Jo Jo Harder of Boca Raton with her cover dog Romeo and new book. Harder created the America’s Top Dog Model contest, an idea on which the book is based. Photos provided by Jo Jo Harder

By Arden Moore

It’s called the catwalk — the runway that supermodels strut upon at internationally acclaimed fashion shows. Jo Jo Harder of Boca Raton knows this world oh so well. She lived it.

She has also succeeded as a flight attendant, fashion designer, stylist, author and producer. 

After living in New York City and Minneapolis, she spent time in an ocean vacation villa in Key Largo and fell in love with South Florida. She has resided in Boca Raton since 2003.

“I declared that when I moved to Florida, I went to the dogs!” she says with a laugh.

In the past two-plus decades, Jo Jo has boldly combined her love for fashion and for dogs. She created the annual America’s Top Dog Model contest and the annual America’s Top Dog Model calendars. Her efforts garnered praise in leading pet and fashion publications, as well as from television and radio show hosts and even in an award-winning documentary. Simply put, she has been credited with developing doggie glamour now embraced worldwide.

Through it all, Jo Jo stays focused on her mission: “to celebrate dogs that make a difference in people’s lives.” 

Recently, she unleashed her fourth book, called Vintage Tails: Featuring America’s Top Dog Models. On the cover striking the canine sweet pose is Romeo, her loyal and fashionable Italian greyhound who is now 17 years old. 

Romeo is wearing a vintage 1950s silk chiffon scarf and 1930s rhinestone brooch.

“My Romeo inspired me to create this book,” say Jo Jo. “Romeo’s companionship and love are priceless to me. He brings out the best in me by being by my side.”

The 78 pages of this hardcover book feature bejeweled, feathered and decked-out America’s Top Dog Model canines in attire from the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s.

“Each page is a tail-wagging tribute to the elegance and sophistication of yesteryears,” she says. “It’s been my dream to author a black-and-white coffee table book with Romeo on the cover.”

In her book’s introduction, Jo Jo inspires readers by writing, “Welcome to Vintage Tails, where you will find magical and captivating stories. Step back in time and imagine your dog’s style in the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. Think black-and-white screen, smooth music and old Hollywood glamour.” 

Among the canine models featured are:

• Daphne Simone, a dashing cocker spaniel model who traveled through Palm Beach County, New York City and the East Hamptons. She is shown wearing a tiara and proudly posed next to a stylish travel bag with a bow.

• Fabulous Lola channeled her inner canine Audrey Hepburn inside an open classic Mercedes Benz model from the 1950s.

• Babydoll is in a silky full-length gown, captured doggy daydreaming of 1930s stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

I first learned about Jo Jo in 2011 and profiled her in my pet column for The Coastal Star. She had just authored what is considered to be the first style book for dogs, aptly titled Diva Dogs: A Style Guide to Living the Fabulous Life. 

At the time, she shared the following timeless advice to ensure success at any canine party or event:

• Hone your doggy manners at home. Enroll your dog in an obedience class with a professional certified trainer who employs positive training techniques.

• Shop early. Don’t delay shopping for an outfit for your dog to attend a canine event. 

• Clean up your act. “Party dogs should arrive groomed, bathed and with their nails trimmed,” she says. 

Jo Jo — when I caught up with her recently — acknowledged that not all dogs wish to be fashionistas. 

“Not all dogs like wearing clothes and it’s important not to force it,” she says. “Their happiness is our No. 1  priority.” 

Jo Jo also enjoys helping budding entrepreneurs in the pet world.

“Keep your eye on the goal,” she says. “Be persistent, engaging, supportive, collaborative and charitable. Connect with pet businesses locally and on social media. Work hard and never stop believing. Above all, be kind!”

With Romeo at her side, Jo Jo reflects on her life and then says, “I would like to be remembered as a helpful and honest person who was a good mother, a loyal friend and an animal lover. I would like to be remembered as being uniquely creative and for my love of animals.”

Arden Moore is an author, speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. Learn more by visiting www.ardenmoore.com.

Vintage Tails earns plenty of praise  

Sheila Firestone, a composer and president of the Boca Raton branch of the National League of American Pen Women, writes: “Delight in the elegance of those unforgettable decades with America’s Top Dog Models in Vintage Tails. Be charmed, just as I was!”  

Pilley Bianchi, bestselling author of For the Love of Dog, writes: “In Vintage Tails, author/influencer Jo Jo Harder delivers a delightfully charming and clever book taking us on a historic and pictorial journey of stylist pups and their real-life stories.” 

Learn more about Harder at americastopdogmodel.com. 

B’nai Torah Senior Rabbi David Steinhardt (second from right) poses with (l-r) President Scott Frank, Executive Director Leesa Parker and Executive Vice President Melanie Jacobson. Photo provided 

Senior Rabbi David Steinhardt of B’nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton was honored with the 2025 Melanie Jacobson Inspirational Jewish Leadership Award during Shabbat services on May 3. The award, which recognizes individuals “who exemplify visionary Jewish leadership, spiritual integrity, and a deep commitment to community,” was first given in 2023. 

B’nai Torah is the largest Conservative synagogue in Southeast Florida, and Rabbi Steinhardt has served it for more than three decades. 

The congregation has grown to more than 1,400 families under his leadership. But Rabbi Steinhardt, who was honored by the city with a proclamation on May 27, plans to step down on June 30. Find out more in our interview in the July edition. 

Former pastor of Ascension Catholic Church dies 

Father Charles Hawkins, who served Ascension Catholic Church in Boca Raton as associate pastor from 1989 to 1991 and pastor from 2002 to 2014, died May 8. He was 77. 

He was ordained a priest on June 10, 1978, and assigned to teach theology at the all-boys Cleveland Benedictine High School. On weekends, he served parish liturgies, beginning a long career of pastoring that brought him to Florida in 1989. Father Charles was remembered at a funeral Mass led by Bishop Gerald Barbarito on May 16 and buried at Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery in Royal Palm Beach.

Ascension Catholic Church is at 7250 N. Federal Highway. Call 561-997-5486 or visit ascensionboca.org.

Spanish River announces summer program schedule

Through Aug. 3, Spanish River Church will offer one worship service at 10 a.m. Sunday in the Worship Center followed by coffee hour in the Connect Center. Newborns through fifth graders are welcome to attend SRC Kids. 

The church hosts an Adult Vacation Bible School, noon to 1 p.m. Wednesdays in June. It’s a study of Romans 8 led by Pastor David Cassidy. 

Also, the church hosts the MammoVan, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. June 21. Schedule an appointment at spanishriver.com/connect or by calling 561-994-5000.

The church is at 2400 Yamato Road, Boca Raton. 

Early morning beachside worship offered at park

The Christ-Consciousness Study Circle meets at 7:30 a.m. Sundays at Ocean Ridge Hammock Park, 6620 N. Ocean Blvd. Open to all faiths, this group gathers on the beach “to reconnect, breathe and explore deeper meanings in sacred text.” 

Acoustic music and worship are followed by a study of sacred sources including the Bible, the Kabbalah, gnostic gospels and Buddhist texts.

Free but RSVP at eventbrite.com/e/christ-consciousness-study-circle-tickets-1103196112269?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Evening Bible school needs volunteers 

Volunteers are needed for SHINE from June 16-19 in the Ministry Center Chapel at Boca Raton Community Church. The program — “a high-energy, faith-filled summer camp” for kindergarten through fifth graders — takes place 6-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Kids participate in crafts, code cracking, Bible study, snacking and building friendships. The cost is $30, or $75 per family.

The church is at 470 NW Fourth Ave. Contact Danielle Rosse at 561-395-2400 or visit bocacommunity.org.

Celebrate Juneteenth  at St. Gregory’s Episcopal

“Celebrating Freedom,” a Juneteenth event hosted by St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, is planned for 5-8 p.m. June 21 in Harris Hall. Festive music by the Resurrection Steel Pan Orchestra, storytelling, crafts, praise and a supper are planned. Bring a dish to share (sign up online). 

This event is organized by the Becoming Beloved Community Ministry. Contributions to its Juneteenth/Beloved Community fund, which supports the ministry’s healing events, educational program and pursuit of racial justice, are welcomed.

To RSVP (required), visit stgregorysepiscopal.org/juneteenth. For information about the Becoming Beloved Ministry, contact Cyndi Bloom at cyndibloom65@me.com or 617-461-3122.

St. Gregory’s is at 100 NE Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton.

Church’s Yoga Mass combines prayer and poses 

St. Gregory’s Episcopal offers the combination of prayer and yoga poses from 4 to 5 p.m. June 28 in St. Mary’s Chapel. The Rev. Elizabeth Pankey-Warren and Father Andrew Sherman lead the Mass. All levels are welcome. Bring your own yoga mat. Call 561-395-8285.

Cason opens registration for spiritual conference

Registration is open for Cason United Methodist Church’s Worship Outside the Walls, a weekend of spiritual growth Aug. 1–3 at the Warren Willis Camp & Conference Center in Fruitland Park.

Guests from across the Florida Conference of United Methodist Churches will attend. Call the church in Delray Beach at 561-276-5302.

