ABOVE: Part of a trimaran sailboat broke loose during Hurricane Irma and wedged under floating docks at Gateway Marina. The incident caused $90,000 in damage to the docks. Photo provided by Gateway Marina

BELOW: Shredded sails, a tarp and algae covering the bottom are telltale signs that this sailboat is likely to stay in the area for more than a few days. Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

By Willie Howard

Gateway Marina owner Chris Ciasulli knows firsthand the financial hazards posed by boats that drop anchor in the Lake Worth Lagoon near Boynton Inlet.
A trimaran sailboat anchored near his marina broke loose during Hurricane Irma, came apart and wedged under four sections of the marina’s floating aluminum docks, causing $90,000 in damage. The docks were not insured.
Ciasulli said he met with the owner of the sailboat, Michael Yesilevich, 44, of Delray Beach, who apologized but offered no compensation for the damages.
Boynton Beach police said Yesilevich had two or three boats anchored in the area that were advertised for sale on Craigslist at the time of the hurricane.
His trimaran was not considered derelict before the hurricane, police said. Officers with the Police Department’s marine unit tried to persuade him to move the 1982 sailboat to another location before Irma’s winds arrived in September, but they were not successful.
“A common misconception is that all sailboats anchored or moored that do not move are derelict,” said Officer Darin Hederian of the Boynton Beach Police Department’s marine unit. “If the vessels are dewatering, not sunk, not aground and not in disrepair, they are probably not going to be classified as derelict.”
Boats at anchor are required to have a current registration and proper lighting. White anchor lights are supposed to be displayed at night so boaters can steer clear of anchored vessels after dark. Boynton Beach police marine unit officers say they issue citations to boat owners for improper lighting.
Ciasulli and several waterfront homeowners in Boynton Beach said they are frustrated with a system that allows sometimes shabby boats to be anchored in the lagoon, often with no insurance and no limit on the length of time they can stay.
“You can anchor wherever you want,” Ciasulli said. “If it survives, fine. If not, your headache’s gone.”
Harry Woodworth, who lives on the water in Yachtsman’s Cove, said three boats dropped anchor inside Boynton Inlet after Hurricane Irma. Two of them broke loose during windy conditions in November.
“The minute they sink on my property, I have the $15,000 problem,” Woodworth said.
It’s illegal to anchor “at-risk” boats in state waters.
Florida law (327.4107) defines “at risk” as boats that are taking on water without an effective means of dewatering, such as a bilge pump.
Boats that are not sealed to the elements as originally designed and boats that are in danger of breaking loose from their anchors also could be classified as at risk of becoming derelict.
“It’s an ongoing issue because there’s a fine line between derelict and someone’s boat,” said Officer Gregg Koch of the Boynton Beach Police Department’s marine unit.
Jim DeVoursney, a waterfront homeowner and member of the Inlet Communities Association, said the number of older boats dropping anchor inside Boynton Inlet began growing during the spring of 2017.
“It’s a bad thing for Boynton Beach and the value of these homes to have this become a boat graveyard,” DeVoursey said.
The problem is not unique to Boynton Beach.
Dozens of boats, some in poor condition, are moored inside Lake Worth Inlet near Peanut Island. Farther north, Jupiter officials are grappling with old boats dropping anchor near county parks, where access to land is easy.
Kevin Homer, a Boynton Beach waterfront homeowner, said he plans to ask city commissioners to hire a maritime lawyer to address the problem of boats dropping anchor inside Boynton Inlet. Homer said old boats pose environmental hazards if they leak fuel or dump human waste and become hazards to navigation if they sink.
“We’re the ones paying taxes here,” Homer said, referring to homeowners. “Why should these people [boat owners] not have to pay rent or pay taxes?”

Wahoo for dinner

Adam Birdwell, operator of the Boynton Beach dive charter Starfish Scuba, shows off a 53-pound wahoo he speared Dec. 1 while diving off Jupiter. Birdwell had been reef diving in 100 feet of water and had paused in 20 feet of water for a safety stop. The wahoo swam within a few feet of him, as if daring him to spear it. After Birdwell shot the wahoo, it dragged him for a while, trying to avoid a bull shark. Birdwell, who says he has been diving nearly 4,000 times, was using a locally built Koah spear gun. Photo provided by Adam Birdwell

Grouper season
closed until May 1
Grouper season closed Jan. 1 and will remain closed until May 1 on Florida’s east coast, including state waters off Monroe County. The seasonal closure applies to red, black, gag, yellowfin and yellowmouth grouper as well as scamp and graysby grouper.

Coming events
Jan. 10: Captain’s meeting for the 81st annual Silver Sailfish Derby, a sailfish release tournament organized by the West Palm Beach Fishing Club. Tournament fishing Jan. 11-12. Awards dinner Jan. 13. Limited to 50 boats. Call 832-6780 or www.westpalmbeachfishingclub.org.
Jan. 13: GPS for mariners class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the classroom next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $25. Call 704-7440.
Jan. 13: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Fee $35 for adults or $20 ages 12 to 19. Register at the door. Bring lunch. Call 391-3600 or email fso-pe@cgauxboca.org.
Jan. 24: Robert “Fly” Navarro shares tips for catching winter sailfish, 7 p.m. at the West Palm Beach Fishing Club, 201 Fifth St., West Palm Beach. Free. Call 832-6780.
Jan. 25: Captain’s meeting for 55th annual Buccaneer Cup Sailfish Release Tournament, Buccaneer Yacht Club, 98 Lake Drive, Palm Beach Shores. (Late entry and registration, 4-6 p.m.; captain’s meeting 7 p.m.) Fishing Jan. 26-27. Call 909-7868 or visit www.buccaneercup.com.
Jan. 27: 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
Manatees move into the warm waters of South Florida during the winter. Slow-speed zones for boaters took effect Nov. 15. To avoid manatees, boaters should wear polarized sunglasses, stay in deep, marked channels as much as possible and watch for the snouts and tails of manatees on the surface.
The Save the Manatee Club offers free resources for boaters, including a boating safety packet that includes the hotline number — 888-404-3922 — for reporting manatee injuries and harassment. The club’s Manatee Alert app for iPhones and iPads helps alert boaters when they’re near manatee zones and displays zone maps. For details, call 800-432-5646.

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

Amy Carver enjoys that St. Andrews Club ‘has a very relaxed atmosphere.’ Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

A strong teaching pedigree and a familiarity with members from her time at a club in Connecticut proved to be key assets when Amy Carver earned the job as head golf professional at St. Andrews Club.
Carver, 55, replaces Jim Simon, who retired.
A native of Meridian, Miss., and graduate of Mississippi State, Carver brings an expansive resume to the par-3 St. Andrews course, which includes working under Craig Harmon at Oak Hill in Rochester and Mike LaBauve in Phoenix, both of whom are listed among Golf Digest’s Top 50 teachers.
She’s also familiar to several members of St. Andrews who spend their summers at Wee Burn Country Club in Darien, Conn., where she had worked from 2009 prior to taking on her first head professional position.
“I wanted to come back to South Florida, so it was a nice opportunity,” said Carver, who previously also spent five years at Mariner Sands in Stuart.
“Then I came to the club and it’s very laid-back here; there are certainly rules, but it’s a very relaxed atmosphere.”
Carver interviewed at the club in early April and was hired a month later.
“There was a lot about her background that we liked,” general manager Robert Grassi said. “Some of our members had experience with her, and she came across very strong. There were many reasons: Her whole demeanor, she’s very optimistic, her status as a PGA professional — they were all part of it.”
A fitness management major at Mississippi State, Carver began her career at Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville. Her quest to earn her PGA card brought her to Mariner Sands, and members there helped her move on to Oak Hill in 1993, where she stayed through 1995, when the course hosted the Ryder Cup.
She took a couple of sabbaticals from golf, working in the restaurant business and selling pharmaceuticals for Upjohn, but the game kept drawing her back. She made stops at Stonecreek in Phoenix, Maidstone on Long Island, Colonial in Memphis and another go-round at Oak Hill, this time from 2003 to 2009.
Carver learned about the St. Andrews opportunity while at Wee Burn; with another MSU grad, Charley Crell, already on board as greens superintendent, it seemed a good fit.
“Everything I heard was ‘You’re going to love the people,’” she said. “And I’ve certainly not been disappointed. The golf course is a great golf course, Charley works hard to keep it in good condition, and it’s challenging.”
Carver has mostly taken a wait-and-see attitude toward putting her imprint on the golf program as she anticipates the busiest season after the holidays.
“It’s important to see how things operate, to know what works well and what I’d like to change,” she said. “There’s a beautiful course that gets used a lot in the morning but not in the afternoon, so I want to get more use out of it. The wonderful thing is you can play 18 holes in 2 1/2 hours.
“It’s wonderful to be at a course associated with” Pete and Alice Dye, she added. “I’ve been fortunate enough to meet them, and it’s an honor to be at a course they designed, because they’re so respected in the golf design community. It’s very cool to be here, to see them out riding around and still interested in what’s going on.”

