearly 2,300 animals have been adopted.”
This year’s event officially kicks off from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 24 at two locations: the Peggy Adams Rescue League, 3200 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, 7100 Belvedere Road, West Palm Beach.
Here’s your chance to get to mingle and interact with cats, dogs as well as rabbits, birds and other companion animals ready to be adopted.
On Sept. 24, adopters will receive goody bags — while supplies last — with County Animal Care and Control officials offering free rabies tags. Local rescue groups will also participate. As of mid-August the groups included:
• Big Dog Ranch Rescue, located in Loxahatchee Groves, www.bdrr.org.
• Furry Friends Adoption, Clinic and Ranch, in Jupiter, furryfriendsadoption.org.
• Shining Horse Farm and Sanctuary, in West Palm Beach, www.shininghorse.org.
Then this mega adoption event will continue virtually from Sept. 25 through Oct. 1.
Remember, if you are unable to adopt, you can always reach out to these groups and offer to volunteer, foster pets or donate money or much-needed pet supplies.
Kona and Casey are part of what I affectionately call my Furry Brady Bunch. When I got married to Julie five years ago, we merged our pets. Today, our pets total six. Our remaining pets were wandering streets before we adopted them: Emma, an 8-pound toy poodle-chihuahua mix; plus cats Rusty, Mikey and Baxter.
Here are just a few examples of how our Furry Brady Bunch has made our lives better:
Kona and Emma hop up on the back of our sofa and pop their heads through the curtains to greet us the second we turn our car into the driveway.
Casey engages me in cat chats with his upbeat meow and loud purrs, especially when I am in the kitchen where he knows the pet treats are stashed. Yes, he has trained me!
Rusty and Baxter entertain us each evening with their play wrestling antics, followed by curling up together for a nap on the loveseat.
Mikey, our senior of the bunch at age 17, acts more like a momma cat as he tenderly grooms Kona’s head every evening. Kona nuzzles him back.
Pets do make us better humans. To me, they are more valuable than new cars or jewelry because they are loving, loyal and priceless.
I hope you agree and consider adoption. The C2Z may be the place where you find the right pet for you.

Arden Moore is a best-selling author, professional speaker and master certified pet first-aid instructor. She hosts a nationally syndicated radio show, Arden Moore’s Four Legged Life (www.fourleggedlife.com) and the Oh Behave! podcast on PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more at www.ardenmoore.com.

Countdown 2 Zero
Looking to adopt? Maybe become a shelter volunteer? Learn more details about this major adoption event by visiting www.countdown2zero.org.

Delray Medical Center was named a 2022 five-star recipient for gynecologic procedures, as recognized by Healthgrades.
“We are so proud to be recognized by Healthgrades for the second year in a row for the gynecologic care we are providing,” said Daniel Listi, chief executive officer of Delray Medical Center. “Our patients have a choice, and they deserve to know how we rank against our peers when it comes to delivering high-quality, safe care with good outcomes.”
One of the gynecologic procedures recognized at Delray Medical Center is robotic surgery. For years, the standard approach to hysterectomy has been traditional open gynecological surgery. Using the da Vinci robotic surgical system, surgeons can perform hysterectomy through small incisions, using mechanically enhanced micro instruments.
“It is critical for patients to select care based on three key pieces of information — hospital quality, facility and care team experience with your condition/procedure, and compatibility — and this five-star distinction is another benchmark to help make those decisions easier,” said Brad Bowman, MD, chief medical officer and head of data science for Healthgrades.

— Christine Davis

Visitors from Colombia dance on the Tiki Taxi, which serves the Intracoastal Waterway in Boynton Beach. Tao Woolfe/The Coastal Star