St. Lucy Catholic Church offering pilgrimage to Italy

Join Fathers Brian Horgan and Giuseppe Savaia of St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach on a pilgrimage to the shrines of Italy, Sept. 15-27. 

The cost is $4,590 per person, which includes round-trip air from Miami, double occupancy lodging, two meals a day, sightseeing with English-speaking guide, airport taxes and fuel surcharges (which are subject to change), and tips to drivers and guides.

The priests will act as your spiritual hosts as you visit Milan, Venice, Assisi and Rome. This tour is arranged by Inspirational Tours Inc. A $300 deposit is required to hold your space.

Contact Moses or Nicole at moses@inspirationaltoursinc.com or 800-231-6287. Find more information at stlucy.net/13-day-italian-pilgrimage.

Church seeking donations to pay for packing meals

Ascension Catholic Church packed 61,144 meals for Cross Catholic Outreach during its food packing event in April, but the church is short of its goal to defray the $19,000 cost.

Donations are welcomed. Mark your donation of any size “Feed 60,000.” Ascension Catholic Church is at 7250 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Call 561-997-5486 or visit ascensionboca.org.

— Janis Fontaine

Andy Hagen is the new executive director of Boca Helping Hands after volunteering there for years. Photo provided 

By Janis Fontaine

Andy Hagen, the senior pastor at Advent Life Ministries in Boca Raton, donned a new hat on June 1: “I’m moving from feeding souls to feeding bodies,” he said.

Hagen was named executive director of Boca Helping Hands, a nonprofit that provides food, medical and financial assistance to individuals and families, assisting nearly 35,000 people annually with its programs. 

“This is truly God’s work,” Hagen said. “I’ve been involved in BHH for years and I got a lot of satisfaction from working there. What they do is really tangible. In my mind, I’d been feeding souls. Now I’m feeding people. It’s a calling that’s rewarding, but it’s also sad. There will always be poor and hungry.” 

Hagen replaces Greg Hazle, who has stepped down.

During Hazle’s eight-year tenure, BHH experienced tremendous growth, matching its programs and services with the increasing needs of the community.

In his 20 years at Advent, Hagen led an $8 million organization with 90 employees across two church campuses, plus two schools and a senior living center, and still found time to volunteer each week at BHH’s Lake Worth Beach Pantry Bag distribution site. “Most of the people BHH feeds are seniors and children, veterans and the homeless,” he said.  

Experts report that, despite Palm Beach County’s wealth, more than 173,000 residents struggle with hunger and that 51,000 children do not have enough to eat on a daily basis. More than half the students enrolled in county schools qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

“We don’t have a food quantity problem in this country,” Hagen said. “We have a problem with accessibility and affordability. We grow an incredible amount of vegetables here but there’s a paucity of vegetables in some neighborhoods.” 

Experts call these areas food deserts, where nutritious food is unavailable because stores stock products with long shelf lives instead of perishables.

“But Boca Helping Hands does a lot more than feed the hungry,” said Hagen, who for the past eight years has served on the board of directors. Though feeding the hungry is fundamental to its work, it’s not the sole focus. 

“We are providing more than just a meal; we’re finding ways to help people become self-sufficient,” Hagen said. 

Through its vocational training and ESOL programs, BHH is making a long-lasting impact, following the old “teach a man to fish” adage. 

“We know there are times when people need a handout, but we want to provide a hand up to a better life,” Hagen said. “Where do kids who leave school prematurely to go to work find good-paying jobs? Trucking and transportation jobs are hard jobs but they’re good jobs, and the CDL [commercial driver’s license] is something you can get without a diploma.

“We focus on two different areas, inspired by the goal that we’re trying to help them have a better life: CDL licenses and trade programs, programs that train technicians. We want to develop more opportunities in training. We’ve done certified nurse assistant and food service training, but those jobs don’t get you the income that brings self-reliance. We need to train for better paying jobs than those. A big focus for me will be to provide leadership in that area.”

For the first time in his career, Hagen isn’t ministering to people on a daily basis. “My gratitude toward Advent after 20 years is immeasurable. I’m so proud to be able to serve in a new way and I think my parishioners are proud too — many of them are volunteers.” They still call him Pastor, “but I’m just Andy now,” he joked.

Born and raised in Michigan, Hagen earned his undergraduate degree from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. He got his master’s and doctorate from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago before he began serving the church. 

Hagen is adept at leading people and solving problems, but his new job comes with new challenges. Government cutbacks worry him, he said. 

“We have one agency we work with, and we called, and our contact had been let go. We don’t have any idea what effect tariffs will have on the food distribution,” he said. 

But the pastor has faith. “There’s always something we can do. We shouldn’t let our frustration paralyze us. It needs to lead to action, because we can make a difference, and not just in Boca. We should be confident that our organizations are going to come through,” Hagen said.

Doing God’s work is about finding a way, he said. “I’m working for an organization where federal funds are declining, and we’re still trying to figure out what the outcome is going to be. We know we’re getting less food from the food banks.”

So, Hagen looks to the community for help. “I was never able to turn five loaves and two fishes into a feast for thousands, but maybe if we all pull together, we can.” 

Bowling for Bread 

Mark your calendars for Bowling for Bread, a fun fundraiser taking place from noon to 2:30 p.m. Aug. 24 at Bowlero, 21046 Commercial Trail, Boca Raton. This annual event benefits the BHH Backpacks program.

During the 2023-24 school year, the BHH Backpacks program provided 30,227 weekend meal boxes to 1,374 children from 13 schools. Sponsorships are available beginning at $1,000. 

Lane sponsorships are available for $500 and $100 to sponsor a child. For details, visit bocahelpinghands.org/ty-for-attending-bowling-for-bread or call 561-417-0913.

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

About Boca Helping Hands

Boca Helping Hands was founded as a soup kitchen in 1998. It’s now one of the largest nonprofit service providers in South Florida with 23 staff members and more than 300 core volunteers assisting nearly 35,000 clients annually. Here are some of its recent statistics and efforts:

• Distributed 103,390 pantry bags from its five Palm Beach County locations in 2024, served 59,585 hot meals that same year, and sent weekend meals home with food-insecure elementary school students via the BHH Backpacks program. 

• Helped hundreds of people access affordable medical, dental and behavioral care through its partnership with Genesis Community Health and Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing Community Based Clinics.

• Provided emergency financial assistance to Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach residents in crisis to help with rent, overdue utility bills and the rising cost of child care through the Children’s Assistance Program.

• Gave free ESL classes and courses in health and wellness, financial management, and other life skills.

• Awarded scholarships for qualified candidates to attend accredited vocational training classes that prepare them for careers in the health care, information technology, construction and transportation industries.

Structural interventional cardiologist Brijeshwar Maini, MD, FACC, has joined the Palm Beach Health Network Physician Group, a division of Tenet Healthcare Corp. He is on staff at Delray Medical Center and Good Samaritan Medical Center, where he leads the Center for Preventive Cardiac Medicine. Both hospitals are part of Tenet Healthcare.

Maini previously served as national and Florida medical director of cardiology for Tenet Healthcare. He helped start an advanced heart care program at Delray Medical Center and led research trials on heart treatments. 

As a clinical professor of medicine at Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Maini has trained future cardiologists.

His office is at 1411 N. Flagler Drive, Suite 8000, West Palm Beach.

Delray Medical Center brings in minimally invasive system 

Delray Medical Center recently acquired the Intuitive da Vinci 5 surgical system, which can be used for minimally invasive urology, gynecology, thoracic and general surgeries. It uses less force on tissue, offers clearer images, better ergonomics for surgeons, and more computing power than the previous model.

Delray Medical’s improved cardiac survival rate recognized

Delray Medical Center was recently named a Florida Resuscitation Center of Excellence, recognizing its role in a statewide effort to improve survival rates for cardiac arrests. The program equips hospitals with advanced tools, training and best practices.

Marcus Neuroscience Institute part of initiative on dementia

Marcus Neuroscience Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital is participating in the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience Model.

It is a nationwide initiative designed to assist in the management of dementia care by improving the quality of life for patients as well as assisting their caregivers. 

For more information, call 561-955-4600 or search Marcus Neuroscience Institute/Boca Raton/Baptist Health. 

JFK Hospital awarded Stroke Center certification

HCA Florida JFK Hospital has received the DNV Comprehensive Stroke Center certification. The certification can determine to which facility a patient should be taken for the most appropriate, reimbursable care.

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

Barbara Weissman (l-r), Jerry Weissman, Miriam Baum Benkoe and Jeffrey Benkoe all had a hand in opening the kosher pantry at Bethesda Hospital East in Boynton Beach. Photo provided

By Jan Engoren

When Boynton Beach resident Jennifer Abels, an account manager for an environmental lab service company, had out-of-town visitors from Montreal recently, they headed to the beach.

Not accustomed to the Florida sun, Abels’ cousin began feeling ill from the heat.

After a call to 911, she was taken to Bethesda Hospital East and treated with IV fluids.

 Once she felt better, the two, who keep kosher diets, thought about finding something to eat at the hospital.

Abels, who is in her 40s and the mother of three grown children, had read about the opening of the kosher pantry at Bethesda and asked a nurse about it.

“They were super-helpful,” Abels said. She found the pantry on the fourth floor and grabbed some soup and crackers to sustain them over the four-hour period they spent in the emergency room.

