Posing in a Rolls-Royce with its rear-facing doors was a popular pastime. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Christine Davis

Martin Fritsches, president of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, and Christophe Georges, president and CEO of Bentley Motors, came to town to help Braman Motorcars celebrate a major two-year overhaul in its dealership, and for good reason.
With 23 percent of all Rolls-Royces and Bentleys in Florida registered in Palm Beach County, we lead the state in ownership of those two luxury brands, records from the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles department show.
Braman’s dealership in West Palm Beach carries Rolls-Royce, Bentley, BMW, MINI and Porsche automobiles and is ranked third in success from over 17,500 dealers of these vehicles nationwide for the past five years, according to the trade journal WardsAuto.
The newly redesigned 35,000-square-foot dealership had no problem hosting the 600-plus people in attendance of its grand opening party April 4. Included in that space are 26 air-conditioned service bays and designer boutiques and sales offices.
“Our goal with these new stores is to build the most luxurious yet functional dealership in the country,” said Stephen Grossman, general manager of the Braman dealership.

LEFT: Stephen Grossman, general manager of Braman Motorcars, makes a point with customers after the redesigned dealership opened. RIGHT: Lalique made this frosted glass version of Rolls’ iconic hood ornament.

Winners of the 14th annual Bernays Awards have been announced by Debbie Abrams, president of the Gold Coast PR Council, after a luncheon in West Palm Beach on April 16. The council, a South Florida association of public relations, communications and marketing professionals, has given out these awards since 2005 honoring excellence in local public relations campaigns, marketing programs and media coverage.
The Presidents Award went to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel for its coverage of the Parkland school shootings and the aftermath — for which the newspaper also was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service. Publisher Nancy Meyer, Editor-in-chief Julie Anderson, Managing Editor Dana Banker and assistant Managing Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant accepted the award.
The organization’s Founder Award went to Debbie Wemyss. Ali Soule was named PR Star, and the Judges Award went to Moore (formerly known as the Moore Agency).
Other winners were: PR Czar in the Small Nonprofit Campaign category; Cultural Council of Palm Beach County in the Large Nonprofit Campaign category; Tilson PR in the PR Campaign/Large category; Kaye Communications in the PR Campaign/Small category; Constitutional Tax Collector Palm Beach County in the Internal Communications category; Florida Atlantic University in the Crisis Communications category; The Buzz Agency in the Social Media Campaign/Nonprofit category; Labor Finders International in the Social Media Campaign/For Profit category; Tenet Physician Health Services in the Blogger/Digital Influencer category; Clerk and Comptroller Palm Beach County in the Special Event category; city of Boynton Beach, Public Communications & Marketing Department, in the Marketing Material/Print category; Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties in the Marketing Material/Video or Digital category.

In April, students in the Boca Chamber’s Golden Bell Education Foundation Young Entrepreneurs Academy program presented their business ideas in a “shark tank” to real investors. The event was held at Office Depot headquarters in Boca Raton.
Winner Rhea Jain and runner-up Neil Sachdeva are Pine Crest students. Rhea created Renoosh, an upscale petite clothing line, and Neil created Vulcan A.I., a chatbot AI service for small businesses. 
They competed with 20 other YEA! students in an effort to win seed money to launch their businesses. Rhea will head to Rochester, N.Y., for the national Saunders Scholars Competition in an effort to win more funding and college scholarship money.
Investor judges included Eric Bucher of Call Sprout; Ira Bornstein of TouchSuite; Greg Heller of Modernizing Medicine; Catherine Meehan of IBM; and Khalid Saleem of Office Depot.

As the Central Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy class came to an end, its winner was named. The business was Hykit, an in-house stadium and venue food delivery service created by Lake Worth High School junior Rachel Bailey and senior Weidmayer Pierre. They will go on to New York as their school and district representatives.

Winners of the Palm Beach County Film & Television Commission’s 24th annual Palm Beaches Student Showcase of Film on April 5 were announced at its awards show held at the Keith C. & Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University, Boca Raton. Local winners included: Joey Aliberto, a student at G-Star School of the Arts who won the Film Florida’s Sara Fuller Scholarship ($500); Maxwell Price, a student at Florida Atlantic University who won the second-place College Feature/Short Award ($1,000); Eli Dreyfuss, an FAU student who won the Suzanne L. Niedland Documentary Award ($500); and Vincent-Amadeus, a student at G-Star School of the Arts who won the Mental Health Awareness PSA Award ($500).

In March, the South Florida Manufacturers Association announced its runners-up and finalists for its Employees and Manufacturers of the Year awards. Companies were judged on leadership, strategy, customers, knowledge management, workforce and operations. Boca Raton companies that were honored included HABCO and The Nature’s Bounty Company.

The Boca Chamber’s Business Awards Luncheon, May 24 at Boca Raton Resort & Club, will honor three people who exemplify business excellence in their communities and have a strong philanthropic involvement. Also coming up is the Boca Chamber’s annual Golf Classic, which will host 36 teams June 3 at the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club. For information, email Chasity Navarro at cnavarro@bocachamber.com.

The Women’s Council of Realtors selected Amy Snook to participate in its inaugural Leadership Institute, which is limited to 15 participants from across the country.
Snook, an Atlantis resident and a partner in the All About Florida Homes team of Keller Williams Realty, has been in the real estate and title insurance business for 17 years and is the Florida state secretary for the Women’s Council of Realtors. She is a director of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches and Greater Fort Lauderdale, a director of Florida Realtors, and sits on the executive board of Vita Nova Inc. 

A1A Home Watch and Concierge Services, a local company owned by Kerry and Geoff Thornton, earned accreditation for the third year from the National Home Watch Association, which sets the standards for absentee homeowner services. For information, visit a1ahomewatchfl.com.

A 12-bedroom, 23,795-square-foot estate completed in 2018 at 1040 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan, has come on the market listed for $39.95 million by Pascal Liguori & Son of Premier Estate Properties. The two-acre property has 200 feet of frontage both on the ocean and Intracoastal Waterway, with the main house and separate guesthouse designed by Yates Rainho Architects. Some features are extensive millwork, Corsica marble and wide-plank walnut floors, a two-story marble foyer, oceanfront clubroom with a wet bar, a theater room, and a 1,100-bottle wine room. For more info, call 866-502-5441.

Recorded on April 10, Leonard Tannenbaum bought Acqua Liana, 620 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan, for $14.25 million from Goldman Sachs Bank. The bank acquired the property in February at a foreclosure auction.

The Boca Bath & Tennis Club home once owned by Blake Wheeler of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets is back on the market. The owners, who bought the property from Wheeler two years ago, have listed it for $1.425 million with Douglas Elliman Real Estate agent Colleen Newland.
  Recently remodeled, the 5,564-square-foot home at 2843 Banyan Blvd. Circle does not have a hockey rink, but it does have a massive outdoor patio complete with TV and summer kitchen; a heated saltwater pool and spa; and lots of green space for recreation and relaxation.
Wheeler, a forward who has played 11 seasons in the NHL, was an All-Star each of the past two seasons. Before this season he signed a five-year, $41.25 million contract extension.

Lang Realty recently gifted the Child Rescue Coalition $5,000 from a percentage of proceeds from its eighth annual Open House Extravaganza. “In addition to raising money and awareness for a great cause, our agents had the opportunity to meet many prospective homebuyers who experienced the Lang difference firsthand,” said Scott Agran, president of Lang Realty. 

At the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties’ Founder’s Luncheon at the Kravis Center on May 7, key findings from the 2018 On The Table Community Impact Report will be shared. The report found that housing, economic development and poverty are three of the most pressing issues that need to be addressed. It also identified job training, skills development opportunities, number of good-paying jobs and increased wages as the most important priorities to improve economic conditions.
The keynote speaker will be Carol R. Naughton, president of Purpose Built Communities, an organization working to break the cycle of inter-generational poverty by helping transform neighborhoods. More than 500 board members, donors and fund holders, local nonprofit organizations, corporate sponsors and community leaders are expected to attend the luncheon.
To purchase tickets ($75), call 659-6800 or visit yourcommunityfoundation.org.

The Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Delray Business Expo 2019 is scheduled for 4-7 p.m. May 22 at Delray Beach Arts Garage, 94 NE Second Ave. The event, free and open to the public, is the Chamber’s annual trade show and networking event and will showcase new products, services and technologies. For information, call 278-0424, ext. 105.

The orchid promotion for downtown Delray Beach shoppers ends in time for Mother’s Day on May 12. Photo provided

Just in time for Mother’s Day is the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority’s Orchid Giveaway. Until May 11, shoppers can receive one phalaenopsis orchid plant with every $200 they’ve spent at downtown Delray Beach shops, galleries, spas, salons and fitness studios. Orchids can be picked up May 8, 10 and 11 at designated locations. For details, call 243-1077 or visit downtowndelraybeach.com/events/annual-mothers-day-orchid-giveaway, or facebook.com/DelrayDDA.

The HGreg Group, which owns three Nissan dealerships in Canada, opened HGreg Nissan at 2200 S. Federal Highway, Delray Beach, in March. This is its first new-car dealership location in the United States. For this new site, previously known as Delray Nissan, the company expects to invest $28 million and continue to employ about 65 workers.

The Boca Raton Public Library now offers its cardholders free access to Gale Small Business Builder, an online tool that guides users on how to launch a new business.
“Gale Small Business Builder can pull in legal forms, documents, and other relevant content for small-business owners as they go through the process of establishing and building their companies,” said Vicky Fitzsimmons, digital librarian. “This one-stop model saves time they would’ve spent chasing down outside resources and examples.”
Also, small-business owners and entrepreneurs can take classes on how to grow their businesses in Small Business Week at the Downtown and Spanish River libraries from May 6–11.

Jerry Lower contributed to this report.