By Tao Woolfe

Long subtropical summer got you down? Follow the mantra of every South Seas explorer from Cortés to Cousteau: Get out on the water.
Fortunately, there are many ways to do that in Palm Beach County, from party boats to private tours.
One of the newest vessels to ply the local Intracoastal Waterway is the Boynton Beach Tiki Taxi Cruise. It costs only $10 for a ride, and you can stay aboard for as long as you like, or jump off — have dinner at one of the Boynton Beach pier restaurants — and then jump back on.
The Tiki Taxi, with its thatched roof and disco lights, may not be the most elegant boat on the Intracoastal, but it’s a lot of fun.
You can find your own space on the 40-foot vessel to watch sunsets and pelicans, or join the conversation around the crowded bar. Mixed drinks, soft drinks, beer, wine and snacks are available at the bar.
During a recent Saturday evening cruise, a group of visitors from Colombia took advantage of the slow, steady ride to dance, drink and glance occasionally at the mansions along the shore.
Colored lights, tucked up under the speakers and thatched roof, seemed to shift along with the upbeat mix of pop, rock, country and disco music.
A pair of lovers, lost in their own world, stood at the front of the boat and held each other.
Capt. Dave Montgomery took it all in stride.
“We have a good crowd tonight and this is only our second week,” he said. “We just take our time and everybody loves it.”
Boynton Beach resident Madeline McCreery, accompanied by her friend Casey Donnelly, said she was having a blast.
“It’s a great way to get out on the water, especially if you don’t have a boat,” McCreery said. “It’s something we really needed around here to get people out of the house.”
Donnelly agreed. “I’m having the best time,” she said. “I love it!”
The Tiki Taxi and Cruises company, based in Stuart, opened in 2020 just before the pandemic shut everything down, said owner Rosemary Kuyrkendall.
The company reopened last year and now operates boats in Stuart, Jupiter and Boynton Beach.
Kuyrkendall said she and her husband, Gene Kuyrkendall, hope eventually to add a second Boynton Beach boat to the fleet.
Cruises leave on the hour from the Boynton Beach harbor marina — right next to Two Georges Restaurant. The hours of operation are Thursdays and Fridays from 5-11 p.m.; Saturdays from 1-11 p.m.; and Sundays from 1-9 p.m.
Call 772-521-0024 for more information.

The Lady Atlantic sails out of Delray Beach at Atlantic Avenue for two-hour narrated tours. Photo provided

Delray Yacht Cruises
If you’re looking for a bigger, sleeker boat, Delray Yacht Cruises operates two yachts that sail out of Delray Beach — the 90-foot Lady Delray and 105-foot Lady Atlantic.
The sightseeing cruises, which offer two-hour narrated tours along the Intracoastal Waterway, depart from Veterans Park on East Atlantic Avenue.
Tours are offered Wednesday to Sunday afternoons starting at 1:30, and Friday and Saturday evenings starting at 5:30. Tickets are $30 for regular admission and $27 for seniors and children.
Snacks and a full bar are available onboard. Reservations are highly recommended. Call 561-243-0686.

Palm Yachts’ Boston Whalers can even provide picnic umbrella and chairs. Photo provided

Palm Yachts
If you’re looking for something a bit more intimate — and colorful — you can charter a mint- or pink-bodied Boston Whaler with a matching striped Bimini top for an Intracoastal cruise.
The 17-foot boats come equipped with a captain and can accommodate up to six people. Cruises depart from Jupiter and from the docks of waterfront hotels in Palm Beach proper — including The Breakers, Four Seasons Resort and the Colony Hotel.
“We have carved a specialty niche of bachelorette parties,” said Jason Norcross, one of four company owners. “People rent both boats, which can accommodate 10-12 people.”
The boats are very popular among Instagram fans and that is the only platform on which the company advertises, Norcross said.
The company will supply box lunches, upon request, and will also extend the $750 two-hour tours for an additional $150 an hour.
If you just can’t get enough of the adorable boats on an hourly basis, you can buy one for $54,995.
Reservations can be made only online. Visit www.palm-yachts.com for reservations and more information.

Parents and kids can get a close-up view of prehistoric life when they visit the ’Dinosaur Explorer’ exhibit, which opens Sept. 15 at the Cox Science Center and Aquarium in West Palm Beach. Besides dinosaur displays and actual fossils, visitors will find a variety of interactive exhibits. Photos provided

By Janis Fontaine

The Cox Science Center and Aquarium, formerly the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium, has undergone several upgrades and improvements as well as a name change.
On Nov. 15, 2021, the center announced a record donation from Howard and Wendy Cox of Palm Beach. Their $20 million gift is nearly half of the center’s $45 million capital expansion campaign.
That support helps the museum bring outstanding content to families. Kids can draw inspiration from the “Dinosaur Explorer” exhibit, which will open Sept. 15. It features a series of dinosaur displays, authentic casts and actual fossils. A variety of interactive activities rounds out the experience.
The center just published its 2022-23 Education Guide, available on its website. Here are two of the most popular programs:
The GEMS Club — Girls Excelling in Math and Science — is in person again. Designed for students in grades 3-8, the club meets the last Tuesday of the month from 5-7 p.m. for pizza, hands-on activities and a female guest speaker. Topics: Newton’s Power Struggle (Sept. 27); Deep Sea Destruction (Oct. 25); Unveiling the Universe (Nov. 29), and Light Up the Night (Dec. 27).
Code Palm Beach is continuing its coding workshops for kids ages 6-14 through fall. Code Palm Beach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that hosts monthly events with volunteer teachers to introduce K-12 students to computer coding technology. This beginner course meets from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Saturdays, Sept. 17, Oct. 15, Nov. 19 and Dec. 17. Advance registration required. An intermediate course will also be offered. Call 561-425-8918 or visit codepalmbeach.com or email team@codebeachtech.org.
The Cox Science Center and Aquarium is at 4801 Dreher Trail N., West Palm Beach. 561-832-1988; www.coxsciencecenter.org.