Having this service available is “priceless,” Abels said. “To have this kosher pantry available gives us peace of mind. If I ever have to go to the hospital again, just knowing this is available puts my mind at ease.”

Abels’ experience highlights the unmet need that had long been recognized by hospital staff and community volunteers, leading to the effort to bring the pantry to fruition.

After one year of planning, the pantry opened in mid-April during the Passover holiday to serve the dietary needs of Orthodox Jewish patients and their families.

 Bethesda is at 2815 S. Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach.

The pantry is a joint effort between the hospital’s chaplain, the Rev. Kathleen Gannon, and her pastoral care team and volunteers Miriam Baum Benkoe and Jennie Yudin.

Benkoe is from the Annette Alter Behar Bikur Cholim of Boynton Beach and Yudin from the Florida Chesed Network.

Bikur Cholim, or “visiting the sick,” is a Jewish commandment to alleviate the suffering of people who are ill, and the Chesed Network is a social service agency.

“We’re committed to meeting our patients where they are,” said Gannon, an Episcopal priest who trained in interfaith disciplines. “We study, we learn and respond to the unique and sacred needs of our patients.”
A typical food pantry caters to a broader population experiencing food insecurity and may not offer food that complies with Jewish dietary laws or is readily accessible on the Sabbath.

The new pantry offers complimentary kosher sandwiches, salads, snacks, coffee and prepared foods that can be heated up in separate microwaves designated for dairy or meat.

The Bikur Cholim was started by Benkoe and named for her mother, who died seven years ago. Benkoe, a teacher from Oceanside, New York, began volunteering at Bethesda before the pandemic and envisioned the day when the hospital would have a kosher pantry, as do many hospitals in areas of large Jewish populations.  

“It’s a godsend for people,” Benkoe said. “It’s a big help and blessing to accommodate the needs of patients and their loved ones.”

Yudin, the liaison to the Florida Chesed Network, worked with Benkoe to realize their vision of the pantry. 

Originally from Baltimore, Yudin worked as a critical care technician at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore and in its patient experience department, where she helped patients navigate the hospital system, a role that prepared her for her position at the Chesed Network.

With other kosher pantries at Delray Medical Center, Boca Raton Regional Hospital and at Baptist Main in Miami, Yudin says the outcry for having this service in Boynton Beach has been growing for the past three years.

Part of that reason is the growth of the Orthodox Jewish population in Boynton Beach, especially since the onset of the  pandemic in 2020, when many people left New York for Florida.

The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County predicts that by 2026, the Palm Beaches will be home to 200,000 Jewish residents.

“The community is beyond excited and grateful,” Yudin said.

During Passover, the team put together a seder plate for patients and family members visiting during the holiday.

Gannon said the response has been positive.

“I get a phone call at least once a week thanking us for reaching out to our Jewish patients,” she said. “The response has been excellent.”

Jerry Weissman, part of the Florida Chesed Network and one of the inaugural donors to the program, moved to Florida from Brooklyn in 2019 just before the pandemic.

Weissman, who says he is “orthodox from birth,” worked in the health care industry for more than 50 years and saw a need for this service when he moved to Boynton Beach.

“With more Orthodox Jewish families moving into the area, the need for this type of service is growing,” he said.  

Because Orthodox Jews cannot travel by car on the Sabbath, they may be stuck in the hospital from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, and need a room where they can eat a kosher meal or have a snack and relax.

“It’s a true mitzvah of the hospital and the larger Jewish community to take care of these patients and their families,” Weissman said. “This is a proud moment for us.”

Jan Engoren writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to jengoren@hotmail.com.

Steven Lin, valedictorian at Atlantic High in Delray Beach, plans to major in mechanical engineering at the University of Florida. He would advise other high-achieving students to ’go for balance rather than striving for perfection’ and to ’give some time to yourself every day for leisure.’ Photo provided 

By Faran Fagen

A water wheel generator, a mouse trap car and a water-bottle rocket are some of the mechanisms that highlight Steven Lin’s résumé as valedictorian of Atlantic High School in Delray Beach.

The generator from his senior year taught him the biggest lesson of all — teamwork.

“This was our first year designing a water wheel generator,” said Lin, 18.  “None of my teammates had experience building one, so it wasn’t surprising that the prototype never performed as we expected. I believe the best thing we eventually came up with was to compartmentalize the tasks so that each of us specializes in certain components of the generator.”

Lin was responsible for designing the mechanical wheel. Eventually, the team’s collective effort contributed to a first-place finish in the Palm Beach SECME Olympiad. The acronym stands for Science, Engineering, Communications, Mathematics Enrichment.

Lin, of Boca Raton, has been a huge cog in the wheel at Atlantic over the past four years. In addition to SECME, of which he was president junior and senior years, he tutored underclassmen in math and physics, assisted in donating canned goods and cereal to food banks as a National Honor Society member, and led a top-three Brain Bowl team.

He learned to juggle activities from the moment he started his freshman year.

“If there were one piece of advice I would give, it would be to go for balance rather than striving for perfection,” said Lin, who notched a 3.97 unweighted grade point average to earn the valedictorian honor. “Apart from your academics and extracurriculars, you should give some time to yourself every day for leisure to avoid burnout.”

Lin filled his spare time outside of school with worthwhile activities. He was a volunteer at the Glades Road branch of the Palm Beach County library. In 10th grade, he amassed 60 volunteer hours in its summer lunch program, which provided free lunches to 100-plus kids. 

In 11th grade, he earned 150 hours promoting literacy to younger kids, and organized and tidied up rows of bookshelves. He was involved in the entire book restructuring to fit with the needs of adolescents and young teens.

“My experience as a volunteer at the library during the summer was very rewarding,” Lin said. “Serving meals to children reminds me how much of a difference that comes from performing these small acts of kindness. The library doesn’t just serve as a place for literacy, but also offers support to those in the community.”

But the accomplishment of which Lin is most proud is the extended essay he wrote during the summer between junior and senior years, which was a requirement for the International Baccalaureate program at Atlantic.

He chose to write under the topic of physics, specifically methods to estimate the surface temperatures of selected exoplanets.

“This was my first exposure to writing a research paper, and I enjoyed the overall process,” Lin said. “Although I mainly struggled with the data collection, it became satisfying in the end, especially when the data aligned with my predictions.”

Lin credits his success to the support of his family — his mom, Minlan Zheng, father, Mingqiang Lin, and brother, Jackie Lin.

Lin plans to major in mechanical engineering at the University of Florida. He hopes to work in the aerospace industry after graduation, preferably with NASA. 

“Designing and innovating on cutting-edge technology is something I would dream of working with, and I believe these advancements will be beneficial in addressing the challenges and global issues happening on the ground,” he said.
Lin, also proficient in Java and Python, already has experience with coding at a college campus. The Atlantic High coding team finished in the top 25% at the University of Central Florida High School Programming Tournament. The competition consisted of 80 teams from across Florida.  

“Although our team didn’t make it on the podium, the experience taught me how to think critically, and I was able to apply my knowledge of programming at the time to solve realistic scenarios,” Lin said. “It was also the same year I was first exposed to learning a programming language, so I had so much to learn and improve on.” 

The 30th Annual Lantana Fishing Derby brought the community together for fun, food, music and, of course, fishing. The event also honored one of the Lantana Chamber of Commerce’s original board members, Lynn ’Doc’ Moorhouse, who was instrumental in transforming what had been a struggling golf tournament into a thriving fishing derby.  While the anglers were out at sea, the kids had a derby of their own — with a record-breaking 72 participants at Bicentennial Park.  The awards party on May 4 at the Lantana Recreation Center was a perfect close to the weekend. ABOVE: Sponsors of the kids derby are (top, l-r) Amy Kemp from FPL, David Lumbert from Ocean Bank and Keith Vukusich from AvMed, who is vice president of the Lantana Chamber.  The winners are (l-r) Sebastian, Noah and Melody. Photo provided by Leonard Bryant Photography

Code enforcement issues at center of controversy

By John Pacenti

The Delray Beach City Commission is reeling as a leaked document, social media outrage, and defiant statements followed the revelation that a whistleblower complaint had been filed over the potential strong-arming of a new city director over a code violation at a popular restaurant.

The whistleblower complaint remains sealed while an independent investigation is conducted, but a redacted page from it, under the subject “Code Enforcement Concerns,” has leaked to The Coastal Star and some residents.

Trouble in the Code Enforcement Division first surfaced in October when an officer was arrested and charged with shaking down a resident selling ribs out of his home — the case remains open, though state prosecutors so far have declined to file charges.

Then it came to light that a supervisor had liens removed from a home she owned after resolving longstanding code violations—without alerting city officials that it was her property. The supervisor resigned in February.

An investigation by the city’s Human Resources Department didn’t look at the arrest of the officer or the allegations of conflict of interest by the supervisor until City Commissioner Juli Casale insisted.

Whatever problems were lurking in Code Enforcement were supposed to be excised by the hiring of Jeri Pryor as the director of Neighborhood and Community Services who oversees the division.

Leaked Document

But now it is Pryor who has filed the whistleblower complaint in the form of an email to City Attorney Lynn Gelin, sources say. 