ABOVE: Silver saw palmetto and a single thatch palm define the sidewalk area in front of the Lake Worth studio of Debra Yates and her son Benjamin Burle. BELOW: Staghorn ferns and a large mirror adorn the back patio. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

Since 2016, when Debra Yates and her son Benjamin Burle moved into Lake Worth’s Old Lucerne Historic District, they have reworked their 1945 coastal cottage — both inside and out.
This mother/son team is the creative force behind Burle Yates Design. Their signature work begins with interior design that flows seamlessly into outdoor living spaces.
Like a fine wine exhibits terroir, their designs provide a “sense of place” and time accomplished by the use of natural groupings of native plants.
“Because we use natives, not one power tool is required to care for this garden,” said Burle.
For example, instead of St. Augustine grass that needs mowing, he incorporates areas of gray granite gravel and coquina sand maintained by raking and the pulling of a weed or two.
Instead of using things such as podocarpus or trinette trimmed into hedges that require constant pruning and often become stick-filled cubes, Burle created privacy by planting a native hammock.
At their home, which was built in 1945, the hammock includes easy-to-maintain natives such as a crabwood that has grown only a foot in the year and a half it’s been there. The hammock also showcases native myrsines, Spanish stoppers and white indigo berry trees.
Besides little pruning, these also require little irrigation after the trees are established.
The field-grown sea grape on the north side of the front yard balances a towering lychee tree on the south with help from the ornamental Bahama strong bark planted in the middle.
For planting, Burle likes to use field-grown trees that often are healthier because they are grown in the ground at the nursery instead of in plastic buckets.
The towering lychee was one of the trees on the property when Yates and Burle arrived. “Otherwise it was a lot of red mulch and bad grass,” said Burle.
Because natives are known for being distinctive but not particularly showy, he adds color with a bougainvillea sporting hard-to-find coral blooms, gaillardia with red and yellow flowers and potted pink-edged bromeliads. The pot on the roof of the front porch adds a touch of whimsy.
Along the street, silver saw palmettos act as “a bold native ground cover” set in front of a cedar fence. Its 5-foot setback from the curb creates the illusion of depth in this small area.
If you are lucky enough to be a guest or take a house tour (1,000 visitors were welcomed here during last year’s Mounts Connoisseur’s Garden Tour), you may be invited into the backyard, which includes a comfortable wooden deck with bench seating. Here, two large staghorn ferns are mounted next to a mirror as wall art.
A few steps down are a patio with table seating under an umbrella and, farther back, a carport that’s been transformed into Yates’ painting studio.
When they took over the property, the backyard had a sabal palm and two mangoes. Today it’s filled with arresting natives, including the slow-growing silver palm that has green fans showing silver underneath.
You’ll also find Queen Emma’s purple crinum lilies, a yellow-flowering necklace pod tree, with seed pods that look like strung beads, and a sea plum. That’s a hybrid between a sea grape and a pigeon plum, explained Burle, who first saw one in Palm Beach.
For privacy, the backyard is surrounded by a fence fashioned from a creative mix of painted plywood, corrugated iron that was part of a water silo in Key West, a wooden gate repositioned from the alleyway, black mesh and vines.
But tour or no, feel free to visit the back alleyway. “It’s almost like a country lane,” said Yates. Although most people ignore their back entrances, Burle and Yates once again use native plantings to ensure that arriving here instills the same sense of calm, natural beauty and balance as the rest of their landscape. And, once again, it’s easy to maintain.
“We wanted to show people that no matter how big your yard, you can do amazing things,” said Yates.

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

If You Go
The Burle Yates Design studio and home is at 128 N. O St., Lake Worth. For information, contact Debra Yates at 305-304-8965 or debra@debrayates.com; or Benjamin Burle at 305-304-1554 or benburledesign@gmail.com.
For a look at the private backyard, keep an eye out for garden tours on which this historical home is often included.

Gardening Tip
After Hurricane Irma, I immediately started watering all the plantings. People asked me why I was adding water after so much rainfall. But it wasn’t for irrigation that I was watering. I wanted to wash the salt spray off the foliage. The salt causes it to brown. So, if you want to save your trees after a storm, you need to water, water, water.
— Benjamin Burle

The Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League provides food and works with volunteers to keep community cat colonies fed and healthy all over the county. Arden Moore/The Coastal Star