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

Harry Patten says this sailboat has been anchored at the north end of Lake Boca since 2017. Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard

Living in a waterfront home is a privilege.
But living with a water view can lead to unwanted neighbors when boaters pull up and drop anchor.
Some of the boats stay anchored in the same place for years. They fall into disrepair when owners leave town and forget about them, creating eyesores and hazards to navigation and the environment.
Harry Patten, who lives in a waterfront home at the north end of Lake Boca, has peppered Boca Raton city officials with emails about sailboats anchored near his home.
Last fall, Patten contacted Boca Raton police about a sailboat in front of his house he said was occupied by a family for more than a month.
“I smell their sewage when the wind blows my way,” he wrote in a Nov. 26 email to Boca Raton Police Chief Daniel Alexander.
Boats anchored near waterfront homes are in state waters and are not subject to the rules of municipalities. Anchoring a boat in state waters is legal as long as the boat has a current registration and proper lighting (anchor lights) and is kept in good condition.
That changes when boats are neglected and become at risk or derelict. State law defines “at risk” as boats that are taking on water without an effective means of dewatering, or that have broken loose — or are in danger of breaking loose — from their anchors.
One of the Lake Boca sailboats near Patten’s house has since moved, but one that Patten says has been there since 2017 is in legal limbo.
In a March email to Patten, Boca Raton Assistant City Attorney Christopher Fernandez said the city’s Police Services Department contacted the boat’s owner about its deteriorating condition.
Since then, Fernandez said, the city has lost contact with the boat’s owner and thinks he might have left the country.
City officials were working to determine whether the Lake Boca sailboat met the legal definition of abandoned or derelict, giving them the right to remove it.
Cases of at-risk, derelict and sunken boats are common throughout Palm Beach County.
A trimaran sailboat anchored north of Boynton Inlet broke apart during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Pieces of the boat became wedged under floating docks at Gateway Marina, causing $90,000 in damage.
Gregory Reynolds, director of LagoonKeepers, a 15-year-old nonprofit dedicated to keeping Palm Beach County’s inshore waters clean and free of navigation hazards, has removed dozens of abandoned and sunken boats from the county’s waterways.
The walls of his Riviera Beach office are covered with file folders, each holding information on a boat in Palm Beach County that needs to be removed from the water.
Founded in 2003, LagoonKeepers uses a combination of taxpayer-funded grants and private donations to remove about 24 sunken or derelict boats annually.
Remnants of many of the old boats are hauled to a storage yard next to Reynolds’ office.
After valuable parts are removed, the hulls are crushed and hauled to the landfill.

Scraps of sunken boats that have been hauled out of the water. After valuable parts are removed, the hulls are crushed and taken to the county landfill. Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

In mid-March, Reynolds was preparing to haul out a 39-foot sailboat that sank near Burt Reynolds Park in Jupiter, and was monitoring a 28-foot sailboat named Invictus that has been anchored at the north end of the Snook Islands Natural Area since December.
During the time it takes for a boat owner to be notified that a boat is derelict — and time allowed for the owner to request an administrative hearing — unkempt boats can sink, spilling fuel and trash into the water.
“Most of the environmental damage is done within the first two days of the boat going down,” Reynolds said. “I don’t think it should be legal for someone to anchor a boat and leave the state.”
Legislators are attempting to address the issue of anchored and derelict boats during the current legislative session.
House Bill 1221 directs the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission to study the impacts on communities of boats stored long-term.
The bill also provides grant money for derelict boat removal and prohibits people from living on derelict boats.
Senate Bill 1666 would limit to 60 days the time owners or operators of boats could anchor outside of public mooring fields.
There are no designated mooring fields in Palm Beach County.

Artist Bill DeBilzan’s barge was moved to this private dock south of the Ocean Avenue Bridge in Lantana in late March.
DeBilzan said he would leave it there temporarily until he decided where to move the barge. Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard

Delray Beach artist Bill DeBilzan likes the water and boats.
Some of his colorful abstract paintings, displayed at his gallery on East Atlantic Avenue, have Caribbean themes.
In 2014, DeBilzan built a two-story “art barge” and anchored it near Peanut Island.
DeBilzan moved his tiki-style art barge south to Delray Beach. He anchored it in the C-15 canal, then moved it in December to the sea wall along Marine Way just north of the city marina.
Then, around March 26, DeBilzan moved his barge north to a private dock in Lantana, temporarily, to end the complaints he was getting about the barge in Delray Beach.
“There’s no rules being broken,” DeBilzan said. “But everywhere you go you get complainers.”
Some waterfront homeowners in Delray Beach complained to city officials about the two-story, 60-by-20-foot barge.
“It’s an eyesore,” Roger Cope, vice president of the Marina Historic District Homeowners Association, said before the barge was moved to Lantana.
Cope said the two-story barge blocked the view of the water from homes and condos overlooking the marina.
Cope, who owns two properties in the Marina Historic District, said he saw and heard an old man working on the entrance gate and dock leading to the barge. He said the man left piles of debris on the street for the city to pick up.
Cope said he has nothing against DeBilzan, noting that he owns two of the artist’s paintings, but he said the tiki barge has no place in the Marina Historic District.
“It was cute and laughable at first,” Cope said. “Then it became an embarrassment.”
Delray Beach’s code enforcement administrator, Danise Cleckley, said in mid-March that the city was doing research on what, if any, action it could take regarding the art barge, which is in state waters and not subject to the same rules as buildings on land.
“We’re still doing our research,” Cleckley said, adding that her office contacted the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard about the barge.
Dan Sloan, secretary of Delray Beach’s Marina Historic District HOA, said he doesn’t think the city could do anything to regulate DeBilzan’s barge because it’s in state waters.
“I don’t think the city has any jurisdiction over it,” Sloan said.
DeBilzan said he checked with the FWC before tying up the barge on the Marine Way sea wall near his house.
DeBilzan said he does not rent out the barge, that he removes its sewage using the pump-out station near the marina and noted that its foundation — foam-filled concrete floating docks — make it stable. He said one corner of the barge was bent down after it was wedged under a dock on a rising tide.
“I welcome anyone to come out and inspect it,” DeBilzan said. “I’ve been through four hurricanes on it. It’s very heavy, and it’s very well-built.”
DeBilzan has a second art barge — recognizable by his colorful paintings displayed around its windows — that he keeps near Peanut Island.
DeBilzan moved that barge north of the Blue Heron Bridge in late March to the waters off Munyon Island.

Fran Rosenheck of Boca Raton, a Florida-licensed clinical social worker, has volunteered at the Faulk Center for Counseling (above) for the past 21 years. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Linda Haase

We’re not supposed to tell secrets, but Fran Rosenheck just can’t help herself. This is news that really needs to be shared.
“It’s the best-kept secret in Boca Raton,” says Rosenheck, referring to the Faulk Center for Counseling, which offers a variety of free and low-cost programs for counseling, therapy and support.  
And the 79-year-old Boca Raton resident should know. She’s been volunteering there for the past 21 years.
“We really do a good service for the community. It’s a wonderful place with wonderful people,” says Rosenheck, who has a bachelor’s in psychology from Queens College and a master’s in social work from Adelphi University in New York.
“I am proud of the work we do providing services for those who otherwise could not afford mental health services.”
Rosenheck, who retired from the Nassau County Department of Social Services on Long Island before moving to Boca Raton with her husband, David, in 1996, has helped with myriad support groups at the center — everything from Alzheimer’s to caregivers. She even completed an internship there — which she used to ultimately become a Florida-licensed clinical social worker.
These days, she facilitates a weekly support group at the center — along with other volunteers — for widows and widowers. The Wednesday group, Moving Forward for Widows and Widowers, deals with grief and loss, living alone, dating, friendships and new identities.
“This is the next step after initial bereavement. They are coping with living alone, meeting new people, and making a new life. Things have changed and they need to reinvent themselves. The members bond and help each other move forward and move on,” says Rosenheck, who has three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. “They are there to console each other during those first anniversaries, when they need help during a hurricane — or just to go out for a meal.”
The members share good times as well as sad ones.
“Being alone after many years of marriage and losing a loved one is very, very difficult. The people in the group have similar feelings and problems, they understand what the others have been through. There is some commonality,” she explains. “They feel safe here and comfortable talking about things they might not want to talk about with friends or family. What one person needs to talk about is often what others have been thinking about or need to talk about.”
Helping them move forward makes Rosenheck smile.
“It gives me a lot of satisfaction to see that happening,” she says. “But it is bittersweet. The group is designed to help people move forward and it works, but when they leave we miss them. It is an accomplishment but feels like a bit of a loss.”
The Faulk Center is grateful for Rosenheck’s unwavering support.
“Fran is a very special warm and caring support group leader with compassion for the clients she meets in helping them to move forward after the loss of a spouse,” says Lois A. Weisman, Faulk Center president.
When Rosenheck is not volunteering, you can find her at the movies or the theater, reading a book, delighting in nature or enjoying the views from her Intracoastal residence.

If You Go
What: Moving Forward for Widows and Widowers support group
When: 1-2:30 p.m. Wednesdays
Where: Faulk Center for Counseling, 22455 Boca Rio Road, Boca Raton
Cost: $5 each session or $100 for unlimited sessions for the year. No appointment necessary.
Info: 483-5300

Let’s talk about suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is one death by suicide every 12 minutes in the United States. Every 12 minutes, someone’s pain is so severe they can’t fathom any other way out of it and every 12 minutes friends and family are shattered by that decision.
Suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in our country. Among ages 10-32, it’s the second-leading cause of death.
And firearms are the most common method of suicide.
My brother killed himself. He was 51. He used a gun.
When adults use their own weapons to end their lives, it’s a devastating loss. When a young person uses an adult’s gun to do it, the tragedy is multiplied.
In 2018, about 43 percent of U.S. households had at least one gun in possession, so the chance of a young person coming in contact with a weapon is not unlikely, and in light of the recent, heartbreaking suicides of teenagers struggling with the aftermath of school violence, parents and guardians should evaluate having a gun in the house with any child, teenager or young adult.
Don’t take for granted that your children would never hurt themselves. You may not be aware of all their struggles. It’s not uncommon for parents to underestimate the depth of their children’s anguish.
I have friends and family who removed alcohol from their homes during the years their children were most likely to experiment with drinking. It seemed like a logical way to try to keep teenagers sober and by default help avoid circumstances that could lead to the No. 1 cause of teen deaths: motor vehicle crashes.
By the same logic, parents should remove firearms from homes and cars where an adolescent might be able to get to them. Keep the gun at the range. Leave it with an adult relative. At a minimum get a gun safe and keep the ammunition locked in a different location.
Of course no home can be made completely suicide-proof, and I realize home protection is the reason many people keep guns. But crime statistics for our coastal area show that home invasions are rare. We are lucky to live in safe communities.
I know there are some who will push back on these suggestions. For others who might hesitate, ask yourself this question: Would you rather have your teenager or your gun?
Hug your children. Listen to them. They need all of us to be there for them in this increasingly chaotic world.