The City Commission at a special meeting on April 29 instructed Gelin to retain a private firm to investigate the whistleblower allegations. Gelin told commissioners the allegations are exempt from public disclosure and that no one should be talking about the matter while it is under investigation.

City Commissioner Rob Long recused himself from the discussion and vote on hiring an outside firm to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, but he did not elaborate at that time on the reason for his decision.

The redacted email that was leaked does not show Pryor’s name but is from a city director — overseeing code issues — who started Jan. 21. That’s the same date that Pryor was to begin her new position, according to City Manager Terrence Moore’s Jan. 10 Commission Information Letter about her hiring. 

“I regret to inform you that I am sending this email to address conflicting directions I have received,” the whistleblower writes in the email to Gelin dated April 29. When contacted for comment by The Coastal Star, Pryor deferred any questions to a city spokeswoman. 

 In the email, Pryor said she took the job that oversees the Code Enforcement Division “despite the division’s unfavorable public history.” 

Moore, according to the email, called her on Feb. 20 to talk about a local restaurant, Dada, which had been issued a violation for using an A-frame sign for their valet services. Pryor said she told Moore that code enforcement officers were cracking down on all businesses that were using the A-frame signs, which are not allowed.

Dada is a restaurant owned by Rodney Mayo and has been a mainstay of downtown for nearly a quarter century. His Subculture coffee shop on Federal Highway has also been the subject of much discussion by commissioners regarding alleged code violations. It was a topic in a heated commission workshop, also held on April 29.

Though Long’s name does not appear in the unredacted portion of the email that was leaked, he has issued a statement — in response to Coastal Star questions — that he was on the Feb. 20 phone call with the city manager and the employee.

After a five-line redaction in the leaked email that comes as the phone call is being mentioned, the whistleblower wrote to Gelin: “I am only doing what I was told to do and it sounded like selective enforcement and I won’t do that.”

Moore then told her to “be more educational and not automatically issue notice of violations. Do more public outreach and only focus on the big code violations, allowing long-term business owners to use A-frame signs,” according to the email.

Long’s statement

Long’s statement to The Coastal Star said an accusation contained in the whistleblower complaint — one that is not visible on the redacted page — that he threatened the job of the employee with the phrase “if you want to stay here” is false. 

“To be clear: I have never — and would never — threaten a city employee or direct staff outside of the City Manager or City Attorney, and only then as part of commission consensus,” he wrote. “I remain committed to integrity, transparency, and serving the people of Delray Beach.”

Long said the call in question was initiated by Moore while he was meeting with the city manager in person. “I was completely caught off guard by the accusation, which was made over two months after the referenced conversation,” he said.

Long said the complaint has been “weaponized” with details — exempt from public disclosure — made available to the media.

“The whistleblower process exists to protect people from retaliation when serious wrongdoing occurs — not to be used as a vehicle for malicious attacks cloaked in confidentiality,” Long said. “Undermining that process threatens its credibility when it truly matters.”

Mayo, in an interview with The Coastal Star, said that his businesses are caught in the political crossfire. “This whole thing has absolutely nothing to do with Subculture, right? We are caught in the middle,” he said.

The perception, Mayo said, that he and Long are best friends and “doing all this bad stuff” is false. He said Long and Commissioner Angela Burns responded to his efforts to reach out to the city to solve any code issues with the coffee shop. “Obviously, I met with Rob. I met with Angela right away,” Mayo said. 

Mayor Tom Carney, at the April 29 workshop, accused the staff of “subverting the will” of the consensus of the commission when it came to Subculture. The mayor said staff was directed in January to come back to the commission, but instead instituted a new occupational use for the establishment.

Previous complaint

Though never officially named by the city as the whistleblower, Pryor has already been the subject of social media posts after the announcement by Carney that the complaint had been filed.

A 2024 newspaper article surfaced about Pryor when she was working as chief of staff for Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Warren Sturman. She filed a complaint against Commissioner Steve Glassman there for using an expletive in her presence on Jan. 9, 2024, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Sturman told the outside investigator that Pryor used stationery with his letterhead — on which she wrote her complaint — without his permission. Pryor accused Glassman of “violent, hostile and aggressive behavior.”

The investigator ended up recommending that the Fort Lauderdale City Commission adopt a code of conduct, concluding that Glassman’s comments did not constitute harassment or bullying.

Delray Beach social media erupted over the posting of that story. 

“I’m deeply concerned that someone is trying to expose and discredit the whistleblower in the matter involving a Delray Beach City Commissioner — before any investigation has even started,” Ingrid Lee, administrator of the Facebook group Delray Matters, posted.

“It suggests someone in power is trying to shut this down before the truth comes out.”

In addition to a flag on the beach celebrating Delray Beach’s blue flag status, numerous banners adorn the light poles on both sides of Atlantic Avenue between A1A and the Intracoastal Waterway. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Related story: Along the Coast: O Canada, will you still come and visit?

By Mary Hladky

Boca Raton’s Spanish River Park beach has been awarded the much-coveted Blue Flag Beach Award that signifies it meets stringent environmental and safety standards.

With the award, announced on April 22, the Boca Raton beach becomes only the third in the continental U.S. to be so honored. The others are Delray Beach’s municipal beach and Westward Beach in Malibu, California, which both first received the award in 2023.

Delray Beach also has received good news. On the same day Boca Raton was notified, Delray Beach learned it once again had received the annual award.

Boca Raton planned to hold a flag-raising ceremony at 9 a.m. May 2 at the Spanish River Park beach. Delray Beach was to hold its ceremony at 10 a.m. May 1 at Atlantic Avenue and State Road A1A.

The award recognizes beaches that meet more than 30 environmental, education, water quality, environmental management and safety criteria.

Boca Raton sought the award for the Spanish River Park beach because it is the city’s flagship beach.

The Blue Flag award is administered internationally by the Foundation for Environmental Education, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Blue Flag USA, operated by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association, administers the award in the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii.

Boca Raton now will install new information boards at the park’s central pavilion with details about local conservation efforts, water quality, water safety and eco-friendly practices, the city said. The city’s free educational programs offered through Gumbo Limbo Nature Center helped the city win the award.

“Our residents and visitors can take pride in knowing that Spanish River Park beach meets some of the highest standards in the world,” Mayor Scott Singer said in a statement.

Delray Beach was honored with the award for the third straight year.

“We at the City of Delray Beach are incredibly proud to receive this prestigious international award again,” Delray Beach Public Works Assistant Director Cynthia Buisson said in a statement. 

How to navigate A1A chaos? Police explain law, give tips for walkers, drivers

A couple crosses A1A without using a crosswalk to get to Atlantic Dunes Park in Delray Beach. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

The close call came as Rafael Pineiro was crossing State Road A1A in the town of South Palm Beach. 

He and a friend had just started walking from the beach park near the south end of town when a car slowed to let them cross. 

At the same time, the driver of a second northbound car decided to go around the slower first car and came perilously close to hitting his friend and Pineiro, who is advocating for crosswalks in town — which has none — following a collision that killed a pedestrian in 2023.

“I remember saying ‘this is a bad situation’” just prior to the near miss, Pineiro said. Fortunately, he was paying close attention to the roadway and he and his friend stopped walking in time.

Crossing a highway should be simple: Look both ways and wait until the coast is clear before you cross. However, when it comes to A1A, with its abundance of crosswalks in some areas — and lack of them in others — and with many bicyclists also using the road, the guidelines for when a walker should go and when a driver should stop can be complicated. 

Confusion can contribute to tragedy and may have been a factor in February when 71-year-old Roz Lowney was killed while crossing A1A in a Delray Beach crosswalk.

For drivers and pedestrians, knowing the best way to be safe can be challenging. 

Should a driver stop and let someone waiting to cross the road go if that person is not at a crosswalk? Is it OK to cross outside of a crosswalk? Should pedestrians step into the crosswalk when a car is still going, but is far enough away that the pedestrian believes the car has time to stop? 

Do drivers have to stop if they see a walker entering a crosswalk in the opposite lane? Do bicycles have to stop when a pedestrian is in a crosswalk? 

Top tip: Assume nothing

While the answers differ based on specific circumstances, law enforcement professionals who have decades of experience and hundreds of hours of training advocate being cautious and offer some tips that can enhance safety for everyone using A1A.

One of the most basic of the recommendations that apply to both drivers and those crossing A1A is to avoid assumptions. 

People entering a crosswalk should never assume that a vehicle is going to stop, even though that is the law, law enforcement and safety advocates say.

“The crosswalk isn’t your savior,” says Manalapan Police Chief Jeff Rasor, who spent several years leading Delray Beach’s traffic division before arriving in Manalapan this year, and who has undergone several hundred hours of traffic safety training. “The crosswalk is not a physical barrier.” 

Rasor said some who cross the road just assume a car is going to stop and step into the crosswalk without waiting for the car to slow or without making eye contact with the driver to get an idea of whether he or she will slow down.

On A1A where there are pedestrian-activated flashing yellow lights, some pedestrians enter the crosswalk as soon as they push the button, believing all drivers will hit the brakes. 

But some drivers don’t. “Don’t have a false sense of security,” Rasor says. 

Do drivers know the law?

