Boynton Beach city employees work May 24 to repair a water main break that disrupted traffic at Ocean Avenue and A1A and forced the city to stop water service to about a dozen Ocean Ridge homes. They patched the pavement and put up a barricade until the road could be repaired. Photo provided by Tim Laflin

Ocean Ridge says Boynton hasn’t shared plan for dog beach

By Dan Moffett

Former Ocean Ridge Commissioner Ed Brookes said he got nowhere trying to persuade Boynton Beach to drop the idea of creating a dog beach at Oceanfront Park when he attended the city’s commission meeting in May. Brookes criticized town officials for not going to the meeting and voicing their opposition.
Town Manager Jamie Titcomb and Mayor James Bonfiglio said they can’t oppose what doesn’t exist. They’re waiting to hear what Boynton’s plan looks like. So far, the city hasn’t gone beyond discussion. Ocean Ridge’s ordinances prohibit dogs on the public beach at any time, and the Town Commission has steadfastly maintained that’s not going to change, no matter what Boynton Beach decides.

Resident offers possible bargain on license plate recognition cameras
Ocean Ridge resident Finbarr O’Carroll and Police Chief Hal Hutchins are working on a proposal for license plate recognition cameras that could save the town tens of thousands of dollars.
O’Carroll, a telecommunications executive with the Kerry Group, thinks he might be able to install a camera system as part of a test program for $13,000, roughly $200,000 less than retail estimates.
An enthusiastic Town Commission told Hutchins to work with O’Carroll and bring a proposal to the June meeting.

Let’s not get caught up in the minute differences of HB631.
Let’s simply look at its intent and why Karl Rove and Mike Huckabee want to control the land in front of their million-dollar mansions. They want to own the sand and not allow other people to use the beaches in front of them. They want to privatize the beaches for their own personal use. They feel entitled since they paid so much money for their homes.
I will gladly serve as the plaintiff against Palm Beach County for a courageous lawyer who wants to bring forth suit by forcing the county to stop paying with my tax dollars for the patrolling of these private beaches. Let the new owners pay for their private security to drive up and down the beach.
I want the county to stop using my tax dollars for anything related to the sand renourishment. After all it now belongs to the oceanfront homeowners; let them pay for it out of their pocket. Create a special taxing district to collect money from them for the expenditures of owning a beach.
The legal issue it raises is for police departments such as Ocean Ridge, which have patrolled the beaches and posted signs “No this and no that on the beach” when in fact Ocean Ridge PD has no jurisdiction over these beaches. They are either Florida state or private properties.
Yet another piece of legislation from this governor and his cronies giving public land to the 1 percent and letting the 99 percent pay for it.
And to those who argue nothing will change in the near future … this is the stepping stone to exactly what you fear it will do. It does not stop here; it simply laid the basis for what is to come.

Martin Wiescholek
Ocean Ridge

By Dan Moffett

Weeks of lingering rain in May have delayed construction and pushed back the opening of the new Publix store at Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar from early June to late July.
But the good news is all that rain will help a revised landscaping plan to take root and grow dozens more palm trees and even beds of graceful, flowing breeze grass and some lovely potted Crinum lilies.
The influx of areca palms behind the stores — 77 of them from Pahokee — comes in response to residents’ complaints about the 20-foot water tank workers installed on the plaza’s south side to raise water pressure enough to satisfy fire code requirements.
The plaza’s developer and landlord, Crossman & Co. and Kitson & Partners, believe the long row of 20- to 25-foot palms will go a long way toward concealing the tank from next-door neighbors at La Coquille Villas.
Mayor Keith Waters agrees. “I think it’s going to very adequately deal with this problem,” Waters said during the Town Commission meeting May 22.
The substitution of the Crinum lilies for pygmy date palms in the front planters and the addition of beds of breeze grass are aesthetic changes to the plan.
Last year, Kitson talked about a June 8 target date for the Publix grand opening. Vice Mayor Peter Isaac says the word from the landlord now is that the target opening is July 28, but that could easily slip into August should tropical rains continue.
In other business, after a spate of car thefts, commissioners in January unanimously approved a plan to expand the Police Department’s number of full-time sworn officers to 12. The expansion is proving more difficult than expected.
Chief Carmen Mattox said the town has “had two setbacks to obtaining full staffing.” One veteran officer has resigned, and Mattox said another was let go after he “failed to perform at an acceptable level” during the department’s field training program.
He said the town has nine full-time officers and three open full-time positions. Despite the staff shortage, Mattox says he is still able to keep three vehicles on patrol during night shifts.
Last year, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office donated a used 21-foot flat boat to Manalapan police for patrolling the Intracoastal Waterway, particularly the area around Bird Island at the Boynton Inlet. Waters said the boat patrols have drawn praise from residents.
“I’ve had a lot of good comments,” the mayor said. “People are glad to see that Manalapan is in the water.”