By Arden Moore

Hidden in the lush vegetation, perched on top of a mobile home roof or staying motionless under a parked car, about 20 cats silently wait for the appearance of their trusted caretaker, Brenda.
“Come on, babies, it is time to eat,” she calls out as she begins spilling kibble into large stainless steel bowls. On cue, the cats head for the first of two meals she will serve this day. They answer to such names as Freddy, RJ, Freckles, Can Do, Annie and Fuzzy.
As I look from a distance so as not to scare them away, I spot a fluffy gray cat hoisting a plumed tail. Then two muscular orange tabbies appear. A confident black-and-white cat steps from his hiding spot behind a tree. They all sport notched left ears to indicate that they have been spayed or neutered and received needed vaccinations. They appear healthy and content.
I am witnessing a successful community cat colony in operation at a mobile home park somewhere in Palm Beach County. I am not disclosing the location or Brenda’s last name at the request of my guide on this Tuesday morning, Paul Bates.
He oversees the Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release program at Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League. He does not want people to dump unwanted cats into this colony and disrupt its harmonious balance or, worse, commit acts of animal abuse.
What can be disclosed is that this scene is happening in countless neighborhoods throughout the county and the country each and every day. In Palm Beach County, it is estimated that about 230,000 cats are living on the streets. Once branded as feral cats, these felines are now being identified as community cats.
“These are cats who live outside, who do not belong to anybody and who are not adoptable because they are not socialized with people,” says Bates. “And they certainly do not belong in animal shelters where they are often euthanized.
“Our job is to work with people like Brenda and ensure these community cats are neutered/spayed, vaccinated and returned to their outdoor homes.”
Bates first had to build trust with Brenda, a retiree living on a meager fixed income. She and her late husband, Joseph, have been lifelong cat lovers and she gladly takes on the feeding duties for her colony with food that is donated to her.
“These are my babies. I love them,” she tells me. “Some love to sit in my lap. If you are good to them, they are good to you. They make me smile and laugh.”
There are thousands of Brendas in every state feeding these homeless cats and working with agencies like Peggy Adams to catch them in humane traps so that they can be safely transported to shelters or veterinary clinics for medical care. Many are retirees who have a special fondness and dedication to these often forgotten cats.
Bates coordinates Project CatSnip with community cat colony programs in the county to ensure these cats are healthy and protected. He helped launch a Facebook group called Community Cats of the Palm Beaches to network with community cat advocates and to share information on how to care for these cats.
He is a man armed with education and a steady eye on statistics. Before the Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release program launched in 2009, Palm Beach County shelters took in 19,000 homeless cats. That number fell to 10,000 cats in 2016. And, the number of cats euthanized in shelters dropped from 14,000 in 2008 to 2,300 in 2016.
“This has made a big difference, but it is still not acceptable,” he says. “In 2016, 6,654 community cats underwent TNVR and were returned to their colonies. In October 2017, Peggy Adams celebrated having completed 30,000 TNVR surgeries.”
Trapping and sterilizing these community cats is key. As Bates says, “Once 85 percent of cats in a community colony are spayed and neutered, the population stabilizes.”
He shares other insights into community cats:
• Community cats should not be relocated. Many risk injury or death from vehicles or predators in their determination to travel miles to return to their colonies. Attempts to completely remove a cat colony will only result in another cat colony moving in and producing far too many kittens. This is known as the Vacuum Effect.
• The best way to lure intact community cats into humane traps is to place these traps where they gather to eat and allow a few days for the cats to get used to them. Then create a trail of food leading into the traps and place the highest-quality food in the middle of them. To these cats, that food is usually sardines, tuna or, strangely, Kentucky Fried Chicken.
• Once cats in the colony have been spayed and neutered, incidents of nighttime yowling, fighting and urine marking by males looking to mate subsides.
• If you find a homeless cat with his left ear notched, do not bring him to a shelter unless he is injured or ill. This is the universal sign that he is a community cat who has been neutered.
• If you are feeding cats in your neighborhood, please contact Bates and the Peggy Adams staff so that they can assist in getting the cats vaccinated, dewormed, treated for fleas, spayed/neutered and ear-tipped plus microchipped for identification. And never leave food out as it will attract raccoons and other wildlife.
I ended my visit with this realization: Community cats in Palm Beach County are fortunate to have Bates as their crusader and people like Brenda as their unheralded advocates.
“We are making big strides in educating people about these cats, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Bates says, watching with admiration as a few cats rub against the legs of Brenda after their breakfast.

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

Learn more

If you would like to volunteer, make donations or help community cats, contact Paul Bates at 472-8864 or email tnvr@peggyadams.org. To learn more about TNVR, visit the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League at www.peggyadams.org/tnvr.

By Janis Fontaine

How often do you stop to listen?
And even if you do, how often do you encounter silence?
If you don’t, how will you ever hear the “still small voice” of God?
Silent worship is one of the hallmarks of the Quakers’ beliefs, and the Palm Beach Quakers invite you to learn about this topic and more during a “Meeting for Learning” each Sunday this month.
The Palm Beach Religious Society of Friends, as the local Quakers are known, will serve coffee and pastries at 9 a.m. and have the meetings at 9:30 at the Meeting House in Lake Worth.
John Palozzi of Lake Worth has been a Palm Beach Quaker for about 10 years. The local Friends formed in the 1950s and most of the founders have died.
“We’re looking to attract some new members,” Palozzi said. “We’re never going to be a megachurch, but five or six new members would be great.”
The Quakers believe that in silence you’re more likely to hear God speak to you. They put the Psalm that says “Be still and know that I am God” into practice.
No intermediary is necessary for worship or to live one’s life. No priest or preacher, minister or book, rabbi, guru, shaman or doctor of theology is required for one to have a relationship with God.
If Palozzi had to tell you just one thing about the Quakers it would be this: “We have no dogma. We believe you can go within yourself and find God.”
Palozzi says the Friends are looking for people who have been searching for a spiritual home. It doesn’t matter what road people took to get there.
The Friends find inspiration in all religions and all religious texts, but they believe most firmly in the six testimonies, which are basically tenets on how to live your life. How you live your life is a testimony to your ideals and the kind of person you are.
The testimonies — simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship — are universal.
Stewardship was the last testimony to be added, Palozzi said, to focus on environmental issues like climate change and habitat and species loss.
In addition to the learning session that morning, the Palm Beach Friends will host a special presentation, “Questions & Answers by Quakers,” at 1 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Meeting House, 823 N. A St., Lake Worth.
Members will address what it means to live a Quaker life in the 21st century. The meeting is free.
For more information about the Palm Beach Friends, visit www.palmbeachquakers.org or email pbquakers@gmail.com.

Gift baskets for charity

The Council of Catholic Women and Birthline Volunteers are raising money for Belle Glade mothers and babies in need via various events at St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach. These gift baskets were auctioned off Nov. 14 to raise funds. ABOVE: (l-r) Jeanette Schmitz, Peggy Brown, Anne Mongon, Ronnie Svenstrup, Connie Thuesen and Rose Marie Amat. Photo provided

Pastor Barbour retires
After almost 40 years as a pastor — the past 11 with Boca Raton’s Advent Lutheran Church — Pastor Richard Barbour retired in late 2017.
Barbour made many contributions to the church and the local community, and he loved and appreciated that 300 people came to say goodbye to him at his retirement celebration.
Through his tenure, Barbour did everything he could to promote Advent Lutheran’s many ministries. He held Bible study groups, headed “Church Without Walls” projects, led chapels for Advent School, taught religion to middle schoolers and was involved in all aspects of Advent Life ministries.
Barbour started the Stephen Ministry group at Advent. Stephen ministers are lay people specially trained to help people navigate through grief and other life tsunamis.
Stephen ministers provide one-on-one care to people in need, and Barbour says their dedication inspired him.
Barbour also served outside the church as a board member for Family Promise, a multifaith group providing support for homeless families, and for Boca Helping Hands, which provides food, medical and financial assistance, as well as education, job training and guidance to create self-sufficiency.
Barbour, in partnership with Pastor Andrew Hagen, worked to blend traditional Lutheran values with modern innovations.
Hagen said of Barbour: “God makes each of us like tools for a specific time and purpose, and Pastor Rich has been exactly the right instrument of God’s love for the past 11 years.”
Barbour plans to stay local. He and his wife, Avis, are ballroom dancers who look forward to staying out late on Saturday nights now.
“We’ve been taking lessons for 15 years and have met some wonderful people,” Barbour said. The couple also loves Latin dancing, and Barbour says the Argentine tango is their favorite.
For some people, retirement is an adjustment, but Barbour says, “I haven’t had any trouble. It’s been fully enjoyable.”
A runner for years, he has discovered the joys of a morning run and covers about 3 miles before breakfast.
He and his wife have four children, in Washington state, Manhattan, Jacksonville and Buffalo, so they have travel plans to make and fulfill and three grandchildren who need spoiling. Barbour makes each child a special Bible, with his favorite passages highlighted and special notes in the margin.
And of course, Barbour has lots of little projects to do around the house that seem like fun now that he has more time. And the family just passed another milestone: For the first time in 40 years, Barbour didn’t work on Christmas Eve.
Being a pastor is a 24/7 job, one lived at the emotional poles. The pastor is there at the peaks and valleys: your baby’s baptisms and your parents’ funerals, your daughter’s wedding and when you’re about to die.
So even though he has retired, Barbour hasn’t left the ministry behind. He has become the informal chaplain for his dance group. He’s already officiated a wedding and helped with a funeral.
To someone with the calling to be a pastor, it’s not really work, Barbour said. “It’s a privilege.”

