World War II civil defense in Delray Beach had ‘beach watchers’ on horseback looking for suspicious planes, boats or people. Photo provided by Delray Beach Historical Society

By Rich Pollack

It was a time of turmoil throughout Europe.
In the late 1930s, the German army was beginning to steamroll across neighboring borders, occupying nations with relative ease. Soon after — in the early 1940s — the systematic murder of European Jews and others had begun.
At about the same time, Allied forces — including troops from the U.S. — were on the front lines as World War II spread throughout the continent.
Here at home everyday Americans felt the effects of the war on the other side of the Atlantic and did whatever they could to support the effort. In Washington, government leaders struggled to address the pleas for refuge from terrified European Jews.
This month, two public Delray Beach historical exhibits provide insights into what was happening in the United States at the time, one focused on Delray Beach efforts to support U.S. involvement in World War II and the other looking at the U.S. government’s response to Nazism and genocide.
Tied to both exhibits is an effort to bring stories of local veterans to life through banners hanging on light poles in downtown Delray. The banners highlight several who served in the six most recent war periods, dating to the second World War.
At the Delray Beach Historical Society’s new “Delray Beach: WWII Homefront” exhibit, rare photographs and newspaper clippings from the archives and artifacts come together to tell the story of what took place in the city during the war.
“It was a terrifying but unifying time,” said historical society Executive Director Winnie Edwards. “Everyone did their part.”
The exhibit also includes family stories of local troops, as well as two films — one about the Boca Raton Airfield and the other about African Americans in the war. Compiled by the museum staff, the exhibit explains how residents were recruited to patrol the beach on horseback to look out for enemy boats and planes, and how other residents took to the towers of the beachfront Seacrest Hotel to serve as spotters.
The exhibit provides a better understanding of the nighttime blackouts that residents were required to observe and highlights supporting efforts here, including scrap metal drives, blood drives, bandage-making efforts and USO gatherings for both Black and white troops during segregation.
“This is a very localized exhibit,” Edwards said. “It’s about Delray soldiers, Delray stories and what it was like to be here during World War II.”
The exhibit, she said, demonstrates how a community rallied to meet a common threat.
“The lesson of World War II is that people really came together,” she said. “We’re hopeful that those who see the exhibit will leave understanding that coming together is a great way to move forward.”
The exhibit is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cason Cottage, 5 NE First St., and runs through March. Admission is $5, but there is no entry fee for veterans and students.

U.S. during Holocaust years
Just a short distance away, the Delray Beach Public Library is hosting “Americans and the Holocaust,” a traveling exhibit from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association.
The exhibit provides little-known information about American government policies toward Nazism in the late 1930s and immigration policies in response to requests for refuge from those fleeing Europe. It is based on an exhibit that opened in April 2018 at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
“‘Americans and the Holocaust’ explores four main questions,” said Isabella Rowan, the Delray library’s program coordinator and volunteer manager who led the effort to bring the exhibit here and is coordinating several related programs. “What did Americans know, did Americans help Jewish refugees, why did Americans go to war, and how did Americans respond to the Holocaust.”
On display on the first floor of the library, the exhibit includes four interactive video kiosks and includes newsreels from the time and information from other primary sources.
“This exhibition will challenge the commonly held assumptions that Americans knew little and did nothing about the Nazi persecution and murder of Jews as the Holocaust unfolded,” Rowan said.
The exhibit raises questions about U.S. policies toward refugees, questions that remain relevant today.
“This exhibit presents little-known facts about America and Americans during this time in history,” Rowan said. “It’s a great opportunity to learn more about this country we call home.”
The library, Rowan said, is the ideal place for this exhibit because a goal is to educate in a welcoming environment.
“The public library is a neutral place for learning and discussion,” she said. “It is the one place where everyone is welcome and can feel comfortable exploring ideas.”
The exhibit, which runs through Nov. 17, is free and open to the public during the library’s regular hours.

Banners with stories
People walking past the library or driving downtown in November will see banners recognizing veterans from Delray Beach and the surrounding area. The banners have been placed by Veterans & Homefront Voices, a nonprofit that works with cadets in local high school JROTC programs to help tell the stories of veterans.
“Our goal is to empower veterans and those who served as the homefront for deployed troops to be seen, heard and understood by their community,” said Conrad Ogletree, the organization’s founder. “We enable the community to see, hear and appreciate their local veterans and homefront members.”
Ogletree said that by Nov. 11, Veterans Day, 39 banners will hang throughout downtown, many of which will have a statement from the veteran as well as a QR code that viewers can use to learn more about the individual on the banner.
Some of the audio recordings will include interviews of veterans by cadets, including those from Atlantic High School’s JROTC program, who will also be part of a Veterans Day ceremony at Veterans Park.
“We’re hoping that when people see the banners on Atlantic Avenue that they’ll stop and read them, and they’ll see something in that legacy statement that they’ll want to apply to their own lives,” Ogletree said.

Ed Manley, who parachuted into Normandy on D-Day in World War II, retired to Briny Breezes 29 years ago, and Nov. 5 marked his 100th birthday. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

Everybody wants to know, Ed. Tell us how you got to be 100.
But Ed Manley just laughs.
“How would I know how I got to be 100?” he exclaims. “I was stupid! I never grew up!”
Manley is the sort of garrulous old-timer who speaks in exclamation points. He remembers parachuting into Normandy on June 6, 1944, better than he remembers what he did the day before yesterday, but he’s still here, alive and lively, chattering away in the Briny Breezes trailer he bought as a young man of 71.
On Nov. 5, he expected to join roughly 97,000 other Americans who have survived for a century.
How did you do it, Ed?
Manley does his best to scrounge up some advice.
“Don’t eat so much,” he cautions. “People eat too much beef. I prefer fish.”
Anything else?
“Well, I never drank to get drunk,” he says. “I drank as much as the other guys, but I spread it out.”
Though he tells you he never grew up, the truth is, Ed Manley grew up many times. He had to.
He was born on Nov. 5, 1921, two months after his father died. At 3, he was sent by his single mother to live with a babysitter in New Jersey until he was 5, when he arrived at an orphanage in Harlem.
“They used to give us two nickels every Wednesday to go down to the YMCA on the trolley,” he once recalled, “and I’d hang on to the back of the trolley to save the nickels.”

Manley’s old World War II uniform is a history of his service along with other honors received over the years.

Another survivor from Company F
At 20, he joined the “Screaming Eagles” — the 101st Airborne Infantry Division’s 502nd Parachute Battalion, Company F, as a private.
Just after midnight on D-Day, he parachuted into Normandy, part of an 11-man team charged with blowing up four German cannons overlooking Omaha Beach.
That September, he jumped into Holland, fighting to take roads and bridges in the city of Eindhoven.
In December, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge against Hitler’s 5th Panzer Army. And on Jan. 3, 1945, Manley was wounded in Bastogne, Belgium, captured and taken to Stalag 12A, a Nazi POW camp in Limburg, Germany.
No wonder Dan McBride thought Manley was already dead.
McBride was only 20 when he jumped into Normandy with Company F, then pressed on to Holland and Belgium, earning three Purple Hearts along the way. He’s 97 now, a retired railroad man alive and well in Silver City, New Mexico.
In 2019, Holland came into McBride’s life again when a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Dutch Army, Jos Groen, reached out to McBride from his home in Doorn, The Netherlands, to request an interview for his book, Three of the Last WWII Screaming Eagles.
Groen came to Silver City and met with McBride for three days. They became friends, and in September 2021, Groen called again to say he’d found another survivor from Company F, a man named Ed Manley, still alive in Briny Breezes, Florida.
“We were both in Company F, but different platoons,” McBride says. “I didn’t know him then, but I heard he was one of the ones captured in Bastogne.”
What McBride hadn’t heard was that while Manley was being marched toward Berlin to form a human wall against the Allied assault, he and five other prisoners had escaped.
In October, McBride called Manley.
“We talked about 20 minutes, half an hour maybe,” McBride reports. “He told me he got hit in the hip, and what he’d done after the war.”
Manley remembers that McBride was in Company F, but their phone call has already slipped from his mind. The present is vague, the past vivid.

‘I tried to help people out’
“I was happiest when I was married,” Manley says. “I didn’t get married until I was 30.”
Dorothy Ann Manley died in 1983 after 32 years of marriage.
“She was the only woman I really respected,” he confesses. “Most women get together and talk about clothes and, you know ladies’ stuff, but she would rather sit with a bunch of guys and play liar’s poker.”
He points to a funeral urn on the shelf. “She’s still with me.”
Now one more bit of advice.
“I don’t have any credit cards,” he reveals. “I write checks. That way if I die, the kids aren’t stuck with the bills.”
He and Dorothy had three children, Scott, James and Kimberley. Scott is a pastor in Washington state, Kimberley died in 2015 at 58, and Manley has no contact with James.
Ask what he’s proudest of in his 100 years of living and Manley hesitates.
“Most people go to church,” he decides. “If someone was beating on you and you couldn’t defend yourself, I found a way to help you out. Most people go to church; I tried to help people out.”
Manley’s son Scott and his grandson, Jered, planned to be here for his birthday, when Brenda Dooley and a few other friends in the park scheduled a small party in the clubhouse. He’ll have 100 cupcakes, one for every year so far, with a sax player blowing his beloved Big Band tunes, and red, white and blue decorations in honor of his heroism.
“And his table’s getting gold plates and gold balloons to go with the red, white and blue,” Dooley promised.
Meals on Wheels planned to deliver a cake, balloon and a bag of presents, as it does for all its centenarians. Just a few gestures to celebrate Ed Manley’s first century, and ring in his next.
“I don’t want to be around another hundred years,” he says bluntly. “We’ve got people going on the moon now, and we can’t handle Earth. We won’t recognize man in 20 years.”
But then he reconsiders.
“I’d like to see Asia.”
And he laughs.
“I hope you have half as much fun in your life as I’m having.”