Former Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella confers with his lawyer Marc Shiner before his trial date was set for the week of Aug. 20. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett and Steve Plunkett

It could be close to the second anniversary of the shooting incident in his backyard before former Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella finally gets the day in court he says he’s wanted for so long.
On May 24, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Meenu Sasser scheduled Lucibella’s felony trial for the week of Aug. 20, adding three months to the delays and postponements that have dogged the case.
Both sides told Sasser that the trial itself is unlikely to move quickly.
Lucibella’s defense attorney, Marc Shiner, said he had a number of witnesses and experts to call, including one from out of state.
Assistant State Attorney Danielle Grundt told the judge the prosecution expects to need extra time to screen jurors. “We expect jury selection to take a little longer than usual because of the media attention on the case,” Grundt said.
Lucibella’s first trial date was set for April 10, 2017, but then was postponed three times before the end of the year after Shiner and Grundt said they needed more time to question dozens of witnesses who may be called to testify. Virtually every official in Ocean Ridge has been included on the potential witness list at one time or another.
In April, Shiner asked Sasser for another delay because of an injury, a torn calf muscle.
Lucibella is facing felony charges of battery on a police officer and resisting an officer with violence — as well as a misdemeanor count of using a firearm while under the influence of alcohol — stemming from the shooting incident at his oceanfront home on Oct. 22, 2016.
Responding to reports of gunshots, police found Lucibella and Ocean Ridge police Lt. Steven Wohlfiel on Lucibella’s patio. Police described the men as “obviously intoxicated” and found a .40-caliber Glock handgun at the scene. Both men denied firing the weapon.
A scuffle broke out between Lucibella and two responding officers, Richard Ermeri and Nubia Plesnik. The town subsequently fired Wohlfiel, and Plesnik sued Lucibella for injuries she said occurred during the altercation. Shiner has accused police of overreacting and using excessive force.
Lucibella, 64, has turned down a plea deal proposal from prosecutors, saying he wanted his “day in court” to clear his name.
Sasser, who this year transferred to the circuit’s criminal division from the civil side, is highly regarded by officers of the court. Last year, for the third year in a row, she received the top number of high marks from the 188 attorneys who participated in the Palm Beach County Bar Association’s evaluation of judges.
After the hearing, Lucibella said he could not predict whether the recent spate of school shootings might color jurors’ perceptions of people who own guns.
“It’s going to come out that it was a police officer that fired the weapon, not me. Does that help or hurt? Who can know?” he said.
“On the other hand, we’ve also seen a huge rise in reported police abuses and overreach,” Lucibella continued. “Will that taint the jury pool? Unknown.”
Despite the uncertainty of going to trial, Lucibella said he believes in the justice system.
“I’m confident, when a jury hears the facts, I’ll not be the party worrying about the future,” he said.

By Noreen Marcus

The court-appointed lawyer for double-murderer Duane Owen has promised to appeal a judge’s order that imperils Owen’s attempt to get off Florida’s Death Row.
Palm Beach Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley’s May 9 ruling does not move Owen any closer to turning his death sentence for the murder of 14-year-old Karen Slattery into a life sentence.
Kelley decided that no reasonable jury would have shown leniency toward Owen if the panel had been correctly instructed according to today’s standards. The heinous, atrocious and cruel nature — abbreviated in legal terms as HAC — of his crime was too well established, the judge found.
“While this court is not tasked with weighing the evidence of HAC, the court must determine based on the record whether a properly instructed jury would find beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of HAC in the killing of Karen Slattery. There is no doubt that a rational jury would so find,” he wrote.
Owen, 57, was convicted of two horrific murders in Palm Beach County two months apart and 34 years ago.
On March 24, 1984, he broke into the Delray Beach house where Slattery was babysitting. Owen stabbed her 18 times and raped her before escaping.
On May 28, 1984, he used a hammer to kill Georgianna Worden after breaking into her Boca Raton home. Worden, 38, a college instructor and mother of two, also was raped.
The next day Worden’s body was discovered and Owen was picked up elsewhere on a burglary charge. Police in Boca Raton and Delray Beach worked together to link him to the homicides.
Owen had already been convicted of killing Worden and sentenced to death when he was tried for killing Slattery. The jury recommended death with a 10-2 vote and the judge imposed the death penalty.
In recent years that 10-2 split verdict has become a problem for prosecutors. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled two years ago in Hurst vs. Florida that Florida’s capital sentencing process was unconstitutional because the judge — not the jury — effectively decided the convict’s fate.
Since then the Florida Supreme Court has applied the Hurst ruling to require resentencing in some newer cases, using June 24, 2002 (the date a related case, Ring vs. Arizona, was decided) as the cutoff. And now a unanimous jury verdict is required to impose the death penalty.
The Worden case was too old to qualify for resentencing under Hurst; the Slattery sentencing qualified.
Still undecided is whether a Hurst violation in a split-verdict case can be overcome by a finding of what is called harmless error. That was the basis for Kelley’s ruling, and experts say it’s likely to wind up in the Florida Supreme Court, and perhaps the U.S. Supreme Court, for a final determination.
Karen Gottlieb, co-director of the Florida Center for Capital Representation at Florida International University, is not involved in the Owen case, but she has been following it closely.
Gottlieb said she thinks all Florida Death Row inmates who qualify on the merits under Hurst should be resentenced.
“It’s just basically wrong to have a dividing line based on a particular date,” she said. “The Florida statute didn’t become unconstitutional on June 24, 2002. It’s the same statute it was before and the same statute it was after that date.
“It gets confusing when we look at the facts and say nobody wants him to avoid the death penalty,” Gottlieb said of Owen. “I think everyone should want him to have a constitutional death penalty proceeding. It comes back to the rule of law.”

