By Steve Plunkett

    Now it’s 20 months and counting.
    Boca Raton City Council members canceled a Jan. 30 joint meeting with Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District commissioners. It would have been the first time the boards got together since June 9, 2015.
    Arthur Koski, the district’s executive director, announced the cancellation Jan. 9 as he discussed the long-sought addition of athletic fields at city-owned De Hoernle Park. The district built and opened four fields there in 2012 and has been seeking the city’s consent ever since to build four more.
    “It may be a subject for discussion at a joint meeting, and while I’m on the subject, the joint meeting of the 30th of the month has been canceled, and the city will get back to us with new dates,” Koski told his surprised commissioners.
    Beach and park officials want to talk with council members about how to fix tax disparities that future annexations will cause and how to define a nonresident when setting park user fees.
    “The city canceled the meeting, not us,” district Chairman Robert Rollins said. “That’s the meeting I asked back in [September] to put on their calendar, and so I’m terribly disappointed.”
    Briann Harms, the district’s assistant director, called the city clerk’s office earlier that day to ask why the joint session was not on the council’s schedule and learned of the cancellation.
    Late Jan. 30, City Council member Robert Weinroth posted pictures on Facebook of himself, Mayor Susan Haynie and council members Jeremy Rodgers and Scott Singer at an event at the Boca Raton Airport.
    “What a great night to showcase our amazing City to hundreds of CEO’s,” the mayor commented on one photo.
    City officials have not come up with a substitute date, a city spokeswoman said.
    Beach and park commissioners have been trying to schedule a joint meeting since August 2015.
    After several failed attempts, then-Commissioner Dennis Frisch went to the council’s July 26 meeting to ask Haynie and the four council members to use a smartphone app called Meeting Wizard instead of sending letters back and forth from district headquarters to the city manager’s office. “It’s gone on too long,” he said.
    “I’m with you,” Haynie replied. “Let’s just get this moving forward.”
    That effort went nowhere when three city officials did not follow through. Commissioners and council members also tried a scheduling website called doodle.com.
    In August then-Commis-sioner Earl Starkoff proposed having the Jan. 30 session as well as get-togethers on May 15 and Oct. 2.
Council members did not commit to the later dates but said at their Sept. 27 meeting that Jan. 30 was a go.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    The city’s dredge contractor is back to work on a beach renourishment project between the Boca Raton Inlet and Red Reef Park.
    Weeks Marine Inc. left Boca Raton in April after weather delays let it finish only about 20 percent of the job. The New Jersey-based company was at the Port of Palm Beach on Jan. 31 creating a submerged pipeline for the project.
    “We were hoping they would be here a lot sooner. But due to the passing of Hurricane Matthew, they were up in Hilton Head building that project. That sand pretty much got all erased,” Jennifer Bistyga, the city’s coastal program manager, told Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District commissioners before the dredge returned.
    The contractor still has about 400,000 cubic yards of sand to pump, Bistyga said. The city hired Weeks Marine to move approximately 530,000 cubic yards in from borrow areas offshore onto what it calls its central beach. The sand will make about 1.45 miles of beach 170 feet wider.
    “If the weather will actually cooperate, it will be about 45 days of pumping,” Bistyga said.
    “This operation will be a 24/7 operation until the project is complete,” she added.
    The dredge will start at the Boca Beach Club, just north of the inlet, and will work its way north, opposite the direction it worked in 2016.
    “The last time we started, we started at the northern end of the project area” and worked south, Bistyga said.
    The work was originally scheduled to begin in February 2016 but did not get underway until the end of March. The dredge left April 25; its permit was set to expire April 30 to protect nesting sea turtles.
    The renourishment will cost $11.3 million, with the state and county paying about $4 million. The city and the Beach & Park District agreed to split the remainder, with each paying $3.7 million.
