Delray Beach’s team wore pirate costumes during its presentation as the city earned an All-America City award

for the third time. From left are Mayor Cary Glickstein, Education Coordinator Janet Meeks and Joe Gillie,

retired president of the city’s Old School Square complex.

Photo provided

By Jane Smith
    
    The Delray Beach trio came to the All-America City convention with data to show the city had improved grade-level reading and reduced chronic absenteeism among kindergartners through third graders in its public schools.
    But what made Delray’s presentation stand out from those of the 26 other finalists at the Denver convention was the pirate skit — performed in costume.
    Delray Beach won the award from the National Civic League for the third time. It recognizes the best in civic innovation.
Education Coordinator Janet Meeks, Mayor Cary Glickstein and veteran performer Joe Gillie — the retired president of the Old School Square complex — represented Delray Beach at the mid-June convention.
    Meeks and Glickstein held up a treasure map while Gillie gave a dramatic reading of the journey the city made in reaching its grade-level reading goal. They wore tricorne hats, eye patches with skull-and-crossbones logos and long-sleeved navy T-shirts, each with an All-America patch on the upper left chest.
    “It was fun,” Meeks said. “We found gold through reading.”
    No other groups wore costumes at the convention, she said.
    The pirate skit was based on the Palm Beach County School District’s summer reading program, Meeks said. The district has four themes in this summer’s program, including one on pirates.
    The push for the award started in 2012 when the city joined the Civic League’s campaign to improve third-grade level reading levels.
    Delray Beach partnered with the school district to collect data for the city’s public schools from kindergarten through third grade.
    “The whole community worked together, scaling and aligning resources,” Meeks said. “We started with $14,000 to $15,000 of seed money, and now we have $5 million in resources,” including 50,000 books, donated over five years.

Critters in crisis discover

cops are friends — and saviors

Gulf Stream Police Chief Edward Allen holds Chief, a kitten rescued from construction debris.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Resident Peter Klein heard the kitten’s meowing for help from under this mountain of lumber.

By Arden Moore

    Members of the Gulf Stream Police Department stand ready to assist anyone in their coastal town, and that includes those who meow, waddle or swim. In a recent four-day span, a tiny orphaned kitten, seven trapped ducklings and a tangled sea turtle owed their gratitude — and their lives — to police officers who patrol this 2-mile stretch of A1A and part of U.S. 1.
    Chief Edward Allen, who rose up the ranks and now heads this department in his 29th year of service, has learned to expect anything and everything when it comes to patrolling this community that swells up to only about 900 during snowbird season.
    “As a police department in a small community, we don’t have animal control or other departments that bigger cities have, so our department must be adaptable and be able to do a little bit of everything,” says Allen. “But even I must admit, that was one unusual week when it came to critters needing our help.”
    The triple rescue began on a Wednesday when Gulf Stream resident Peter Klein was taking a walk through his once-quiet neighborhood now disrupted by construction crews building large homes in various stages of completion surrounding Klein’s home. “Construction activity in Gulf Stream has been proceeding at an unprecedented pace,” says Klein, a corporate attorney. “With all this activity, there is plenty of debris everywhere and there are plenty of opportunities for animals to get into trouble.”
    During his walk, Klein zeroed in on a strange sound coming from a residential construction site across from his home. As he got closer to a high stack of construction debris, he cringed as he identified the source of the sounds.
    “Mew! Mew! Mew!” came urgent and loud cries from a tiny kitten trapped under the mountain of lumber with nails jutting out, concrete pieces and old scaffolding.  
    “I couldn’t see this kitten, but definitely knew he was tiny and he was scared,” says Klein, who with his wife, Jennifer, happily share their homes with a few cats. “This kitten had the lungs of Pavarotti. It was evident he was in distress and it was truly heartbreaking.”
    Recognizing it was too dangerous to attempt to remove the debris to reach the trapped feline, he tried contacting the construction project manager. Without a response, he then headed to the Gulf Stream Town Hall and told employee Rebecca Tew about the kitten.
    “I went back home and within 10 minutes, it seemed like the entire day shift of the Gulf Stream Police Department rolled onto the site,” Klein says. “Two more town employees also arrived. These guys dug in and shifted every piece of rotten wood on the pile and under the bottom piece, discovered a feral kitten aged 3 to 4 weeks.”
    In the hot sun, Allen supervised and helped as Lt. John Haseley, Sgt. John Passeggiata, Officer Randy Wilson, plus maintenance employees Brian Dietrick and Wayne Songer spent about 45 minutes to remove the pile. As soon as the kitten was spotted, Songer scooped him up in his gloved hand. Jennifer Klein then placed the kitten in a pet carrier.
    “I told them that despite sweating inside your blue uniforms and bulletproof vests, you got right in there and saved a life today,” says Peter Klein.
    The Kleins then drove this injured and dehydrated kitten to the Colonial Animal Hospital in Boynton Beach for medical care.
“He weighed 9 ounces, had lesions on his face caused from rubbing against the wood and was dehydrated,” describes Klein. “I’m about $680 into veterinary bills for him, but he has definitely found a home with us. He is healing and definitely playful.”

Gulf Stream Police Chief Edward Allen and Peter Klein with Chief, the kitten police officers saved

after Klein heard the kitten crying at a construction site.

‘He was tiny and he was scared,‘ said Klein, who kept the cat.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Coming up with a name for this kitten was easy for the Kleins.
    “We named him Chief in honor of Chief Allen,” says Klein. “He was in charge of the rescue and he mobilized these guys. He was the boss and I figured this little kitten will be the boss of me.”
    Allen learned of the kitten’s name a day after the rescue.
    “When I first heard this, I thought they were joking, but I realize it is a compliment to me. And yes, this is the first time I’ve had a cat named after me,” says Allen.  
    Three days later, the Gulf Stream police answered two more rescue calls. Two paddle boarders alerted Sgt. Bernard O’Donnell that they spotted a sea turtle entangled in fishing line out in the ocean. Two more people on water scooters assisted in bringing the turtle to shore and removing the tangled line.
    A team from the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton arrived and transported this 300-pound turtle to the center’s sea turtle rehab facility to care for him while he recoveries from his injuries.
    And later that day, police rescued ducklings in distress. O’Donnell and Officer Ramon Batista answered the call concerning seven ducklings trapped inside a storm drain. They were able to remove the grate from the drain and scoop out the ducklings, which quickly waddled to be reunited with their relieved mother.
    All in a day’s work in Gulf Stream, right, Chief?
    “We certainly had a run on animals in need that week, but we are very glad that everything turned out great,” he said. “We never know what the day will hold for us being in this small town, but it is definitely rewarding to do something for a good cause.”

Arden Moore, founder of www.FourLeggedLife.com, is an animal behavior consultant, editor, author, professional speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. Each week, she hosts the popular Oh Behave! show on www.PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more by visiting www.fourleggedlife.com.

By Steve Plunkett

    Officer Nubia Plesnik, part of the police team that charged former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella with resisting arrest last fall, has filed a lawsuit against him claiming battery and negligence.
    Lucibella “committed a battery upon [Plesnik] by intentionally causing harmful or offensive contact with [her] by pushing [her] and further physically contacting her during the course of the arrest,” Plesnik’s lawsuit says.
    In a second count, the suit alleges Lucibella’s actions were negligent.
    As a result, the suit says, Plesnik “has suffered and will suffer bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of the capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalization and/or surgery, medical and nursing care and treatment and related expenses, loss of earnings, loss of the ability to earn money in the future, and/or an aggravation of previously existing conditions.”
    Lucibella has $10 million in insurance for personal liability. Plesnik’s suit says she is seeking at least $15,000 in damages, the legal threshold.
    Richard Slinkman, her lawyer, said Plesnik only wants what a jury feels is fair and just.
    “I can tell you that I do not expect such to be in excess of Mr. Lucibella’s $10 million insurance policy,” Slinkman said.
    The complaint was filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court on June 6, but as of June 27 Lucibella had not been handed the lawsuit.
    “He is evading service,” Slinkman said.
    Lucibella did not answer a phone call seeking comment.
    Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins said Plesnik and fellow arresting Officer Richard Ermeri both returned to full duty as soon as they were cleared by their physicians.
    “No special assignments were made to accommodate them,” Hutchins said.
    But Plesnik has not fully recovered, Slinkman said.
    “Though she can fully perform the functions and duties of a police officer, she suffers from pain in her shoulder with activities, including necessary physical activities on the job,” he said.
    Lucibella faces a felony charge of resisting arrest with violence; after reviewing the case the state attorney’s office added a felony charge of battery on a law enforcement officer. The battery charge covers Ermeri only; the resisting arrest with violence covers Ermeri “and/or N. Plesnik ... by offering or doing violence to the person of such officers,” the charging document says.
    Lucibella also is charged with misdemeanor use of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
    Lucibella’s trial, originally scheduled for April and then July, is now postponed until October. His criminal defense attorney, Marc Shiner, and Assistant State Attorney Danielle Grundt told the judge they could not finish depositions in time for a summer trial.
    Plesnik, Ermeri and Sgt. William Hallahan went to Lucibella’s oceanfront home Oct. 22 after neighbors reported hearing shots fired. They confiscated a .40-caliber handgun and found five spent shell casings on the backyard patio.
    With Lucibella was one of the officers’ supervisors, Lt. Steven Wohlfiel. Both men were “obviously intoxicated,” the police said.
During the arrest, Lucibella was pinned to the patio pavers and suffered injuries to his face and ribs. Shiner has said the officers overreacted.
    Plesnik and Ermeri said in their initial police reports that they went to MD Now, the department-approved urgent care center, Plesnik for “injuries to the left side of my body,” including shoulder, arm, wrist and foot.
    Plesnik, who was hired by Ocean Ridge in March 2013, also reported being placed on restricted duty.
    Officers later determined the confiscated handgun belonged to Wohlfiel, who was fired in January for his role in the incident. He is appealing his dismissal.
    Wohlfiel’s lawyer, Ralph King, petitioned a circuit judge on May 31 to order Town Manager Jamie Titcomb to hold an evidentiary hearing that is required by the town’s charter and would allow Wohlfiel to present and confront witnesses. Wohlfiel also wants back pay until the hearing can be held.
    Town Attorney Brian Shutt would not comment on the Wohlfiel case other than to say Ocean Ridge’s insurance company has hired a lawyer to defend the town.
    Lucibella resigned his vice mayor and town commissioner positions in December.