If you are in crisis, or know someone in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. Locally, dial 211.

— Mary Kate Leming,
Editor

Lantana resident Don Ploskunak was one of the first airship pilots to cover sporting events. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Stephen Moore

Don Ploskunak’s flying infatuation began 70 years ago when he would stare and wonder as crop dusters sprayed the Ohio farm fields he was working.
This boyhood desire to become a pilot grew into an obsession and landed him in the gondola of the Goodyear blimp. That began a 38-year career in which he was among the innovators in pioneering Goodyear’s sports coverage.
Today, sporting events are big only if a blimp is overhead, providing majestic television footage for millions of viewers. In recognition of this contribution, the College Football Hall of Fame will make the Goodyear blimp an honorary member as part of its 2019 induction class.
“Don is one of the most influential figures in the history of sports broadcast,” said Mike Wittman, a Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer who worked with Ploskunak, “because he did it right from the beginning and his suggestions laid the groundwork for blimp coverage.”
Ploskunak is a bit more humble about the level of his contributions, saying he was just doing his job.
“Well, nobody else was doing it,” he said. “We were the first. But I was doing the assignments that are provided by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., doing the flying we were asked to do as a team.”
Ploskunak, 78, has been a Lantana resident since 2011. He still maintains his pilot’s license and Basic Medical certificate and has other ties to South Florida going back to the 1950s and early ’60s, when he played football at the University of Miami.
“Let’s put it this way,” Ploskunak said, “I was on the team for five years. I hurt my knee my senior year in high school and medicine was not what it is today. I was a good scout team quarterback in practice.”
Five years after graduating from UM in 1963, Ploskunak learned from his father, John, an engineer with Goodyear Aerospace, the manufacturer of the airships, that Goodyear was hiring blimp pilots. Ploskunak got his license in 1969, the same year he met Wittman, and the sports coverage from the blimp was on its way. Ploskunak finally retired in 2006.
Wittman, known as the father of sports aerial broadcasting for his work in developing the Goodyear blimp’s role, captained and starred for the Canes basketball team in the 1960s and is in the UM Sports Hall of Fame.
“I got all the publicity, but Don was extremely influential,” said Wittman, 74. “He was a great television pilot because he understood sports. He probably covered 500 football games.”
Ploskunak said it was closer to 50 games, but covering pro and college football was only part of his assignments. Ploskunak covered the World Series, NASCAR, the Indianapolis 500, America’s Cup races, tennis tournaments, golf events, state fairs, concerts and fireworks celebrations.

Not just sports
Airships also covered disasters. After Hurricane Andrew hit Miami in 1992, Goodyear blimps were in the air for two weeks with messages in three languages flashing information to people on the ground. Ploskunak was with the team of pilots and officials that coordinated coverage of Andrew, although he did not actually fly over devastated areas. Blimps were at the 1989 World Series in San Francisco when an earthquake hit before Game 3, and they flew for weeks transmitting messages and detailing destruction with television cameras.

Don Ploskunak (right) talks with Don Block, Goodyear Aerospace’s chief engineer for airships, at the Pompano Beach base in 1979. Photo provided

Traveling to all these sporting events and other scheduled functions was the heart of what Ploskunak did for 38 years.
“We traveled 190-200 days a year,” Ploskunak said. “Well, it was a different hotel every night. We had a huge schedule and we built it around the NFL and college football schedules and the NASCAR schedule.”
His travel team consisted of four other licensed pilots, 15 ground crewmen and public relations rep, a semitractor-trailer with all the equipment and spare parts and a large custom-built tour bus with a portable mooring mast, which carried luggage and served as an office.
Travel was slow — 250-300 miles per day. The ground crew would get to the landing spot early to set up for the blimp’s arrival.
Landing did not require an airstrip or runway, just open space. The pilot would fly the blimp toward the ground crew, which had secured and anchored a mooring mast to the ground. Ropes and tethers would then secure the blimp to the mooring mast and the ground.

ABOVE: Don Ploskunak studies a sectional chart while flying the blimp over the construction site of the Dallas/Fort Worth airport in the early ‘70s. BELOW: The blimp’s traveling crew usually consisted of four other pilots, 15 ground crewmen and a PR representative. Photos provided

There was typically little rest for crew members after they traveled and the blimp landed. Everyone seemed to know the blimp was making a stop and lots of people wanted a close look.
“You cannot sneak a blimp into town,” Ploskunak said. “Everybody knows when we are coming. And all the local newspapers were there. We used to have contests to see who could get the most stories in local newspapers.”
Ploskunak quickly became a star.
“Don was a celebrity,” Wittman said. “He was big time. There weren’t many places we went that there wasn’t a front-page article about the blimp being there and the pilot. He must have done a couple of thousand interviews in his lifetime. Because at one point there were more astronauts than there were blimp pilots. At one time, there were only like 10-12 blimp pilots in the world and he was one of them. He was a great interview.
“The people loved him. They requested him all the time. I was kind of the face of the whole deal but Don was the guy. I would bring him to meetings and introduce him to the directors and producers of the television networks, and they all fell in love with him. And there were a lot of groupies. Don kept that legend alive.”
Ploskunak, who has remained single all his life, did not call them groupies — rather followers.
“Sports stars have their own following,” Ploskunak said. “There are some people who are blimp followers. They know everything about blimps. You run into them everywhere. You have some people who just follow blimps everywhere they go.”
But at every stop, the news media wanted an interview or pictures or someone to accept a key to the city.
“I probably had about 10,” Ploskunak said of the symbolic keys. “I gave them all away. I don’t know how many I had to the city of Miami. Every time we could come back and I would get one from Miami. Pompano we would get them, Houston, Indianapolis, Allentown and Hershey, Pennsylvania, almost every place we would go. That was the big thing at that time.”
“Don was a no-nonsense leader,” Wittman said. “He was a good leader of men. Made tough decisions and did it well. We had about 25 guys traveling with us and he was in charge of all of that. Plus he had a thousand girlfriends.”

Tense moments
Ploskunak’s career was not without some anxious moments in the gondola. One happened in Indianapolis as he was coming in for a landing, trying to beat a storm that had just formed.
“We got real close but the storm beat us,” Ploskunak said. “And suddenly it hit us and we started going 50 miles per hour backward and there is nothing we can do about it — just ride it out.”
Another happened in Houston after he took some University of Houston football players on a ride.
“We made a landing to change passengers and when we did, all of them jumped out of the cockpit,” Ploskunak said. “And some of them were linemen, 260-270 pounds. And when the ship suddenly lost all that weight, it shot straight up in the air. It took me three or four tries to get it back down to the ground.”

Don Ploskunak (far left) achieved a certain amount of celebrity status as a Goodyear blimp pilot. He attended the wedding of Dolphins running back Jim Kiick (far right). This picture, taken at Mr. Laffs in Fort Lauderdale in the mid-1980s, also includes Dolphins linebacker Kim Bokamper (back row, center). Photo provided

Ploskunak also flew hundreds of tour flights for celebrities and sports stars.
“The most interesting was Johnny Cash,” Ploskunak said. “I spent about one hour and 15 minutes with him in Columbus, Ohio, between his performances at the Ohio State Fair. He wanted to fly over the prison where he gave a performance that morning. He was interested in the audience at the fair in the venue hours before he would perform.”
Ploskunak piloted tour flights for race car drivers Rick Mears, A.J. Foyt and other Indy 500 pole-position winners, some Miami Dolphins, and television personalities.
He coordinated blimp coverages in the 1977 movie Black Sunday starring Bruce Dern and Robert Shaw.
“In one of the first Monday Night Football games we covered, Firestone was one of the advertisers,” Ploskunak said. “But the announcers kept talking about the Goodyear blimp throughout the telecast. I’m sure there were some unhappy people at Firestone the next morning.”
The Goodyear blimp is such a staple in college football that the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta will induct the blimp at a ceremony in December. The blimp will be the first nonplayer or noncoach to be inducted.
Goodyear’s sporting event coverage, according to GoodyearBlimp.com, began with the Rose Bowl: “On Jan. 1, 1955, using camera and microwave transmitting equipment provided by NBC, the Enterprise V became the first aerial platform to provide a live television picture of a nationally televised program when it broadcast the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California.”
In a 2013 article published on CBSsports.com, Eric Kay wrote, “The first-ever event covered by the Goodyear blimp was the 1955 Rose Bowl. Ohio State beat USC 20-7.”
Regardless of the first telecast from a Goodyear blimp, Ploskunak had his hands on his share of them and earned a number of job promotions. In 1979 he became chief pilot/flight examiner. In 1986 he was named assistant manager of airship operations, and in 1990 he was promoted to chief pilot/manager of training for all three Goodyear airship bases. He held that position until he retired.
In a 1988 story in the Akron Journal, Ploskunak said being an airship pilot is the second-best job there is. He said he was “still looking” for the best job.
“I found it 13 years ago,” Ploskunak said in 2019. “Retirement is the best job.”