    City officials call it routine maintenance; the central beach was last renourished in 2006.
    In other news for the Beach & Park District, Bistyga said the city will hire engineers this year to design a new pump station for the saltwater tanks at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. The existing pump and pipes did not produce enough water flow and were leaking bubbles into the tanks. PVC pipes and a valve box at Red Reef Park were replaced with a new system in March, she said.
    “This has created some temporary relief, about a gallon-per-minute flow, as well as decreasing the bubbles that have been coming into the system,” Bistyga said.
    The new pump station will be constructed east of A1A to reduce the length of the suction pipes in an effort to improve the system, which Bistyga said would be good for 20 years.
    Engineering costs are budgeted at $300,000 in this budget year; construction is projected to cost $2.5 million in fiscal 2018.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Two months after he bought his $1.6 million waterfront home on a canal west of the Intracoastal Waterway, Jason Pepitone got a letter from Boca Raton code enforcement.
    An outdoor kitchen in the corner of his back yard was built without permits, the April 18 letter said. And the chickee hut over it was encroaching on required setbacks.
    The letter gave Pepitone 20 days to pull a building permit for the kitchen and 30 days to fix the chickee violation. The only way to do that, the letter said, was to remove the hut and place it 5 feet from any property line and 10 feet from the main building.
    That presented a problem: The back yard, at 785 NE 33rd St., is not quite 15 feet deep, so no place in it is both 5 feet from the back lot line and 10 feet from the house.
    Applying for a building permit uncovered more problems. The barbecue/summer kitchen is only 1.7 feet from the west lot line and 0.35 feet from the back line. The code requires 5 feet. And a marble paver deck around the pool extends to the east and west lot lines, instead of leaving 7 feet of green space on both sides.
    Now Pepitone is entangled in a legal battle, one his lawyer says Pepitone isn’t responsible for starting. Pepitone is seeking variances from the city’s Planning and Zoning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment, arguing that he was not the one who installed the noncompliant structures.
    “The Petitioner acquired his property on Feb. 13, 2016, and the BBQ, marble pavers and tiki hut had been in place for approximately eight years prior to the petitioner’s acquisition of the property,” Pepitone’s lawyer, Arthur Koski, wrote in the application. “The structures do not impact any adjoining neighbor as evidenced by the silence of said neighbors over the past years.”
    Koski, who is legal counsel and executive director of the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District, also represented barrier island residents in a lawsuit against the city over its approval of a site plan for a synagogue and museum on Palmetto Park Road. A separate lawsuit overturned that approval.
    City officials recommend denying Pepitone the variances.
    “The City Code does not provide for establishing zoning setback requirements based on adjacent property owners’ satisfaction,” Jim Bell, the city’s acting deputy director of development services, said in a report to the boards.
    “Although the applicant may not have installed the uncovered pool deck/terrace [marble pavers], outdoor kitchen/barbecue grill structure, and chickee hut in the required setbacks himself, the applicant is responsible for ensuring his property is compliant with city code requirements,” Bell wrote.
    Bell said the pool and a smaller deck were permitted and installed at the property, which is about a half-mile south of Spanish River Boulevard, in 1997. Aerial photos show the marble pavers covering the backyard were put in after 2007. The kitchen was added after 2011, the chickee hut after January 2015.
    Bell also said the pavers might be dumping water onto the neighbors’ properties.
    “There appears to be no swale area or drainage structure in place to address drainage,” he wrote. “As such, the sides of the marble-pavered pool deck may be draining into the properties on the east and west sides of the subject property.”
    The request for variances was postponed from the Oct. 20 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Board. It has not been rescheduled.