Florida law is clear about cars stopping when there is a pedestrian in a crosswalk — crosswalk signs say it, too. Motorists must stop even when the pedestrian is in the opposite lane of traffic and must stop once the pedestrian steps foot into the crosswalk.  

Still, Highland Beach Police Chief Craig Hartmann points out that a beach road like A1A draws a lot of tourists from out of state and even out of the country who may not know the law. As a result, pedestrians need to be extra sure the vehicle will stop, which isn’t always the case. 

Drivers on A1A should also be alert and defensive and not assume they will be able to stop in time when a pedestrian is in the crosswalk. Rasor recommends keeping an eye on your speed and driving within the speed limit. 

He said drivers should reduce their speeds when they see a pedestrian entering the crosswalk. By slowing down gradually before coming to a halt, instead of coming to a sudden stop, motorists can avoid rear-end collisions. 

Drivers should also be extra cautious if they see someone not at a crosswalk, on either side of the road, waiting to cross. Both Rasor and Hartmann, however, recommend not stopping because the driver behind you could try to go around you and end up hitting the pedestrian. 

Don’t be distracted

The message from both Rasor and Hartmann for pedestrians waiting to cross is to go back to what you learned as a kid — look both ways first. Both recommend looking to your left, then to your right and then to your left again. 

Crossing in a place without  a crosswalk is OK if there’s not a crosswalk nearby, Rasor said, but it should always be done with extra caution. 

Another piece of advice to both pedestrians and motorists is to stay off your cellphone both when crossing the road and when driving along a road with lots of pedestrians and bicyclists, especially if you’re holding the phone. 

Distracted pedestrians and distracted motorists account for a fair number of the crashes involving both vehicles and pedestrians, Rasor said.

Even motorists speaking on a phone hands free should be extra vigilant when driving on a heavily traveled road like A1A because of the distraction the phone causes.

Distractions also account for crashes involving bicyclists. In a recent survey done by Boca First, bicyclists listed distracted, impaired and careless drivers as one of the top dangers in riding on A1A. 

Like vehicles, bicyclists are required to stop if a pedestrian is in a crosswalk. 

Rasor says that it’s important for pedestrians to make sure they’re aware of their surroundings so they’ll have a better idea of when vehicles might be coming their way. If you’re about to cross the road after a curve, for example, recognize that you might not see a car coming right away, so be extra cautious. 

Trent Schambach and his son, Sutton, wait with Shelby Stenger, Sutton’s grandma, to cross A1A to their car from Atlantic Dunes Park in Delray Beach.

Night crossings

Hartmann recommends taking extra safety steps when crossing after dark.

“Crossing at night, you’re not as visible as you are in the daylight,” he said. “It’s more important that your caution and awareness are greater at night.”

In Highland Beach, which has been a leader in taking measures to ensure pedestrian safety, lights have been installed to illuminate all the town’s seven crosswalks and they are on all night. Those crosswalks all have pedestrian-activated flashing yellow lights and orange flags that pedestrians can carry across the road. 

Other communities also have pedestrian-activated yellow lights at crosswalks. 

Highland Beach is planning to embed lights in the crosswalks once road construction is completed. 

Educating both motorists and pedestrians on how to cross A1A safely is a priority for local law enforcement agencies. In Highland Beach, police often go to condo meetings and other gatherings to share safety tips. 

Highland Beach has also conducted crosswalk safety operations in which a police officer in civilian clothes attempts to use a crosswalk. Motorists who don’t stop can receive a citation. 

“Our residents’ safety is our No. 1 priority, so we’re willing to deploy the latest safety measures,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said. 

Patrick and Maeve Murphy, visiting from Boston, use the crosswalk and crosswalk flag to properly cross A1A just north of the Coronado at Highland Beach. They were headed to the beach.

Tips for navigating A1A

For pedestrians 

• Look both ways (left-right-left) before crossing — even if you’re at a crosswalk. 

• Stay off your cell phone while crossing to avoid distractions.

• Push the button (before crossing) to activate warning lights at crosswalks that have them. Using orange flags where available also will increase your visibility to drivers.

• Don’t assume a car is going to stop, even if you’re in a crosswalk and it’s the law.

For motorists 

• Don’t use a handheld cell phone while driving — and be extra vigilant watching for pedestrians and bicyclists while using a hands-free cell phone, which also is distracting.

• Stop for pedestrians once they are in a crosswalk, whether they’re in your lane or the opposite lane. (It’s the law.)

• Drive within the speed limit, making it easier to gradually stop for pedestrians without having to slam on the brakes, which could cause a rear-end collision.

• Be cautious about pedestrians attempting to cross outside of crosswalks. Don’t stop if they are waiting for traffic to pass before crossing, as drivers behind you might not know what you are doing and may either rear-end you or seek to go around you, endangering the pedestrians.

Source: Local law enforcement agencies

Unwelcome vessel anchors at condo for lengthy stay, angering residents

The barge and its floating water jets were stored across the Intracoastal Waterway from The Boca Raton and out of the channel, beside the Boca Inlet condo. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star.

By Rich Pollack

They came to Florida for the Easter or Passover holiday and were looking forward to sitting around the pool outside their Lake Boca Raton condo.

Then came the large barge, planted just a few feet off the condo’s sea wall, an unwelcome guest that stayed for close to two weeks — with little the condo could do about it.

Diesel fumes spewed from a generator on the barge, filling the air and seeping into the 98-unit condo’s fresh air system, later choking at least five residents who had to seek medical attention.

“People came down for the holidays and they couldn’t sit outside,” said Madeline Stern, a board member at the Boca Inlet condominium.

As condo managers began efforts to move the barge — which was there to put on three light and water shows for conference guests at The Boca Raton resort across the way — they discovered the barge was in a part of the Intracoastal Waterway that no government agency wants to accept as its responsibility in this situation.

The shows, arranged by a nationwide financial institution, were April 23 and 26, with a third set for April 29.

Some Boca Inlet condo residents enjoyed an April 26 show meant for The Boca Raton across the Intracoastal, but many were upset that the display’s barge sat along their sea wall for almost two weeks. Larry Barszewski/The Coastal Star

“We started calling every agency we could think of and spoke to everyone except the Army and the Navy,” said Joe Lari, the condo manager whose company, J & J Management, has been working for the Boca Inlet condo for three years. “It seems like it should be in almost everyone’s jurisdiction but no one wants to claim it.”

Lari said the barge also blocked several boat slips at the condo’s dock and he had hoped that it could be moved, perhaps closer to The Boca Raton, without blocking the channel.

Fumes bother residents
Lari said plenty of the fumes from the barge got into the building. “This was dangerous. It’s insane,” he said.

Despite the condo’s efforts — including calls to local, state and federal agencies — the barge which arrived on April 18, Good Friday, was still there a dozen days later, although the noise and fumes from the generator — still annoying to residents — were no longer constant after the first five days.

For one resident, the diesel exhaust fumes were enough to make her so worried about the impact on her health that she called a family physician and went to get checked out.

“I felt like someone was sitting on my chest,” said the resident, who hadn’t been able to go out on her apartment’s balcony or sit by the pool.

Who you gonna call?
While government agencies, including the Boca Raton Police Department and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, have the power to enforce laws on the Intracoastal, there is apparently little those agencies could do as long as the barge wasn’t interfering with navigation or breaking the law.

The FWC says permits aren’t necessary to travel the Intracoastal, nor does it issue permits to anchor there.

A representative from the city of Boca Raton said that because the barge was outside the city’s jurisdiction it did not require a special events permit. She added that staff from the city’s Code Enforcement Division had visited with residents at Boca Inlet and later reached out to the contractors who were putting on the water and light show.

After code enforcement contacted those operating the barge, some improvements were made. The generator wasn’t running as often and the barge was moved about 20 feet to the north, farther away from the pool. Even so, it still remained just a few feet off the condo’s sea wall, blocking would-be visitors from docking, Lari said.

One of the main members of the team contracted to produce the water and light show said the crew had made adjustments to minimize the disruption to condo residents, including cleaning the filters and cutting back on the time the generators were operating. Technicians were brought in to make sure everything was operating efficiently.

“When we were working at first, we didn’t see it as a problem,” he said. “When we were made aware that there were community concerns, we made every effort to go above and beyond standards.”

A noise inspection by the city found no issues, according to the city spokesperson.

Information hard to get
Although it was a challenge to get any confirmation about what the barge was doing in Lake Boca up against the condominium’s property, Lari said he was told it was there to put on three separate water and light shows set to music — think the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas — on three different nights as part of a conference at The Boca Raton rewarding outstanding employees of Minneapolis-based US Bank.

In an email to The Coastal Star, the resort’s executive director of marketing, Sara Geen Hill, said the hotel was not responsible for the barge or the water and light show and would not comment on who was putting on the show.

“We are not involved in activations taking place on the adjacent waterway,” she said. “In keeping with our commitment to guest privacy, we do not disclose information about resort guests or the organizations who visit our property.”

While an email to the communications department of US Bank requesting information about the event — Legends of Possible — was not answered, some of those who were being honored for being outstanding employees did post about coming to Boca Raton.

