By Rich Pollack

HIGHLAND BEACH ­— Arlin Voress was a former Highland Beach mayor who used his business acumen along with his engineering and mechanical skills to leave an indelible mark as he guided the town through some of its most turbulent times.
A town commissioner and later mayor for three terms in the mid-1990s, Mr. Voress died Dec. 22 after a short illness. He was 93.
“He did an excellent job as mayor,” said John Rand, vice mayor during Mr. Voress’ time in office. “He always provided leadership and did what had to be done.”
In addition to being credited with saving the town more than $30 million by negotiating a legal settlement that led to the development of what is now Toscana, Mr. Voress is known as one of the driving forces behind the building of the town’s reverse osmosis water plant and overseeing the expansion of the Town Hall complex.
“He was very much involved in the affairs of the town,” Rand said.
Born in Charleston, W.Va., Mr. Voress attended West Virginia University, where he received a degree in chemical engineering. During World War II, Mr. Voress served in the U.S. Navy, where he taught radar and sonar while stationed in Newport News, Va.
Following his time in the service, Mr. Voress began a 40-year career with Union Carbide, where he had various roles, including managing plants, before leaving as vice president of environment, health and safety. In the 1980s, Mr. Voress and his wife, Cary Lou, came to Highland Beach, where he soon became involved in town government, first serving on the Water Advisory Board and later running for office. Described by his daughters, Mary Wild, of Colorado, and Louise Voress, of Virginia, as a determined leader in family, government and life, Mr. Voress was known as someone who would listen and absorb information, analyze it, come to a conclusion and then announce his decision.
“He was definite about the things he thought,” Mary Wild said. “He would change his mind but only on his terms.”
Louise Voress remembers her father as someone who was always willing to share his knowledge.
“I think of him as a great teacher but also a great student,” she said. “He was always the source of information but he also recognized there were things he wanted to know.”
The daughters tell of how their father made them prove they knew how to change a tire before he would allow them to take a car to college.
Drawn to South Florida so he and his family could enjoy boating, fishing and the beach, Mr. Voress is also remembered for his love of string ties.
As mayor, Mr. Voress was thrust into the middle of several land-use legal battles that led to a $30 million judgment against the town. Working with a team of lawyers in South Florida and Washington, D.C., Mr. Voress oversaw a compromise that led to the town’s permitting development of a project with only half of the units originally sought in return for the judgment’s dismissal.
“Arlin was very dedicated to the town,” said his longtime next-door neighbor Mayde Weiner. “He was a visionary who was able to foresee the growth that was coming.”
Weiner said that Mr. Voress and Cary Lou were outstanding neighbors, with Mr. Voress always willing to share his expertise.
“He was very wise and fair- minded,” she said.
Mr. Voress is survived by his wife of 68 years, Cary Louise Edgar Voress; daughters, Elisabeth Louise Voress and Mary Ann Voress Wild; grandchildren, Matthew Claude Wild, Taylor Gray Wild, and Laura Elisabeth Wild; brother, Hugh Ellison Voress; sister, Shirley Lee Voress Martin; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Services will be held in Charleston at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Mr. Voress’ name to the Friends of the Highland Beach Library, 3618 S. Ocean Blvd., Highland Beach.

Debbie Tagliareni pushes a disc during a couples night at the Briny Breezes shuffleboard courts. Players score by landing discs in the marked areas and knocking out those of the opponents. Stephen Moore/The Coastal Star

By Stephen Moore

With the popularity in shuffleboard among the older generation falling nationwide, according to some surveys, the Briny Breezes Shuffleboard Club is getting a shot of energy and players this year, thanks to a Boynton Beach construction project.
According to a 2016 survey on After55.com, only 2 percent of 700 seniors surveyed thought of shuffleboard as their favorite activity. But don’t mention that to the Briny Breezes shuffleboarders.
This club is healthy and anticipating another challenging season with the influx of 15 new members from the Boynton Beach Shuffleboard Club.
When the city of Boynton Beach began a $500 million downtown construction project last summer, the 16 shuffleboard courts and small clubhouse became expendable — quickly.
“I had heard through word of mouth that this was coming,” said Frank Lamb, who was president of the club. “In April we were told to vacate and we played our last game on June 15.
“Were we surprised? No. Shuffleboard [in Boynton Beach] had been deteriorating for the past eight, nine years. After the 2004 hurricane damaged some city buildings, they kicked us out of our shuffleboard building so other city agencies could use it. We were told we could use only half of our courts. And then they gave the building to a theater group and we had no bathrooms, no water. It was like we didn’t exist.”
Briny Breezes to the rescue.
“They had nowhere to go,” said Rich Curtis, president of the Briny Breezes Shuffleboard Club. “So we went through our corporation and asked the board if they could come here to practice and play. They have been good friends with us for years. And besides, some of them are very good players.”
Lamb, who began playing shuffleboard in 1991, and “15 or so” of his fellow Boynton Beach players now have a first-class court a few miles away to call their shuffleboard home.
“We talked to Rich and he and the Briny Breezes administration worked it out so we could be associate members,” Lamb said. “They have given us passes to park and it is not very far. We are very, very pleased that they could do this for us. They do make us feel welcome.”
And that welcome feeling goes both ways. According to Curtis, last year the Briny Breezes club had 150 active members. This year, 75 were already signed up as of last month but many players were still up North. The 15 new players from Boynton Beach will help the Briny Breezes club in quantity and quality.
“When you play with someone who is good,” said Ron Vaughn, who has been with the Briny Breezes Shuffleboard Club for seven years, “your game improves.”
And Briny Breezes is already good. The club just received authorization and funding from the Briny Breezes corporation to resurface six courts and is preparing for a busy season with weekly tournaments, fundraising events, couples leagues, a fun day and instructional lessons. Some players are aiming to compete in the state tournament in November.
The club houses three professional shuffleboard players — Lanny Farr, Curtis and Vaughn — who earned points in district and state tournaments over at least a two-year period. Curtis won the Southeast Coast District Masters tournament in 2017, and the clubhouse holds numerous plaques and trophies from tournaments as far back as 1958.
And if the sport can weather the popularity reduction of late, there may be a generation of shuffleboarders on the way. Bars catering to the GenX crowd are opening nationwide with multiple shuffleboard courts. In Richmond, Va., the Tang & Biscuit Shuffleboard Social Club bills itself as the largest indoor floor shuffleboard facility in the world — with 2,100 square feet and 10 full-sized regulation shuffleboard courts, as well as pingpong tables, cornhole, giant Jenga and Connect Four, and other board games.
The Royal Palms Shuffle-board clubs have opened establishments in New York and Chicago with 15-20 courts each.

By Steven J. Smith

BOCA RATON — Resident and patroness of the arts Florence Brody died Nov. 26. She was 93.
Born Florence Gropper in Newark, N.J., she attended Upsala College. Following World War II, she met Martin Brody on a blind date and the two were married six months later, according to her daughter, Renee Brody Levow.
“She was the love of his life,” Brody Levow said. “They made a great team.”
From 1963 to 1992, Martin Brody was the chairman of Restaurant Associates, which created and owned such renowned New York City eateries as The Four Seasons, The Forum, Mama Leone’s, Tavern on the Green, Brasserie, La Fonda del Sol and Sea Grill.
Brody Levow said her mother enhanced Martin Brody’s business by coming up with innovations that have since evolved into staples in the food service industry.
“She hosted a 60th birthday party for him back in the early ’80s,” she said. “It took place at Lincoln Center and she instituted individual food stations at the event that provided the guests with a really interesting range of international cuisine. I don’t think anyone else had ever done that before and the concept is still popular at all kinds of food-related events today.”
Mrs. Brody’s enthusiasm for the arts culminated in board positions at The New York Shakespeare Festival and The Folk Art Museum, Brody Levow added, where she put her fundraising acumen to its fullest use.
“Some of those events were actually featured in the press,” she said. “I believe they were covered in the society section of The New York Times, among other newspapers. She had a real passion for the arts.”
The Brodys eventually bought a home in Boca Raton, which became their residence roughly six months out of each year, Brody Levow said, alternating with their Livingston, N.J., home.
“They loved the weather here, which is why they bought a place in Boca,” she said. “Boca Raton became their winter home.”
While splitting time between her New Jersey and Florida homes, Mrs. Brody embraced the Jewish communities of each.
After her husband’s death at 88 in 2009, Mrs. Brody developed an interest in bridge, which she played nearly daily.
“She was a beautiful, elegant, philanthropic woman who truly lived life on her own terms,” Brody Levow said. “We will all miss her very much.”
In addition to her daughter, Florence Brody is survived by her son, Marc Robert Brody, and his wife, Carleen; son-in-law, Alan Levow; grandchildren Jake Levow, Cary Levow and Justine Brody; and sister-in-law, Marian Soled, and her husband, Myron.

