Honorary Chairs Bill and Mary Donnell, Charles Bender and Kelly and Will Fleming.

The Arscotts with Lisa McDulin. Photos provided by Coastal Click Photography

In anticipation of Hope Bash Boca on Nov. 2, Place of Hope at the Leighan and David Rinker Campus celebrated local supporters of foster care at the home of John and Cherie Arscott.

Club President Judy Mollica, McManus and Stevencia. Photo provided

The Rotary Club of Delray Beach announced the award winners for October: student Stevencia Estime and teacher Darren McManus. Stevencia is a17-year-old senior at Atlantic Community High School. McManus has been teaching for 22 years, 20 of them at the Delray Beach school.

Gail Marino, Christine Raymond and Anne Dichele.
Photo provided

More than $2,500 was raised to support expenses for the Gold Coast Down Syndrome’s Organization Resource Center, which houses programs for children with the condition. The event was sponsored by Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Boca Raton and Nature’s Corner Café in West Palm Beach.

The Plate: Crunchy Frybird

The Place: Flybird, 335 E. Linton Blvd., Delray Beach; 243-1111 or www.flybirdfood.com.

The Price: $12.95

The Skinny: You can smell the chicken grilling over an open flame as you pull into the lot for Flybird.

And next time, I will get grilled chicken.

But the Tuesday night I visited, fried fowl sounded good, and it was.

The chicken breast half on my sandwich was moist and juicy, with just the right amount of crispiness in its breading. The slaw that was served atop the chicken was tangy and light, and a chipotle mayonnaise lent subtle heat. Kudos also go to chef-owner Michael Salmon and his team for serving the sandwich on a perfectly toasted potato roll.

It was served with crisp housemade chips.

Salmon, who competed on The Next Food Network Star and 24 Hour Restaurant Challenge, was there the night I visited. Friends of his were raising a glass of wine to him and his 14-seat restaurant, which offers counter service, but with actual plates and cutlery. I raised a glass of iced tea. Nicely done.

— Scott Simmons

Frances Wurster and Cindy Sjogren

Marti LaTour, foundation member George Elmore and Debra Elmore. Photos provided by Christopher Fay Photography

With the secret location announced one hour prior to the outdoor event, hundreds of partygoers hurried to the annual all-white pop-up dinner party to support the Dreyfoos School of the Arts Foundation. With creative tabletop décor in hand and dinners in tow, they claimed their spots at the rows of tables assembled for the fundraiser.

The sale of John G’s in Manalapan puts Doris Di Meglio, left, in charge. Wendy Yarbrough, the founder’s daughter, helped the family choose the Di Meglios. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jan Norris

As John G’s transitions into its new ownership, the family taking it over wants to reassure its longtime fans that nothing will change, including the name.

And, they say, their own 13-year-old Boca Raton restaurant will remain as it is.

Doris and Laurent Di Meglio, Parisians, own Casimir Bistro, a traditional French bistro in Royal Palm Place. It’s been there 13 years.

“It’s our baby over there. We’ll keep it for sure,” Doris said. Laurent will continue cooking and operating it, while she runs John G’s.
The purchase of a second restaurant was to gain “a life,” she said.

“We have three kids. We want to have a life and to be with our family.”

A daytime restaurant will allow that; Casimir is open for lunch and dinner, while John G’s is breakfast and lunch only.

Longtime customers were shocked to learn of the beloved Manalapan eatery’s sale last month; there was no announcement or signs; the news spread by word of mouth.

It was a quiet transition with a staff meeting the day of the handoff, Wendy Yarbrough said.

Yarbrough, John Giragos’ daughter and manager of the restaurant since his death, said the sale had been planned.

“It was bound to happen. It’s time.” Grandkids and other family members weren’t interested in the hard work involved in running the seven-days-a-week bustling business, she said.

The family — Jay and Keith Giragos, cooks, and Wendy, manager — handpicked the buyers from a huge pool of bidders. Their experience as longtime restaurateurs with a solid reputation sealed it for them, she said. The couple started Cafe des Artistes in Jupiter; they sold it after a couple of years and started the slightly larger Casimir.

Yarbrough said a sale has been considered for years, ever since her dad’s death in 2010. But two years ago, a motorcycle accident that left her brother disabled for a time was a game-changer, Yarbrough said.

“After Jay’s accident, it’s been hard on all of us, him especially. He’s so frustrated since he can’t do anything. But he was worried about me. I’m 60 and it’s time for me to retire.”

She predicts a slight transitional time as the Di Meglios get their footing: “They’ve never done a breakfast. They’re counting on my staff and customers to help them.”

Doris Di Meglio confirmed it would be near blasphemy to change anything. She’s aware of the beloved reputation the spot has with residents and tourists alike.

“We fell in love with the story,” she said. “We’ve read all the reviews and heard the customer stories. They are so nice. They have come up to me and wished us well.”

The new owners will add credit cards — a benefit to customers, staff and kitchen, streamlining orders. A training period for the point-of-sale computer system will take a while, Di Meglio said.

But most of the staff remains, bringing decades of experience and customer appreciation with them.

Yarbrough said, “I took Doris around to meet the staff and went around the room. I told them to introduce themselves. It was, ‘Heather, server, 32 years.’ ‘Beverly, 27 years.’ ‘Busboy Romeo, 15 years.’ It was amazing. That’s my staff. They’re my family.”

The recipes were included in the sale, and the Di Meglios intend to keep them as is, along with the John G’s name, Yarbrough said.
“They’ve got all the recipes: the clam chowder, gazpacho, the French toast, down to the tartar sauce. All the soups Keith poured his heart into,” she said.

The new owners say they’ll also keep the chocolate-covered strawberries handed out on Sunday mornings to the line that still forms outside.

Di Meglio said they will add cappuccino and espresso to the menu, which brought a laugh when she learned of John Giragos’ story about desserts.

He once said he’d never offer dessert because he didn’t want diners lingering at the tables. “If I could get away with it, I wouldn’t even serve coffee,” he told this reporter.

“That’s funny,” Di Meglio said. “And now we’re offering more coffees.”

Yarbrough is making peace with the decision to sell, though it was bittersweet. Wondering whether the sale was the right thing to do, she lost weight and sleep, she said.

“My stress level is over the moon. It’s like walking-down-the-aisle jitters. Are these the right people to take over my life? My dad’s legacy? But we’re survivors. Look at all we went through and we’re still here.”

The 46-year-old eatery was first located at the old casino building at the Lake Worth pier, but it was ousted in the 2010-2011 season for construction. It moved in 2011 to Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar in the site of the old Callaro’s Steakhouse, “the scariest year,” Yarbrough said.

“We survived the bridge closing the year we moved in. We thought that was the end, but we made it. Then the plaza reconstruction and Publix. Thank God my customers crawled over the construction to get to us. They’re so loyal. We did fine,” she said.