Boca Inlet residents (l-r) Evguenia Kostina and Tatyana and Michael Lukas toast with champagne while awaiting the start of the April 26 light and water show. Larry Barszewski/The Coastal Star

Watching the show
Stern, from the Boca Inlet condo board, said she and several others tried to watch the display from the pool deck on the first night, April 23, but said the wind pushed the water from the display onto the pool deck, forcing her and others to go inside.

Residents who were outside on April 26 for the second display had a different experience, since the wind was blowing away from the condominium.

“I never saw something like that,” resident Evguenia Kostina said of the water and light show. “I love it. It’s not bothering me. It’s beautiful.”

Some condo residents brought champagne poolside, and some boaters on Lake Boca stopped to see the display.

Also present were members from Boca Raton’s code enforcement, who were testing for noise and fumes. With the wind blowing away, however, any fumes weren’t bothering the poolside audience that night.

While there were some residents of the condo who weren’t too upset about the barge being there for almost two weeks, Stern said it was disappointing that residents couldn’t sit outside when the fumes were blown their way.

“The whole situation was quite unpleasant and shouldn’t have happened,” she said.

Mary Hladky and Larry Barszewski contributed to this story.

Related story: Along the Coast: Boca Raton joins Delray Beach as recipients of Blue Flag Beach Award

By Mary Hladky

If it were up to Canadian Dory Kilburn, she would sell her home in Briny Breezes and never return to the U.S.

“I really love Briny,” she said. But President Donald Trump’s threat to annex Canada as the 51st state, his demeaning rhetoric about the country’s leaders and the imposition of tariffs have horrified her.

She’s equally concerned about how he is running his own country. 

“Democracy is slipping away in the United States,” she said. “The United States was always our guiding light. Now it is not. It is really scary.”

Yet she’s not going anywhere for now. Her husband, Jack Marcuccio, wants to “wait and see what happens” before making a decision to sell.

Kilburn is not the only Canadian who would like to pull out of Florida. She and her husband know 10 couples who attend a three-month golf holiday in Naples each year. They are not booking for next year. Two couples they know in Cocoa Beach have sold their homes.

Other Canadians who own homes in Briny Breezes and spoke with The Coastal Star don’t want to pull up stakes.

Joan Nicholls spent only eight days in her Briny Breezes home this year because medical problems pushed her back to Ontario for treatment.

“I am looking forward to going back down there again,” she said. “I had a wonderful time. I hated to leave.”

And there’s no doubt she will return. She has bought a golf cart. “I have all intention of going back.”

Larry Sudds rooted for Trump to be elected president even though he knew Trump might hurt Canada financially. So he is fine with Trump’s actions. 

“I have no problem getting back to Palm Beach County no matter what happens,” said his wife, Linda. “I am not opinionated on anything. It is what it is. Hopefully it will turn out to be the best on both sides.”

The fact that these annual visitors love where they live part-time and have long-standing ties to Palm Beach County sheds some light on whether or how much the county’s Canadian tourism will be hurt by U.S. politics.

No clear trend yet

As of late April, the county’s tourism marketing organization, Discover the Palm Beaches, had no current data that would show if the county is taking a hit. President and CEO Milton Segarra expects to get that as soon as this month.

But Segarra is hopeful.

While he is expecting some decline, “so far, the numbers we have are extremely positive,” he said. 

Hotel bookings as of February surpassed all his goals. “The Palm Beaches are registering one of the best high seasons ever,” he said.

Peter Ricci, director of Florida Atlantic University’s Hospitality and Tourism Management Program, agrees that there’s not yet cause for alarm.

“While there is economic and political uncertainty globally, The Palm Beaches seems to have thus far bucked any type of negative trend,” he said in a late March email. “As a local tourism professional, I remain optimistic for the 2025 calendar year thus far.”

As of late April, he had not changed his assessment. He attributes the county’s positive showing so far at least in part to Trump’s frequent trips to Mar-a-Lago and the politicians, other visitors and media who come in his wake.

Canada’s crucial tourism role 

The stakes are high. Canada is Palm Beach County’s most important international market, accounting for 39% of the county’s total international visitation.

Last year, nearly 370,000 Canadians visited the county, contributing $500 million to the economy.

Canada is vitally important to the state as well. It is the state’s top international market, with 3.3 million Canadians visiting in 2024.

If Palm Beach County avoids a sharp downturn by the end of the winter tourist season, Segarra said that might be due to the fact that most Canadians arrive in the fall. So they were already here when Trump launched his tirade and tariffs against their country.

But Segarra is getting feedback that shows Canadians are concerned about the potential impact on their economy and they are “emotionally charged about the narrative about the sovereignty of their nation.” 

So he took a different approach when members of his organization traveled to Toronto in March. 

Rather that creating a new business strategy to attract visitors, he thanked his Canadian partners for their support.

If the situation improves and Canadians are ready and willing to travel to Palm Beach County, Discover the Palm Beaches will launch tailored marketing that Segarra hopes will retain Canada as a top market.

The Trump effect

But much remains well outside Segarra’s control. If Trump backs off his crusade to take over Canada and punish it with tariffs, relations between the countries might stabilize and Canadian animus toward the U.S. could fade.

If not, Canadians would have even more reason to shun the U.S.

While Palm Beach County may have escaped the worst for now, there are plenty of indicators already that things have gotten ugly.

Canadians are boycotting U.S. goods. Two-thirds of Canadians said they have reduced their purchases of American products in stores and online by more than 60%, according to a March survey by the Canadian market researcher Leger.

Advance bookings for Canada-U.S. flights in April-September are down over 70% compared to last year, according to the aviation data firm OAG. Airlines, however, have disputed that number.

Nonetheless, airlines are reducing the number of flights from Canada to the U.S. The greatest impact has been felt in Florida, with Miami International Airport seeing 23% fewer seats and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport with 20% fewer, according to OAG.

But Canadian travel to Palm Beach International Airport increased in February, according to the airport’s most recent report. Air Canada brought in 5,747 passengers, compared to 4,814 in February 2024. But that number was down from January, when 7,098 passengers arrived.

The Canadian airline Porter, which first flew into Palm Beach International in November, brought in 2,081 passengers in February. 

Canadian tour companies have reported a sharp drop-off of people booking tours to the U.S.

A weaker Canadian dollar also is having an impact, since it makes the U.S. more expensive. Canadian money stretches further in places like Mexico and Costa Rica.

The fall will tell

Sophie Lalonde, chair of the Canada-Florida Business Council, agrees with Segarra that the impact of Trump’s words and actions were muted because Canadians were already in Florida when tensions flared.

“You will have a better feel, a more realistic picture in the fall” when it is known how many Canadians are returning, she said.

But she sees a worrying sign.

Many Canadians, she said, come to Florida for spring break. Yet that didn’t happen this year. 

“This year people canceled their trips, even trips that were pre-booked…,” she said. “A lot of Canadians are revolting and saying, I am not going.”

Trump may not be the sole reason, she said. The weak Canadian dollar likely played a role.

But feelings in Canada are running strong. “Canadians are upset. They are upset because it is a fight that shouldn’t have started. We have always been good friends. We have done business together for forever,” Lalonde said.

She highlighted Canada’s value to Florida. Six hundred Canadian companies operate in the state while Canadians contributed $4.6 billion to Florida’s economy in 2022.

“We are very important to you guys,” she said, “just like you are very important to us.”

Officer praised for saving man, curious pooch from Intracoastal Waterway

Gail and Steve McMillan sit with dog Molly and Officer Daniel Turnof near where Steve almost drowned. Molly broke her leg a few months earlier. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By John Pacenti

Let’s just say Molly, a 16-year-old goldendoodle, is one very lucky — and very loved — canine.

When Molly and her owner, Steve McMillan, fell off a dock into the Intracoastal Waterway at night on March 11, a quick-responding Manalapan police officer helped save them both. Officer Daniel Turnof lay on his belly on the dock and reached one arm toward the water, securing McMillan, who in turn held on to the pooch until Palm Beach County Fire Rescue could arrive.

When Turnof got there, McMillan, 79, was in the water holding onto a crossbeam of the dock at their Manalapan residence on Lands End Road.

“Whoever the guy was that was lying on the dock, his hand down, holding my hand, may have made all the difference in the world, because I don’t know whether I could have held on to that crossbeam anymore,” McMillan said.

Turnof — who will be honored with the life-saving award at the next Town Commission meeting for his work — said when he got there, the first thing McMillan said was, “Help my dog first.”

This is where we need to rewind. About six months ago, around Halloween, Molly broke one of her right legs at the McMillans’ home in California.

The veterinarians all suspected cancer, which is often the cause of broken legs in older dogs. One wanted to amputate, but McMillan’s spouse, Gail, kept getting second opinions. It turned out Molly didn’t have cancer, and the bone was set.

“She’s still happy and trotting along and eats and drinks and, you know, loves her treats,” Gail McMillan said in a telephone call from the vet’s office on April 17. “She’s still going.”

Officer Daniel Turnof will be honored with a life-saving award at a Town Commission meeting for rescuing Steve McMillan and his dog, Molly. 

So is her husband, despite battling Parkinson’s disease, which makes his balance a bit iffy. Around 10 p.m., both her dog and her spouse decided to go for a little walk to the end of their dock, with Molly on a leash. Molly likes to put her snout over the edge and look at the water — and that’s when it happened.