New St. Andrews Club pro Jackson Moore volleys with a club member during a tennis lesson. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

David Bent didn’t know anything about croquet when St. Andrews Club in Delray Beach installed its 105-by-84-foot croquet lawn in 1998. He became so proficient at it in the ensuing years that between then and his retirement from the position of St. Andrews tennis and croquet pro last year, his ranking rose as high as second in the United States and 30th in the world.
Now St. Andrews members hope the new man in that job, Jackson Moore, can even approach that level of proficiency.
“David has told us that he is going to make Jackson a world-class player,” said Peter Lowenstein, who as head of the St. Andrews tennis committee recommended Moore for the position.
Moore, 29, who started in October, does have a solid background in tennis, having played collegiately at Georgia State and Florida Gulf Coast before spending the past few years teaching in his native Sarasota-Bradenton area, most recently at Gasparilla Inn in Boca Grande.
Moore spent his past four summers at the Nantucket Yacht Club in Massachusetts, where Lowenstein happens to be a member.
“I was asking around and the head man up there said he would be terrific,” Lowenstein said. “I can tell you, the job he’s done up there is grueling. He’s on the tennis court 10 hours a day, six days a week, so he’s used to hard work.”
Moore said he was “curious more than anything” when told the St. Andrews position would involve croquet as well as tennis.
“I’ve seen it played at Gasparilla; they play at a good level over there. But the only times I ever watched was when I was filling water jugs or things like that. But I’m enjoying it. It’s a mind game out there,” he said.
Playing catch-up has involved reading a book Bent gave him on the subject and watching YouTube videos. He also has often traveled up to the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, where Bent spends much of his recreational time, and played alongside him.
“To watch David go through the six-wicket game — it boggles my mind to see what he can do,” Moore said. “There’s a lot going on, a lot of strategy.
“I’m taking it one day at a time, but I’m enjoying it.”
Moore said that while he’s spending more time with croquet at the moment, he perceives the position as a 50-50 split and is working to expand the tennis program.
One innovation is a program called “Hardcore Tennis,” an hourlong session that involves 45 minutes of fitness work followed by 15 minutes of tennis.
“He’s working with Gulf Stream School to get the children involved,” St. Andrews General Manager Robert Grassi said. “Sports activities is something all the members are interested in.”
“He’s working out very well,” Lowenstein said. “He’s willing, enthusiastic, and everybody is very pleased with him.”

By Rich Pollack

BOCA RATON — Arthur Remillard was a successful business owner, a dedicated family man and a generous philanthropist best known for his support of Boca Helping Hands and for providing the bulk of funding for the organization’s $3 million, 15,000-square-foot resource center.
“He was a man with an unquenchable curiosity and a ready generous heart to help those in need,” said Gary Peters, president of the board of Boca Helping Hands.
A man who supported dozens of organizations both here and in Massachusetts, Mr. Remillard died Nov. 28. He was 87.
He was honored by Boca Helping Hands in October with a special recognition during the annual Boca Helping Hands celebration and was featured in The Coastal Star in November.
During an interview, he talked about his success in the insurance business, about his philanthropy and about how proud he was of his children, who followed in his footsteps when it came to community giving.
“I want people to think of me as a businessman who got involved in philanthropy and who passed the idea of philanthropy onto his family,” he said.
The story of Arthur Remillard, whose father was a janitor and whose family was too poor to think about charity, is an inspirational one.
Growing up in Worcester, Mass., Mr. Remillard joined the U.S. Navy after high school. After his enlistment ended, he went to Clark College in his hometown, graduating with a degree in accounting. He quickly became a partner in five supermarkets, later owned two local newspapers and then went into the insurance business, opening his own agency.
In 1972 he started Commerce Insurance, a major insurer in Massachusetts that at one point insured one in every three cars in the state. He sold the business in 2006 for $2.2 billion.
“I grew up saying I would do well, but I never thought I would do this well,” he said.
Mr. Remillard supported many organizations in his hometown serving those in need, including the UMass Memorial Medical Center, the largest health care provider serving the residents of central Massachusetts, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross. Mr. Remillard began looking for a cause to support soon after he arrived in Florida.
He Googled food pantry and Boca Raton and right away Boca Helping Hands popped up. Soon he met with Peters and began helping the organization grow to the point where the resource center that Mr. Remillard helped fund now serves about 175 lunches a day to those in need. The building also houses a food pantry that distributes tons of groceries every year, as well as job training programs. Staff members are on hand to help connect those in need with other services.
“It was Mr. Remillard’s unwavering persistence that helped make our shared vision of Boca Helping Hands into reality,” Peters said in a message on the organization’s website announcing Mr. Remillard’s death. “A bronze plaque with his portrait is on the wall in our Resource Center, his name is prominently displayed when you enter our front doors, but most importantly, his giving spirit is felt within every inch of the building that is now our home.” In addition to Boca Helping Hands, Mr. Remillard supported 4KIDS of South Florida and Habitat for Humanity.
Mr. Remillard is survived by Elizabeth Seraphin, his love and partner for more than 30 years; his children, Arthur J. Remillard III and his wife, Debra; Robert P. Remillard and his wife, Deborah; Renee A. Granger and her husband, Lawrence; Danielle A. Haxton and her husband, Michael; and Regan P. Remillard. Other survivors are a brother, James “Bing” Remillard; and a sister, Jacqueline “Jackie” Ericson; 16 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and numerous nephews and nieces.
The family held a private service Dec. 4 in Massachusetts.

Matthew Simmons of Boca Raton plucks trash from clumps of seaweed along the shoreline. Simmons and his 12-year-old son, Hayden, were among the 30 or so volunteers who turned out for the monthly cleanup. Photos by Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard 

Nature lover Kevin Homer was astonished by the volume of trash he found while visiting Boynton Beach’s Intracoastal Park early last year.
So he decided to do something about it. Homer organized monthly cleanups through a group he named Boynton C.A.R.E.S. — Community Activists Rehabilitating the Ecosystem.
After notifying Boynton Beach Recreation and Parks Director Wally Majors, Homer approached local businesses for equipment and began hosting monthly cleanups at the waterfront park.
Lowe’s donated buckets. Harbor Freight donated pickup tongs. Dunkin’ Donuts gives the group free coffee and doughnuts for each cleanup; Domino’s donates pizza gift certificates.

Sean McKillop of Boynton Beach and Noah, his 8-month-old son, removed trash together during the Dec. 9 Boynton C.A.R.E.S. cleanup at Intracoastal Park in Boynton Beach.

Homer said more than 30 restaurants have donated gift cards, given to volunteers as raffle prizes at the end of each cleanup.
Most Boynton C.A.R.E.S. cleanups are the first Sunday of the month at Intracoastal Park — an attractive waterfront park at 2240 N. Federal Highway.
Anyone willing to help can simply show up. Cleanups last about 45 minutes, followed by a brief discussion of environmental topics and raffles.
About 30 volunteers attended the Dec. 9 cleanup, including 18 clients from the Bright Futures Treatment Center in Boynton Beach.
In addition to the usual scraps of plastic packaging, Styrofoam, aluminum cans, cigarette butts and glass bottles, the Boynton C.A.R.E.S group found the remains of a small inflatable boat, several boat fenders, large wooden planks, heaps of rope and a black handgun wrapped in a plastic bag.
The handgun was treated as real until a Boynton Beach police officer determined that it was plastic.
Volunteer Charles Droog of Boynton Beach said the previous month’s cleanup generated a backpack filled with jars of pills, a packed duffle bag and a car door.
Homer, who owns a waterfront home near Intracoastal Park, said he became emotional at the Dec. 9 event when raffle prize winners donated back their restaurant gift cards and free pizza certificates so other volunteers could win them.
“We have a great group of volunteers who consistently attend each month,” Homer said. “People are becoming more conscious and aware about pollution and what it can do.”

Volunteer instructor Steven Schwartz helps young angler Riley Murphy at the Juno Beach Pier during the Dec. 8 Kids Fishing Program organized by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. The fishing program is open to kids ages 7-12 with parents on Saturday mornings through April.

Program introduces children to pier fishing
Aspiring anglers ages 7-12 can learn the basics of fishing along with casting and knot-tying and fish conservation at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s Kids Fishing Program.
The Saturday program runs from 9 to 11 a.m. through the end of April. The cost is $10 per angler. Parents or guardians must attend. Adults can fish, too, for a $5 fee, after the group reaches the Juno Beach Pier.
The Kids Fishing Program meets at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, where staff instructors and volunteers teach proper fish handling, how to measure fish and how to tie basic fishing knots.
Casting practice follows the sit-down instruction. Then the instructors meet the kids and their parents at the pier, where they fish.
All fish are released during the instructional program to promote the catch-and-release ethic.
Parents interested in registering their children for one of the programs can do so by going to marinelife.org. (Click on “experiences,” then navigate to the calendar and look under Saturday for the Kids Fishing Program.)
Parents and children who show up at the Marinelife Center on a Saturday morning can participate without advance registration if space allows. Each program is limited to 10 young anglers.