Doris Di Meglio agrees, and it’s why she’s not changing anything. “The people working here are amazing. It’s perfect as it is, so why would we change something like that?”

Yarbrough sums it up: “It was a pretty good run, as my mom would say.”

Her parents’ approval still means a lot, and some peace comes from their spirits.

Just after the sale, she said, she visited her parents’ graves. Tess Giragos died in 2016.

“I go talk to them all the time,” Yarbrough said. “I told them we sold the restaurant.

“They said, ‘That’s OK. It’s time.’”

***

It’s never too early to start thinking about Thanksgiving — and pie.

Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches comes around for its fifth year with Pie It Forward, a campaign to benefit the hot-meal delivery program for homebound older adults.

A number of hotel restaurant and club chefs get into the spirit and bake pies for the campaign. This year, the Key lime pie will be baked by Eau Palm Beach’s pastry team.

How it works? Go to the organization’s website, www.mowpb.org, and order a pie (pumpkin, apple or pecan for $25, or Key lime for $35). Pick it up at the Palm Beach County Convention Center or Roger Dean Stadium on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Your donation goes entirely to the program, and one pie purchase will feed one senior for one week.

Don’t need a pie but want to participate? Buy a “virtual” pie — just click on the box that allows you to make a donation to the nonprofit organization.

Meals on Wheels volunteers pack and deliver meals to hundreds of seniors each week.

They pay what they can for the service, which gives them a delivery person to check on them and interact with and meals they can heat up.

For more information, call 802-6979 or visit www.mowpb.org.

***

The buzziest restaurant around may be the post-apocalyptic Rex Baron, soon to open in Boca’s Town Center Mall. Both eatery and video-game bar, it’s one of the new waves of “eatertainment.” Audience participation is required. Read that: Patrons cook their own burgers and filets on lava rocks at the table. “Survivors” play at one of 32 virtual-reality games in a lounge, where drinks are served from IV bag tubes (through the VR helmets). Armageddon-chic decor married to Boca glitz is the theme.

Jan Norris is a food writer who can be reached at nativefla@gmail.com.

Rock Anthony Tate Jr. of Montclair, New Jersey, and Johanna Ovsenek of Toronto were married in Toronto. The bride is the daughter of Peter and Athena Ovsenek of London, Ontario. Parents of the groom are Rock and Lyn Tate of Hypoluxo Island. 
The couple are both graduates of Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.  They will reside on Hypoluxo Island.
Photo provided

Parents and children enjoy art on display at the Delray Beach Public Library. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Lucy Lazarony

It’s “out with the old and in with the new” at the Delray Beach Public Library, where a space on the first floor — once home to magazines — has become a children’s art gallery.

All the publications and many more are available online, making space for a kids’ art showcase.

There are track lights shining on the art, a small white bench for sitting and viewing the art, and the words “Young @ ART,” created from discarded books, hangs above the center of the gallery.

Library director Karen Ronald says the library encourages creativity in all its patrons, including children, who show their talent with crafts and in music programs.

Once the magazine space became available, Ronald said she thought, “Let’s go a step further and celebrate what children create and have official art installations in a public library downtown.”

A recent exhibition from children at the Palm Beach School for Autism reveals the diversity of the art on display. There is a collage created in the shape of large puzzle pieces that declares “I am unique, happy, kind, beautiful.” A painted piece states “Look, Think, Do.” And there are black and white profiles with swirls of color within.

There are six shows a year and exhibits remain for two months.

Students from the Milagro Center have put on exhibits. Each time the children were thrilled to have their art on display in an art gallery.

“I love working with the Delray Beach Library,” says Jamie Leigh Griffiths, director of marketing communications at the Milagro Center. “They are so creative and helpful. The experience has been great to get exposure for Milagro Center, and uplifting for the children in our program who get to experience seeing their art in a public space. They beam with pride and it boosts their confidence.”

Milagro student Jaeson, 10, had a colored pencil drawing in the gallery.

“Seeing my art displayed makes me feel like a good artist and makes me want to do more art,” Jaeson says. “It makes me feel happy.”

Ronald describes the children’s art gallery as “small and compact.”

And Griffiths says the size enhances the experience for viewers. “It’s really intimate and you get to feel what they’re creating emotionally,” Griffiths says.

In addition to the children’s art gallery, the library is hosting a still-life painting class for children at 4:15 p.m. on Nov. 20.
Upstairs in the library, the art of Patricia Lappin is on display until Dec. 13. In “Then and Now,” Lappin focuses her work on her life in Arkansas and Florida.

Debbie Englert and Audrey Taranda of Boynton Beach serve meals to people in need at the Soup Kitchen of Boynton Beach, which on a typical day feeds about 400. The group also uses volunteers to distribute food for the holiday. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Helpers describe why giving back is a tradition for them

By Margie Plunkett

What could be better than a golden turkey and all the sides on Thanksgiving? Add an act of kindness and it’s a perfect day.

Thanksgiving is a popular day for volunteering, as charitable organizations host dinners and fundraisers, and many people get in the spirit of giving back. Volunteer opportunities come in many forms, from serving guests or walking dogs to helping out at the annual Turkey Trot. Charitable organizations value volunteers, noting that they’re critical for the nonprofits’ existence. But beyond Thanksgiving, there are 364 more days in the year that volunteers are needed.

Dale Pratt and her family, of Boca Raton, have been volunteering on Thanksgiving for about a decade. At the start, “I didn’t expect how much we would get out of this, how good it would feel,” she said.

The Pratt family volunteers at the annual Ruth & Norman Rales Jewish Family Services Thanksgiving dinner for 700 guests who are generally seniors or adults with disabilities and might otherwise be alone. This year the dinner, a celebration served up on china and cutlery, is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 28 at the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center.

The two families who underwrite it — Edith Stein, and Etta and Raymond Zimmerman — join the celebration and visit with the guests.

Volunteers at a previous Ruth and Norman Rales Jewish Family Services Thanksgiving dinner included (clockwise from front) Naomi Steinberg, JFS President Danielle Hartman, David Pratt, Matt Levin and Richard Steinberg. Photo provided

“We started doing it because it sounded like a wonderful thing — feeding so many people in the community who weren’t going to have that kind of Thanksgiving Day,” Dale Pratt said.

Dale, 52, and her husband, David, 55, have prepped, plated and served food, among other assignments. Their children, Andrew, 22, and Julia, 20, have pushed wheelchairs, brought pies and engaged guests.

“Sometimes you’ll find we’ll be dancing with people if they want to get up and dance — or chatting with them,” Dale Pratt said. “They look forward to talking with you, engaging with you. You want them to feel like you’re there for them. It’s beautiful.”
JFS President Danielle Hartman said that “for many people like the Pratts, it is a highlight of their year.” For the guests, it’s more than just a meal: “We send them home with a full belly and a full heart.” Whether for guests or volunteers, the event “makes a lasting impact on everybody.” That makes a lot of people want to give back. “Sometimes, so many people come to volunteer, we have to turn them away,” Hartman said.