By Lona O'Connor

    Please don’t call Stanley Althof a sexologist, even though he is the recipient of a lifetime achievement award named for Masters and Johnson, two of the most famous names in sex research.
    “I’m a psychologist specializing in sexual medicine,” he says.
    He is sitting on a loveseat in his West Palm Beach office, under a reproduction of The Kiss, a famous Gustav Klimt painting of lovers embracing.
    Aside from that one genteel reference to sex, you would be hard-pressed to know that this is the office where Althof helps individuals and couples untangle the most intimate aspects of their lives.
    Althof, who lives in Lantana with his wife, Marcie, has long been involved in the process of selecting human subjects for drug trials, including those to correct erectile dysfunction.
    At the moment, he is seeking male subjects for the medical trial of a new drug for premature ejaculation. Premature ejaculation can be episodic or fleeting; each man’s physiology and temperament are different. Or it can continue a long time, sometimes triggered by disease or surgery.
    The men he seeks for the drug trial must be between the ages of 18 and 60, healthy and in a relationship lasting six months or longer. They cannot have problems with substance or alcohol abuse and they must have suffered from premature ejaculation for a long period of time.
    Althof’s practice has focused on all aspects of sexual function, as well as counseling transgender surgery candidates. He has also worked with medical professionals accused of sexual misconduct, and he ran the sexual health center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
    Considered a “key opinion leader” in the field, he has written more than 150 medical articles and developed questionnaires for subjects of drug efficacy trials for Viagra and Cialis.
    The new drug, called IX-01, is being developed by Althof’s longtime associate Ian Osterloh, one of the researchers who identified the active ingredient of Viagra for erectile dysfunction.
    Althof assisted Osterloh in the selection of test subjects for Viagra, and when Osterloh later formed his own company and bought the rights to develop IX-01 to treat premature ejaculation, Althof was a natural choice to help find test subjects. He and others are collecting about 200 subjects nationwide for the trial.
    IX-01, now in its second round of human trials, decreases the amount of oxytocin in the body. In studies on mice, less oxytocin lengthens the time before ejaculation.
    Other researchers tried using a similar method, but with no success. “They were on the right track with the wrong drug,” Althof said, “The drug didn’t penetrate the blood-brain barrier. This one does.”
    So far, IX-01 has helped test subjects to delay ejaculation three to four times longer, with few side effects. The federal Food and Drug Administration has given the go-ahead for Osterloh’s company to increase the dosage in the second round of tests.
    Althof is not surprised that he has gotten calls from women.
     “Women are often frustrated or angry that their partner doesn’t do anything,” he said. “I’ve already had two or three calls from women asking about the study.”
    After phase 2 of the study is done, a third trial will take place with many more subjects. Then the researchers must present their data to the FDA for consideration. If all goes well, the drug could be on the market in about two years.
    At the moment, IX-01 is the only product being developed by Osterloh’s company, Ixchelsis.
    “There’s a large market for this,” Althof said. “You’re talking millions in research.”
    But not millions for Althof.
    “I get paid a consulting fee, that’s it,” he said. “If the drug works, I don’t get any money.”

A love story at home
    Aside from his work in sex therapy, Althof has a love story of his own.
    Back in the 1960s, Althof’s girlfriend was Marcie Sothern. Their families lived on the same block in Manhattan. But their paths diverged when Althof went to Stuyvesant High School and Marcie attended the High School of Performing Arts.
    They married other people, had families and lost touch for decades. Then, a few years ago, Althof was introduced to the son of the ex-wife of an old friend. The man was new to Cleveland, so Althof invited him to dinner. As they talked, the man mentioned that he worked for Weight Watchers.
    “Oh,” said Althof, “then you must know Marcie Sothern, Carole’s daughter. I dated her in high school.”
    “You dated Carole’s daughter?” the man stammered. “She’s my boss!”
    Carole Sothern founded Weight Watchers’ Palm Beach County franchise and her daughter — married name Marcie Sothern Gorman — later took over as the franchise CEO.
    Both Gorman and Althof were single again and this time they married. That was 15 years ago.
    “And that was without the internet,” Althof said with a smile.
    He moved his practice from Cleveland to accommodate his wife’s many connections here. While Gorman was still a teen, her family had moved to Hollywood, and she attended South Broward High School and the University of Florida.
    After moving on from her duties at Weight Watchers, she returned to her high school specialty, theater, becoming the producer of numerous musicals at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.
    It looks like a match that was meant to be.
    “Marcie in her own right and I in my own right were successful,” Althof said. “Our families knew each other. But it’s all about love.”

    For more information about the drug trial for IX-01, contact Stanley Althof at sxa6@case.edu or phone his office at 822-5454.

Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.

By Christine Davis

    Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Marcus Neuroscience Institute has initiated a phase-two clinical trial of the immunotoxin MDNA55 in the treatment of patients with recurrent malignant brain tumors.
    Highly toxic to brain tumor cells, MDNA55 targets a cytokine, interleukin 4, which is found on the surface of most recurrent brain tumors. A protein derived from a bacterium associated with pneumonias and skin, tissue and urinary tract infections, MDNA55 is considered a targeted therapy because it is made to attach only to tumor cells. Most normal brain cells have no interleukin 4. As such, the trial aims to kill brain tumor cells and not harm healthy cells.
    The immunotoxin gets to the tumor through convection enhanced delivery, which is a therapy that introduces medication to the brain through tiny catheters implanted in the tumor for several hours.
    “Research to date on the therapy has been encouraging. In previous studies, complete or partial responses were seen in 56 percent of patients with these tumors,” said Dr. Frank Vrionis, director of the Marcus Neuroscience Institute. “Given those promising results, this therapy has received fast-track designation by the FDA, which expedites the development and review of drugs through trials such as ours.”
    Because of the nature of these malignancies and the complexity of the brain, long-term remissions can be difficult to obtain.
    “Recurrences, regretfully, are the norm despite radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy,” said Dr. Sajeel Chowdhary, director of neuro-oncology at the institute. “When they occur, options are limited, as most patients have already received all known available treatments. Our investigation into the use of immunotherapy for them is of the utmost importance and has the potential to pay great dividends.”
    The MDNA55 trial is one of 10 at Boca Regional’s Marcus Neuroscience and Lynn Cancer institutes that are investigating brain tumors, and part of a clinical research initiative between the hospital and Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine.
    For information and enrollment, call Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Office of Research at 955-4800.
                                
    In May, Boca Raton Regional Hospital received the 2017 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines — Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite. The award recognizes the hospital’s continued success in providing up-to-date, evidence-based treatment guidelines to improve patient care and outcomes in the community.
                                
    Patricio Espinosa, MD, MPH, was appointed chief of neurology at Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Marcus Neuroscience Institute. He joined the medical staff at the institute in December 2014 and served as director of neurology since December 2015.

    In his new duties, Espinosa will lead the program’s team of neurologists and provide support to the institute’s clinical and research efforts. He offers specialized expertise in adult neurology, epilepsy and sleep disorders.
                                
    Delray Medical Center performed its first incisionless surgery to treat heartburn.
The transoral incisionless fundoplication procedure, or TIF, uses a new device for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease.
    Many patients on reflux medication cannot eat certain foods or need to sleep sitting up. Also, long-term use of medication can lead to inadequate absorption of minerals, resulting in bone fractures, explained Dr. Andrew Zwick, gastroenterologist at Delray Medical Center.
    “After the TIF procedure, clinical trials show that most patients can eat and drink foods they avoided for many years. Reflux no longer impacts their life like it previously did.”  Because the procedure is incisionless, there is less pain, reduced recovery and no scar. 
                                
    Congestive heart failure is on the rise, affecting more than 5 million people in the United States. Doctors at Bethesda Heart Hospital and Bethesda’s Research Center, in conjunction with Research Physicians Alliance, are studying a treatment for chronic heart failure through a national clinical trial, DREAM-HF-1.
    Using stem cells, this study aims to enhance the function of the heart muscle by regenerating heart tissue. The treatment involves obtaining stem cells from healthy donors, which are later injected into the heart muscles of study participants via catheterization procedures.
    Cardiologist George K. Daniel, M.D., is the principal investigator, with medical cardiologist Christina Michael, M.D., evaluating the study patients.  For more information, call Bethesda Health Research Center at 374-5020.
                                
    Boca Raton-based Cancer Treatment Centers of America Global has appointed Ankur R. Parikh, D.O., as medical director of precision medicine.
                                
    Whether it’s a silver bullet or snake oil, sales of the essential oil copaiba are increasing, because more than 54 million Americans suffer from some form of arthritis, and side effects of conventional treatment include gastrointestinal bleeding, heart attacks and stroke.
    As a result, new therapies are being tested, including Copaifera reticulata, or copaiba, but researchers from Florida Atlantic University caution that randomized trials are necessary to know whether this treatment is effective, and their commentary is published in the journal Integrative Medicine.
    “The only published data on copaiba on humans includes one case series and one small randomized trial of another inflammatory condition and not arthritis. To complete the totality of evidence, copaiba should be first tested in a randomized trial against a placebo in patients with inflammatory arthritis,” said Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.P.H., senior academic adviser to the dean at FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and senior author of the paper.
    “If such a trial shows a net benefit, then the next step would be direct randomized comparisons against nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors,” the two common conventional treatments.
Send health news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com

The Delray Summer Sing Experience camp runs each week through July 21 at Church of the Palms.

Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

    The Delray Summer Sing Experience is a summer music camp for kids that introduces a variety of styles from the music of stage and screen to folk songs to hymns and religious music.
    Campers experience ensemble singing, learn voice techniques, choreography, breathing techniques, ear training, rhythmic and melody recognition, and performance techniques. Each week, camp concludes with a brief performance at 2:30 p.m. on Friday in the chancel at Church of the Palms.
    Traci Rane is the camp coordinator and instructor. “Each week we learn new music, so it’s like a new camp each week,” she said.
    Youngsters range in age from 6 to 16, and the camp limits the number of children to 22 to make sure everyone gets one-on-one attention. “We have a lot of staff, so kids get a lot of instruction,” Rane said. Campers can even take private lessons for a fee of $30 for a half-hour lesson.
    Fans of Palm Beach Opera or the Delray Beach Chorale may recognize Rane from her performances with those groups. She also performed with Sarah Brightman and Josh Groban on the “La Luna” tour. She has been teaching voice and piano in Palm Beach County for more than a dozen years. Rane works alongside accompanist Edward Krynicki, and the program’s artistic director is Eric Keiper, who is the music director at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic School and Church.
    The camp, in its seventh year, meets from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday through July 21. (No meeting on July 4.) The camp is $200 per week. Discounts are offered for multiple weeks and for siblings attending together, and scholarships are available, Rane said.
    The camp is hosted by and meets at the Church of the Palms, 1960 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Call 389-7024 or 276-6347 or visit www.delraysummersing.org.

