A diver uses a clear plastic bag to carry several lionfish. Careful handling of lionfish, which have venomous spines, is essential to the process of bringing them up. The lionfish flesh is white, delicate and tasty. Photo provided by REEF

By Willie Howard

The Reef Environmental Education Foundation and partner Whole Foods Market have scheduled a series of lionfish derbies around Florida beginning in late March.
In derbies, divers compete to harvest as many of the invasive, nonnative lionfish as possible, reducing their impacts on Florida’s native fish.
Native to the Indian and Pacific oceans, lionfish eat Florida natives such as juvenile snappers and groupers. Lionfish eat more than 120 species of fish and marine invertebrates and can swallow fish more than half their own length.
With no predators capable of controlling lionfish numbers in the Atlantic, diver harvesting is one of the few methods that work.
During the past six years, 21,092 lionfish have been removed from the water by divers competing for prizes in lionfish derbies, according to REEF.
This year’s first REEF-sanctioned lionfish derby is scheduled for March 31 at Sharkey’s Pub & Galley Restaurant in Key Largo. The event begins with a captains meeting at 5:30 p.m. March 30 at REEF headquarters in Key Largo.
Other lionfish derbies scheduled for this year include the July 13-14 derby at 15th Street Fisheries in Fort Lauderdale and the Aug. 3-5 derby at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach.
Lionfish cooking demonstrations, samples of cooked lionfish and chef’s cooking competitions are planned for the Palm Beach County Lionfish Derby in Juno Beach.
Although the lionfish’s spines are venomous, the flesh is white, delicate and tasty. Whole Foods Market has been selling lionfish at its Florida stores since April 2016.
To compete in a REEF lionfish derby, teams of two to four divers pay a $120 entry fee. Teams have a chance to win cash prizes for the most lionfish as well as the largest and smallest lionfish.
Team captains must attend meetings before each derby, and other team members are encouraged to attend to review proper methods for harvesting and handling lionfish.
For a schedule of lionfish derbies, visit www.reef.org/lionfish/derbies or call REEF at 305-852-0030.

Non-derby incentives: For divers who would rather remove lionfish from Florida waters without competing in an organized lionfish derby, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission provides incentives and opportunities to win prizes.
In April and May, the FWC will tag lionfish at 50 randomly selected artificial reef sites in depths of 80 to 120 feet. (Locations will be posted at www.ReefRangers.com.)
Divers who harvest a tagged lionfish and document their catch by submitting its location (coordinates), tag number and photograph will be eligible for prizes, including money and merchandise.
Divers can win tagged-lionfish prizes from May 19 through Sept. 3.
Participants in the FWC’s lionfish removal program are encouraged to register at www.myfwc.com/lionfish.

John Jolley Jr. in the 1970s

Sailfish researcher wins lifetime achievement award
John Jolley Jr. of Boynton Beach, a pioneer in Atlantic sailfish research, was recently awarded the West Palm Beach Fishing Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Jolley, 73, grew up fishing and diving in southern Palm Beach County and graduated from Suncoast High School. He was the fifth person to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the fishing club, established in 1934.
Jolley said he was surprised when club president Tom Twyford presented the award to him Jan. 13 during the Silver Sailfish Derby awards banquet at the Sailfish Club of Florida in Palm Beach.
Working as a marine biologist for the Florida Department of Natural Resources in the 1970s, Jolley established a sailfish research lab inside the West Palm Beach Fishing Club. He collaborated with anglers and taxidermists to gather data on sailfish age, growth, abundance and reproduction.
He developed the method of analyzing growth rings in fin spines to determine the age of sailfish and other billfish.
Jolley is a lifelong angler and past president of the fishing club. He still enjoys fishing on his 30-foot boat, Seaclusion.
“John has dedicated most of his life toward improving and protecting marine resources,” club chairman Pete Schulz said. “His fingerprints are on many of the fishing club’s conservation successes and community initiatives.”
Other recipients of the fishing club’s Lifetime Achievement Award are boat builder and conservationist John Rybovich Jr., fish-tagging pioneer Frank Mather III, longtime former West Palm Beach Fishing Club director Frances Doucet, and former Palm Beach County environmental director Jim Barry.

Palm Beach boat show opens March 22
The 33rd annual Palm Beach International Boat Show will be held March 22-25 along Flagler Drive in downtown West Palm Beach.
In addition to a wide selection of boats and accessories, the boat show offers educational opportunities such as youth fishing clinics by Hook the Future and IGFA School of Sportfishing seminars for adults.
The West Palm Beach Fishing Club will hold an open house March 22-23 during the boat show highlighting the club’s history.
Located at Fifth Street and North Flagler Drive (just north of the boat show site), the fishing club was founded in 1934. The clubhouse was recently awarded a state historic marker, which will be displayed during the open house.
Hours for the fishing club’s open house are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more details, call the club at 832-6780.
Boat show attendees can sign up for on-the-water boat handling classes or learn about long-range cruising from experts.
Show hours are noon to 7 p.m. March 22; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 23-24, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 25.
Tickets are $24 for adults and $14 for ages 6-15. Children younger than 6 admitted free.
For details, go to www.pbboatshow.com.

Full moon wahoo

Jake Eakins shows the 15-pound wahoo he caught just after the full moon while trolling a bonito strip off Boynton Beach on Feb. 2. Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

Coming events
March 6: Boynton Beach Fishing Club meets 7 p.m. in the clubhouse next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Free. Call 707-5660 or go to www.bifc.org.
March 10: 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. Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600 or email fso-pe@cgauxboca.org.
March 24: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the classroom next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $25. Register at the door. Call 704-7440.

Tip of the month
Cellphones can distract boat operators, warns the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety & Clean Water. Boats can approach from all directions and can be moving at various speeds in many types of weather. So a few seconds of looking down to read or send a text while operating a boat can be dangerous.
“We have to know how to use them wisely,” said Ted Sensenbrenner, a boating safety expert with BoatUS. “If you’re texting from the helm, you’re not helming the boat.”

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

Dedicated estate sale volunteers worked tirelessly to pull off another successful fundraising event Feb. 17 in the Ocean Ridge Town Hall. Many club members offered their time on multiple days and donated money and sale items to the annual sale. As a result of their efforts, the sale raised $3,540. Of that amount, $147 was from the sale of baked goods and bottled water and $189 from costume jewelry sales. ABOVE: Estate sale chairperson Lisa Ritota (third from right) with her team of volunteers. Photo provided

ABOVE: Peter Lasman harvests a ripe eggplant. BELOW: Robin Silverman shows off chives and a strawberry she picked. 2017 photos by Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley/The Coastal Star