Songs, rhythm and more
Most of the Schoolhouse Children’s Museum programming is geared to ages 2-5. The museum still closes from 12:30 to 1 p.m. for cleaning, a coronavirus precaution that stuck, program manager Linda Abbott said.
“The playground stays open if you just can’t bear to leave,” she said.
Here are a few programs offered in September:
Music Circle with Noam Brown is an intro to music for your toddler. Held at 11 a.m. Thursdays through December.
Baby Rhythms is a fairly new but popular class that exposes the littlest ones to the magic of rhythm. It meets at 11:30 a.m. Tuesdays.
Sensational Story ’n More is a weekly story time offered on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. and Wednesdays at 3 p.m. through Nov. 30.
Messy play, a favorite for kids and adults because they don’t have to clean up, will continue on Thursday afternoons.
The Schoolhouse Children’s Museum is at 129 E. Ocean Ave., Boynton Beach. 561-742-6780; www.schoolhousemuseum.org.

Family art classes
The Boca Raton Museum of Art’s popular Saturday art class for families will continue at 10 a.m. Sept. 10 for kids aged 5 and older and a parent, grandparent or adult guardian. The inspiration for the project is drawn from a current exhibition, and September’s program is “Monumental Backdrops.” The exhibit, “Art of the Hollywood Backdrop: Cinema’s Creative Legacy,” features scenic backdrops made for movies from 1938 to 1968. $5 for adult members, $10 nonmembers.
The Boca Raton Museum of Art is in Mizner Park at 501 Plaza Real. 561-392-2500; bocamuseum.org.

Nature explorations
Gumbo Limbo Nature Center had a silent partner of local advocates and protectors called the Friends of Gumbo Limbo since it was founded in the 1980s. Many of the programs were offered with the support of the nonprofit. Then the coronavirus came. It seemed like it might destroy the nature center and derail the Friends, but instead the organization came back with a bigger mission and a new name: the Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards.
The Nature Center educators are excited to welcome kids back to in-person programming. Reservations are required for these programs.
During the Citizen Science Squad, kids aged 9 and older gain hands-on experience in the collection of scientific data that are used in Gumbo Limbo’s conservation of coastal and marine ecosystems. Offered 2-3 p.m. Sept. 24. Resident/Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards $5; all others $8.
Little Wonders is a chance for you and your child, ages 3-4, to learn about the nature around us through stories, exploration and crafts. 10-11 a.m. Sept. 17 and Oct. 15. Resident/Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards $8; all others $10.
Nature Detectives is a monthly kids program that features story time, exploration and crafts for ages 5-6. Learn the wonders of nature together through story times, explorations and crafts. Offered from noon-1 p.m. Sept. 17 and Oct. 15. Resident/Gumbo Limbo Coastal Stewards $8; all others $10.
Gumbo Limbo Nature Center is at 1801 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. 561-544-8605; www.gumbolimbo.org.

Marine life adventures
Since 1998, the Sandoway Discovery Center has been protecting our environment and introducing visitors to freshwater and marine animals. Learn about native and invasive reptile species. Meet sharks and other fish at the coral reef pool. Explore the private shell collection and the native plant and butterfly garden.
Special events:
Discovery Series: Reptiles — Sept. 22. Two sessions are offered: Session 1: 2:30 p.m.; Session 2: 3:15 p.m. A hands-on discovery of reptiles and why they are important through crafts and artifacts. $8 non-members, $2 members. Reservations required. Best for ages 3-5 years.
Beach Cleanup — Volunteers needed for a beach cleanup from 8-10 am. Sept. 17.
Ongoing programs:
Alligator Meet and Greet — 2:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays. This program features an informative talk about alligators and a chance to meet a baby alligator. Included with admission. All ages.
Aquarium Feedings — 2 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Daily feedings teach fun facts about marine life. Included with admission.
Story time with Darlene — 11 a.m. Wednesdays. Hear a story about an animal adventure and meet some resident critters.Included with admission.
Animal Encounters — 3 p.m. Fridays. Meet the resident animals and learn about their behaviors and characteristics.
The Sandoway Discovery Center is at 142 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach. Some programs are free with admission of $6 for ages 3 and older. 561-274-7263; sandoway.org.