Go to www.ralesjfs.org/gobble to check on Thanksgiving volunteering. For year-round info, call 852-3333.
If the JFS is already full for Thanksgiving, it can suggest other opportunities throughout the year — whether for a few hours one day a year or for a few hours every week.

•

Shelley Franco, a volunteer at Tri-County, walks Princess Tuka, a Labrador mix. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Thanksgiving volunteering isn’t always centered on a meal.

Tri-County Animal Rescue, for instance, welcomes volunteers to give a happier day for pets that are between homes. The Boca Raton center rescues, rehabilitates and cares for pets as it seeks permanent homes for them.

Tri-County counts on volunteers all year for such duties as dog-walking and socializing cats in the cat room. Volunteers working with the dogs must first take a three-hour class and with cats a half-hour class.

Shelley Franco of Deerfield Beach, a regular volunteer and volunteer coordinator at Tri-County, comes to the shelter on Thanksgiving.

“You don’t know if families will come, and I want to make sure the dogs will have a walk,” said Franco. She said it’s important to be there for the animals, knowing that they’d love to be in homes of their own.

It also helps to walk off some calories. That’s important because both pets and Tri-County helpers enjoy a roast turkey feast on Thanksgiving.

To volunteer at Tri-County, call 482-8110.

•

Missy Agnello hands out T-shirts at last year’s Town of Palm Beach United Way Turkey Trot. Proceeds go toward feeding people in need in the county. Photo by Capehart

A fast-paced volunteer activity presents itself at turkey day races.

Missy Agnello of Palm Beach has volunteered at the Town of Palm Beach United Way Turkey Trot since it was still a neighborhood run — before it became official. “It’s a great event,” she said.

Agnello finds it satisfying that her effort helps serve thousands of holiday meals in the county.

Volunteering, participating in and sponsoring the 5K race — which starts at 7:30 a.m. in Bradley Park — helps provide Thanksgiving Day meals through about two dozen partner agencies that serve Palm Beach County, including Alzheimer’s Community Care, Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse, Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County and Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Palm Beach County.

United Way estimates its proceeds ahead of the Thanksgiving Day run and writes checks that help the agencies provide holiday dinners to people in need.

This year, about $50,000 is expected to feed more than 6,000 people throughout the county, according to Aleese Kopf, director of marketing and communications.

The Turkey Trot has about 50 volunteers on Thanksgiving and could always use more. “It can be a challenge to get people to wake up at 4 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning to help us set up a race,” Kopf said.

Agnello, 58, is typically onsite at 6 a.m., helping participants pick up their packets at the registration desk. She and other volunteers also work at water stations and direct the runners as well as hand out medals and clean up after. The early start lets Agnello volunteer and still get home in time to do what she needs to for her family’s dinner. Her husband, Michael, 60, and daughters — Allison, 28; Emily, 26; and Mickie, 21 — have been regular participants in the race.

It became part of the family tradition: Her children would go to the race, stop for a Starbucks coffee on the way home and then settle in to scope out the Black Friday sales — or now, the online sales.

People interested in volunteering for the race can call 655-1919 or email kristenperrone@palmbeachunitedway.org.
Delray Beach will have its 33rd annual Turkey Trot 5K at Anchor Park, 340 S. Atlantic Blvd., on Nov. 23 and also needs volunteers.
For details, contact Danielle Beardlsey at 243-7277 or beardsleyd@mydelraybeach.com; or visit www.victorysportsmgt.com/event/dbtt19

•

Some organizations don’t need help on Thanksgiving Day, but they need food donations and may need help in the days leading up to it.

The Soup Kitchen in Boynton Beach may still need volunteer help 7 a.m. to noon the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, when it expects to distribute 1,000 frozen turkeys, roasting pans and fixings for the holiday meal to registered families. And it’s still welcoming donations of frozen turkeys.

Executive Director Enrique Zuanetto said the kitchen serves its regular meal on Thanksgiving, but it has more than enough volunteers. Far fewer guests come that day — maybe 60 compared to the usual 400 in a day — because most have received the frozen turkey meal to make at home.

Zuanetto points out, though, that the Soup Kitchen needs volunteers every other day and welcomes those interested to sit down with him and talk about what opportunities would work for them.
To inquire about volunteer opportunities, call 239-3173.

•

Volunteers pack meals for Boca Helping Hands during last year’s pre-Thanksgiving event. Photo provided

•

Boca Helping Hands has a Box Brigade that will distribute frozen turkeys and dinner fixings on Nov. 18 in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach to people who have registered. It will partner with Boca Raton Resort & Club and the Addison on two Thanksgiving Day meals for those in need who have registered. Boca Helping Hands has enough volunteers for those events, but is looking for people to host fall food drives.

To donate, or for year-round volunteer opportunities, call 417-0913 or visit www.bocahelpinghands.org.

•

Thanksgiving may be a more popular time for volunteerism because people have a little more time then, said Karen Swedenborg, development manager at Boca Helping Hands. “A lot of people just want to give back.”

These are just a few of the organizations that welcome volunteers throughout the year. Contact organizations that interest you to determine what opportunities they offer.

Native plants and beautiful gazebos make for a perfect garden space at Pan’s Garden. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

On Nov. 23, Pan’s Garden in Palm Beach is celebrating its 25th anniversary amid a change in its director of horticulture, a cleaner and fresher look and a greater use of native plantings than ever before.

“The garden is 100 percent native,” says Susan Lerner, the director of horticulture appointed about a year ago by the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, which owns the half-acre garden.

It is set on land that, once having held a derelict house and parking lot, was originally designed to be “a quiet oasis showcasing native Florida plants,” according to an early brochure.

But it’s that and more, says Lerner. “It’s also a botanical garden that is meant to be a learning garden so people can come to see what the native plants look like and determine which they want to put in their own gardens.”

In preparation for the anniversary, the statue of Pan, the mythical half-boy, half-goat for whom the garden is named, has had its original patina lovingly restored. Pan once again stands invitingly in a semi-circular pool at the garden’s entryway, charming water-spouting fish at his feet with his pipes.

Desiring to honor the garden’s original vision, Lerner is working to rejuvenate what she inherited. Over the years, non-natives had crept into the mix, some areas had become overgrown and the few really sunny parts of the garden had often been used for plants that survive equally well in partial shade.

Her sweat and labor are already evident as you wander through the marsh and upland habitats that make this garden special. With Lerner leading the way, we follow the brick path to the man-made pond that fills the northern section of the garden.

We enter an area that Lerner explains was partially covered with invasive ferns. After checking with the fern expert at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables to identify which were invasives, she removed them.

Buds are ready to bloom on a marlberry plant.

But she left the natives such as the lattice vein ferns with their rolling leaf edges and the giant leather ferns with under-leaves that get so covered in spores that they feel and look like they are lined with rust-colored suede.