St. Mark’s family picnic
    The annual parish picnic takes place after the noon mass on July 16. On the menu? Hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, salads and desserts. Games for the kids, music and a cash bar are part of the fun.
    Tickets: $15 adults, $7.50 for children 6-10, and free for 5 and younger.  Call 734-9330 or visit www.stmarkboynton.com.

Help feed people in need
    CROS Ministries is hosting a lunch and learn program on July 26 to tell people more about the organization. It feeds hungry people in Palm Beach and Martin counties, and its programs include seven food pantries and the Caring Kitchen, a hot meal program in Delray Beach.
    CROS Gleaning is a food recovery program harvesting fresh produce that would otherwise go to waste, from farmers’ fields, culling sites and Solid Waste Authority’s Mango Grove.
    These programs are possible only with the help of community volunteers, and there are dozens of opportunities available for folks who want to be a part of the solution of feeding in need.
    This session begins at 1 p.m. at the CROS Administrative Offices, 3677 23rd Ave. S., B-101, in Lake Worth. Guests then travel to Delray Beach, where lunch will be served. To RSVP, call 699-5113 or email the Rev. Juanita Bryant Goode at jgoode@crosministries.org.

Break Spot offers free meals
    For most kids, summer vacation means more. More time to play, more time to grow, more time to dream. But for children who depend on school lunch (and breakfast) for their basic nutrition needs, summer is a time of less. The summer Break Spot fills that gap with locations that offer meals for people 18 and younger. You don’t have to be a student or even a resident.
    If you know local children  who are “food insecure,” let them know they can find a location where meals are served at www.summerfoodflorida.org.

Back-to-school supplies
    Unity of Delray Beach Church is collecting backpacks and school supplies for local children in need. Bring donations to the lobby on Sundays through Aug. 13, or drop donations off at the church office from 10 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
    Supplies needed include backpacks with pencils, ruler, sticky notes, three-ring binders, spiral notebooks, composition notebooks, pens (blue, black, red), colored pencils, washable felt markers, glue sticks, pink erasers, pencil cases, lined paper, plain paper and crayons.
    Unity of Delray Beach is at NW 22nd Street and Swinton Avenue. Call 276-5796 or visit www.unityofdelraybeach.org.

Summer Singers wanted
    Cason United Methodist Church has a summer program for people who love to sing. You don’t need choir experience or the ability to read music. You don’t have to audition. But you do have to enjoy singing with others. The Summer Singers meet at 7 p.m. Tuesdays at the music studio of Diane Gwynn McWhorter, 7570 Federal Highway, Hypoluxo. Doug Carter leads the choir on Sundays, when it is part of the worship service. Call 276-5302 if you have questions.

Pennies add up to $27,000
    Think pennies aren’t worth a red cent? Think again.
    In 2012, First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach asked parishioners to collect a few cents from each family member at dinner each night. At the end of the month, parishioners brought the pennies in and those funds were earmarked to feed hungry people, recalling Jesus’ command “You give them something to eat.”
    Since the program started in 2012, the church has collected and distributed nearly $27,000 that went directly to people who needed it.
    First Presbyterian of Delray is at 33 Gleason St. Call 276-6338 or visit www.firstdelray.com.

Meetings in July
    Pub Theology: Beer, Conversation & God meets at 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month at the Biergarten, 309 Via de Palmas, No. 90, Boca Raton, and 7 p.m. the third Thursday at Barrel of Monks, 1141 S. Rogers Circle, No. 5, Boca Raton. Conversation, fellowship, open discussion. 395-1244; www.fumcbocaraton.org.
    The Interfaith Café meets from 7 to 9 p.m. July 20 at South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach. Guest speaker Dr. Janet Sopcheck will speak about the challenges family members face at end-of-life situations. Light refreshments are served.
    The meeting is free, but donations are appreciated. The Interfaith Café meets the third Thursday of the month, and volunteers are needed to assist with a variety of duties to keep this program going. For information or to volunteer, email Jane@Aurorasvoice.org.

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

David McNamara, assistant pro at the Gulf Stream B&T for the past four years, blew past

the top seeds to claim the USTA National Men’s 40 Clay Court Championship.

Photo provided

By Brian Biggane

    Gulf Stream Bath & Tennis Club assistant tennis pro David McNamara not only won the USTA National Men’s 40 Clay Court Championship May 17-22 in Atlanta, but he did it the hard way.
    Unseeded after not playing in a high-level competition for more than five years, McNamara relied on his fitness and countless hours of preparation with B&T head pro Roger Ashcroft to mow down the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 seeds on his way to the prestigious title.
    “I felt going in that I had put the work in, that I was ready,” said McNamara, 40, a native of Melbourne, Australia, who was ranked as high as No. 431 in the world in his mid-20s and has spent the past four years at Gulf Stream.
    Ashcroft said he noticed when he hired McNamara in 2013 that, while his people skills and teaching ability were top notch, his conditioning needed work. So, McNamara embarked upon a daily CrossFit regimen to give him the stamina he would need to survive three-set matches in the Atlanta heat.
    “I had dabbled in a couple of tournaments and when we discussed the USTA National 40s, Roger said, ‘You should play,’” McNamara recalled. “I thought, ‘What the hell.’ But because of who I am, I didn’t want to just go play. I still have enough of a competitive ego that I thought I could win. I wanted to make sure I was ready.”
    McNamara got a break when his first-round opponent failed to show up. That put him against No. 5 seed Constantine Ananiadis of Wellington, Ohio, whom he dispatched 6-1, 6-4. He dropped a set against No. 3 seed Paul Mancini of Alpharetta, Ga., but credited his conditioning for his 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 quarterfinal victory.
    That sent him to the semis against No. 1 seed Eduardo Rincon, a clay-court specialist from Colombia who resides in Kennesaw, Ga. McNamara and Ashcroft did some research and learned Rincon had played in ATP events featuring the likes of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
    “Roger and I were talking after every match and my old college coach showed up,” McNamara said. “Both were telling me the same thing: You don’t need to go for too much, sometimes you’ve got to win ugly, just get it back. He was a good player and I didn’t know if I had enough to beat him, but I was able to pull through.”
    His fitness once again proved decisive in a 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-0 win that sent him to the final against No. 2 seed Samuel Schroerlucke of Memphis, whom he defeated 7-5, 6-3 for the championship.
    “That was a tough match as well, and the first time all tournament I’d felt some pressure,” McNamara said.
    The victory earned him a coveted gold ball as a USTA champion, which was “something I’d always wanted to have on my résumé.”
 It also brought a deluge of congratulatory phone calls, emails and texts, many of them from the Gulf Stream membership.
    “My members were awesome,” McNamara said. “Absolutely fantastic. They were very excited for me. And I was so thankful to Roger, who was the one who had motivated me to have a crack at it.”
    Now ranked No. 15 in the 40-45 age group, McNamara, who has since gone north to his summer job in Martha’s Vineyard, plans to go for more titles, at the Grass Court championship in Philadelphia at the end of August and the Hardcourts in La Jolla, Calif., in late November.
    “I got so many calls and texts congratulating me, I didn’t realize it was that big a deal,” he said. “It was very humbling and very nice. So, it’s motivated me to keep going.”

At the Boca Raton Library downtown, children are treated to a special program on Friday afternoons.

Here, Bookworm Suzy Hammer of the Suzy Hammer Show entertains Maggie Dandrade

and other children.

Photo provided

Amber Prinkey, Palm Beach Zoo educational specialist, teaches children about the Florida pine snake

at the Highland Beach Library. The zoo brings live animals for interactive, educational programs

throughout Palm Beach County.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Janis Fontaine

    Local libraries kicked off their summer reading programs in June, but it’s not too late to join the fun. You might even win some prizes.
    The Collaborative Summer Library Program is designed to keep kids reading through the summer. By sharing ideas and materials and working together, libraries get low-cost posters and promotional materials as well as reading logs and achievement certificates for their programs. This year, the summer reading theme is “Build a Better World.”
    Staff members at local libraries brainstormed and came up with some great books, imaginative activities and prizes for kids who read.
    Each library’s programs are a little different. At the Boca Raton Public Library’s downtown and Spanish River locations, tweens and teens who meet their reading requirements are placed in weekly drawings for gift cards when they log their books online. Each Friday, kids are invited to a weekly summer reading rendezvous held at 3 p.m. The family friendly event features a short show — a magician, a special guest, or a balloon artist — and a chance to check in with other kids on their summer reading accomplishments.
    Most kids have summer reading lists from school, and the summer reading program give kids an added incentive to read. “They get a prize for doing something they have to do anyway,” youth program director Amanda Liebl said.
    The main reason summer reading is so important is the summer slide, and it’s not the kind you find on the playground. Learning experts estimate students can lose as much as two months’ worth of learning over the summer if they don’t practice their reading and comprehension skills.  
    “The summer slide is real,” Liebl said. “You need to offer encouragement to keep their skills up.”
    Parents can help their children become happy readers, Liebl said, by offering them books about subjects they are already interested in or choosing books with familiar characters parents know they like. “Parents should share the books they loved as a child with their children, and set aside time for reading,” Liebl said.
    Parents who read are more likely to have kids who read.
    Liebl says her two boys, age 4 and 7, “are both into silly books. If there’s burping in it, they love that.” The “Captain Underpants” books by American author and illustrator Dav Pilkey are popular with boys that age, and the first Captain Underpants movie, in theaters now, is sure to increase Pilkey’s popularity with the pre-teens.
    Also popular are books by The Office actor-turned-author B.J. Novak, Liebl said. His first offering, The Book with No Pictures, became a bedtime story favorite. For more serious readers, the “I Survived” series, true stories about amazing and harrowing acts of survival, by Lauren Tarshis, also is popular, Liebl said.
    Libraries are devoting more space to kids, and all that shushing is a thing of the past. “We want the kids to be relaxed, to have fun,” Liebl said. “We have a huge selection of books for kids and our library is organized by reading levels to make it easy to find the right book.”
    Kids who need extra practice reading, especially if they’re apprehensive about reading out loud, often excel in the Tail Waggin’ Tutor program where they read aloud to certified therapy dogs, Liebl said. About 10 dogs participate in the program, and kids do need to sign up in advance.
     Liebl said the library has added new classes and activities geared to middle and high school students, including the Maker Lab classes where kids learn about robots and computer coding in a hands-on environment. These weekly classes are made possible by the Friends of the Boca Raton Public Library.

