Middle-school students conducted a monthlong food drive to benefit WPTV-Ch. 5’s Food for Families

community outreach program. They donated nonperishables such as bagged rice, dried beans, canned meats,

soups and vegetables to help less fortunate people during Thanksgiving. They distributed a total

of 4,000 pounds. Also that day, middle-school Spanish students donned cultural outfits, made display boards

and served food from specific countries during the Hispanic Food Festival, which featured

a live mariachi band. Above: (l-r) Nirali Patel, 14, Gianna Smith, 13, Robbie Mayotte, 13,

and Raymond Reiersen, 13, with bags of nonperishables.

Photo provided

Cormorants line the side of a pond near the clubhouse of the Country Club of Florida,

a certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary in the Village of Golf.

A great egret and a roseate spoonbill work the shallow waters looking for a meal.

INSET BELOW: The club provides housing for purple martins, which repay the favor

by devouring thousands of mosquitoes and other insects each day.

Photos provided by Karen Antonucci

By Steve Pike
    
    The term snowbirds generally refers to people coming to South Florida from the North to escape the grip of Old Man Winter. In other words, if it’s January, it must be snowbird season.
    Human snowbirds, however, aren’t the only ones who come to bathe in the Florida sunshine. A plethora of winged birds also makes its way here to bask in the South Florida sun. Among the most prevalent are purple martins, the largest of the North American swallow family and one of the most popular subjects among birdwatchers.
    Residents and members of the Country Club of Florida, in the Village of Golf in particular, get a bird’s-eye view (pardon the pun) of purple martins, which like to dive at great speeds into their man-made houses.
    The private Country Club of Florida, whose members include many people from the coastal communities, manages 32 condominiums (it is Florida) that host purple martins. The birds arrive annually in January and February each year, with fledglings born in April and May. The birds stay through early summer — longer than most two-legged snowbirds — then head south to Brazil in August.

    An average of 100 fledglings are born here each year. The club’s staff maintains the condominiums, a setting that keeps the birds secure and protected from predators such as crows and snakes. In turn, the purple martins help reduce the mosquito population at the CC of Florida, which is a certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary through the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses.
    To reach certification, course personnel demonstrate that they are maintaining a high degree of quality in environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management, outreach and education, chemical use reduction and safety, water conservation and water quality management.  
    The club has more than 10 acres dedicated to two wildlife corridors. The wetland area consists of aquatic plants and fish that attract wading birds. The native area includes plants and vegetation that attract butterflies. The two areas support a wildlife population of more than 100 types of birds and more than 30 other types of animals, amphibians and reptiles.
    All of this fits into the history and culture of the Country Club of Florida. The club’s founder, Carleton Blunt, was a member of the National Audubon Society.
    The 54,000-square-foot clubhouse, which features a Low Country design, is decorated with Audubon prints, and each golf hole carries a bird’s name.
    The course’s five tee boxes, instead of being designated by color,  are named after birds: Cooper’s Hawk, Osprey, Blue Heron, Purple Martin and Wood Duck.

A Pioneer Son at Sea,
by Gilbert L. Voss,
University Press of Florida (www.upf.com), 200 pp, $19.95.

By Willie Howard

    Gilbert Voss was a Renaissance man of the South Florida fishing variety.
    Born in Hypoluxo to pioneer parents, Voss fished commercially for mackerel and mullet during the 1930s and ’40s, served in the Coast Guard during World War II and eventually became a research biologist, professor, conservationist and author.  
    Before he died in 1989, Voss created a manuscript of the colorful fishermen, sponge divers, oystermen and others who wrested a living from the water on both coasts of Florida in his newly released book, A Pioneer Son at Sea: Fishing Tales of Old Florida.
    Voss’ son, Robert Voss, a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, edited the book. He added introductory background about his father’s early life and his pioneer ancestors, along with notes that add historical context to several chapters.
    By writing about his life on the water, the elder Voss captures the flavor of fishermen and fishing communities that have long since vanished in our state of 20 million people.
    He shares tales of rumrunners who eluded the authorities by tossing a net overboard at the Lantana bridge during Prohibition. He takes readers fishing at night for Spanish mackerel, finding the schools by the “fire in the water,” and describes the Bahamian conch fishermen of Riviera Beach who netted mackerel, bluefish and pompano from custom-built sea skiffs.
    In a chapter titled Tight Lines! Voss tells of charter fishing around 1940 aboard the Dream Girl, his brother’s 36-foot wooden sea skiff — including a trip off of Stuart where they came upon a group of sailfish using their tall dorsal fins to herd small fish into balls.
    After serving four years in the Coast Guard during World War II, Voss turned his attention to academics. He wanted to become a writer, but after enrolling at the University of Miami at age 30, he took a zoology course and was hooked.
    Voss began to tag and study game fish, blending his thirst for biological knowledge with his experience as a fisherman. He became an active researcher in an era when marine research was taking off.
    Voss eventually earned his Ph.D., specializing in cephalopods such as squids and octopuses. He wrote several books about Florida marine life, including Seashore Life of Florida and the Caribbean, and served as a professor of biological oceanography at the University of Miami.
    In the late 1950s, Voss lobbied with others for the formation of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park to protect the reefs from the widespread exploitation that he observed.

Jennifer Urbanek leads a shark feeding at the Sandoway Discovery Center. Sharkfest is Jan. 21.

File photo/The Coastal Star

By Steve Pike

    Sharks — they’re among the fiercest creatures in the Earth’s oceans. They’re also among the most misunderstood. Hollywood portrays sharks as little more than man-eating monsters intent on gobbling up humans who venture into the water.  
    Visitors to the Sandoway Discovery Center in Delray Beach on Jan. 21 will get the opportunity to see the true sides of sharks during Sharkfest from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  It’s a first-of-its-kind event for Sandoway, which has given locals and visitors close-up experiences of Florida fish and reptiles for nearly 20 years.
    Sharkfest differs from Sandoway’s annual Shark Month exhibit, which goes from June to August, in that it is more festival than exhibit.
    “It’s a family-friendly event for the day,’’ said Sandoway Discovery Center Executive Director Danica Sanborn. “We want to bring people to the center for shark awareness.’’
    To better create awareness — and separate fact from fiction — Sandoway will host the Florida Atlantic University Shark Research Lab and the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
    Sharkfest will coincide with the annual shark migration from the Bahamas to off the North Carolina coast.
    “So usually around February and March you see all those videos on the news of ‘thousands of sharks’ off the coast,’’ said Evan Orellana, the center’s director of education and animal care.
    Most of the sharks, said Orellana, are requiem and spinner sharks — not exactly the most aggressive of the species. But they are sharks, which means people, particularly non-Floridians, harbor misconceptions about them.
    The No. 1 misconception? That sharks are lying in wait to bite unsuspecting swimmers off the Florida coast.
    Orellana pointed out the window of his second-floor office inside the Sandoway Discovery Center.
     “Statistically that coconut hanging on the tree is more likely to get you than a shark,’’ he said. “Most Floridians know it’s a low percentage but out-of-staters don’t have that information.’’
    “They think it happens every day,’’ Sanborn said of shark bites. “But when they’re given the numbers, they say, ‘Oh, only this many?’’’
    Statistics, Orellana said, are just numbers unless they have enough facts behind them.
    “You don’t know if those 10 shark attacks occurred at night near a pier where there are a lot of fish,’’ he said. “You have to have more information.’’
    That information begins, Orellana said, with respect for the sharks, their history and their habitat.
    “They deserve the conservation we give dolphins, turtles and other animals,’’ he said. “Sharks are animals in the ocean. They’ve been around since before the dinosaurs.
    “They need help with somebody telling their story and providing shark education to the public.’’
    And that’s what Sharkfest is all about.