John Bury, who turns 100 on Nov. 10, wears an Army 8th Air Corps patch and displays a poster of a B-17 Flying Fortress at his Highland Beach condominium. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star.

By Rich Pollack

John Bury remembers flying over Europe that day more than 75 years ago like it was yesterday.
The lead navigator on a B-17 Flying Fortress, Bury and the bomber’s crew were heading back to their base in England when enemy gunfire knocked out two engines, the landing gear and caused minor injuries to a couple of fellow crew members.
At the time, Bury wasn’t thinking about the long-range future or about the long life he would eventually have.
“I was just hoping to live long enough to make the landing,” he said.
This month, on the day before Veterans Day, Bury will celebrate his 100th birthday, a milestone that no other member of his squadron has reached.
“I’m ready to start on the second 100,” he joked.
Bury, a longtime Highland Beach resident, is one of several veterans who are subjects of profiles written by Town Commissioner John Shoemaker as part of a project to recognize their contributions.
“There is support in town to bring recognition and honor to those veterans of all wars,” says Shoemaker, a Vietnam veteran who as a lieutenant led an infantry platoon in combat. “I had no idea that we had so many heroes living in Highland Beach. The diversity of their experience is amazing.”
Among those profiled is Martin Sylvester, who was involved in the 1944 D-Day invasion and later was wounded during the Battle of the Bulge and escaped three times after being captured by the German army. Former Highland Beach Vice Mayor John Rand, another World War II veteran who is profiled, served as a member of the radio communications team for U.S. and Allied forces in Southeast Asia.
Shoemaker also told the stories of Father Brian Horgan, the pastor at St. Lucy Catholic Church who served as a major in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of Randy Elliott, who served as a company commander during the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam and was later activated from the reserves during Operation Desert Storm and promoted to brigadier general.
Other profiles include those of Navy sailor Ben Bishkoff, who served during the Vietnam era, and William “Billy” Kraft, who served in the Army, in the Navy SeaBees and the Air National Guard. Shoemaker also told the story of Army Col. Claude Schmidt, a former tank commander who founded Veteran’s Last Patrol, which supports veterans at their end of life.
“The thread that runs through all these stories is that military training will change the lives of all these soldiers for the better,” Shoemaker said.
Many of Shoemaker’s stories were incorporated into Town Manager Marshall Labadie’s “Manager’s Minute,” and the town is putting the finishing touches on a new page on the website that will include personal profiles of the “Heroes of Highland Beach.” The page will include key contact information for veterans organizations, links to veteran services, announcements and important calendar dates.  
“These are all heroes in our midst that people should know about,” Shoemaker said. “It’s great that these people are getting the recognition they deserved.”

Bury (in rear, second from left) with his B-17 squadron during World War II. Commissioner John Shoemaker has written profiles of Bury and other veterans in town. Photo provided

Shoemaker said there are also plans to build a memorial that will honor the town’s veterans, many of whom will have stories like those Bury easily recalls.
A resident of Highland Beach for almost 40 years, Bury survived the 1945 flight, although a piece of flak landed right in front of him and blew his walking shoe “right past my ear.”
With the gas tank full of holes and the landing gear disabled, the crew was concerned about returning to England safely.
“We weren’t sure we could get back to base,” Bury said.
The bomber did make it back and Bury returned to civilian life, eventually becoming a vice president of marketing for Purolator.
Bury and his wife, Shirley, have been together for close to 74 years and have four children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Until recently, Bury volunteered on a regular basis at St. Lucy church, helping out in the office.
To celebrate the milestone birthday, Bury plans to gather with family from the area and later with family from all across the country.
His secret to longevity, he says, is simply eating right and staying active.
“Shirley watched our diet and I exercised daily for about 50 years,” he said.

By Joe Capozzi 

Ocean Ridge officials are planning to spend the town’s chunk of American Rescue Plan Act money on replacing the problematic aging water pipes on the north end of town. 
Of the roughly 76,500 linear feet of water mains in Ocean Ridge, at least 63,000 linear feet are more than 25 years old, town engineer Lisa Tropepe said in a Sept. 24 memo. 
“With the town’s incorporation in 1931, many of these mains are beyond their useful life,’’ she wrote in a recommendation for a water main distribution capital plan.
Replacing all of the older pipe will cost several million dollars, she said. The first step is addressing the most vulnerable section, about 2,400 linear feet of 6-inch cast iron pipe in the north end of town on the east side of State Road A1A between Inlet Cay and Sabal Island drives. 
“Over the last few years we’ve been getting a few more water main breaks than normal,’’ Tropepe told the Town Commission on Oct. 4. “It’s probably going to happen more and more.’’
Ideally, an 8-inch pipe would replace the old one. It could cost between $700,000 to $850,000, she said. 
“My professional opinion,’’ she said, “this pipe is way beyond its useful life.’’ 
The town buys its potable water from Boynton Beach and owns the water pipes, which extend through town on both sides of A1A. 
Because the water is used for drinking and fire protection, the town’s grant administrator determined that the $900,000 in federal pandemic relief money earmarked for Ocean Ridge can be used for the repairs and replacement of the water mains.
“We’d like to ultimately be able to have an 8-inch water main that could take care of directly the condominiums along the east side of the road, but indirectly it helps everyone,’’ Tropepe told commissioners. 
“That way the whole system would be looped with a proper-sized pipe to provide not only potable water but also for fire safety.’’
If not for the pandemic, the town may have had to raise taxes or issue a bond to pay for the repairs. 
“This ARPA money that is going to cover this is manna from heaven,’’ Mayor Kristine de Haseth said in an interview. 
“It really is, for these smaller coastal towns to be able to have this money and spend it on something that probably would have taken either a millage rate increase or bonds issuance to take care of.’’   

In other business:
• The town might consider code changes that would allow for the removal of Planning and Zoning Commission members who miss consecutive meetings. The change was proposed because only four out of five members attended four meetings this summer. 
“This poses a problem, as we have an odd number of members in order for business to move forward,’’ Town Manager Tracey Stevens said.  
• The Town Commission and advisory Planning and Zoning Commission held a joint meeting Oct. 12. A consensus was reached to allow flat roofs, while three other topics, including ways to get rid of construction eyesores, were debated. 
Because the meeting ran nearly three hours, two agenda items — architectural criteria for front elevations and Planning and Zoning board duties in development plan reviews — were postponed until a later joint meeting. 
• After a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the town’s annual “Light the Lights” holiday celebration will return from 4-6 p.m. on Dec. 3.
When it was canceled last year, it was replaced with a Cruisin’ Santa golf cart parade that rolled past the driveways of town homes. The parade was so popular that it too will return this year at 3 p.m. on Dec. 11.
Details will be announced soon on the town’s website.

The day after the Delray Beach City Commission rejected a rezoning request that would have allowed a three-story building on the lots immediately west of Doc’s All American restaurant, the owner of Doc’s withdrew an application to list the iconic eatery on the city’s Historic Register.
Earlier in that meeting last month, the City Commission had unanimously voted on first reading to approve the historic designation, but city regulations require a second reading to list a structure in the register.
John T. Murphy, the manager of the company that owns all three lots, wrote a letter to the director of the city’s Development Services department. “Based on last night’s vote, unfortunately we will be withdrawing our application” to designate Doc’s as historic, he wrote.
Doc’s sits at the corner of Atlantic and Swinton avenues, in the heart of the city’s Old School Square Historic Arts District. It was built in 1951 and is considered a prime example of post-World War II Mid-Century roadside architecture.
Doc’s remains safe from the wrecking ball, at least in the short term. Before anyone can secure a demolition permit, an approved plan for what would be built on the lot must be in the owner’s hands. Any such plan would have to work its way through advisory boards and finally the City Commission.