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

Peter Lasman, 62, has watched the garden more than double in size since he started working here a decade ago.
Robin Silverman, 67, has just harvested the first strawberry of the season, and she’s happy to show it to you.
Rachael Arbelo, 24, has made friends working in the garden and loves it here.
And Terry Davis, 63, brings pineapple tops from the group home where she lives to plant in the garden. “We work very, very hard,” she said.
These are a few of the more than a dozen regulars who bring life to the Ability Garden associated with the Jewish Association for Residential Care in Boca Raton. This facility provides independent and assisted living as well as educational programs and services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The garden is the handiwork of Kimberli Swann, who started it in 2007.
“No matter what your abilities, you are welcome here,” said Swann, the association’s community garden coordinator and supported living coach.
When she began working at JARC, her job included spending time with resident clients doing meaningful activities. “But taking them bowling and to movies and restaurants wasn’t my thing,” she said. She also had clients in a day program that didn’t keep them busy.
Building on her passion for plants, she decided to create a garden as a way to give all her clients something meaningful to do that would teach them new skills and get them outdoors.
“There was real method to my madness of starting this project,” she said, smiling.
Today the garden encompasses over 800 square feet and soon will almost double in size. “Every year it gets bigger and bigger as I develop new relationships, find new volunteers and get donations to buy fencing to enclose more land,” she said.
She and her clients are proud of the newly installed winding brick pathway among the user-friendly raised beds. “Anyone who is not comfortable bending over can just reach in and garden,” she said, mentioning that the elevated boxes are also wheelchair accessible.
The garden also has new in-ground beds created with the help of volunteers from the Pride Recovery Center in Delray Beach. They’ve been coming here every other week for two years. Ranging in age from 20 to 40, they do the heavy lifting.
On the other weeks, older adults from the Polo Club in Boca Raton work one-on-one with clients, introducing newcomers to the planting of crops and working in the soil.
These crops include eggplants, broccoli, kale, bananas, tomatoes, onions, scallions and even luffas. It amazes just about everyone who sees them that these sponge-like objects come from a vine, not the sea.
When the garden has enough ripe vegetables, the harvest is given to those who work there and to an onsite café, where kale is a favorite to use in soups.
Today, Swann plans to let staff and clients sample some fresh tomatoes and basil harvested from the garden with fresh mozzarella she got from a cheesemaker who lives near her home.
She and a co-worker also have used the harvest to make eggplant Parmigiana. Banana bread is another culinary project the clients enjoy when a hand of bananas ripens.
And if someone is having a bad day, he or she might visit the garden to harvest a pocket full of fragrant lavender leaves, which are touted to have a calming effect.
Swann wants nothing more than to grow her garden so it can become a bigger focal point in her clients’ lives. She raises funds and works with local stores to get donations. This year she hopes to add a seating area and barbecue grill so the clients will have a place to gather for social and educational events.
“We change it out here every year. You never know what you are going to find,” said Swann.

You can reach Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley at debhartz@att.net.

Gardening tip
“If you are going to plant a garden, you need to have good soil. Soil is your foundation. Here in Florida, the soil tends to be rocky and sandy. So we prefer raised beds that you can fill with good soil, and they are so much more comfortable anyway.”
— JARC community garden coordinator Kimberli Swann

If You Go
Where: JARC Community Ability Garden, 21160 95th Ave. S., Boca Raton
What: A garden designed for and tended by the intellectually and developmentally disabled clients of the Jewish Association for Residential Care in Boca Raton.
When: The garden is open to JARC clients 9 a.m. to noon on Fridays from September through May and by appointment for all others.
What’s needed: Volunteers and donations, whether it’s money, seeds, tools, and so on.
For more information: Contact community garden coordinator Kimberli Swann at 558-2569 (office), 756-0144 (cell), or Garden@jarcfl.org

A kitty watches a two-legged friend during Cora Ciaffone’s kitten yoga class. The cats are available for adoption. Photo provided

By Arden Moore

Now here’s a first: performing a downward-facing dog pose in a yoga class with a kitten. Ah, namaste and please stay, kitty.
Yoga has been practiced for more than 5,000 years. For centuries, the focus has been providing healthy stretches and poses for people. Typically, students quietly shuttle into an enclosed room, unroll their yoga mats, remove their shoes and do their best for the next hour or so to focus on mindful breathing, purposeful stretches and being in the present moment.
In recent years, yoga has expanded to include dogs and even goats in some classes across the country. Now, the hottest trend is to pair up with flexible felines that produce acrobatic moves and comical antics. These classes unleash a surprising twist: All of these adorable kittens are up for adoption.
“This is by far the funniest class I’ve ever taught and each time, the antics of the kittens bring smiles to everyone,” says Cora Ciaffone, a certified yoga teacher and certified dog trainer who has teamed up with the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League to conduct kitten yoga classes at its satellite location inside CityPlace in West Palm Beach. She also conducts yoga classes that welcome people and their well-mannered dogs throughout the county.
During the kitten classes, a curious feline has crawled into a T-shirt of a student concentrating on a bridge pose. And Ciaffone often spots a person who will briefly stop a pose to pick up and cuddle a kitten who wanders onto his mat or a student stop to toss a toy mouse across the room for a kitten to pursue. Some ever-curious and eager-to-explore kittens have been known to crawl up the backs and perch on the shoulders of students during poses.
Conventional yoga it is not, but the benefits are many.
For the kittens, it is the chance to be adopted. Take the case of Shadow, a shy, beautiful kitten who won over student Jeannine Salus.
“She’s so docile and she kind of hid in the back, which is where I would go in class,” says Salus. “This cat is very close to my soul.”
Rich Anderson, executive director and CEO of the Peggy Adams league, is grateful that CityPlace developer Related Cos. reached out to his animal shelter with the idea of staging kitten yoga places within the complex. The satellite center showcases shelter dogs and cats, leading to 47 being adopted.
“Since day one, it has been a huge success,” says Anderson. “Once everyone is set up with their mats, we release the kittens. We are very driven to bring awareness to homeless pets. With goat yoga becoming popular, we decided why not kitten yoga?”
Dogs and cats are natural yogis. They are limber and live in the moment. They move and stretch with purpose and grace. They can teach us a lot in terms of fending off stress and easing muscular aches, says Ciaffone.
“Our dogs and cats are definitely our health advocates,” she says. “There is no doubt in my mind that they heal. They show us how to be present, give unconditional love and compassion.”
Ciaffone credits her two cats, Luna Stardust and Jackson Galaxy, a pair of shelter rescues, with helping her heal from a divorce and heart surgery.
“I am so convinced that they have helped heal me emotionally, physically and spiritually,” she says. “I now feel so happy and so healthy.”
Whether you plan to take a yoga class with a kitten or dog or simply spend one-on-one time with your pet inside your home, Ciaffone encourages you to study and mimic the movements they make.
“Instead of jumping out of bed when the alarm rings, be like a dog or a cat and take a few moments to do a full body stretch,” suggests Ciaffone. “Lie on your back and gently rotate your head one way and your body the other way. Then sit up and live in the moment. Take a deep breath in and let it out slowly.”
In her dog/people yoga classes, Ciaffone uses lavender oil, which acts as a natural calmer for the two- and four-legged students. She conducts dog yoga classes inside and outside, weather permitting.
So when it comes to being natural yoga instructors, which species is better, cats or dogs?
“I would have to say dogs simply because when I put their people in the last pose of class — a pose of stillness called savasana ­— their dogs often lie down next to them and be calm or even fall asleep,” says Ciaffone. “The kittens will roam around and even walk on people. After all, they are young, active kittens.”
Ah, namaste and good stay, kitty and doggy.