By Steve Plunkett

    The races are on.
    All three races are contested in Boca Raton’s municipal election and candidates are building sizable war chests to fund their campaigns.
    Voters will choose their mayor and two City Council members when they go to the polls March 14. Susan Haynie, running for her final term as mayor, will face Al Zucaro, an attorney, former publisher of the Boca Watch blog and once a city commissioner and unsuccessful mayoral candidate in West Palm Beach.
    Council member Scott Singer will square off against real estate agent Patty Dervishi, who is also a former treasurer of the Golden Triangle Homeowners Association.
    The contest to succeed council member Michael Mullaugh, who is term-limited out, features Emily Gentile, an officer of the Beach Condominium Association and, until becoming a candidate, the vice chairwoman of the city’s Downtown Advisory Committee; Andrea O’Rourke, a graphic designer and president of the Golden Triangle HOA; and attorney Andy Thomson, who is also on the board of the Golden Bell Education Foundation.
    As of Dec. 31 Haynie had collected $41,456 in campaign contributions. Her supporters include her predecessor, former Mayor Susan Whelchel ($1,000); Marta Batmasian of the Batmasian real estate family ($1,000); land-use attorney Charles Siemon ($200); the city firefighters political action committee ($1,000); and developer Robert Comparato, who wants to buy the city’s golf course ($1,000).
    Singer had been given $65,279 by the end of the year. His contributors include philanthropist Harold Beznos ($1,000); Boca Car Wash owner Andre Weliky ($1,000); and the city firefighters PAC ($1,000).
    Gentile’s contributions totaled $50,480 and included a $25,000 loan to her campaign. Checks came from land-use law firm Dunay Miskel Backman ($1,000); Highland Beach mayoral candidate Carl Feldman ($200); Highland Beach Vice Mayor William Weitz ($100); marketing consultant Larry Light ($1,000); and Jack Fox, president of the Beach Condominium Association ($1,000).
    O’Rourke had gathered $69,504 by year’s end, including $25,000 in self loans. Donations came from former City Council member Peter Baronoff ($250); former City Council member Anthony Majhess ($500); interior designer Nancy Simons ($500); National Humane Society fundraiser Randy Kassal ($400); and real estate agent Katherine Williams ($1,000).
    Thomson had raised $42,956 by Dec. 31, including money from mediator Jeffrey Grubman ($500); Fort Lauderdale-based developer Green Mills Group ($500); attorney David Silver ($500); and Kevin Wrenne ($500) and the Banyan Place assisted living facility he operates ($500).
    Zucaro and Dervishi started their campaigns in January and did not receive contributions in 2016.
    Residents who are at least 18 years old have until Feb. 13 to register to vote for the March election.
    Qualifying to run for city office ended Jan. 11. Boca Raton moved its qualifying period up a month in 2011 to give candidates more time to campaign and to give the city more time to coordinate with the county elections office. Before, office-seekers had to file their paperwork and pay fees in the first seven business days of February; now they do it in the first seven business days in January.
    Other municipalities along the barrier island scheduled their qualifying periods using the county supervisor of elections timetable, starting Jan. 31 and ending Feb. 14.

By Rich Pollack

    Efforts by at least one Highland Beach resident and town leaders to improve pedestrian safety at crosswalks on State Road A1A appear to be paying off.
    Last month, consultants hired by the Florida Department of Transportation conducted a road-safety audit along the main thoroughfare in town to determine if there is a need for additional steps to ensure pedestrian and bicyclist safety.  
    The consultants paid specific attention to crosswalks throughout the town where residents have argued for enhanced signage.
    Resident John Boden, who has been pushing for enhanced crosswalk safety measures after nearly running into a barely visible family while they were crossing A1A at night, said he is pleased with the progress of the study.
    “I don’t think we can be in any better shape than we are,” he said.
    Last month, Boden and Highland Beach Public Works Director Ed Soper accompanied representatives from the Tampa-based consulting firm of Tindale Oliver as they conducted portions of the road-safety audit.
    Boden said he and the consulting firm’s representatives were at several of the town’s nine crosswalks at varying times of the day, including morning, afternoon and night.
    Once the consultants have completed their report, they will submit their recommendation to the FDOT, which will make a decision on what improvements, if any, are to made, said Thomas Miller, FDOT’s area Bike/Pedestrian Safety Program specialist for the region that includes Palm Beach County.
    Depending on what they see as the need at a certain crosswalk, improvements could range from enlarging existing signage to adding lighting that would alert motorists when a pedestrian is in the crosswalk.
    For his part, Boden has been strongly advocating solar-powered rectangular signs with amber lights that would activate when pedestrians enter the crosswalk. He said a national study where the lights were in use showed an 80 percent compliance rate of motorists stopping when pedestrians were in crosswalks.
    The FDOT’s Miller said Boden has been a driving force, along with town officials, in helping to get the safety audit done.
    “The audit is being conducted based on safety concerns expressed by residents,” Miller said.
    Boden first contacted the FDOT in May and also attended a department-hosted public hearing in November in which he spoke on the issue.  
    The department chose to wait until part-time residents returned to Highland Beach before doing the audit in order to get more accurate results, according to Miller.  
    He said that depending on the results of the audit, residents could see enhancements within two or three months.