In Delray Beach
    The Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Charities, along with the city of Delray Beach Education Advisory Board, have jumped on the summer reading crusade in a big way.
    Suzanne Spencer, vice chair of education for the chamber, is leading the charge to face down the summer slide with a campaign she calls “our social media bucket challenge.”
    The idea of the Read, Rhythm and Rhyme Challenge is to encourage grown-ups to take video of themselves reading or talking about a favorite children’s book, then challenge their friends to get involved. Adults can read with their own children, grandkids, friends of the family or the neighbors’ kids.
    The adults select a favorite book and come up with a short poem, rap, song or other creative way to express their love of the book.    
    They each make a 30- to 90-second video and post it on Facebook with the hashtag #DelrayReadingChallenge. Then adults challenge three of friends to make videos as well.
    Folks who are challenged but don’t want to make a video are asked to make a cash donation instead.
    For more information, visit www.mydelraybeach.com/transparency/read_rhythm_and_rhyme_challenge.php.

What else is going on
at our local libraries
Boca Raton
    For a full listing of summer classes and activities, pick up a Summer Reading brochure at either library, call 393-7852 or visit www.myboca.us/957/Library
    Downtown Library: 400 NW Second Ave. Spanish River Library: 1501 Spanish River Blvd.  Youth Services at ysstaff@myboca.us or call 393-7968 (Downtown) or 544-8584 (Spanish River).
    Summer Reading Age 8 And Younger: The program continues through the end of July with a winner of a new super prize chosen each week. Kids can log their books online, but it’s not required to win. July’s prizes are Finger Puppet Bees “BEE Safe on the 4th!” (July 4); Squirty Tools (July 10); Pixel Sunglasses (July 17) and Grab Bag with lots of choices (July 24).
    Summer Reading for Teens and Tweens: Log your summer reading books with a review of 20 or more words to be eligible for weekly raffle drawings. The numbers in parentheses are the minimum number of books that must be logged (reviewed) to be eligible for the prize.
    The more books you review, the more chances you have to win. Winners are chosen by random drawing. Upcoming prizes include: $15 Whole Foods (3); $15 Cinemark (3); $20 Planet Air Sports (4); $20 Barnes & Noble (4); $50 Visa (5).
    Friday Afternoons at 3: Gather at the library (either branch) for an afternoon show, games and fun.

New teen programming:
    Summer Explorers: 6:30-7:30 p.m. Mondays. July 3: Learn how to build a solar oven using a pizza box and other simple materials. July 10: Comics Pixton. Learn hands-on how to tell a story through comics using the Pixton program. Enrollment required. Downtown.
    Summer Bunch: 4:30-5:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Spanish River. Enrollment usually required.
    July 5: Screening the anime movie Spirited Away (PG). No enrollment required but space is limited.
    July 12: Get slimed at this make-your-own slime lesson.
    July 19: Perler Beads.
    July 26: End of Summer Ice Cream Party

Delray Beach
    100 W Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach. 266-0194; www.delraylibrary.org
    Earn community service hours by volunteering at the library. Middle and high school kids are welcome to participate in the Teen Advisory Board. Practice leadership skills as a board officer, enhance computer skills as a digital reviewer or collaborator on marketing strategies and materials. If you love to write, a position as a writer or editor of the library’s newsletter might be for you.
    The library has a dedicated teen room for middle and high school kids, where they can read, study or just hang out. July programming for teens:
    BeTween the Lines: A Readers Club meets 4:30-6:30 p.m. July 18.
    The Anime Club meets 5:30-6:30 p.m. July 18.

Highland Beach
     3618 S. Ocean Blvd., Highland Beach. 278-5455; www.highlandbeach.us/departments/library
    The library offers books, DVDs, audio CDs and music for children of all ages. The Children’s Room has two computers with educational games and software.
Ongoing children’s programs (RSVP appreciated):
    Small Fry Story Time: 4 p.m. Tuesdays. For ages 4 and older. Listen to a story, sing a song, do a craft and make some new friends.
    Craft Time: Meets the first and third Thursdays of the month for ages 4 and older. A story and a craft.
    Baby Bookworm Story Time: 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays. Classic and new stories for ages 1-3.
    Bookworm Story Time: 10 a.m. Saturdays. Classic and new stories for ages 1-5.

Boynton Beach
    208 S. Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach.  742-6390; www.boyntonlibrary.org
    Building a Better World Reading Club 2017: Meets at 2:30 p.m. Mondays through July 31 in the Youth Services Room.
Programs for kids in grades 6 through 12:
    Teen Gaming: 5-6:30 p.m. July 5, 12, 19 and 26. Play board and videogames using a Wii, WiiU, PS3, PS4 or Xbox 360.  
    Teen Book Discussion: 6-7 p.m. July 6. Chat about the latest YA book.
    Teen Yoga: 3:30-4:30 p.m. July 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31. Angelina Lucia from Bindu Yoga Studio in West Palm Beach leads.
    No Filter Teen Group: 4:30-5:30 p.m. July 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31. Mr. Mike leads a discussion of topics chosen by the group each week. Snacks included.
    Unplugged: 3:30-4:30 p.m. July 11. Old school games.
    Teen Zumba fitness class: 4:30-5:30 p.m. July 11.
    Cut It: 3-5 p.m. July 25-26. Create your own skit, then act it out, record it and learn to edit it using iMovie.
    Brain Food: 5:30-7 p.m. July 25. Hands-on interactive, edible science experiments.

The Donald H. Miller Award for Highest Average/Ranking of the class of 2017 at Gulf Stream School

was presented to two recipients this year — Julie Moquin and Landon Brody. The award was shared

because Moquin’s and Brody’s averages were so close.

Head of School Joseph J.  Zaluski, left, made the presentations.

Photo provided

Dan Friedman of Delray Beach shows a yellowfin tuna caught on a sardine chunk by Capt. Mike Simko,

background, in Northwest Providence Channel south of Freeport, Bahamas.

Finding birds (red splotches) on radar is the key to finding schools of feeding tuna.

Cutting frozen sardines into thirds is standard procedure preparing to “chunk” for yellowfin tuna.

Chunks are tossed out one by one, creating a trail for the tuna to follow.

Photos by Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard

    Finding birds on radar is the key to finding schools of yellowfin tuna near Grand Bahama Island — an easy-to-reach destination for South Florida boaters when seas are calm.
    Feeding tuna leave scraps for small sea birds such as sooty terns that follow the schools around the surface of an otherwise nondescript ocean.
    Recognizable by their large wingspans and forked tails, frigate birds tend to circle high over pelagic fish in hopes that small baitfish, such as flying fish, will be pushed to the surface.
    The frigates tend to be the first birds that anglers spot soaring high in the sky when they look for schools of yellowfin tuna in Northwest Providence Channel south of Grand Bahama Island. Flocks of smaller birds often congregate under frigate birds.
    Capt. Mike Simko, of North Palm Beach, led our small group of anglers to several yellowfin tuna during a Memorial Day boat trip to the Bahamas.
    We left Lake Worth Inlet aboard Simko’s 35-foot boat, the KiteKeeper, and arrived at midday to clear customs and immigration at the Sunrise Resort & Marina near Freeport.
    After securing our rooms for the night and eating lunch, we headed south into the deep, blue water of Northwest Providence Channel.
    Everyone watched the horizon, looking for birds, while Simko tweaked the radar on his boat to search for birds. Dan Friedman, of Delray Beach, stood in the bow, scanning the horizon with binoculars.
    It wasn’t long before birds appeared as small splotches on Simko’s radar screen. They appeared and disappeared as the flocks rose from the surface, then settled.
    As Simko ran the KiteKeeper toward the birds, we readied frozen sardines, which had been cut into thirds for chunking.
    When the boat neared the birds, we began to pitch out the sardine chunks, one by one. Simko slowed, then stopped his boat about 100 yards from the birds. A few tuna leapt from the water as they fed under the birds, which were working up and down over the surface as they followed the moving tuna.
    As we slowly pitched out sardine chunks, Simko and  anglers Dan Friedman, his son, Eric Friedman, of Boynton Beach, and Rush Rashidi, of North Palm Beach, set out lines rigged with live sardines and goggle-eyes — live bait we had brought from Palm Beach County.
    After a few minutes of chunking, Simko buried an extra-strong 8/0 circle hook into one of the sardine chunks, set the rod in the rod holder and slowly pulled off line so the hooked chunk would sink slowly just like those we had pitched overboard.
    Simko caught the first tuna of the afternoon on a conventional rod rigged with 80-pound-test braided line and 50-pound fluorocarbon leader. Yellowfin tuna are powerful fish. They test tackle and the strength of anglers.
    After moving several times and tossing out sardine chunks, Eric Friedman caught another substantial yellowfin on a live bait after a taxing fight using a spinning rod rigged with 50-pound-test braided line.
    Mission accomplished: We had a few nice tuna in the boat on same day we had left Palm Beach County.
    Sharks proved to be one of our biggest challenges. They cut the leaders during fights with several tunas, causing us to lose the beautiful, delicious yellowfins.
    After we spent the night at Sunrise Resort & Marina, Simko ran the KiteKeeper back to Northwest Providence Channel on the morning of May 30 to fish for a few hours before heading back to Florida.
    We boated a few more yellowfin tuna, but others were taken from us by sharks. We lost one to backlash on a reel that wasn’t adjusted correctly before the tuna hit.
    Several members of our group slept in bean-bag chairs on the deck of the KiteKeeper as Simko ran the boat back toward Florida. We spotted cargo ships and a Coast Guard cutter on the open ocean.
    Singer Island condos appeared on the horizon about 16 miles from Lake Worth Inlet. We ended our trip around 3:30 p.m. the day after we had left Florida, leaving us plenty of time to clean fish and organize our gear before heading home.

Florida boaters planning a fishing trip to the Bahamas
    Visiting boaters must clear customs and immigration at the nearest port of entry. Boaters must fly the yellow quarantine flag and notify customs when they arrive. Only the captain should leave the boat until it has been cleared. Everyone on board must present a passport and complete an immigration card.
    Boats up to 35 feet must pay $150 for a Bahamas cruising and fishing permit. (For boats over 35 feet, the fee is $300.) The permit is good for two trips within 90 days. (For details, search the Internet for a copy of the Bahamas Boating & Fishing Guide or call the Bahamas Tourist Office at 954-236-9292.)
    When returning to Florida by boat, the boat captain must report the arrival to U.S. Customs and Border Protection by calling 800-432-1216. CBP offers local-boater options (through the Small Vessel Reporting System) that can speed up the check-in process.
    Anglers bringing tuna back to the United States should have an Atlantic HMS Angling Permit for the boat, available online from NOAA Fisheries. Only one day’s catch should be onboard. (That’s three yellowfin tuna per person.)
    Tuna must be intact so they can be measured. The minimum size for yellowfin tuna is 27 inches curved-fork length, measured from the tip of the upper jaw along the curve of the body to the fork of the tail.