The food court proposed a block from the nearly complete iPic in downtown Delray would have 30-some vendors on the ground floor and event space and parking above. Rendering provided

By Jan Norris and Jane Smith

If its plans are approved, the Menin Development Co. will bring the food hall trend to Delray Beach’s downtown.
The retail developer announced a proposal for the Delray City Market at the former Metropolitan condo site east of the railroad tracks on Southeast Third Avenue, saying it will complement the new iPic theater under construction a block east.
“The existing Metropolitan did not make sense economically,” said Marc Yavinsky, executive vice president of Menin Development.
In December, a Menin division paid $4.6 million for the acre site behind the SunTrust Bank building.
“We always wanted to do a food hall,” Yavinsky said. “Delray Beach has a thriving food and beverage culture. Food halls are the latest trend in dining, where a family can go, every person picks what they want and everyone sits down together to eat.”
Menin has hired Dennis Max, noted South Florida restaurateur, to help design and choose vendors for the hall. His name is reflected on Max’s Harvest in Pineapple Grove and he partnered in Max’s Social, a craft bar and grill on Federal Highway that was replaced by Death and Glory.
The four-story site will be on a scale comparable to Grand Central Market in Los Angeles and, to an extent, Quincy Market in Boston, both of which were researched for the Delray project, Max said.
The 120,000-square-foot building is being designed by Miami architect Jose Gonzales, who also is designing Menin’s Ray Hotel, a project recently approved for Pineapple Grove. Max also is working with Menin on the restaurants going into the hotel.
Delray City Market is “a perfect location and scenario,” Max said. “We have a keystone location in east Delray. We’re fully visible from the avenue.”
The first floor will be the food hall, featuring 30-plus vendors with spaces in the 600-square-foot range, all food- and drink-related, Max said. Seating will be strategically placed throughout, inside and outdoors.
A mezzanine open to the hall below is designed as an event space, with full demonstration kitchens and a bar, ideal for receptions and cooking classes, he said. Live entertainment will be set up there.
Meant for both locals and tourists, the food choices will offer something for everyone. Max, who has owned numerous acclaimed full-service restaurants, says it’s the way people are choosing to dine today and fits a modern lifestyle.
A mix of made-to-order counter service businesses and fresh food retailers — such as a butcher, cheesemonger, chocolatier, baker and produce seller — will be the vendor profiles, he said. The focus will be on locally owned foods and businesses, with no chains involved.
“It’s an incubator for young, emerging chefs,” Max said.
He noted that some of the hot restaurateurs on both East and West coasts have backgrounds as food truck owners who have gone through food halls and eventually opened brick-and-mortar spaces of their own.
Full bars will be set up; an on-site craft brewery also is planned.
The 200 parking spaces on the top three floors will benefit the food hall and help out businesses nearby, Max said. An enclosed rooftop garden growing vegetables, greens and herbs for the restaurants below is proposed.
Menin will submit a site plan package to Delray Beach by the end of June, Yavinsky said.
If plans are approved, the plan is to break ground in the fall.
“This will be a fresh new place for Delray,” Yavinsky said. “It’s a hot trend. It will be curated to be a destination place.”

The rainy season along Coconut Lane began with weather more fit for ducks than humans. Exacerbated by Subtropical Storm Alberto, rain totals the last weekend of May ranged from 2.19 inches in parts of Delray Beach to 8.80 inches in parts of Boynton Beach, according to the National Weather Service. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Dan Moffett

The Briny Breezes Town Council has narrowed the field of applicants for town attorney to four law firms and will hear presentations from the finalists during a special meeting on June 14.
Among the contenders is John Skrandel, who has held the position for the last five years, succeeding his father, Jerome F. Skrandel, who served Briny for 38 years after becoming its first town attorney in 1975. He died at 84 in 2013.
Despite the long relationship with the Skrandels, some residents and council members have complained that the town’s legal bills have risen too much in recent years. Last summer, the council decided to advertise the position and seek proposals from other providers.
The town heard from seven firms by December. One dropped out of the running recently. During a special meeting in May, the council eliminated two others, Bradley Biggs of Wellington and Weiss Serota of Coral Gables. Biggs, a solo practitioner like Skrandel, fell out of favor because some council members believe the town would be better off hiring a larger firm. The council rejected Weiss Serota as too pricey after it submitted a flat rate proposal of $4,000 a month.
The finalists are:
• Caldwell, Pacetti, Edwards, Schoech & Viator of West Palm Beach. The firm has represented the Indian Trail Improvement District, Northern Palm Beach County Improvement District and the town of Lake Clarke Shores. It proposed charging Briny $225 an hour.
• Davis & Ashton of West Palm Beach. Keith Davis, the firm’s principal, is town attorney for Manalapan. Other clients include Tequesta, Atlantis, Mangonia Park, Palm Beach Shores and Royal Palm Beach. The proposed fee to Briny Breezes was about $170 an hour or $2,500 a month flat rate.
• Nason, Yeager, Gerson, White & Lioce of Palm Beach Gardens. The firm has represented Riviera Beach, Port St. Lucie and municipal clients in Martin County. The proposed rate for Briny Breezes is $180 an hour or a $2,500 a month flat fee.
• Skrandel proposed continuing to charge Briny $185 an hour. The town is his only municipal client, and he has been philosophical about the council’s opening his position to other applicants: “It’s something lawyers go through from time to time.”
During the June special meeting that begins at 2 p.m., each firm will have a half-hour to make a presentation and answer questions. The council will have some added leverage as it considers its options.
Council President Sue Thaler says that Briny’s legal bills have been steadily falling this year, coming in roughly between $600 and $800 per month, compared with some as high as $3,000 to $4,000 last year. The reason? Hiring Dale Sugerman as the town’s first manager in January. Thaler said Sugerman has been doing the administrative work that would have gone to Skrandel in previous years, and so the new position is saving money.
“The fact that legal fees decreased substantially validates our belief that he would do a lot that we previously used the attorney for,” she said of Sugerman.
In other business:
• Sugerman told the council during its meeting on May 24 that he is making progress negotiating with Boynton Beach utilities officials to get in-city water rates for Briny. The town currently pays Boynton an average of about $16,400 per month, and that could fall to roughly $14,300 with in-city rates. It figures to a savings of about $40 per year for each customer.
• The town is cracking down on scofflaws who refuse to get permits for work on their homes. With a unanimous vote, the council approved a resolution that doubles permit fees to penalize homeowners who ignore the building rules.