Neighbors’ resistance grows as Tri-Rail faces funding deadline

By Mary Hladky

    Four years after Crocker Partners began conceiving a massive development project east of the Town Center at Boca Raton mall, the developer is now moving ahead to transform the concept into reality.
    Crocker envisions Midtown as a “live, work, play” project that includes 2,500 rental units on nearly 300 acres where no residential now exists. Residents would walk out of their apartments and down the street to their jobs at one of the many office buildings or retail centers in the area. After work, they could head over to nearby restaurants or watering holes.
    Many, theoretically, might not even need cars. People could travel to and from the area on Tri-Rail, provided the commuter rail builds a new station at Northwest 19th Street. Shuttles would transport them to their places of employment or to shopping and dining.
    Such “transit-oriented development” is a fast-growing trend across the country as cities hope to revitalize urban and suburban centers while also reducing traffic gridlock and energy use. Midtown would be the first such development in Boca Raton.
    “Let’s make this into a vibrant neighborhood. Let’s bring in residential, the missing link,” Crocker Partners managing partner Angelo Bianco said at a Dec. 22 Planning and Zoning Board meeting. “… We need to do this.”
    Midtown would lie south of Glades Road between the CSX railroad tracks and Butts Road, with the Town Center mall immediately to the west. Crocker owns three office buildings and the Boca Center retail-office center within the area or on its periphery.
    No artist renderings show what Midtown would look like. In fact, no plans have yet been drawn and nothing has been submitted to the city.
    Rather, Crocker, a longtime developer whose projects include iconic Mizner Park, is starting from scratch. The project first needs a new city ordinance to allow “planned mobility development” in two existing zoning districts. The ordinance also would create a transit-oriented development sub-area that would allow higher densities and less space set aside for parking.
    The city cleared the way for this to happen when it added a planned mobility development designation to its comprehensive plan in 2010 and has since implemented that designation in an area in the city’s northwest section.
    Crocker presented its proposed ordinance, and two other related ordinances, at the December board meeting.
    Board members generally liked the concept, but were overwhelmed by the scope of the project and Crocker’s need to get their approval quickly.
    “It’s like trying to drink from a fire hose,” said board member Kerry Koen.
    Many of their questions centered on how much Midtown would increase traffic in the area and whether Crocker had included an adequate amount of parking for the rental units.
    They asked Crocker to return Jan. 19 with more information, but at that meeting, the developer asked for a delay until Feb. 9 so officials could try to overcome strong objections that cropped up from neighboring homeowner associations after they voiced enthusiastic support for the project on Dec. 22.
    “We are totally against it,” said one Paradise Palms homeowner at the Jan. 19 meeting. “The size and nature of this project at our back door is unacceptable to us.”
    Newly unhappy neighbors are just one of the hurdles facing Crocker.
    Chief among them is getting Tri-Rail to build a proposed new “kiss and ride” station — one with no parking lot — that Crocker says is essential to the success of Midtown. Without it, Midtown as now envisioned will not happen.
    Tri-Rail supports the idea, and urged the city in April to approve the transit-oriented development designation to ensure there is enough demand for the station.
    But pressure mounted to turn the talk into action when Tri-Rail said the proposed ordinances must be approved by March 17 in order for it to commit additional funding for the station. Tri-Rail and the Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organization have allocated $1.5 million for planning and design this year and an additional $17 million in 2018 for the next phase of the project, said MPO Executive Director Nick Uhren.
    Tri-Rail also needs Crocker to agree to convey land the developer owns for the station. As of late January, that had not happened.
    To meet the deadline, the city will have to move fast.
    The P&Z board would need to make a recommendation to the council, two hearings would need to be held, and the council would then make a final decision. But the delay in the P&Z board meeting date, and resulting delay in two public hearings, may make it impossible to meet Tri-Rail’s schedule.
    Michael Marshall, a shareholder with the GrayRobinson law firm that represents Crocker, said after the Jan. 19 meeting that he remains hopeful about getting city approvals in time.
    “Funding for the station has to be in place,” he said. “Without the station, this entire concept doesn’t work.”
    The proposed ordinances have yet to spell out who besides Crocker can build the residential units. Representatives of other major landowners in the area, including the Simon Property Group that owns most of the mall, told P&Z members in December they want to build some of the residential units.
    Details about shuttles also need to be nailed down. Crocker runs a shuttle to the Yamato Road Tri-Rail station, but it is now expected that other major landowners would also commit funding for a shuttle system.
    If the ordinances are approved, it would still be some time before Crocker submits plans to the city.
    About 8,300 people commute to the Midtown area to work each day, according to Crocker. The developer believes there will be plenty of demand from people who would love the option of living near where they work and plans to set rental prices affordable to many of the workers.
    The ordinances would permit multifamily dwellings, retail, offices, restaurants, hotels and recreation and cultural facilities. The amount of commercial development in the area would not increase, but existing commercial would be redeveloped.
    Residential density allowed in the proposed transit oriented development is a maximum of 20 units per acre, but Crocker says it will build half that amount. Building heights will not exceed 85 feet because of limits imposed by its proximity to the Boca Raton Airport.
    Parking would be limited to 1.5 spaces per rental unit, a number that assumes not all renters will have cars and will walk or use shuttles to get to work or go shopping.
    A traffic study commissioned by Crocker concluded that the 2,500 apartments would not increase traffic volume on nearby streets, provided the Tri-Rail station is built and shuttles are operating.
    P&Z board members liked the concept of a transit-oriented development.
    “I feel this area is ready for the concept of the zoning,” said Board Chair William Fairman.
    But board members were not convinced that the new residential would not overload streets, that residents will actually use the shuttles as much as predicted or that enough parking will be provided.
    P&Z Secretary Rick Coffin expressed the strongest doubts.
    “I just don’t see putting 2,500 units in that area. I don’t believe the retail employees can afford the rental or condo rates,” he said. “I absolutely cannot live with 1.5 parking spaces. We are not New York City. … People are going to have their cars."