“Next thing I know, I’m in the water, and I went under and struggled back up,” Steve McMillan said. “My view was, hell, this is it for me. I am really not a swimmer of any sort.”

But McMillan then saw Molly, still with her leash on, dog-paddling in the Intracoastal.

“She’s just been through three months of therapy, from surgery, from having her leg broken, and it’s like if I drown, my dog is going to drown, too, and my wife will kill us both,” he said.

By happenstance, Gail McMillan had turned off the TV to make a phone call when she heard her husband yelling for help. She called 911 at 10:07 p.m.

The situation was no joking matter. Her husband could feel the steady current of the Intracoastal. 

“It was quite stressful,” she said. “I was so panicked and screaming for my neighbors to come because I didn’t know whether he had a heart attack or a stroke or what. How did he get in the water?”

That is when Officer Turnof arrived and located McMillan and Molly with the help of a neighbor. He noticed that the situation was dire as McMillan had his leg around the piling, which had barnacles on it. 

“So, he was getting cut up pretty bad,” Turnof said. “Obviously, he’s concerned about the dog. I wasn’t going to argue it. So he had the dog around, I believe, his left arm.”

Turnof got on his stomach. “I reached down, and I slowly pulled him towards me, and then I grabbed a nice, good grip on his arm with both hands.”

Fire Rescue then arrived and used a surfboard and a ladder to rescue both McMillan and Molly. McMillan estimated he had been in the cold Intracoastal waters for about 40 minutes.

Police Chief Jeff Rasor praised Turnof, who has been on the Manalapan force for two years. “This is the expectation. Obviously, he did an outstanding job,” Rasor said. “Certainly his response time was incredible.”

Gail McMillan said that the incident took a toll on the couple and their pooch for a few weeks.  

“We both couldn’t even leave the house. It was rough. It was scary,” she said. “But now I just have to laugh about it. Now we just laugh.” 

The cover of the Gulf Stream centennial book. Photos provided

To celebrate the town’s first 100 years, Mayor Scott Morgan collected historical photographs and wrote ‘The Town of Gulf Stream: A Place to Cherish.‘ The 104-page coffee table book chronicles the town’s century-long quest to preserve an ‘understated but elegant’ charm. The hardcover book was given to each of Gulf Stream’s roughly 685 households. They were invited to pick up their copies at Town Hall. The town paid $21,000 to publish it. ‘Every household will get one,’ Morgan said. ‘It’s not for sale. It’s just for us.’  

Polo came to town in 1927. Gulf Stream became known as the Winter Polo Capital of the World.

Controlling traffic is a high priority as construction trucks and workers have to share the road with parents lined up to gather their students at the end of a day of classes at Gulf Stream School. Gulf Stream Police Officer Todd Stanton and Michael Alford of Roadway Construction manage traffic while another worker crosses a metal plate in the road in front of the school on April 25. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett

Polo Drive has become the new route for the morning rush to drop off kids at the Gulf Stream School.

Phase 2 of Gulf Stream’s comprehensive makeover of the Core District’s roads officially began April 21, the day after Easter, with construction crews moving to the streets east of almost-complete Polo and with new traffic instructions for parents of students.

While student pickup is the same as before, parents dropping off children have been asked to enter the Core District via Golfview Drive, then travel Polo north to Old School Road and the school’s entrance. A police officer is stationed at the intersection of Old School and Gulfstream Road to direct cars into the school’s usual south driveway.

The revised traffic pattern, which diverts vehicles from Gulfstream Road where most of the Phase 2 construction will take place, “is working very well,” Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro said.

“We are happy to report that the contractor is making progress and we anticipate fewer difficulties for Phase 2 as we get underway at the end of the season into the summer,” he said.

Barring bad weather and other unforeseen problems, this stage of construction is expected to last 10 months, or until late February 2026. Town officials originally hoped to wrap up the whole project in December. Phase 1 began in April 2024 but quickly stalled while contractor Roadway Associates LLC waited for a permit from the South Florida Water Management District.

Baxter and Woodman Consulting Engineers, which is managing the project, issued the contractor a Certificate of Substantial Completion on April 22 along with a punch list of 60 items such as repairing sprinkler lines and leveling mailboxes.

For the week ending May 2, Roadway planned to install new water and drainage utilities on Gulfstream Road between Golfview Drive and Lakeview Drive and on Lakeview between Polo Drive and Gulfstream.

Phase 2 is expected to proceed more quickly because most of the piping will be in the right of way next to the asphalt instead of under it.

Phase 1 consisted of Polo Drive and the finger roads to its west. Besides the punch list items, it will get a final lift of asphalt once Phase 2 is finished.

The entire water main, drainage and road project in the Core District is budgeted at $13 million. 

By Steve Plunkett

The Briny Breezes Town Council was still trying to figure out dates, but it decided at its April 24 meeting to hold a budget workshop in May as well as the one it customarily has in the summer.

The driving reason: Town Manager Bill Thrasher’s proposal to raise the town’s property tax rate by 80%, from $3.75 per $1,000 of taxable value to $6.75.

Thrasher, who earlier in the day was interviewed about the proposal on Alderman Bill Birch’s BBC8 television show, offered the second workshop session as a way for council members to know better the math behind his plan.

He would raise property taxes to obtain a $2.5 million loan to match the grants the town currently has.

“That funding source, what it looks like and where it comes from, is still being worked on, it has not been determined. We have plenty of time because we have enough reserves to get us started,” Thrasher said in the interview, which can be seen at bbc8.tv. BBC8 is a closed-circuit news outlet for Briny residents.

Using Birch’s 2024 tax bill for an example, Thrasher noted that the alderman paid $167 in town taxes and $1,081 overall to the 13 taxing entities. 

At the $6.75 rate and if the taxable value of Birch’s home did not change, he would pay $301 in town taxes, or 80% more, and $1,215 overall, or only 18% more, if all the other tax rates stayed the same, Thrasher said. Birch translated that into a monthly increase of $11.15. “It is nothing major at all,” he said.

Thrasher pointed out that somebody else may have a taxable value that’s larger than Birch’s, adding that “the numbers will change but the percentages primarily will not.”

He called the proposed increase “really not something that as a manager I can say is something I’m proud of, but what I do have to tell you is that it’s absolutely necessary to advance our projects.”

The increase would raise about $300,000 more in property taxes.

Briny Breezes wants to enhance its sea walls and update and modernize its drainage system. The total project cost is $14.4 million. The town has qualified for a $1.4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is in the midst of a 90-day pause, and a $7.2 million grant from the Resilient Florida program. 

“Whether you believe it or not, the town and the corporation have to develop a project for sustainability to protect from seawater intrusion. As tides come in and out, in and out, it’s very destructive. It wears on your sea walls, it wears on your piers, it wears on every part of your protection basin,” Thrasher said.

Along with seeking other grants, “I will be looking to try to obtain donations. … I’ll be begging for money,” Thrasher said. “I’ll try everywhere I can to get money.”

Birch, for one, is on board with Thrasher’s proposal.

“Briny has given generations after generations of families nothing but wonderful memories,” Birch said. “And, let’s just call her a woman — she needs our help, and I think we need to help her.” 

With the completion of the Bonefish Cove Restoration project only months away, we look forward to visiting the mangrove islands and oyster reefs in the central Lake Worth Lagoon north of Hypoluxo Island. American avocets, black skimmers and royal terns, among other of our fine-feathered friends, have already begun feeding in the sand there.

But the $15 million project, originally planned for at least five years, almost came to a roaring stop before it even began early last year.

In late February 2024, Hypoluxo Island residents, particularly boaters who live on the east side of the northern end of the island, got wind of the project via a flyer sent to their homes. While they supported the environmental benefits of the project, what they couldn’t stomach was losing boating access to the Intracoastal Waterway — and having their property values plummet as a result.

The blueprint originally called for three islands, but the middle one was directly above La Renaissance channel, the passageway boaters traditionally used to reach the deeper Intracoastal waters.

The project is a partnership between Palm Beach County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The goal is to create treasured habitat for flora and fauna that had otherwise been lost or degraded because of past dredge and fill activities, stormwater discharges and shoreline hardening.

Named Bonefish Cove after a popular fish that recently returned to the area due to previous county restoration projects, the islands have been formed with 320,000 cubic yards of sand from Peanut Island.

Construction was set to begin weeks from the day residents got those flyers, leaving little time to change course. Bill Simons, a boater who had been using the channel since 1996, and his neighbor Jordan Nichols, a retired civil engineer who once worked for the South Florida Water Management District, went door to door to blast the alarm.

They enlisted another neighbor, former Lantana Mayor Dave Stewart, who connected with Town Manager Brian Raducci to set up a meeting where residents were able to air their concerns and hear from county and Army Corps officials.

What followed was a flurry of letters and phone calls and petitions from residents for hearings. Neighbors reached out to state and federal senators and representatives for help.

Islander Stuart Fain met with residents who talked about hiring a lawyer but held off and were “politely working” with the county. Turns out, politeness and persistence were effective.

In response to complaints, Deb Drum, director of the county’s Department of Environmental Resources Management, sent a letter to the Army Corps requesting that it sequence the project to not put any fill in the area identified by the neighbors as their navigation pathway until there was a redesign of the project to avoid that area. And, eventually, a redesign was done and the project was changed from three islands to two, leaving the channel in place.