Shore-based shark fishing regulations to get update
The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission approved draft changes to shark-fishing regulations in December that would prohibit chumming from beaches and require anglers to obtain a free shore-based shark fishing permit.
The FWC plans to require some basic education for shore-based shark anglers, possibly through an online course, to obtain the permit.
The shark-fishing regulation changes must receive another approval by the FWC; a final vote is scheduled for February.
The FWC says the changes should increase the survival rate of released sharks — and reduce public concerns about shark fishing from the state’s beaches.
In addition to requiring a permit and prohibiting chumming, the regulations would prohibit the delayed release of any of the 26 shark species that cannot be harvested in Florida — and require that those prohibited sharks remain in the water while being released.
The FWC also plans to require that anglers fishing for sharks, from land or from a boat, use non-offset circle hooks that are not made of stainless steel — hooks that would rust if left in the shark.
The proposed rules also would require shark anglers to have and use a device, such as wire cutters, that could quickly cut the leader or hook.
Also at its Dec. 12 meeting in St. Augustine, the FWC tentatively expanded protection for the Blue Heron Bridge dive site in Palm Beach County.
If approved in February, the dive-site regulations would prohibit the collection of fish and other marine life for the aquarium trade and expand the existing protected area to include waters north of Phil Foster Park.

Coming events
Jan. 5: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Fee $35 ($5 for youths ages 12-19). Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600 and leave a message.
Jan. 10-11: 82nd annual Silver Sailfish Derby, a sailfish release tournament organized by the West Palm Beach Fishing Club and based at Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores. Captain’s meeting Jan. 9 at West Palm Beach Fishing Club. Awards party Jan. 12. Call 832-6780 or visit westpalmbeachfishingclub.org.
Jan. 18-19: Operation Sailfish, a sailfish release tournament based at Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores. Kickoff party Jan. 16 at Sailfish Marina. Awards party Jan. 20. Call 954-725-4010 or visit operationsailfish.com.
Jan. 26: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the classroom building next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $20. Register at the door. Call 704-7440.

Tip of the month
Schedule a free boat safety exam.
Boaters want to have the correct safety equipment on board, but sometimes they overlook a thing or two. The Coast Guard Auxiliary offers free vessel safety examinations to check equipment such as life jackets, navigation lights, signal flares, horns and fire extinguishers.
Volunteers with Flotilla 36 in Boca Raton offer free vessel exams from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays of the month at the Silver Palm Park boat ramps in Boca Raton (and on the second Saturday of the month at Lake Ida Park boat ramp in Delray Beach, weather permitting). To schedule a free safety exam, call 391-3600 and leave a message or email fso-ve@cgauxboca.org.
Flotilla 54, which serves Boynton Beach and Delray Beach, sends vessel examiners to the Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park boat ramps on Saturdays and Sundays, usually from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. To schedule a boat safety exam, go to cgaux.org, search for vessel examinations and complete the online form.

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

By Mary Hladky

City staffers have issued their long-awaited “small area plan” for Midtown that makes no recommendation on the most important issue for the 300-acre area — whether residential development should be allowed.
Development Services Director Brandon Schaad presented the staff’s proposed plan, 11 months in the making, to residents on Dec. 4. The Boca Raton City Council is expected to consider it later this month.
Schaad did not mention residential development during his 45-minute presentation at the Spanish River Library. Asked about it by a resident, Schaad said, “We are not recommending any residential.”
After the meeting, Schaad said staff did not make a recommendation because City Council members have not yet reached a consensus on whether they want residential development in Midtown.
Midtown landowners, including Crocker Partners and Cypress Realty of Florida, joined forces about four years ago in an ambitious plan to redevelop the large tract located west of Interstate 95 and east of the Town Center mall, where no residential development is allowed.
They envisioned a “live, work, play” transit-oriented development where people would live in as many as 2,500 residential units and walk or take shuttles to their jobs, shopping and restaurants.
The landowners and city staff worked jointly on land development regulations that would allow such a project until, at the behest of the City Council, staff took the reins.
The redevelopment plan died one year ago when council members postponed a vote on regulations that staff recommended. They voted instead to have staff develop a small area plan for Midtown, an idea proposed by council member Andrea O’Rourke.
Crocker Partners and Cypress Realty, frustrated by the delays, have sued the city for not adopting land development regulations and stifling their ability to redevelop their properties.
Cypress Realty principal Nader Salour said he had expected the small area plan would determine how many residential units could be built and allowable building heights, among other things. Instead, the plan concentrates on beautifying the area.
“That is disappointing and just seems to be a delaying tactic,” he said.
“Council is looking for guidance from staff. Staff is looking to council for guidance. And neither side is forthcoming with a recommendation, so we keep having this circular discussion,” he said. “I am baffled by what they are trying to achieve.”
The Dec. 4 meeting “is a clear indication of the city’s intent to frustrate and delay property owners’ rights,” said Crocker Partners managing partner Angelo Bianco.
The meeting was sparsely attended, but the few residents who spoke up thanked city staff for its efforts on the plan and voiced no objections.
“Overall, I think you are doing a great job,” said Jack McWalter.
The plan calls for gradual improvements over five years to streets, street lighting, landscaping and parking. It aims to reduce traffic congestion, improve street walkability and create places where the public can gather for special events.
It devotes considerable attention to Military Trail, adding landscaped medians, trees, wider sidewalks and better crosswalks, while also improving safety.
The improvements could be paid for by creating a special taxing district, with property owners in the area paying the increased taxes. The City Council will make the final decision on a taxing district.
“Under the terms and conditions laid out, all the landowners would be taxed simply to beautify or improve certain streets with no added incentive, namely residential or anything else,” Salour said. “I can’t imagine anyone would be in support of it. We certainly would not.”
While the plan would improve Midtown, it is not a blueprint for what the area can become. The city still must adopt land development regulations that will spell out to developers and landowners what they can build in Midtown. Staff is working on those.
“The elephant in the room is still density,” resident Bill DeAngelis said at the meeting.
Crocker Partners, which owns 67 acres, sued the city in October, seeking $137.6 million in damages on grounds that the delay in approving land development regulations created an impermissible building moratorium that took away its property rights.
Crocker filed a separate legal action in May, seeking to have a judge compel the city to write land development regulations.
Cypress Realty also sued in October, citing the lack of land development regulations and saying the city has been “stonewalling” its efforts to redevelop its 10.2 acres. It is asking the court to require the city to process its August development application.

At Interfaith Café programs, people of all beliefs can discuss spiritual issues. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

Most people, at one time or another, ponder the big questions: Why am I here? What’s my purpose? Is there one God, many gods or no god at all? What happens when I die? Is there a heaven? Are there dogs there?
Even people who are deeply committed to their faith have questions and, sometimes, doubts.
Faith almost demands you have doubts in its very definition: belief in the absence of proof.
For many, these ruminations take place in our heads.
But a group of deep thinkers has a safe place to discuss hard questions. It’s called the Interfaith Café and it’s a free program offered by the Interfaith Coalition. All are welcome.
The Interfaith Café meets monthly at the South County Civic Center on Jog Road —neutral ground.
“We used to meet at a different church every week, but the Civic Center seemed to work better,” Jane Faysash said. She is one of the original members and she represents the Buddhist faith.
Linda Prior, who finds speakers and organizes the programs each month, is a Christian. Other members represent the Mormon, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim and Baha’i faiths. Some call themselves spiritual, some agnostic and others label themselves as atheist.
But in the café, those labels melt away to reveal our common humanity: love, pain, forgiveness, shame, gratitude. Topics are more philosophical than theological, and meetings are civil and respectful.
Most meetings attract between 30 and 50 people with open minds, which keeps discussions from dissolving into arguments.
People with literalist views or rigid thoughts will not enjoy the café.
“We connect on a deep personal level,” Faysash said. “We can be open here.”
Prior, whose home church is First Presbyterian in Delray Beach, cares deeply about people who have no attachment to a church or a religion or even a belief system. She has seen the discussions at the café change people.
She knows that the universal desire to congregate comes from our longing for community, connectedness, to be a part of something greater, to belong somewhere.
Feeling isolated and alone and excluded is a touchstone for disaster.
Musician Cecilia St. King will speak and perform at the Jan. 17 meeting. She knows a little bit about disasters.
She was in New York City during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Instead of leaving town, she stayed and performed for the firefighters, construction workers and search and rescue personnel. She wanted to lift them up, and she would do it again.
But it came with a steep price: throat cancer, possibly from breathing the poisonous air around the site.
St. King will perform on guitar her signature blend of American roots music, rock, blues, folk and spirituals (and a grain of jazz) to express the Tao’s ageless wisdom teachings in song.
She has traveled the world as a performer, but she settled down in Delray Beach recently.
She has been quick to lend her support where needed. She performed and counseled children after the Parkland mass shootings and raised $15,000 for students to go to the March on Washington. She sang at a vigil for gun control in Delray Beach and performed at the “Together We Remember” vigil for Holocaust remembrance in Boca Raton.
The Interfaith Café takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 17 at the South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach. The meeting is free.
For the February meeting, the topic will be “courageous conversations,” with tips on how to tell someone that you find their jokes, insults, ethnic stereotypes and disparaging comments about religion inappropriate and hurtful. Allan Barsky, who has a Ph.D. in social work, will speak.
For more info, visit meetup.com/Interfaith-Cafe.