Arden Moore is a pet health and safety coach, animal behavior consultant, editor, author, professional speaker and master certified pet first aid instructor. Each week she hosts the popular “Oh Behave!” show on PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more at www.ardenmoore.com.

Learn more
If you would like to try kitten yoga, the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League will offer classes on March 17 and March 31 at its pop-up shop at CityPlace, 700 S. Rosemary Ave., No. 141, West Palm Beach. For more information and to sign up, visit www.peggyadams.org or email KittenYoga@peggyadams.org.
To learn more about yoga and dog training classes offered by Cora Ciaffone, visit www.bodymindsoul.net and www.dogslove2train.com.

Author and contemporary Christian scholar Brian McLaren spends between 90 and 100 nights on the road each year traveling to public speaking engagements. This month he plans to be in Boynton Beach. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

They are age-old questions: Who treats the doctor? Who cuts the barber’s hair?
And who pastors the pastor?
People like Brian McLaren do.
McLaren is the best-selling author of 15 books on faith and Christianity, and these days, the contemporary Christian scholar is an in-demand public speaker who spends between 90 and 100 nights on the road every year.
One of those nights will be spent in Palm Beach County when a speaking engagement brings McLaren to St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Boynton Beach on March 14.
McLaren is calling from the road after speaking in Atlanta and Nashville. He’s heading to his home base in Marco Island.
“Christianity is changing,” McLaren says.
Not that it was ever static.
There are more than 300 religions and at least three dozen Christian denominations in the United States, including people who believe in one God and people who believe in many. Some even believe in something the rest of us wouldn’t call God at all. Statistically, according to a 2016 Gallup poll, 89 percent of adults say they believe in God.
But most of those believers never make it to church. Theologians like McLaren are trying to smooth out the road so more people will want to take a walk there.
But he also cautions us: “It’s not about the church meeting your needs; it’s about joining the mission of God’s people to meet the world’s needs.” 
McLaren believes in “aliveness.” Some people, he says, aren’t really living. “Aliveness is saying, ‘I have come to live life to the fullest, a life abundant, with freedom from fear, fatigue and anger,’” McLaren says.
Religion is about connecting people with God, says Wendy Tobias, a priest at St. Joe’s. She says religion means to “re-ligament yourself” to the Lord.
Scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell support her conclusion. They say religion is rooted in the Latin word ligare, which means to bind or connect, plus “re,” meaning again. People do want to connect, but religion has become so complicated, with so many opinions, people aren’t sure what to believe.
For people who think Christianity’s brand is tarnished and old — an outdated, antiquated mythology — McLaren says to look deeper. Is love outdated? Is forgiveness a myth?
Tobias has been teaching a course for Lent following a lesson plan developed by McLaren to go with his most recent book, The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian. The four-week course, called A Way of Life, has been the subject of small group meetings at the church and is designed to help people find God in their everyday lives.
Lots of people are searching for answers, but most don’t even know what they really want from life, McLaren says. They catch their desires like the flu from the people they spend time with. Instead of religion and the church becoming the source of their moral codes or life goals, people are looking to their neighbors and peers.
“Religion should help people have healthy desires, help people think about and choose desires that are good,” McLaren says. It’s not about a newer car, or a bigger house. Those things may impress humans, but they don’t impress God.
McLaren says whatever we choose to focus on in life will grow the more attention we give it. If you focus on the negative — what your kid is doing wrong or how incompetent your boss is — those things will grow, eating up larger and larger parts of your time and your assets.
“The job of the church is to teach love,” McLaren says, specifically “the skills to differ gracefully. We must teach the skills of civility, and say no to negativity.” If solutions begin with defining the problem, we have to be able to communicate to do that.
McLaren says, “It comes down to this: Ask yourself, ‘What kind of world do I want to live in?’ In the New Testament, Paul said, ‘Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.’ ”
What are we sowing?

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

If You Go
Brian McLaren will speak to the congregation about his book The Great Spiritual Migration at 6 p.m. March 14 at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church, 3300 S. Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach. Call 732-3060.

Paul Cienniwa will play Bach’s Art of the Fugue on the harpsichord at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

Music at St. Paul’s will celebrate its 30th season with a performance of J.S. Bach’s Art of the Fugue and an anniversary gala reception at 3 p.m. March 18 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach.
Paul Cienniwa and Michael Bahmann will perform with harpsichords. A reception will follow.
“Music is an outreach,” Cienniwa said. “It’s a gateway drug to bring people to church. Music can touch people who aren’t religious. It’s a spiritual experience.”
Tickets are $20 (suggested donation) at the door. Admission is free for ages 18 and younger. For more information, call 276-4541 or visit www.stpaulsdelray.org.

Run or walk to fight hunger
St. Mark Catholic Church of Boynton Beach will be among the congregations to sponsor teams when the Community Caring Center of Greater Boynton Beach hosts its annual Hunger Walk/5K on March 10 at Ocean Avenue Amphitheater, 129 E. Ocean Ave., Boynton Beach.
The walk starts at 10:30 a.m. and travels about a mile and a half to the beach and back. Last-minute registration for the walk is free, but a suggested donation of $20 or nonperishable canned food items is suggested at registration, which begins 9:30 a.m. Teams and runners should register at www.cccgbb.org.

Scholarship program
St. Mark Catholic Church’s Council of Catholic Women will hold a bake sale on March 10 and 11 and an Easter plant sale on March 17 and 18 to raise money for its scholarship program.
Female students planning to attend Catholic high schools can apply for a scholarship by April 1. Applications are available in the church office. Call 734-9330.

A conversation about race
On Feb. 21, the Church of the Palms began a five-week series of “dinner and a conversation” nights to open a dialogue about ways to heal the divisions in society, specifically “understanding overt racism and more subtle examples, both personal and systemic, that infuse our language, attitudes and culture.”
The leaders use a board game called “Breaking It Down: Towards E Pluribus Unum,” developed by the National Center for Race Amity and released by WHS Media Productions. The game is designed to create a safe space to learn about and discuss issues of race and race amity.
The game isn’t a competition. Instead, it encourages and assists people in talking in a nontoxic manner, and to have safe and sage conversations. Sometimes the smartest answer is “I don’t know,” and the game provides a non-judgmental place to say it. The game is appropriate for preteens through senior citizens, although there is a separate kids’ version.
Dinner is a light potluck supper at 6 p.m. followed by conversation at 6:30 at the church at 1960 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Call 276-6347 to sign up.
Candidate introduction
The nominating committee at First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach will present its candidate for associate pastor to the congregation at 11 a.m. March 11 at the church, at 33 Gleason St., Delray Beach. A special congregational meeting will follow. For more information, call 276-6338 or visit www.firstdelray.com.

Lower your car insurance
St. Mark Catholic Church will host a course for older adults, Coaching the Mature Driver, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 21. The class, which can help drivers reduce insurance costs, will be in the St. Clare Room at the church, 643 St. Mark Place, Boynton Beach. The cost is $15. Bring a check payable to DOTS, lunch and a beverage. To register, call Barbara at 732-1416 or 512-6407.