Cooler weather usually brings good numbers of kingfish to the waters off south Palm Beach County.

Wayne Riddler, center, with the 52.1-pound kingfish he caught Dec. 14 on the Living on Island Time drift boat.

With Riddler are Capt. Max Parker, right, and mate Phil Ferreira-Alves.

Lady K mate Mark Farmer shows a kingfish that hit a dead sardine in 180 feet of water off Lake Worth

on Dec. 13. The Lady K drift boat is based at Sportsman’s Park in Lantana.

Laurie Beausoleil of Boynton Beach with a 12-pound kingfish caught Dec. 9 off Boynton Inlet

while aboard the Living on Island Time.

Photos by Willie Howard/The Coastal Star and Living on Island Time

By Willie Howard

    When the water temperature drops in more northern latitudes, schools of kingfish move south to spend the winter off South Florida, giving anglers more opportunities to catch hard-charging “kings.”
    Good numbers of kingfish were showing up in December in the waters around Boynton Inlet.
    Those fishing on the Living on Island Time drift boat, based at Palm Beach Yacht Center in Hypoluxo, were catching kings in about 140 feet of water directly off Boynton Inlet in early December.
    Anglers on the two other Boynton-area drift boats — the Lady K based at Sportsman’s Park in Lantana and the Sea Mist III based at Boynton Harbor Marina — also were finding kingfish in December.
    Drift boat anglers typically catch kingfish using dead sardines on triple 5/0 hooks rigged with 50-pound-test leader and about an ounce of weight above the leader.
    Kingfish are especially fun to catch on live bait such as blue runners, threadfin herring or goggle-eyes that are drifted on the surface, trolled slowly or dangled under a fishing kite.
    When they’re feeding aggressively, kingfish have been known to leap out of the water holding baits in their mouths, like dogs with bones.
    Kingfish also will strike trolled natural baits and lures such as spoons and jigs.
    King mackerel (Scomberomorus cavalla), best known as kingfish or simply “kings,” are notorious bait thieves. They can eat the sardine from a drift-boat rig and miss all three hooks — or eat most of a live baitfish, leaving behind only the part holding the hook.
    The kingfish’s sharp teeth should be avoided. Many anglers rig live baits intended for kingfish with wire leader and a trailing “stinger” hook to reduce the chance of losing their rigs to  kingfish.
    Kingfish prefer water temperatures between 68 and 78 degrees and often move in schools. When large schools of kings are present along the coast of South Florida, it’s not unusual to see dozens of boats clustered over them.
    Most of the winter kingfish caught off Palm Beach County are small. Of course, there are exceptions.
    Wayne Riddler caught a 52.1-pound kingfish the morning of Dec. 14 while fishing on the Living on Island Time drift boat.
    Riddler’s chubby kingfish hit a dead sardine on a circle hook tied to 40-pound-test leader — a rig intended for snapper — in 155 feet of water north of the Lake Worth Pier.
    The fish took a long first run, bending the rod into a U shape, but Riddler was able to bring it back to the boat in about 10 minutes with the circle hook lodged in the corner of its mouth, Capt. Max Parker said.
    When fishing for schooling kingfish, Chris Lemieux, a charter captain based in Boynton Beach, tells his customers to cast spinning rods holding 1.5-ounce white bucktail jigs for small kingfish.
    Lemieux instructs his anglers to work the jigs back toward the boat quickly with the current to entice hard-striking kingfish.
    “They hit like 100 mph,” Lemieux said. “They’re fun to catch.”
    Small live baits such as pilchards also work well for winter kingfish if they’re available, Lemieux said.
    Kingfish have relatively dark meat with a stronger flavor than, say, snapper. They’re best eaten fresh. Small kingfish are considered better, and safer, to eat than large ones.
    The Florida Department of Health warns against eating kingfish 31 inches or longer (measured to the fork of the tail) because of mercury, a toxic metal that accumulates in the flesh.
Women of childbearing age, women who are pregnant and young children should not eat kingfish at all because of mercury, the state health department says.
    The minimum size for kingfish is 24 inches, measured to the fork of the tail. The daily bag limit is two.

Crescendo wins Operation Sailfish tournament
    The fishing team on Crescendo, led by Capt. Skip Dana of Deerfield Beach, won the Operation Sailfish tournament Dec. 9-10 based at Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach Shores.
    Crescendo was tied with three other boats until the final minutes of the tournament. With two minutes left before lines out, the team hooked a sailfish and released it to end the event in first place with 10 releases and earn a check for $239,280.
    Crescendo, a 35-foot Revenge owned by Charles Greenberg of Boca Raton, was one of the smallest boats in the tournament. Dana said the team caught most of its fish using live goggle-eyes dangled under fishing kites off Palm Beach and Juno Beach.
    Team Contender One finished second, with nine releases. Sandman finished third and Weez in the Keys finished fourth, both with nine sailfish releases (based on the time of the releases).
    Overall, 47 boats released 218 sailfish in two days of fishing in Operation Sailfish — the first leg of the Quest for the Crest Sailfish Series (www.questforthecrest.com). The second leg of the series, the Sailfish 400, is set for Jan. 11-15 in Miami.

New limits for mutton snapper, barracuda
    The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission recently approved size and bag limits to protect populations of mutton snapper and barracuda.
    New limits for both fish took effect Jan. 1. There was no size limit for barracuda in the past.
    To be legal to keep, a barracuda caught in South Florida must measure between 15 and 36 inches to the fork of the tail. (One barracuda larger than 36 inches can be kept daily per angler or per boat, whichever is less.)
    The daily bag limit for barracuda is two per person with a maximum of six per boat.
    The barracuda limits apply in state and federal waters of six South Florida counties — Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Collier.
    Mutton snapper, the popular reef fish, must be at least 18 inches in total length to be legal to keep, an increase of 2 inches from the previous minimum size.
    The daily bag limit for mutton snapper is five fish per person within the 10-fish snapper aggregate limit.
    For more details about recreational saltwater fishing regulations, go to www.myfwc.com/fishing and click on “saltwater fishing.”