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

Veterinary students at South Tech Academy in Boynton Beach receive hands-on experience working with greyhounds that trainer Carolee Ellison provides. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Arden Moore

Greyhounds sport reputations for running fast. Very fast. We’re talking 45-mph fast. But Florida voters put the brakes on wagering on dog racing with the recent passage of Amendment 13.
By 2020, all greyhound racing in Florida will end, including at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in West Palm Beach, which has hosted dog racing since 1932.
When it comes to this sport, Florida leads the nation by being home to 11 of the 17 active dog tracks across the country. Passage of the amendment will wipe out dog racing in the state.
Industry experts estimate that about 8,000 greyhounds are racing in tracks in Florida and another 7,000 are on race-schooling farms all over the country.
So, what’s going to happen to those thousands of greyhounds?
Efforts are being stepped up to transition some of these greyhounds into service dogs for military veterans. And more emphasis will be placed on training other greyhounds with basic obedience skills and manners so that they will be welcomed pets in homes across the country.
Leading this dual-purpose mission are greyhound advocates like Barbara Masi and Carolee Ellison. As president and founder of Awesome Greyhound Adoptions Inc. and its Hounds & Heroes program aimed at military veterans, Masi has been spearheading efforts to convert racetrack greyhounds into stellar service dogs since 2011.
She is aided by Ellison, a professional dog trainer and department chairwoman of the veterinary assisting program at South Tech Academy in Boynton Beach. They have trained and paired about 30 greyhounds with military veterans since 2011, and they have no plans of stopping.
In addition, Masi is screening hundreds of applications from individuals wishing to adopt retired racing greyhounds as family pets.
“Applications for adoptions have been heavy since the amendment has passed and that is a good thing; but those who are requesting dogs must realize that our adoption groups are all-volunteer and members work at other jobs, so we are limited in time,” says Masi, who shares her Boynton Beach home with greyhounds answering to the names of Mini, Bolt, Snoopy, Missile and Sonic.
Hounds & Heroes, a nonprofit group, relies on donations to cover the cost for the veterinary care, training and food for retired racing greyhounds to become service dogs for military veterans. It typically takes about four to six months for the service dog training at a cost of about $5,000 per greyhound.
“It is our commitment to these magnificent creatures to do the right thing and find the best homes for each of these pups as they retire,” says Masi.
Neither Masi or Ellison has won a lottery or discovered a way to squeeze out more time in a day. But that is not deterring them.
“The amendment contained no provision to help any of the re-homing organizations,” says Ellison. “It costs us about $500 for spaying/neutering, blood work, dental, food, vaccinations for greyhounds being adopted into families and we only charge $250 for adoption. The amendment not only impacted the dogs, but also the people employed in this industry.”
Masi and Ellison also welcome volunteer time or donations to cover the cost of insurance and vehicles to transport greyhounds.
And Ellison is tapping a new generation of advocates at her school. She brings greyhounds to South Tech Academy to continue her service dog training and provide hands-on education on dog care and training to her high school students. When they graduate, they earn state veterinarian-approved veterinary assistant certifications to go with their high school diplomas.
“My students are not only working with these dogs but helping to get the word out about them,” says Ellison.
In the service dog training, the students learn how to train greyhounds to support veterans with basic mobility issues and post-traumatic stress disorder, she says.
“For example, one command in mobility is called brace. A veteran in a seated position who needs help getting up will tell his dog, ‘Brace,’ and the dog will learn to stand still and be ready for the veteran to put his hand on his back and shoulder to be able to push off and stand up.”
At her Lake Worth home, Ellison continues the schooling for a stream of greyhounds. She appreciates the help from her husband, Dave, and teenage son, Bren. In addition to her personal greyhound, Abby, her home includes service dogs in training Stryker, Valor, Tricky and Stretch.
Just what is it about this breed that motivates Masi and Ellison to dedicate so much time and effort? For them, the answers come quickly and enthusiastically.
“No. 1 for me is their attitude,” says Ellison. “I do not have to teach them to give calm energy. They are 45-mph couch potatoes. They are so open and adaptable and very good at reading energies instead of reacting to them.
“And for the retired racers who wore T-shirts with numbers on them at the track, they are pre-programmed that when they have their service dog vests on, it’s time to focus and time to work.”
Adds Masi, “I’ve been working with greyhounds for more than 18 years. I love so many things about them — their temperament, their sweet nature and willingness to learn.”
For racing greyhounds, the amendment will close the door on their racing occupations, but with the dedicated help of people like Ellison and Masi, a new door will widen in the field of service dog roles.
To learn how to help, visit awesomegreyhoundadoptions.org.

Arden Moore, founder of FourLeggedLife.com, is an animal behavior consultant, editor, author, speaker and master certified pet first-aid instructor. She hosts Oh Behave! on PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more at www.ardenmoore.com.

The Yamato Scrub habitat is dominated by white sandy soil, saw palmetto (foreground), scrub oak (top left) and sand pine (top right). Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

An armadillo lumbers across the path ahead of us. Low growing plants cling to the sandy soil. And a prickly pear cactus seems to reach with its spiny pads.
We could be in a desert far out West.
Instead, we are just off Interstate 95 in Boca Raton, visiting the Yamato Scrub Natural Area. On more than 200 acres the area showcases a variety of ecosystems, including pine flatwoods and restored marshland. But more than 60 percent of it is this desert-like scrubland.
“The scrub that you see here is unique to our state, found nowhere else on the planet,” says Lee Lietzke, the senior environmental analyst who oversees this natural area.
“It is the oldest ecosystem in Florida, dating back to prehistoric times,” adds Lietzke, who works for the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management.
If you wonder how this dry ecosystem ended up here, so close to the ocean, Lietzke can explain. Florida scrub owes its formation to eons of rising and falling sea levels that formed a dune ridge along the state’s eastern coast. When water levels rose, only the tops of the high and dry dunes were exposed.
These islands were then colonized by plants to form the scrub habitat that has more endemic species than any other, says Lietzke.
To see the Yamato Scrub for yourself, take a trail map available in the natural area’s parking lot. From there, follow the concrete path that is the Cicada Trail. Then continue on to the southern portion of the sandy Skyblue Lupine Trail.
As you walk, you will recognize the scrub by its sand live oaks as well as the sand pines, which have much shorter needles and smaller cones than the more familiar slash pines. You’ll feel plenty of sun on your face as you pass such low-growing scrub indicators as rusty lyonia with white bell-like flowers, flag paw paw with showy white flowers and aromatic scrub mint.
And if you are lucky, you may see a gopher tortoise or its burrow. Those underground tunnels are not only home to their makers but also can house over 350 other species, including the endangered Florida mouse and the indigo snake.
The concern for Lietzke and other land managers is that the lower plants in the scrub require plenty of sun and will cease to exist if the nearby oaks and pines are allowed to grow into a canopy. That too could endanger the grass-eating tortoises and other animals that need the plants to survive.
Before man, Mother Nature maintained the scrub with periodic wildfires that leveled almost everything in their paths. But to protect themselves, some trees adapted to fire.
For example, sand pines readily burn. But their closed cones open in the heat of a fire to expose a great many seeds that, after the fire dies out, sprout thick as “dog hair” to renew the population, explains Lietzke.
As man entered the picture, he too took advantage of those dry dune ridges to lay out roads, railroads, homes and businesses. Over the years, scrub was replaced by urban landscape and two-thirds of Florida’s original scrub disappeared.
Ideally, land managers such as Lietzke could use prescribed burns to maintain what scrub remains. But with so many businesses and homes nearby, smoke is a major concern.
In place of fire, repeated mowing or chopping does a good job of maintaining the scrub. The scrub is cut using a heavy piece of equipment and left to regenerate itself naturally so it’s there for you to enjoy.
“To a large extent, our natural areas are really the last places where you can come out and see actual habitat. Our goal is to maintain that habitat as close to its natural state as possible,” says Lietzke.

If You Go
What: Yamato Scrub Natural Area. No restrooms or drinking water are available at this site.
Where: 701 Clint Moore Road, Boca Raton
When: Open sunrise to sunset daily. Daytime and evening guided tours and other programs are available to help you enjoy and learn about scrub and other ecosystems in the area.
More info: Call 393-7810; go to discover.pbcgov.org/erm/NaturalAreas/Yamato- Scrub.aspx; or visit its Facebook page.