By Dan Moffett

Ocean Ridge commissioners are hoping to have a mass public notification system up and running before the hurricane season begins in June.
The commission unanimously approved on April 1 a proposal by the Massachusetts-based company CivicPlus to install the alert system in the town for $2,065, with an annual renewal charge of $965.
With the CivicPlus technology, officials will be able to rapidly send alerts to the town’s residents by text, voicemail and email. The service is free for residents, but they must register with the town to participate.
Police Chief Hal Hutchins got an assist in screening prospective vendors from Ocean Ridge resident Janet Schijns. A former Verizon executive, Schijns recommended CivicPlus over competitors CodeRED and Nixle because of the company’s range of features, secure database and attractive fee structure.
“In speaking with my connections, they were at the top of every list and have replaced CodeRED in numerous cities,” she said of CivicPlus.
• Acting Town Manager Tracey Stevens and Mayor Steve Coz will lead a goal-setting workshop for the commission on April 18, beginning at 2 p.m. Commissioners will discuss a number of critical long-term issues, including sewer system options, vacation rentals, street flooding and sea rise.
At March 4 meeting:
• The process of getting Ocean Ridge a separate ZIP code from the U.S. Postal Service appears to be even more complicated and arduous than commissioners first thought.
Besides potentially many months of bureaucratic negotiation with Washington, the town could face some tough negotiation with Boynton Beach. Ocean Ridge currently shares a ZIP code with Boynton, and the city likely would have to work with commissioners to change that.
Robert Sloat, who was appointed to fill the commission seat vacated by James Bonfiglio in November, said without Boynton’s cooperation to continue services, Ocean Ridge might need to get its own mail office, delivery truck and postal officer to serve the separate ZIP area.
Insurance is another potential complication.
Insurance companies often use ZIP codes to set rates, Sloat said during the meeting, and if separated from Boynton, Ocean Ridge residents might see the cost of property and auto insurance increase.
Coz asked Sloat, whose partial term on the commission expired with the March 12 election, to be the town’s one-man “exploratory committee” and investigate the unintended consequences of the ZIP code idea.
“I’ll talk to the postal authorities,” Sloat said.
The plan has gained support in recent months as a way for the town to deter online searches for vacation rentals in Ocean Ridge.
• After three and a half years in Ocean Ridge, Jamie Titcomb left the town manager’s job to take a similar position in Loxahatchee Groves.
“I have really enjoyed working here,” he told the commission March 4.
“I’m very sad to leave this town but I’m very confident we’ve left a very good team of professionals in place that will work in camaraderie with the programs we’ve worked so hard on.”
Titcomb and the commissioners had a bumpy ride early in his tenure because of budget preparation problems — so much so that they changed his contract term to a month-to-month agreement.
But after replacing the town’s outdated budget software and getting the numbers in line, Titcomb earned glowing reviews from the commission.

By Steve Plunkett

Court transcribers are busily typing what they anticipate will be 1,800 pages detailing former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella’s recent criminal trial.
Lucibella, 65, is appealing his Feb. 21 sentence, in which he was ordered to pay $675 in court costs. A six-person jury found him guilty of misdemeanor battery, a lesser charge, instead of felony battery on a law enforcement officer; he also was found not guilty of resisting arrest with violence.
And on March 25 he offered to pay Ocean Ridge police Officer Nubia Plesnik $100 if she drops her civil lawsuit, which accuses him of battery and negligence.
“I can’t get my reputation back, but I will have my record cleared,” Lucibella said. “What was done to Barbara and I was wrong, and we intend to address every last vestige of this false arrest.”
Barbara Ceuleers is Lucibella’s girlfriend.
West Palm Beach lawyer Leonard Feuer filed Lucibella’s notice of appeal Feb. 26 but did not pay the transcript costs until March 18. That started a 30-day clock for the transcribers, who must type about 78 pages a day to finish by April 17.
Meanwhile, Richard Slinkman, Plesnik’s lawyer, demanded “better answers” from Lucibella in the civil case. Lucibella claimed his “Fifth Amendment right to remain silent” 77 times, Slinkman said in a Feb. 25 court filing. Those responses were given in November 2017, almost 15 months before the criminal trial.
Lucibella disputed Slinkman’s characterization of his responses about Plesnik. “I’ve not plead the Fifth at all,” he said. “I affirmatively denied her allegations.”
He also said Slinkman does not want better answers. “He actually wants a sleazy payday for him and his client, in that order,” Lucibella said.
Slinkman bristled at Lucibella’s statements, saying he only wants justice for Plesnik and calling Lucibella “a sad, little, entitled man who feels that, because he is wealthy, he is above the law and doesn’t need to take responsibility for his own improper actions.”
Slinkman previously had submitted his own settlement proposal in the case. Under Florida law, whichever side loses will pay the winner’s attorney fees from the date the proposal was filed.
Slinkman said he and Plesnik “are not concerned” with Lucibella’s proposal for a settlement. “We are confident in the jury system and confident that we will prevail at trial,” Slinkman said.
Florida court guidelines say most civil lawsuits should reach the jury in 18 months.
In the felony trial, Plesnik testified that Lucibella was loud and belligerent during his Oct. 22, 2016, arrest. Plesnik, Officer Richard Ermeri and Sgt. William Hallahan went to Lucibella’s backyard that night to investigate reports of gunfire.
“I was trying to put him down like a child, sit down!” Plesnik told the jury.
She has since missed reporting for police duty for several months because of shoulder problems caused by his actions, she testified.
Slinkman said that instead of throwing out insults, Lucibella should turn his critical eye inward.
“When a person gets drunk, acts like a fool, embarrasses himself, and in the process injures an innocent person who was simply out doing her job and protecting the public as a law enforcement officer, he should take responsibility for his own actions ... instead of passing the cost of these medical bills and other losses onto the citizens of Ocean Ridge,” he said.

Misdemeanor appeal months away
Appealing a misdemeanor to a District Court of Appeal is so rare, Florida does not keep statistics, said Paul Flemming of the Office of the State Courts Administrator in Tallahassee.
“The number of misdemeanor cases filed in the district courts would be extremely small, since the appellate divisions of the circuit courts have jurisdiction over most misdemeanor cases,” Flemming said.
But Lucibella’s was a felony case heard in Circuit Court that led to a misdemeanor conviction, so the appeal goes to the 4th DCA.
Lucibella’s appeal should carry the case into 2020. Generally, it takes two to three months after the last document is filed to get on the court’s calendar, the court’s website says. A three-judge panel renders its decision in most cases within 180 days, the website advises.

By Mary Hladky

The possibility of a second Tri-Rail station in Boca Raton has all but evaporated.
Steven Abrams, executive director of the South Florida Regional Transit Authority, which operates Tri-Rail, told the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations on March 5 that the idea is on permanent hold.
Tri-Rail began considering a second Boca Raton stop in 2007, and the idea got traction when a coalition of landowners near the Town Center mall proposed a “live, work, play” redevelopment that included as many as 2,500 apartments near the CSX railroad tracks that run roughly parallel to Interstate 95.
A 2016 Tri-Rail study found the station would attract enough riders to be economically viable. In July, Tri-Rail chose as its preferred location a site in the center of the proposed Midtown project. The former King’s Deli property sits along the tracks at the intersection of Military Trail and Northwest 19th Street.
But even as Tri-Rail was selecting a site, momentum stalled after the Boca Raton City Council last year did not enact land development regulations that would have allowed Midtown redevelopment to proceed.
The council’s decision also made it unlikely that landowner Crocker Partners, which led the Midtown coalition and owns the King’s Deli site, would donate the land for the station.
Crocker Partners has sued the city, seeking $136.7 million in damages, for not adopting the land development regulations.
Without residential development and land donation, “I don’t envision [the station] happening,” Abrams said after the meeting.

Coastal Link vision
But as Tri-Rail celebrates its 30th birthday this year, it is moving ahead on other fronts under Abrams, a former Palm Beach County commissioner and Boca Raton mayor who became the transit authority’s executive director in December.
The authority is negotiating with Boca Tri-Rail LLC, which is not affiliated with Tri-Rail, to build a transit-oriented development on 7.5 acres it owns adjacent to the Yamato Road station. The company’s proposal calls for an orthopedic surgery center, restaurant and other retail, but no residential.
The area already has the maximum amount of residential allowed by the city. Abrams said uncertainty about whether the City Council would be willing to raise the residential cap led the transit authority board to shy away from a project that includes housing. The City Council must approve the project once plans are finalized.
The transit authority has long wanted to create Coastal Link, with trains running on the Florida East Coast Railway tracks from Miami to Jupiter. The FEC tracks run roughly along Federal Highway through city centers where stations would be more conveniently located for many riders.
The agency has built a link from the CSX tracks to downtown Miami, and its Miami station is anticipated to open at the end of this year.
“That is the first step of an envisioned Tri-Rail Coastal Link,” Abrams said. “It is a strong vision for the future. It is something I think there is demand for.”
Coastal Link would share the tracks with privately owned Brightline, which now runs from Miami to West Palm Beach and is seeking financing to expand to Orlando. Brightline rebranded as Virgin Trains USA on April 4.
The FEC would charge Tri-Rail to use its tracks, but negotiations over price have not yet started.
“We would anticipate ridership would explode” if Coastal Link becomes reality, Abrams said.
Coastal Link would build gradually, he said. Initially, he sees running trains possibly to Wynwood and then to Aventura.
Tri-Rail would not abandon its service on the CSX tracks if Coastal Link comes into being.
The two rail lines “serve two different areas of South Florida,” Abrams said. “There will be ridership on both.”
Tri-Rail is funded by Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, the Florida Department of Transportation and rider fares, but has been chronically underfunded since its inception.
When Abrams became executive director, Tri-Rail had a $15 million deficit. It has since been trimmed to less than $10 million with “lots of belt-tightening,” including hiring and travel freezes, he said.
Ridership was up 2 percent in January compared to last year, with 16,000 to 16,500 passengers riding the trains each day. Tri-Rail has long been criticized for running late, but Abrams said on-time performance has improved greatly and is now at 95 percent.
Both Tri-Rail and Brightline share a problem: people who trespass on the tracks or use the trains to end their lives.
Tri-Rail wants to use drones that would fly ahead of its trains to spot anyone on the tracks, so the train has time to stop.
Legislation has been introduced in Tallahassee that would end the practice of treating a Tri-Rail train as a crime scene when it strikes a person. The crime scene designation means the train cannot move and passengers cannot enter or exit until the investigation is completed — a process that can take four hours.
Tri-Rail also hopes to replace its outdated ticket machines.
The launch of Brightline passenger service last year has not had an impact on Tri-Rail ridership, Abrams said. The two rail lines have different markets, he said, with Brightline catering to tourists and Tri-Rail to blue-collar and hospital and medical office workers.