Two-day sport lobster season set for late July
    This year’s two-day sport lobster season for spiny lobster is July 26-27.
    A saltwater fishing license and lobster permit are required unless you’re exempt.
    The daily mini-season bag limit is 12 lobsters — except in Monroe County and Biscayne National Park, where the daily sport-season limit is six.
    A lobster’s carapace, or head section, must measure more than 3 inches to be legal to keep. Divers must carry a lobster-measuring device and measure lobster under water.
    Egg-bearing lobster must be released.
    Red-and-white dive flags are required by law.
    Boaters must stay 300 feet away from dive flags on the open ocean and 100 feet away in inlets, rivers and navigation channels. Those approaching closer should do so at idle speed.
    The regular spiny lobster season opens Aug. 6.
    For details, go to www.myfwc.com. (Click on saltwater fishing, recreational regulations and lobster.)
Coming events
    July 8: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Fee $35 for adults or $20 ages 12 to 19. Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600 or email fso-pe@cgauxboca.org.
    July 8: Big Dog, Fat Cat KDW fishing tournament based at Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores. Captain’s meeting 7 p.m. July 7 at Sailfish Marina. Entry fee $200 per boat through July 2 or $250 thereafter. Call 315-3722 or visit www.bigdogfatcat.org.
    July 15: Full moon wahoo tournament, the second of three summer wahoo events organized by the West Palm Beach Fishing Club. Entry fee $60 per team. At least one team member must be a West Palm Beach Fishing Club member. Call 832-6780 or go to www.WestPalmBeachFishingClub.org.
    July 22: Boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the classroom building next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $20. Discounts for ages 14 to 18 and for family groups. Register at the door. Call 704-7440.

Tip of the month
    Boats carry hazardous products that should not be disposed of in residential garbage cans.
    Outdated emergency flares, spent fire extinguishers and old batteries, for example, should be taken to one of the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority’s Home Chemical and Recycling Centers.
    Unwanted fuel, oil and boat cleaning products also should be taken to an SWA facility. Disposal is free for Palm Beach County residents.
    The SWA’s home chemical drop-off locations include:
    • The Central County Transfer Station, at 1810 Lantana Road. It’s open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and from 7 a.m. until noon on Saturdays.
    • The East South County Transfer Station, at 1901 SW Fourth Ave. in Delray Beach. It’s open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
    For details, call 697-2700 or visit www.swa.org.

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

By Steve Plunkett

A four-year saga over public records that included demands for hundreds of documents and caused Gulf Stream to raise property taxes 40 percent is half-over.

Resident Chris O'Hare and the town agreed June 9 to settle all legal differences.

"This was a total attack on any government as we know it, any legal system as we know it," said Robert Sweetapple, Gulf Stream's outside lawyer.

Still unresolved are multiple cases regarding similar requests town resident Martin O'Boyle filed.

The releases O'Hare and the town signed call for the dismissal of 36 lawsuits and appeals O'Hare filed and the withdrawal of all public records requests, Sweetapple said.

There is also a clause preventing O'Hare from winning legal fees in future disputes.

"What that would do would be to de-incentivize any further litigation over public records. There would be no fee entitlement based on this waiver," Sweetapple said.

O'Hare could not immediately be reached for comment.

Gulf Stream maintained that O'Hare filed expansive requests in hopes that the town could not timely respond and thus run afoul of the state's public records law. In one case last month, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Thomas Barkdull III found that O’Hare "intended to harass and intimidate the town’s employees to generate litigation and fees with ‘gotcha’ type requests.”

Neither side will pay the other's legal expenses.

Mayor Scott Morgan, who ran for office promising to mount an aggressive defense against O'Hare's lawsuits, was elated with the settlement.

"This essentially brings to a conclusion nearly four years of public records abuse and litigation from Mr. O'Hare. It is a testament to the determination of this town not to voluntarily pay out in response to extortion demands," Morgan said.

How a tragedy sparked the move to build

what is now Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Boca Raton Regional Hospital today.

Gloria Drummond at the 1965 groundbreaking for the hospital.

By Sallie James

    The horrific poisoning deaths of two children and the absence of a local medical center became the impetus for the “Miracle on Meadows Road.”
    Boca Raton Regional Hospital sprang from the dreams of a grieving mother and the close-knit community that rallied to her side. As the sprawling 400-bed hospital celebrates its 50th birthday this year, the volunteers, physicians and staff recall the facility’s humble beginnings and how it grew into a community bedrock.
    “The hospital rose out of tragedy. The town was small and the thing that was particularly impressive to me was how supportive all the people were of the effort to build a hospital,” recalled Dr. A.J. Peterson, 86, one of the first doctors on staff when the facility opened in 1967.

Dr. A.J. Peterson was one of the first physicians at Boca Raton Community Hospital.

With him is his daughter-in-law, Leigh Peterson, now a charge nurse at the hospital.

The painting behind the Petersons is of the Drummond children, Debra Ann, Robert, James Randall and Robyn.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    The theme of the hospital’s 50th anniversary is “Keeping the Promise,” referring to the commitment Gloria Drummond made in the early 1960s when there was no hospital nearby and she lost two of her children. It’s a theme that has carried through the years, said hospital CEO Jerry Fedele, who came to Boca Raton Regional Hospital in 2008 and plans to retire next year.
    “We are really the sweet spot of medicine. We are big enough to provide the best care but small enough to still have that community atmosphere,” Fedele said.
    U.S. News & World Report named the hospital the top-ranked medical facility in Palm Beach County for 2016-2017, and Becker’s Hospital Review called it one of “150 top places to work in health care” in 2017.
    But part of the hospital’s value to the community lies in its close ties to Boca Raton’s beginnings.
    The hospital’s inspiration is rooted in the events of April 21, 1962, when Debra Ann Drummond, 9, and her brother James Randall Drummond, 3, died after drinking poison disguised as milk placed in their refrigerator by a neighbor boy, 11. The closest medical center was Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach.
    Their parents, Gloria and James Drummond, wondered if a local hospital would have made a difference. The push for a local hospital was on.
    Determined to make sense of the horrendous loss, Boca Raton residents established the Debbie-Rand Foundation Inc. and the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League Inc. with the purpose of raising money for a future hospital.
    The town had about 10,000 residents and a group of volunteers with a mission.
    Today, the hospital has grown into a regional treatment complex with 2,800 employees, 1,200 volunteers and approximately 800 doctors on staff. The Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League has provided more than $31 million to the hospital since its formation in 1962 — the result of community support, philanthropy and love, organizers say.

Remembering the early years
    According to Peterson, the Drummond family had spent a lazy Easter Sunday fishing on their boat. When they returned home, the children went to the refrigerator, drank the tainted milk and became mortally ill.
    They never made it to the doctors.
    “A neighborhood boy had put some arsenic in the milk and … they passed before they could get [care at] Bethesda Hospital. The thought from their parents was perhaps if there had been a hospital closer, they could have saved their lives,” Peterson said. “That was the drive to get the hospital.”
    At the time, Meadows Road, where the hospital is located, was vacant land. Nearby was the Old Floresta housing development, originally constructed for the employees of the Mizner Development Corp. To the north was the old Air Force base, closed at the time and now the home of Florida Atlantic University.
    It was a perfect setting with plenty of space to grow a complex that would someday save lives.
    Groundbreaking for the hospital’s first phase was in November 1965. The hospital opened on July 17, 1967, with 104 beds.
    Before then, Peterson and other doctors did much traveling to treat patients.
    “In those days, we were on the staff at Bethesda Hospital … so that is where the patients went. You made rounds about 10-12 miles away and you would be on call for the emergency room about every three or four weeks,” Peterson recalled.
    Peterson’s past is closely linked with the present: His daughter-in-law, Leigh Peterson, is a charge nurse who supervises the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit and labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum center, named the Toppel Family Place. She has worked at the hospital 11 years.
    “It is a great place to work. That is kind of their motto. I have seen administrations really make strides in the last several years to make sure we increased the quality of care we are giving to patients that are there to ensure we are taking care of people really well,” Leigh Peterson said.
    Boca Raton resident and volunteer Joan Wargo, 87, began raising money for the hospital 50 years ago and never stopped. She will receive a pin to mark an astounding 35,000 hours of volunteer service later this month.
    Wargo began volunteering years ago because she knew organizers could use her help.
    “It was perfectly evident they needed a women’s group to raise money,” she chuckled.
    Wargo is a charter member of the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League, founded in 1962 as the hospital’s fundraising arm. Her decades of devotion are a tribute to the hospital’s deep community ties.
    The former nurse recalled how the Drummond family requested donations be collected for a new hospital in lieu of flowers after their children died. The hospital’s supporters and volunteers took that request to heart. The seed money they collected eventually morphed into millions.
    Wargo’s corps of volunteers organized bake sales, fashion shows, opened a thrift shop, planned fiestas with Spanish music and piñatas, organized boat parades and planned formal balls to stir interest in the fledgling hospital.
    And when the hospital opened, Wargo trained volunteers to deliver food trays, run the information desk, operate the gift shop and snack bar, and handle just about anything else that came up and needed to be done.
    Volunteers were “wherever we were needed, but you had to be trained,” Wargo said.
    The key to the hospital’s success has always been its patient care, she added.
    “The patient always comes first and you always have the best nursing care,” Wargo said proudly. “But the equipment the hospital has been able to afford through our great donors is unreal, especially in the cancer center. It’s all technology.
    “I’m glad it turned out like it did. It was a lot of work but you get more out of it than you give,” Wargo said.
    A.J. Peterson agreed.
    “The care at the hospital was remarkably good. It was just as good as Bethesda. [We] had an intensive care unit and general surgery. There was no [obstetrics/gynecology] service at the time, but the internal medicine and general surgery were on par with other hospitals in the area,” Peterson recalled.

Paramedic service came next
    However, the local ambulance service provided little more than a ride.
    “Paramedics didn’t exist in those days. You could call an ambulance but there was no rapid medical care. A lot of [patients] died before the ambulance got there. It was certainly not the ambulance service we have today,” Peterson recalled.
    A group of doctors, including Peterson, went to the City Council back in the early ’70s to discuss the need for rapid care service in the growing town. The Fire-Rescue Department was formed in 1974.
    Today, the city has 250 firefighter/paramedics who work around-the-clock out of eight stations equipped with a combination of six rescue trucks and eight fire trucks.
    Firefighter/paramedics are trained to perform everything from bandaging cuts to advanced emergency care and dispensing medications for patients in cardiac arrest, said Boca Fire-Rescue spokesman Bob Lemons.

New direction in recent years
    In 2010, the hospital administration initiated a push to broaden hospital services and heighten the medical facility’s profile.
    “We were a very good community hospital but our reach was very geographic,” explained CEO Fedele. “We changed the name from Boca Raton Community Hospital to Boca Raton Regional Hospital, but it was really more of a change in strategic direction. We added academics and residency teaching programs to teach young physicians both medicine and surgery with our partner at FAU, and we invested heavily in clinical program development.”