— Staff report

The mural sample shows how the face of former Deputy Fire Chief Latosha Clemons (lower right) was obscured before the mural was redone in late 2020. Image provided

By Jane Smith

The first Black woman firefighter in Boynton Beach recently settled all discrimination complaints against the city for $100,000. Her image was whitewashed in a June 2020 mural designed to celebrate the city’s Fire Department.
Born and raised in Boynton Beach, Latosha Clemons spent nearly 24 years working for the city’s Fire Department. She started as a firefighter in June 1996 and worked her way up to deputy fire chief before retiring in March 2020.
Clemons agreed to a total settlement of $100,000, considering it just compensation for what she went through on the job and with the mural, wrote Arthur Schofield, her attorney, in an Oct. 20 email to The Coastal Star. The amount also factored in that Boynton Beach redid the mural in the fall of 2020 to properly depict her.  
“Clemons is pleased to have closure to this very unfortunate and hurtful event in her life and is hopeful that her stance not only prevents employers from taking similar actions but also encourages victims to stand up for themselves,” Schofield wrote.
Clemons will receive $80,000 to settle her lawsuit with the city, filed in April. The additional $20,000 is to settle a federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission discrimination complaint filed against Boynton Beach in the summer of 2020, according to the city attorney.
Boynton Beach spent nearly $17,000 fighting the complaints through the end of September.
The City Commission unanimously approved settling her claims at its Oct. 19 meeting.
“We will not be erased,” Commissioner Christina Romelus, who is Black, said when voting for the two settlements. “No amount of money can make up for what was done.”
Clemons, 48, is now fire chief in Forest Park, Georgia. She was hired there in December.
The mural, featuring photos of the city’s fire-rescue staff, was installed on June 2, 2020, in the new fire station’s lobby windows, facing Northeast First Avenue.
On June 3, 2020, the city held a soft opening with elected leaders, development partners and the media. The public was not invited because of coronavirus restrictions against large crowds.
The Boynton Beach mural was taken down the next day because social media posts depicted two Black former fire leaders as white. Clemons became what appeared to be a distorted white man and ex-chief Glenn Joseph, the city’s second Black fire chief, seemed to be depicted as a white man with a mustache.
Joseph declined to have his face restored, saying he had been with the department for only a few years.
From June 4 to 6, 2020, City Manager Lori LaVerriere interviewed then-Public Art Manager Debby Coles-Dobay, Fire Marshal Kathy Cline and then-Fire Chief Matt Petty.
“Coles-Dobay admitted that changing the skin color was her idea and decision,” according to the notes of Human Resources Director Julie Oldbury, who was present during the interviews.
On June 6, 2020, LaVerriere demoted Petty, who later that day agreed to separate from the city.
Coles-Dobay lost her job on June 6, 2020. She sent this email on Oct. 25 to The Coastal Star:
“As Public Art Manager, my job was to facilitate the process as outlined in the public art ordinance between the project stakeholders and the artist to make sure all parties are satisfied, and the project criteria is met. The project criteria were to ‘Preserve the Department’s Culture and Pride while building strong community relationships.’ It was not to ‘honor the contribution of Fire Rescue Department employees,’ as published in the city statements. 
“Prior to the artwork installation, senior-level staff, Chief Petty and Fire Marshal Cline refused to allow the installation and directed me to convey the changes to be made.”
But during the June 4, 2020, interview of Coles-Dobay by the city manager, Oldbury’s notes read: LaVerriere told Coles-Dobay that if she was feeling any type of pressure, she should have told her and brought her into the loop on what was occurring. 
LaVerriere declined to comment for this story.
“What happened to the deputy chief was disgusting,” Commissioner Ty Penserga said before joining in the unanimous commission vote.
Because Clemons was born in Boynton Beach, Mayor Steven Grant said, “Removing her image from the mural hurts the worst. ... She is always there at many city events.”
At the Oct. 19 meeting, he proposed naming a new public orchard after Clemons. Grant and Clemons picked up trash from a vacant lot at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Northwest First Street on MLK Day in January 2020.
Nearly two years later, the lot now contains 50 tropical fruit trees, planted by Community Greening volunteers.
Naming the public orchard for Clemons will be discussed at a future Boynton Beach meeting.

King tides amplified by tropical weather in September and October 2020 flooded many of the streets on the west side of Briny Breezes. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi 

Briny Breezes residents like to think they have a pretty good idea of how storms, king tides and rising seas can threaten their 43-acre community on the barrier island. 
For a few days in September 2020, as a tropical system roiled off the coast at high tide, they watched the Intracoastal Waterway pour over the sea walls on the west side of town and into the streets. The water floated golf carts and flooded porches, air-conditioning units and cars. After a few days, the water receded.
As scary as that was for the co-op of 488 manufactured and mobile homes, a new consultant’s report suggests Briny ain’t seen nothing yet. 
The resiliency planning guide, prepared by the Fort Lauderdale-based coastal engineering firm Brizaga Inc., calls for tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements and creative land-use changes to help Briny Breezes survive potential flooding over the next 50 years. 
Among the measures outlined in the 144-page Flooding Adaptation Plan, commissioned for about $30,000 by the Briny Breezes Corp., are: 
• Replacing and elevating more than 5,000 linear feet of sea walls on four basins near the most vulnerable parts of town along the Intracoastal Waterway. 
• Enhancing the stormwater drainage system with larger pipes and pumps. 
• Raising the streets and low-lying areas with tens of thousands of cubic yards of fill.
 • Adopting alternative building methods that could include setting some homes atop concrete stilts, a strategy that helped one Key Largo community withstand a 2017 hurricane. 
• Tearing the town down and redeveloping it (an option town and corporation officials consider highly unlikely) or abandoning the lowest-lying areas so they can be used for water retention.
In perhaps the report’s most eye-opening section, 12 forecasting maps show increasing levels of tidal flooding and storm surge over the next 50 years, based on models from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the 2019 Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact.
Some maps show low-lying areas on the west permanently under water in 2040. Another, for a Category 3 hurricane in 2070, shows the entire west side of town under up to 5 feet of water and sections on the east under more than 3 feet of water.
“If storm surge comes through at high tide as (some of) the forecast models continue to show, they’ll be waterfront properties. They’ll literally be sitting atop water in the Intracoastal 50 years from now,’’ said Mayor Gene Adams. 
In all scenarios, the east side of town, between State Road A1A and the Atlantic Ocean, would fare better than the west side. But if the forecasted flooding throughout Briny were to occur, it could deal a catastrophic blow to the town. 
Since Briny’s tax rate is already at the maximum allowed under state law, the town has relied each year on rising property values to generate extra operating revenue. If properties are swallowed by water, their values — and consequently the town’s tax base — will shrink.
“If your taxable value goes substantially down, your revenues obviously go substantially down and it could make it impossible for the town to exist,’’ Town Manager William Thrasher said in an interview.
“If they are forecasting correctly, from my perspective, the town of Briny would cease to exist. I don’t see how the town could survive that. So the report is a hypothetical forecast that could have dire effects on the town of Briny Breezes and its very existence and functionality.’’
The report also includes photographs of thousands of feet of deteriorating sea wall along the Intracoastal, some described in “poor” and “serious” condition, with “the most vulnerable sections along Mallard Drive South, Ibis Drive West, and Heron Drive’’ on the north end of the west side.
Despite those gloomy forecasts, town and corporation officials said they are optimistic the future will be bright.
In the months since the report came out in June, town leaders have already gotten started on Brizaga’s recommended “immediate next steps” — a master plan to replace the deteriorating sea walls on the west side and enhance the stormwater drainage system. 
And the town’s Planning and Zoning Board has started looking into alternative building methods, as recommended by the Brizaga team. 
“We feel this is a very positive tool for future short- and long-range planning and also a wonderful tool that will help the town work toward government funding and other grants related to coastal flooding,’’ Michael Gallacher, general manager of Briny Breezes Inc., wrote in a statement to The Coastal Star.
“Rather than predictions of fear, the report provides Briny with an analysis foundation on which both the town and the corporation can begin discussions with government bodies and for internal resource planning, prioritization and decision making.’’
But adequately preparing the town will come with a price tag. A high one. How high depends on which recommendations the town and corporation follow.
The Town Council on Oct. 28 approved two contracts with the West Palm Beach engineering firm Engenuity Group Inc., one for $85,000 to do a survey of underground utilities across town and the other for $60,000 for a stormwater master plan. Thrasher is trying to secure grant money for construction drawings, estimated to cost $250,000, for new sea walls and stormwater management improvements.
“Construction drawings can’t be created until you know the topography of the land and where utilities are located,’’ Thrasher said. “Once you have construction drawings, then you’re really able to start reaching out to legislators for appropriations.’’  
The town has already initiated conversations with state Rep. Mike Caruso and state Sen. Lori Berman on securing millions of dollars for the long-term improvements recommended in the report. 
Grants will require the town to put up matching money.
“If we really tackle this thing the right way,’’ Adams said, “there probably will be some degree of having to go up in assessments” paid every quarter by shareholders. 
“The good news is property values are going up in Briny, so the tax base is going up higher and there’s more money available,’’ he said. 
Thrasher said competitive markets might lower some of the cost estimates. 
“I believe the cap the town can absorb or put into a project is between $25 million and $30 million. That’s it. That I believe can get us to 2040 and approaches 2050. That would be sea walls, stormwater management and a combination of land development regulations,’’ Thrasher said. 
“With that amount of money in a project we could get in very good shape, in my opinion.’’
Since the report was completed in June, Gallacher said, there have been several Zoom presentations for shareholders, who have received a 14-page executive summary.
“We are hopeful for a larger-scale, in-person presentation when we are back in season and past COVID,’’ Gallacher said. 
While the forecasts in the report are just that — forecasts with no guarantee that such severe flood events will occur — the town and its corporation aren’t taking any chances. 
“Something needs to be done. We just cannot sit back and hope that these forecasters are wrong,’’ Thrasher said.
“It’s probably scary to some to think that we are thinking of this and yet at the same time when I see king tides and the effects it has on the property, that’s scarier to me.’’
 Rubber boots and king tide charts have become household items for residents on the town’s west side, which already sees frequent tidal flooding. 
“Seeing what that looks like in 2040, 2050 is eye-opening,’’ Adams said. “We are starting to tackle it right now, but it’s definitely a big number that needs to be tackled.’’