By Rich Pollack

Retirement has been a lot harder than Bill Thrasher thought.
The town manager in Gulf Stream for 16 years retired in April 2017 after 21 years of working for the town. But last month he rejoined the workforce to serve as Highland Beach’s interim town manager.
“Retirement is hard work,” Thrasher said. “It’s difficult, but I am getting better at it.”
It may be several months before Thrasher, 70, gets to hone his retirement skills again.
In the meantime, he’s running the day-to-day operations in Highland Beach, filling the spot left open early last month when town commissioners voted 3-2 to fire Valerie Oakes.
Thrasher, who started immediately after being selected on May 21, will be paid the equivalent rate of the $139,000 annual salary Oakes was receiving, based on the amount of time he is on the job.
In being selected on a fourth ballot, Thrasher beat five other candidates, including some who are well known in the area.
Among the candidates were former Delray Beach City Manager David Harden and former South Palm Beach Town Manager Bob Vitas.
Barry Feldman, who spent 21 years as the West Hartford city manager in Connecticut, finished second. Other candidates were Taylor Brown, the former city manager of Mary Esther, Fla., and, Joanna Cunningham, town clerk, public information officer and passport service manager in Greenacres.
Thrasher, who read about the job opening in The Coastal Star, said he is looking forward to leading Highland Beach through a transitional period.
“I figured I could help the town,” he said. “I got into local government for the purpose of serving people.”
For several commissioners, Thrasher’s knowledge of Florida and his connections to many working in government and the private sector were a selling point, as was his experience in a town with similarities to Highland Beach.
“I think he’ll serve us very well,” said Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman. “I think he can let the whole town breathe a collective sigh of relief.”
She said Thrasher’s management style, which emphasizes collaboration, will benefit the town.
“The best organizations are led with teamwork,” Gossett-Seidman said.
Those who worked with Thrasher say he makes decisions and suggestions with the best interests of his town in mind.
“He’s very conscientious about how any of his recommendations are going to affect not just the commission but also the people in town,” says Rita Taylor, the longtime Gulf Stream town clerk. “He will be a good manager anywhere he goes.”
Thrasher’s knowledge of coastal and beach issues and his work with Florida Power & Light officials and Florida Department of Transportation leaders also were a plus for some commissioners, because the town will address issues involving those organizations. Some commissioners also cited his experience in the business world as a benefit.
Thrasher and Highland Beach Town Clerk Lanelda Gaskins may also need to call upon any relationships they have with the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office, should a fledgling recall movement gain traction.
Leaders of that movement, taking aim at eligible commissioners who voted to fire Oakes, said they held an organizational meeting with more than a dozen residents attending.
Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher says recall elections are rare, and progress is often derailed by the stringent requirements set down in Florida law.
During a Town Commission workshop meeting late last month, some residents referenced the recall effort while questioning the decision to fire Oakes.
Others, however, said they supported the decision and think the town needed a change in leadership.
“We elected a new commission to give us the change we needed to bring us into the future,” said resident Jane Perlow, who later praised Thrasher. “We now have an experienced professional strong town manager to carry out the commission’s policies going forward.”
Commissioner Elyse Riesa, who voted to hire Thrasher on the final ballot, said she was pleased with the quality of all the candidates, but what set Thrasher apart was his experience helping Gulf Stream find a new town manager after he announced his retirement.
Thrasher set up a process that helped narrow the candidates to a list of finalists brought to the Town Commission.
Thrasher said he is not interested in taking the Highland Beach position permanently but that he would help the town find a permanent manager if commissioners ask.
That Thrasher came out of retirement to help Highland Beach as interim manager came as no surprise to Taylor, Gulf Stream’s town clerk for 28 years.
“I figured he wouldn’t stay idle for too long,” she said. “He’s the kind of person who needs to be involved and to have something to put his mind to.”

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream’s town manager, staff attorney and executive assistant have settled into new offices in the just-completed Town Hall addition.
“We are all occupying our new spaces. I won’t say we’re completely moved in — we still have boxes to unpack,” Town Manager Greg Dunham said the Friday before Memorial Day.
Dunham, staff attorney Trey Nazzaro and assistant Renee Rowan Basel won spots in the remodeled Town Hall. Town Clerk Rita Taylor moved across the building to the larger office Dunham had; her old space will become the relocated town library.
Dunham said he and Nazzaro had spent the preceding two weeks holed up in the Town Commission chambers while workers finished construction. He expected to have a final walk-through with the contractor shortly after Memorial Day.
“We are really winding down,” he said.
Shelves still have to be installed in Taylor’s former office, but that work is not considered part of the construction project.
May was mostly devoted to interior work on the offices. The green fences shielding the construction from view came down as town commissioners met May 11.
Dunham told commissioners then that Comcast was almost ready to begin putting its lines, which will be upgraded to fiber optic, into underground conduits. Once Comcast does that, its part of the project will take 60 to 90 days.
Workers with Wilco Electric still are burying power lines along County Road and Little Club Road, Dunham said, but Comcast will start on the other side of phase 2. Its first task will be to walk the area to map the precise locations of the conduit, which he said could vary from the plans by up to 15 feet.
After Comcast finishes its portion, AT&T will come to town to put phone lines underground.
Dunham told commissioners the work could be finished sooner if they allow Comcast to work after 5 p.m., something Gulf Stream usually prohibits. Commissioners happily agreed.
“I’d rather see it get done,” Commissioner Joan Orthwein said.