Incredibly, the issue was resolved within a month, a remarkable feat and testimony to the diligence and fortitude of the men and women of Hypoluxo Island who fought so doggedly.

It wasn’t smooth sailing. But when their navigation rights were threatened, leaders emerged to take the helm, and they came with admirable navigational skills. They knew what to do and they didn’t give up.

They set a good example for all of us.

— Mary Thurwachter, Managing Editor

By Brian Biggane

South Palm Beach Vice Mayor Monte Berendes is the kind of legislator who typically sticks to his convictions: Once he takes a stance, he holds onto it. So, the fact Berendes has flip-flopped on a key issue regarding the new Town Hall in recent weeks is indicative of the uncertainty running through the Town Council as it attempts to finalize plans going forward.

When council members and town staff conducted meetings with CPZ Architects in late 2024 and early this year, Berendes initially came out in favor of a two-story building. Further along, as the plans started coming together, he switched to the three-story option.

“When I looked at the designs there was no question in my mind,” Berendes said after an April 4 workshop with architect Joe Barry. “I looked at (the three-story concept) and said, ‘Now that’s a nice building.’”

At the regular council meeting five days later that featured another discussion on the pros and cons of the two options, Berendes had changed his mind again.

“Listening to us here, we’re all leaning toward the two-story concept,” Berendes said near the end of the 35-minute back-and-forth. “And residents are telling me they all kind of want that.”

While fewer than 20 residents turned out April 4 for the one opportunity the public was given to meet with Barry and get a detailed look at the CPZ proposals, a majority took the microphone and voiced disapproval.

Their concerns ranged from potential flooding around the proposed 37 parking spaces, to the idea that a three-story structure would impinge on the privacy of neighboring condos, to questioning the need for common spaces to stage events like yoga classes, to whether the proposed space for the building’s first-floor PBSO office suited Sgt. Mark Garrison and his staff. (It does.)

When the council met five days later, it was Berendes who suggested a shower would be a good idea in case of an emergency such as a hurricane, and Town Manager Jamie Titcomb moved that the Building Department office be moved from the second to the first floor, where it is housed in the current building.

Some residents even questioned whether there really is a need for a new building, or whether the current structure could be updated for less money. That prompted longtime Mayor Bonnie Fischer to explain engineers have deemed a retrofit would cost more than the $6 million to $7 million the new building will cost, and the decision to replace the existing structure goes back many years and through many town councils.

A breakdown of the three-story building proposed by CPZ:

First floor: 37 parking spaces, PBSO office, lobby, patio;

Second floor: Town staff offices, a storage room, council office, conference rooms;

Third floor: Multipurpose rooms for community classes and events, council chambers, a 1,500-square-foot room, kitchen, balcony.

The two-story structure would have a smaller footprint but elongated levels, meaning the two structures would have almost the same square footage. The advantage of putting the public activities on the third floor is giving better views and vistas for those activities.

Though it would be a narrow view, residents would be high enough to see the ocean from the top story of the three-story building.

There were conflicting opinions regarding the idea of having a coffee shop. Council member Ray McMillan saw it as a gathering spot for residents and pushed it as “a good idea,” while Berendes expressed concern its popularity might quickly disappear and cost the town money in the long run.

Fischer, who has been a proponent of the three-story building all along, said the idea of a thriving community center has the potential to bring residents together much more than is currently the case.

“One thing I’ve noticed since I’ve been mayor is how rewarding it is to have the residents involved in activities, and the feedback is always great,” she said. “We get to know people in the community instead of sticking with our own buildings. I really feel the third floor is very important to us.”

Barry and CPZ will return for another go-round at the regular council meeting on May 13, when a vote on the proposals is possible, though not likely.

Berendes said what the council needs to remember is what the scope of the project has been since the start.

“You don’t build a building for today,” he said. “This is a building that will hopefully be around for a long time: 50 years, 30 years. So, we’re building for the future. Please keep that in mind when you say, ‘Oh, we don’t need this, we don’t need that.’ Maybe in 10 or 15 years you will wish you had it.” 

Greg Schiller, the new CEO of the Child Rescue Coalition, keeps reminders of children in his office in Boca Raton alongside screens showing data and the organization’s home page. Schiller is a former prosecutor of internet crimes against children. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Hannah Spence

In 2009, while serving as the lead prosecutor for the Internet Crimes Against Children unit at the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office, Greg Schiller began collaborating with the Child Rescue Coalition, which was operating out of the same building.

That proximity introduced him to the organization’s groundbreaking technology — an experience that would ultimately lead to his future role as CEO of the nonprofit dedicated to helping law enforcement track and apprehend online child predators.

“I get to come home to that same building where it all really started,” says Schiller, 47, who became CEO on March 3. In his new role, Schiller will be doing more of what his predecessor, Carly Yoost, did. “So, this is the greatest opportunity I could ever have to globally help children, parents, and the community learn how to fight back against offenders online. And I can do it all through this incredible organization here in Palm Beach County.”

The coalition uses a proprietary software tool, which helps law enforcement agencies around the world identify individuals who are sharing and downloading known child sexual abuse material.

The technology monitors peer-to-peer networks in real time for users who are actively trading illicit content. This allows investigators to build cases proactively and has led to the arrests of tens of thousands of predators globally. CRC’s technology is free for law enforcement all throughout the world, but is used heavily in Palm Beach County by federal agents, the sheriff’s office, and police departments in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.

Schiller, who lives in Boca Raton, graduated from New England Law in Boston in 2003 and has been in Palm Beach County his entire career.

“I’m originally from New York and my first job offer, after I applied to be a prosecutor in many offices up and down the East Coast, was at the West Palm Beach State Attorney’s Office,” he said.

He spent 121/2 years working as a state prosecutor in West Palm Beach, where the majority of the time, he said, he was the lead prosecutor in handling internet crimes against children and cases of human trafficking.

Then in 2016, Schiller became an assistant United States attorney where he was still a prosecutor but at the federal level in the Southern District of Florida — still specializing in the same crimes.

He held that position until a couple of months ago when he left to become the leader of the CRC, whose software he had already been utilizing for 15 years at his other jobs.

“I think as CEO, I come with a very unique perspective of having been in the trenches as a prosecutor and having seen and dealt with the worst offenders, violence and online exploitation,” said Schiller, whose lengthy workdays leave little time for much else. But when he has time, he enjoys reading, baseball, music and spending a lot of time with his family. “Working on this side really helps me grow and be the best that we can be trying to protect children.”

Schiller lamented the biggest struggle he and CRC have: making sure that they have the funding to do the job that they want to do.

“Somebody asked me the other day: ‘If you had a billion dollars, what would you do?’” said Schiller. “The ideas and the goal are endless because the goal is to end child exploitation across the internet so that we can protect our kids. There is no amount of money that would generate availability to ever do that globally in absolutely every home across the world.”

In addition to accepting donations, CRC hosts various fundraisers throughout the year. Upcoming charitable occasions include the annual CRC Poker Tournament in September — a friendly competition for card players of any level. The Coalition Cup will celebrate its eighth year in October; the day will have sports, an open bar, awards ceremony and more.

Both events are in Delray Beach, but Schiller said he is looking to expand such events in other cities and countries around the world.

CRC’s technology is used in 106 countries, and the organization is open to working with more, “whoever calls upon us and wants us to bring our technology there,” said Schiller.

He said he has seen cases of children exploited by their relatives or guardians in other parts of the world, but hopes his company can shrink those numbers.

BE A COASTAL STAR
Send a note to news@thecoastalstar.com or call 561-337-1553.

Lift station approved — At a special meeting on April 16, the South Palm Beach Town Council adopted an agreement to have Mock Roos & Associates design and oversee construction of a new lift station, to be built on the site of the existing one-story lift station between the Brittany and Concordia West condos just north of Town Hall.

Mock Roos, which also has been contracted to build and service lift stations nearby in Palm Beach and Manalapan, was selected over Holtz Consulting Engineers at the March council meeting.

The cost has been estimated at between $500,000 and $1 million; Town Manager Jamie Titcomb said the main variable will be the costs of the various subcontractors Mock Roos will bring into the project. 

John Cairnes, who has been with the firm for 17 years and told the council in March that he has become “one of the most experienced, top-notch lift stations engineers in Palm Beach County,” will serve as project manager.

Ethics presentation — Lizabeth Martin, the communications manager for the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics, made a 10-minute presentation to the council regarding ethics at its regular April meeting.

Comprehensive plan approved — Walter Keller, with decades of municipal comprehensive plan experience, made a second presentation in April of his comprehensive plan to be sent to the state. Manager Jamie Titcomb said the town was already overdue on submitting the plan, and the council adopted it.

Dog debate suggestion — The ongoing debate regarding whether dog owners should be allowed to bring their pets onto Town Hall property came up again, with Council member Elvadianne Culbertson offering a suggestion to resolve the issue. Noting that about 100 dog owners have requested more lenience from the council, which currently forbids dogs on the property, Culbertson said the group should assign one owner each week to be responsible for picking up dog waste, meaning each would only have to serve one week every two years. No action was taken.

— Brian Biggane