By Charles Elmore

Big changes in federal flood insurance are lowering bills for some but triggering sticker shock for others, agents say — such as the buyer of a Delray Beach commercial property who was quoted a $16,400 annual premium after the previous owner paid $1,100.
“We’ll be having some difficult conversations with clients,” said John Backer, vice president of Gracey-Backer Inc., an agency in Delray. “Potentially it could affect some real estate deals.”
Despite pleas for delay from members of Congress in Florida and other coastal states, the reset known as Risk Rating 2.0 took effect Oct. 1 for new policies issued by the National Flood Insurance Program. Adjusted rates will kick in April 1 for those who renew existing policies.
Nowhere is the impact bigger than in Florida, which — with 1.7 million — has the most NFIP policies of any state. More than 80% of policies in the state will cost more, according to federal projections.
The government-run program remains the dominant provider of insurance for flood damage, which most standard home and business policies do not cover. 
Along Palm Beach County’s southern coast, a minority of people will pay less, a majority in most ZIP codes will pay up to $10 more per month or $120 annually, and some face much steeper costs.
Take the 33483 ZIP code spanning Gulf Stream and the eastern part of Delray Beach. It has 6,024 NFIP policies. Among these, 7% are pegged to cost more than $20 extra each month. A website breaking out the government data does not offer further specifics about how much more.
The biggest portion in the ZIP code, 59%, will pay up to $10 more per month. Another 8.7% will pay $10 to $20 more. About a quarter, 25.3%, will pay less.
The changes come after a long-running debate about whether NFIP, created in 1968, has kept rates too low for some properties deemed to carry higher flood risks, effectively shifting costs to others with lower risks. Proponents say a reworking has been overdue in a time of rising worry about climate change and increased flooding risk.
But prior increases in prices and surcharges stemming from 2012 federal legislation led to complaints the changes caused economic disruption and pushed some people to drop policies. By 2019, nine municipalities in southeastern Palm Beach had fewer NFIP policies than they did eight years earlier, with declines as much as 40%, while three had more policies, a Coastal Star analysis found.
Lenders may require flood policies in designated high-risk zones, but people not carrying mortgages or living in lower-risk areas have a choice.
In September, a bipartisan group of nine U.S. senators including Florida’s Marco Rubio “urgently” requested a delay for the changes in a letter to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees the flood program.
Senators said they understood FEMA’s own analysis projected nearly 20% of all policyholders nationally, or about 900,000, would drop policies over 10 years. The letter also said FEMA was failing to publicize adequately just how much some premiums could go up — not merely in the first year, but with certain renewing policies, rising 18% annually for five years, 10 years or however long it takes to get to a revised rate.
Under congressional questioning in early October, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said the change “has been implemented” and “already individuals are seeing decreases in their insurance rates, which is the first time that this program has taken equity into account to make sure people are paying for the risk that they have.”
How many will pay less in southeastern Palm Beach County? It can vary a lot.
In the 33487 ZIP code, with 6,223 policies in the Highland Beach and Boca Raton area, for example, 6.5% are forecast to cost less. 
The projected savers rise to 46.5% of 5,736 policies in the 33435 ZIP code for parts of Boynton Beach, Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes.
In the 33480 ZIP code including South Palm Beach, 27.4% of 9,147 policies are slated to cost less. More than 60% of policies there will cost up to $10 more monthly, another 5.8% are seen as rising up to $20, and 6.1% will top $20 extra.
New prices arrive in the wake of updated federal maps and local efforts to mitigate flood risks. Big price differences can hinge on factors like a property’s elevation and proximity to a body of water. But virtually everyone in the region faces some risk, officials say.
“Every property in the city of Boynton Beach can flood,” that city’s website reminds residents. “You can’t bet on getting disaster assistance after a flood. But you can pay for repairs if you have flood insurance.”
The site further notes “35% of all flood insurance claims in the city of Boynton Beach have been outside the mapped floodplain. Consider purchasing flood insurance, whether your property is in a Special Flood Hazard Area or not.”
For the uninsured, the most common form of federal disaster assistance is a loan that must be repaid with interest, FEMA officials note.
In any case, pricing changes can bring surprises for home buyers coming into a hot market. One Delray Beach home purchaser learned a flood insurance policy that cost $580 per year in the past was now $2,200, Backer said.
That has sent agents and residents scrambling to assess their options. Alternatives can include private insurers, who largely avoided flood risks historically and account for less than 5% of the U.S. flood insurance market in most estimates. In recent years a number of private carriers have stepped up efforts to play a greater role. 
As the effects play out into next year, people near the coast will have to adjust to a new reality.
“In the end, the goal of this is to pay what they should be paying, commensurate to risk,” Backer said. “But that doesn’t mean it is going to be an easy process.”

Cost changes by ZIP codes
Premiums for National Flood Insurance Program policies under Risk Rating 2.0:

33432 (Boca Raton) — 6,995 policies
Paying less: 29.1%
Paying $0-$10 more monthly: 65.4%
Paying $10-$20 more: 3.4%
Paying $20+ more: 2%

33431 (Boca Raton) — 3,009 policies
Paying less: 34.6%
Paying $0-$10 more monthly: 59.3%
Paying $10-$20 more: 3.7%
Paying $20+ more: 2.5%

33487 (Boca Raton, Highland Beach) — 6,223 policies
Paying less: 6.5%
Paying $0-$10 more monthly: 85.2%
Paying $10-$20 more: 6%
Paying $20+ more: 2.3%

33483 (Delray Beach, Gulf Stream) — 6,024 policies
Paying less: 25.3%
Paying $0-$10 more monthly: 59%
Paying $10-$20 more: 8.7%
Paying $20+ more: 7%

33435 (Boynton Beach, Briny Breezes, Ocean Ridge) — 5,736 policies
Paying less: 46.5%
Paying $0-$10 more monthly: 48%
Paying $10-$20 more: 3.7%
Paying $20+ more: 1.8%

33462 (Lantana, Manalapan) — 3,385 policies
Paying less: 35.3%
Paying $0-$10 more monthly: 54.3%
Paying $10-$20 more: 7.3%
Paying $20+ more: 3.1%

33480 (South Palm Beach, Palm Beach) — 9,147 policies
Paying less: 27.4%
Paying $0-$10 more monthly: 60.7%
Paying $10-$20 more: 5.8%
Paying $20+ more: 6.1%

Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream’s rank-and-file police officers are now card-carrying members of the Police Benevolent Association of Palm Beach County.
“Welcome,” the union said in an Oct. 6 post on Facebook following the officers’ vote. “We are very proud to be your new collective bargaining representative.”
In response, town commissioners on Oct. 8 hired I. Jeffrey Pheterson of the West Palm Beach law firm Ward Damon to negotiate a contract with the PBA.
“I know Jeff,” Vice Mayor Thomas Stanley said. “I’ve worked with him on some labor and employment matters in my professional career. He’s very well-qualified.”
Pheterson will be paid $350 per hour for his services, not to exceed $15,000.
Until the affirmative vote, Gulf Stream’s force was the only nonunionized coastal police agency from South Palm Beach to Boca Raton.
The town boosted police pay by $3,750 a year in fiscal 2020 after a survey showed its officers received less than their counterparts in Highland Beach, Ocean Ridge, Manalapan and Palm Beach. That pushed the lowest salary to $51,250, ahead of Manalapan and Highland Beach. Other town employees were given 3% raises.
“That really puts us right in the middle of the five cities,” Town Manager Greg Dunham said at the time.
Also on Oct. 8, Police Chief Edward Allen announced he had hired Officer Michael LeStrange, a 39-year veteran of the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, and was close to hiring another officer. Allen and Capt. John Haseley are management and not included in the union. Gulf Stream also has two police sergeants and, with the new hires, nine patrol officers.
In other business, commissioners approved site plans for the first three homes on Bluewater Cove just north of Place Au Soleil. Two will be one-story model homes in Bermuda style and Anglo Caribbean. The third will be a two-story Colonial West Indies spec home.
The developer hopes to start construction next spring and finish up the following fall.