By Mary Thurwachter

An amendment to an ordinance that would allow miniature pigs to live in Lantana squeaked by the Town Council on May 14 — but not without trepidation.
While council members were sympathetic to the call from resident John Park to keep his pet mini pig when the topic first came up in April, further study of mini pigs, or teacup pigs, had the council concerned about how portly the little piggies could become.
Council member Malcolm Balfour shared his remembrance of an issue Key West had with a pig in the past, when Balfour was a journalist covering a story there.
“These pigs grow,” he said. “They grow very, very big. There was a man in Key West who had a pig next door and the pig was enamored with his Harley-Davidson. The pig destroyed the Harley-Davidson.”
There was huge outcry over the issue, he said.
“I’m going to keep my Harley in the garage,” quipped council member Phil Aridas, who supported the new ordinance.
Vice Mayor Edward Shropshire said he had read that little pigs start to get big and by the age of 4 many of them end up going to rescue.
“I just wondered if there’s another way we could go about this,” Shropshire said. “I see the individuals involved aren’t here tonight, but could they have it [pig] as an emotional support animal or something along those lines that would allow them to still keep the pig without us having to go through changing the code?
“I understand this is a lovable pet, but are there alternative ways to handle this? Any well-behaved pet can be an emotional support animal with appropriate documentation from a licensed physician, and that’s from the North American Pet Pig Association.”
But designating a pet as a therapy pig won’t work, said Town Attorney Max Lohman.
“There’s a big difference between an emotional support animal and a service animal,” Lohman said. “Emotional support animals are not recognized by the ADA and you’re not protected by an emotional support animal. People run around doing that all the time like that yahoo who tried to take a peacock on an airplane. There’s a big, big difference and people have abused that to the point where the law doesn’t recognize it anymore.”
Service animals are different, Lohman said. “A service animal assists someone with a legally recognized disability. An emotional support animal is not the same thing under the ADA, so we wouldn’t allow them a reasonable accommodation to get around our code for that.”
Mayor Dave Stewart had also done some research and said some of the little pigs grow to be 180 pounds. At Stewart’s suggestion, the new ordinance will include a weight limit of 35 pounds.
Lohman warned that enforcement could be a problem.
Council member Lynn Moorhouse said he didn’t think pigs make nearly as much racket as a parrot or macaw or other birds. “If this is a small domesticated animal I have no problem with it in the least — unless there are substantial complaints by the Police Department where it’s a nuisance,” he said.
The ordinance will come up for a final vote on June 11. Passage will mean Park won’t have to give up his pet pig or pay a fine — unless the animal tips the scale at more than 35 pounds.

By Mary Thurwachter

A proposal to construct a concrete trail at the Lantana Nature Preserve got mixed reviews from the Town Council on May 14. The discussion prompted the town to look at other ways to rebuild the pathway, including a boardwalk.
Last year’s Hurricane Irma left the preserve and the trail in shambles. Only the front portion is currently accessible.
Town Manager Deborah Manzo proposed a 5-foot-wide concrete trail at a cost of $33,000 for the first phase. The project would be spread over two years, so another $33,000 would be spent next year for a total project cost of $66,000. Most of the money would come from the Carlisle Palm Beach, just east of the 6½-acre preserve at 440 E. Ocean Ave.
As a result of a deal struck when the Carlisle senior living facility was built on land the town owned at the time, the Carlisle pays Lantana $50,000 a year for preserve expenses.
Between $1,000 and $2,000 for the pathway project would come from FEMA, which supports repairs such as this as an improvement or mitigation project. The town’s annual cost to maintain the park is $20,000.
“That [$66,000] seems like rather a lot of money for a path,” said council member Malcolm Balfour, who lives near the preserve. “But something needs to be done. There are so many rocks there. It’s almost impossible to walk through.”
Some council members didn’t like the idea of concrete being used.
“It’s a nature preserve,” council member Lynn Moorhouse stressed. “I have reservations.”
Mayor Dave Stewart asked for other options. “It’s not intended to be manicured like a country club,” he said.
“The shell rock wasn’t working,” Manzo said. “Granite sand was tried and washed away.” Mulch also washes away.
Council member Phil Aridas suggested a boardwalk.
“If it’s boardwalk, it would be recycled lumber, which is very expensive,” Manzo said. Recycled lumber is being used at the beach and holds up better, she said.
Balfour said the town needs to consider where most of the money for Nature Preserve improvements and maintenance come from. “We have to remember that the place is mostly funded by the old-age home and we need to make it comfortable for them,” he said. Since the hurricane, Carlisle residents haven’t been able to get in to enjoy the butterfly garden or other parts of the preserve.
Manzo will bring back all options and prices at a future meeting.
In other news, the council approved spending $51,965 to install new hurricane shutters on the town library. Most of the money will come from a federal grant. The town’s contribution would be $17,321.