Beach baptisms
The Avenue Church will hold beach baptisms at 9 a.m. Jan. 13 at Anchor Park, 390 S. Ocean Ave., Delray Beach. A class is required before baptism. The Avenue Church is at 2455 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach. Call John at 927-4000 or email John@theavechurch.com.

Spiritual discussions
Join the Interfaith Café’s theological discussion from 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 18 at South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach.
Light refreshments are served. The meeting is free, but donations are appreciated. The Interfaith Café meets the third Thursday of the month, and volunteers are needed to assist with a variety of duties to keep this program going.
For information or to volunteer, email Jane@Aurorasvoice.org.

Brahms program
“Music at St. Paul’s” continues with a concert by the Klotz/Calloway/Strezeva Trio at 3 p.m. Jan. 21 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach.
The program is all Brahms, and featured works include Scherzo in C minor (F-A-E Sonata); the Trio in C Major, Op. 87; and the Trio in A minor, Op. 114. The trio has violist Michael Klotz, cellist Jason Calloway and pianist Milana Strezeva.
Arrive early at 2:30 p.m. for a special lecture by music director Dr. Paul Cienniwa.
Tickets are $20. Admission is free for ages 18 and younger.
For more information, call 278-6003 or visit www.music.stpaulsdelray.org.

Distinguished Preachers
First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach will continue its Distinguished Preacher Series with Dr. Michael Brown leading worship Jan. 28 and Dr. Steven Eason speaking Feb. 18.
Brown, the senior minister of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City since 2009, is the author of six books and a contributing author to 11 others. He uses humor and personal anecdotes to illuminate his stories.
Brown will also speak at First Presbyterian’s annual Congregational Dinner on Jan. 26 at Benvenuto restaurant in Boynton Beach. The evening features a social hour at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:30. Dinner is $30 and reservations are recommended. Call the church office at 276-6338.
Eason, a graduate of Duke Divinity School, has 40 years of experience in the ministry from solo pastor to senior pastor, but may be best known as an authority on team building. His book, Making Disciples, Making Leaders: A Manual for Developing Church Officers, was published in 2016. It drew on 24 years of building, training and nurturing leadership teams.
First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach is at 33 Gleason St. Visit www.firstdelray.com

Coming up at St. Mark’s
St. Mark Catholic Church has several events coming up in January. Get more information at the church, at 643 St. Mark Place, Boynton Beach, or by calling 734-9330 or visiting www.stmarkboynton.com.
• Bereavement Ministry Training: Sister Mary Joan has started her 12-week class to prepare parishioners to serve as Core Bereavement Ministers. Ministers help church members cope with their losses by visiting them after the death of a loved one, helping to plan a funeral and Mass, and providing support and help in the months following a death. For more information about the program, call the church.
• Ministry Fair: From 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 21 in the parish center, learn about the parish ministries that need help. There’s also a special Taste of Germany lunch with bratwurst, frikadeller and sauerkraut, and for the children, chicken fingers.
• Prime Rib Dinner: The St. Mark Council of Catholic Women will hold its annual prime rib dinner on Jan. 26. Tickets are $27, for sale in the church after Mass Jan. 13-14 and Jan. 20-21. Music will be provided by the Doo Wop Kids. Call Ann Albano with questions at 274-9553.

Induction ceremony

The Palm Beaches Commandery of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller, inducted 16 aspirants at a formal investiture. The Nov. 4 ceremony at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palm Beach Gardens was followed by a reception and black-tie gala at PGA National Resort & Spa. The Palm Beaches Commandery has more than 65 active members who do volunteer work and raise money for charities. ABOVE: (l-r, in front) Elaine Meier, Claire Clarke, Eloise Witham, Julie Bird Winchester, Douglas Blanz, Jay Owen, (middle) Marie Ryan, Candace Tamposi, Heath Black, Chelneca Templeton, Gary Templeton, (in back) Matthew Piotrowski, Monique McCall, Walter Jones Jr., David Barninger and Ken Nunnenkamp. Photo provided

Sexual harassment lecture
The Jewish Business Network will host a lecture by relationship expert Rabbi Manis Friedman, author of Doesn’t Anyone Blush Anymore?, at 6 p.m. Jan. 15 at the Boca Raton Library, 400 NW Second Ave., Boca Raton. The topic is “Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Exposed.” Tickets are $25 and include a light supper at 5. Make reservations at 394-9770 or bocabeachchabad.com/JBN

Communications course
Chabad of Delray Beach will offer a six-week class, “Communication: Its Art and Soul,” from 7:30 to 9:15 p.m. Wednesdays beginning Jan. 24, at 7495 W. Atlantic Ave.
The fee for the course is $79, which includes the textbook. Bring a friend and save $20. If you want to check it out first, you can join the first class for free with no obligation to continue. For more information, call 496-6228 or email info@Chabaddelray.com.

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

Students at Saint Joseph’s Episcopal School in Boynton Beach donned cultural outfits, created display boards and served food based on their Hispanic countries of choice Nov. 17 while learning about various cultures and dancing to live mariachi music. Faculty and staff donated 3,139 pounds of nonperishable items to the Food for Families drive in conjunction with WPTV-Ch. 5. ABOVE: Kyle Stokes, with William Tirado, both 12, show their Puerto Rico presentation. Photo provided

ABOVE: Ocean Ridge resident Rebekah Laflin plays at Town Hall with (l-r) Kimmy, Shane, Bobby and Adam Savage. BELOW: Rebekah Laflin plays flute and piano. She, the Savage brothers and Zach Hoffman make up the group Appassionato. Photos by Tim Stepien and Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

     Residents and friends arriving for the annual holiday celebration Dec. 1 found something missing from Ocean Ridge Town Hall.
     The tree was trimmed, the halls were decked and the feast was spread; but where was the traditional CD player that had jingled bells, let it snow and brought joy to the world as long as anyone could recall?
     This year, the crackling fire blazing on the screen behind the commissioners’ rostrum was fake, but the classical string quintet serenading the crowd was very real.
     Appassionato, as they call themselves, are an ensemble of young, talented musicians fast approaching the line between amateur and professional.
     As the partygoers greeted each other, nibbling on sandwiches and chicken wings, sugar cookies and carrot cake, Appassionato slipped from Silver Bells to Jingle Bells to Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.
     Kimberlee Marshall, president of the Ocean Ridge Garden Club, watched them, impressed.
     “To have a classical string quintet to launch us into the Christmas spirit,” she marveled. “Whoever thought of it was brilliant.”
     Actually, the piano and flute were locally grown.
     Rebekah Laflin, 15, was born and raised in Ocean Ridge and began studying piano at 10.
     “But I didn’t get really serious until a couple of years ago, when my grandparents offered to buy me any instrument,” she says. “And I picked flute.”
     Since then, she’s appeared with the Honor Band of America, the Florida All-State Concert Band, and was chosen to participate in the Eastman School of Music’s Artistic Flutist Camp. She studies at the King’s Academy Conservatory of Music, sitting first chair in the symphonic band’s flute section.
     Appassionato was born when Laflin met the Savage family at Grace Presbyterian Church in Stuart, which she attends. The three brothers and a sister were already seriously into serious music.
     They began playing casually in the hours between the morning and evening services at church, honing their talents over five or six years.
     Appassionato is:
     Shane Savage, 16, string bass.
     A member of the Treasure Coast Youth Symphony for the past six years, he’s performed with the Philadelphia Symphony at Carnegie Hall, and played with the Florida All-State Concert Band for five years, as well as Music for All’s National Honor Orchestra in Indianapolis.
     Adam Savage, 13, viola.
     He’s studied since he was 8, has led the viola section of the state concert band for the past two years and has won the Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools solo competition award for four consecutive years.
     “I chose the viola because I think it’s the warmest sound,” he says, “right in between the violin and cello.”
     But Jenni Savage, the brothers’ mother, has a different explanation: “We couldn’t fit two string basses in our trunk.”
     Bobby Savage, 22, violin.
     A member of the Treasure Coast Youth Symphony for five years, his first love is bluegrass music, and he leads a music ministry at the Stuart church.
     And then another friend joined the band.
     Zach Hoffman, 17, violin.
     “My sister, who’s three years older than me, began playing violin when she was 4,” he recalls, “so when she was 7 and I was 4, I saw that she was getting a lot of attention.”
     A student at Morningside Academy in Port St. Lucie, he’s been studying the violin ever since.
     “We call each other cousins,” Rebekah Laflin says, “but we’re not really.”
    As the group ­–Appassionato is the musical directive to play with passion – honed its talents at church, it began playing free gigs at weddings and funerals, cocktail parties, fundraisers, religious gatherings, even a quinceañera party.
     If you want a bit of Bach, they’ll give you the Air on a G String. They soar with Holst’s Planets, soothe with Pachelbel’s Canon. They can handle Handel, bluegrass and the Beatles, too.
     “Our first paying gig was at a Jewish wedding in Stuart last month,” Shane Savage says. “Zach’s sister knew the family, and they wanted baroque, so we played a lot of Bach and Handel.”
     Then he remembers that paying musicians have to sell themselves, and adds: “But we can do Going to the Chapel too, if people want that.”
     At the Ocean Ridge holiday party, sister Kimmy Savage, 8, filled in for Zach Hoffman, who was home cramming for a college entrance exam the next morning. Her relative youth was no impediment.
     Kimmy played cello and sailed through O Tannenbaum and O Little Town of Bethlehem so smoothly that the loyal CD player of holiday parties past was all but forgotten.
     “It’s a world apart from a CD player,” said Police Chief Hal Hutchins. “It makes the room.”
     Mayor Geoff Pugh agreed.
     “It’s wonderful,” he beamed. “It adds a really special touch to the whole gathering. It’s exactly what we needed.”