Ongoing programs
Beer, Conversation & God: Pub Theology meets at 7 p.m. March 6 (and the first Tuesday of each month) at the Biergarten, 309 Via De Palmas, No. 90, Boca Raton, and at 7 p.m. March 15 (and the third Thursday of each month) at Barrel of Monks, 1141 S. Rogers Circle, No. 5, Boca Raton, for conversation, fellowship and open discussion of mostly theological topics. For more information, contact Pastor Marcus Zillman at mzillman@fumcbocaraton.org or call 395-1244; www.fumcbocaraton.org.

The Interfaith Café: Join the theological discussion from 7 to 9 p.m. March 15 at South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach. Light refreshments will be served. The meeting is free, but donations are appreciated. The Interfaith Café meets the third Thursday of the month, and volunteers are needed to assist with a variety of duties to keep this program going. For information or to volunteer, email Jane@Aurorasvoice.org.

Contact Janis Fontaine at janisfontaine@outlook.com.

Gulf Stream School eighth-grader Dakota Konrad hugs her father, Rob, a former Miami Dolphin, after giving a speech about how he survived a boating accident. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard

Dakota Konrad, an eighth-grade student at Gulf Stream School, said her father —former Miami Dolphins fullback Rob Konrad — has always been a determined person.
In her eighth-grade speech, delivered with accompanying photos in a school chapel filled with her classmates and teachers, Dakota also said her father is tough and tenacious.
He recovered from knee injuries and trained hard enough to become a pro football player. Konrad was drafted by the Dolphins in 1999 and played fullback for them until 2004.
In her speech, titled “Just Keep Swimming,” Dakota said her father has always taught her and her sister never to give up if they want to achieve something.
Circumstances forced Konrad to prove just how determined he was on Jan. 7, 2015 — the day he decided to do some fishing by himself while running his 31-foot Grady-White boat along the coast of Palm Beach County for a routine trip to the shop.
The ocean was rough that day. He had the boat steering on autopilot when a fish hit and Konrad moved to the stern to fight the fish.
As he was reeling the fish in, a wave rocked the boat and Konrad fell overboard, still holding the rod with the fish attached.
He was about 9 miles off the coast and not wearing a life jacket. His boat kept going, headed east on autopilot.
Konrad, then 38, tried to chase the boat at first, then decided to swim west toward land. With sea surface temperatures in the low 70s, ocean water was sapping his body heat and energy.
“My dad started swimming toward the setting sun,” said Dakota, dressed in a No. 44 football jersey, the number her father wore for the Dolphins. “Since my dad kept swimming, each stroke was heating up his body.”
At home, nobody suspected anything was wrong until Konrad didn’t return that evening. The Coast Guard initiated a search. Dakota said she and her sister remember seeing their mother crying on the phone.
Meanwhile, Konrad was swimming in the dark. Jellyfish stung him. A shark circled him. He saw lights from a Coast Guard helicopter, but they didn’t see him in the waves, Dakota said.
Konrad just kept swimming, alternating between breaststroke and backstroke, headed toward lights along the coast.
Dressed only in his underwear, Konrad pulled himself onto the beach in Palm Beach and rang the doorbell at the nearest home he could find. It was 4:40 a.m. and he had been swimming for 16 hours, a feat so impressive that skeptics didn’t believe his story at first.
A security guard was patrolling the oceanfront home where Konrad finally came ashore. The guard saw Konrad approaching the house and called police. Police knew Konrad was missing because the Coast Guard had been searching for him. They wrapped him in a blanket and drove him to Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach.
His boat was found near Deadman’s Reef, a snorkeling spot near Freeport on Grand Bahama Island.
Dakota said her father told them he focused on her and her younger sister, Brooke, who were 10 and 8 at the time, to give him the strength to reach land.
“He told us we were the reasons he made it home,” Dakota said.
Konrad’s ocean experience drove home a key message in his daughter’s speech: “You can absolutely do anything if you put your mind to it,” she said. “I will live by this motto for the rest of my life.”
Dakota’s speech was immediately followed by hugs from her classmates, teachers and her parents.
“Dakota’s speech resonated with every student, parent and teacher in the chapel that day,” said Mari Bianco, Dakota’s English teacher. “Students couldn’t imagine losing their parents. Parents couldn’t imagine not fighting to reunite with their children.”
Konrad, who grew up fishing and boating off the coast of Massachusetts and lives in Boynton Beach, still takes his family boating, both in Florida and in Cape Cod during the summer. As a precaution, Konrad said, he wears an electronic kill switch that would shut off the boat’s engines if he were to fall out again.

     The trial of former Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella, accused of felony battery on a law enforcement officer and other charges, will begin now April 30, Circuit Judge Meenu Sasser ordered Feb. 20.
     The case of an accused burglar who sought a speedy trial knocked Lucibella's date off the judge's calendar.
     Lucibella's new trial date is a year and three weeks past the original schedule, which called for the proceedings to begin April 10, 2017.

     Lucibella, who also faces charges of resisting arrest with violence, another felony, and firing a weapon while under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor, waived his right to a speedy trial when the lawyers needed more time to question witnesses.
     He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
     Lucibella was arrested Oct. 22, 2016, after Ocean Ridge police went to his oceanfront home answering neighbors' reports of hearing gunfire. They confiscated a .40-caliber handgun and found five spent shell casings on the backyard patio.
     He and one of the officers’ supervisors, Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, were both on the patio and “obviously intoxicated,” the police said.
     Lucibella resigned his vice mayor and town commissioner positions Dec. 7, 2016.
     His trial was postponed first to July 2017, then October, then this April.

Towns and cities holding elections March 13 will have the following forums for voters to meet the candidates:

Boca Raton

When: Feb. 8
Where: 6500 Building, 6500 Congress Ave.
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Sponsor: Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations

Delray Beach

Feb. 7
Where: Arts Garage, 94 NE Second Ave.
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Sponsor: Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce
Feb. 27
Where: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave.
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Sponsor: Delray Beach Green Candidate Forum

Highland Beach

The forum will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 5 at the Highland Beach Public Library, 3618 S. Ocean Blvd.
It will be hosted by the League of Women Voters.
Voters will hear from two candidates for vice mayor and four candidates for one commission seat.
Information about the ballot question regarding setting aside money for streetscape improvements will also be presented.
For additional information, call the Town Clerk’s office, 278-4548.