Hogfish

New hogfish limits, closed season in the works
    The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission recently approved regulations restricting the harvest of hogfish, a tasty member of the wrasse family often targeted by spearfishers.
    No effective date for the hogfish regulations in state waters had been set as of mid-December, but they’re likely to take effect later this year.
    Hogfish are considered overfished in the Florida Keys and along the state’s east coast.
    The FWC in November approved regulations for state waters (up to 3 miles off the east coast) to complement rules approved for federal waters that are intended to help hogfish populations rebound.
    Key changes for those targeting hogfish in Atlantic waters and the Florida Keys include:
    • Lowering the bag limit from five hogfish to one.
    • A 4-inch increase in the minimum size, boosting it to 16 inches (measured to the fork of the tail).
    • A closed season during the cool months. The proposed hogfish harvest season is May 1 through Oct. 31.
    The FWC plans to issue a news release stating when the hogfish regulations will take effect in state waters. Watch for updates at www.myfwc.com.

Coming events
    Jan. 8-12: 45th annual Gold Cup Team Fishing Tournament, a billfish release tournament based at the Sailfish Club, Palm Beach. Begins with captain’s meeting Jan. 8. Fishing best three of four days, Jan. 9-12. Call Sarah Gay at 844-0206 or go to www.sailfishclub.com.
    Jan. 14: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Fee $35 for adults, $20 ages 12 to 19. Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600 or email: fso-pe@cgauxboca.org.
    Jan. 19-21: Buccaneer Cup sailfish release tournament based at the Buccaneer Yacht Club in Palm Beach Shores. Late entry and check-in 4-6 p.m. Jan. 19, followed by captain’s meeting. Fishing Jan. 20-21. Dead-bait and live-bait categories. Call 909-7868 or www.buccaneercup.com.
    Jan. 21-22: Nautical Flea Market featuring new and used nautical gear and boats, 1801 NE Sixth St., Pompano Beach. Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Jan. 21 and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 22. Admission $5. Youths under 12 free. Call (954) 946-6419 or www.nauticalfleamarket.com.
    Jan. 25: Advanced kite fishing methods, a presentation by Capt. Mike Simko, 7 p.m., West Palm Beach Fishing Club, 201 Fifth St., West Palm Beach. Free. 832-6780 or www.westpalmbeachfishingclub.org.
    Jan. 28: Boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. in the classroom next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $20. Register at the door. Call 331-2429.



Tip of the month
    If you happen to catch a sailfish and want to photograph it to show friends and family before releasing it, don’t lift it out of the water.
    Two reasons: It might cause the already tired billfish to die after being released. And it’s illegal unless you hold a federal highly migratory species angling permit and plan to put the sailfish in the boat and bring it back to shore.
    Here’s what the code of federal regulations says: Atlantic highly migratory fish (including sailfish and marlin) “must be released in a manner that will ensure maximum probability of survival, but without removing the fish from the water.”
    NOAA Fisheries’ enforcement staff will contact and warn anglers who post photos of billfish held out of the water on social media, says Ally Rogers, spokeswoman for NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement.
    Instead of lifting the sailfish out of the water, try leaning over the side of the boat (if conditions allow) and photographing the angler near the sailfish that is showing on the surface.
    Take time to revive caught sailfish by holding them alongside a moving boat so water can wash over their gills, advises Jason Schratwieser, conservation director for the International Game Fish Association.
    Release tips for large pelagic fish can be found at www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/compliance/guides/careful_release_brochure.pdf.

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

As Delray Beach begins

ordinance changes,

others in area plan to stand pat

By Jane Smith

    The U.S. Cavalry arrived last month in the form of a 20-page federal joint statement on sober homes, delivered by U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel.
    She hoped beleaguered cities in her district and around the country would use the legal guidance to help protect their neighborhoods from over-saturation of the homes while safeguarding the rights of people in recovery.  
    So far, only Delray Beach among south county’s four large coastal municipalities will use the statement when revising its reasonable accommodation ordinance. The local statute covers group recovery homes.
    “The city will be able to say how many is too many in one neighborhood,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said at the Nov. 10 announcement. Previously, cities had to accept group recovery homes wherever they wanted to be.
    Now cities can consider two issues when deciding whether to grant a waiver and allow more than three unrelated people to live together. The municipalities can weigh the financial impact group homes have on single-family neighborhoods as well as the cost for city services, particularly 911 calls for relapsed addicts succumbing to overdoses.
    The revised joint statement, crafted by the departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development, now recognizes that zoning and land use are best determined locally, Glickstein and Frankel said.
    The revision was sparked in May when Frankel led a federal housing official and his staff on a tour of Delray Beach sober homes. The housing official was shocked by what he saw: suitcases, clothing and personal belongings strewn on lawns where patients had been evicted. He vowed to talk with Justice Department lawyers and craft a joint statement that also protects the rights of recovering addicts, who are protected under federal privacy and disability laws.
    Elected leaders and officials in three other coastal cities are less enthused.
    Boynton Beach Mayor Steven Grant and Lantana Mayor Dave Stewart don’t see enough of a change in the revised joint statement. They say if people are receiving treatment in the homes or selling drugs there, they have ordinances that make those activities illegal.
    “We are not going to do anything different at this point in time,” Stewart said.
    Grant said his city will continue to use nuisance abatement and code enforcement to monitor the group homes. He also wants to see the group homes pay the county’s 6 percent bed tax because they offer stays of less than six months.
    Boca Raton, battle-scarred from losing federal court lawsuits over sober home ordinances, is more cautious. It had to pay more than $2 million in attorneys’ fees in the cases.
    City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser recently gave a lukewarm assessment on the statement to the City Council.
    “I don’t think it is as much of a deviation from what the case law already does allow,” she told the council members on Nov. 22. Frieser said she liked the language that allows cities to deny the waivers under certain circumstances but proving the circumstances would “put an undue burden on a local government.”
    Delray Beach leaders know they have to walk a fine line when revising the ordinance.
    “It’s not a panacea,” City Attorney Max Lohman said a few days after the statement was delivered. “But it can be used to draft a more even-handed ordinance that also protects the homes’ residents.”
    Police Chief Jeff Goldman called the statement a “game changer. … Over-saturation is a major issue as it pertains to the heroin epidemic in Delray Beach.” The city had less of a problem with heroin overdoses in 2015 compared with this year.
    The city is using outside counsel Terrill Pyburn to bring a revised ordinance to the Planning & Zoning Board’s Dec. 19 meeting and then to the City Commission in January, the mayor said.
    “We feel the proposed changes will be mutually beneficial to all Delray citizens, including those deserving protections in group homes,” Glickstein said via email.
    The city had a revised ordinance already on the board’s Nov. 21 agenda. The major changes required the group medical homes to apply annually for the waiver, said Tim Stillings, planning and zoning director.
    As of mid-November, Stillings said the majority of accommodations were for a waiver to the unrelated persons rule. Since 2012, the city has granted 82 waivers, he said.
    In addition, city code inspectors work with the police department to identify illegal practices, such as drug sales, occurring at sober homes, said Michael Coleman, director of community improvement. So far this year, 21 sober home operators were evicted after the property’s owners were alerted to illegal activity, Coleman said.