Gardening tip
Native muhly grass is great for people who want a plant that doesn’t need a lot of water. We just put it in and let it grow. The rain keeps it alive to produce really pretty purple seed heads. I have some in my front yard. The grass naturally covers an area about 2 feet in diameter, but doesn’t seem to spread and become unmanageable.
— Lee Lietzke, senior environmental analyst, Palm Beach County Dept. of Environmental Resources Management

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

South Florida Science Center's animatronic dinosaurs move, roar and appear to interact with visitors. Photo provided.

By Janis Fontaine

They’re back! There are more of them. And they look hungry!
Twenty animatronic dinosaurs have returned to the South Florida Science Center for a bigger, badder exhibition of prehistoric creatures in “Dinosaur Invasion,” on display through April 21.
Imagine Earth 65 million years ago, when these monsters roamed the planet. The exhibit isn’t speculation. These are scientifically accurate re-creations of triceratops, raptors, Tyrannosaurus rex and the giant Spinosaurus, for example.
Some are too big to fit inside the museum — the Spinosaurus and T. rex could grow to 45 feet long — so you’ll find them lurking outside.
These aren’t skeletal remains or hollow plastic shells. These dinosaurs have new technology and new skills. They’ll be scanning you as if you were prey. Get close, you’ll hear them roar.
Melinda Grenz, the director of marketing at SFSC, says the public’s passion for these mysterious creatures hasn’t waned. If anything, she says, people are more interested.
“Dinosaurs are probably the most popular of all exhibits. They always break attendance records,” she said. “All ages and types of people come to see them.”
Even people who have seen the previous dinosaur exhibits come back again to see what’s new.
Visitors will be impressed, Grenz said, because the dinosaurs “are more realistic than ever.”
Dinosaur expert Robert DePalma, a native of Boca Raton, can trace his love of science and dinosaurs back to a visit to the SFSC, then the Science Museum, to see Suzie the woolly mammoth when he was a kid.
Today, DePalma is the curator of paleontology at the Palm Beach Museum of Natural History and he’s sort of the dinosaur “quality control” guy. He makes sure the exhibit’s dinosaurs are represented in accordance with science.
“There’s still so much we still don’t know,” Grenz said. “Paleontology is a growing science.”
Grenz said the animatronic dinosaurs can be a little scary — she admits to getting a few goosebumps when she walks past them on her way to her car after work — but kids warm up to them quickly.
The exhibit sheds light on some of the newest findings, including recently discovered dinosaurs. And dinosaurs, rather than being slow and stupid, were actually smart creatures, experts have found.
Lately experts have been arguing about whether T. rex was more like a bird or a reptile. They think he might have been born covered with feathers.
There’s a lot still to be learned from dinosaurs about what Earth was like all those millions of years ago, how the tectonic plates shifted, tearing the continents apart.
The museum has several programs planned in association with the exhibit. They include:
Night at the Museum: Jaws, paws and claws from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb 22 will touch on the dinosaurs’ deadly strength.
DinoFest: Meet DePalma from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 9 at his meet-and-greet during DinoFest.
The South Florida Science Center and Aquarium is at 4801 Dreher Trail N., West Palm Beach. Admission is $17.95 for adults, $15.95 for age 60+, $13.95 for ages 3-12 and free for kids younger than 3 and for members.
For more information, call 832-1988 or visit fsciencecenter.org.

High school poetry awards
A future poet laureate might be attending high school here, and you might find this gifted wordsmith at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival coming to Old School Square in Delray Beach this month.
The best place to look? At the awards ceremony for the winners of the high school poetry contest, at 5 p.m. Jan. 21 in Crest Theatre at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach.
Winners were selected from submissions by students of Palm Beach County high schools. The winner will receive $200 and four runners-up will receive $100.
For more info, visit palmbeachpoetryfestival. org.

St. Joseph’s eighth-grade students contributed food and prepared a Christmas dinner for about two dozen homeless and needy people at Holy Redeemer Episcopal Church in Lake Worth. ‘This is a wonderful opportunity to help the students understand that the true spirit of Christmas is about giving,’ said the Rev. Lynne E. Jones, chaplain and sacred studies teacher.

ABOVE: Noah Haddad, Liam Lee, Bryce McLean-Povedano and Victoria Wilson open canned goods as they prepare the meal.

Daniel Bednar, Morgan Gallagher and Johnnie Rowley sort donated shoes, which were given away during the event.

Photos provided by Carol Cunningham

For one Saturday morning, dogs were allowed to play off leash on the beach at Oceanfront Park. The City of Boynton Beach and Boynton Beach Recreation and Parks Department sponsored the Dec. 15 Oceanfront Bark event. Duke, 3, and Moose, 2, greet one another before running off to play.

Photos by Rachel O’Hara/The Coastal Star

Django, 6, and Lady Bird, 2, enjoy their morning at the beach.

Cooper, 10, takes in the ocean breeze while watching some of his bigger dog friends.

Lewis James Brown, 3, is very friendly with people and dogs alike.

Duke, 3, enjoys running down the beach with a toy.

Gabriela Witis of Boynton Beach laughs and smiles with her 12-year-old dog Henry.

Henry is thrilled to be able to roll around in the sand.

Buddy, 4 months, hops around Henry.

Buddy is not sure about how adventurous he wants to be when it comes to going into the ocean.

Rondo, 8, frolics in the surf.

Buddy runs from the incoming waves.

Django, right, runs from the ocean victorious after fetching a toy before Duke, 3, could get hold of it.

Eighteen-month-old Abby loved being near the water.

Abby rides in a wave while looking for her tennis ball.

Abby and Django run around in the water with their toys.

Piggy, 2, takes in the scene before joining in the fun.

Mookie, 6 months, and Buddy, 4 months, enjoy some puppy rough housing.

Mookie takes a break in the sand.

Paw prints of all sizes could be seen alongside human footprints.

End arrives after 68 years for seaside vacation haven
Wright by the Sea has been sold for $25 million and will be leveled in January to make room for condos.

Photos by Rachel O’Hara/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

John Mills was only 5 years old in 1956, the first time his parents brought him to Wright by the Sea.
They drove down from their home outside Indianapolis, stayed in one of the motel’s biggest rooms, down toward the dunes, and John would fall asleep at night with the windows open, listening to the murmur of the waves on Delray Beach. They came every year until 1965.
And then 40 years went by.
“One day in 2005, I was thinking about that motel,” Mills remembered recently. “I figured it was probably condos by now, but when I went online, their website came up.”
A year later, Mills returned to Wright by the Sea, back to Room 125, down by the dunes. He and his wife, Camille, sat on the patio, drinking wine and listening to the murmur of the waves.
“The landscaping was more lush when we came back,” he said, “but the beachfront was exactly what I remembered, the pool and beach hadn’t changed at all. You drive in and it’s like it’s 1958 again.”
John and Camille Mills have been back every year since 2006, but they won’t be back next year, and neither will any of the motel’s other 8,000 annual guests. The old familiar faces who used to book a year in advance to make sure they’d get the same room again won’t be here next year, and neither will Wright by the Sea.
Sometime in early January, bulldozers from U.S. Construction Inc. will mow down that grand seaside landmark at 1901 S. Ocean Blvd., and take 2 more acres of Old Delray Beach with it.
To make way for condos.

The late Russell Wright’s daughter Gigi Vela and granddaughter Dodie Vela hosted a final Thanksgiving in Wright by the Sea‘s chickee hut.

“We were being taxed out of business,” says Dorothy Gay Wright Vela, whose nickname is GiGi. “The property taxes were a quarter of a million, and then there’s the 10 percent bed tax.”
And so, on Oct. 1, the Wright family sold the motel they’ve owned for 68 years to National Realty Investment Advisors for $25 million, or $862,069 for each of its 29 rooms.
GiGi Vela is 83 now, but she was only 11 in 1946 when her father, Russell M. Wright, bought those 2 acres on coastal Delray Beach.
GiGi’s daughter, Dorothea Vela, whom everybody calls Dodie, wasn’t born until her grandfather’s motel was already 16 years old.
“Logic says we had to sell, but nobody in the family wanted this,” Dodie Vela adds. “We’re grieving, too.”
On this glorious November afternoon, both mother and daughter are sitting in Room 127, overlooking the motel’s lush green lawn and the pool with those bright blue umbrellas and gleaming white lounge chairs — to reminisce.
What were the early days like here? How has the motel changed through its 68 years? Who’s worked here longest? Who were your most unforgettable guests?
But every time they start to reply, the talk veers back to their father and grandfather, until at last you understand.
For the Wright family, this old motel and the man who built it are inseparable, even now.

Dodie Vela’s favorite snapshot from when she was a child at Wright by the Sea.