Elsewhere the native Walter’s viburnum had been pruned into a perfect sphere. That type of pruning has been abandoned because it’s Lerner’s belief that trees and shrubs should be pruned only for size and to keep them looking trim. She often goes out with clippers to do the work herself.

Otherwise, “a tree should be allowed to grow as it would in nature,” she says.

As she details her efforts to refresh this charming yet educational garden, Lerner tells us that when she arrived for her job interview there was nothing flying — no birds, no bees, no butterflies, no dragonflies.

“We can fix that,” she thought to herself.

Today she points to a large area of coontie, a native cycad with a fossil history that dates back 3 million years. It is the sole host plant for the black-and-orange atala butterfly.

A soldier butterfly feeds on the blue blooms of a Keys ageratum.

She learned that the garden was being sprayed with pesticide that would prevent the atala and other butterflies from successfully using its plants to host their eggs and support their life cycles.

Lerner immediately canceled the spraying contract, and today the garden is filled with these butterflies and other beneficial insects.
As you stroll the paths, you can’t help but notice how just about every area of the garden has benefited from her touch. Consider the sunny southern border that, even at only a few inches of elevation, is considered part of the uplands habitat.

“This was a bramble filled with many non-natives. It wasn’t possible to walk through here,” she says.

Today it is an open and airy walkway that you enter between a pair of handsome Simpson stoppers. The path is lined with beautiful but lesser-known native wildflowers such as Havana skullcap, tea bush and coral bean. And this once uninviting area, like many places in this garden, is filled with butterflies and other flying attractions.

“I want this to be the go-to native garden in Florida so people learn that planting Florida natives is not only the right thing to do to support native wildlife but also to provide a beautiful experience,” Lerner says.

If You Go
Where: Pan’s Garden, 386 Hibiscus Ave., Palm Beach
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; closed during maintenance and private events.
Admission: Free
Anniversary celebration: From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 23, Pan’s Garden will host activities and educational programs for children and adults, including origami making, a scavenger hunt, butterfly plant tours and birding with binoculars.
The celebration will include, at 10 a.m., the garden’s rededication; 10:15 a.m., yoga; 11 a.m., a presentation on the garden’s participation in the Pine Jog Native Orchid Program; and at 4 p.m., a talk about the creation and impact of Pan’s Garden.
More info: Call 832-0731 ext. 113 or visit https://palmbeachpreservation.org/visit/pans-garden
Volunteer: Volunteers are always welcome. For information, call the garden.

Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley can be reached at debhartz@att.net.

From preschool, Evan Hearn, teacher Elizabeth McWey and Ava Goodis. Photo provided

Juliette Ferber tips the watering can. Photo provided

Unity students serve as earth stewards all year and include gardening as part of their curriculum. From preschool and up, students till the soil, plant the seeds and cultivate their herb and flower gardens with assistance from teachers and parents. This teaches interest in gardening among the children and incorporates Unity’s earth-friendly approach, keeping with the Montessori program.

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

The nature center building at Green Cay Nature Center and Wetlands (12800 Hagen Ranch Road, Boynton Beach) will be closed beginning this month for new roof construction.

But during the four to six months the work will require, the surrounding wetlands will remain open to the public and the wildlife will not be disturbed.

For updates visit www.pbcnature.com or call the Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Services Division, 966-6686.

Other nature centers and wetlands to visit include:
• Wakodahatchee Wetlands, 13270 Jog Road, Delray Beach; 493-6000.
• Daggerwing Nature Center, 11435 Park Access Road, Boca Raton; 629-8760.
• Okeeheelee Nature Center, 7715 Forest Hill Blvd., West Palm Beach; 233-1400.
• Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, 10216 Lee Road, Boynton Beach; 734-8303.

Nick Saunders holds a blackfin tune he caught north of Boynton Inlet while fishing with Capt. Chris Lemieux of Boynton Beach. Photo provided by Lemieux Charters.

By Willie Howard

Pound for pound, blackfin tuna are amazingly strong.

When ocean anglers reel in one of the football-sized blackfins typically found in the waters off Palm Beach County in the fall, they’re often amazed that small tunas fight like much larger ocean fish.

The shorter, cloudier and cooler days of fall typically bring good fishing for blackfins, especially in low-light hours of the morning or late afternoon — or whenever clouds blot out the sun and encourage tunas to move toward the surface.

When you fish offshore, keep an eye out for flocks of birds coming down to the surface, ribbons of current and clumps of floating sargassum that are sheltering minnows.

Capt. Chris Lemieux of Lemiuex Charters in Boynton Beach recommends trolling small tuna feathers far behind the boat (meaning well beyond the white, bubbling water created by the propellers).

Lemieux, who runs his charters from Palm Beach Yacht Center in Hypoluxo, trolls feathers in purple and black, blue and white or plain white when targeting fall blackfins.

If he can catch glass minnows in a cast net, Lemieux said he uses live minnows to chum up blackfins — or as small live baits fished on light spinning rods fitted with 10-pound-test line and small hooks.

When you search for blackfins in the waters off Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton, Lemieux advises trolling in about 150 to 300 feet of water. Look for relatively clean water. Troll over areas where the depth changes quickly.

Small, flashy trolling lures can work well for blackfin tuna often found under clusters of birds in the fall. From left are the Boone Feather Jig, the Williamson Flash Feather, a Mylar skirt covered by a small squid skirt, a Red Eye bullet lure and a small Clark spoon.

Lemeiux said it’s important to watch the water because blackfins sometimes break the surface while feeding. Tuna fishing can be a good way to start a morning of fishing in the fall, he said, as the tuna are more likely to be near the surface in low light.

Anglers who plan to keep and eat a blackfin tuna should remove the gills or use a knife to make incisions behind the pectoral fins. Place the fish in a bucket of salt water and let it bleed for a few minutes before placing it on ice — preferably in an icy, saltwater slush.

Blackfin tuna (Thunnus atlanticus) have jet-black backs, bronze lateral stripes and large eyes.

There are no size or bag limits on blackfins. But that will change Jan. 1, when the daily bag limit of two per person or 10 per boat, whichever is greater, takes effect.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the bag limit for blackfin tuna on Oct. 2. When the limit takes effect, it will apply in both state and federal waters (beyond 3 miles off Florida’s east coast).

When you clean a freshly caught blackfin tuna, don’t rinse the meat with fresh water, advises Capt. Chris Walter of Get Bent Charters in the Florida Keys.

Fresh water can be used to rinse the cleaning surface, but the tuna meat should be kept mostly dry.

Remove the skin, the blood line and the remaining dark meat. Cut the tuna into thin strips for sashimi or thicker steaks for grilling or searing.

Blackfin tuna does not freeze well and is best eaten fresh, so release tuna you don’t plan to eat or share with friends within a day or two.