Attorney Marc Shiner, former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella and his girlfriend, Barbara Ceuleers,

make their way to Circuit Judge Charles Burton’s courtroom.

Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Related stories: Commission sets meeting to hear appeal from fired lieutenant | Town will wait until election to replace Lucibella

By Steve Plunkett

    A jury will decide whether former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella is guilty of felony battery on an Ocean Ridge police officer and resisting the officer with violence.
    Circuit Judge Charles Burton scheduled the trial to begin at 9:30 a.m. April 10. Lucibella also faces a misdemeanor count of using a firearm while under the influence of alcohol. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
    “You’ll see this case develop into a lot more,” Lucibella’s attorney, Marc Shiner, said after a Jan. 10 hearing. “There’s a lot of interesting small-town politics in this.”
    Town police arrived at Lucibella’s oceanfront home Oct. 22 after neighbors complained of hearing gunshots. Officers said they found the vice mayor and one of their supervisors, Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, “obviously intoxicated” on the patio. Officers say they confiscated a .40-caliber Glock handgun and found five spent shell casings on the patio. Police also took a semiautomatic pistol they said Lucibella had in his back pocket.
    According to police reports, when officers Richard Ermeri and Nubia Plesnik tried to block Lucibella, 63, from entering his house, he resisted. The officers wrestled him to the paver-covered ground and handcuffed him. Lucibella needed treatment for facial injuries, and Ermeri and Plesnik also required medical attention, according to the reports.
    Through Shiner, Lucibella has claimed that he is the victim of police overreaction. He maintains officers should not have entered his back yard in the first place, and then that they used excessive force, cracking three of his ribs. Lucibella said outside the courtroom that he has not fully recovered.
    “They’re healing,” he said of the ribs.
    Lucibella resigned his position as vice mayor and town commissioner Dec. 7, the same day the State Attorney’s Office filed formal charges against him.
    Wohlfiel was put on administrative duty after the incident and fired Jan. 4 after an internal affairs report concluded the Glock was his personal weapon, not Lucibella’s, and that two witnesses said Wohlfiel admitted he was the one who shot it. He is appealing his dismissal to the Town Commission.
    Shiner said the internal affairs report undercuts the charge that Lucibella fired the weapon and shows that Ermeri and Plesnik recognized the Glock as belonging to Wohlfiel. “They knew right away,” Shiner said.
    “For some reason,” he said, Town Manager Jamie Titcomb was called to the police station. Titcomb and Lucibella had publicly skirmished over the town budget just one month before, Shiner said.
    And Wohlfiel was not the only off-duty officer drinking that Saturday night, he said. “The chief was intoxicated,” Shiner said. “It’s all left out of the report.”
    Chief Hal Hutchins said earlier his wife drove him to police headquarters that night because he had some wine with dinner.
    Shiner also said Plesnik’s lawyer learned Lucibella has a $10 million insurance policy and notified him that Plesnik plans to sue for neck injuries. In her report, Plesnik said she went to an urgent care center afterward to have her left shoulder, arm, wrist, leg and foot examined but did not mention having any neck pain.
    Shiner said in-house video at the Police Department captures Plesnik cautioning Ermeri to watch his temper. “You’re on tape,” he said the video shows her reminding Ermeri, though Shiner pointed out the audio is hard to hear.