By Joe Capozzi 

The La Coquille Club, the exclusive Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa club that allows free access to Manalapan residents, won Town Commission approval in October for two changes to its membership rules. 
The club will raise the limit on its number of non-Manalapan resident members to 75 from 66. The club also is raising its monthly dues for people who rent property in town to $600 from $250.
The changes come as Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa prepares to unveil $23 million in upgrades to the resort later this year. 
“The attraction of La Coquille Club and Eau has grown in significance because of full-time residency people joining our community,’’ Jeff Alderton, an LCC board member, said in a presentation at the Oct. 12 Town Commission meeting. 
“So for the first time in many, many years, we have a waiting list. We’ve never had a waiting list before at La Coquille.’’ 
Alderton said the limit increase to 75 non-Manalapan members is a one-time move. He said the monthly dues for renters have been $250 for the past 32 years.
“Lessee members currently pay notably less than non-Manalapan members for the same service with no financial investment,’’ he said, pointing out that non-Manalapan members pay a $50,000 initiation fee and $3,000 a year in dues. Commissioners embraced the changes. 
“It seems to me that that puts us into a position of having a better, more attractive venue,’’ Mayor Keith Waters said. 
The original club was a premier destination for celebrities, diplomats, and captains of industry — from Ginger Rogers and the Windsors to the Fords and the Vanderbilts. 
When approving the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in 1988, the Manalapan Town Commission incorporated La Coquille Club, a modern version of the prestigious original club founded in the 1950s on the grounds of the hotel site.  
The new club, now part of Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa, provides “a unique opportunity for the Manalapan community to enjoy the privileges of a private club amidst the style and grace of the hotel,’’ the town’s website says.  
Town property owners are a priority for the club and, upon application and approval by the board of directors, are made members without having to pay initiation fees or annual dues. 
They are permitted access to most amenities on either a gratis basis or a fee basis on par with the Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa guest. Examples include a private club room and terrace, specialty dining, fitness facilities, pool and whirlpool, beach and tennis.

By Joe Capozzi 

Now that the Town Council has hired another architect to draw up options for a new Town Hall, South Palm Beach officials want to get input from residents in a series of public meetings.
“There are going to be public hearings for everyone to come and have input into the future of the building we’re sitting in right now,’’ council member Mark Weissman said at the end of a council meeting Oct. 12.
The first public outreach meeting was scheduled Nov. 4 in three sessions to accommodate the public: 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. More public outreach meetings will be held in December and January but the dates have yet to be announced.
Earlier in the meeting, and without comment, the council voted unanimously on a $63,000 contract with the architectural firm Synalovski Romanik Saye for a feasibility study. 
Later in the meeting, Weissman noted that the contract vote “kind of flew by” without discussion. He said he wanted to make sure residents were aware that they’ll be asked for input.
“The public’s input is very important,’’ he said. “If you can get the word out in your own communities and condominiums so they know that when those hearings take place, they will be for the public to get their word out what they would like to see for the future in this town.’’
The contract calls for three phases: a space-needs study that will include, among other things, consideration of housing fire-rescue services at Town Hall; a study of options that will include renovating the existing facility or building a new one; and a final report of short-listed options. 
Council member Bill LeRoy said he’d like to see if Town Hall’s western-most border along the Intracoastal Waterway, now mainly covered by trees and vegetation, can be renovated to include public uses such as a dock and kayak launch. 
It’s the fourth time in six years, and first since March 2020, the town is taking a hard look at renovating the existing 45-year-old building or building a new one. Since 2016, the town has spent about $55,000 on studying the idea. With the new Synalovski Romanik Saye contract, that amount is set to rise to $118,000.
In other business:
• The Town Council agreed to consider joining the Palm Beach County Low-Income Senior Citizen Municipal Tax Exemption program. 
If South Palm Beach participates, the town would set aside money to pay the town portion of the tax bills of qualifying residents. To qualify, a resident must be 65 or older, own a homesteaded property and have an income of less than $31,100 in 2021. 
Ten municipalities in the county have joined the program since the property appraiser started offering it in 2014. Jupiter, for example, set aside $25,000 in 2017 and increased it to $50,000 in July for 396 qualifying seniors. 
South Palm Beach’s possible participation will be considered at a meeting later this year.
“If we have people who meet this criteria, we should certainly help them. This is not a cheap place to live,’’ LeRoy said. 
• Mike Crisafulle, the town’s building official, encouraged condos to get started on timely inspections, even though it could be a while before a countywide or state rule on reinspections is enacted in the wake of the fatal condo collapse in Surfside. 
“Don’t wait until this code goes into effect,’’ he said. “I would start working … now to get with engineers to get your report going, because most of these buildings are way over 40 years old.’’
• Without discussion, the mayor and council members voted unanimously to raise their pay. The monthly salaries for mayor and four council members will double — to $1,000 for the mayor and $600 for council members — the next time they win election. • Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Col. Tony Araujo observed the two-year anniversary of the agency’s partnership with the town by thanking the council for the partnership. In 2019, the town merged its police department with PBSO. 
“Two years flew by,’’ Araujo said. “I’d like to think we’re beyond partners. We’re your service provider. We’re your police department. I think it has worked out very well.’’
• An ex-wife of Muhammad Ali might be coming to Town Hall someday soon. Councilman Ray McMillan said he met Khalilah Camacho-Ali, who was married to the boxing legend from 1967-76, at an event in Boca Raton on Oct. 11. He said he invited her to speak at Town Hall.
“She’s on board with it 100%. She said she would call me. That’s something for us to look forward to,’’ he said.

By Mary Thurwachter

The Lantana Town Council voted during its Oct. 11 meeting to spend more than $400,000 over the next five years for communication center equipment.
“The initial cost is $280,000 for all the equipment and installation,” Police Chief Sean Scheller said. The balance will be spent on maintenance — between $20,000 and $25,000 a year.
“The current equipment in dispatch was bought by the town in the early 1990s — used — from the city of Lake Worth,” Scheller said. “We’re on a lot of borrowed time with the communications system. As of Oct. 1, the maintenance and warranty are all gone.”
The new, state-of-the art Motorola equipment will allow Lantana police to better communicate with other agencies.
Police Commander Thomas Mitchell said that “the county will be going to this as they replace and upgrade all their dispatch locations.”
Mitchell said there have been instances in the past two years when Lantana officers were unable to communicate with other law enforcement departments because they were not on the same frequency as the Sheriff ’s Office.
“When we had protests last year in Lake Worth, Lantana radios didn’t interface with others,” Mitchell said. “We had to communicate through cellphones. That’s not the way to do business and that’s not the way to keep everybody safe.”
He said having encrypted channels, which the new equipment will provide, is extremely important. “It’s also going to give us the ability in a critical incident where we can patch radio channels. This is going to put us in current trends with Palm Beach County and other agencies throughout the state. It’s much needed.”
Equipment is expected to arrive in three to five weeks and will take another few days for installation.
The Town Council unanimously voted for the expenditure.
“This is long overdue,” said council member Lynn Moorhouse.
In other action, the town voted 3-2 (with Moorhouse and Karen Lythgoe dissenting) not to accept a bid of $336,270 from West Construction to build an ADA-compliant beach access ramp. Other options will be explored instead.
The ramp in question was destroyed by a storm in September. The city quickly filed an insurance claim and began to design the ramp under discussion.
But Operations Director Eddie Crockett described a big discrepancy between the two lowest bids, so much so that the lowest bidder was studied and then dropped. “We moved to the next-highest bidder,” West Construction.
Council members debated whether to build a permanent or retractable ramp.
Crockett said the last ADA ramp, which had removable panels, was “extremely time consuming and extremely difficult to take apart and put it back together,” and he did not recommend that design. Mayor Robert Hagerty said the council needed to recognize that engineering plans were different from those used to build the previous ramp.
“This ramp has been redesigned and engineered differently to where it would withstand that type of condition letting the water pass through instead of having solid surfaces where the water would beat against it and push it out and destroy it,” Hagerty said.
But the design for a permanent ramp that the council seemed to favor sparked public comments from several residents who urged them to look more closely at a retractable ramp.
Jeff Tellex of South Palm Beach, CEO and managing partner of Atlantic Aluminum & Marine Products Inc., says he works with a company that does this kind of project up and down the coast. He suggested more research is needed.
“We built multiple structures for homes, condominiums, Lantana beach lifeguard ramp — and retractable is the way to go,” Tellex said. “This has been discussed with a whole lot of locals who have knowledge over many years.
“I grew up here, I’ve seen lifeguard tower after lifeguard tower get washed into the ocean. The only thing I’m begging you to do is revisit it, look at a retractable system.”
Moorhouse wanted to accept the bid from West Construction.
“We put this out to bid a long time ago and I had been in favor of some retractable, removable hydraulic, whatever … and was told that it was going to be a lot more expensive and probably not as satisfactory as what we’ve got cooking here. So, my feeling is we either believe our engineers or we don’t, but we can’t just break the process.”
But the majority of council members chose to do further research and deny the West bid.
“I think it would be a good idea if we could look at his drawings or ask questions about this,” council member Malcolm Balfour said before making the motion to deny the bid and direct staff to listen to a presentation from Tellex.
In other business, the town:
• Renewed the annual $1 lease with the Lantana Chamber of Commerce for the town-owned building at 212 Iris Ave.
• Approved a request from West Construction for a temporary easement (through Dec. 31) at the south side of the town beach during the construction/renovation of Eau Palm Beach.