Arrests made, bills proposed
    Separately, the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Sober Homes Task Force is recommending some changes to state laws to weed out rogue operators.
    Suggested revisions include: Increasing the penalties for patient brokering, creating an amendment that bans lying on websites designed to attract potential patients, changing voluntary certification of recovery residences to mandatory and providing more money to the state Department of Children & Families to better police the recovery industry.
    Rep. Bill Hager has agreed to sponsor the bills in the Florida House during the 2017 legislative session.
    “There is absolutely bipartisan and statewide support for this issue,” said Hager, whose district includes Delray Beach.
    The task force’s law enforcement arm arrested a Boynton Beach treatment center owner, James Kigar, and manager, Chris Hutson, in late October. It also seized the financial records of their Whole Life Recovery center.
    Since then, four Delray Beach sober home operators have been charged with violating the patient brokering law. In an effort to circumvent the law, authorities say, they allegedly accepted payments, called “case management fees,” for each insured patient directed to Whole Life for treatment.
    One operator who was charged runs a sober home on Lowson Boulevard in Delray Beach; its owners received a 2016 homestead exemption. Their names are listed on corporate records for Southern Palms Oasis Inc., along with John Dudek, who was charged with six counts of patient brokering. The case is ongoing.
    Two brothers, Bryan and Patrick Norquist, operated sober homes in the proposed Swinton Commons project in the Old School Square Historic Arts District, the heart of the trendy downtown area. They were charged with 16 counts of patient brokering.
    The fourth Delray Beach sober-home operator is Howard James Fowler Jr., who runs a sober home at 705 SW Sixth Ave. He was charged with 14 counts of patient brokering.
    Delray Beach Detective Nicole Lucas played a lead role in the case that led to the arrests of the sober home operators. Her confidential informant tipped her about Whole Life’s practices.
    She wants to shut down the bad providers who are in the recovery industry only for the money.
    “If it’s all about treatment,” Lucas said, “then we are going to save a lot more people.”

Mike Felice fills a trash bag with debris as Dennis Aten picks up a flip-flop on the beach.

Most days produce a few bags’ worth of trash along the beach.

One odd finding is a plastic bottle cut in half.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

    Oh, those early morning walks on the beach. Is there any better way to greet a day?
    That cool, silver sand between your toes. Salty breeze stirring the dune grass. Golden sun twinkling off the ocean’s foam.
    The shampoo bottles, the candy wrappers, the hypodermic needles.
    “You wouldn’t believe how much crap there is down there,” says Dennis Aten.
    “Would you believe toothbrushes?” asks Mike Felice.
    Aten and Felice are both 66, both retired, both friends and neighbors in the 3500 S. Ocean condo at South Palm Beach’s northern line.
    You’ll meet them on your morning walk, plastic bags and EZ Reach pincer poles in hand, picking up those bottles, wrappers and hypodermic needles all the way south to the Lantana line and back. And you’ll meet them again most afternoons.
    “I used to monitor the turtle nests about four years ago,” recalls Felice, a retired teacher from Toms River, N.J. “I wouldn’t stake if there was junk around, so we started picking it up.”
    The waves are a roiling explosion of blinding white foam this late October morning, a rough sea churned by an angry wind that grabs at their plastic bags as Aten and Felice meander down the beach, grabbing trash from the seaweed and sand.
    Let’s tag along.
    “Deodorant roller,” Aten says, dropping one into his bag.
    “Plastic visor,” Felice reports.
    “Plastic forks,” Aten says. “There’s always a million of those.”
    Scan the horizon, admire the sky, squint down the coast and South Palm Beach is one gorgeous Florida postcard. But keep your head down, scan the sand, and oh, the sights you’ll see.
    “They should ban plastic straws,” Aten grumbles, pushing one into his bag.
    Felice has a list of some of the trash they’ve found in the past four years. Flip-flops and lunch bags, hair clips and bands, cigarettes and cigars, fishing line and bait buckets and Styrofoam everythings. And yes, before you ask, condoms. But only one sex toy in four years.
    “We found a Crown Royal whisky bottle with a note in it once,” Aten says, “but the note was so wet you couldn’t read it. All I could make out was N.C. for North Carolina.”
    All trash and no treasures, unless you count the bottle caps.
    “On a good day, you’ll get 100 to 150 bottle caps,” Aten says, so when the pair spotted a Coastal Star profile of Timothy Annis, an Ocean Ridge resident who recycles bottle caps to buy wheelchairs for veterans, they dropped off several thousand from their daily walks.
    Occasionally, other beach walkers pass.
    “We get a lot of funny comments,” Aten says. “One lady asked us, ‘Are you guys picking up shrimp?’” He shakes his head. “Shrimp.”
    This morning he’s picking up a half bottle of Idole Skin Lightening Lotion. Not a half-full bottle, but half the bottle itself, neatly cut in two.
    “We get a lot of bottles that are cut in half,” Aten says, “and I got five or six toothbrushes the other day. They’ve got to have come off a boat.”
    Soda cups you understand. Candy wrappers you understand. But who leaves a tube of Colgate toothpaste at the beach? Are cruise ships dumping their trash overboard? They wonder. How does a plastic bottle get neatly cut in half down here?
    One of the other regular beach walkers is Jody Field, who lives in the Beauvois, just across South Ocean Boulevard from Aten and Felice. Last year, she wrote the town manager.
    “I am writing to tell you about two South Palm Beach residents that I believe should be recognized by the town. They are not employed by the town or the city of Palm Beach, they are citizens who enjoy the beach and are concerned for its welfare,” Field wrote.
    On April 28, 2015, Mayor Bonnie Fischer presented Aten and Felice with Certificates of Appreciation:
    “The town of South Palm Beach extends its gratitude to you for the time and efforts you so unselfishly donate to clean our beach. Thank you for your efforts to Keep South Palm Beach beautiful.”
    The official accolades are nice, the men agree, but praise was not their motivation. They do it for the exercise, the companionship, the turtles and the beach.
    “I’ll do this as long as I can walk,” Felice says. “It’s good exercise.”
    “Until I can’t,” Aten agrees, and his reach pole makes a grab at the sand.
    “Glow stick,” he murmurs. “Always a lot of glow sticks.”

Roberto Bentez and Roberto Baster, Meisner Electric employees, use a cherry picker

to construct the 100-foot Christmas tree at Old School Square on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.

Building the tree is a monthlong community event that brings together all types of workers and volunteers.

The volunteers check all 15,000 LED light bulbs, fluff over 3,000 branches and attach them to the tree.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Kelly Sellers and Katie Morris, the editor’s nieces,

make their grandmother’s family cookie recipe in the early 1990s.