The hospital has had a building boom in the past 11 years: The Lynn Women’s Health

& Wellness Institute (above) and The Marcus Neuroscience Institute (below).

Photos provided    Today, the hospital is home to the Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute, the Lynn Women’s Health and Wellness Institute, the Marcus Neuroscience Institute, the Wold Family Center for Emergency Medicine, the Barbara C. Gutin Center for Robotic Surgery and the Gloria Drummond Physical Rehabilitation Institute.
    The hospital added the first hybrid operating room in South Florida, combining the most sophisticated technology in imaging and in operating rooms, and the first flash CT imaging machine that takes a full body scan in just seconds.
    The impressive $150 million of investment came primarily from community donations, Fedele noted.
    “We have grown tremendously because of that. We now draw patients from a much broader area,” Fedele said.
    Despite the booming growth, the character of the hospital has remained intact.
    “As much as we focused on investment and getting bigger, the purpose was never to step away from the community. Because we are so community-oriented, the philanthropy comes primarily from the Boca Raton community,” Fedele explained.
    “I’ve been in health care more than 30 years and I have never seen a feeling of community ownership anywhere in the country like we have here.”
    People such as Pat Thomas, 77, a volunteer who joined the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League in 1983 and is still active today, help the community connection live on.
    Thomas has served as president of the volunteers several times, is a trustee on the hospital board and a volunteer on the hospital foundation board. She chairs the Community Outreach Committee, which does the grant funding for different charitable organizations in the community.
    She was a close friend of Gloria Drummond, who died in 2011, at 81. James Drummond, 58, died in 1989 at the hospital he helped found.
    Thomas took Gloria Drummond’s cause to heart. She remembers Drummond’s pervasive sadness about the loss of her children and her determination to make a difference.
    “Along the way, she realized how much good has come from it. People from everywhere would send her letters thanking her for pursuing that hospital. Maybe one of their relatives had been saved,” Thomas recalled. “Now we are 50 years old and we have grown beyond any expectation. I only wish she was here to celebrate with us.”

If You Go
What: The Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum has a display called “Miracle on Meadows Road: Boca Raton Regional Hospital at 50”
When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, through Sept. 30
Where: 71 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton
Admission: Adults $5, students $3, museum members free, guided tour $8
Information: 395-6766

Supporters gather for a photograph during construction of the new hospital.

Photo courtesy of Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Hospital’s historical highlights

Spring 1962: Drummond children poisoned; Boca Raton residents decide the area needs a hospital nearby.
Sept. 21, 1962: Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League is incorporated.
Sept. 25, 1962: Debbie-Rand Foundation is incorporated.
April 6, 1963: First fundraiser, Polo Ball (April Showers)
June 1964: Frank J. Dawson hired as administrator.
Summer 1965: Administration building built.
Nov. 28, 1965: Groundbreaking for hospital construction.
July 17, 1967: Hospital opens with 104 beds, admits first patient.
1971: Second construction phase completed; hospital expanded to 250 beds.
June 1977: Third construction phase completed; hospital expanded to 344 beds.
1982: Hospital expanded to 400 beds.
January 1985: 10-bed surgical intensive care unit opens.
May 1987: Expanded/renovated emergency room completed.
November 1990: Women’s Center opens.
Dec. 23, 1991: Groundbreaking for Lynn Regional Cancer Center.
July 17, 1992: Hospital celebrates 25th anniversary.
Sept. 4, 1993: New OB unit opens (One Family Place).
November 1996: Board of Trustees offers hospital for sale.
December 1996: Board of Trustees takes hospital off the market after lawsuit is filed.
July 17, 1997: Hospital celebrates 30th anniversary.
December 1997: Board announces hospital is not for sale and will remain not-for-profit, community hospital.
January 1999: Level II neonatal intensive care unit opens.
June 1999: New pediatric unit opens.
Sept. 15, 2006: Grand opening of Christine E. Lynn Heart Institute.
Nov. 17, 2008: Harvey and Phyllis Sandler Pavilion of Eugene M. and Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute opens.
Aug. 20, 2010: Hospital changes name to Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
January 2013: Wold Family Center for Emergency Medicine opens.
January 2015: Marcus Neuroscience Institute opens.
July 2015: Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute opens.
July 17, 2017: Hospital’s 50th anniversary.

SOURCE: Boca Raton Regional Hospital

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Following the sweeping November victory of a citizen initiative to reserve all city-owned land on the Intracoastal Waterway for public uses, the City Council has introduced an ordinance to change the Wildflower parcel’s land use and zoning.
    The referendum, which voters approved by a 2-1 margin, limits use of such land to “public recreation, public boating access, public streets, and city storm water uses only.” City staff initiated the land-use and zoning changes as a result.
    “I recommend that the City Council introduce and thereafter approve the accompanying city-initiated ordinance amending the future land-use map of the comprehensive plan from C to PR for the subject property,” City Manager Leif Ahnell wrote council members for their May 23 meeting. “Concurrent with this proposed request is a city-initiated rezoning of the amendment site from Local Business (B-1) to Public Land (PL).”
    C is the comprehensive plan’s label for commercial land, while PR is for recreation and open space.
    Meanwhile, a group led by a former Chamber of Commerce president dropped its challenge to the referendum. ForBoca.org first filed a lawsuit to upend the initiative, then said it would complain to a hearing officer.
    “ForBoca.org has decided not to pursue an administrative hearing,” Gerald Richman, its attorney, said May 23.
    This is the second time in less than a year council members altered the designations for the vacant land at 551 E. Palmetto Park Road, which Boca Raton bought in 2009 for $7.5 million. In July, they changed part of the parcel from residential to commercial to accommodate a long-planned restaurant.
    The Nov. 8 vote derailed that idea. The city now is planning a passive park for the site.
    In other business:
    • Council members gave city staff the go-ahead May 9 to draw up an interlocal agreement to issue up to $24 million in municipal bonds that would allow the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District to buy the 214-acre Ocean Breeze golf course.
    Before finalizing the deal, however, Mayor Susan Haynie said she wants to know how much Palm Beach County paid to build its very profitable Osprey Point golf course.
    At a joint meeting of the Beach & Park District with the council May 8, Arthur Koski, the district’s executive director, said $24 million “may seem like a lot of money, and it is.”
    “What I can assure you is that in 20 years it will seem like a bargain,” Koski said.
    • The council approved hiring Applied Technology and Management Inc. to develop architectural plans for the restoration of Lake Wyman and Rutherford parks.
    • It also gave the Florida Inland Navigation District an ingress agreement to a FIND spoil area inside Spanish River Park in exchange for a 25-year lease of FIND’s spoil island in the Intracoastal just east of Lake Wyman.
    Boca Raton will pay $100 a year in rent.

Families enjoy the Children’s Science Playground at Sugar Sand Park in Boca Raton on May 26.

The playground had more than 54,000 visitors in April.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett
    
    The construction crew refurbishing the Children’s Science Playground at Sugar Sand Park ran up a $540,000 bill for extra work in the six weeks before the facility opened.
    The bill, presented at the May 22 meeting of the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District board, came after district commissioners paid an additional $439,000 on Feb. 21 thinking it was the last bill for the project. The playground reopened March 25.
    “I’m a little bit surprised to have a change order on top of all the change orders, all the things that changed before. … I’m just baffled by the whole thing,” Commissioner Craig Ehrnst said.
    “Isn’t there something that can be put in [a contract] that protects us from overages over like 20 percent of the cost of the project?” Commissioner Erin Wright asked.
    The district had expected to pay $2.1 million renovating the playground, which was built mostly by community volunteers more than 20 years ago. Instead, the final tab is closer to $3.2 million.
    Arthur Koski, the district’s executive director, attributed the overrun to the fact that commissioners hired a structural engineer as a “special inspector” to monitor the work since building the park facility was far different from building a house.
    “He made changes or directives on the day of opening. He saw things that needed to be correct,” Koski said.
    As an example, the inspector required the near-last-minute addition of 600 extra bolts, bracing and screening to the multilevel structure for safety.
    “We had to be safe, and the special inspector was putting his reputation on the line,” Koski said.
    Also, the original structure was built without obtaining a building permit and some things were in unusual places.
    “There was a huge electrical service box that was discovered when they were laying out the parking-lot sidewalks … underneath some grass and mulch, and that was the service for the whole park. That had to be relocated,” said Mike Fichera, the district’s contract administrator.
    Still, commissioners were upset, in part to hear about the extra work long after the playground’s grand reopening.
    “This expense, it’s a very tough pill to swallow, especially since the playground’s been open now for two months approximately and we’re just hearing about it,” District Vice Chairman Steve Engel said. “From the time the first shovel was turned, there have been discoveries — discoveries of bad posts, discoveries of bad bolts and so on down the line.”
    The 50 percent cost overrun comes at a delicate time for the district, which is negotiating to buy the now-closed Ocean Breeze golf course in the north end of the city for $24 million. Critics of the deal say the price is too high. Mayor Susan Haynie has asked for more financial details.  Fichera assured beach and park commissioners he had gone through every item on NuJak Construction’s change order to ensure they were not being asked to pay for anything twice.
    “I went through every one of the receipts,” Fichera said.
    Commissioners paid the bill at a May 30 meeting after questioning Clifford Moore, vice president of Broward County-based NuJak.
    “Everything that was submitted after that [February change order] was above and beyond what we were asked to do,” Moore said.
Engineer Claudio Lapilli, the special inspector, told commissioners that next time, they should “bring the bulldozers first, with a brand-new design you can fully understand, complete with all the nuts, every bolt accounted for.”
    The playground, which features hands-on, scientific experiences such as a space station, a giant head and DNA-coded walkways, is turning out to be wildly popular. More than 54,000 people visited it during April, its first full month of being opened.
    All levels of the now all-inclusive playground are designed to accommodate wheelchairs and baby strollers; the ground is covered with a rubberized mat instead of the mulch it had before.
    The structure was closed in June 2015 for safety concerns. Construction did not begin until March 2016 after district commissioners threw out a first round of bids, saying they were too high. A planned reopening in mid-November was pushed back several times as NuJak encountered unforeseen conditions.