By Mary Thurwachter

With construction nearly complete, an Aldi grocery store is set to open in a month at Water Tower Commons. It will be the development’s first retail store and is one of 100 Aldis opening this year across the country.
“We are excited to announce our Lantana store will be opening this December,” said Chris Hewitt, Royal Palm Beach division vice president for Aldi. “Our stores provide a consistent, streamlined and efficient shopping experience.”
The Lantana location will have approximately 12,000 square feet of retail space.
“At Aldi, we streamline our approach to staffing, creating cost-saving efficiencies that are passed on to our customers,” Hewitt said. “Each store, including our new Lantana store, will employ about 15 to 20 people.”
Caroline Shamsi-Basha, Lantana’s assistant development services director, said the grocery store has approved permits and appears to be moving along quickly. “Our department has conducted a number of inspections for the project during October,” she said.
Town officials and businesses are eager for the store’s opening.
“I am excited to have new businesses in our town,” said Vice Mayor Pro Tem Karen Lythgoe. “I like to shop at Aldi and it will be nice to have one close to home.”
Chamber of Commerce President Dave Arm, whose business, Lantana Fitness, is across the street from Water Tower Commons, said he too is excited about the opening.
“It can only help Water Tower Commons in their effort to fully lease their commercial space in this difficult retail environment,” Arm said. “And, as a business owner, the addition of a major new store in the neighborhood can only help all of the shops on the road.”
The Town Council voted in 2019 to allow Aldi, as well as a Wawa filling station, for the development. The grocery store is to the north of the proposed filling station site, near the entrance to the development from Andrew Redding Road. Ground has yet to be broken for the Wawa.
Water Tower Commons, a 73-acre retail and residential project east of Interstate 95 on Lantana Road, has been in the works since 2014. That’s when Lantana Development — a partnership between Wexford Capital and developer Ken Endelson’s Southeast Legacy — bought the site, formerly home to A.G. Holley State Hospital, for $15.6 million.
Although apartments have been built on the property, until now the retail portion has been stagnant since 2017. Aldi is being built by Oak Construction of Fort Lauderdale. Details of the grand opening will be revealed later.
Water Tower Commons was negotiating to bring a Walmart Neighborhood Market to the property in 2017, but that deal fell through. 
The shopping center portion of the project, originally planned for 280,000 square feet, has been scaled back to 150,000 square feet, reflecting a substantial softening of the retail market.

Joe Betras of Hypoluxo Island, pictured in his Lantana office, holds two cups that helped launch his plastics business 40 years ago: a 14-ounce mug in the shape of an orange and a cup with a sailboat and ‘Daytona Beach, Florida’ printed on the side. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

When Joe Betras was a 17-year-old lifeguard in Daytona Beach, he sold suntan lotion, zinc oxide and bathing caps to clients at his beachfront hotel pool.
He also stopped on his way to work each morning to buy two gallons of orange juice, then gave away free cups to those same clients. While he didn’t realize it at the time, that simple gesture was the beginning of what became a spectacularly successful career as an entrepreneur.
Betras, who lives on Hypoluxo Island, would have other jobs over the next several years — bartender, blackjack dealer, nightclub manager and even nightclub owner — but when he reached his late 20s he decided he needed a real career with steady hours, one that would allow him to settle down and raise a family with his wife, Henya.
“I felt like she would be a great mother,” he said.
His search for ideas took him to Disney World in 1977, in its early years. He noticed customers were being served orange juice in a plastic orange, and learned a Houston-based company named Teledyne made the receptacles. He called the company and asked to send him a salesman, and when the salesman showed up he opened his briefcase and pulled out a 14-ounce mug.
“I thought, ‘If I buy that mug I don’t have to fill it, I just have to sell it,’” Betras said. “I ordered 20,000 on the spot, 10,000 with a surfer and 10,000 with a sailboat and the words ‘Daytona Beach’ on the side. They arrived a month later and I started selling them to gift shops.”
Soon after he headed back to Orlando, this time to Sea World, where a buyer named Frank Day ordered 1,000 plastic cups with the venue’s logo with the contingency that Betras had to take them back if they didn’t sell. They did, and soon Day put in another order for 500,000.
And he was off. Broadening his operation to get into the manufacturing and distribution as well, Betras founded Betras Plastics and in 1983 moved to Spartanburg, South Carolina. By 1987, it was listed at No. 249 on INC 500’s list of the fastest-growing companies in the United States.
While not every idea worked out over the ensuing years — during which Joe and Henya moved several times and had four children — Betras had some spectacular successes to offset disappointments. He sold 5 million Spuds MacKenzie cups one year, 7 million Ninja Turtles another and an incredible 22 million when the Pokémon phenomenon hit in the late 1990s.
Betras declined all buyout offers until 2014, when competitor Whirley Industries made an offer that allowed him to cut back his workload. So, what happened? Henya started her own plastic cup marketing business.
“We’re competitors now, so she works out of the house while I work here,” Betras, 74, said in his small office in a strip mall on Federal Highway in Lantana.
The couple’s four children are Carolina, who is chief operating officer of a health-oriented cosmetics company and lives in Amsterdam; Danielle, who works in the business technology department of The New York Times; Joey, a chicken and vegetable farmer near New Paltz, New York; and Michael, who is the technology expert for Henya’s firm.

— 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 Wheeling, West Virginia, went to a Catholic grade school, then moved to Sanford when I was 11. Went to Seminole High School, a public school, and wound up at the University of Chattanooga, the first from my family to go to college.
What influenced me most was learning about people. In high school I had friends that didn’t want anything from me; they were just friends. You didn’t have to worry about somebody taking something from you. I didn’t realize until later that everybody always has an angle: If you were successful, they wanted a part of it, and if they were successful, they would try to mess that up.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I was in retail, selling suntan oil as a lifeguard, I was in the nightclub business, I was the owner of a nightclub, then 43 years ago I wanted to get into the plastics business, and through good and bad I’m still in it.
In 1987 we were named one of the top 500 fastest-growing companies in America, which comprised the INC 500. I was named Entrepreneur of the Year in the state of South Carolina, and we were among the top 100 manufacturing companies, also in South Carolina.
In 1990 during the Gulf War, things were getting tough so we sent a tractor-trailer of drink ware over to Kuwait, and got a letter from Sen. Strom Thurmond in appreciation of that. We also put on a beach music festival four years in a row to benefit the Red Cross, and raised $25,000 each time.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Technology. Everywhere you go, everything you do involves it. I wish I knew about this when I was learning things. That’s where everything is headed.

Q: How did you choose to make your home on Hypoluxo Island?
A: We always liked Florida and the water, and when we were living in Dallas we did a trade show in Orlando. We decided to take a drive south to look around and wound up in Boca, got hold of a real estate agent, and he showed us 26 properties, the first of which was on Hypoluxo Island.
It wasn’t what we wanted, but it had what they call the bones, and I knew Henya could transform it so we took it. This was seven years ago so the bridge there was out, so we got an incredible deal on the property. By the time we closed, the bridge was finished and here we are.

Q: What’s your favorite part about living on Hypoluxo Island?
A: My wife still says it every time we come over the bridge: I love living in paradise. With the boats, the docks, it’s great. But getting to know the people on the island and the neighbors are fantastic.

Q: What book are you reading?
A: What I’m reading is Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Bloomberg. But my favorite book was Who Moved My Cheese? This rat eats cheese all his life, one day he goes to get it and it’s not there. What’s he gonna do? Commit suicide or work it out? That was the message I lived by.

Q: What music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: Basically, it’s the same, and it’s ’50s and ’60s. It just relaxes me, and when I’m relaxed I can think. All I do on Saturdays and Sundays is lay by the pool and listen to the Drifters, the Platters, Temptations, Four Tops. It relaxes me so much it opens my mind to what I could build, what shape I should pursue. I’m always on the lookout for ideas.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: Mel Fields, who is the person who gave me my first job as a lifeguard at 17. He had one hotel and then got another and I followed him, and we became like family. He had parking lots in New York and bought hotels on the beach in Daytona. He would guide me on investments, on handling people. He mentored me in business and as it turned out he mentored me on life as well.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: Burt Reynolds. He’s projected as kind of a wild guy, but sometimes he was serious, too. I just think he could do a good job portraying me as I came through life.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: Clean jokes, for one. But mostly it’s people who think they’re better than everybody — to see them and realize what they don’t know. I would never say anything to them, but in my heart and mind I’m going, “If you only knew.”