Family photo

    December sets me thinking about the sweet smells from my mom’s kitchen on chilly Midwest winter days. Mom really didn’t like to cook, she told me in her later years, but with six kids and a husband, it went with the job. So she tied on the apron and stirred up dinner — no grumbling.
    One kitchen activity she did enjoy was Christmas baking. She had cookie recipes passed down from her mother and grandmother (Irish and German) that she made with love and remembrance. She savored having her kids all around her in the kitchen, helping spread the icing and toss the sprinkles.
    It was a holiday ritual that I remember fondly.
    Now that mom is gone and our families have scattered around the country, making or inheriting new holiday rituals, my husband and I often find ourselves on our own, eager to mix memories of the past with experiences of today.
    His family is Catholic, mine is Protestant and with friends from numerous faiths (or of no faith) and cultures, the holidays are often a colorful confetti mix of foods and activities. We’ve seen or done everything from Hanukkah lights to midnight Mass; from roast pork to the feast of the seven fishes; from candlelight caroling to long walks on the beach at sunrise.
    All are part of some family’s tradition and all are worth experiencing, sharing and celebrating.
    I have sampled foods from other cultures, cradled babies that do not look like me and observed the prayers of others. Each of these experiences has made my life richer.
    So, from all of us at The Coastal Star, we wish you a December filled with fond tradition, a wealth of new experiences and at least one cookie passed down from a recipe written long ago and frosted with love.

— Mary Kate Leming,
Editor

Harry Adwar volunteers at the Caring Kitchen, a hot-meal program in Delray Beach.

He does cooking, cleaning and raises money for the organization.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    Harry Adwar knows what it’s like to go to bed hungry.
    A successful business owner who now lives in Highland Beach several months of the year, Adwar was the 10th of 14 children raised by a mother who struggled to keep the family fed after her husband died.
    “I know what it’s like to have to go to sleep with an empty belly,” he says.
    Because of his background, it’s not surprising to find Adwar, 80, at the Caring Kitchen — a hot-meal food program in Delray Beach — every Monday doing just about anything that’s needed.
    It also comes as no surprise that Adwar was a star with children at the Caring Kitchen’s annual holiday party last month, when he helped them with crafts.
    “Harry is so willing, ready and able to do whatever needs to be done,” says April Hazamy, program director and client advocate for CROS Ministries, which operates the Caring Kitchen. “He’s a very hard worker and he’s always happy. The joy of being around him is just very catching.”  
    A volunteer at the Caring Kitchen for six years, Adwar doesn’t see any task as beneath him.
    “I’m a worker, it makes no difference to me what I have to do,” he says. “I cook, I clean, I do everything.”
    His efforts go beyond what’s expected.
    A member of a local country club, Adwar goes over there every Sunday to pick up fruits and other breakfast foods to hand out to Caring Kitchen clients soon after he arrives at 8 a.m. Monday.
    He also organizes canned-food and clothing drives for the Caring Kitchen at his Boca Highland community, where he serves as vice president of both the umbrella association and of his building, Braemar Isle.
    In addition, he frequently puts together events to raise money for the Caring Kitchen as well as for some of its homeless clients.
    “My car is always full when I go over there,” he said, adding that he and his wife of 58 years, Judith, also lend financial support to several organizations.   
    Adwar is active in his synagogue in Boca Raton and in the town of Highland Beach. On Dec. 5, he will lead the lighting of the menorah during the town’s annual Light Up the Holidays celebration.
    Along with his work at the Caring Kitchen, Adwar volunteers with a similar, but larger, program on Long Island when he’s up north for four months of the year.  
    “I think I owe some of the wealth that I have gained to the poor and underprivileged,” he said. “I feel that I’m giving back.”
    As a child, Adwar helped his mother pay for groceries while the family lived on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He and his two brothers would shine shoes for 5 cents, taking turns bringing in customers, taking the money and doing the shining.
    “If we made $3, that was a lot of money for my mother,” he said.
    To pay the bills Adwar’s mother worked three jobs. She resisted taking government assistance.
    “My mother would never do that,” he says.
    As he got older, Adwar worked with a brother’s foundry and then started his own business, manufacturing and wholesaling jewelry.
    Throughout his success, Adwar has remembered his roots and makes it a point to treat everyone, including homeless people, with respect.
    “I never look at them as if they’re below me,” he says. “I see them as equals who didn’t have the luck that I had.”

NOMINATE SOMEONE TO BE A COASTAL STAR
Send a note to news@thecoastalstar.com or call 337-1553.

By Jane Smith

    Delray Beach city commissioners tried to fill a vacant commission seat temporarily, but they remained tied after three votes. They will try again at the Dec. 6 meeting to select a commissioner to serve until the March elections.
    The seat was held by Vice Mayor Al Jacquet, who resigned to run for an open state House seat, which he won in the general election. Jacquet chose the latest date possible, Nov. 8, to give up his commission seat.
    Ten people had wanted to fill his place. The commission narrowed the field to two minority candidates in mid-November but could not decide between them.
    “For the optics on the board, we need a minority,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said in explaining why he voted for Yvonne Odom. A longtime resident and retired educator, she is still involved with youth sports teams. Glickstein said she was “dedicated to this town.”
    The other candidate, Josh Smith, was supported by Commissioner Mitch Katz. A longtime resident, Smith is a retired teacher, administrator and a coach. He ran unsuccessfully for a commission seat in 2015, when his signs and the mayor’s dominated the landscape. “He knows this community like the back of his hand,” said Katz.
    Four others of the original 10 were: Carol Anderson, a retired attorney and a self-described public policy nerd who joined a group that promotes walking and cycling safety; Jim Chard, Harvard-educated volunteer-around-town who serves on a city board, a task force and a steering committee along with running a nonprofit group dedicated to making the city pedestrian and bike friendly; Connor Lynch, a city native, son of a mayor and a third-generation executive of a family-run business who has served on two city boards and chaired both; and Ken MacNamee, a retired chief financial officer who also is a CPA, a seasonal resident and a frequent email sender whose complaints led the city to reopen a no-bid contract, resulting in millions of dollars saved.
    The remaining four were: Christina Morrison, a commercial Realtor who has served as an interim city commissioner, had an unsuccessful run in 2015 and serves on various city and county boards; Otis Payne, a minority businessman who has participated in community meetings for the past 15 years and volunteers with youth-oriented groups; Daniel Rose, a lawyer who serves on the city Community Redevelopment Agency board and is a vocal critic of poorly run sober homes; and Paul Schmitt, a manufacturer’s rep who moved to the city in 1982 and plans to run for a commission seat in March.
    Vice Mayor Jordana Jarjura, who moved up from deputy vice mayor after Jacquet left, voted for Chard in the first round. Commissioner Shelly Petrolia and Katz voted for Smith.
    In the second round, the commissioners could choose only from the three. Chard was eliminated and there was a tied vote on Odom and Smith. The next round also ended in a tie.
    If, after 60 days since the vacancy, they are still deadlocked, the city could hold an election to fill the seat. It would have to be without any help, City Attorney Max Lohman said. The county supervisor of elections said she did not have time to hold an election before March.
    The commission did agree to appoint Katz as deputy vice mayor, although Jarjura wanted to wait until the vacant seat was filled.
    “That might not happen before March,” Glickstein said.

By Jane Smith
    
    A traditional recruiting firm will present at least three choices for the Delray Beach City Commission to interview in December for the acting city manager position, which will be open next year.
    City Manager Don Cooper, who started with Delray Beach in January 2015, announced his resignation in late October. He will stay through Dec. 30. He said family medical issues would not allow him to devote his full attention to the job.