By Mary Hladky

    City Council members are leaning toward an on-demand ride service as an alternative transportation option that would lessen downtown traffic congestion by getting people out of their cars.
    At a meeting May 8, they backed away from creating fixed-route trolleys, instead preferring something like the Downtowner, which ceased operating in Boca Raton at the end of December. Under that system, people wanting a free ride would summon an electric vehicle via a mobile app.
    Council members, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency board, made no final decisions on what type of service will be offered. But they are moving forward with a request for proposals from private companies.
    City officials also plan to contact downtown business owners soon about what types of service they think would work best, hoping the businesses will financially support a transit program.
    Mayor Susan Haynie and several other council members said they want a service up and running as soon as possible, and some expressed frustration that the city’s request-for-proposals process is so lengthy. It likely will be a year before an alternative transportation option is operating.
    “I think this is very important, essential,” council member Robert Weinroth said. “But I am concerned if we don’t get the input from the downtown residents and businesses, we may be building something we think is great but they may not think is meeting their needs.”
    When they first started discussing transportation options in December, council members indicated their preferred option was a trolley system that would circulate through downtown and make pickups every 10 minutes.
    But cost estimates prepared by city staff have dissuaded them, at least for now.
    Downtown Manager Ruby Childers estimated in February that a trolley system would cost $3.2 million for the trolleys, signage and trolley stops. Annual operations would cost as much as $1.8 million.
    Council members didn’t want to spend that much and grew increasingly concerned that fixed-route trolleys would not attract enough riders.
    “I feel the trolley itself … is not the answer for us,” Haynie said at the May 8 meeting.
Council member Andrea O’Rourke said: “I think we should not think about trolleys now. It is not the answer to have big, empty trolleys. Electric cars seem to be the way we are going.”
    The envisioned route would have included City Hall, the downtown library, Mizner Park, Royal Palm Place, Camino Real and back to City Hall.
    O’Rourke asked that the route be expanded to the beach, so residents there could easily get downtown and tourists could get to the beach.
    But Haynie and Weinroth said it would be better to start with a limited downtown route and expand to the beach at a later date.
    While plans are moving ahead slowly, one alternative for people wanting to ditch their cars has started operating.
    Delray Beach Bike Club received Boca Raton approval to launch a pedicab service the first week of May, starting with six vehicles that can reach speeds of 20 miles per hour. More can be added if demand is strong, said President Patrick Halliday.
    Riders can summon a pedicab with a mobile app. The rides are free, underwritten by sponsor ads, but drivers accept tips. As of the beginning of the month, developer Investments Limited was advertising on the pedicabs, and Halliday was working to get more sponsors.
    He also was in the process of talking to officials of the Hyatt Place hotel at 100 E. Palmetto Park Road about making his pedicabs available near the hotel’s entrance.
    Halliday said he would start operating in Boynton Beach beginning this fall. He ran into a roadblock in Delray Beach in mid-April, when Police Chief Jeff Goldman questioned the safety of the pedicabs proposed to operate on East Atlantic Avenue.
    That concern is unfounded, Halliday said, and he is pursuing “other options” to offer service in Delray Beach.
    Two- or three-passenger pedicabs are a user-friendly mode of transport, he said. Drivers can suggest things to do, sights to see and restaurants to try.
    “I call them ambassadors for the city,” he said.

By Rich Pollack

    After months of lobbying by town officials and at least one persistent resident, Highland Beach’s efforts to improve pedestrian safety at crosswalks have prompted a Florida Department of Transportation decision to implement enhanced signals at one location along State Road A1A on a trial basis.
    After studying several potential options for improvements to mid-block crosswalks, FDOT officials agreed to install pedestrian crossing signs surrounded by yellow LED lights at a crosswalk near the southern end of town, in front of the Boca Highland Beach Club and Marina. The installation is expected to be done by the end of October.
    The new signs, which will be pedestrian-activated, will replace existing single flashing yellow lights and are expected to bring more attention to the presence of pedestrians in the crosswalk, said Thomas Miller, FDOT’s bike/pedestrian safety program specialist for the district that includes Palm Beach County.
    The improved signals will be done on a test basis, with an FDOT study measuring their effectiveness.
    “If the pilot location treatment is successful in changing driver behavior, FDOT will continue to investigate other locations where the enhanced treatment may be appropriate,” Miller said. “However, if the treatment is deemed not to be successful, FDOT will return the crossing at Boca Highland Beach Club to the current condition.”
    To determine success of the new signals, FDOT will measure pedestrian and motorist compliance prior to the installation of the lights and then again after they are in place.
    For Highland Beach resident John Boden, who has been pushing for improvements at crosswalks, the FDOT action is a step in the right direction.
    “I’m glad we’re still making progress toward improved pedestrian safety in Highland Beach,” he said.
    Boden, who spent months researching a variety of crosswalk safety options, said he believes the LED lights FDOT is installing will be very effective in alerting motorists that pedestrians want to cross.
    “The yellow flashing lights really jump off the sign and get your attention,” he said. “That’s why they’re so effective.”
    In addition to the improvements at the test site, FDOT plans to update pedestrian-crossing signage at other midblock crossings in town. Plans to restripe several crosswalks to make them more visible to motorists are also in the works.
    Miller said the expected completion date for the signage and striping is spring of next year.
FDOT began to consider the crosswalk issue earlier this year when it hired a consultant to do a road safety audit to determine if current signage was sufficient or needed improvement.
    “The road safety audit revealed a low level of pedestrian activity at the crossings during nighttime conditions, but did acknowledge perceived dark conditions throughout at night,” Miller said.

The plans for the 384-unit Mizner 200 condo complex have been through a few revisions.

Rendering provided

By Mary Hladky

    Nearly three years after a developer first proposed a luxury condominium now named Mizner 200, the city’s most controversial downtown project has gained approvals from two boards.
    The only hurdle remaining for the 384-unit condo is a July 24 vote of the City Council, sitting as Community Redevelopment Agency commissioners.
    The relief of developer Elad National Properties and architect GarciaStromberg /GS4Studios was palpable after the Community Appearance Board’s 5-2 vote in favor of the project May 16.
    “You do not know the joy that brought us, that that was the last thing we had to deal with,” GarciaStromberg CEO Jorge Garcia told Planning and Zoning Board members two days later, after explaining his agreement to make two minor design changes CAB members requested.
    Minutes later, the Planning and Zoning Board gave the project its blessing with a 5-1 vote.
    John Gore, president of BocaBeautiful.org which opposes the project, said his citizens group still thinks it is too massive.
    “We think it is the last nail in the coffin as far as downtown development is concerned, because if they can build a building like this — twisting the interpretation of 4035 — they can build anything,” he said, referring to the city ordinance that governs downtown development.
    Gore is far from conceding defeat, saying he always expected the two boards to recommend approval.
    Mizner 200 “is going to where the real battle is going to take place. That is the City Council,” he said.
    Downtown Boca Raton has experienced a surge of development recently, causing angst for many residents who decry what they see as the changing character of their city and the erosion of the city’s signature Addison Mizner architectural style.
    But while they blasted projects such as the mixed-use Mark at CityScape, at the southeast corner of Federal Highway and Palmetto Park Road, their most vehement opposition was aimed at Mizner 200.
    Elad stunned downtown residents in September 2014 when it unveiled plans for 500 luxury condos designed by “starchitect” Daniel Libeskind. The proposed project’s four towers rose as high as 30 stories, well exceeding downtown height limits.
    When that concept drew no support, Elad ditched Libeskind and hired GarciaStromberg. The West Palm Beach firm has since revised the project four times, with the last two iterations right in line with what the city allows.
    The project would replace Mizner on the Green’s 246 rental units on nearly 9 acres along Southeast Mizner Boulevard. The design changes cut square footage by 10 percent, decreased the average unit size, increased setbacks and added more green space.
    At nine stories, Mizner 200 meets the building height limit for that part of downtown. Two levels of parking will be underground and on the ground floor. Building materials will include smooth and textured stucco, stone accents, wood-look trellis and slate tile roof.
    The project is set back from the road to accommodate a promenade with covered walkways, trellised sitting zones, pocket parks and shade and palm trees.
    To overcome objections that the project is too massive, the architect divided Mizner 200 into three sections that allow views eastward to a golf course and the ocean. The central section will sit 170 feet back from Mizner Boulevard.
    Even so, objectors say Mizner 200, at more than 800 feet long, is still far too large.
    Many of its sharpest critics live in the Townsend Place condominium immediately to the south of the proposed project. They complain that Mizner 200 will sit so close to their condo’s north building that owners will lose eastward views and sunlight, reducing their property values.
    They have been joined by Investments Limited, a prominent city developer planning a makeover of its Royal Palm Place shopping and dining destination on the west side of Mizner Boulevard. Royal Palm Place also would lose views and its residential component would compete with Mizner 200.
    Opponents, wearing red-and-white “No Mizner 200” badges, jammed the CAB meeting.

“Townsend Place is against this project … as it is now constituted,” said Craig Sherman, the condo’s president. “It is too close to Townsend Place. Something with less buildings and less mass might serve the purpose …”

      Joel Cohen, another Townsend Place resident, described Mizner 200 as a “large monstrosity.”

      Robert Eisen, a land-use consultant with Investments Limited, said while the architect has made design improvements, the project is too big and violates the city’s urban design policy.

      “This one large building is contrary to the image and brand that has been developed in the downtown,” he said. “This building is just plainly too big …”

      The city’s urban design consultants, though, concluded that the project passed muster, as did the city’s planning staff.

      Calvin, Giordano & Associates concluded in January that Mizner 200 complied with city ordinance 4035 across the board. But after the city hired a new consultant, The Mellgren Planning Group, city officials asked that it, too, review the project.

      After initially determining that changes were needed, TMPG met with GarciaStromberg president Peter Stromberg, who outlined design revisions that already had been made. He also presented three-dimensional renderings and a digital model of the project that convinced TMPG the project complied with the ordinance.

      “The detail readily apparent in the graphically rich renderings demonstrated a careful attention to design quality and an understanding of the level of craft Addison Mizner incorporated into his works,” the consultant wrote in a memorandum to the city.

      Two CAB members wanted to withhold approval so the architect could revise Mizner 200 once again. But the majority voted in favor after the developer agreed to two changes — eliminating trellises on the north and south ends and putting shade trees along the street rather than palm trees. The architect warned, however, that the location of utility lines may not allow the location of shade trees and palms to be switched.

      Fewer project opponents attended the Planning and Zoning Board meeting on May 18, and seven residents stepped forward to support it.

      “Mizner 200 is a great improvement to what is there today …” said one resident. “I think this is a beautiful project.”

      The board asked few questions before voting its approval, with the condition that the developer add an element such as planters near the curb to help protect pedestrians on the promenade from fast moving cars.

      Mizner 200 is the last major project in the downtown awaiting a final decision by the CRA. Investments Limited has not yet submitted plans to the city for Royal Palm Place.

      Two approved projects — luxury condo Tower 155 and the Mandarin Oriental hotel and Residences at Mandarin Oriental — have yet to be completed.