Related Stories: Leadership timeline | Interim manager making progress on city reorganization

By Rich Pollack and Jane Smith

It’s back to square one for Delray Beach as a familiar pattern in the quest for stability in city leadership persists.
Once again, the chair behind the city manager’s desk is vacant — for the third time in six years — following one forced resignation, one earlier-than-expected retirement and one termination.
Once again, the city is spending money on a search firm hired to scour the country in hopes of finding qualified candidates.
And once again, an interim city manager is back overseeing a workforce that has not had steady leadership of more than two years at a time since the January 2013 retirement of David Harden, who served as city manager for 22 years.
“It is incomprehensible that this city has gone through three city managers since 2013,” says Joycelyn Patrick, a longtime follower of city government who served as chairwoman of the West Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition and is past president of the Northwest Neighborhood Alliance. “It is impossible to forge a relationship with the community at large when such instability exists.”
Differing opinions exist from those who follow municipal government about why Delray Beach has a revolving door at the city manager’s office, what that means to the community and what can be done to ensure the city’s next top administrator has a long tenure.
“I look at the reasons, not the numbers,” Mayor Shelly Petrolia said. Don Cooper resigned in 2016 because of family health problems, she added.
Everyone agrees, however, that Delray Beach needs to find the right person to fill the vacancy — someone who will be a fixture in City Hall for years to come.
“Having a city manager who has the ability to garner trust with the community and elected officials is what you want,” says Bill Branning, chairman of the board of the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce.
The latest city manager to leave Delray Beach was Mark Lauzier, whose departure came quickly — just two months after he was given a raise. Hired in November 2017, Lauzier was fired by unanimous vote during a special commission meeting March 1.
Lauzier’s departure came after an internal auditor’s report pointed out issues with the city manager’s employment practices, including Lauzier’s rewriting of procedures for hiring people who directly report to him without informing commissioners.
In what could feel like déjà vu to many in City Hall, Fire Chief Neal de Jesus has been named interim city manager for a second time.
“It’s not as concerning to me because of the way we dealt with Lauzier. It was done publicly with total transparency about why he had to go,” Petrolia said.
Lauzier’s hiring came just shy of a year after Cooper retired early. Commissioners brought in de Jesus for his first run as interim manager.
The first city manager to leave quickly after Harden’s retirement was Louie Chapman Jr., who resigned under pressure after being suspended for 90 days because he ordered $60,000 worth of garbage carts four months before commissioners approved the request.
While each case is different, some common denominators exist.

Familiarity can help
For instance, all three of the managers — and Harden as well — were hired from outside and were not deeply familiar with Delray Beach and the workings of the city before they arrived.
Contrast that with the city managers in neighboring and similar-sized Boca Raton and Boynton Beach, who both have longer tenures than the last three Delray Beach managers combined.
Boca Raton’s Leif Ahnell has been city manager for 20 years and moved into the job after nine years of rising through the ranks on the finance side. He served as an assistant city manager for just four months before getting the job permanently.
In Boynton Beach, City Manager Lori LaVerriere has been in her job since February 2013 after serving as an assistant city manager and interim city manager. She joined the city in 2008 after serving as Manalapan town manager.
Coming into the manager position after serving in other roles within the city can be a plus, LaVerriere said.
Speaking in her role as the District 4 director for the Florida City and County Management Association, LaVerriere said that spending time in a community before taking the top position gives an administrator time to get to know the community and people the manager will depend on to succeed.
“It allows you the opportunity to learn about the organization and the city,” she said.
It also allows a prospective city manager the time to build trust with the staff and with elected officials.
“A key component is trust,” LaVerriere said.

ABOVE: Mark Lauzier was fired as Delray Beach city manager after commissioners scheduled a meeting to discuss his performance. BELOW: Fire Chief Neal de Jesus became interim city manager for the second time. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Another common denominator with Chapman and Lauzier is that both came under fire from commissions that were significantly different in membership from those that hired them.
In Lauzier’s case, current commissioners Bill Bathurst, Ryan Boylston and Adam Frankel were elected after Lauzier was hired.
Angie Gray, who was on the commission when Chapman was hired but not when he left, said the makeup of the commission can play a role in tenure. “It can sometimes depend on who the city manager is beholden to,” she said.
In Delray Beach that factor can be magnified, according to former Commissioner Mitch Katz, because many factions and influential individuals work behind the scenes.
“Our city managers are being pulled in 20 different directions because of additional outside influences,” said Katz, who was on the commission when Lauzier was hired.

Stability, progress affected
While commissions hope to maintain continuity and stability within city government, the constant turnover of managers can take its toll on staff and on projects in the works.
“It kind of freezes the forward movement of the city’s goals,” the chamber’s Branning said.
As an example, he said the chamber has been working with Lauzier and city staff on the possibility of partnering to promote Delray Beach as a tourist destination. Now, he said, the chamber will have to work with someone else who will first need to be brought up to speed.
The mayor and representatives of other organizations, however, say they do not see the turnover as having a significant negative impact.
“While a new city manager requires a learning period, our members are rarely affected by the change of one person,” said Bob Victorin, president of the influential Beach Property Owners Association. “Importantly, the BPOA has maintained a positive working relation with every city manager.” 
Laura Simon, executive director of the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority, also expects her organization to see little impact with the change of manager.
“With any change in upper-level leadership in major organizations, there will be a few steps backwards or shift in lanes,” she said. “However, the city team is filled with strong leaders comprised of diverse practitioners who work collectively and collaboratively with the DDA staff, board, business owners and property owners.”
LaVerriere says high turnover at the top almost always affects the staff.
“Frequent turnover is disruptive to work flow,” she said. “When you have disruption of management at the top, it becomes very unsettling to staff.”
Moving forward, city leaders will have to choose a city manager from a pool of applicants who will most likely know about the tumultuous track record of previous managers.
Former commissioner Gray thinks one way to improve the chances of a city manager’s staying longer would be to once again require a super majority of four commissioners to fire a city manager. In 2014 voters approved a measure reducing the required votes to fire a city manager to three.
“I think we need to go back to the super majority to remove a city manager,” she said.
In Lauzier’s case, however, the super-majority issue would not have been relevant because the vote to fire him was unanimous.
Patrick, the community leader, thinks outside help could be useful in training city commissioners to better manage themselves and the city manager.
She also thinks the city should continue to look inward during its search for a new manager.
“I find it difficult to believe that we cannot find a qualified individual in house as opposed to having headhunters conduct nationwide searches on behalf of the city,” she said.
De Jesus, at a March 12 City Commission meeting, gave an indication that he would like to see more movement from within — although not speaking specifically about the city manager position — saying he will look from the ranks to fill vacancies.
As the search goes on, the track record of previous city managers could be a roadblock. Gray, however, thinks the right message will attract good candidates.
“We have to get the message out that Delray Beach is not a difficult city to work in,” she said. “It’s just that we’re not going to tolerate people making bad decisions.”

Briny Breezes resident Martin Poock, a professional opera singer, belts out The Star-Spangled Banner during a Houston Astros-Washington Nationals spring training game at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. Rachel O’Hara/The Coastal Star

SEE HIM SING: Watch video

By Ron Hayes

In 1993, Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis was roundly booed when he sang The Star-Spangled Banner off-key at a New Jersey Nets game.
In 2001, pop star Macy Gray sang it off-beat at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.
In 2003, Michael Bolton came to Boston’s Fenway Park with the words written on his hand, then forgot them anyway.
And the less said about Roseanne Barr’s obscene assault at a 1990 San Diego Padres game the better.
Clearly, The Star-Spangled Banner can be a challenge.
Where can a professional ballpark find someone who will bless our national pastime with a national anthem that’s on key, on beat and sung with a touch of class?
On March 10, the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches found that someone in Briny Breezes.
Martin Poock — it’s German, pronounced “poke” — is a professional opera singer who performs regularly with Chicago’s Lyric Opera and Grant Park Music Festival.
He’s also a son of the late Lowen Poock, a longtime Briny resident who served as chairman of the town’s audit committee. After his father’s death in 2012, Martin began visiting regularly, sharing his father’s former home with his aunt, Doris Studer, and performing in the chorus of Palm Beach Opera, where he’s been heard in such classics as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Die Fledermaus.
On Feb. 9, Poock came to the ballpark at Haverhill Road and 45th Street in West Palm Beach hoping to add major league baseball to his résumé.
“I had sung it for the Iowa Cubs, a minor league team in Des Moines, and the Sugar Land Skeeters in suburban Houston, but never for any major league teams, so I thought it would be fun,” he recalls.
He wasn’t alone.
“I had a rehearsal for Don Giovanni that morning, so I got there a little late [for the audition]. This was for the entire spring training season, so there were about 30 people there waiting to audition. They give you a number, like at the Publix deli, so I was probably No. 30.”
The 30 hopefuls were asked to list four or five game days they’d be available if chosen. Numbers were called, and one by one the singers came to a microphone behind home plate to face a panel of four judges.
When No. 30 was called, Poock stepped up to the plate and sang.
“You have to sing it a cappella and in under one minute, 30 seconds. But they were appreciative,” he remembers, “and then they asked if I could sing God Bless America.”
Poock had not come prepared to sing God Bless America, but he did his best.
Driving home to Briny Breezes, he was not especially hopeful.
“Palm Beach Opera has a young artists program, and I know some of them automatically get scheduled to sing in Jupiter, so I was kind of thinking maybe that would preclude me,” he thought.
Two weeks later, he got the call saying he’d been chosen to sing at the March 10 spring training game between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals.
The game was scheduled for 1:05 p.m. that Sunday. Poock was told be there at 10 a.m.
Three hours early to sing for 90 seconds.
“They did a sound run-through that lasted just a couple of minutes, and then I walked around and explored the stadium.”
In the team shop, he bought a refrigerator magnet of the Florida Grapefruit League for his sister and a Ballpark shot glass for a friend in Texas.
Finally, it was 1:05 p.m. In the stands he had a Briny Breezes fan club waiting, consisting of his Aunt Doris Studer and her friends Lorraine Lavoie and Judy Winkowski.
Dressed in white shorts, sandals and a Palm Beach Opera T-shirt, Poock stepped up to home plate, raised the microphone and sang it his way.
“I do have a theory about the anthem,” he explains. “I try to sing it as straightforwardly and unornamented as possible. I don’t try to jack it up or slow it down. I don’t add swoops and swirls.
“The whole point of the national anthem at a sporting event is so the other people can sing along. It’s not ‘I’m singing the national anthem.’ It’s ‘We’re singing the national anthem.’
“You’re not celebrating yourself, you’re celebrating America.”
So that’s how he sang it — on key and on the beat, in less than 90 seconds.
And when he was done, the announcer asked all the fans to “Thank Mr. Pook.”
“They mispronounced my name,” he said, more amused than annoyed.
He was back again during the seventh-inning stretch to sing God Bless America, and he was done.
The Nationals beat the Astros, 6-4, and Poock was paid with one complimentary ticket and a parking pass.
“I thought that was kind of cheap,” he said. “They could give two tickets so you can bring a friend. But it was a great experience. I got all the right words in the right order, and no one booed.”