By Jane Smith

    The three largest South County cities continue on separate paths to address problematic sober homes in their residential neighborhoods.
    On Jan. 17, Boynton Beach city commissioners approved a moratorium on all group home applications until June 4. Sober homes fall under the group home category in the city code. The recovery residences cater to people who want to live together in sobriety. Treatment does not occur inside the houses.
    Delray Beach is using a two-pronged approach.
    On Jan. 24, commissioners approved an update to the city’s reasonable accommodation ordinance that requires all group homes to register annually for an accommodation that allows more than three unrelated adults to live together. The city also wants the property owner’s name and signature to prove that the owner knows how the home will be used. The city will use that info if it needs to contact the owner about code violations.
    The previous week, the city hired planner/lawyer Daniel Lauber to help city staff review ordinances and suggest new ones that do not run afoul of federal anti-discrimination laws.
    Boca Raton staff is still trying to decide how to address the changes allowed by the revised federal joint statement U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel helped secure, said city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson.
    In November, the Justice and Housing and Urban Development departments issued a revised guidance statement that gives local governments the ability to deny a group home application if it violates a city’s “zoning scheme” or puts an undue burden on its finances and administration.
    Boynton Beach legal and development staffs wanted to stop group home applications from coming in while they reviewed the city’s reasonable accommodation ordinance. They wanted time to decide if it might be revised based on the revised federal statement. They chose June 4 as the moratorium’s end date to give time for review.
    At the Boynton Beach City Commission meeting on Jan. 17, the mayor and one resident had a testy exchange about the legality of the moratorium.
    Citing a federal anti-discrimination law, the male resident — who said he was a recovering alcoholic — insisted that: “No private or public entity shall interfere, restrict or deny any person with a disability any social services, including group homes and halfway houses.”
    Addicts living together while maintaining sobriety are protected by federal anti-discrimination laws.
    But Mayor Steven Grant said the moratorium was aimed at sober home owners and operators, not addicts. “You can’t just take [out] one clause, because it’s a big act,” Grant said about the federal law.
    Boynton Beach City Commissioner Joe Casello asked the city attorney, “Are we within our legal rights to do something like this?”
    City Attorney Jim Cherof said, “Yes, sir. It wouldn’t be in front of you if I did not think so.”
    Boynton Beach commissioners unanimously passed the moratorium.
    But Delray Beach’s consultant thinks Boynton Beach has put itself in a tough legal position.
    The moratorium is “almost certainly illegal,” Lauber said.  “If someone challenged it in court, I doubt it could survive.”
    Lauber said Frankel’s office staff referred Delray Beach to him. He is past president of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Certified Planners. He is widely published on topics of group homes and federal anti-discrimination laws.
    Based in Illinois, Lauber has primarily worked with cities and group homes in the Midwest, although he has consulted for cities and community residences nationwide.  
    The Delray Beach work will be his second foray into Florida. In 2002, he was a legal consultant for the city of Daytona Beach when it was sued over Fair Housing Act violations, according to Lauber’s résumé. The city settled the case the next year, allowing Hearthstone Fellowship to continue operating the Peabody House treatment center.
    Lauber said he will examine the situation in Delray Beach, where sober homes are said to cluster in certain neighborhoods. He said more than one group home per block could lead to a de facto social services district and prevent residents of the home from becoming part of the community.
    “Each group home has to be looked at on an individual basis to determine its impact on surrounding home values,” Lauber said.
Delray Beach is compiling a listing of group home locations. The estimated 200 sober homes in Delray Beach are too many for a city of its size, he said.
    Lauber agreed to be paid $15,000 for 50 hours of work. If the city decides it wants him to help write a sober homes licensing plan, it would cost extra, he said.
    Lauber fancies himself more of a planner than a lawyer. That’s why he prefers the LULU acronym that he used in his John Marshall Law Review article: “A Real LULU: Zoning for Group Homes and Halfway Houses Under the Fair Housing Act Amendments.”
    LULU, he wrote, was coined by a Rutgers University professor in the 1980s. The acronym stands for “locally unwanted land use.”
    Lawyers, he said, prefer to use NIMBY, which stands for “not in my backyard.”