Ocean Ridge
Feb. 21: Three candidates for two seats on the Town Commission will take part ­— incumbent Gail Aaskov and political newcomers Kristine de Haseth and Phil Besler.
Where: Town Hall
Time: 6-8 p.m.
Sponsor: League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County

By Dan Moffett

Manalapan town commissioners are countering a spate of stolen cars with an aggressive plan to enhance security that includes hiring four police officers and expanding the town’s already extensive use of cameras and technology.
“We live here because it’s a unique community,” Mayor Keith Waters said. “It’s unlike any other community in America. I don’t want this to be a police state, but at the same time, I want there to be absolute certainty that when you go to bed at night, everything’s going to be OK.”
Over the last six months, seven residents have reported their cars stolen. All were crimes of opportunity, police say. In each case, the owner left keys in the car.
Police were able to recover five of the vehicles and make four arrests. The suspects came from Broward and Miami-Dade counties and traveled to Manalapan in groups.
“This will not stand,” Waters said. “We’ve been lulled into a sense of complacency where our town has operated over a period of time under the assumption that everyone is as good as we were. And that’s not the case.”
Commissioners unanimously approved spending $417,000 out of the town’s $2.2 million reserve fund to pay for the security upgrades. They include:
• Filling four new police positions by summer to increase the number of sworn officers to 15.
Police Chief Carmen Mattox, who during the Jan. 23 town meeting won praise from commissioners and residents for his performance, said the new hires will allow him to have three officers on patrol at all times — one assigned exclusively to Point Manalapan, one to the ocean side and another for backup.
Also, the increased manpower will enable the department to get more use out of the marine patrol boat the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office donated to the town last year.
• Increasing pay for all officers.
Waters said higher pay would reduce turnover in the department and attract a “higher caliber officer.” He said Manalapan has one of the highest tax bases and lowest tax rates (2.795 mills) in the county and shouldn’t rank near the bottom in the county for police pay.
Starting pay for officers will go from $46,700 to $51,200 and each of the current uniformed officers will receive a $4,500 raise.
• Hiring a private armed security guard to staff the Point Manalapan gatehouse and renovating it to increase floor space.
Commissioners approved adding a stop sign at the gatehouse to force motorists to stop for the cameras. “We can’t prohibit people from going in,” Waters said, “but they’re going to have to stop at the gate.”
• Expanding the use of license plate recognition cameras throughout the town.
Manalapan already makes wide use of LPR cameras and Waters wants more of them. “We know the legal rights, what can and can’t be done,” the mayor said. “We’re going to do everything exactly by the book.”
Commissioner Monica Oberting said the most important benefit of the changes is making police more visible.
“It’s not the response time that’s the issue,” Oberting said. “I think it’s the deterrence.”
Commissioner Clark Appleby said, with the new Publix scheduled to open in June at Plaza del Mar, police will be dealing with “more transients,” so the commission’s plan is well-timed.
Mayor Pro Tem Simone Bonutti said the town needs to get more help from Ocean Ridge and the county in patrolling Manalapan’s southern border and Ocean Inlet Park.
Stewart Satter, a resident on the ocean side, commended the commission’s plan and said he was willing to pay the cost (about $50,000) of equipping the third patrol officer with a new vehicle.
Waters called Satter’s offer “a remarkably generous gesture” — which the town accepted.

Barbara Mulvey and Andy Neureuther play at the monthly jam at the Boynton Beach VFW. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

On the second Friday of most months, Barbara Mulvey takes her dobro across the water from her home in Briny Breezes to VFW Post 5335 in Boynton Beach to see if anybody else shows up.
You’re welcome to come, too, but don’t be too disappointed if nobody does.
“There might be a good group,” Mulvey will warn you, “and then it might be nothing. Health is a big problem, so some people can’t come sometimes. We’re certainly quite aged.”
Mulvey, a retired art teacher and farmer from the Adirondacks, is 82, and she’s not the oldest by far.
“One of the people who sings and plays cowboy songs is in his 90s,” Mulvey says. “He always wears a cowboy shirt and hat, but he’s not in the best of health.”
Sometimes as few as three show up, but never mind. They circle their chairs back away from the pool table and bar and play for a couple of hours anyway. Nobody quits pool to come listen, but nobody is paying to listen or gets paid to play, and besides, this makeshift band doesn’t even have an official name.

ABOVE: Ray Senecal plays guitar as Jimmy and Connie Abbott watch. The Abbotts started the sessions, and the group is informally called Jimmy & the Geriatrics. BELOW: Barbara Mulvey’s dobro has lyrics from If I Could Only Win Your Love, by the Louvin Brothers.

Mulvey started joining these monthly acoustic jams with her dobro after a friend in her tai chi class at the Boynton Beach Senior Center told her about them.
Friends tell friends, who tell friends. That’s how it’s been for nearly three years now, ever since Jimmy and Connie Abbott, VFW regulars, spotted a photo of Dale Kane, another member, and her big old Gibson guitar taped to the fridge in the post kitchen. The Abbotts had a country band called Southern Moon that played around town off and on.
“Do you play?” Jimmy asked Dale, who did, and pretty soon they heard about others and asked Bill Bourke, the post commander, if they could have a venue.
The first and third Fridays are trivia nights, so they got the second.
“It gives the vets a part of their youth back,” Jimmy Abbott says. When they show up, that is.
This second Friday, Jan. 12, is a very good night, even though Wes Smith, the 93-year-old cowboy singer, isn’t here. Somebody heard he moved to Fort Pierce. But nine others are. Five women and four men. Four guitars, an accordion, mandolin, ukulele, dobro, and Connie, who mostly sings.
“Waltz Across Texas,” Mulvey calls out. “In C. And I don’t know this one very well.”
Pages flutter in the binders full of cheat sheets — just the lyrics and chord changes, minus the fancy melody lines — and the January jam begins.
“When we dance together my world’s in disguise,
It’s a fairyland tale that’s come true,
When you look at me girl with those stars in your eyes
I could waltz across Texas with you.
Oh, waltz across Texas … waltz across Texas …”
They don’t waltz across Texas as smoothly as Ernest Tubb did back in 1965, but they make a joyful noise.
Tonight, Mulvey has brought along a neighbor in Briny Breezes named Andy Neureuther, 76, who taught electrical engineering at UC Berkeley for 40 years. Neureuther has recently switched from guitar to ukulele because, he explains, he can just leave the uke in Briny when he returns to Walnut Creek, Calif.
“I’ve been playing two weeks and I know two keys,” he reports. “But I can’t sing and play at the same time.”
Next, Ray Senecal tackles Kansas City. A retired firefighter from Schenectady, N.Y., Senecal favors a bright yellow guitar strap with black letters that read “Crime Scene, Do Not Cross.”
“I come a few times a year,” he says. “It’s fun. It’s spontaneous. I appreciate that they let me play.” He laughs. “Anybody who’s 60 years old here is a kid.”
Senecal is 78, and the closest this gang has to kids are Jimmy and Connie Abbott, both 64.
Joyce Michayluk, 80, a retired critical care nurse, takes a lead break on the accordion during Kansas City.
“I’m playing since I’m a kid,” she says. “I play bass guitar, too, but there’s nobody to play with until I go to Canada and play with my two brothers.”
They play Crazy, that Patsy Cline classic, and Take Me Home, Country Roads, John Denver, of course. If anyone starts strumming I Can’t Help Falling in Love, everyone sings along without checking the cheat sheets, and for a few minutes Elvis is back in the building.
They play the songs they heard first when they were first falling in love.
“I love ’em all, but I’m partial to the old stuff,” says Dale Kane, 68, a VFW member for 45 years, former president of the Ladies Auxiliary, and player of guitars, mandolins, banjos and bass. “But I don’t have anybody to play with now. My whole family plays, but they’re not here. I’ve got one brother in Jacksonville and the other one’s in Rhode Island. And my parents have passed, so I come here. It’s so nice. It’s so nice.”
Ida Sands, 71, is a retired special education teacher from Boynton Beach who adds a slight touch of the risqué to the evening’s entertainment, strumming her guitar and singing.
“Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates,
You got a brand new key.
I think that we should get together
And try them out, you see.”
When the folk singer Melanie debuted that tune back in the early 1970s, some perceived a hidden, hornier relationship between those skates and the key.
“Yuh think!” Sands chirps, and knowing laughter fills the circle.
“I go to different jams,” she says, “but I think of this as the fun jam. We don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
They don’t even have a name.
Well, not an official name.
“We call it Jimmy & The Geriatrics,” the bartender, Tina Black, confesses.
Most of the regulars seem to find that unofficial name cheeky and funny and true, but Mulvey doesn’t like it at all.
“No, I don’t like it,” she says. “And it might make younger people feel they’re not welcome.”
She has a point.
“Anybody’s welcome,” says Bourke, the post commander. “You can come with bongo drums or anything, you’re welcome. You don’t have to be a member of the post.”
Tonight, the honor of oldest Geriatric goes to Lauren Bates of Boynton Beach, who is 88.
“I had a country-western band back in Leominster, Mass.,” he says. “We called ourselves The Country Neighbors. Because we were all neighbors. I played guitar and my wife played bass and sang in French and English. I lost her six years ago.”
When the mic stand comes his way, Bates strums and sings an old Merle Haggard tune called Swinging Doors.
“I’ve got swinging doors, a jukebox and a bar stool,
And my new home has a flashing neon sign.
Stop by and see me any time you want to,
’Cause I’m always here at home till closing time …”
“Sometimes I play at home now,” he says when the song is done. “I put on the CDs and play to them. It just keeps you going. I’m going to karaoke in Palm Springs after I get out of here.”
Ray Senecal does Bed of Roses and Barbara Mulvey croons Have You Ever Been Lonely? and then it’s pushing toward 8 o’clock and Lauren Bates is packing up his new guitar and slipping out a little early, heading to karaoke.
Finally, they do the one everybody knows and no one can resist.
“You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine …”
They strum fast, and they sing loud, and for a circle of geriatrics, they sound almost young.
This does not surprise Connie Abbott.
“You can lose your hair,” she says. “You can lose your figure. But you don’t lose your music.”