Related Stories: Leadership timeline | Why can’t Delray keep city managers?

Delray Beach is working with a firm from California to find candidates for city manager as interim manager Neal de Jesus reorganizes city staff. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith

Neal de Jesus continues to plow forward with staffing changes as interim city manager of Delray Beach.
Since the March 1 firing of Mark Lauzier from the city government’s top position, de Jesus has reorganized upper management with firings and promotions. He also found a search firm to locate a new city manager.
On March 12, he received City Commission approval to hire Ralph Andersen & Associates of Rocklin, California, which has 47 years of executive search experience. De Jesus estimated that the total cost would be less than $50,000 because the firm’s executive vice president, Robert Burg, lives in Sarasota.
Burg will want to meet with each commissioner to find out the type of experience the commission wants in manager candidates, de Jesus said at the March 12 commission meeting. Then, the job will be advertised, allowing inside and outside candidates to apply.
“I reminded the staff of what we are called to do — serve residents, businesses and visitors of Delray Beach,” de Jesus said.
When city commissioners appointed de Jesus as interim manager on March 1, he agreed to serve for 90 days and then return to his fire chief position.
In one of his first moves, Shona Smith, executive assistant in the city manager’s office, was suspended without pay on March 1. She resigned in mid-March, as did Nora Emmanuel, the city’s public information coordinator.
Assistant City Manager India Adams, though, is fighting her firing and has hired an attorney to ask for 90 days’ severance pay, as well as payment for her unused vacation and sick time. The hearing date was not set as of press time. She had been recruited from Lauzier’s former office in Tacoma, Washington.
When Adams first came to the city in January 2018, she was an assistant to the city manager. Her salary was $82,350, plus benefits.
On Aug. 1, Lauzier promoted Adams to be assistant city manager, raising her salary by about 45 percent to $120,000.
De Jesus finished reorganizing the city manager’s office by firing Vince Roberts, the city’s management fellow.
A report by Julia Davidyan, the city’s internal auditor, found that Roberts and Adams were not qualified to be in their city positions, according to their job descriptions.
In other top management moves:
Laura Thezine, assistant finance director, will step up as the interim finance director while de Jesus looks for a longer-term finance director through the Government Finance Officers Association.
De Jesus also wants to move the city’s Office of Budget back under the Finance Department.
“We will look internally to fill vacancies. In the past, we have looked outside,” de Jesus said.
He promoted Suzanne Fisher to be an assistant city manager from her post as Parks and Recreation Department director.
Sam Metott then stepped into the open parks director position. Metott, who had been assistant director, had been looking for other jobs and had said his goal was to run a parks department, de Jesus said.
At the end of March, Utilities Director Marjorie Craig and Public Works Director Susan Goebel-Canning resigned.
Davidyan, who had previously been assigned a closet-like space, has moved to a private office across from the city manager on the second floor of City Hall, de Jesus said.
Delray Beach voters approved the internal auditor position in a March 2016 referendum, although Davidyan was hired on Aug. 27, 2018. She reports directly to the commission, independent of the city manager.
Lauzier became city manager on Nov. 6, 2017, at a salary of $235,000. On Jan. 15, he received a 4 percent increase, retroactive to his anniversary date of Nov. 6. The salary increase was approved 3-2 by the City Commission. Mayor Shelly Petrolia and Deputy Vice Mayor Shirley Johnson voted no.
Davidyan never met with Lauzier despite repeated attempts on her part. As recently as the Feb. 5 commission meeting, Petrolia asked Lauzier “to meet with the internal auditor once a month.”
At the March 1 special City Commission meeting called to discuss Lauzier’s performance, Davidyan said “certain red flags” were raised earlier this year. She began investigating the “tone at the top” after the Feb. 5 meeting, when Lauzier announced he had hired his third assistant city manager, Susan Grant.
Davidyan noticed that several key department head positions were open in early 2019. Lauzier had declared a partial hiring freeze in late January and then two weeks later announced he hired Grant.
In her review, Davidyan found:
• On Dec. 7, 2017, Lauzier rewrote the personnel manual so that it did not cover his hiring of people who report directly to him, including executive staff in his office and the department heads. He did not update the city charter as was required, post the changes or alert the commission.
• In January 2018, Lauzier hired Adams to be assistant to the city manager. Adams listed only one year of experience as a management analyst II and two years of intern/fellowship experience on her résumé.
• On March 29, 2018, Lauzier hired Roberts, with a master’s degree in public administration from the University of North Carolina, at an annual salary of $53,174, with $3,800 in moving expenses and $1,200 in housing assistance. Roberts also received full city benefits.
• On Aug. 1, Lauzier promoted Adams to be assistant city manager. The City Commission learned about the promotion in Lauzier’s July 31 memo when he released a revised organization chart. Adams did not have the required five years of experience for the position.
On Jan. 30, the city had a partial hiring freeze, but Lauzier hired another assistant city manager, Grant from Coral Springs. Her start date was Feb. 19.
Grant resigned on March 1, rather than go on unpaid leave, de Jesus said.
The March 1 meeting was conducted as a quasi-judicial hearing that provided the required 72 hours of notice to the public. Davidyan’s “Concerns with the tone at the top,” though, were not posted until one hour before the meeting started.
City Attorney Lynn Gelin said at the meeting that the county Office of the Inspector General wanted a copy of Davidyan’s notes.
At the March 1 meeting, Lauzier received time to respond.
“I have not violated any code of ethics,” he said, adding that he took over a city that was in chaos.
He defended Adams “as the most talented management fellow, who proved herself in the mettle. People have a problem with excellence.”
He asked for time to respond to the report or to allow him to work up an amicable separation agreement.
“It’s not appropriate to attack my staff and me and call me incompetent,” Lauzier said.
He ended his 15-minute speech by telling commissioners, “I love you guys and I love this city.”
City commissioners voted unanimously to fire Lauzier with cause.

2013

Jan. 3 David Harden retires after 22 years as city manager. Douglas Smith, assistant city manager, becomes interim city manager.
Outgoing mayor Woodie McDuffie resigns after running unsuccessfully for county Supervisor of Elections. Vice Mayor Tom Carney becomes acting mayor.
Commissioners are Angie Gray, Al Jacquet and Adam Frankel. Christina Morrison is appointed to the commission.
Brian Shutt is city attorney.
March 12 Voters elect Cary Glickstein as mayor and Shelly Petrolia as commissioner. Frankel is re-elected without opposition. Gray and Jacquet remain commissioners.
April 1 Louie Chapman Jr., ex-town manager of Bloomfield, Connecticut, becomes city manager starting at $160,000.

2014

Jan. 3 Shutt leaves his position as city attorney to work in the private sector. Terrill Pyburn, assistant city attorney, becomes interim city attorney.
March 12 Jordana Jarjura defeats Gray for a commission seat. Jacquet is re-elected. Commission seats now have three-year terms.
May 13 Commissioners suspend Chapman for 90 days after he ordered $60,000 worth of garbage carts four months before commissioners had approved the request.
Assistant City Manager Bob Barcinski fills in for one month before his planned retirement on June 14, and then Assistant City Manager Terry Stewart takes over.
Commissioners attempt to fire Chapman for cause, but vote fails because at the time the commission needed four votes.
June 17 Pyburn takes city attorney position in Coconut Creek.
July 1 Assistant City Attorney Janice Rustin steps in as acting city attorney.
July 9 Noel Pfeffer, former Broward County deputy attorney, becomes city attorney at a starting salary of $149,500.
July 15 Chapman resigns as city manager and receives about $73,000 in severance pay. Rustin negotiated the settlement and both parties sign a mutual release of liabilities.
Aug. 26 Voters approve a charter change reducing to three the number of commissioners needed to remove the city manager.

2015

Jan. 5 Don Cooper becomes city manager, starting at $170,000. Glickstein is mayor. Commissioners are Frankel, Jacquet, Jarjura and Petrolia.
March Mitch Katz replaces Frankel, who is term-limited.
August Cooper outlines purchasing problems in a memo that says the County Inspector General and State’s Attorney offices are investigating. Six employees receive reprimands. The purchasing manager retires in June before the investigation is finished. Three department heads, overseeing police, fire and finance departments, are docked a day’s pay.

2016

February Former city employees Orlando Serrano, Cesar Irizarry and Harold Bellinger are arrested on charges they ordered products that the city paid for but did not receive. Serrano pleads guilty and is sentenced to 12 months in the county jail. Irizarry pleads guilty to grand theft and is sentenced to three years’ probation. Bellinger dies before his case goes to trial.
June 24 Pfeffer resigns and goes into private practice. Assistant City Attorney Rustin is name interim city attorney.
Nov. 1 Jacquet leaves the commission after being elected state representative. The commission is deadlocked when trying to appoint his replacement.
Commissioners agree to hire Max Lohman’s firm as the city attorney at $300,000 annually. Glickstein is mayor. Commissioners are Jarjura, Katz and Petrolia.
Dec. 30 Cooper resigns as city manager for family health reasons. Fire Chief Neal de Jesus becomes interim city manager.

2017

March 14 Jim Chard and Shirley Johnson are elected to the City Commission with Glickstein as mayor. Commissioners Katz and Petrolia remain.
Nov. 6 Mark Lauzier, former assistant city manager in Tacoma, Washington, becomes city manager, starting at $235,000.
Dec. 7 Lauzier changes the city charter to have his direct hires and department heads be exempt from the policy and procedures for hiring employees and doesn’t notify anyone, as required in the city charter.

2018

March 13 City voters elect Petrolia as mayor, Bill Bathurst as commissioner to fill the two years of Chard’s term (who resigned to run for mayor), and Ryan Boylston. Frankel is re-elected to the commission. Johnson remains a commissioner.
Aug. 1 India Adams, hired in January as an assistant to the city manager, receives promotion to assistant city manager.
Aug. 27 Julia Davidyan starts as internal auditor. She reports directly to the commission.
Nov. 6 Max Lohman resigns as city attorney after a heated exchange with Mayor Petrolia.
Nov. 13 Deputy City Attorney Lynn Gelin becomes interim city attorney.