By Janis Fontaine

The Judaic holiday Rosh Hashana celebrates the biblical birthday of the world, and it’s a holiday from which everyone could really benefit. The 10 days between Rosh Hashana, which begins Sept. 25, and Yom Kippur, which begins Oct. 4, carve out a period of candid self-reflection called the Days of Awe.
The High Holidays’ themes — forgiveness and repentance — are twofold: We are supposed to both ask for and give others forgiveness. It’s a time of honest evaluation of ourselves as spiritual people. It’s not about how successful we were at work in the last year, but how successful we were at life.
Rabbi David Steinhardt of B’nai Torah in Boca Raton says Yom Kippur builds an awareness of who we are in this world.
He wants everyone to leave despair and helplessness behind, and know that we have more strength and agency in the world than we realize.
Steinhardt has been the senior rabbi at B’nai Torah Congregation serving the Boca Raton community for more than 20 years.
B’nai Torah is the largest Conservative synagogue in Southeast Florida with over 1,300 membership families. He expects 75-80% attendance at services this year.
This is what the High Holidays mean to him in 2022:
“I am often asked: Is there a bigger purpose whereby the meaning of traditions and holidays can speak to our lives and our world?
“While traditions help create connections to the past and deepen religious feeling, I propose that our inherited traditions also require a language that speaks to the needs and challenges of today. As we stand before the Jewish High Holy Days, I’d like to present a possibility.
“The most profound message of the High Holidays reminds us that the world was created with one person. Rosh Hashana is called the birthday of the world. As it began with one, it is renewed with each one of us. We all matter. So, in a world that is so deeply divided, and where there is so much violence, anger and hostility, and intolerance for the ‘other,’ our tradition tells us to look at ourselves and see what we can do to create change for the better.”
Rosh Hashana is followed by 10 days of repentance and concludes with the holiest day, Yom Kippur. 
“The central idea of teshuvah, which means repentance or return, is defined by a call to examine ourselves, recognize what we have done over the year, perhaps see the things we could have done differently, perhaps look at the hurts we caused and see where we can improve,” Steinhardt said. “During this process, we might ask ourselves, how can I be kinder, more patient, more forgiving, or more giving in this world?
“I acknowledge it is not always easy in a world that constantly presents to us tragedy, sadness, conflict, issues and events that make us feel overwhelmed and often helpless. But it is in these exact moments of personal reflection that we can have personal agency to fix some of the problems around us.
“At the end of the day, we can hardly change another, but we can bring about change when we look at ourselves and see what we can do better.
“I wish all a good, healthy and meaningful New Year! Shana Tova.”

Ideas for self-reflection
In a post for the 10 questions project at MyJewishLearning.com, Joey Soloway, a TV writer, producer and director whose credits include Six Feet Under and Grey’s Anatomy, included these ideas for self-reflection:
• What’s a significant experience that has affected you over the past year?
• Is there something that you wish you had done differently this past year? Or that you’re especially proud of?
• Describe an event in the world that has impacted you this year.
• Describe one thing you’d like to achieve by this time next year. Why is this important to you?
• Have you had any spiritual experiences this past year? This can include secular, artistic, cultural, and so on. • How would you like to improve yourself, your life, next year?
• Is there something (a person, a cause, an idea) that you want to investigate more fully next year?
• What is a fear that you have and how has it limited you? How do you plan on overcoming it this year?

Janis Fontaine writes about people of faith, their congregations, causes and community events. Contact her at fontaine423@outlook.com.

Melissa Perlman of Delray Beach won gold in the women’s masters half-marathon at the Maccabiah Games and captained the U.S. effort in endurance sports. Photo provided by Melissa Perlman