The next acoustic jam will be 6-8 p.m. Feb. 9 at VFW Post 5335, 500 NE 21st Ave., Boynton Beach. Everyone is welcome. Post membership is not required.

Part of Ted Hoskinson’s Roots and Wings nonprofit raises funds to help Delray Beach third-graders prepare after school for the state’s standardized test. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

There was a time, before he became a successful business owner, when Ted Hoskinson’s world revolved around education.
Soon after he graduated from Tulane University, Hoskinson returned to St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., a prestigious private school where he had once been a classmate of future prominent figures, including former Vice President Al Gore.
Hoskinson taught fourth grade and ran the school’s summer program during his 15 years there, gaining an understanding of the challenges educators face and the lack of recognition that often comes with the territory.
So it comes as no surprise that Hoskinson, now 70, is devoting much of his retirement to making sure the educators and staff in Delray Beach’s public schools get a chance to be in the spotlight.
Through Roots and Wings, a nonprofit he founded in 2016, Hoskinson is not only focused on educators but also on helping students in public schools improve their reading skills so they can succeed.
“In this city, this town, we have a tremendous need to make sure people can go to any level they want to, and we have to give them the opportunity to do so,” he said.
Working largely under the radar, Hoskinson and Roots and Wings put time and money into three programs.
The first program — the Above and Beyond Awards — focuses on rewarding teachers and staff members selected by their principals for outstanding work. The teachers receive gift cards during small ceremonies in the classroom, with students involved.
Presentations are made three times a year in elementary schools and four times a year in middle schools and high schools.
Last year, in its first full year, Above and Beyond recognized 144 public school teachers and 27 staff members.
“Teachers at all levels need to be appreciated, and it wasn’t being done to this level,” Hoskinson said.
Under the umbrella of what has been dubbed Project Uplift, Roots and Wings last year awarded $10,000 to the Achievement Centers for Children & Families to make it possible for 25 students to attend a summer program with an academic element at Pine Grove Elementary School.
The group also funds a program at Pine Grove to help third-graders pass the Florida Standards Assessments test so they can move into fourth grade. In the pilot program Hoskinson hopes will be successful and spread to other schools, students attend a one-hour after-school class three days a week taught by Pine Grove teachers.
For Hoskinson, who along with his board raises money for the programs, a personal motivation drives Roots and Wings.
When he and his lawyer wife of 34 years, Anne, retired to Florida 12 years ago, they decided that when they died they would give their money to elementary education.
“Nobody was focusing on elementary education,” he said.
For his first 10 years in South Florida, Hoskinson took it easy, playing tennis, traveling with Anne and enjoying all that Delray Beach had to offer.
After Anne died in April 2016, Hoskinson decided he wouldn’t wait to start building their legacy and, inspired by his wife’s commitment to education, started the nonprofit organization.
“I could have ridden off into the sunset and done whatever I wanted to, but I didn’t because there’s a real need at both the teacher level and the student level,” he said, adding that he was financially secure after selling a business that included 10 card and gift stores and a wholesale balloon and accessories company.
Hoskinson, who lives in Coastal Delray Beach, says that running Roots and Wings takes a lot of time and effort, but is well worth the investment.
“For me a good day is when I wake up and say, ‘This is going to be a great day because we’re going to reward teachers,’ ” he said.

Every season in Briny Breezes there is rumbling from a handful of residents who still believe they were somehow cheated out of their “million” dollars because of the failed Ocean Land sales deal in 2007-2008. Ten years later there are still residents who think they are entitled to make it rich since they are convinced they almost did once before.
This year a group of malcontents has grown exceptionally aggressive and loud. So much so, they’ve intimidated the corporate board of directors into holding discussions on whether to call a vote to determine shareholders’ interest in marketing Briny Breezes for sale.
Why would anyone vote to do this? Look at Briny Breezes! She’s a lovely, classy lady. A natural beauty. There’s no need to put her in a tight skirt and send her out on Federal Highway.
Do some people really believe there’s an investor/developer out there — who can get a billion dollars in financing — who doesn’t already know about the 48 ocean-to-Intracoastal acres of Briny Breezes?
Why would they vote to cheapen the value of this special piece of property by appearing desperate to shed themselves of paradise?
Yes, the cost of maintaining a unit in Briny is increasing. The town is maxed out on what it can tax residents — thanks partly to the failed Ocean Land sale and its depletion of the town’s reserves. And the park has some infrastructure repair needs, many of which are needed now because of the years the park sat idle before, during and after the Ocean Land episode.
Are there people who believe that same inertia won’t happen again if the park is actively marketed? Do they believe there won’t be a fiscal downside for residents from this ridiculous plan?
Briny Breezes offers affordable vacation housing in one of the most desirable locations along the eastern coast of Florida. She’s a bathing beauty on a Florida tourism postcard. There will be suitors. There’s no need to turn on a red light.