One project will construct a direct pipeline for more efficient dredging of the South Lake Worth Inlet sand trap. It is expected to finish by March. The other is to modernize the marina in three phases, which could take several years. Rendering provided

By Joe Capozzi

Ocean Inlet Park is about to undergo renovations from two Palm Beach County construction projects, raising concerns about noise and congestion over the next few months at the county-operated park.  
The first project, a modernization of the aging marina, was supposed to start in May but is now expected to begin in a few weeks, Ocean Ridge building official Durrani Guy told the Town Commission on Nov. 1. 
Around the same time, heavy equipment is expected to arrive for the other project, the initial phase of a jack and bore project to reroute the inlet dredging pipeline to the south end of the park under State Road A1A. 
Both projects “are going to make a gigantic construction mess, which we can’t do anything about,’’ Commissioner Steve Coz said.
Guy said the actual jack and bore process, starting from the west side of A1A, is scheduled to begin Jan. 4 and should last about a week. After a steel casing is installed under the road, the dredging pipe will be laid along a more direct route from the dredge areas west of the marina to the beach along the ocean. 
The previous route, on the north end, disrupted park operations and beach access during periodic dredge operations because the pipeline was exposed in the parking lot, along the jetty and on the beach.
Town Manager Tracey Stevens said in her report Nov. 1 that the pipeline project should be done by March and will allow for more efficient dredging of the sand trap at the South Lake Worth Inlet, commonly known as the Boynton Inlet. It is typically dredged every six to eight years to remove sand accumulation captured by the inlet system. 
“This new pipe route will be much safer for beach, boat and park users during future dredging events, in addition to shortening the pipe distance to the ultimate sand placement area in the Ocean Ridge Shore Protection Project area,’’ she said. 
The marina project, which will be done in three phases, could last several years. 
Before approving a six-month extension to the county’s building permit, some commissioners expressed frustration about delays in the first phase of the marina renovations.
Although the town issued the county a building permit in November 2020, work has been delayed because of the county’s lengthy bidding process for a contractor, Guy said. 
“This is just the first phase of the project, so this project is going to last quite a long time and they’re already starting out a year and a half late,’’ Commissioner Geoff Pugh said. 
In other business, commissioners gave Stevens permission to lift the mask mandate for employees and visitors at Town Hall. Vice Mayor Susan Hurlburt suggested posting a sign asking unvaccinated visitors to wear masks. “The smart thing is to get vaccinated and we can all be done with this and not have to discuss it anymore,’’ Commissioner Martin Wiescholek said.
• Stevens planned to meet with Boynton Beach officials in early November to discuss the city’s plans to replace the blue light poles on the Ocean Avenue Bridge with black ones and to paint the railings and decorative objects on the bridge black. Town commissioners weren’t thrilled with the color choice, but Stevens pointed out that Boynton Beach pays to maintain the entire bridge even though Ocean Ridge has jurisdiction over half of it. 
• Candidate filing for the March 8 election started Nov. 1 and ends Nov. 12 at 3 p.m.
Coz is the only commissioner up for re-election and as of Nov. 1 no one had filed to challenge him.

Management company could be forced out by Thanksgiving

By Jane Smith

After shutting down all activities, the Old School Square Center for the Arts managers late last month announced a series of free, community concerts which is almost certain to test the strained relationship between the city and OSS. On Oct. 23, managers posted this note on the OSS website: “The City’s impulsive termination of our lease forced us to make some very difficult decisions with regards to our existing calendar of seasonal events and programs.”
The website of the city’s most beloved cultural institution noted that there were no upcoming events, performances, museum exhibits or art school offerings.
Six days later, OSS managers said on the website they would hold four free concerts by tribute bands in November and December. The concerts are an Eagles tribute Nov. 11, a Billy Joel one Nov. 18, Grammy hits Dec. 9, and a Tina Turner tribute Dec. 16.
Yet, according to the lease termination notice the city sent to OSS, no new events can be scheduled without prior approval of the city, Mayor Shelly Petrolia said on Oct. 26.
City commissioners voted 3-2 on Aug. 10 to terminate the lease, telling OSS managers to comply with long-standing requests for audits and other financial documents and giving 180 days’ notice.
Since that vote, OSS managers have attempted to sway enough public support to get the commission to reconsider its vote. In yet another effort, managers announced a special art and cultural show titled “Heart of the Square,” opening Nov. 5 in the Cornell Art Museum.
“Let our voices be heard,” the announcement’s cover page notes.
Delray Beach taxpayers own the nearly 4-acre campus, in the heart of the Old School Square Historic Arts District, which is deed restricted. It must remain an arts and cultural center. If it doesn’t, the property reverts to the Palm Beach County School District. The campus has five entertainment venues: the Fieldhouse, the Crest Theatre, the Creative Arts School, the Cornell Art Museum and the Pavilion.
OSS managers did not return numerous phone calls and email messages. The Coastal Star attempted to contact Emelie Konopka, who was OSS chairwoman during much of the dispute with the city; Holland Ryan, chief operating officer; Carli Brinkman, its outside publicist; and Marko Cerenko, its outside attorney.

Time running out for fixes
On Oct. 8, the city sent a notice of default to Cerenko, giving the nonprofit 30 days to fix four problems. One was minor, to provide a list of events and programs for the remaining months of the lease.
But one can’t be fixed easily. It involves finishing the Crest Theatre building renovations. Safety violations exist there, such as an unattached handrail on the main lobby staircase and the unfinished fire sprinkler system in the new kitchen.
If they can’t be fixed in 30 days, then the city could issue a notice to vacate within 15 days, Gina Carter, city spokeswoman, wrote in an Oct. 21 email response to a Coastal Star question.
As for whether the OSS managers can make the necessary repairs by Nov. 8, “that is a question for OSS Inc.,” she wrote. If the city then issues the notice to vacate, the OSS managers would have to be gone by Thanksgiving.

Cancellations stun groups
Another uproar began on Sept. 29.
That’s when show organizers received form letters from Ryan, canceling all events as of Sept. 30. The events were scheduled for the Fieldhouse or on the OSS grounds.
This time, the OSS managers blamed the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency for withholding $375,000, six months of funding, for the last fiscal year.
But what the OSS managers failed to say is that they have yet to provide financial documents required by the CRA before receiving any more taxpayer money. The CRA had extended the deadline several times.
After receiving the email, the nonprofit Delray Beach Orchid Society reached out to city commissioners. They immediately contacted the city manager, who dispatched the city’s Parks and Recreation Department to rescue the event.
“It’s our largest fundraiser,” said Michele Owens, president of the Delray Beach Orchid Society. “We couldn’t hold it last year [due to pandemic restrictions] and the prospect of not being able to hold it again — we would not be able to exist.”
The orchid show was Oct. 23-24 in the Fieldhouse and drew one of the show’s biggest crowds. The society did receive back its $1,000 deposit from OSS.
There was one glitch, Petrolia said. The society members counted on use of the refrigerator in the OSS kitchen. But the refrigerator doors had been taped closed, forcing the city to pull one of its refrigerators out of storage and move it to the Fieldhouse for the show.
The city has also stepped in to allow the Delray Chapter of the Southern Handcraft Society to hold its 28th show Nov. 18-20 at the Fieldhouse.
“I’m thrilled,” said President Pam Warren. “There’s not that many facilities that can accommodate us. With less than two months, most places were booked or too expensive.”
The organization received its deposit back from OSS, Warren said, but she would not disclose the amount.
Along with the orchid and handicraft shows, Delray Beach’s Parks and Recreation Department agreed to facilitate several other events after they were canceled by OSS. These include weddings, a bat mitzvah, a Pets of Broward Dog Day Afternoon, and a Roots and Wings educational event.
The city and CRA will also continue their scheduled menorah lighting, Christmas Tree Village and Green Market.
About the same time the events were canceled, the OSS managers also canceled their arts education classes for the remainder of the lease. Students typically pay about $200 for six-week sessions on photography, painting and drawing.

Craft beer festival fizzles
OSS managers had touted a ninth annual Craft Beer Festival on its website as a money-raiser. The festival was to be held at Old School Square, but then was to move to Sunset Cove Amphitheater in suburban Boca Raton on Oct. 30.
But it disappeared from the OSS website by Oct. 22.
One likely reason is that OSS managers’ full liquor license, issued by Florida, is not transferrable to another site.
Meanwhile, Delray Beach is moving forward, trying to find a new operator for the Old School Square venues.
The city issued its “invitation to negotiate” on Oct. 18 with a mandatory pre-proposal session at 10 a.m. Nov. 5. Bids must be submitted by 5 p.m. Dec. 17.
The current OSS managers won’t be bidding, Brinkman told other news outlets without explaining why.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach commissioners unanimously postponed discussion of proposed sea wall ordinances to Jan. 11.
That should give city staff time to hold a meeting at Veterans Park with property owners who live along the Intracoastal Waterway, Mayor Shelly Petrolia said at the Nov. 2 City Commission meeting.
“They are the ones who are most affected,” she said.
The city attorney also said she had problems with the language of the proposed ordinances and needed more time.
The Intracoastal has about 21 miles of waterfront on both sides, but the city owns only about 1 mile of the sea walls. Under the proposed ordinances, new residential construction along the ICW would have to meet a new height requirement of 4 feet above the mean water level of the waterway.
Three years ago, Aptim Environmental & Infrastructure submitted a sea level vulnerability study to Delray Beach. The city saw more frequent and increased flooding from seasonal high tides, commonly called king tides, and more everyday rain events.
Aptim reviewed 29 public sea walls in 2018 and found 10% in poor condition. The company also reviewed 868 private sea walls and found 23% in poor, serious or critical condition.
For existing sea walls, when a property owner is cited for failing to maintain a sea wall, that person must show progress toward repairing the defect within 60 days.
If the required repair meets a substantial repair threshold, the property owner must construct the sea wall to meet the minimum elevation requirement of 4 feet.