2019

Jan. 15 Lauzier receives a 4 percent raise, retroactive to the Nov. 6 anniversary of his hiring.
Jan. 30 Lauzier institutes partial hiring freeze at Executive Team Leadership Meeting.
Feb. 5 Lauzier introduces Susan Grant as assistant city manager at the City Commission meeting. She starts Feb. 19.
Gelin becomes city attorney.
March 1 Lauzier is fired with cause.
— Compiled by Jane Smith

SOURCES: Archives of The Coastal Star, City of Delray Beach and South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Mark Weissman, a newcomer to the South Palm Beach council, is sworn in. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

Former state Rep. Mark Weissman and incumbent Bill LeRoy claimed the two contested seats on the South Palm Beach Town Council in the March 12 municipal election, denying Councilwoman Elvadianne Culbertson another two-year term.
Weissman led the four-candidate field with 134 votes, roughly 29 percent of those cast, and LeRoy was close behind with 127 votes, or 27 percent. Culbertson, a three-year veteran of the council, got 109 votes (23.5 percent) and Kevin Hall, property manager of Palmsea Condominiums, 94 votes (20 percent).
Bonnie Fischer, who has served as mayor since 2015, was unopposed and returns for a third term. Council members unanimously reappointed Robert Gottlieb as vice mayor during their March 19 meeting.
Weissman, making his first run for office in South Palm Beach, appeared to resonate with voters because of his experience as a public official. He served as a state legislator from west Broward County during 2000-2002 and was a Parkland city commissioner for 14 years.
Weissman, 70, said “getting the people of our town to be more participatory” is one of his goals. He proposes reaching out to each condo building and creating a council of condo presidents to consider issues for council action.
“Not only so they know each other,” Weissman said, “but also so they know that the council is concerned about the same things the buildings are.”
Voters reelected LeRoy, a 3 1/2-year resident of the town who joined the council last year after winning a partial term created by the sudden death of Vice Mayor Joe Flagello in 2017.
LeRoy, 66, is an advocate for raising police salaries, which on average rank among the lowest in Palm Beach County.
He said, with roughly $3.5 million in cash reserves, the town can easily afford to boost officers’ pay.
“We’ve got all this money and we take care of our people so poorly,” LeRoy said. “We’ve got to take care of our people. If you don’t, they’re going to leave.”
In all, 285 South Palm voters cast ballots in the March election, a turnout of 22 percent.

By Dan Moffett

South Palm Beach council members are looking for a lobbyist to get behind their beach project. Never mind that they don’t have a beach project to get behind.
The plan to stabilize the town’s shoreline with concrete groins fell apart in February when county officials pulled out their support because of soaring costs and opposition from neighbors to the south.
That left South Palm Beach scrambling to find an alternative project that would do something to address residents’ concerns about their eroding beachfront.
“We’re looking at other options,” said Mayor Bonnie Fischer. “Nobody is giving up.”
Fischer said during the March 19 town meeting that she wasn’t ready to disclose those options. She also said she wasn’t ready to hire a lobbyist.
“I’m not against a lobbyist. But I think it’s a little premature.”
Despite her reluctance, Fischer grudgingly supported the proposal from newly seated Councilman Mark Weissman to find a lobbyist who can convince state and county officials that the town needs help to save its beach. Weissman’s motion passed 4-0 with Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan absent.
“It’s good to have a lobbyist,” said Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb. “But we also need a project to lobby for.”
Weissman argued the town should search for the right person now so the council is ready to go when it settles on an alternative project.
“Perhaps in the investigation we can find out who we want to engage, who’s available, who doesn’t have a conflict,” Weissman said. “Perhaps there’s somebody who’s done this at another municipality along the coast.”
Because condo buildings in South Palm Beach sit on a rocky ledge so close to the waterline, traditional beach renourishment projects are not feasible, environmental engineers say. Without groins to hold it, sand trucked in and deposited on the beach would quickly wash away.
“One little, tiny rainstorm and there goes the beach,” Fischer said. “It’s very disconcerting.”
Residents of Manalapan and farther south oppose groins because of concern they will interrupt the natural downstream flow of sand to their beaches. Manalapan and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa threatened to sue to block the project.
Despite the opposition, Fischer said the town and the county “still have momentum” to move forward and find a plan that works for everyone.
In other business, the council honored police officers David Hul and Adam Farrish for lifesaving efforts.
Farrish provided aid to a heart attack victim walking along State Road A1A on Jan. 21.
Hul was first to respond in front of the Imperial House condominium on Jan. 24 when a motorist struck Rinaldo Morelli and his wife, Lena, police say, as they walked along A1A. Rinaldo Morelli, 75, died despite Hul’s efforts to save him with CPR. Lena Morelli was treated at Delray Medical Center and released.
Investigators from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office have not finished their report on the incident. Police believe the driver, Janet J. Reynolds, 91, of Palm Beach, drove her 2009 Lexus off the road and struck the couple. Officials say the investigation is likely complicated because of efforts to look into the driver’s health and medical background.

Retired avian veterinarian Greg Harrison holds a pelican found March 2 in front of the Dune Deck Condominium. A South Palm Beach resident, Harrison observed the bird for some time and intervened when it became obvious the bird was ill. After he called several rescue organizations, which were unable to provide pickup service, a driver for the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary happened to be nearby and transported the pelican to Jupiter for care. Harrison believes the bird, which is now doing well, was disoriented because of hunger, after the sanctuary representative suggested the quantity of fish for food is decreasing in this area. The Busch Wildlife Sanctuary is a donation-based organization and is open to the public: 575-3399; buschwildlife.org. Photo provided

Susan Simpson, Beverlee Schnellenberger and Kathy Jeffers (l-r) were the talk of Howard Schnellenberger’s 85th birthday celebration at the Schnellenberger home in Boynton Beach. When Tim Schnellenberger and his wife, Anyssa, started a genealogy project last year, they discovered his mother, Beverlee, had three half-sisters she never knew existed. The third, Jan Close, did not attend the celebration. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Beverlee and Jan met for the first time in February. ‘They’re so happy with me, thank God, and I’m so happy with them,’ Beverlee says of her sisters. Photo provided

By Brian Biggane

A genealogy project Tim Schnellenberger and wife Anyssa started last year “just for fun” turned serious when they discovered his mother, Beverlee Schnellenberger, had three half-sisters she never knew existed.
“It’s so exciting,” Beverlee said March 16 at a party celebrating the 85th birthday of her husband, legendary football coach Howard Schnellenberger, at their home in east Boynton Beach. “They’re so happy with me, thank God, and I’m so happy with them.”
Beverlee, 81, invited about 50 guests to mark Howard’s milestone; among them was newfound sister Kathy Jeffers of Toronto, whom she had never met. Also on hand was younger sister Susan Simpson of New Jersey, who by coincidence has been visiting Palm Beach County for the last several years to compete in equestrian competitions in Wellington. The third sister, Jan Close of Chicago, didn’t make the trip.
“Everybody is so happy for us,” Susan said. “The story is amazing.”
Tim Schnellenberger said he “wasn’t looking for close relatives” when he initiated the process on the website 23andMe.com last summer.
“My dad is from Kentucky and my mom is from Montreal, and we don’t spend a lot of time up there to know who is who and what’s what,” he said. “So we saw where we came from and our background, and didn’t think much of it.
“But there was a message there that I didn’t see, and then I got a Facebook message from Susan’s daughter, who turns out to be my cousin. She said, ‘We did 23andMe as well and have a high-percentage match; we think your mom might be related to my mom and her sisters.’”
As it turned out, back in the mid-1930s Beverlee’s father had a brief affair with her mother, then moved on and never looked back. The baby was placed with a family and Beverlee was never told of her background, believing the couple that raised her were her birth parents.
“My father that raised me probably thought I was his child,” Beverlee said. “We think; we don’t know.”
Seven months later her biological father got married and raised a family with three girls. Both families resided in the Montreal area but never had knowledge of the other.
“Our father would have been thrilled to have a fourth daughter,” Kathy said. “He adored his girls.”
As weeks passed by and the evidence mounted, Tim remained skeptical. He decided to send a 23andMe kit to Beverlee’s sister Lynn in Montreal to determine whether they were actually sisters.
“And two weeks later it showed less of a match with Lynn than with these people,” he said.
Now it was time to tell his mother, and he chose the family’s Thanksgiving get-together at his parents’ house to do it.
“I said, ‘Would you be OK if it turned out Piff, the father you grew up with, wasn’t your dad?’ She said yes. Then I said, ‘I think you have some sisters.’ So I explained the story and she said, ‘You mean I have sisters?’ I said ‘Yes.’ So she started crying. I said, ‘You’re happy about this, right?’ She said, ‘I’m so happy.’”
Within moments they were on the phone calling Susan in New Jersey. “She picked up,” Tim said, “and they started talking, and haven’t stopped talking since.
“They’re really awesome people,” he added. “I would have loved to have had them as a part of our family the whole time.”
As the three lined up for photos at the party, it was Howard who noticed not only the physical resemblance but that they all even dressed similarly.
Said Kathy, “We always thought Jan was the bossy one because she was the oldest. Now we know Beverlee is the oldest, and she’s bossy too.”
Whatever hesitation there was among the sisters belonged to Kathy, who admits she’s the most conservative of the family.
“I was very concerned that it was my mother’s (child), and she had given the baby away,” she said. “So I was very hesitant to do it.” The testing proved otherwise.