Coming events
Nov. 2: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Fee $35 ($5 for youths ages 12-19). Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600. Leave a message.
Nov. 5: Boynton Beach Boating and Fishing Club meets, 7 p.m. at the clubhouse building near the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Call 614-1550 or visit www.bbbfc.org.
Nov. 9: Dust ’Em Off Sailfish Warm-up Tournament with check-in stations in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Captains meeting Nov. 7. Three divisions. Entry fee $500. Details at www.dustemoffsailfish.com.
Nov. 9: West Palm Beach Fishing Club’s 85th annual awards barbecue and auction, 5:30 p.m., South Florida Fairgrounds (Gate 8, Building 10). Tickets at the door: $30 adults and $15 for youths under 15. Discount for advance purchase. Call 832-6780 or visit www.westpalmbeachfishingclub.org.
Nov. 23: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the classroom building next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $20. Register at the door. Call 331-2429.

Tip of the month

Following a few basic conservation measures can help reduce the loss of corals to disease, says the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. The FWC asks snorkelers and divers to avoid touching corals, to use environmentally friendly sunscreens and to avoid anchoring near coral.

The FWC is asking anyone interested in coral conservation to join the Florida Coral Crew and receive email updates about efforts to prevent the loss of stony corals. Go to www.myfwc.com/conservation/coral.

The Reel Em In II team won the honor for biggest fish in the ChasenTailz KDW Fishing Tournament with the 41.3-pound kingfish held by Nick Frasca (kneeling). The Sept. 28 charity tournament attracted 172 boats. Photo provided by Leonard Bryant Photography

Reel Em In II wins in ChasenTailz event

Frank Frasca and his crew on the Reel Em In II won heaviest-fish honors in the Sept. 28 ChasenTailz KDW Fishing Tournament with a 41.3-pound kingfish caught off Juno Beach.

Frasca, of North Palm Beach, said he and his teammates were slow-trolling a live goggle-eye on the surface in 75 feet of water off Juno Beach when the big kingfish hit around 7 a.m.

His son, Nick Frasca, fought the winning kingfish. Team member Sean Horgan brought the fish into the boat with his new gaff, Frasca said.

The ChasenTailz tournament attracted 172 boats. Proceeds from the event benefit sick children and their families, organizer Summer Warren said.

Willie Howard is a freelance writer and licensed boat captain. Reach him at tiowillie@bellsouth.net.

County Commissioner Robert Weinroth volunteered alongside Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer at the dinner in 2018. It’s hosted by Congregation B’nai Israel and Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church and will take place Nov. 26 this year at Ebenezer. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

On Nov. 26, nearly 3,000 people, many of them children, will dine on dishes made by the best chefs at some of the finest country clubs in Boca Raton and Delray Beach. Another 1,000 will receive dinners packaged to go. But at the end of the meal, there will be no check to pay and no server to tip.

The annual Feed the Community Thanksgiving Dinner is a joint venture by two Boca Raton congregations — Congregation B’nai Israel and Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church — to feed their friends and neighbors who don’t have the resources for a full Thanksgiving meal.

The dinner will take place starting at 3:30 p.m. in Ebenezer’s church building and the surrounding property at the southwest corner of Glades Road and U.S. 1 in Boca Raton. Tents will shield the food, dessert and beverage areas and provide shade for diners.
The Thanksgiving dinner tradition has been around longer than senior Rabbi Robert Silvers, who has served the synagogue for 26 years.

“I will brag about it,” he laughs. “It functions as a well-oiled machine. But to us, it’s not a special event. It’s what we do.”
The partnership between the two houses of worship began in 1984, when the synagogue’s leaders approached Ebenezer’s with an idea for a cooperative Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative event.

In 1985, the congregation at Boca Raton’s fledgling synagogue joined with the congregation of the city’s oldest African-American church for an interfaith service in memory of King, a year before Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially celebrated.

From there, the relationship grew.

For the Thanksgiving feast, the kitchens at St. Andrews Country Club, Addison Reserve Country Club, Mizner Country Club and Boca Grove Country Club will each make nearly 1,000 servings of mashed potatoes, stuffing, macaroni and cheese and green beans. VIP Caterers will roast about 80 turkeys.

This fete isn’t popular with just the diners. There are so many volunteers from CBI’s congregation that it limits each person’s shift to 45 minutes, so everyone gets a chance.

“Now we have two and three generations of volunteers,” Silvers said. “Teens who came with their parents are now here with kids of their own.”

Silvers says Ebenezer and CBI have more in common than one might think.

“We both share the same giving heart,” he says. “We know the value of helping others. It’s a blessing to us to be a blessing to others.”

For more information about the Feed the Community Thanksgiving Dinner and other projects, call coordinator Minda Shaiman at 241-8118, ext. 119 or email minda.shaiman@cbiboca.org, or call Ebenezer church at 391-7357.

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

Acclaimed author and speaker Mitch Albom will be featured in Boca Raton on Nov. 14. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

Congregation B’nai Israel will host a special literary event, “An Evening With Mitch Albom,” from 7 to 9 p.m. Nov. 14 at the synagogue, 2200 Yamato Road, Boca Raton.

Well-known since he released the best-seller Tuesdays With Morrie in 1997, Albom is a popular and positive speaker. Morrie topped the New York Times nonfiction best-sellers list of 2000. Albom followed with more heartfelt books: The Five People You Meet in Heaven, For One More Day, The First Phone Call From Heaven, and his latest work, Finding Chika. It’s about a little girl and an earthquake, but it’s really a story about family.

The lecture is part of the CBI speaker series. Tickets are $36 for general admission, $54 balcony, and $54 and $100 in the sanctuary. Call 241-8118 or visit www.cbiboca.org.

Entrepreneur to speak

The 2020 fundraising campaign for the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County kicks off Nov. 6 with a reception and a talk by one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, one who personifies the campaign’s theme: “Live Your Passion.”
You may not know Jesse Itzler’s name, but he’s the brains behind many successful projects. He founded Marquis Jet, one of the world’s largest prepaid private jet companies (like a boat club, it grants you access to a plane depending on a price package). He sold Marquis to Berkshire Hathaway/NetJets.

Itzler, 51, is a rarity — a Jewish rapper who appeared on MTV (he had a Billboard hit in 1991 with Shake It Like a White Girl). Later he co-founded Alphabet City Sports Records and became the producer and singer behind the NBA’s “I Love This Game” music campaign and the New York Knicks anthem Go NY Go.

His record company found its niche mixing classic arena songs with game highlights for NBA teams including the Wizards, Mavericks and Lakers. He and his wife, Spanx founder Sara Blakely, own a portion of the Atlanta Hawks.

Itzler and his partner started Zico coconut water and sold it to the Coca-Cola Co. in 2013. Then Itzler turned to writing. In November 2015, he released the book Living With a SEAL: 31 Days Training With the Toughest Man on the Planet to wide acclaim. It was a

New York Times best-seller and topped the LA Times book list. In 2018, he released the introspective Living With the Monks: What Turning Off My Phone Taught Me About Happiness, Gratitude, and Focus.