By Janis Fontaine

Melissa Perlman of Delray Beach has represented the United States at the quadrennial Maccabiah Games in Israel several times, but this year was special. Perlman was asked to use her experience to recruit and lead a team of athletes as the commissioner of endurance sports.
She grew up hearing about the games from her father, who competed in 1973. She first attended the games as a junior, running track on the 1997 team. She won four bronze medals.
Years later, in 2013, Perlman felt compelled to make supporting the games her passion project and she returned to Israel to represent the USA for the second time.
“I understood the true meaning of the games and the importance of thousands of Jews from all over the world coming together to show our strength, our resilience and our pride,” she said.  
Perlman’s athletes won a bevy of medals in July 2022, competing in the half-marathon, cycling, track and field, and the Maccabi man/woman, which consists of four events that test running, cycling and swimming endurance.
Perlman, 40, won a gold medal in the half-marathon in the masters division. But more important, she and the other athletes “made new lifelong friends, and left with a better understanding of Israel and our Jewish history,” she said. 
The Maccabiah Games, conceived in 1912, were first played in 1932. Sometimes called the Jewish Olympics, the games are open to all residents of Israel and all Jews, no matter where they live. Every four years, athletes from more than 60 countries compete in more than 40 sports. The Maccabiah Games are the third-largest sporting event in the world; only the Olympics and soccer’s World Cup are bigger. 
For the first time in the history of the games, the United States president attended the opening ceremonies, and Perlman was part of a group of about 200 USA athletes chosen to attend a private meeting with President Joe Biden. Perlman said he told the crowd: “I am so darn proud of you. You have demonstrated to the world that we can do anything.” 
Perlman, who owns the local PR company BlueIvy Communications, says the Maccabiah Games are “an opportunity to shout from the rooftops that I am proud to be Jewish, that I am an athlete and I am strong,” Perlman wrote in an article in the Jewish Journal. “I know that if the Maccabiah Games continue to thrive and grow, so will the Jewish people, and our resilience and strength in today’s ever-changing world.” 

First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach held a ’blessing of the backpacks’ during worship on Aug. 7. The elders helped to bless the backpacks and all the students were given luggage tags. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Back-to-school prayer
A few local churches offered “a blessing of the backpacks,” but if you want to do your own, here’s a prayer from St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton:
“Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all things are renewed, refreshed and refined, we pray that you will guide us into this new year, lighting our path with your love, truth and wisdom. We pray for all students, families, teachers and school officials for encouragement, joy and hope and we pray for each one’s safety and well-being. May each heart be open to receiving the blessings of learning and growing together in you. Amen.”

Forum discussion resumes
The Interfaith Café has resumed its in-person monthly meetings, with the next taking place from 7-9 p.m. Sept. 15. The title of the discussion is “Here we go again: How to begin another year with the right perspective,” and the speaker is Rabbi Boruch Shmuel Liberow. He co-directs the Chabad Student Center, which serves the college community at FAU, Lynn University and Palm Beach State College.
The rabbi, who is also a certified life coach and a chaplain, will speak along with his wife, Rivka. They’ve been active in the Boca Raton community since 1998.
The Interfaith Café meets at the South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach. Each month features a presentation by a guest speaker and a discussion about notable topics. People of all faiths are welcomed.
For more information, call Linda Prior at 561-330-0245 or visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/DelrayBocaInterfaithCafe.

Music at St. Paul’s returns
Mark your calendar: Music at St. Paul’s 2022-2023 season begins at 3 p.m. Sept. 18 with the Trillium Piano Trio, featuring Ruby Berland, violin, Cornelia Brubeck, cello, and Yoko Sata Kothari, piano. The suggested donation is $20, but students younger than 18 get free admission. Tickets are available only at the door on the day of the concert. St. Paul’s is handicapped accessible. For more information, visit musicstpauls.org.
Here’s the rest of the lineup:
Con Brio Quartet — 3 p.m. Oct. 2, with Stojo Miserlioski, clarinet
Strings and Keys — 3 p.m. Oct. 30. Delray String Quartet with Marina Radiushina, guest pianist
John Rutter’s Requiem for All Saints — 3 p.m. Nov. 6. The Choir of St. Paul’s performs under the direction of Dr. David Macfarlane, director. The chamber ensemble performs.
German Romantics — 3 p.m. Nov. 27. Duo Beaux Arts: Catherine Lan and Tao Lin, pianists.
A Festival of Lessons and Carols for Christmas — 3 p.m. Dec. 11. The Choir of St. Paul’s performs under the direction of Macfarlane.

Bazaar donations needed
The ECW at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church needs donations for its Fall Bazaar, scheduled for Oct. 29. Kitchen items, accessories, holiday decorations, artwork and jewelry in good condition are wanted.
The women also need baskets to fill with gourmet items like nuts and other snacks, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Items can be delivered to the Thrift Store or church office at 100 NE Mizner Blvd, Boca Raton. Call 561-395-8285 or visit www.stgregorysepiscopal.org.
Send religion news to Janis Fontaine at fontaine423@outlook.com.