    The Appassionato Ensemble can be reached at SiempreAppassionato@gmail.com or 772-932-9341.

Students of St. John Paul II Academy in Boca Raton donated clothing and other essentials for more than 200 angels on Dec. 13. The donations included sneakers, socks and underwear, plus small toys for holiday gifts. ABOVE: (l-r) Anthony Pecoraro, Christina Wayt, Francesca Bastos, Ian Carr, David Curlee, Roman Desmond, Travis Tritsch, Fabrice Blanchet and (standing in truck) Peter Verna. Photo provided

Kids got a chance to have their pictures taken behind the jaws of a Great White Shark. Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

    Sandoway Discovery Center will be shark central on Jan. 27 when Sharkfest 2018, a day of fun, educational activities for all ages, takes place there.
    “We’ll have local shark groups, researchers and people from FAU’s shark lab on hand to talk about sharks,” said Evan Orellana, director of education and animal care at Sandoway. Lectures and presentations are part of the plan, as are kids’ activities like crafts and games out on the front lawn, where the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium and local conservation organizations will have exhibits.
    In the Sandoway House Nature Center, visitors can learn about Delray Beach’s history, explore Southeast Florida’s largest private shell collection, get an up-close view of some of Florida’s native and invasive reptile species and meet sharks, stingrays and other fish at the coral reef pool. Orellano says sharks are often misunderstood while charismatic marine animals like sea turtles get more attention. He welcomes the opportunity to talk about the amazing things sharks do and what we can do to protect them. It all starts with education.
    “We’re focused on shark conservation, and coastal conservation,” executive director Danica Sanborn said.
     Sandoway has been educating people about South Florida’s fragile marine and freshwater environments for almost 20 years, but this is just the second year for Sharkfest. About 300 people came to Sharkfest in 2017.
    “It’s a nice, family-friendly, community event,” Sanborn said.

If You Go
When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 27
Where: Sandoway Discovery Center, 142 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach
Admission: Lawn activities are free; admission to the center is $5.
Info: 274-7263; www.sandoway.org

By Steve Plunkett

    Gulf Stream will wait at least 18 months to repave six streets in its core area after the paving contractor realized there was almost twice as much work to do.
    In February, paving firm Anzco Inc. of Boca Raton estimated the needed repairs — on Banyan and Old School roads; Polo and Lakeview drives; and Wright and Oleander ways — would cost $170,550. But company representatives returned in October to remeasure the job site and discovered their error.
    “On the original proposal the total was approximately 7,400 square yards,” Town Manager Greg Dunham said. “The correct total square yardage of roadways, included in Anzco’s original proposal, is actually approximately 14,050 square yards.”
    As a result, the proposed price for the repaving “will increase significantly,” to $294,392, up about 74 percent, Dunham told town commissioners.
    Mayor Scott Morgan was not pleased. “It seems odd to me that Anzco would make such an egregious error in its calculations,” he said.
    Commissioners had tentatively approved a contract with Anzco for the road work last April.
    Dunham urged them at the Nov. 9 commission meeting to postpone the project, partly because there was not enough money set aside in Gulf Stream’s budget but more so because the town just hired engineers to develop a 10-year plan for capital improvements. The long-range plan may call for digging into roadways to work on water pipes, he said.
    Commissioners were quickly swayed by his arguments.
    “You don’t want to put in new roads and then cut them up,” Commissioner Joan Orthwein said.
    Vice Mayor Thomas Stanley said the commission probably will not review the capital improvement plan and reauthorize the paving before July 2019.
    “I think that would be kind of the general scope,” he said.
    In other business, commissioners heard a plea by resident Barbara Sloan in favor of smaller for-sale signs on homes.
    “I’m here to beg essentially that the ordinance regarding real estate signs be changed and to use the same signs that are in Palm Beach, Manalapan and Ocean Ridge,” said Sloan, who lives in the Bermuda House condominiums.
    “The signs are tiny little signs. I don’t think that the size of those small signs has hurt the real estate transactions or the prices in those towns. And I think that when you drive through Gulf Stream and see the signs that look like billboards frankly, that are in my estimation very bad.”

By Jane Smith
    
    The Boynton Beach police chief used a modern method to announce his new position.
    Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Chief Jeffrey Katz turned to social media to say he will retire from Boynton Beach at the end of December to lead the police department in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
    Katz, 45, tweeted: “Today, @ChesterfieldVa is announcing my appointment as the next @CCPDVa chief. Next month, I’ll retire from @BBPD & @cityofboynton after a fulfilling 20-year career. I’m grateful. Look forward to serving alongside the men & women of one of Virginia’s premier policing agencies.”
    The town of Briny Breezes contracts with Boynton Beach for law enforcement needs.
    Katz’s last work day will be Dec. 20, although his official retirement day is Dec. 29. He will leave Boynton Beach one month shy of 20 years.
    He was promoted to chief in July 2013 from his position as lieutenant in charge of the professional standards division. He joined the Boynton Beach Police Department in 1998 and rose through the ranks. Katz is a Florida native whose first law enforcement position was as a police cadet for Plantation.
    Katz will begin his Chesterfield County job on Jan. 2.
    Boynton Beach likely will promote one of its three assistant chiefs to police chief while a national search is done to find a new chief. The hiring process could take up to three months.
    Meanwhile, the City Commission is still working out the details of the Town Square project. That plan calls for the police headquarters to move out of downtown to High Ridge Road, just west of the interstate.