Russell Melvin Wright was born in 1904 on a farm in Grove City, Pa., and grew up to become a successful osteopathic physician with a practice in Detroit and an apple farm at home in suburban Bloomfield Hills.
Dr. Wright began bringing his family to Fort Lauderdale in the 1930s, and some weeks he’d drive north to have Sunday dinner at The Colony Hotel on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.
“He loved maps,” his daughter recalls, “and one day he realized that Delray was only three miles from the Gulf Stream.”
In 1946, two of those coastal acres became his.
“He bought a jungle!” GiGi Vela exclaims. “You couldn’t walk through it. He had to take a boat ride from Atlantic Avenue to see the beach.”
Four years later, in 1950, that jungle had brought forth the original motel of 14 rooms along South Ocean Boulevard.
In those days, Wright by the Sea was as much a winter vacation home as a motel. There were rooms to rent, but only during the winter months, and the guests were often family friends from Michigan.
“His Detroit friends would come down and stay three months rather than buying a place,” Dodie Vela says.
A second wing was added five years later, just in time for young John Mills to hear the ocean there, and Wright by the Sea was more or less complete.
Let the parties begin.
Wright had met his wife, Dorothy, on St. Patrick’s Day 1929, so every March 17, he’d roast a pig, set up a green champagne fountain, don a green leprechaun hat, and hire an accordion band.

Pelicans soar over the grounds, which have palm trees that the Wright family planted years ago.

In the mid-1960s, this man who had lived on farms in Pennsylvania and Michigan bought 11 acres west of Boynton Beach and gave each of his five grandchildren 500 potted Malayan coconut palms to raise there.
Wright’s grandchildren grew up in Fort Lauderdale, where he had first enjoyed winter vacations back in the ’30s. Now they came up to the Boynton Beach farm most weekends to tend the trees their grandfather sold — and to learn the value of a dollar.
“He loved nature so much,” his granddaughter says, “and he believed in education, but he wanted us to earn our tuition.”
Those towering coconut palms wagging in the breeze above the motel pool now were grown by the Wright family.
For its first two decades, Wright by the Sea saw its founder only during the winter months, but in 1972, Wright left Detroit, retired to Delray Beach, and the motel opened year-round. Soon, a team of Seminole Indians traveled from Miami and slept on the beach to build a chickee hut at the southeast corner of the property and give the family a story that still makes them smile.
The crew leader introduced himself as Johnny Walker.
“Johnny Walker,” Wright observed. “That’s not a very Indian name.”
“It was my father’s favorite booze,” Johnny Walker replied.
Now Wright by the Sea had 29 rooms, a kidney-shaped pool, a chickee hut, coconut palms and, not long after, a housekeeper who’s seen it all.

Robin Hickman worked 40 years at the motel, starting in 1975.

Some say Robin Hickman came to work at the motel 30 years ago in 1988. Some say 35 years ago in 1983. Robin Hickman thinks she started in 1978.
But the employment records in the motel office list her date of hire as 1975, when she was 23.
“I always used to drive by there, and it just looked so relaxing and calm, I said, ‘I’m going to work there someday,’” she says. “And then I saw the ad in the newspaper — and I did!”
For the next 40 years, until ill health forced her retirement in 2015, she cleaned rooms, supervised the other staff, got to meet the guests, and of course, knew Wright.
“Oh, Lord, yes! Yes, yes. He was very nice to me, and I’m going to tell you how nice.”
She was a divorced mother at the time, raising six small kids in Delray Beach and cleaning rooms.
“Dr. Wright made sure each one of my kids had lunch money,” she says.
One Halloween, a basket of fruit appeared on her doorstep while she was at work.
“Where did this come from?” she asked the kids. “That man from your job,” they told her.
Halloween brought fruit baskets, and come Thanksgiving, the doctor made sure they had a turkey.
“While I worked there, I paid for a car and a home,” she says, proudly, “so you know, life was good.”
The Wrights were always kind, and the guests were sometimes entertaining.
“I had a guest in 125,” Hickman remembers. “He was an undertaker. I saw an urn on the counter, and I used to see his wife talking to it.”
One day, she picked up the urn to wipe the counter.
“Don’t drop my daddy,” the undertaker’s wife warned her.
“Your daddy?” Hickman said. “Where’s your daddy?”
“In your hand.”
Hickman still hoots at the memory.
“I just put it down and ran outside.”
Robin Hickman still lives in Delray Beach, but she misses keeping busy, misses the motel, misses the Wrights.
“You can’t find anybody nicer than those people,” she says. “And getting that job was the beginning of a true blessing for me. I always knew I was in the Wright family.”

Patti Carlson (right) hugs Linda Phillips, from Pennsylvania, as Phillips leaves after her final visit.

“It’s a glorious day at Wright by the Sea!” Patti Carlson almost sings into the phone. “How can I help you?”
Carlson has called herself the “front desk girl” for most of her 14 years here, and this is her standard greeting. Nowadays, though, the music fades from her voice as she chats.
“We’re closing Nov. 25 … townhouses … I know, I know. … Well, we’ll land somewhere.”
But somewhere won’t be nearly as lovely as this, or the memories as happy.
Carlson remembers the gentleman who took his girlfriend out to dinner, came back somewhat elevated — “drunk as a skunk”— and decided he could just drive the car right up and park outside his room.
“He wound up on the grass by the pool,” she laughs.
A few times, people have called to ask if they can pay to use the beach, she says, and Marcia Faure, the other desk clerk, has taken calls from people who want to rent by the hour.
“I tell them we’re not that kind of motel,” she says.
“Well,” Patti Carlson concedes, “we have had some people be quite … demonstrative in the pool.”
They were the exceptions. Over the years, their guests came from the U.S., Norway and Sweden, Germany, England and France, and they made no trouble. Some came to be married here, some to family and class reunions. And many came to be friends.
“When you come to work and see this every day, how can you have a bad day?” asks Tammy Tatum, the events manager who has booked those weddings — usually one every week between October and December — for 15 years. “Here, everybody’s on vacation, and the best part is watching the young ones grow from babies to adults every year.”
Since word of the sale was announced, she says, some guests have asked to keep their room keys, as souvenirs.

Joan Byrd (left) and her mother, Margaret Bowen, read in a cabana.

“We began calling on Oct. 3 to let people know we were closing,” GiGi Vela says. “We had to cancel weddings.”
After the calls went out, the letters started coming in.
“Our yearly visits to your hotel have become tradition within our family,” Lucas Freyre wrote from Miami. “There is no way to comprehend the love I have for this place.”
And from Jeff and Karen Hall in Dorset, England: “You are like a family to us with the warm and sincere welcome we always received.”
Their letters, and a dozen more, are posted in the office.
“Those thank-you notes aren’t for us,” Dodie Vela says. “They’re for the staff.”

John and Camille Mills’ thank-you note is one of many that hung in the office of Wright by the Sea before it closed Nov. 25.

GiGi Vela keeps the wish lists in a manila folder.
Patti Carlson would like the microwave and carpet from Room 105 and the mirror from 124.
Tammy Tatum wants a couch and chairs and some of the shuffleboard equipment because she’s the president of her community board.
Alejandra DeLopez, the housekeeper, wants a pineapple pole lamp, and Carlos Melendez, the maintenance man, would like the big and little ladders.
After all the family and staff have taken what they want, the rest will be donated to a local charity. But the most precious keepsakes they’ll all be taking are the memories.
GiGi Vela had her 70th and 80th birthday parties in the chickee hut, and Dodie her 40th.
Her brother, Luis, got engaged here in 1998, with candles on the beach that spelled out “Will you marry me?”
This year, for the last year, family and friends gathered for a final Thanksgiving feast in the hut. As always, Dodie created her table decorations from the banana trees out front and coconuts from the Malayan palms.
“I use coconuts instead of pumpkins to decorate the table,” she said, “because that’s our harvest.”

Zach Cohn of Denver takes his son, Maxwell, 3, into the ocean. The Cohn family came to the motel for 10 years.

Dr. Russell M. Wright died at Boca Raton Community Hospital on Oct. 18, 2002. He was 98 and spent his final days in Room 124, the large suite nearest the ocean, from which he could hear the waves crash, only three miles from the Gulf Stream, and see the Malayan palms he’d planted years ago.
“Look at those trees,” he would say. “They’re dancing in the wind.”
In addition to being the owner of a Delray Beach motel, he had been a team physician for the Detroit Tigers and the U.S. Olympic weightlifting team. A year before his death, the Russell M. Wright Fitness Center was dedicated at Slippery Rock University, his alma mater.
In another sense, though, he had always been a farmer, too. He grew carrots and tomatoes as a boy in Pennsylvania and apples in Michigan as a man. And then he came down to Florida and planted a seaside motel that grew friends and memories for almost 70 years.
Now that motel’s end is near, too, and when the bulldozers arrive in January to clear the lot, his 83-year-old daughter will be there to watch.
“All my friends are coming,” GiGi Vela says. “It’s going to be heartbreaking, but I had to be with my father when he died, so I have to be here, too. It’s seeing it through.”
Robin Hickman, the staff member who knew the doctor and his motel longer than anyone not named Wright, hopes to see it through, too.
“Oh, yes, I’ll be there,” she vows. “If it’s God’s will, I’m going to be there, dressed all in black.”