By Dan Moffett

    South Palm Beach Vice Mayor Joe Flagello is promising residents “an action-packed, fun-filled agenda” for their Feb. 28 town meeting.
    After being sidetracked for months with other business, the Town Council is planning to tackle several potentially prickly assignments — the evaluations of the town attorney and town manager, and final approval to an ordinance that would raise council members’ monthly salaries.
    Last year, Town Attorney Brad Biggs asked the council for a new contract and a pay raise, from $170 an hour to $180. Some council members objected, saying they had problems communicating with Biggs and getting him to respond to their questions. Several members, including Stella Gaddy Jordan, considered putting the position out to bid.
    “Brad didn’t support the council enough,” Jordan said. She also complained about too much cross-talk during meetings that Biggs should have stopped.
    After the council had several false starts at negotiating with the attorney, the issue is back on the agenda for February. Biggs has held his position for a decade and is board certified as a municipal specialist. He wants the council to act on his request.
    “I haven’t raised your rates for years,” Biggs said at the Jan. 24 meeting. “And I didn’t raise them during any of the time we had poor income coming in. I’ve requested it, it’s in the budget, I’m requesting that something be set that either I’m going to get it or I’m not going to get it.”
    Flagello, who calls Biggs’ work on the town’s behalf “terrific,” says the attorney deserves an answer this month.
    “I don’t think it’s fair to him. He’s offered us many options. We’ve even talked about a flat rate,” Flagello said. “We’ve had these options and we’ve done nothing. I think it’s sort of disrespectful.”
    The town charter requires that the council evaluate the manager annually, so Bob Vitas will get his first formal review at the next meeting.
    Vitas inherited a mildly chaotic situation when he took the $103,000-a-year position in November 2015. Five months earlier, the Town Council forced his predecessor, Jim Pascale, to resign after only six months on the job.
    Vitas has received glowing reviews from all council members for his efforts to reboot the town’s administration and advance the council’s issues. Mayor Bonnie Fischer has praised Vitas for working tirelessly to collect easements for the town’s beach restoration project and helping officials develop long-term goals.
    “Bob has done a wonderful job and really helped us get back on track after going without a town manager,” Fischer has said.
    Council members were to have given their final approval in January to an ordinance that raises their monthly pay from $250 to $300 — and the mayor’s from $250 to $500 — but postponed the vote until public notice requirements had been met.
 A first reading of the change narrowly passed, 3-2, in December.

Ocean Ridge Garden Club marks 50 years

of creating beauty, relationships

About 30 members of the Ocean Ridge Garden Club were on hand at the club’s January meeting.

The organization is celebrating 50 years of serving the community and developing friendships.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Mary Ann Cody and former club president Joan Beck recite

the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of a garden club meeting.

By Ron Hayes

    The Ocean Ridge Garden Club plants sea oats and sea grapes, bougainvillea and milkweed.

    From those plantings, friendships grow. From those friendships, a community spirit blooms.

    From that spirit, the town is beautified.

    And club members have been doing it since 1966. Beginning March 20, the club will initiate three days of festivities to celebrate its half-century of horticulture.     
    “We’ll have a kickoff reception in Town Hall, which will be beautifully and exquisitely decorated with award-winning arrangements,” promises Lynn Allison, chair of the club’s 50th anniversary committee.     
    A floral decoration will adorn the hall’s exterior. A colorful slide show will play within, and signs will rise along Ocean Avenue.

    A commemorative pamphlet, A Gardening Guide for Living on the Barrier Island, is being prepared, and guest speakers such as landscape architect Pamela Crawford and John Lopez, past president of the Tropical Orchid Society, will appear throughout the week.
    “And we’ve scanned 50 years of scrapbooks to create a memorabilia book of highlights that will be on display,” Allison adds.

Garden Club members Blanch Matthews, Catherine Mangione, Mary Artsman and Dorothy Guzzo (left photo)

at a 1984 Christmas party at Crown Colony Yacht Club.

Grace Browner, Mary Westaphal, Catherine Mangione, Pat Piche, Jenny Rollyson

and Mayor Eric Mangione during a 1986 beach planting.

In 1992, Pat Piche and then-President Wanda Phillips.

An Ocean Ridge Garden Club program from 1970-71.