In 2008, Itzler married Blakely, whose net worth rivaled his own. Blakely (a convert to Judaism) and Itzler are raising their four kids near Atlanta.

The Nov. 6 reception begins at 6 p.m. with cocktails, heavy hors d’oeuvres and an opportunity for connection with friends and colleagues. Itzler will speak at 7 p.m. More than 600 are expected to attend the event at B’nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, 6261 SW 18th St.

Last year’s event raised $1 million.

A cover of $95 plus a minimum household contribution of $500 to the 2020 campaign is required to attend. Register at https://jewishboca.org/theopeningevent.

Call 852-3144 or email Erica Gordon at ericag@bocafed.org.

Big business and deep faith

What do you think you would find at the intersection of capitalism and spiritualism?

Each month, Pastor Bill Mitchell of Boca Raton Community Church tries to shed light on that crossroads with BocaLead, a business lunch (and sometimes dinner) that explores how biblical principles can apply in the workplace.

The next luncheon takes place at noon Nov. 7 at the church. A dinner meeting at 6:30 p.m. is also planned.

Mitchell, with a 25-year business career to draw from, started BocaLead about five years ago. He says the goal is “to raise the bar of ethics and character” in business. Topics of discussion include leadership, team development, inspiring your co-workers and improving communication.

The lunch meets from noon to 1 p.m. the first Thursday of every month from September to June at the church, 470 NW Fourth Ave., Boca Raton. Registration is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Get a table and bring the whole office. For more info, visit www.bocalead.com.

Holocaust exhibit opens

A new exhibition, “Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust,” opens Nov. 3 at the Levis JCC Sandler Center, 21050 95th Ave. S., Boca Raton, with a reception and presentation from 2-4 p.m.

The exhibition, which explores themes of kindness, heroism and compassion, debuted at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1995. Portrait photographer Gay Block and children’s book writer Malka Drucker spent three years interviewing 105 Christian rescuers in 11 countries who hid, protected and saved Jews in Europe during World War II. The exhibition features 56 pictures of the people Drucker interviewed for the book.

The exhibition is on display through Dec. 22. A series of lectures, films and programs is planned to illuminate the exhibition, including a talk by Rabbi Leon Weissberg called “Profiles in Moral Courage” at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14. For more information, visit https://levisjcc.org/events/ or call 852-3200.

Interfaith Café talks justice

The conversation at the Nov. 21 Interfaith Café will focus on the justice system. The presenter is Dr. Martha A. Brown, an advocate of the system known as “Restorative Justice.” Its goal is to hold the offender accountable for repairing the harm to make the victim whole again as much as possible. Does it work? Is it effective?

The conversation and nondenominational gathering meets at 7 p.m. at the South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach. Light refreshments are served.

The Interfaith Café meets the third Thursday of the month.

The meeting is free, but donations are appreciated. Volunteers are needed to assist with a variety of duties to keep this program going. For more information or to volunteer, email jane@aurorasvoice.org.

Boca Raton sixth-grader Emmi Merhi trains in Pompano Beach. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

In a rhinestone-studded skater’s dress, hair smoothed into a tight ballerina bun, Emmi Merhi uses long arms and legs to carry her with a luminous grace across the ice.

Emmi is performing her 2½-minute program of spins and jumps to the song Trampoline by indie pop trio Shaed at a dress rehearsal on her home ice before her first regional competition.  

As the Boca Raton girl leaves the ice, her coach, Hyaat Aldawhi, tells her to finish every movement. “Every movement has its ideal ending,” she says. Emmi nods.

Emmi Merhi is 11 years old but at 5-feet-8 seems much older. Part of that is her height, but part of it is her poise and sure-footedness.

In early October, Emmi and three other girls from the Florida Gold Coast Figure Skating Club competed at the U.S. Figure Skating South Atlantic Regional Singles Challenge in Aston, Pennsylvania, one of nine regional competitions where skaters can earn points toward national rankings.

It was Emmi’s first time competing on a regional stage in a new division. Although she didn’t place among the top tier of the contestants, she found comfort in her achievement.

“I did good for me,” Emmi said by phone afterward. “My goal was to earn 25 points and I earned 24.77.”

More than 450 skaters from New York to Florida competed, and Emmi admitted to nerves — that’s part of the deal. She skated last in her group of 16 in the juvenile girls division, and said the waiting was the hardest part. “I’d rather go first.”

Emmi’s program contained eight elements, including a double lutz, one of the most difficult jumps because the skater must take off from the back outside edge of one skate, rotate twice and land on the back outside edge of the opposite skate.

The toe-pick-assisted jump is counter-rotational: The skater begins by turning one way and uses the toe-pick to rotate in the opposite direction (twice) before landing on the other foot. First performed in 1913 by Austrian Alois Lutz, the lutz still takes tremendous skill to master. For Emmi, the double lutz is one of her proudest achievements. 

For the past four years, Emmi has been coached at the Rink on the Beach, a 40,000-square-foot facility on Federal Highway in Pompano Beach. Coach Aldahwi, 20, of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, forced to retire from skating because of an injury, says she found CrossFit and coaching and is optimistic about the club’s future.

About Emmi, she says, “She’s the funny one, the joker. And she’s the encourager.”

Emmi, a sixth-grader at Boca Raton Middle School, got her love of skating from her mother, who grew up in Alaska. Diana Merhi is a fitness model and the mother of three girls, ages 13, 11 and 4, and one boy, 2, with her husband, Elie Merhi, a sports trainer who owns and operates Elite Fitness in Boca Raton. 

Competing on the next level has forced Emmi to make some hard choices. “On the weekends, my friends want to hang out and I have to tell them no. You have to be dedicated.”

Instead she spends Saturday doing cardio to build her stamina, but on Sunday, she might go to the beach or the movies with friends.

Now Emmi’s got another decision to make. She wants to try out for volleyball and she’s pretty sure she’ll make the team. So … what about skating? 

“I’ll just have to skate in the mornings,” she says, sounding dedicated.

By Janis Fontaine

By now you’re well into this year’s Read Together Palm Beach County book, The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood, right? If not, don’t worry! There’s still time.

The 11th annual Read Together campaign kicked off Sept. 12 when the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County announced this year’s book, a cross-generational story about a friendship that blossoms between an 11-year-old Boy Scout and a 104-year-old Lithuanian immigrant. 

To entice new readers to pick up a book, the story must be compelling. Check. To help readers understand the story, it helps to have book clubs and other forums of discussion. Check.

Local libraries from Boca Raton to Royal Palm Beach will offer book discussions. The Read Together Discussion Guide, a road map for discussions with an events list at the end, is free to readers starting their own groups. 

On Nov. 11, professional actors will perform a staged reading at Palm Beach Dramaworks at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. Registration and a donation are suggested. 

The Read Together finale takes place at 6 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Harriet Himmel Theater in Rosemary Square, 700 S. Rosemary Ave., West Palm Beach, where you can meet the author, Monica Wood, and celebrate her work.