The royal wedding brings out plenty of styles and emotions. TOP: Elaine Walls enjoys a toast. ABOVE LEFT: Sara Wohlfarth sits with family and friends. ABOVE RIGHT: Blue Anchor owner Peggy Snyder juggles a bar full of reservations. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

You have to wonder.
What could make so many men and women get up, dress up and venture out to The Blue Anchor Pub so early, just to watch a wedding so far away?
The tradition? The romance? The “Royal Brekkie” of bangers and English bacon, baked beans and mushrooms, grilled tomato, black pudding, two eggs and toast? The alcohol?
And those fashions!
Consider that gentleman perched at a high table by the side door. He is friendly but politely declines to give his name — perhaps because at 6 a.m. on a Saturday he has appeared in public wearing a white T-shirt and black suit coat, a cummerbund embroidered with Felix the Cat, black Bermuda shorts and flip-flops.
“My formal black flip-flops,” he notes.
He is not alone. By 7 a.m. on May 19, the pub is nearly full, and all seven big-screen tellies are tuned to Windsor Castle, where it’s already noon and Prince Harry, sixth in the line to the British throne, will soon be wed to Ms. Meghan Markle, a commoner, an actress and American no less.
“I think we’re here because the invitation got lost in the mail,” Elaine Johnson says. “And The Blue Anchor is the next-best thing to being there.”
Indeed it is. Opened in 1864 on London’s fabled Chancery Lane, The Blue Anchor thrived there until 1996, when the building came down, a parking lot went up, and the pub’s exterior — huge oak doors, dark paneling and stained-glass windows — was dismantled and shipped across the pond to Delray Beach.

ABOVE: Those gathering at The Blue Anchor Pub in Delray Beach to enjoy the telecast of the wedding include (l-r) Trevor and Elona Andrews, Emily Logan and Robin Isaac.

LEFT: Dan Meister toasts people in his group, including (l-r) his wife, Mimi, Louise Glover and Mia Anderton. The Meisters met at the pub 20 years ago, and Mimi’s birthday was the same day as the royal wedding. ABOVE: British native Lucie Carney wipes away a tear.

“I’m not really sure why I’m doing this,” muses Lisette Molins, who’s from Venezuela. “I grew up hearing about the royal family. It’s not like I have feelings for them, but any excuse to celebrate life is good … and I’ve had a crush on Harry since I was a kid.”
It’s a joyful mix of the reverent and the ridiculous, with Union Jacks poking from black top hats, tuxedo T-shirts and top-heavy feathers, even a straw cowboy hat, perhaps in honor of the bride’s American roots.
When the bride arrives at St. George’s Chapel, a woman cries, “Oh, look! Oh, my God!”
Elaine Walls and her flowered hat are watching from a corner of the bar.
“My daughter bought me a present of four days in London in July,” she explains, “so I’m getting in the mood.”
Her friend Nelia Oiler is sporting a big black hat.
“I don’t know what you’d call it,” she admits. “Wide-brimmed?”
And she’s not really sure why so many Americans have gathered here to celebrate the latest incarnation of a monarchy they fought a bloody war to be rid of, either.
“Well, I like to see what they’re wearing,” Oiler begins, then falters. “I’m just interested in them,” she says. “I don’t know why, really.”
Suddenly an unmistakably British accent calls from down the bar.
“Jealousy!” Lucie Carney charges. “Jealousy!”
Carney lives in Delray Beach now but still summers back home in London.
“What is more constant than the royal family?” she asks. “Our queen’s been with us through thick and thin, so we feel they’re part of our family. They’re connecting our past and our future. People say the royal family won’t last, but it will. It will. As long as there’s an England, it will!”
And as long as there’s a United States, some of us will want to cheer when the archbishop of Canterbury intones, “I therefore proclaim that they are husband and wife” — if only from an ocean away, and only for a few hours on a Saturday morning.
Dan and Mimi Meister met in this pub 20 years ago, were proclaimed husband and wife 17 years ago, and today is Mimi’s birthday.
To honor both marriages, Dan Meister is wearing a black top hat, tails and bright red shorts.
“This is outstanding,” he says, eyes on the telly. “It’s a little levity, with everything that’s going on in the world, to see a nice couple celebrating in a nice way.
“And a little pomp and circumstance is always nice.”

By Dan Moffett

Dog owners who take their pets to South Palm Beach for a stroll in the surf should be prepared to pay up to $250 for repeat violations of a town ordinance.
The town doesn’t allow dogs on its public beach and last month approved levying some hefty fines on offenders.
For a first violation, police will issue a written warning. The second offense within a calendar year will cost $100. The third and all subsequent violations will draw $250 fines.
“The law has been on the books since 1983,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said of the prohibition against dogs on the beach. “But there’s been no teeth in it.”
The Town Council hopes that the specter of a $250 fine will deter what has become a growing problem in recent years. Until now, police were empowered only to give verbal warnings and hope violators complied.
During the May 8 town meeting, council members Elvadianne Culbertson and Bill LeRoy argued against keeping penalties too low.
Culbertson dismissed a proposal for $100 fines for serial offenders as “too trivial.” LeRoy said the fines had to sting enough to change behavior.
“We’re not trying to raise money,” he said. “You got to make it severe enough that you stop the action.”
The vote for the $250 fines was 4-1, with the mayor dissenting.
Town Attorney Glen Torcivia said that dog owners who believe they were unfairly fined can appeal to the town’s code enforcement board or to a magistrate. The next line of appeal is the circuit court.
Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan said it’s important that police and town officials do their parts in educating the public about the change.
“I just want to make sure to get the information out there to people,” she said.
In other business:
• Town Manager Mo Thornton said construction on the 3550 South Ocean condominium project was advancing “fairly quickly” and workers were hoping for a topping out party — marking the completion of the building’s structural shell — on June 15.
• The council unanimously approved the hiring of Stormwater J Engineering of West Palm Beach to handle design and analysis duties for sewer repair work. The town’s aging drain system needs a significant overhaul, which could take much of the year to complete, officials say.