    At its second November meeting, the City Commission agreed to pay $9,000 to the Colin Baenziger & Associates recruiting firm, based in Daytona Beach Shores. The recruiter will forward at least three choices, likely retired city managers or people who were once city managers and want to get back to working for a government, Cooper said.  
    “We need someone to keep the trains running on time,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said.
    Neither of the assistant city managers — Francine Ramaglia and Dale Sugerman — was interested in filling in for him, Cooper told the commission on Nov. 1. Since then, Cooper said one had expressed interest with three conditions: receiving Cooper’s salary, getting 21 weeks of severance if let go and returning to the previous position after the permanent city manager arrives.
    Cooper said, “It’s a challenging place to serve.”
    The City Commission is a “very volatile board,” said Commissioner Mitch Katz. “We need to help get [the assistant city manager] through that time by keeping our concerns as private as possible.”  
    But the mayor didn’t agree with that characterization.
    “I’ve never seen a city where there is clinical agreement and kumbaya with every vote,” Glickstein said. “It’s a challenging situation” trying to get agreement from commissioners who are coming and going and have other full-time jobs.
    Cooper agreed and said, “No city manager expects kumbaya.”
    He also talked about two department heads who had approached him about filling in as the acting city manager. But he didn’t recommend doing so because they are leading important departments that already have a lot to do.
    “Plus, it would create friction with the other department heads,” said Glickstein, who also said he appreciated them for offering to fill a void.

By Jane Smith

    Two city employees received “letters of instruction” recently from the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics. Another Delray Beach employee’s case was too unclear for the commission to make a ruling.
    City firefighter Joseph Lang had a side business that supplied automated external defibrillators to the city’s Fire-Rescue Department.
    He told investigators that one of the fire chiefs asked whether his company could supply the devices to the city. He said he completed a form and that the Finance Department and fire command approved it.
    Even so, the city forbids its employees from entering into contracts with it. Because of the statute of limitations, investigators were able to go back only two years from the receipt of the complaint. For the period that began Jan. 1, 2013, and ended Dec. 31, 2015, the city paid Lang’s company $10,834.51.
    At the Nov. 3 Ethics Commission meeting, Lang received a letter of instruction explaining the city’s and county’s ethics policies.
    Also at that meeting, officials reviewed Rashod Smith’s case. A supervisor at Pompey Park, he gave the city’s human resources director the keys to the pavilion and the security code to host her family’s Thanksgiving Day dinner there in 2015. He did not receive payment for the use of the pavilion, or for the overtime required by a parks employee to clean up after the dinner.
    Smith received a letter of instruction outlining the city’s and county’s ethics policies.
    City Manager Don Cooper in April reprimanded Human Resources Director Tennille Decoste, who lost a day’s pay over the incident.
    Cooper forwarded information on the incident to the Ethics Commission.
    In August, the commission’s attorney advised that the facts were not legally sufficient to prove Decoste had violated the code of ethics.
    In September, Decoste asked that the reprimand letter be removed from her personnel file and that she receive the day’s pay.
    Cooper agreed but wrote, “As a cautionary note, you need to be aware of the impacts of using city facilities due to your position and need to consider those impacts when making any request.”

By Dan Moffett

    Mayor Geoff Pugh says he has been fielding the same two questions from Ocean Ridge residents since Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella’s arrest after a scuffle with police in October:
    What do you think about it?
    And what are you going to do about it?
    Pugh says residents aren’t always satisfied with his answers, or the lack thereof.
    On the advice of Town Attorney Glen Torcivia, the mayor refrains from public comment on Lucibella’s arrest, hoping to minimize the town’s involvement in possible litigation down the road. So Pugh generally keeps his thoughts to himself.
    As to the second question, Pugh tells people “nothing” — until Police Chief Hal Hutchins completes his investigation on the incident.
    “Nothing can be done until after that investigation is over and we have all the facts,” Pugh says. “Then we can look at everything we have to use at our disposal. Until then, I’d ask people to have a little patience and let the chief do his job and get the information that we need.”
    Hutchins says the internal investigation into the events at Lucibella’s home on Oct. 22 “has no timetable” for completion. “It is fluid and depends on what is discovered as we go forward,” the chief said.
    Police arrived at Lucibella’s oceanfront home that Saturday night after neighbors complained of hearing gunshots. Officers said they found the vice mayor and one of their department’s supervisors, police Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, “obviously intoxicated” on the patio. Officers say they took a .40-caliber Glock handgun from Lucibella and found five spent shell casings on the patio.
    According to police reports, when officers Richard Ermeri and Nubia Plesnik tried to block Lucibella from entering the house, he resisted. The officers wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him. Lucibella needed treatment for facial injuries, and Ermeri and Plesnik also required medical attention.
    Lucibella was charged with resisting arrest with violence, a felony, as well as two misdemeanors: discharging a firearm in a residential area and use of a firearm while intoxicated.
    Through his attorney, Marc Shiner, Lucibella has claimed that he is the victim of police overreaction. He maintains they should not have entered his backyard in the first place, and then that they used excessive force. Shiner has called for Ermeri’s firing and an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
    Hutchins has reassigned Wohlfiel until completion of the investigation of his role in the incident. Both Lucibella and the lieutenant told police they knew nothing about shots being fired.
    At the Nov. 7 town meeting, which Lucibella did not attend, several residents argued that the likelihood the vice mayor was planning to sue the town over the incident presents a conflict of interest that should disqualify him from serving on the commission.
 Among those making that case was Bob Merkel, an attorney for 42 years who defended the town in two lawsuits years ago. Merkel said Shiner, in public comments, had threatened to sue the town, raising a potential conflict of interest that should trouble commissioners. In an email to The Coastal Star, Lucibella dismissed the complaints about a conflict of interest as grandstanding and said the law is clear that nothing prevents him from serving.
“This is a straw man argu-ment, put forth by individuals who seek to read their names in the press,” Lucibella said. “The result is constant cries that the sky is falling in Ocean Ridge. If the commonsense answer to this silly accusation remains elusive, I suggest a quick read of the law. FS 112.313(6) and FS 112.3143(3)(a) are good places to start.”
Lucibella refers to sections of the Florida Statutes that define conflicts and standards of conduct for elected officials.
Torcivia agrees with the vice mayor, saying speculation about a lawsuit is a hypothetical situation that does not present a conflict at this time. He also said there was nothing in the town’s charter that gives the commission the authority to remove or sanction Lucibella for allegations of misconduct stemming from his arrest.
Torcivia told commissioners that the charter only considers standards set in the state and county codes of ethics. Those standards for action deal primarily with conflicts of interest, unlawful financial gain and corruption. He said there’s nothing in the charter or ethics codes to cover allegations of fights with police or illegally firing weapons.
    “There is no money that went into his pocket because of this incident,” Torcivia said, telling commissioners, “Your hands are tied.” He also warned them not to get ahead of the legal system: “Judge, jury and executioner is not the role of this commission.”
 Torcivia said Lucibella is presumed innocent, and if proven otherwise in court, the governor could act to remove him from office.
    “The governor takes that very seriously,” he said. “There’s a high probability the governor would do that.”
    Lucibella’s three-year term expires in March, and he has been noncommittal about whether he will run again, saying he “hasn’t thought too much about” it and, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
    Town officials say they expect the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office to decide by Dec. 8 on whether to charge Lucibella. If criminal charges are filed, Torcivia says Gov. Rick Scott might decide to intervene.
 “At some point,” he said, “the ball may be in the governor’s court.”
    For now, Pugh is telling residents to take a deep breath and let the system work.
    “Everybody wants to have a quick decision, get it done, get it over with and get it out of our lives,” he said. “But you have to make sure you have all the facts. Once we get them, we can make a quality decision.”