Copies of the book are available at the Literacy Coalition, 3651 Quantum Blvd., Boynton Beach, and at most libraries for a $10 donation.

Also of note: On Nov. 7, the Literacy Coalition will sponsor Read for the Record, which brings hundreds of volunteers to classrooms, libraries and community centers to read aloud 2019’s book, Thank You, Omu!

In 2018, the coalition recruited 415 volunteers who read to 15,696 children around the county, and leaders hope to exceed that number this year.

Reach the Literacy Coalition at 279-9103 or communications@literacypbc.org. Or visit www.literacypbc.org.

Mom helps organize inaugural fundraiser

Reilly Gardner, 4, reacts to sea turtles on display at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Photo by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Joyce Reingold

Reilly Gardner, an inquisitive 4-year-old with a headful of springy blond curls, watches as “Black Panther” munches on greens at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton. “I want to swim in there,” he says, pointing to the tank where the green sea turtle is convalescing.

Whitney Crowder, the center’s turtle rehabilitation coordinator, is giving Reilly and his good friend Lenox McDowell a behind-the-scenes tour. She explains that Black Panther was found in Fort Pierce, ensnared in fishing line, and brought to Gumbo Limbo to recuperate. The children listen as Crowder teaches them about sea turtles and the ocean that sustains them.

Reilly, too, draws strength from the sea, and from the salt-tinged air. He is one of 30,000 people in the United States living with cystic fibrosis, a progressive genetic disease. For CF patients, inhaling saltwater mist helps break up the thick, sticky mucus that builds up in the lungs, digestive system and other organs, leading to chronic infections, progressive lung damage and other complications.

That’s why Reilly’s parents, Jessie and Chris Gardner, moved to Delray Beach from Charlotte, North Carolina. “The salt air and ocean are great for him, as he drains from his nose and helps get everything out,” Jessie says. “The salt air is so much better for patients with CF.”

Reilly was diagnosed with CF as a newborn. Jessie and Chris soon learned that they both carry a CF gene. According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, more than 17,000 genetic mutations are known to cause CF. Reilly carries Double DeltaF508, the most common, Jessie says.

“This means the medications currently in the drug pipeline will benefit him,” she says.

For example, the family is excited about the possibilities of Trikafta, a drug the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved in mid-October.

Jessie Gardner, always vigilant when it comes to her son’s health, helps Reilly wash his hands. Photo by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

In the meantime, Jessie fights hard to make a healthy life Reilly’s reality. And now she’s broadening the fight, launching a fundraiser for the CFF’s Florida-Palm Beach chapter to help others living with CF, too.

The inaugural 65 Roses Evening on the Ave will take place Nov. 15 at Old School Square in Delray Beach. The cocktails-and-dinner event will begin at 6 p.m. and have an auction that includes pieces created live that evening by artist Justin Vallee.

Jessie Gardner and Heather Marineau are the event’s co-chairs. Reilly is the youth ambassador.

“Clinical research shows great promise for an estimated 93% of people with cystic fibrosis. However, we have work to do to ensure everyone with this disease has a treatment and one day, a cure,” says Lora Hazelwood, executive director of the Palm Beach chapter, which funds research and runs support programs for local patients and their families.

“I think my main point with cystic fibrosis is to educate people about what it is, because when you look at my son, he looks normal,” Jessie says. “It is a disease that hides. It’s a disease that’s progressive. Just because he may look like any other child, he still faces difficulties behind the scenes. It’s just a little bit more hidden.”

At Gumbo Limbo, Reilly is sunny and energetic, looking every bit the surfer dude in a rash guard and board shorts dotted with surfboards and palm trees. He loves the beach — though there’s less time for that now that he’s in school every weekday — and playing with his friends.

But as a child living with CF, he must do a lot more. Jessie says Reilly takes nine medications, one of which retails for $300,000 a year. He drinks protein shakes. And with each meal he takes three enzyme pills to help counter CF’s effect on his pancreas and help him gain weight. Jessie Gardner says the family has good insurance but that dealing with insurance representatives can be a fight when, for example, they don’t want to pay for a medication anymore.

Reilly “does his treatment twice daily,” his mother says. “He is strapped to a vest machine that shakes to get the mucus up. And he does a nebulizer machine for a total of 40 minutes a day” or 80 minutes when he’s sick. “But, he’s still an incredibly strong-willed little boy who loves to have fun, and he can still do everything anyone else does,” Jessie says.

Megan Casabe, a licensed clinical social worker at Palm Beach Children’s Hospital at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, meets with Reilly and his parents, and about 90 other CF patients and family members, three to four times each year.

“The daily treatment regimen for someone who has CF is very labor intensive and time-consuming,” she says. “But it doesn’t mean that they’re not able to go out and live a life. We have people who work full-time jobs. We have people in college. We have people with professional degrees and professional jobs. We have people who have families. So, it is not something where they have to be secluded to the house and don’t have a life, or don’t have friends. Which is great.”

In the 1950s, the average life expectancy for a child with CF was five years. Today, it is the mid-40s, according to Casabe.

“However, different genetic mutations have different variations of the disease. And so, we even have some patients in our clinic who are in their late 50s and 60s. The research is incredible,” Casabe says.

The latest improvement may come in the form of the drug Trikafta, which Dr. Preston W. Campbell III, president and CEO of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, called a “tremendous breakthrough.”

CF is caused when a mis-folded or missing protein, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator protein, “forms a malfunctioning channel that prevents salt and water from traveling in and out of cells on many surfaces in the body,” explains a spokesperson at CFF headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. “The three medicines within Trikafta are designed to help the CFTR protein fold better, move to the cell surface, and maintain an open channel so salt and water can move in and out of the cell.”
Casabe says someone Reilly’s age “has a much better chance at a full, long life than someone else did even just 10 years ago.”

If You Go
What: 65 Roses Evening on the Ave for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Palm Beach chapter
When: 6 p.m. Nov. 15
Where: Old School Square in Delray Beach
Tickets: $175 and up
Info: 683-9965 or https://events.cff.org/65rosesontheave

Joyce Reingold has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to joyce.reingold@yahoo.com.

By Christine Davis

Nelson Lazo, a chief executive at Baptist Health South Florida for 12 years, will soon be the new CEO of Bethesda Hospital East and Bethesda Hospital West in Palm Beach County. He will succeed Roger Kirk, who will retire in December.

Lazo will oversee the continued integration of the hospitals with Baptist Health following their 2017 merger. He also will oversee the expansion of Bethesda hospitals’ services.

Under Lazo’s leadership as CEO, Baptist Health’s Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables became home to Miami Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute, which recently opened the Miami Heat Sports Medicine Center in partnership with the basketball team.

The institute is the official sports medicine provider for the Heat, Miami Dolphins, Florida Panthers, Florida International University, Miami Open tennis tournament, the Orange Bowl and the Miami Marathon.