By Dan Moffett

 South Palm Beach Police Chief Carl Webb decided to retire from his position in early May, ending a 30-year career with the town.
Webb, 64, went on a medical leave of absence in January, and officials said he chose to take the retirement he was planning instead of returning to the job.
 The town appreciates his service,” said Town Manager Mo Thornton. “We wish him all the best in his retirement.”
 Webb grew up in the Pittsburgh area and earned his police certification at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He came to Palm Beach County in 1986 and took a job as a patrol officer with the Greenacres Police Department. Three years later, South Palm Beach hired him, and he worked for the town ever since.
 Webb first served under Chief Stanley Morse until his retirement in 1993 and then under Chief Roger Crane until 2013 when Webb took over as interim chief. The Town Council promoted him to chief and public safety director in April 2014. He became only the third chief in the town’s history.
 After taking command of the department, Webb made a priority of upgrading technology and obtaining military-grade weapons for his officers. He oversaw a security renovation of the Town Hall front office that included the installation of bullet-resistant glass and electronic locks.
 As safety director, Webb emphasized hurricane preparedness and the need for residents to heed evacuation notices. He worked to improve communications between the town and residents on crime prevention and emergency medical responses.
 Sgt. Mark Garrison, a 17-year veteran of the Police Department, took over Webb’s duties in February, and Thornton said he would continue as interim chief until the town finds a permanent replacement.
  She said the council would begin advertising for applicants and screening candidates soon, with the hope of naming Webb’s successor by summer.
 Webb’s annual salary was $98,515.

By Rich Pollack

South Palm Beach County’s five small coastal communities continued to have few serious crimes reported in 2017, according to statistics released last month by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
There were 154 total serious crimes, ranging from larceny to rape, in the five communities — Gulf Stream, Highland Beach, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge and South Palm Beach — compared with 150 reported in 2016.
All of the communities, however, experienced slight increases in offenses, with the exception of Ocean Ridge, which saw a 42.5 percent decrease in crimes reported.
Also seeing decreases were south Palm Beach County’s larger cities of Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Delray Beach. Lantana experienced a slight increase in reported crimes.
Larcenies, often thefts from unlocked vehicles, increased from eight to 24 in Gulf Stream and from 22 to 27 in Highland Beach. They remained flat in Manalapan, which saw 14 larcenies, and increased from five to six in South Palm Beach.
Gulf Stream Police Chief Ed Allen said the larcenies ranged from tools being taken from job sites to valuables being taken from a handful of unlocked vehicles.
“It’s just a variety of things.” he said.
In Ocean Ridge, the number of larcenies dropped from 64 to 31, with a decrease in the number of reported thefts from unlocked vehicles accounting for a large portion of the decline.
Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins said the decline in the number of larcenies could be attributed to several variables, including more awareness among residents of the need to remove valuables and lock cars as well as changes in the department’s patrol tactics.
“Everything together drove that number down,” he said. “Could that change overnight? Certainly.”
Hutchins is cautious about putting too much emphasis on the statistics, especially in small towns where the number of crimes are low and just a few crimes can have an impact on the percentage of increase or decrease in the numbers.
Still, he said, his department is doing its best to see the number of overall crimes in the community decline.
“We’re happy to see some decline in the crimes we typically encounter here,” he said. “We’d like to see these numbers go down every year, and our officers and residents have formed a partnership to do just that.”
Overall crime in Palm Beach County dropped by 5.6 percent, while the number of crimes statewide declined 4.5 percent compared to 2016.

Robert Gottlieb (right), vice mayor of South Palm Beach, receives the William ‘Bill’ Moss Memorial Award from Palm Beach County League of Cities President Keith James on May 23 at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. The award is given to public servants who demonstrate ‘exemplary involvement, support and dedication’ to the league. Photo provided

By Jane Smith

The temporary location of the Boynton Beach City Library will stay east of the interstate, city staff decided in late May.
“We thought it would be better to have the temporary library location east of I-95 because that’s where most of the patrons live,” said Colin Groff, assistant city manager in charge of the 16-acre Town Square project, which will include a new library.
Rather than on High Ridge Road, the new temporary location for both adult and children will be at 115 N. Federal Highway in a former bank building that most recently housed the Congregational United Church of Christ. In mid-April, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board agreed to pay $3 million for the church and its parking lot.
“The city owns a nearby parking lot, so there will be plenty of parking,” Groff said. As part of the deal, the congregation may still hold Sunday services through December, he said. The library will have only 20,000 square feet, roughly one-third of its current size. The library staff is trying to work out a circulation policy so that all materials can be borrowed, Groff said.
Under the revised schedule, which may change, the library will be closed from July 13 to Aug. 12. The library will reopen Aug. 13 in its temporary location.
Town Square is a public-private partnership that will create a downtown for Boynton Beach. It will have a combination library and city hall building, the renovated historic high school, which will offer recreation programs on the first floor and an auditorium/reception space on the second floor, the historic Schoolhouse Children’s Museum, a new fire station, two parking garages, open spaces and a public amphitheater.
The private development will include a hotel and apartment buildings.
The city also pushed back other dates in the project. The renovated old high school now is scheduled to open Feb. 28, not in January.
The city’s customer service unit — where residents go to buy beach passes, pay utility bills, pay parking tickets and request public records — will move to 209 N. Seacrest Blvd. It will open Oct. 1.
City Hall will move to 3301 Quantum Blvd. and open Sept. 24.
The Police Department headquarters staff will move to 2045 High Ridge Road effective Sept. 24.
The move of Fire Station 1 staff and vehicles was delayed by one month to mid-September.
All dates are subject to further changes, Groff said.