By Steve Plunkett

    Gulf Stream officials and outside attorneys spent an estimated 4,670 hours processing, evaluating, researching and answering requests for public records in fiscal 2016.
    The town’s new staff attorney, Trey Nazzaro, making his first annual public-records compliance report, noted a recent article in The Florida Bar Journal and told town commissioners that Gulf Stream has become a sort of poster child.
    “I included that as part of this report because it does reference the town of Gulf Stream and the situation we are dealing with and setting us as an example of intentional misuse of the Public Records Act,” he said.
    Nazzaro said Gulf Stream received 387 requests for public records in the 12 months ending Sept. 30 and disposed of all but 13. In 53 cases, the town gave an estimate of how much it would cost to fulfill the requests; only four of the estimates were paid.
    Additionally, the town faces 38 active lawsuits alleging noncompliance with the state’s public records laws, he said. The complaints allege delay or error, but none claims intentional misconduct by town officials.
    Residents Martin O’Boyle and Christopher O’Hare account for nearly all of the requests and legal actions.
    Gulf Stream closes a request when it has been fulfilled, when no deposit has been paid within 30 days of an estimate being provided, or when there is no response from the requestor within 30 days.
    The town does not charge for the first 15 minutes of staff time in answering public records requests. The year’s 387 requests amounted to 96.75 hours of “free” research worth $3,870, Nazzaro said.
    The numbers are trending downward. In the previous fiscal year the town received 428 new requests for public records. And town employees spent 4,913 hours handling them, compared with 3,002 hours in the latest year.
    Those 3,002 hours equal one person working full time for 17 months. The law firms the town uses worked an additional 1,642 hours.
    By comparison, Ocean Ridge has received only 24 requests for public records since Tracey Stevens became town clerk in January. Stevens said she did not think her longtime predecessor, Karen Hancsak, kept track but told her the town, which with 1,662 residents is twice as big as Gulf Stream, “hardly ever” received requests.
    Town Manager William Thrasher hired Nazzaro in October as Gulf Stream’s first full-time staff attorney, saying the move saved $188 an hour in legal fees. As a paralegal at Town Attorney John “Skip” Randolph’s law firm in 2014, Nazzaro helped the town write its public records procedures.
    In other business Nov. 10, the Town Commission learned that former Vice Mayor Robert Ganger had withdrawn his request that Gulf Stream help pay legal fees he incurred fighting a deposition in an O’Boyle lawsuit against the town. In October he requested $2,355, less than a third of what his lawyer charged.
    Commissioners seemed poised to reimburse the full amount but delayed a decision to investigate whether that would open his legal affairs to more public records requests.

By Mary Thurwachter

    A pair of new license plate-reading cameras are destined for Hypoluxo Island. The Lantana Town Council voted Nov. 14 to replace the current readers for $29,257. In 2007, residents of Hypoluxo Island chipped in $28,000 to buy two license plate readers at the intersection of Atlantic Drive and East Ocean Avenue.
    Those cameras are antiquated, out of warranty now and suffer from routine operating issues, officials said.
    “The devices connect to Manalapan’s software,” Mayor Dave Stewart said. “The town, through its previous town manager, agreed to buy replacements when needed.”
    Money for the project will come from the town’s contingency fund. An annual maintenance and support contract would take effect after a year and will cost $4,393.
    Islanders encouraged the town to replace the cameras.
    “We’re asking the town to make good on the town’s promise,” said Michele Fritts. “The existing ones are not working.”
    Media Beverly said residents felt the cameras did help alleviate some crime and should be replaced by the town.
    Another resident, Richard Schlosberg, said the cameras have become a staple on the island. “Residents rely on them for a sense of security and they help police with criminal investigations.”
    But not everyone agreed with the purchase.
    “If we pay for this are we going to be looking at many people asking for cameras all over town?” Vice Mayor Phil Aridas asked. He was the lone dissenting vote on paying for the camera replacements.
    Ed Shropshire, who lives west of the Intracoastal Waterway, asked about getting more cameras in the town.
    “I’m sure people on the island will sleep better with this, but I would, too,” Shropshire said.
    Mayor Stewart said neighbors could get together to raise money for their own cameras. But the cost to set up the system would be about $100,000. “This one connects to Manalapan’s system,” he said.
    In other action, the town approved a 4.5 percent raise for Town Manager Deborah Manzo, who received high praise in her performance evaluation. Manzo will be making $131,587, up from her current salary of $125,921.  She began working for the town in 2012. Her contract was extended to 2019.

By Dan Moffett

    Ocean Ridge took a $213,000 hit to its budget this year when Briny Breezes decided not to renew a police services contract with the town, choosing instead to sign on with Boynton Beach.
    Despite the loss, Ocean Ridge won’t have a problem covering the costs of new police and security equipment that the town has been planning to buy for years.
    Town Manager Jamie Titcomb managed to find about $84,000 for capital expenditures by recalibrating money set aside for raises for Ocean Ridge’s 28 employees, he said during the Nov. 7 town meeting.
    “To more closely hone the carrying charges for the work force,” Titcomb said he used precise anniversary dates to calculate the total cost of raises, instead of averaging the group.
    The tweaking freed up about $84,000 that increased the budget’s contingency fund to roughly $156,000. With that money, the town will spend about $23,000 to install a new telephone and voice-mail system to Town Hall. Another $13,000 will go toward a new video security system for the building. The Town Commission approved $2,500 to pay for covert investigation cameras for police.
    Commissioners also signed off on spending about $79,000 for new police radios, the second installment in a two-year project to upgrade communications and allow the department to improve links with other agencies.
    Two other items on the police wish list — Tasers for about $26,500 and license plate recognition cameras for perhaps as much as $225,000 — come with complications beyond the price.
    Commissioner James Bonfiglio wants a hearing on Tasers to discuss liability issues, and LPR cameras are on hold until the state allows them on A1A or installation sites on private property are found. Bonfiglio also told Chief Hal Hutchins he wants to discuss body cameras for officers.
    In other business, police Lt. Richard Jones graduated in November from a three-week leadership program sponsored by the Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute in Tallahassee. Jones was one of 20 law enforcement officials from around the state who completed classes on risk management, succession planning, strategic change and policing trends.