David Del Rio sits in court during a bail hearing related to charges he stole nearly $3 million from Betty Cabral of Highland Beach. The judge set bail at $463,000. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

As Palm Beach County sheriff’s detectives continued investigating the financial records of Elizabeth “Betty” Cabral — the 85-year-old Highland Beach widow who was found murdered in April — they discovered that nearly $2 million more than originally suspected had vanished from her life savings.

As a result, county prosecutors last month filed 44 additional grand theft and exploitation of the elderly charges against David Del Rio, a financial adviser now charged with siphoning close to $3 million from Cabral’s bank accounts.

During the November bond hearing for Del Rio, who has not been charged in connection with the homicide, prosecutors revealed that the killer cut Cabral’s throat while she slept. So far, no arrests have been made in the homicide and the investigation continues.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley set bail at $463,000 for what are now 72 counts against Del Rio. He will remain in county jail until defense attorneys can prove that any money he might use to post bail wasn’t obtained through unauthorized withdrawals from Cabral’s accounts.

During the hearing, prosecutors argued that Del Rio, 35, befriended Cabral and her husband, William, and took advantage of their trust to siphon money from their bank accounts.

“What he was doing was using his relationship with that couple to steal their life savings,” Assistant State Attorney Brian Fernandes told Kelley. “He spent hours and hours a day so he could exploit them.”

Del Rio has been in custody since his arrest in mid-September, when he was charged with multiple counts of grand theft, exploitation of the elderly, money laundering and fraudulent use of personal identification information.

The additional charges stem from new information investigators found in looking at financial records going back to 2013.

Investigators have said in court documents they think Del Rio fraudulently changed the will of Betty and William Cabral, making himself the sole beneficiary of the estate. William Cabral died in April 2017 at 88.

Fernandes and prosecutor Aleathea McRoberts focused their arguments during the Nov. 5 bail hearing on convincing Kelley that Del Rio was a danger to the community and should have bail set at $1 million. Del Rio’s attorneys asked the judge to set bail between $75,000 and $125,000, claiming Del Rio was neither a flight risk nor someone about whom the community should be concerned.

Defense attorney Michael Salnick presented several witnesses who said Del Rio was a good man and someone Betty Cabral thought of as a son.

“As a friend it’s hard for me to believe all this,” testified Nick Simpson, who knows Del Rio through their church. “The charges that are being thrown at him are so far outside what I know David to be.”

ABOVE: Relatives of Betty Cabral of Highland Beach listen during a bail hearing for David Del Rio, who is charged with stealing nearly $3 million from Cabral before she was slain. BELOW: Family members and friends of Del Rio react during the hearing.

Salnick argued that Del Rio has known since May that he was under investigation but did not try to flee, instead staying at home in Lehigh Acres in Lee County on Florida’s west coast with his wife and four children.

Prosecutors, however, argued that Del Rio would have good reason to flee because of the volume of charges against him.

“He’s facing the potential of life in prison for the crimes he committed,” Fernandes said.

In setting the requirements associated with bail that included house arrest for Del Rio and a prohibition against his contacting any members of the Cabral family, Kelley ordered that Del Rio remain in custody under a hold by prosecutors while attorneys sort out where Del Rio would get the money for bail.

Salnick said he is working toward meeting the state’s requirement that money for bond will not come from ill-gotten gains in order to facilitate Del Rio’s release.

Several friends and family members said they would lend money to Del Rio to help him make bail, but that amounted to less than $15,000.

Relatives of Betty and William Cabral were also called on to testify, with one great- niece saying Betty Cabral was concerned that her money was disappearing.

During her testimony, Maureen Forte said her aunt wept while calling her early this year because Del Rio told her she no longer had enough money to pay for home health care.

Forte reached out to Del Rio asking for a financial accounting of expenses but never heard back, which she said was unusual.

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Detective Robert Drake testified that investigators think Del Rio used money taken from the Cabrals to buy expensive cars and to make home improvements.

He said Del Rio purchased two Audi vehicles, a Porsche, a recreational vehicle, two motorcycles, a smart car and a Chevy Silverado for a friend all in one year.

In looking at financial records, detectives could not find evidence that Del Rio used any money from Cabral’s accounts to pay her bills.
“I never found one penny that was paid from Del Rio’s account to care for the Cabrals,” Drake said.

State Rep. Mike Caruso won the District 89 seat by a mere 32 votes. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Bonfiglio has no regrets about narrow defeat

By Steve Plunkett

Lawsuits. Machine recounts. Protests. Overheated ballot machines. Manual recounts.
November’s general election again had all the elements to push the state into the national spotlight. But while most people across the country focused on Florida’s U.S. Senate and governor’s contests, an even closer race was being decided in south Palm Beach County.
In the end, Republican Mike Caruso defeated Democrat Jim Bonfiglio by a slim 32 votes out of 78,474 cast, but not before the totals went to automatic machine recount, a state-required hand recount and a successful effort by Bonfiglio to have the Florida House District 89 results tallied before those of the governor’s race.
“I felt like I won twice,” Caruso said after leading Bonfiglio on election night by 37 votes only to see his lead shrink slightly in the following days.
“It was very stressful,” Caruso said. “I’ve never been charged with murder or anything like that, but it felt like I was waiting for a verdict from the jury. It was a tough process.”
Caruso’s 50.02 percent winning total was narrower than those for U.S. Sen.-elect Rick Scott (50.05) and new state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (50.04).
“A win’s a win,” said Caruso, a CPA from Delray Beach.
Bonfiglio, a lawyer who resigned as mayor of Ocean Ridge to run, said he has “no regrets” over how he conducted his campaign and that his 32-vote deficit was a strong showing for a Democrat in a typically Republican-leaning district, which stretches from Boca Raton to Singer Island.
“Obviously my message resonated well,” Bonfiglio said, citing his calls for raising teacher pay, expanding Medicaid and protecting women’s rights.
“The process worked,” Bonfiglio said. “The point is, every vote matters. That is the essence of representative democracy.”
Caruso said he was shocked that the results were so close.
“We knocked on 29,000 doors, we made 9,000 phone calls, we won the sign war 1,000 to one,” Caruso said. “I thought I had outworked my opponent by far.”
But he did not foresee the enthusiasm generated by Democrats for their gubernatorial candidate, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who narrowly lost to Ron DeSantis.
“I can’t control the Gillum wave of excitement,” Caruso said.

Mike Caruso (in tie) celebrates with (l-r) his campaign manager Auston Molina, strategist Blake MacDiarmid, attorney Robert Fernandez and staffer Nick Cannon after Susan Bucher, county supervisor of elections, declared him the winner in state House District 89. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

One of the first issues Caruso plans to tackle at the state Capitol is fixing problems he saw in his election.
“I understand why people stand out in front of these [elections] offices and protest,” Caruso said. “We’ll be trying to revamp the system so we don’t have this debacle every two years.”
Even though he won, Caruso said candidates and voters deserve a better process.
“When I see ballots being transferred by staff without supervision, making decisions on voter intent without the canvassing board reviewing them, in the back of the warehouse, it’s alarming,” Caruso said. “It breeds contempt by the public.”
Bonfiglio said he will “keep an eye on” the Legislature to make sure the issues that got him almost 40,000 total votes are addressed.
“Right now I’m sitting back enjoying my life and not having to run around campaigning,” he said.
Bonfiglio said voters might consider amending the state constitution to change the swearing-in date of legislators and give election offices more time to count ballots. “There’s no real need to swear in representatives on Nov. 20,” he said.
Andy Thomson, who won his seat on the Boca Raton City Council in August, also by a 32-vote margin, empathized with Caruso’s having to wait out a recount.
“It’s territory that I’m very familiar with,” Thomson said.
Thomson trailed rival Kathy Cottrell by about 200 votes most of that Election Night; the margin narrowed to 37 votes, then shortly after midnight he was three votes ahead. He said nobody remembers that after three days of “nerve-racking” recounts, he won by 32 votes.
“They all remember the three,” Thomson said. “I cannot tell you the number of people who said, ‘I saw that you won by three and I came, I dragged my college-age daughter out to vote, she wasn’t going to vote otherwise, so me, my husband and her gave you the three-vote margin.’”
Thomson said he’s never had the heart to tell people his true margin.
“You know what, they’re right. You take those three, and you add another three and you add another three, and all the people who combined to say that my household was the three-vote margin, they added up to 32 votes,” he said.
Thomson said close elections like his and Caruso’s convince people that their vote matters.
“A number of people have said that ‘You, Andy, and your election was like a civics lesson for my kids or my class or the young people who had disengaged,’” Thomson said. “Because to them, that election reflected the fact that every vote does matter, and that never, ever think that your vote won’t make a difference because it can, and in my case did.”