By Larry Barszewski

Five partnerships have submitted proposals to be unveiled in November for the development of the west side of Federal Highway between Ocean Avenue and Boynton Beach Boulevard.
Most have individuals who were involved with the unsolicited proposals submitted last year to develop the Community Redevelopment Agency property, before the CRA decided to put out a formal request for proposals.
The CRA is in the process of acquiring more property in the two blocks north of Ocean Avenue, between Federal Highway and Northeast Fourth Street, which would be added to the project’s footprint.
Because of the heavy level of interest, with six unsolicited proposals coming in last year, commissioners decided to ignore all the submissions and create their own vision of the project. Those interested were invited to submit new proposals, and anyone else who would like to develop the property also was free to submit ideas.
The CRA doesn’t have to make the submitted proposals public until its staff has had time to review them.
The applicants planned to make presentations to the CRA advisory board at its Nov. 4 meeting and to commissioners at a special Nov. 30 CRA board meeting. A decision could be made at the CRA board’s Dec. 14 meeting.
The CRA is seeking a “mixed-use development project providing retail, office, public parking and residential uses with a workforce housing component.”
Five proposals have been received. They are from:
• Jeff Burns of Affiliated Development in Fort Lauderdale
• Mark and Kelley Hefferin of E2L Real Estate Solutions in Winter Park
• Robert Vecsler of Hyperion Group in Miami
• Albert Milo Jr. of Related Urban (The Related Group) in Miami
• John Farina and Dustin Salzano of U.S. Construction in Delray Beach
The Hyperion Group is planning to develop the Ocean One Boynton property on the east side of Federal Highway directly across from the CRA’s 115 N. Federal Highway project site. In July, Hyperion told commissioners it was interested in developing both properties as one project.
Commissioners chose to move forward with a wide-reaching request for proposals instead, telling Hyperion representatives they would be glad to consider the company’s proposal along with any others that were submitted.
Affiliated Development and E2L Real Estate Solutions were two of the applicants that also submitted proposals last year. Affiliated had proposed building 220 luxury rental housing units with ground-level commercial space. E2L also included 220 apartments in two buildings in its original proposal, along with a hotel — all to have ground-level commercial space.
William Morris of Southcoast Partners, a Delray Beach development firm that kick-started interest in the property with its proposal in August 2020 to create a $65 million mixed-use development on the site, is now part of the U.S. Construction submission, Morris said. He said the new proposal is similar to the original one that included apartments, stores and a public-access parking garage.
“I’ve teamed up as a development consultant with U.S. Construction,” said Morris, who previously developed the mixed-use Worthing Place in downtown Delray Beach. “I didn’t think that we had enough horsepower financially, as they did. … I thought maybe we’d have a better chance putting my ego aside.”
Related Urban is an entity formed by The Related Group in 2009 to develop and acquire affordable and workforce housing developments. The Related Group has done developments in the city, including the Marina Village at Boynton, 625 Casa Loma Blvd.
Three years ago, the CRA paid $3 million for parcels on the west side of Federal Highway that are being used now as surface parking. The CRA this year agreed to buy a .29-acre property at 508 E. Boynton Beach Blvd. for $915,000.
The CRA is still in the process of adding to its properties in the two blocks. It has agreed to purchase three Oyer family buildings on Ocean Avenue, including the building that’s home to Hurricane Alley Raw Bar & Restaurant, for $3.6 million by the end of the year.
The purchase of the three Oyer properties, with their 0.41 acres, will bring the CRA-owned portions of the block to 2.29 acres at a cost of $7.5 million.

DELRAY BEACH — Max Van Arnem, a Delray Beach native, skilled athlete and businessman, died Oct. 28. He was 30 years old.
Maxwell Ferris Van Arnem was born and raised in Delray Beach and attended school at St. Vincent and American Heritage. A gifted athlete, he played soccer for teams in recreation leagues, as well as at his schools. His natural abilities of speed, quickness and aggressiveness made him a local premier striker.
His brother Adam introduced him to skateboarding, which became his passion and obsession.  Mr. Van Arnem developed superior skills and quickly became recognized globally. He competed and collaborated with the word’s top skateboarders through promotions, marketing and video production. (His videos continue to be viewed by the world on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGEd7I-DgfY.)
Mr. Van Arnem’s clothing line, Swiss Bank, quickly became a niche brand when he launched it in 2016. Fashion smarts and artistic leanings drove Max to found Swiss Bank, which was an outlet for his vision of clothing and accessories and inspired by his interest in skate wear. Swiss Bank online drew customers worldwide, including special interest from Asia.
Mr. Van Arnem began working with his father, Harold, in 2014 at the family firm, VAP Group, acquiring and developing properties in Delray Beach. A licensed real estate agent, Mr. Van Arnem assisted clients and developers with commercial and residential property.  His most recent project for VAP, Deco Delray Townhomes, is set for review with the city of Delray Beach. He was also working on The Adam, a mixed-use development on Northeast Second Street with 25 health and wellness suites and 33 residences.
Mr. Van Arnem is survived by his parents, Harold and Bridget, brother Sean, sister Heather Chidiac (Jean), sister Aleise and loving nephew and friend John Joseph “JJ” Chidiac. He was preceded in death by siblings Heidi, H.L. and Adam. 
Visitation was at Lorne and Sons, 745 NE Sixth Ave., Delray Beach, on Nov. 1. Entombment followed Nov. 2 at the Boca Raton Mausoleum, 451 SW Fourth Ave., Boca Raton.

— Obituary submitted by the family

OCEAN RIDGE — Former NFL player, businessman, sportscaster and philanthropist Mike Lucci died Oct. 26 following an extended illness. He was 81.
If ever there was a man for all seasons, it was Mr. Lucci, who filled his life with varied experiences and touched countless lives.
Michael Gene Lucci was born on Dec. 29, 1939, to a hardworking, closely knit Italian-American family in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, a town surrounded by steel mills. He grew up learning the importance of family and hard work.
Playing football was far from his mind until he grew to be 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds. That is when his gym teacher pointed Mike in a new direction, as a high school senior playing football for the first time in his life.
He was so successful that he earned a football scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh, before transferring for his final three years to the University of Tennessee. He was named an All-American after the 1961 season and played in the College All-Star Game against the NFL champion Green Bay Packers.
He was a fifth-round draft pick, 69th selection overall, by the Cleveland Browns and made the NFL All-Rookie team in 1962. He played on the Browns’ 1964 NFL championship team before being traded to the Detroit Lions.
Mr. Lucci starred at middle linebacker for nine seasons (1965-73) for the Lions, was a team captain, Lions’ defensive MVP three times and earned All-NFL and Pro Bowl honors.
He was even a “movie star” during his football career. Mr. Lucci appeared with several of his teammates and head coach Joe Schmidt in the 1968 motion picture Paper Lion. The movie starred actor Alan Alda and chronicled author George Plimpton’s training camp “tryout” as a quarterback with the Lions in 1963.
Mr. Lucci was inducted into the Michigan, Pennsylvania and National Italian-American Sports halls of fame, as well as the Beaver County (Pennsylvania), Western Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Italian halls of fame. He served as an analyst for Lions games on WJR Radio (1976-78) and for NFL games on NBC-TV (1979-80).
Mr. Lucci became a successful businessman following his football career. He climbed the corporate ladder to become the president of Bally’s Total Fitness, which grew to more than 20,000 employees in 300 locations. He co-owned 19 Burger Kings in Michigan and Illinois, and was co-owner of Venture Contracting and Development based in Troy, Michigan.
Throughout his life, he made giving back to others a priority. Mr. Lucci raised more than $2 million for Spaulding for Children’s efforts to find permanent homes for the most hard to place children. He established an education endowment fund, as well, for Spaulding’s children.
He hosted an annual golf tournament in Florida that raised over $650,000 for Gridiron Greats, an organization led by his good friend Mike Ditka, which helps former NFL players who have fallen on hard times. Other philanthropic endeavors included support of Sparky Anderson’s CATCH Charity for Children and the St. Louis Center.
However, his most important role was as Mike Lucci, family man. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Patricia, their two children, son Michael (Rebecca) Lucci and daughter Michelle Lucci, grandchildren Michael III and Nicholas, sister Kathy (William) Sholudko, nephew Billy Sholudko, and longtime assistant Nora Moretz. He was preceded in death by his parents, Rose and Louis Lucci.
A family interment has taken place. Donations may be made in lieu of flowers to Gridiron Greats, 350 S. Northwest Highway, Suite 300, Park Ridge, IL 60068, or at www.gridirongreats.org/donate.

— Obituary submitted by the family