By Jane Smith

    The city will begin design work at its marina for a new sea wall, drainage system, docks and wheelchair-accessible sidewalks.
    In early November, the Delray Beach City Commission awarded a $99,494 design- and construction-administration contract to the Wantman Group of West Palm Beach.
    “It’s absolutely necessary,” said Commissioner Shelly Petrolia. Marine Way, between Southeast First and Second streets, floods during high tide events. Water from the Intracoastal Waterway flows over the sea wall and fills the road like a bowl, she said.
    The contract calls for Wantman to design a two-phase project to allow half of the marina tenants to stay during the construction. The marina has 24 slips.
    Wantman also will hold public meetings to solicit input from the tenants and other interested parties.
    Under the contract, the Wantman engineers will help city staff write the bid language and supervise the construction. The work is expected to begin in the next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, 2018.
    It’s the third contract awarded to Wantman for work along the Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Avenue.
    The city paid Wantman $80,000 to design the dock repairs and sea wall cap and supervise the construction at Veterans Park, north of Atlantic. That work should be finished in January.
    In October, Wantman was awarded a $284,373 contract for a one-block site analysis of Marine Way, from Atlantic to Southeast First Street. That stretch of Marine Way has a broken road bed that can’t support the weight of heavy trucks, private and unauthorized docks and a sea wall that is no longer usable. The project will require approvals from state and federal regulatory agencies.
    After the city finds out what’s allowed, Wantman will meet with property owners along that stretch of Marine Way and others interested, said Jeffrey Needle, the city’s stormwater engineer. The design work should be finished in the spring.
    Separately, in November, the city started a sea wall vulnerability analysis of the entire Intracoastal Waterway, estimated to be 21.4 miles. The city owns less than a mile of the sea walls.
    Aptim Environmental & Infrastructure of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was awarded the $198,473 contract in October to do the analysis. That work will be finished by June.
    The goal is to create a minimum sea wall height and a sea wall ordinance for property owners along the Intracoastal, Needle said.

By Jane Smith

    The beach master plan work is almost finished, according to Delray Beach staff. The project should be completed before Christmas, said Missie Barletto, deputy director of program and project management.
    The $3.1 million upgrade is taking place at the 1.25-mile municipal beach promenade.
    The enhancements are nearly 10 years in the making.
    The work, west of the dunes, will feature wider sidewalks and coordinated shower poles, benches, bike and surfboard racks, trash/recycling containers and signs. Smart parking meter kiosks are solar-powered.
    The new gazebos need some work, Mayor Cary Glickstein said at the Nov. 20 City Commission meeting. The decorative features, connecting the columns to the ceiling beams, are painted white but should be sanded and then stained to appear more natural, he told the city manager.
    The commission had agreed not to paint the wood because of high maintenance costs when the main pavilion and gazebos have to be repainted.
    The Downtown Development Authority’s Visitor Information Center will be reopened by late December, said Laura Simon, DDA executive director. The center will have triple the space of the old stand and sit across the street from the main beach pavilion at Atlantic Avenue.
    The renovated center will be designated the Official South Palm Beach County Visitor Center by Visit Florida.

By Dan Moffett

    BRINY BREEZES — John “Jack” Lee arrived in Briny Breezes back in 1958 as an 8-year-old from Central Illinois and instantly forged what would be an enduring relationship with the mobile home park on the ocean.
    Mr. Lee would visit Briny dozens of times over the three decades that followed, while he was establishing a successful career as a mental health professional in Illinois.
    He would leave Briny but Briny never left him — he told friends the town “gets in your blood” and stays there. In 1995, he bought his parents’ mobile home and became a permanent resident of the town, working as a case management supervisor for the 45th Street Mental Health Center in West Palm Beach.
    In 2001, Briny Breezes’ Town Council appointed him mayor and he served for six years. Last March, the council, faced with a difficult agenda of administrative change, appointed Mr. Lee to the position again.
    “I’m good at building relationships,” Mayor Lee told council members. He promised to help them tighten the budget and protect what he called “Briny values.”
    “He asked a lot of questions about how the town was being run,” says Alderman Jim McCormick. “He moved the ball.”
    Mr. Lee’s second term as mayor appeared to be just taking off when he surprised the council with the announcement he was resigning his seat in October, citing personal reasons. On Nov. 2, he died unexpectedly in the Boynton Beach office where he had continued work as a practicing psychotherapist. Mr. Lee was 68. Mr. Lee is survived by his wife, Ann, in Briny Breezes and several adult children and stepchildren living in the Midwest.
    During his first term in office, Mayor Lee helped the town navigate through the grandiose overtures of developers who talked of a $510 million deal to buy Briny Breezes and make its residents instant millionaires. He said it was unthinkable “to sell your hometown.” Mr. Lee was fond of telling friends that his greatest achievement as mayor was something more mundane than big real estate deals.
    “When we appointed him mayor,” says Council President Sue Thaler, “he told us the thing he was proudest of was getting rid of dog beach.”
    In 2004, thanks to Mayor Lee’s lobbying and the objections of Briny’s residents, the county scrapped a plan to allow dogs on a narrow strip of beach south of the town.
    “Jack was a lifelong resident of Briny,” Thaler said, “and his death is shocking to all of us.”
    Gulf Stream Town Clerk Rita Taylor was a Briny alderwoman during Mr. Lee’s first term as mayor.
    “When I served on council with Jack a number of years ago, I found him very dedicated to preserving the town and making sure it fulfilled its responsibilities as town to the residents,” Taylor said.
    Edith Behm, a member of one of the town’s charter families, knew Mr. Lee since the 1960s, when they spent their teen years in Briny. She expressed the thoughts of many longtime residents about Mr. Lee’s death: “The community of Briny Breezes will not be the same without him.”
    A memorial service was held Nov. 19 at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Boynton Beach.

By Rich Pollack

    HIGHLAND BEACH — As mayor of Highland Beach from 1989 to 1993, Joseph Boulay made it a point to have an open-door policy and to try his best to solve any problem residents brought to him.
    “You could go to him with anything,” his wife, Dottie, said. “He was a go-to kind of guy.”
    Following the conclusion of his second two-year term as mayor, Mr. Boulay and his wife moved to Florida’s west coast to be near family and were living in Palm Harbor when he died on Oct. 15. He was 89.
    A well-respected boat dealer in the Baltimore area, Mr. Boulay and his wife moved to Highland Beach in 1984 and quickly fell in love with the town.
    “He really cared about Highland Beach,” Dottie Boulay said.
    After a stint on the town’s planning board, Mr. Boulay decide to run for mayor, bringing with him a promise of a welcome change in the town’s governance.
    His willingness to listen and to be a part of the community helped him easily win a second term. The fact that he set up a card table on A1A and listened to residents walking by probably helped his campaign and his reputation as a mayor who would listen.
    “He was very interested in everybody and he never said a mean word to anyone,” said his wife of 66 years. “He really wanted everyone to be happy.”
    An active member and usher at St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach, Mr. Boulay was also an early proponent of building a reverse-osmosis water treatment plant so the town wouldn’t have to rely on neighboring communities for water service. The plant was built after he left office.
    If there was a down side to his public service, his wife said, it was that his work on behalf of residents kept him away from something he loved to do — fishing.
    “Once he got involved in the town, he couldn’t go fishing quite as often as he wanted to,” Dottie Boulay said.
    A graduate of Loyola University Maryland in his hometown of Baltimore, Mr. Boulay early in his career worked in the auto retail industry before joining his father-in-law in the boat business. He later took over the business and was the distributor of Chris-Craft marine engines and parts for five states. In the 1970s, he became known for his success as an early retailer of Boston Whalers.
    A member of the board of the National Soap Box Derby, Mr. Boulay was also active in many organizations while in Maryland. He was a past president of the Maryland Marine Dealers and Brokers Association and served on an advisory board of the Baltimore public schools.
    He was also a devoted family man, proud of the couple’s three sons: Dr. Joseph Boulay Jr., of St. Petersburg; Richard Boulay, who took over the family boat business when his father retired; and retired Navy Cmdr. William Boulay.  
    In addition to his wife and sons, Mr. Boulay is survived by eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
    A memorial service was held on Nov. 11 at the Alumni Memorial Chapel at Loyola University Maryland.