Chiara Clark, president of the Parents Auxiliary at Gulf Stream School, has three children at the school: Finley, 10, Fletcher, 5, and Francesca, 8. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rick Pollack

Chiara Clark had just moved to Florida from Manhattan after she and her financier husband, Tom, had found the home of their dreams in tiny Gulf Stream.
Knowing that her two daughters at the time would soon be going to Gulf Stream School, but not knowing where it was, Clark put the address into a GPS hoping to get an idea of how long it would take to get the kids from the kitchen to the classroom.
She was shocked when it came back “too close to calculate” and discovered that the school was just a stone’s throw away.
Before long, Clark as well as her children were making the short walk to campus often. The kids went to class and their mom became part of the school’s Parents Auxiliary — Gulf Stream’s version of a PTA.
In fact, Clark went to her first auxiliary meeting just three days after moving to the area — with purple streaks of color in her hair — and was pleasantly surprised by what she saw.
“It was my first sense that I was part of something that could benefit my children and my community as a whole,” said Clark, 41. “Everyone here reaches out. We don’t wait for you to come to us, we reach out for all kinds of things from play dates, dinners and volunteer opportunities — sometimes all three.”
Clark became deeply involved in the Parents Auxiliary, working her way up the ladder and currently serving a second year as auxiliary president.
While the school is her main focus, Clark is also active in the community as a whole, serving on several boards and taking the reins as chairwoman of several fundraising events, including the Laugh at the Library event in February. That event benefits the Delray Beach Public Library, where she is on the board.
She is on the board of the Delray Beach Historical Society and chaired the recent Fall Festival.
Clark was on the committee for the recent Women of Grace luncheon benefiting the Bethesda Hospital Foundation, is involved with Impact 100 Palm Beach County, the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition and the Magnolia Society, which benefits Bethesda’s Center for Women and Children.
On Dec. 2, she planned to serve as a celebrity chef at Empty Bowls Delray Beach, benefiting the Palm Beach County Food Bank.
Clark has a background as an event planner, having worked in that arena and as a publicist before moving to Florida.
In whatever time she has left, she volunteers as a soccer coach for her children’s teams.
“I love to be busy with things that make me happy,” she said. “I make time to do all of this because it’s important to show my children the value of being community oriented.”
The mother of three kids at Gulf Stream School — 10-year-old Finley, 8-year-old Francesca and Fletcher, 5 — Clark is frequently on campus helping to organize fundraising events and other activities.
As auxiliary president she’s involved with more than 30 events throughout the year that support the school. She makes sure that all new parents are welcomed. The auxiliary also hosts Grandparents and Special Friends Day, as well as the Golf and Tennis Classic and the school’s annual auction, a major fundraiser.
“We’re the social backbone of the school,” she said. “We give this school a feeling of family.”
One of Clark’s most visible accomplishments at Gulf Stream School is a new playground for lower school kids. With input from Head of School Joe Zaluski as well as students, Clark led the team that raised $350,000 for the community-built playground.
“I will walk away most proud of that,” she said.
With three energetic children, a busy husband and a hectic volunteer schedule, you might think that Clark would look forward to taking a little break from community service once her term as auxiliary president is over at the end of the school year.
That, however, would be a wrong assumption.
“I can’t wait to do more,” she said.

The coming holidays have me contemplating the meaning of a gift.
In searching for a definition, I turned to Merriam-Webster (of course).
The dictionary’s first description calls a gift “a notable capacity, talent, or endowment.”
I take this to mean something that is often already given; a type of privilege granted by birth, position or nurture.
For example, although my family didn’t have a lot when I was young, I consider my parents’ push for education to be a gift that has returned ongoing rewards. I learned to read, to write and to share this gift with others. This was my parents’ legacy. I learned that not all endowments are trust funds.
The dictionary’s second definition of gift is “something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation.” I suppose the presents under the tree fall into this category.
But so do acts of volunteering — of assistance or energy, skills or talents. These are not easy gifts to give: They take time and effort, and might be outside of our comfort zone.
But the rewards reaped prove over and over again that not all gifts arrive via Amazon Prime.
And finally, Webster defines a gift as “the act, right, or power of giving.”
This may be the most relevant to the season. It’s the act of giving that lifts us out of the self-absorption of day-to-day life and drives us to honor the wishes and dreams of others — friends, family and, yes, even strangers.
So, as December begins and we brace for the holiday rush, my hope is to embrace both the power of giving and the graceful acceptance of gifts from others.
I hope you’ll join me. What better way to celebrate the spirit of the season?
Happy Holidays.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

The Coastal Star racked up 10 awards — one first-place, four second-place and five third-place— at the 68th annual Excellence in Journalism Competition sponsored by the Florida Press Club.
The awards were handed out at the Press Club’s annual banquet Nov. 3 in Mount Dora.
The Coastal Star took home honors in the Class C and Class D divisions, which encompass daily, nondaily, community, tribal and college newspapers. Florida magazines and newspaper supplements are also included in the class.
The first-place award went to Ron Hayes, writing/environmental news.
Second-place awards went to Cheryl Blackerby, writing/environmental news; Ron Hayes, writing/minority reporting; Jerry Lower, photography/features; and Dan Moffett, writing/government news.
Third-place awards went to Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley, writing/environmental news; Mary Hladky, writing/business writing; Willie Howard, writing/sports column; Arden Moore, writing/public safety reporting; and Rich Pollack, writing/government news.

— Henry Fitzgerald

By Rich Pollack

Could Highland Beach have designated bike lanes and lighted crosswalks along State Road A1A in the not-too-distant future?
Would it be possible and financially feasible to have underground utility lines instead of unsightly power poles and wires along the roadway, as well as improved drainage facilities to minimize street flooding?
These questions and many more related to improvements along A1A are expected to be addressed in a $147,000 “Complete Streets” study the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council is conducting for the town.
Focused on providing design plans for a multitude of improvements along the roadway as well as cost estimates, the study is being fast-tracked to meet several deadlines.
Commissioners and representatives from the planning council are hoping to have enough information available in time to bring plans before voters in March during the municipal elections and in time to commit to improvements by a mid-March state deadline.
This month, residents will have a chance to hear more about the project — and have some say in how it is developed — during a public design workshop set for 6 p.m. Dec. 5 at the Highland Beach Public Library.
“This is an opportunity for the community to address many of the issues residents have expressed concerns about through public forums,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said. “Those include crosswalks, flooding, sidewalk improvements and bike lanes.”
The workshop will include an opening presentation, a discussion of opportunities and challenges and “table sessions” with facilitators designed to generate ideas, according to a proposal Kim DeLaney, director of strategic development and policy for the planning council, presented to the town.
“We’re asking people to sit at a table and tell us how they want the corridor to look,” DeLaney said during one of several presentations she made to town commissioners.
The driving force behind the discussion of major improvements to A1A throughout the town is a Florida Department of Transportation “Three R” project that essentially includes repaving the roadway through the 3 miles of Highland Beach.
A five-year process, the project includes refurbishing, replacement and repair along A1A and is an opportunity for the town to ask for any improvements residents would like to see along the roadway.
Because the state has overall authority for the roadway and final say for any improvements, any plans presented by the town would require FDOT approval.
In the past, the state has been slow to grant the town permission to make changes, especially in the area of crosswalk improvements, but Labadie said he recently met with Gerry O’Reilly, who oversees the region for FDOT, and came away optimistic.
“They were not only very welcoming to us, but they were also welcoming to the ideas we were presenting,” Labadie said.
Labadie said the town hopes to implement some interim crosswalk improvements, including improved signage and possible pedestrian-activated signals.
“FDOT said they are willing to work with us,” he said.
How much of the funding for the overall improvements for the project will come from the state and how much will come from the town is still to be worked out, but should residents approve all or part of the project, chances are they will see an impact on their municipal taxes, Labadie said.
He said the town will probably need to borrow money to implement the improvements and that it is exploring financing options.
“At the end of the day, it will likely cost residents,” he said.
DeLaney said that through the study, her organization will present the town with costs of individual items and present the Town Commission with “a range of options.”
How the project will be presented to residents in the referendum is still up in the air, but Labadie said the commission appears to be willing to break the overall project into logical categories, which are likely to be the streetscape project, drainage improvements and underground utilities.
Although commissioners have shown support for developing plans, some want to be sure the town is following the wishes of its residents and is being fiscally responsible.
“This really depends on what the town wants,” Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman said. “The worst-case scenario is that we can’t come to a consensus as a community and everything goes to hell in a handbasket.”
Commissioner Elyse Riesa said she is concerned that the overall project could be a drain on town finances.
“I’m not in favor of going into debt to where we don’t have funds to do anything but work on the road,” she said. “If we do, we might as well be known as Highland Road instead of Highland Beach.”