— Mary Kate Leming,
Editor

Note: Coastal Star owners Mary Kate Leming and Jerry Lower have been Briny Breezes shareholders since 2003.

By Jane Smith

City residents who live along the Intracoastal Waterway are seeing surveyors from Aptim Environmental & Infrastructure in their backyards.
In October, Delray Beach city commissioners awarded the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, firm a $198,473 contract to analyze the sea walls along the Intracoastal. The city owns less than one mile of the estimated 21.4 miles of sea walls, including finger canals.
The workers are surveying the condition of all sea walls, including private ones, said Missie Barletto, deputy director of program and project management in the city’s Public Works Department.
After the sea wall survey is finished this summer, the next step will be to create a minimum sea wall height with a sea wall ordinance, she said in late January. Once passed, the law will cover Delray Beach property owners’ building or replacing their sea walls.
“The city will have many public meetings where property owners will have their say on the height of the sea walls,” Barletto said.

By Steve Plunkett

The election to replace term-limited County Commissioner Steven Abrams isn’t until November, but already the race threatens to overshadow the March vote for two Boca Raton City Council seats.
Council member Robert Weinroth, who opened a re-election campaign account in June, shifted gears during Boca Raton’s official Jan. 2-10 qualifying period and filed instead to seek Abrams’ seat. He will face Mayor Susan Haynie, who opened a County Commission campaign account in October.
Weinroth, in a memo withdrawing from the City Council race, said it was “apparent” to him that Haynie’s campaign for the commission seat “has faltered.”
Weinroth switched races after a Palm Beach Post article in November questioned Haynie’s votes on matters involving James and Marta Batmasian, the city’s largest commercial landowners. The Batmasians also own most of a Deerfield Beach apartment complex that in 2010 hired Haynie and her husband as property managers.
Haynie said she voted on Batmasian projects in Boca Raton only after she asked for and received clearance from the county Ethics Commission. She resigned from her husband’s company in 2016 and announced in December that he had given up the Deerfield Beach work.
As of Dec. 31 Weinroth had amassed $115,905 in donations for his council re-election bid. Under state law he had to notify all contributors within 15 days that he changed races and offer to return their money.
Haynie sent a letter to all his donors Jan. 22 encouraging them to do just that.
“A donation to Robert’s County Commission campaign is a contribution opposing me,” Haynie wrote.
She also messaged her supporters, saying she was “all in, working hard and ready to go.”
“Despite the best attempts of my political opponents, my campaign continues to move forward and build support,” she wrote.
Haynie reported collecting $18,901 in donations as of Dec. 31. Her endorsements include Abrams, state Rep. Bill Hager, South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer and Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb, Lantana Mayor Dave Stewart, former Ocean Ridge Mayor Ken Kaleel, incoming Delray Beach City Commissioner Bill Bathurst, Boca Raton Deputy Mayor Jeremy Rodgers and City Council member Scott Singer, and former Deputy Mayor Michael Mullaugh.
Weinroth’s campaign war chest included donations of $1,000 each from James and Marta Batmasian, whom he linked to Haynie’s troubles. Their son Armen Batmasian also gave $1,000.

This email has been long overdue coming from my desk to yours.
Being a resident and a business in Palm Beach County since 1973, we have seen many local newspapers come and go in our communities — from Palm Beach to Boca Raton, from east to west.
Our thanks go out to the founding partners of The Coastal Star for the team that they put together to provide a great paper for all of us to enjoy.
The image and content that you provide each issue is very contemporary and informative. We look forward to your paper for 2018 and beyond.

Giovanni Marquez
FSB/Fashion Shoppes Boutique
Boynton Beach

By Rich Pollack

If you’ve traveled along State Road A1A in the last several months you’ve probably seen a crew or two working on the power lines.
FPL understands that the work might slightly inconvenience residents, but the company says in the long run customers will benefit by having more reliable service and quicker restoration of power after outages.
“We’re installing poles and equipment that will help us restore power faster and improve everyday reliability,” said FPL spokesman Bill Orlove.
Most of the work along A1A is part of FPL’s systemwide hardening project, which includes replacing some poles as well as main feeder lines — those that come directly from the company’s substation.
While the project continues throughout the area, there’s good news for those traveling A1A or who live on the barrier island throughout most of southern Palm Beach County.
In Highland Beach, all that needs to be done is for one phone and cable provider to move its wires to new poles. In Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes, work that FPL began last May is expected to be completed by early spring.
Work along A1A in Boca Raton and much of Delray Beach should be done by the end of this year.
Projects in Manalapan and some portions of South Palm Beach were completed six or seven years ago, according to Orlove.
Another project in South Palm Beach and one in Delray will be done down the road, FPL says.
In addition to the hardening projects, work is underway in the town of Gulf Stream, which is converting from overhead lines to underground utility services.
Like the hardening project, the conversion is designed to improve reliability of utility services.
All new poles and equipment installed as part of the hardening project, as well as main lines, are now capable of withstanding wind gusts of up to 145 miles per hour, Orlove said.
In some cases, the poles will be slightly taller than existing ones in order to accommodate equipment such as transformers, and to ensure they, too, can withstand high winds.
Orlove said FPL’s hardening efforts throughout the company’s service area have been going on for several years, with 40 percent of the distribution system already either hardened or underground.
That paid off last year during Hurricane Irma, a massive storm that affected all of FPL’s service area, with an estimated 2,500 poles needing to be replaced.
During Hurricane Wilma 12 years earlier, FPL replaced 12,400 poles.
Because of the nature of the work, with poles and wires needing replacement, some traffic-flow disruptions will occur, especially along heavily traveled roads such as A1A.
“We know it’s an inconvenience and we ask people for their patience as we work to make the energy grid stronger and more resilient,” Orlove said. “In the long run this will benefit residents in this area.”