By Ron Hayes

    BRINY BREEZES —  Bev Williams was partial to bright red colors, sweet desserts and simple acts of kindness.
She was made for Christmas, and for 15 years residents of Briny Breezes seldom thought of one without the other.
    “I started out just baking cookies for neighbors who were sick or alone,” she explained. “Maybe 15 people.”
    That was in 1998.
    By 2015, she was a holiday tradition. Beginning in September, she baked two batches of 30 cookies every day until the auditorium’s freezer held about 3,000.
    Then, in the days before the holiday, she donned a bright red suit to become Mrs. Santa Claus, parading through the town in a golf cart, doling out cookies and hugs to one and all.
    Mrs. Williams died Oct. 29 after a brief battle with ovarian cancer. She was 84, and had lived in Briny since 1998.
    “Christmas was the big thing for her,” recalled her daughter, Laura Proffitt. “Even as kids we made all kinds of fudge and cookies and gave them to everyone in the world, so this was just an extension of her personality, and her way of making people happy.”
    She didn’t do it alone.
    A week or so before the parade, a gaggle of volunteer “elves” gathered in the auditorium to thaw and pack the cookies in individual bags, then accompanied Mrs. Williams on her Christmas rounds.
    Nancy Bayless was the “advance elf,” knocking on doors to announce that Mrs. Santa Claus was nigh. Like many, she came to the cookie project by way of Mrs. Williams’ weekly Friday luncheons.
    “We’d bring a dish and she’d always fix dessert, and she made a special punch that maybe had a little alcohol in it,” Bayless recalled. “It was just a time to get together, or maybe thank her church choir or other people for things they’d done.”
    Beverly Williams was born Dec. 18, 1932, and came to Briny Breezes from Laytonsville, Maryland, where she had worked as a teacher’s aide for 28 years.
    In addition to holding her Christmas cookie parade, she was a former president of the town’s swimming club, a vice president of the hobby club and provided refreshments for the travel club. She and her husband, Lewis, were proud of having visited all of the 48 contiguous states.
    In 2015, she announced that her husband’s failing health would prevent her from continuing the cookie parade, but last year she continued to bake and deliver small samples to her doctor’s and dentist’s offices, her church and close friends.
    In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by a son, Michael Williams, of Green Bay, Wis.; four grandchildren, Olivia and Nikki Proffitt and Jason and Matthew Williams; four great-grandchildren; and Cindy Pearce, a dear friend during her illness.
    When Laura Proffitt went to the Panoch Funeral Home in Boca Raton to make the funeral arrangements, she spotted a large red cremation urn.
    “My mother loved the color red,” she told the funeral director. “I don’t care how much it costs.”
    Bev Williams’ ashes were returned to Maryland in the red urn.

By Dan Moffett

    MANALAPAN — Louis DeStefano served two terms as an elected official on the Manalapan Town Commission, but perhaps his greatest public service was as the community’s unofficial spiritual counselor.
    When illness struck friends and town employees, they could expect Mr. DeStefano to come around with an herbal milkshake or vitamin supplement to hasten their recovery. When the town’s yoga and tai chi classes couldn’t make ends meet, Mr. DeStefano was there to write a check to keep them afloat.
     In 2013, Mr. DeStefano opened Tranquility Park on a site adjacent to the town’s library as a tribute to his mother, Phyllis, a longtime Manalapan resident. The park has a gazebo, a walking path, a dog fountain and, on most days, a striking view of the sunset.
    “The gazebo isn’t like most gazebos,” says Town Clerk Lisa Petersen, who helped Mr. DeStefano design the project. “It isn’t raised, and that had a purpose. Louis decided to do it flat on the ground so Phyllis could roll onto it easily with her wheelchair.”
    Petersen says that was typical of Mr. DeStefano’s concern for others. “There was no one else like him.”
    Mr. DeStefano was 75 when he died on Nov. 2, four years after the death of his beloved mother at 97.
    The grandson of Italian immigrants, Mr. DeStefano grew up in Brooklyn and built a successful career in business as president and owner of Cartolith, a specialty paper and film company. In recent years, Mr. DeStefano was the CEO of Theramedix, a pharmaceutical enzyme company in Boynton Beach.
    “He was extremely generous,” says Marcelle Miller, who now resides in Flagler Beach and knew Mr. DeStefano for 30 years. “When he sold his business, he gave the employees some of the profits. He lent people money knowing he’d never get it back. Much of what he did stayed anonymous.”
   When former Mayor Peter Blum, who served on the Town Commission for nearly three decades, was ready to leave in 2010, he turned to Mr. DeStefano to take his place.
    “I said, ‘Louis, please. Do this. The town needs you,’” Blum recalls. “He agreed and he followed in my footsteps and did a great job, like I knew he would.  Louis loved the town. He was a good guy,  and the town will miss him.”
    A 25-year resident of Manalapan, Mr. DeStefano was appointed the town’s vice mayor by the commission in 2011. He resigned his seat three years later, saying he wanted to devote more time to business and yoga. “I’ve always tried to be fair with everyone,” he said when asked about his service. “I tried to listen.”
    Petersen says that, in recent months, Mr. DeStefano was easy to find around sunset, sitting quietly on a bench in Tranquility Park. “He’d say he was talking to mom there,”  Petersen says.
    The family of Louis DeStefano requests that, instead of flowers, donations go to Tranquility Park. Contributions will be used for the park’s maintenance. Please make checks to the Town of Manalapan/Tranquility Park, 600 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan, FL 33462.