Daniel Hartwell resembles actor Owen Wilson so much that people often stop him to have their photos taken with him. But he’s not Owen Wilson. He’s a concert promoter and author of a book on the Beatles’ John Lennon. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

What once may have been taken as a quirky resemblance to a celebrity has turned into a full-fledged cottage industry for Ocean Ridge resident Daniel Hartwell.
For going on 20 years, people have mistaken Hartwell for actor Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, Zoolander, Marley & Me), and the notice it’s brought has gone viral since the two were shown in side-by-side photos on Page 6 of The New York Post recently.
“My phone rang off the hook after that,” Hartwell said. “I had no idea what Page 6 was until then. Now People magazine wants me to do a photo shoot with Owen Wilson. I’m waiting to hear more on that.”
A concert promoter who has written a book on John Lennon, Hartwell said he was “shocked” at first by how many people would stop and ask about the resemblance.
“Now I have fun with it,” he said. “Why not? If it’s going to make somebody’s day to have a picture with me, I oblige them.
“It’s really picked up the last five years. I’ve traveled the world and have had people running up and asking for pictures in Japan and Russia and Colombia and all over the U.S.”
The two have never met, but Hartwell said they have conversed through a mutual friend.
Hartwell, 57, promoted a concert through his company, United We Rock, last year in the parking lot near the Fish Depot in Boynton Beach and is working toward putting together “a giant Beatles festival” in Delray Beach in 2019. “The idea is to take over a large part of the city for that,” he said.
While working toward that he keeps busy “promoting my book, Saint John Lennon, along with life coaching, health coaching, business coaching. I also consult for other concert producers and promoters.”
Hartwell is on the board of directors for Horses Healing Hearts (www.horseshealingheartsusa.org). “We provide equestrian therapy for children of alcoholics and addicts,” he said. “Kids in today’s world need all the positive reinforcement they can get.”

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I grew up in central New England in the Worcester/Boston area. It was a place where you had to be on top of your game and work hard — never a dull moment! The can-do vibe was a great influence because I had to make it without help from anyone. No such thing as luck. Prepare for opportunity is what I was taught.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: I have been a drummer, a singer, a producer, a concert promoter and a life coach. Now I am an author, and my greatest accomplishment is the release of my new novel, Saint John Lennon. It’s becoming very popular around the world. The story is a time-travel adventure about John Lennon returning to our near-future world. He continues his mission of promoting peace and love and, of course, creating music. He has missed 40 years of culture, technology, family life and politics.  
Fans follow John on his adventures — he appears on Bill Maher’s Real Time, goes into space with Richard Branson, gets around in a driverless car, debates Hannity on Fox News, thwarts terrorism and meets with President Trump. It’s a fun romp fans can’t put down once they start reading. Can you say Beatles reunion? It’s on Amazon and available at saintjohnlennon.com.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Life doesn’t happen sitting on the sofa. Get off your butt, get off Netflix and off your iPhone and start meeting people face to face.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge? 
A: I stumbled upon this wonderful town while visiting a friend and I fell in love with its magical charm.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge? 
A: The ocean. It’s special here.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It’s a great love story that transcends time. Lots of surprises. 

Q: What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax? 
A: I listen to rock when I am running at the beach, classical when writing and Liquid Mind when relaxing.

Q:  Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A: “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” — Napoleon Hill. I find this quote represents all that I have experienced. When we help others, it truly helps us in all walks of life. 

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions? 
A: Yes, John Lennon, Tony Robbins and my father. John Lennon, and the Beatles of course, were always inspiring with positive, happy songs that filled my life. John’s never-ending crusade for peace was legendary. I have been to some of Tony Robbins’ events and I feel he is a great inspiration to all who experience his mission of growth and positivity. And my father, Douglas Hartwell, who always taught me lessons of goodwill and to always “love each other.”

Q: If your life story were made into a movie, who would play you? 
A: Owen Wilson! I get stopped every day and asked if I am him.

By Jane Smith

Delray Beach Plaza will get a full-line Whole Foods Market, not the 365 brand, the center’s developer told a city advisory board in early May.
“It will be a ‘grocerant’ where people go for lunch,” said Jeff Garrison, partner at S.J. Collins Enterprises, which owns the center formerly called Lavers International Plaza, just east of Interstate 95 on East Linton Boulevard. The developer wanted to add 10,000 square feet to the main building to make it a Whole Foods store.
The Site Plan Appearance and Review Board unanimously approved the change May 9.
Garrison called it a “change on the fly” and was able to persuade Whole Foods to stay because of the lease signed before Amazon bought the grocery store chain last year.
“The opportunity to open a Whole Foods Market store in Delray Beach means that we will be able to provide the community with a more complete shopping and food experience,” said Juan Nunez, president of Whole Foods Market’s Florida region.
The 365 store was supposed to open by the end of 2018. The change in plans will not provide enough time for the Whole Foods Market to open this year, said Heather McCready, Whole Foods spokeswoman.