The Schnellenbergers renew their wedding vows before chaplain Leo Armbrust ahead of their 60th anniversary in May. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The party guests, many of whom have been friends since Howard’s stint of founding the football program at Florida Atlantic University and at least a few who date back to his national championship season at the University of Miami, were buzzing about the sequence of events that brought the sisters together.
Susan’s husband, Rick Simpson, who describes himself as a huge football fan, said he “really didn’t know what to say” when he first heard the story.
“It took a while to digest,” he said. “Susan was ecstatic from the first minute, and then she and Beverlee got together and it’s like they’ve known each other for 30 years. I don’t even know how to explain it. I tell other people and they say, ‘Naw. It just doesn’t work this way.’”
Simpson, who owns a recruiting business, had some fun when he told his employees the story, purposely leaving out the Schnellenbergers’ last name.
“So one of the guys wants to know, and I tell him, ‘Well, he was involved with football.’ So he says, ‘What’s his last name?’ I tell him and he says, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me.’ He was all over it. He knows more about Howard than Howard does.”
In another nice touch to the evening, Leo Armbrust, who has served as chaplain to both the UM and Miami Dolphins football teams, took the opportunity to renew Howard and Beverlee’s wedding vows as they approach their 60th wedding anniversary in May.
Moments after the ceremony ended, Tim Schnellenberger stepped out the front door of the house, lit a cigarette and told the story of how 23andMe had just changed the lives of himself and his parents.
“This 23andMe thing is pretty amazing,” he said. “There’s really a whole new world out there.”

By Jane Smith

Starting April 1, the Delray Beach Fire Department began sending letters to East Atlantic Avenue restaurants reminding them of city rules.
The owners will be required to comply with set occupancy limits and follow a city code provision that does not allow a restaurant to become a nightclub after food service ends. The city approves only restaurants or stand-alone bars, not hybrid operations.
Repeat offenders will have to pick up the cost for the fire inspectors’ time to make sure the restaurant follows the occupancy rules, said Neal de Jesus, the interim city manager. Up until March 31, the city taxpayers paid for the fire inspectors’ time.
The city has five inspectors already trained to look for problems that arise when a restaurant changes over to become a club after hours. In April, 65 fire-rescue department paramedics will be trained to assist, de Jesus said. Repeat offenders could lose their city operating licenses, he said.
The cost charged to restaurants will vary by the inspectors’ overtime rate and will be for a minimum of four hours. Inspections will be done from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., primarily on Friday and Saturday nights, acting Fire Chief Keith Tomey wrote in an email.
At least two inspectors will be sent for each establishment’s inspection. Thursday and Sunday inspections may be included, he wrote.
This situation “has been going on for a few years,” de Jesus said at the March 28 City Commission workshop. He likened it to speeding every day: Even if you don’t get caught, it’s still illegal.
Commissioners gave him approval to enforce the city rules about occupancy and not allow the restaurants to transition to nightclubs by pushing the tables against the walls, in the kitchen or alleys.
Some even have put the tables in hallways leading to the exits, said Capt. Joe Cafone, who is a fire inspector and works weekend nights.
“We’ve seen restaurants with double the occupancy than allowed,” Cafone said.
The fire inspectors started working in the downtown area in January. They had not been authorized to inspect in the downtown area in past years.
Restaurants are coming into compliance, Cafone said. Most of them don’t understand that the occupancy also includes their staff.
“I see this as two different issues,” Vice Mayor Adam Frankel said. “There’s a capacity issue that you have to enforce. … But the morphing has been going on a long time. I can point to the now-closed Tryst restaurant, next to the Bull Bar, which used to do it all the time.”
Frankel stressed that it’s changing the nature of Atlantic Avenue on weekend nights.
“It’s turning into a show, like on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale and Clematis Street in West Palm Beach,” he said. “No one wants that.”
De Jesus said managers and owners of restaurants have told him that it’s been going on for years. “Now that we know, we can’t turn a blind eye to the occupancy problems,” he said.
The latest problem erupted during the SantaCon pub crawl, held Dec. 18 on Atlantic Avenue, de Jesus said. For $25, patrons received free drink coupons to five restaurants and bars. The crawl ended at 2 a.m.
The crowds pushed the restaurants and bars beyond their capacities and police had to be called.
Commissioner Ryan Boylston talked about a recent change in Boca Raton that allowed restaurants to change over to nightclubs after a certain time.
That idea was quashed by the four other commissioners, who said they wanted to protect Atlantic Avenue as a valuable economic driver to the city. The restaurants are spread out in Boca Raton, not concentrated in a five-block strip like Delray has, Mayor Shelly Petrolia said.
“We are in the known economic cycle of a destination location,” Commissioner Bill Bathurst said. “We have to manage it well.”
He talked about the Doxey Irritation Index, which says residents initially like tourists coming into their city. Then they become apathetic, after which irritation grows and is often followed by downright hostility. Canadian economics professor George Doxey created the index in 1975 when he was studying tourist economies in Canada and the Caribbean.
“If you do it the right way, you will make more money,” Bathurst said to the two rows of restaurant owners and their representatives in the commission chambers.

ABOVE: Paul Redclift and John Girard gave good reviews to the FPL crew that installed a transformer on Redclift’s property on Las Casas Road in Boca Raton. FPL thinks underground lines will ease power outages, but everyone in each selected small area must agree to have the work done. BELOW LEFT: Lines no longer run through the air in the neighborhood. BELOW RIGHT: Part of the power pole is gone; cable service still needs to be buried. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Hladky

Every time a strong storm blew through Palm Beach County, Boca Raton resident John Girard would lose power for 11 or 12 days while neighbors across the street had power restored in a matter of hours.
So when Florida Power & Light Co. asked if he would participate in a pilot project to place power lines underground in a section of his Palm Beach Farms neighborhood, Girard didn’t hesitate.
“I said sure. The best news I have ever heard,” he said.
The work was completed about a month ago and involved about 50 customers. Girard is hopeful that even if he does lose power during future storms, outages won’t last as long.
“All I can say is the crews they hired were polite. They were neat. They were thoughtful,” he said. “The proof will be in the pudding. We will see what happens when hurricane season comes and any storms hit.”
Since FPL started the three-year pilot project last year, it has finished burying power lines in five neighborhoods: Girard’s between Southwest 20th and 21st streets and Las Casas and Gonzalo roads, three apartment buildings near the corner of South Ocean Boulevard and Osceola Drive in Boca Raton, and in Sarasota, Pompano Beach and Fort Pierce.
The company plans more than 300 other projects across the state, including 14 in Boca Raton, 12 in Delray Beach and six in Boynton Beach. Each of the projects will be small, involving an average of 30 customers.
The goal is to test new methods of placing power lines underground that are more efficient and less expensive and disruptive than methods used in the past.
FPL will then analyze how well the underground lines perform during future storms as it decides how best to further harden the energy grid.
“I think we are going to see positive results,” said FPL spokesman Bill Orlove.
The reason for optimism is that underground lines in neighborhoods performed 95 percent better than overhead lines during Hurricane Matthew in 2016, 83 percent better than during Hurricane Irma in 2017, and 50 percent better in day-to-day operations, according to FPL.
FPL customers can’t ask to be included in a pilot project. The utility already has selected the locations based on the number of outages during Matthew and Irma, outages due to vegetation that blew into overhead lines, and day-to-day reliability.
Being selected by FPL doesn’t mean a specific project will be completed. All customers in the area must agree to participate. They also must grant easements so transformers can be placed in their yards and the lines put underground. If all don’t agree, FPL moves on.
“We have walked away from some projects because we were not able to get consensus,” Orlove said.
But most selected customers have been willing.
“Customers were happy to see we were taking their concerns about reliability seriously,” he said.
The work is completed at no extra cost to the selected customers, but that doesn’t mean it is free. The cost is included in the electric rates all customers pay.
FPL offers no guarantee that burying power lines will eliminate outages.
“Undergrounding is not a magic elixir,” Orlove noted.
FPL operates a hybrid system. Nearly 40 percent of its 68,000 miles of distribution power lines are underground, with the rest overhead. If a tree falling into an overhead line knocks out power where the underground lines link up with overhead lines, the customer with buried lines will lose power.
The utility has been placing more lines underground for years, but the work has been very expensive.
That is less of an issue now because FPL has been able to reduce the cost, in part by using methods that install the lines more efficiently without digging up ground. That coincides with the data showing that underground lines perform better, giving more incentive to place lines underground.
But underground line outages also can be triggered by flooding and storm surges, and it can take more time to locate a problem and fix it. Damage to overhead lines can be easier to spot and repair.
Another benefit of burying power lines is aesthetic.
Typical power lines run along Las Casas Road until the block where Girard and his next-door neighbor, Paul Redclift, live.
“The power lines are all gone now,” Redclift said.
Other than that, both men said there is little sign that a crew recently did the work.
The crew used a bore to place the lines underground, so the men’s yards were not dug up. A 3-foot by 3-foot transformer box is located behind a hedge, Redclift said.
“I barely noticed they were here,” he said of the crew.

By Mary Thurwachter

Like all parks in Lantana, the beach is officially shut from sundown to sunrise. But the gates are not closed and cars can drive into the parking lot and people still have access to the shoreline.
Council member Ed Shropshire wonders whether that shouldn’t change and proposes that the gates close from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
During a discussion at the March 25 council meeting, Shropshire said he had gone to the beach several times before it opened at sunrise and was concerned about what he saw.
“There seems to be a group of individuals that like to go there at night, particularly on weekends, and the behavior is less than exemplary,” he said. “I think we may want to consider closing the beach from like 10 o’clock at night to 7 in the morning. This will also eliminate some illegal parking by certain entities that use the beach as a private parking lot. It would also keep it cleaner and probably make it safer for residents.”
Shropshire said he had found enough beer bottles and hypodermic needles during beach cleanups to think that closing the gates at night might be warranted, but he wanted feedback from other members of the council as well as residents.
Mayor Dave Stewart said the town had contractual obligations to the Dune Deck, a beachside cafe that opens at 7 a.m. but has employees coming in an hour earlier.
Council member Lynn Moorhouse said not much could be done to change morning hours because of the Dune Deck, but he thought if something could legally be done regarding night hours it might be safer to have the beach closed. Opposition to the nighttime shutdown came from council member Phil Aridas, who said he didn’t want police walking the beach to clear it at night. “I just don’t see it happening,” he said. “Leave our beaches open. Some people work at night and want to go and watch the moon.”
Vice Mayor Malcolm Balfour said he likes to occasionally visit the beach at night and had been there recently to watch a full moon.
Police Chief Sean Scheller and Town Manager Deborah Manzo will study the matter to see it there is a problem and report back to council.
In other news, the council:
• Witnessed the swearing in of Moorhouse and Balfour, who were unopposed in the recent election.
• Chose Michelle Donahue as a regular member of the planning commission. Donahue had been an alternate member. A replacement for her position as an alternate will be filled at a later date.