By Noreen Marcus and Michelle Quigley

Serious crime is uncommon in Palm Beach County’s coastal towns, and cases of resisting arrest with violence are about as rare a sight as white whales.
So the upcoming trial of former Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella on felony counts of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a police officer has drawn considerable attention.
Whatever happened Oct. 22, 2016, on the patio of Lucibella’s beachfront residence on Beachway North is scheduled for debate at a trial set to begin in late February in West Palm Beach Circuit Court. Judge Meenu Sasser has reserved an entire month for the proceedings.
Lucibella, a 64-year-old health care executive, pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The case’s notoriety and impact on Lucibella, who resigned from office Dec. 7, 2016, once moved Ocean Ridge Mayor Geoff Pugh to say, “Does it make the town look bad? I guess, yes.” Pugh could not be reached for comment for this story.
Lucibella responded to the obvious question — why hasn’t this case been resolved?— in a text message. He wants a trial. “I’ll gladly take my chances with that.”
“I have refused all overtures as to a plea,” Lucibella wrote. “Ocean Ridge’s police leadership has had their turn at bat. They may have succeeded in destroying my reputation to cover up their incompetence, but they’ll never get the chance to do it to another resident.”
Resisting arrest cases represent a tiny subcategory of total felonies over the past three years in Ocean Ridge and four nearby coastal towns, according to data from the clerk and comptroller of Palm Beach County. There was one in South Palm Beach, population 1,400, and there were two in Ocean Ridge, population 1,812. Period.
Why so few?
“Possibly it’s a reflection of the general crime rate in those jurisdictions,” said Mike Edmondson, spokesman for the office of Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg.
Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins had another suggestion. “I would like to believe it’s because we use a lot of de-escalation skills and people skills and perhaps we just don’t have as many people that present themselves in that fashion as other communities do,” he said.
In the South Palm Beach case, a 30-year-old man was originally charged with felony and misdemeanor resisting arrest, reckless driving and driving with an invalid license. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor resisting arrest and the driving violations on Oct. 20, 2016.
In Ocean Ridge there have been Lucibella’s case and that of Christian Stewart of West Palm Beach. On May 20, 2017, an Ocean Ridge policeman saw Stewart jogging on A1A. Because Stewart fit the description of a suspect the officer was seeking, he tried to stop Stewart.
The situation escalated when Stewart “took a fighting stance,” Officer Richard Ermeri wrote in his arrest report. Ermeri “believed that he was going to strike me at any moment.” Stewart turned out to be the wrong man and no one was hurt.
Stewart was charged with both felony and misdemeanor (nonviolent) resisting arrest. Eventually the charges were dropped and Stewart paid $50 to cover prosecution costs.
Ermeri was the same officer who had, seven months earlier, responded to calls from Lucibella’s neighbors that they heard gunfire coming from the direction of his house. Ermeri, Officer Nubia Plesnik and Sgt. William Hallahan found Lucibella and Lt. Steven Wohlfiel on the patio with five spent shell casings.
Both men were “obviously intoxicated,” the police reported. They confiscated a .40-caliber Glock handgun and a smaller pistol from Lucibella, a weapons enthusiast who publishes a gun magazine.
Accounts differ about what happened after that. The officers said Lucibella verbally and physically resisted arrest and had to be taken down to the ground to be subdued. Lucibella’s attorney Marc Shiner said police overreacted and used excessive force, which is a legal defense to the charge of battery on a law enforcement officer.
Lucibella, who reportedly was wearing glasses, suffered an injury to his eye that required medical attention.
According to Plesnik’s pending civil suit against him, her shoulder was hurt when she helped subdue him. Ermeri also said he was hurt in the scuffle.
Their boss, Chief Hutchins, said in an interview last month that he could not say how badly the officers were injured — “I’m not a doctor.” He said they have been back on duty for some time and that, contrary to demands by Shiner, there has been no Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation of their actions in the Lucibella incident.
An Internal Affairs investigation determined that the Glock was Wohlfiel’s personal property. His lawyer Ralph King of the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association has complained that the report produced no credible evidence Wohlfiel fired the gun. King did not respond to an email seeking comment for this story.
Wohlfiel was fired, on Hutchins’ recommendation, on Jan. 4, 2017. He has filed a court action to force the Town Commission to reconsider his firing, Hutchins said. In the interview, Hutchins supported Lucibella’s right to a trial.
“Would I have liked to see this case disposed of without a lot of cost to taxpayers and use of resources? Yeah, I think so, that’s the administrator in me. But in reality that’s not how our system is set up,” he said.
“All the evidence will be weighed out in court before either a judge or a judge and a jury,” Hutchins said, “and that’s the best thing that could happen.”

By Dan Moffett

Mayor Bonnie Fischer swore in new Town Manager Majella “Mo” Thornton at the beginning of January’s council meeting and declared a fresh start for South Palm Beach as it enters the new year.
“We have now made significant changes to the administration of South Palm Beach,” Fischer said. “We have brought in seasoned local professionals that have proven their integrity over a period of years in Palm Beach County. I think that’s important.”
Thornton replaces Bob Vitas, who was forced out of the manager’s position in October after a unanimous vote of no-confidence by the Town Council, ending a yearlong dispute over a new contract and pay raise.
Also gone is Brad Biggs, who served as the town attorney for more than a decade. Biggs decided to resign last summer after his contract expired and the council refused to negotiate a new one. Replacing Biggs is veteran municipal attorney Glen Torcivia, founder of the West Palm Beach law firm Torcivia, Donlon, Goddeau & Ansay.
Thornton comes to South Palm Beach after 21 years as city manager in Atlantis.
“I’m happy with the changes we’ve made,” Fischer said, “and I look forward to bringing the town together and having a successful year.”
Fischer said the first order of business for the overhauled administration is to get the foundering beach stabilization project moving again. The joint plan with Palm Beach County to install seven groins from the town’s northern border to the southern end of Lantana Municipal Beach has languished after complaints from Manalapan and questions from state officials who are considering whether to grant permits for the project.
“There’s been a lot of issues lately and it’s been stalled,” Fischer said. “Apparently there seem to be concerns with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection that has some issues with the county and their permits. I’d like to get the professionals in here and see what’s going on that’s negative and give us more insights into the project.”
Fischer said she and Thornton plan to meet with county environmental managers soon to find out what the town can do to jump-start the groin installation, which officials still hope to begin in November.
“This project is taking too long and there’s too much effort to it,” the mayor said. “I certainly don’t want to see it fall by the wayside. We need answers.”
In other business, George Turenne, president of American Lighting Maintenance in Riviera Beach, told the council during the Jan. 23 town meeting that his company was nearly finished replacing the street and sidewalk lighting on A1A.
The new LED lights cost about $28,000 to install, roughly half the expense of traditional halogen lighting. The new lights use about a third of the electricity of halogen lamps and have a life expectancy of about 11 years, four times that of the halogens.
“The new lights are turtle-friendly too,” Turenne said.

By Mary Thurwachter

Goodway Oil 902 Gas Station on South Dixie Highway in Lantana will soon add a car wash to its menu of services. And that’s not all the station will do to attract customers. It will sell fried chicken, too.
“We need something to give us a competitive edge over Wawa and RaceTrac,” said Jon Levinson, representing filling station owner Eli Buzaglo at the Jan. 8 Town Council meeting.
Buzaglo asked for — and received — a special exception variance to the town building code to build the car wash.
Adding a car wash at the front of the station will mean moving a large generator, something that concerned some of the council members.
“That’s a rather large generator,” said council member Edward Paul Shropshire. “You’re moving it to the back and when that’s running it will be noisy for neighbors.”
Levinson said the generator would run only after a hurricane, and he drew laughs from the council when he promised there would be no hurricanes this year.
The filling station, at 810 S. Dixie Highway, already has a convenience store. Now it will be offering Krispy Krunchy Chicken, something Levinson said has become a hot seller.
In other action the council:
• Approved the purchase of a sewer main line camera for $40,482 from Ferguson Waterworks.
• Approved a contract with M&M Asphalt Maintenance Inc. for paving town roads at a cost of $496,539.