A leatherback hatchling makes its way into the ocean in Boca Raton after a release by Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

Walk along the beach at Red Reef Park in Boca Raton and it’s hard to miss evidence of a bumper crop of sea turtle nests so far this season. 
Dozens of nests, each cordoned off in triangulated sections with orange wooden stakes, dot the sand along the city’s 5 miles of beach.
Also marked in the sand: fresh tire-like tracks from adult loggerheads, greens and leatherbacks going from and back to the ocean after dropping and burying their eggs, along with much smaller tracks from new hatchlings headed to the ocean.  
“The season has been extremely busy, I mean, record breaking,’’ David Anderson, the sea turtle conservation coordinator at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, said as he stood at the shoreline just before sunrise on a July morning. 
“I keep running to Home Depot to buy more wooden stakes,’’ he said. “We usually get 700 or 800 loggerheads a year and we are already well over 700. We are on pace to possibly have an all-time record high of loggerhead nests this season.’’

Boca’s sea turtle monitor says there’s no rhyme or reason to the booming number of nests — each season is unpredictable.

Sea turtle nesting season started March 1 and ends Oct. 31.
Five species of marine turtles nest in Florida, but only three — loggerheads, leatherbacks and greens — typically come ashore on South County beaches. All five species are listed as endangered or threatened and protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Last year, Gumbo Limbo counted 647 loggerhead nests, 21 leatherback nests and 190 greens. As of July 20, those numbers were 837, 19 and 116, respectively. 
Although the pace of loggerhead nesting historically slows down in August, Anderson said, Boca Raton will at least come close to breaking the record of 1,075, set in 1990.
Just to the north, nest counts in Highland Beach are trending up, too: 719 loggerheads, 13 leatherbacks and 159 greens as of July 15, compared to 814, six and 284, respectively, all of last year. 
“We’re doing gangbusters. We are definitely having a banner year,’’ said Joanne Ryan, who monitors sea turtle nests along the town’s nearly 3 miles of shoreline. 
Lexie Peterson of Sea Turtle Adventures, a nonprofit that monitors a 3-mile stretch of beach that includes Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and parts of Ocean Ridge, reported “a pretty good season so far.’’ 
As of July 19, the count was 515 loggerhead nests, 50 green and nine leatherbacks. Last year, the group counted 666 loggerheads, 76 green and 24 leatherbacks. 
For the other parts of Ocean Ridge, about 2.5 miles of beach, Christine Perretta of DB Ecological Services counted 425 loggerhead nests, 12 green and 10 leatherbacks as of July 20. Last year, those numbers were 318, 51 and 16, respectively.
In Delray Beach, sea turtle monitor Joe Scarola said the numbers were not as dramatic but still on pace for a robust finish.
As of July 1, he’d counted 248 loggerheads, eight leatherbacks and 11 greens. Last year, the tally was 356 loggerheads, 15 leatherbacks and 28 greens, he said. 
“It started off with a bang, like we were going to break all records again this year. But it kind of slowed down in June. We are pretty much on par for what we had last year,’’ said Scarola, who patrols the city’s 3.4-mile shoreline.
In South Palm Beach, there were 300 loggerhead nests, 12 green and one leatherback as of July 20. The totals for last year were 214, 19 and one, respectively.
There’s no rhyme or reason to Boca’s high numbers this year, said Gumbo Limbo’s Anderson, emphasizing that every season is unpredictable.
He pointed out how it takes 25 years for loggerheads to reach sexual maturity and reproduce. Female marine turtles nest every two to three years.
“Maybe it’s good news that the population is doing great and conservation efforts from decades ago are starting to finally make a difference,’’ he said.
What is certain is that Anderson and his other seven sea turtle conservation team staff members have been busier than usual this year. 

A leatherback hatchling measuring a few inches heads to the sea along the Boca Raton shore. BELOW RIGHT: A nesting sea turtle left its tracks in the sand at Boca Raton.

Hatching season at peak
Every morning during nesting season, they divide into three groups and search the city’s 5 miles of beach for evidence of nesting activity from the previous night. 
They’ll follow female tracks and mark new nests with stakes and a sign to keep the area protected so the 100 or so eggs deposited in each nest are safe during the two-month incubation period. 
They’ll check previously marked nests to see if they had any hatches or have been disturbed by foxes, raccoons and birds. Three days after a nest hatches out, the team will excavate and take an inventory of what was inside to determine its success. 
Any live hatchlings they find are brought back to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and are released on the beach at night or just before sunrise. 
All nests, including so-called false crawls when the mother turtle emerges from the ocean but doesn’t lay eggs, are recorded with GPS and tracked on iPads. 
“We are also in the hatch-out season, so we have been having a lot of nests hatch out, which is really cool to see,’’ said Peterson, of Sea Turtle Adventures.
“It looks like the sand is boiling and you see a bunch of baby turtles pop up and all 100 at once will hatch and make their way down to the water following the moon and the stars.’’
Gumbo Limbo and Sea Turtle Adventures offer periodic hatchling release tours, but the tours scheduled for the rest of the summer are sold out.
For more information, go to www.myboca.us/2133/Turtle-Walks-Hatchling-Releases and www.seaturtleadventures.com/event-registration.
The tours raise money that goes back into the turtle monitoring programs. They also help raise awareness about conservation efforts, including ongoing campaigns to eliminate beachfront street lights and house lights that distract sea turtles. 
“The best way you can get people to care about sea turtles is to see them,’’ Peterson said. 
Although there’s no guarantee tour participants will see an adult turtle or a hatch-out, the rest of Gumbo Limbo’s night tours will feature live hatchlings.