Teens place a lot of emphasis on popularity and are aware of the difference between being liked and being popular, and when asked to choose, most opt for popularity. Prior research found two groups of popular adolescents: pro-social and aggressive popular teens.
But if you ask a teen about popularity, you might hear about a third group that is both feared and loved. 

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University and collaborators in Montreal put the idea of naughty and nice, Machiavellian-like teens to the test. In a new study, they followed 568 girls and boys in the seventh and eighth grades for two years.

Classmates identified those who were aggressive, pro-social and popular. Results of the study, published in the journal Child Development with FAU psychology professor Brett Laursen as a coauthor, identified three distinct types of teen popularity: pro-social popular; aggressive popular; and bistrategic popular or Machiavellian. 

The Machiavellian teens were the most popular and were above average on physical and relational aggression as well as pro-social behavior. Just like in the teen comedy Mean Girls, they are aggressive when needed and then “make nice” to smooth any ruffled feathers.

They maintain their popularity by offsetting the coercive behavior required to maintain power with carefully calibrated acts of kindness. These teens balance getting their way with getting along.

As dementia progresses, the ability to participate in exercise programs declines. But an FAU study found that more than 97 percent of older adults with advanced dementia could do chair yoga or other chair-based exercises and be fully engaged. The subjects showed improvement over time, while a group that undertook music intervention declined.

The study, with the results published in the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease & Other Dementias, intended to test the safety and effectiveness of these non-pharmacological interventions. JuYoung Park, associate professor in the School of Social Work, was lead author.

Both the chair yoga and chair-based exercise groups showed lower depression when compared to the music intervention group. The chair yoga group reported a higher quality of life score, including physical condition, mood, functional abilities, interpersonal relationships, and ability to participate in meaningful activities.

A new study by researchers in FAU’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing showed that older African Americans, European Americans and Hispanic Americans are below the recommended levels of protein intake and are at risk for age-related changes in muscle, and that interventions may be needed to improve their diet and physical health.

The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics, examined differences in protein intake, nutritional status, and muscle strength and function in these groups. Sareen Gropper, registered dietitian and nursing professor, was the lead author.

Great Place to Work and Fortune named Baptist Health South Florida one of the country’s best workplaces for women — an organization that best provides resources and support to women. Baptist Health was No. 29 on the list.

“These winning companies are thriving because women have an equal seat at every table where critical decisions are made,” said Michael C. Bush, chief executive officer of Great Place to Work. “Organizations like Baptist Health South Florida know that creating a great workplace where everyone can succeed regardless of gender is not just the right thing to do, but a must-do if you want to be the very best of everything in the marketplace.”

Bethesda Hospital and Boca Raton Regional Hospital are part of the Baptist Health South Florida network.

Astro will be programmed for tasks including search and rescue missions and diabetes alerts. Photo provided

By Arden Moore

Looks like it’s back to the future with a big woof for a team of professors, researchers and students at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

Back in the early 1960s, The Jetsons took off in popularity. This animated television show centered on a space-age family and featured husband George commuting to work irn a spaceship and taking the family dog, Astro, for walks on a high-in-the-sky treadmill.

FAU is hard at work on its version of Astro, a robodog with real-dog capabilities. This Astro packs sensors, cameras and artificial intelligence to enable it to see, hear and smell.

Thanks to a computerized brain inside its Doberman pinscher-looking head, Astro can also think. Astro quickly mastered basic canine commands like sit and stay. He can also comprehend commands spoken in several languages, detect colors and coordinate search-and-rescue missions with drones.

And best of all, he won’t piddle on your rugs, beg at the dinner table or chew your favorite slippers.

“Astro is the result of collaboration with Martin Woodall, founder of DroneData, and its AstroRobotics division and FAU’s MPCR,” or machine perception and cognitive robotics lab, said Elan Barenholtz, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and co-director of the lab. “He brought the hardware to us and we are the ones building the brain. In a sense, our job is to bring to life this benevolent Frankenstein.”

Astro is one of a handful of quadruped robots in the world and the only one with a dog head.

Weighing about 60 pounds, Astro is already drawing attention and fans on campus and beyond.

“When we are doing tests with Astro on our breezeway, students stop what they are doing to pull out phones and pose for selfies,” Barenholtz said. “He’s a social media darling.”

Astro is very much in the prototype stage and is not yet commercially available. But Barenholtz anticipates that the next version of Astro will be booted up and learning from experience by the end of this year.

Astro’s eventual mission is to be the ultimate canine protector and trusted companion. He will be able to detect guns, explosives and aid in search-and-rescue efforts as well as be programmed to perform as a service dog for people with physical disabilities and even provide medical diagnostic monitoring.

Other leaders at FAU on this robodog research include William Hahn, Ph.D., an assistant professor of mathematical sciences and co-director of the MPCR lab, and Pedram Nimreezi, director of intelligent software in the MPCR lab.

“My group and I are pushing hard to make FAU become known for artificial intelligence research, making us more like F-AI-U,” Barenholtz said.

Aiding in the development of Astro’s nose capabilities is Emily Stark of Boca Raton. She is pursuing a doctorate in experimental psychology and artificial intelligence.

She also has Nara, a 4-year-old German shepherd mix who has been trained as her diabetic alert dog. Nara can detect low blood sugar levels in their early stages through smell before they reach dangerous levels in Stark.

“Emily is part of the team working on robotic olfaction, trying to replicate what Nara is doing in our machine, Astro,” Barenholtz said. “Diabetic alert dogs are expensive, but if we can eventually make it affordable with machines like Astro, we will.”

He admits he is giddy about the potential robodogs with AI such as Astro can and will do.

“This is a frontier where humankind has not gone before,” he said. “Most of my career has been in human psychology and how the human brain works. But this project is an opportunity to build a brain. Yes, I am super giddy about this.”

Even though his pets are a pair of guinea pigs named Popcorn and Oreo, he is well aware and very supportive of the healing power pets can unleash on people.

“There are lots of studies confirming that pets are good for our mental and physical health,” he said. “You can be grumpy after a bad day at work, but your dog gives unconditional love to you when you walk into the front door. There is a deep soul connection people have with their pets.

“And the experience people have with Astro does feel like he is a sentient being. People will definitely develop emotional connections with these types of systems.”

Battery-operated robopets are already in homes with people allergic to pets as well as faux therapy pets in hospitals and senior living areas.

Two years ago in this column, I spotlighted a pair of robopets named Butterscotch and Rusty that are serving as therapy for residents at the Abbey Delray, a senior living center in Delray Beach.

The battery-operated cat and dog sport realistic soft fur that beckons to be touched and petted. The robopets, manufactured by Hasbro, are programmed to take naps and welcome belly rubs.

More proof that this world is truly going to the dogs (and cats), be they real, battery-operated or AI.

Arden Moore, founder of fourleggedlife.com, is an animal behavior expert and host of the Oh Behave! show on petliferadio.com. Learn more at www.ardenmoore.com.