By Dan Moffett

    Briny Breezes has had to look for a deputy clerk three times in the last three years, so Town Council members hope they’ve found a long-term solution with the hiring of Jackie Ermola in November.
    A transplant from the Philadelphia area, Ermola has experience in property and construction site management that could serve the town well.
    “Jackie’s background in building certainly could be helpful for us,” said Council President Sue Thaler. “We hope that as she gains more municipal experience, she can grow into the position of town administrator.”
    The council had hoped to hire someone with experience in municipal government who could expand the role of clerk into an administrator. But Thaler said no qualified candidate was willing to accept the dual role on a part-time basis.
    Ermola currently works as a secretary for the care ministry at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church and lives in Delray Beach. She will earn roughly $400 per week for the part-time position, Thaler said. The deputy clerk’s job came open last month when Steve Cooper moved out of the area.
    In other business:
    • With a unanimous 5-0 vote, the Town Council approved a contract with CAP Government of Coral Gables to take over the town’s building permit and code inspection work.
    CAP has a 27-year history of providing building department services to dozens of municipalities throughout Broward and Miami-Dade counties, and has recently expanded into Palm Beach County.
    Under terms of the one-year contract, the town will pay the company 75 percent of permit fees collected and $60 an hour for code enforcement.
    There were three other bidders for the contract: Robert McInnes, a Briny resident, Calvin, Giordano & Associates of Fort Lauderdale and SAFEbuilt Inc. of Loveland, Colo.
    Thaler said the council decided against McInnes because he wasn’t properly licensed and rejected Calvin, Giordano because of a high price tag. Council members said CAP won out over SAFEbuilt because Cosmo Tornese, a senior engineer with the company, came to the Nov. 17 town meeting and answered residents’ questions.
    • Council members scheduled a special meeting for Dec. 1 to allow Town Attorney John Skrandel to present a first draft of a proposed ordinance that would require candidates for the mayor’s and clerk’s positions to submit election petitions.
    The council has been looking for ways to tighten qualifications for candidates in response to concerns about people who might make frivolous runs for office to embarrass the town. Rather than imposing qualifying fees that might discourage candidates from running for a job as an unpaid official, the council decided instead on requiring petitions for the top two elected positions.
    The ordinance will come up for final approval at the Dec. 22 town meeting.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Gulf Stream’s town manager, who has worked in Town Hall more than 20 years, has given notice that he is retiring — plenty of notice.
    William Thrasher tendered a resignation letter dated Nov. 1 and effective April 28.
    In it he thanked Mayor Scott Morgan and the Town Commission for giving him the opportunity to serve.
    “This town has benefited mightily from Mr. Thrasher’s service here,” Morgan said in announcing the departure at the Nov. 10 meeting. “Working with Mr. Thrasher has been an educational experience and, I must say, a pleasure.”
    Thrasher, 69, who started as an assistant to the town manager after doing finance work in Pahokee, celebrated his 20th anniversary as a Gulf Stream employee last summer. He came to the town after answering an ad placed by the late Mayor William Koch, whom he considered a mentor.
    Julio Martinez, past president of Place Au Soleil homeowners association, said Thrasher was leaving “some serious big shoes to fill. ... Nobody has more passion for this town than Bill,” Martinez said. “He was at our meetings late at night; he did whatever it took and he did it the right way.”
    Morgan said Thrasher “saved us a lot of money, and he has made a very efficiently run town,” noting that Gulf Stream is a model for quality of life and financial stability. “And to that we owe in no small part to your efforts, Bill.”
    He also said Thrasher enjoyed a deep loyalty from the municipal employees he supervised by being fair but firm, considerate and respectful.  
    “And that speaks volumes about your managerial skills,” Morgan said.
    Thrasher did not elaborate on his plans, saying only “thank you” twice as praise was lavished on him. Morgan said the town manager wanted to “spend time now after all these years” with his wife, Phyllis.
    “I personally will miss your advice and your professional consult,” Morgan said. “And all I can say is thank you and job well done.”

Eugen Gantea, left, finds himself ahead 6-0 against Florida state backgammon champion

Jim Macdonald at Ocean Inlet Park.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

    It’s a rainy Saturday morning and Jim Macdonald is worried the weather will hurt his turnout.
    But as the clouds clear, the men he is expecting begin to trickle in. They are a diverse group — some with eastern European accents, others with faces weathered by years of fishing or working in the Florida sun.
    They are a mix of professionals and tradesmen, retirees and business owners. The common denominator among all of them is a board game that has them hooked.
    “This backgammon game,” Macdonald says, “you get addicted to it.”
    Macdonald, reigning Florida state backgammon champion in the open division, is the driving force behind this informal band of board-game brothers — officially the Backgammon Club of the Palm Beaches — who gather each day at the pavilion on the southern edge of the Boynton Inlet.
    “We’re here every day, rain or shine,” says Macdonald, who started playing the game more than 40 years ago when he was a commercial loan broker in Evanston, Ill.
    Now 82 — and a half — Macdonald has become Boynton’s Pied Piper of backgammon, playing at Ocean Inlet Park from 10 a.m. to 1 or 2 in the afternoon, all the while attracting followers. Some once were just spectators who wanted to understand the game.
    “I either taught them or they’re very good players who came to join us,” Macdonald says of the group of about a dozen.
    Over the years, the players, mostly men — although one woman often joins them — have formed a bond that goes beyond the roll of the dice.
    It’s not uncommon for them to go to lunch together after hours of moving checkers — the pieces on the board — from one side to the other. When one member of the group needed a ride to the Veterans Administration hospital in Riviera Beach, Macdonald was quick to lend a hand.
    “It’s good to have friends,” says Macdonald, who brings his small dog with him every morning. He also makes it a point to feed cereal to the birds between sets.
    While the friendships are fast, it is the challenge of backgammon that keeps the players coming back day after day.
    There are, of course, the outstanding players, those who have been rolling dice and moving pieces for decades. But because luck is a part of backgammon, no one is invincible.
    “Anybody can beat anybody,” says Jim Cotto, one of the newest members of the group. “It’s an easy game once you understand the moves.”
    On this Saturday — after the rain stops and the sky clears — there are three games going simultaneously. There is an eerie quiet at times when all you hear is the clacking of pieces tapping each other as they’re moved.
    Other times, you will hear veteran players with accents that emanate from places like Romania or Hungary coaching some of the new players on the strategy that is an integral part of the game, explaining the moves that will help them get their checkers around the board more rapidly.
    “They want you to learn,” says Cotto, who still gets guidance in making the right moves — even from his opponent.
    Cotto was at the inlet a little more than a year ago when he stumbled upon the backgammon players and just began watching.
    “If you watch it long enough, you’ll see that you want to play,” he says.
    It didn’t take long before Macdonald asked him if he wanted to learn the game. Before he knew it, he was hooked.
    “I never ever thought I would be doing this,” says Cotto, a former chef who had retired from the restaurant business several years ago. “Now, I can’t wait to play.”
    That doesn’t surprise Macdonald, who enjoys helping others learn the game.
    “The better you get, the more you want to play,” he says.
    For some of the players, the daily fix of backgammon is about passing time, about having something to do that becomes part of a daily routine.
    “The time goes fast,” Macdonald says.
    For others it’s about camaraderie.
    “We’re all good friends,” Cotto says. “This is like a clubhouse and I can’t get here fast enough.”
    For more information, contact Macdonald at 963-1152 or 385-4991.