From bucket to ocean
“For the rest of the summer, we are going to have buckets of hatchlings to release every single night,’’ Anderson said as he stood at the shoreline before sunrise on a Monday in July. 
He reached into a bucket and, one by one, released onto the sand nine loggerhead hatchlings, discovered a day earlier during a nest inspection. After the first few waves lapped over them, the hatchlings headed to the ocean in the direction of the glow from the approaching sunrise on the horizon.
A minute or so later, he released six leatherback hatchlings. 
“It’s amazing,’’ he said, watching them scramble into the sea. “Millions of years of instinct. They know exactly what to do and where to go. Those loggerheads will swim 5, 10, 15 miles off shore until they reach the edge of the Gulf Stream current where the large mats of sargassum seaweed are, and that will be their home for a while.‘’
With so many predators to elude, hatchlings’ chances to survive to adulthood are about 1 in 1,000. If they reach the Gulf Stream current, those odds improve.
“They will be well camouflaged, have something to eat and be able to hang out amongst those mats and at the mercy of the ocean currents for the next few years of life until they reach juvenile size and they’ll return to the coastal waters,’’ Anderson said.
“They have incredible navigational abilities to migrate to feeding and foraging grounds and back to nesting grounds, on an every-other-year cycle, and sometimes to the exact same spots. It’s pretty amazing.’’

Town Clerk Erika Petersen chats with a patron at Manalapan’s J. Turner Moore Memorial Library. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Behind the Books: Librarians open up about ever-expanding services to community

By Larry Barszewski

The Manalapan and Gulf Stream libraries would be the envy of their neighbors — if only those neighbors knew how much tax savings residents in the two towns reap because of their petite libraries.
Manalapan contributes $54,000 a year to its J. Turner Moore Memorial Library on Point Manalapan. If the library didn’t exist and town residents had to pay property taxes to the Palm Beach County Library District instead, their tax bills would be more than a million dollars higher this coming year.
“My sales pitch every year is it’s worth $54,000 to operate the library and have the events that we have and save the residents that much money,” Manalapan Town Manager Linda Stumpf said at the town’s first budget workshop in June.
“Most people don’t understand it,” Mayor Keith Waters added.
The Rita L. Taylor Gulf Stream Library doesn’t even have a line item in that town’s annual budget. But by having the 13-by-14-foot library, which takes up a single room in Town Hall, Gulf Stream property owners will avoid paying more than $800,000 in county library taxes this coming year.
The library’s hundreds of books have sat on its shelves for decades and don’t include any recent novels typically popular at libraries. The library, open during Town Hall’s normal operating hours, gets more use as a conference room for town officials than as a place where residents go to find a good read.
Taylor, the long-serving town clerk for whom the library was named last year, doesn’t remember the last time there was a visitor drawn to the library itself.
“I think maybe someone had taken out a book six or seven years ago,” Taylor said.
The only other municipality in a similar situation is the Village of Golf, which has a library in a room in its Village Hall and is not part of the county system. In Palm Beach, the town makes annual donations to the Society of the Four Arts Gioconda and Joseph King Library, which is treated as the town library.
The annual sum Palm Beach contributes to the King Library — $363,230 this year, for example — is much larger than what Manalapan gives its library, but so are the tax savings for town residents. If Palm Beach were part of the county system, its taxpayers would owe more than $14 million this coming year.
Ocean Ridge tried to get out of the county library district in 2009 by setting up its own community library at Town Hall, but the county rejected its request to leave. The county library director at the time said the town didn’t have a separate town allocation for the library and it didn’t provide sufficient services to meet Florida Public Library Standards.
The county’s library tax bill for Ocean Ridge property owners was about $361,000 back in 2009. It will grow to almost $800,000 this coming year.
South Palm Beach and Briny Breezes are also part of the county system. South Palm Beach taxpayers paid about $267,000 to the library district this year and Briny Breezes taxpayers about $38,000.