By Willie Howard

    COUNTY POCKET — Robert “Smitty” Smith, an accomplished craftsman and a member of a pioneering wave of surfers who helped popularize the sport in Palm Beach County during the 1960s, died Oct. 31 of heart failure at his apartment in the County Pocket.
    He was 71.
    Also known as Bob, Mr. Smith was best known for his long affiliation with Nomad Surf Shop, a focal point for area surfers founded in 1968 by Ron Heavyside, who befriended Mr. Smith the day he arrived in Briny Breezes on Oct. 31, 1962.
    Mr. Smith helped Heavyside remodel the buildings that became the surf shop and helped maintain them over the years. He was a well-known handyman in Briny Breezes and Gulf Stream, accomplished in carpentry, plumbing and electrical work as well as painting and wallpapering, trades learned from his father.
    Heavyside said Mr. Smith was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved to Briny Breezes with his father, Ben, and stepmother, Mary.
    After attending Seacrest High School in Delray Beach, Mr. Smith took the entrance exam for the Air Force and scored so high that he went out and bought a new Chevy Corvair Monza convertible, longtime friend Dana Littlefield said.
    But the Air Force rejected Mr. Smith because of poor hearing in his left ear.
    “He would have gone places because he was really smart,” Littlefield said.
    Mr. Smith was not able to return to high school after his attempt to join the military, Heavyside said. He went to work with his father in the painting and wallpapering business and later spent time in California and Tennessee before returning to the Briny Breezes area.
    Littlefield and Heavyside recalled carefree times they enjoyed with Mr. Smith in the 1960s and ’70s, including camping on the beach and boisterous beach parties.
    During one night of beach camping, a front came through and pushed waves up the dune, pulling Mr. Smith into the surf in his sleeping bag. He was such a heavy sleeper that he didn’t wake up, but was mad as a hornet when he finally did, Littlefield recalled.
    Heavyside’s sons, Ronnie and Ryan, remember Mr. Smith as an avuncular figure who was quick with a joke and sometimes grumpy but always willing to share his knowledge of how to build and repair things.
    Gemma Dinanath of Gulfstream Texaco said Mr. Smith installed the lighted sign bearing the Texaco star at the gas station just north of Briny Breezes Town Hall.
    “He was a very smart guy,” Dinanath said, but noted that he shied away from doctors and hospitals that could have helped him with health problems in his later years.
    Mr. Smith enjoyed lounging in the chairs in front of the Texaco station office, talking with friends, drinking Budweiser and smoking Marlboro 100s, Dinanath said.
    Ronnie Heavyside said Mr. Smith helped him mend a wooden fence damaged by Hurricane Irma a few days before he died, even though he was very weak.
    “Anything you needed help with you could ask Bob and he would know,” said James Russell, a longtime friend of the Heavyside family.
    James Arena, a real estate broker who grew up surfing the waters off Briny Breezes, said Mr. Smith was like a father to many of the area’s young surfers.
    “He treated us all like we were his kids,” Arena said. “Everybody knows him in Briny. It’s definitely the loss of an icon around here.”
    As a surfer in his younger days, Mr. Smith garnered respect on the waves. He continued to paddle out now and then in recent years, even as his frame withered from the effects of diabetes.
    “He was one of the bulls who would go out when it was really rough,” said Tom Warnke, a longtime surfer who attended Seacrest High School with Mr. Smith in the 1960s. “He hardly ever wore a wetsuit, either.”
    In his heyday, Mr. Smith was a muscular man about 6 feet tall, 180 pounds, with brown hair, a beard and a penchant for big waves.
    “He was a big guy, strong and just totally cool,” Littlefield said.
    A tattered newspaper photo hanging on the wall at Nomad Surf Shop shows Mr. Smith and friends in his 1937 Plymouth, windshield folded down, surfboards jutting out over the hood.
    “He was a waterman,” Ron Heavyside said. “He liked riding the big waves.”
    Members of the Heavyside family organized a group “paddle out” into the ocean in honor of Mr. Smith in late November. His ashes were scattered in the waves.

Workers have been removing the windows and doors from the old high school as they prepare to renovate the historic building.  Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith
    
    Boynton Beach wants to zip into the 21st century by creating a bustling downtown with high-rise apartment buildings, shops, a high-tech library and a large LED screen outdoors to serve as a focal point for community gatherings.
    The largest project planned, the 16.5-acre Town Square, will cost an estimated $250 million, Assistant City Manager Colin Groff said at a public meeting in early November. Town Square, whose construction is tentatively set to start next spring, sits between Boynton Beach Boulevard on the north and Southeast Second Avenue on the south.
    “We want to give people a place to come together, Boynton Beach’s family room,” said Groff, who is in charge of the Town Square project.  
    The city picked E2L Real Estate Solutions as its partner earlier this year for Town Square. E2L consists of more than 10 real estate-related companies. The partnership will build a combined city hall/library and renovate the historic high school to house the city recreation and arts classes on the ground floor and events on the second floor.
    The Schoolhouse Children’s Museum and high school will stay at their current locations on Ocean Avenue.
    E2L partners also will build a new fire station just outside the project on the northeast corner of Northeast First Street and Northeast First Avenue. It will have space for a third bay, which can be used for another rescue vehicle as the city’s service population grows.
    In early November, city commissioners gave a tentative OK to the plan. The police headquarters will be built on city-owned land on High Ridge Road, next to the fire-rescue headquarters. On Dec. 5, commissioners will review a guaranteed price for Town Square and decide whether to proceed.
    The city’s share is now estimated at $133.8 million, up about $38.8 million since June. The extra costs can be explained, Groff said. The combined city hall/library is now planned for four stories. Instead of $14 million for a new city hall and renovated library, the combined structure will cost $26.98 million.
    The change was made because the City Commission wanted to have more work-force housing in the project, he said.
    The developers will build apartments at rental rates that start at $850 for a studio and rise to $1,200 for a two-bedroom, two-bath unit, Groff said.
    Although at least one city commissioner wants units residents can purchase, “right now, the market wants to fund apartments,” he said. “If that changes, then the units could be converted into condos.”
    The additional units translate into three more stories on the south parking garage to park the 450 extra vehicles. That change raised the garage cost by more than 71 percent to $14.2 million, according to city data.
    Boynton Beach also added a district energy plant to supply power to all of the buildings in Town Square. That raised the project cost by at least $10.4 million, Groff said.
    The city owns all of the land in Town Square. Boynton Beach plans to sell or lease the land it doesn’t need to its private partners to build a five-story hotel, apartment buildings and restaurants or shops in the project.
    Former City Commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick suggested that the city do a long-term lease.  “Half or more of the land will go into private hands,” he said at the Nov. 1 meeting. He wants the city to do a 99-year land lease, similar to the one Boca Raton did when it created Mizner Park.
    Work on the old high school started in August with $2.1 million from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. The city will contribute another $2 million to the total renovation cost of $10.5 million.

By Jane Smith

    Boynton Beach administrators want to combine the library with a new city hall in the ambitious Town Square development.
    To do so, they are determining whether the Boynton Woman’s Club, recently purchased by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, will work as a temporary location for the library from around April to the project’s scheduled completion in late 2019, said Colin Groff, assistant city manager.
    “It will be smaller,” Groff said in late November. “The library will have to come up with a creative storage system that works for patrons.”
    The temporary library will have a Wi-Fi system to allow patrons to connect to the internet and check their emails, Groff said.
    The Woman’s Club, now formally called The Historic Woman’s Club of Boynton Beach, at 1010 S. Federal Highway, sits about a mile away from the current library at 208 S. Seacrest Blvd. The structure housed the first city library.
    Because the Woman’s Club is a historic building, the CRA purchased it on an as-is basis. The building has an elevator to provide access to the second floor. “However, as a historic structure, there are limitations to full compliance (with wheelchair-accessibility requirements) and there are provisions in the Florida Building Code which acknowledges these conditions,” said Thuy Shutt, CRA assistant director.
    To prepare and move, the library will have to close for two to four weeks, said Craig Clark, library director. The timeline calls for the library to be in its temporary place by April 1. Demolition of the library will start May 1, according to the schedule.
    Earlier this year, the Town Square plans called for the library to be renovated and connected to the new city hall. That changed, Groff said, when commissioners requested more workforce housing units in Town Square, a 16.5-acre area that will become the downtown for Boynton Beach.
    “To open up space for the residential units, the library was combined with the city hall,” he said. The units will be rentals because that’s what lenders are willing to underwrite now, Groff said.
    Between 1,200 and 1,600 patrons use the library daily, Clark said, and people flocked there after Hurricane Irma when power was out throughout the city but the library had electricity and air-conditioning.
    Clark listed the most popular sections as newer books, fiction collection and medical and travel books in the nonfiction collection.
    Clark said the library has evolved to become the community’s living room.
    “The library was among the first organizations that handled email. It’s where you go to learn about new technology,” he said. “It’s relevant today and will still be relevant in 20 years.”
    The library is becoming known worldwide for its Boynton history archives, Clark said.
    “I recently spoke with a man from Melbourne, Australia,” he said. “The man is writing about a boat that sank in the Boynton Inlet in 1993. He traced the boat’s history back to 1915.”
    In the combined building, the library will have about 13,000 square feet less space.
    But that doesn’t bother Clark.
    “There’s a lot of wasted space in the library and city hall,” he said. “The commission chambers are used about eight times a month for City Commission, CRA and other board meetings. In the new building, the chambers will double as a children’s story-telling space.”
    Construction of the 105,000-square-foot city hall/library building is set to start  on June 1 and end by Sept. 1, 2019.