      Very little land is available for more big projects, but the downtown will continue to evolve as landowners decide to redevelop what already exists.

By Rich Pollack

    Hampered by the need for Town Commission approval for many actions and by Florida’s Sunshine Law, members of Highland Beach’s Beaches and Shores Committee are asking that the group be dissolved as an official town board in order to reorganize it as an independent body.
    At a meeting last month, members agreed that the current structure limits the group’s ability to to have a substantial impact on beautification in the town and, in particular, on its beaches, according to Commissioner Elise Riesa, a former chair of the Beaches and Shores Committee.
    “This isn’t a negative; it’s a positive,” said Riesa, who met with committee members last month. “They felt that as a club they could do so much more.”
    Members, according to Riesa, believe that with the change they would no longer be bound by the town ordinance that established the committee and be able to enlist more people to help with beautification and beach cleanups. Currently, the group is limited to seven members.
    “As a club, it would mean that they could go beyond the limits of the original ordinance,” she said.
    Members of the committee — which is scheduled to meet quarterly but until the May meeting hadn’t met since December — also felt they can’t currently communicate with one another due to the Florida Sunshine Law, which limits private conversations among members of governmental bodies regarding issues that might come up for a vote.
    The group, Riesa said, felt that as a club they could be more proactive and transform into a more effective and active team focused on ensuring a healthy and safe environment for the town’s beaches and shores.
    Members are hopeful they would have more opportunity to organize monthly or weekly beach cleanups, communicate more effectively with residents and possibly host education seminars.
    Town commissioners are expected to vote this month on the committee’s recommendation to disband.
    If the proposal receives commission support, Beaches and Shores Committee members will take the lead in helping to form the club, Riesa said.
    “To have an active club working on beautifying the town together — that’s where we should be,” she said.

A least tern sits on eggs on the beach in Boca Raton.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission workers and Gumbo Limbo staff

make signs for a perimeter fence to deter beachgoers from walking on the nest.

The dappled color of the eggs is a good match for the sand on the beach.

Photos courtesy of David Anderson/Gumbo Limbo Nature Center

By Rich Pollack

    There was a glimmer of hope when a wildlife biologist spotted the first confirmed least tern nest in 25 years on Boca Raton’s beach in late April.
    The small, fish-eating shore bird, listed on Florida’s threatened species list, has had a rough go of it of late, with its nesting habitat along the shoreline disappearing due to development.
    So when two eggs appeared in the nest on the south end of Spanish River Park, biologists and others cordoned off the area to protect it from beachgoers who might inadvertently disturb it. They even put out a few decoy terns to encourage other pairs to nest.
    But then last month, the saga of Boca’s least terns took, well, a turn for the worse when an early morning inspection found an empty nest.
    The prime suspect in the egg thievery is a crow.
    “Those crows, they’re pretty smart,” said David Anderson, sea-turtle conservation coordinator at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.
    Anderson, who monitors sea turtle nests, came across the least tern nest while noticing a bit of tern activity.
    He also witnessed one member of the nesting pair of small yellow-beaked birds with black caps fighting off a crow while its mate sat on the nest.
    Anderson said the prognosis for the nest, little more than a small divot in the sand, was poor from the start because of the abundance of predators, including foxes and raccoons, as well other animals.
    Soon after the eggs vanished, Anderson and others noticed the small colony of least terns moving south to just north of the Boca Inlet. By late last month, the terns were gone from the beach.
    There may, however, be a happy ending to the story of the Boca Raton least terns, since these smart little birds have adapted to a loss of habitat by nesting on flat, gravel-covered rooftops common in South Florida.
    “The colony is gone from the beach but it could have moved to a rooftop in the area,” said Natasha Warraich, an assistant regional biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who was called in to cordon off the beach nest and help protect the nesting pair.
    For the terns, the rooftops may be a safe haven from small mammals and most human disturbances. They may also be a defense again rising sea levels and frequent strong storms.
    Anderson hopes that members of the least tern colony in Boca — one of the few remaining beach-nesting colonies in Florida — will return next year as they make their way from South America, where they migrate from our winters.
    In addition to the one in Boca Raton, least tern beach-nesting colonies have been spotted on Snook Island and Grassy Flats in the Lake Worth Lagoon, and on the shores of Palm Beach.
    “The last five years, we’ve seen a significant increase in tern activity,” Anderson said.

A photograph shows 107-year-old Eula Mae Johnson of Delray Beach as a young woman.

Eula Mae Johnson (seated) is surrounded by granddaughters Bernice Johnson,

Shannon Johnson and Naomi Palmer and daughter Ruthie.

Johnson’s voter registration card shows her birth date of Aug. 6, 1909.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

    Eula Mae Johnson has reached that awkward age where family members no longer put one candle on the cake for every year.
    The Delray Beach fire department would no doubt be relieved, because Eula Mae Johnson and Palm Beach County were born in the same year.
    On April 30, 1909, the county was officially created out of the northern chunk of Dade County. Johnson arrived on Aug. 6, 1909, in Bartow, Georgia.
    In 1923, when Delray Beach was incorporated, she was already 14.
    In 1935, when she arrived in Boca Raton to pick beans on Butts Farm, she was 26. Boca Raton was just turning 10. By the 1940s, she’d moved to Pearl City, Boca Raton’s black neighborhood.
    “She probably is the oldest person living today in Delray Beach,” Janet DeVries, an archivist, historian and author, concluded after searching the city’s census and marriage records.
    In 1969, when Eula Mae Johnson retired to Delray Beach after spending the 1950s and ’60s in Brooklyn, N.Y., you could still have a new home built on Lake Ida Road for $17,000. She still lives there, still has the same phone number after nearly a half-century, and still looks forward to every tomorrow.
    “I’ve been here a long time,” she says with a laugh, “and I feel fine. I don’t have any pain, thank God. The good Lord is looking down and keeping me.”
    Born the granddaughter of a slave, she left school in the seventh grade, rode wagons, picked beans, worked a mule plow, and married at 19.
    Her husband was not a good man. She remembers watching him sleep while she stood over the bed with an ax, considering. She left him instead, and married twice more. The second one died, and she left the third. Along the way, she started a dynasty.
    “I birthed 16 children into the world,” she says. “Seven sons and nine daughters. They were all pretty … pretty good.”
    Of those 16 children, 11 survived to adulthood, and seven are still living. She has 35 grandchildren, 65 great-grandchildren and 52 great-great-grandchildren.
    In March 2007, she became a great-great-great-grandmother for the first time, and a dozen more have arrived since then.
    Altogether she is the matriarch of 176 descendants, including two children younger than some of her grandchildren.
    Would she marry again?
    “I don’t intend to!” She grimaces. “What would I do with another husband?”
    Eula Mae Johnson is a rarity, and well on her way to becoming even rarer.
    In 2014, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the number of Americans 100 or older at 72,197, out of a total population of 317 million.
    In 2010, the most recent U.S. Census counted only 4,090 centenarians in Florida, out of a population of nearly 19 million.
    If she can hang on for three more years, Johnson will enter the truly rarefied ranks of the “supercentenarians,” those 110 or older. The Gerontology Research Group, which tracks U.S. centenarians and validates claims, has verified only six living supercentenarians as of May 14.
    Validating claims is a problem, the census takers acknowledge. Errors abound, and African-Americans of that age often have no birth certificates. Johnson has lost hers but does have Social Security and voter registration cards that attest to her birth date.
    Nowadays, she has slowed down but has no intention of stopping. Seated before a big-screen television, she watches Andy Griffith, Gunsmoke and Bonanza reruns on the Me-TV channel and remembers when a neighbor charged 25 cents to listen to her new radio.
    “It was amazing,” Johnson says. “You didn’t see anything like that at that time. And then we thought it was wonderful to have a TV.”
    She views the world with a satisfied smile, enjoys the small pleasures and tolerates the usual questions.
    “I’d have a drink, but I’m not a drinker,” she says. “I never smoked. And I eat whatever my taste calls for. That’s what I eat.”
    Ribs, collard greens, burgers, biscuits and syrup. She’s partial to butter pecan ice cream but no longer entertains macaroni and cheese. “Cheese will bind you up,” she insists.
    Her back yard was a Garden of Eden until the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 took the garden with them. She grew her own greens and sweet potatoes, cabbage, cantaloupe and on and on, and went fishing in between.
    She sees her doctor every three months and takes some pills for blood pressure and pre-diabetes but gave up on Centrum Silver, the multivitamin for older people.
    She’s been to Canada, Detroit and Las Vegas. Pressed to name another foreign country she’d like to see, she finally summons “England” but without much conviction.
    She admits to having once gotten a speeding ticket, for going 42 in a 25-mph zone. She was 92 at the time and quit driving three years later.
    “I just quit,” she says. “Nobody stopped me.”
    Age has made her mellow, you think. And then you make the mistake of asking if she enjoys an afternoon nap.
    “No!” she bristles. “I don’t take any nap in the daytime. I sleep at night. I can’t sleep in the day.”
    Across the room, her granddaughter Naomi Palmer smiles and mouths, “Yes, she does.”
    According to Palmer, her grandmother dozes off in the front of the TV, then vehemently insists that she hasn’t been sleeping when they wake her. Only old people nap, after all.
    In 1909, when Eula Mae Johnson was born, the U.S. president was William Howard Taft, who vowed in his inaugural address not to appoint any black Americans to federal office.
    On Oct. 23, 2012, when President Barack Obama brought his re-election campaign to the Delray Beach Tennis Center, she stood behind the line holding a sign that said “I’m 103,” and was hugged by America’s first black president.
    Did she ever expect to see that day? “Well, I didn’t know,” she says. “I expect to see most anything.”
    Maybe that is the glory of being 107. Not that you are surprised to see a black man elected president, twice, but that nothing surprises you anymore.
    She is still sharp, but there are moments. Sometimes she stands before the mirror and thinks she is seeing through it to the room beyond rather than a reflection.
    Not long ago, her granddaughters tried to discuss a living will.
    “You can make all the plans you want,” she reminded them. “But you might die before me.”
    On Mother’s Day, she went to church at Tree of Life Ministries, as always, then celebrated with a catered feast of chicken and broccoli, mashed potatoes, cabbage and corn on the cob.
    Finally, she endures that inevitable question.
    What have you learned from all these years?
    “I learned a whole lot,” she says. “Be kind to everybody. I read the Bible and pray every day.”
    What do you pray for?
    “I pray to live to see tomorrow.”
    She has talked for an hour or more, and you sense the time has come for her to not take another nap.
    Is there anything else she’d like to say?
    Eula Mae Johnson ponders the question a moment.
    “No,” she decides. “I think I’m about said out.”