County library history
Who pays county library taxes and who doesn’t goes back to decisions made a half-century ago, according to a 1986 history of the county system included in the Florida Library History Project.
Briny Breezes and Ocean Ridge, which didn’t initially qualify to be part of the county system set up in 1967, were permitted to join in the early 1970s, the history says. Around the same time, Manalapan and Gulf Stream, which had been included in the new system, were allowed to leave.
In order for Manalapan to secede from the county library district and its taxes, the town had to have a library of its own, which its voters supported in a referendum, according to the book Overdue in Paradise: The Library History of Palm Beach County.
Getting out of the district isn’t quite as simple anymore. The County Attorney’s Office has determined that “to withdraw from the district a city must levy a tax against its residents for library services,” according to County Library Director Douglas Crane. The county would also likely require the municipality to have more elements of a full-service library than Manalapan or Gulf Stream currently has.
On the other hand, if an independent municipal library isn’t providing a higher level of service, it probably can’t be forced into the county system, Crane said. The state requires towns and cities to meet full-service standards only if they are applying for state aid.
“There is no mechanism to my knowledge, either at the county or state level, that requires a municipality to annually verify their commitment to library service if they are not applying for the State Aid Grant,” Crane said in an email to The Coastal Star. “There is also no mechanism to my knowledge to force municipalities that were never historically part of the Library District to join it.”
Residents of Boca Raton, Gulf Stream, Highland Beach, Manalapan, Palm Beach and Golf have to buy a nonresident card if they wish to take advantage of services from the county library or participating municipalities, Crane said. The county’s current rate is $55 for six months or $95 for a year, he said.
Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Lantana are part of a cooperative with the county that allows their residents to use the county’s system for free.

Financial benefits
Manalapan and Gulf Stream aren’t the only coastal communities that benefit financially from not being part of the county library taxing district, which includes unincorporated Palm Beach County and 24 municipalities.
Other communities, including those providing full-service libraries, end up paying less to have their libraries than if they belonged to the county system.
Taxpayers in Boca Raton, which budgeted $7.2 million for city libraries this year, including debt service, would have owed about $15.8 million if they had been in the county library system.
In Boynton Beach, which had $2.8 million in its budget for its library this year, taxpayers would have instead owed $4 million if they were in the county district.
Highland Beach’s $424,800 library budget was less than the $1.6 million its taxpayers would have owed if they were part of the county system.
Even Lantana, which would have owed only about $773,000 if it were part of the county system this year, had a lower library budget of $568,286.
Delray Beach supported the nonprofit Delray Beach Public Library Association to the tune of almost $1.5 million this year, but its taxpayers would have owed $7.3 million to the county if it had been in the county system. That figure would be closer to $8.3 million this coming year because of rising property values.
The difference is less about cities running their libraries more efficiently than it is about how wealthier communities in large taxing districts pay more proportionally than less wealthy communities, Crane said in another email.
“The fact that wealthy communities pay more into a taxing district does not correlate to the efficient cost to deliver a service,” Crane said. “It only demonstrates that a municipality would be a net contributor to the district. This is true of the County General Fund which includes all the municipalities listed.”

A curved wall in Manalapan’s library is the only hint that the library hides the town’s 400,000-gallon water storage tank. BELOW RIGHT: The circular outline of the water tank is apparent in this aerial view of the library. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star and from Google Maps

A community library
Manalapan officials are pleased with the success of their library, even if its collections are not heavily used. On July 13, there were only 58 books, DVDs, CDs and audio tapes listed as checked out by patrons.
The library functions like a community clubhouse, attracting patrons to some well-attended events there. Those include an open house at the beginning of the season when residents are returning to town, a farewell party at the end of the season before most leave, occasional speakers and piano concerts (the library has a Yamaha grand piano).
“The events are much higher quality than you’d ever expect from a library this size,” said Mary Ann Kunkle, a 36-year resident who was picking up a book and some DVDs on a recent Wednesday.
The Manalapan library is a “two-fer” for the town. Not only did the library allow the town to get out of the county’s library taxing district, its current home wraps around the town’s unsightly 400,000-gallon water storage tank, hiding it from view.
The only thing that hints of the tank is the interior oval wall of the library that bends around the tank and has a collection of about 40 paintings for sale on it.
“I think it’s a great place to meet people, or a nice place to go and relax,” said town resident Robert Cuyar, who has used the library and attended functions there for decades. “They have a good selection. They have many of the current books.”