  
    But the Ocean Ridge Garden Club that’s pressed between the pages of those early scrapbooks is not the same club that thrives today. Like its gardens, the club also has grown.     
    When it was formed in 1966, about 24 members paid annual dues of $5 to join. Two years later, the club had grown to 29 members and the annual dues to $10.     
    Today, the club boasts 45 members and $50 dues. But as the wider culture has changed, the club has reflected those changes.     
Glance at a list of past presidents.     
    The first was Mrs. Cyril Schley (1966-67), and then Mrs. Alfred Rush (1967-68). There was Mrs. John Ware (1973-74) and Mrs. Donald Lambert (1981-82).     
    Then, without warning: Joan Beck (1994-96). Women were no longer identified by their husband’s name.      
    The morning meetings were moved to evenings as more women went to work outside the home, and men were welcomed as members. Currently there are only two, but they are welcome.

The Garden Club and some neighbors came together for a planting

at Beachway Drive and Old Ocean Boulevard.

A dune restoration project underway at the south end of Old Ocean is one of the club’s most recent efforts.

 
    Most significant, the club’s priorities expanded from floral table settings and Christmas wreaths to a community spirit that has championed beach cleanups, dune restoration and beautification projects.     
    “When I started, it was the Christmas bake sale and arts and crafts at the Town Hall,” Joan Beck remembers. “Now the shift is toward more hands-on projects.”     
    As early as 1974, club members were fighting a plan to desecrate the town’s hammock dunes in favor of 47 parking spaces.  
Zoanne Hennigan became a member in 2006.     
    “To be honest, I joined to meet my neighbors,” she admits. “I knew little about gardening.”     
    Six months later, Hennigan was elected the club’s 31st president. She served for the next five years, during which members participated in eight beach cleanups, volunteered at dune restoration and established the Town Hall native garden, koi pond and library.     
    They raised more than $11,000 from annual rummage sales and used the money to award $1,500 in scholarships and send 21 children to Wekiva horticulture youth camp at Apopka.
    “We’re not afraid to get our hands dirty,” says Kristine de Haseth, a member since 2008.
    For the club members, nurturing friends and neighbors is no less important than nurturing flora and fauna, and they make no apologies for being both a gardening and social club.     
    Some, like Tami Tabshey and Ann Alexander, are seriously avid gardeners, growing peppers and lettuce, kale and broccoli at the Cason United Methodist Church’s community garden, to be donated to the Caring Kitchen for homeless people.     
    “But I joined because of Carol Burrows, my dear friend next door,” Tabshey adds. “It was a good excuse to be with her.”     
Kimberlee Duke Marshall, the club’s current president, had lived in Ocean Ridge for 12 years before joining the club.     
    “I was busy raising kids and building a business, but since joining, I’ve met a lot of neighbors and gained a real sense of living in the community,” she says. “We have a variety of economic classes here. Seasonal residents, some more accomplished, some young families. But the common bond is that we all really care about this 1.3-mile barrier island we live on.”
    From October to April, the gardening and socializing come together at the club’s monthly meetings, held at 6 p.m. in members’ homes.

    “The Boynton Beach Garden Club meets at noon and they  have tea and coffee,” Hennigan says with a smile. “We have wine.”

    At the January meeting, hosted by Tabshey, about 30 members feasted on chicken sandwich wraps and fresh fruit, cheese and crackers, nuts and hummus. And wine.     
    Lisa Ritota had lived in town 22 years before joining.

    “I joined so I could be with a friend,” Ritota said. “And then she quit. I didn’t know 80 percent of the women in the group, and now they’re my friends. And I have a butterfly garden.”     
    She whipped out her smartphone, spun through some family photos and found a new photo. “My first caterpillar,” she announced proudly.     
    Eventually, the group settled down to hear the month’s featured speaker. Yavonne Tudisco is an expert on vermiculture — the breeding of earthworms to aerate soil and convert organic matter into compost.
    “There are 6,000 different species of worms,” Tudisco told club members. And then she produced a visual aid, a small plastic bin housing red wigglers. The bin was passed around the living room from club member to club member.

    Some studied the worms with interest. Some took a polite look and passed the bin. Some looked away and passed the bin.

    Chances are, worms were not passed around when the ladies of the Ocean Ridge Garden Club first met in 1966. But that was 50 years ago.     
    “The club today,” says Stella Kolb, who joined in 1996, “it’s a lot more than clipping flowers and putting them in a vase.”

If you go

Feb. 18:  Rummage sale from 8 a.m. to noon at Ocean Ridge Town Hall, 6450 N. Ocean Blvd.

50th Anniversary Lecture Series and various exhibitions from 2-5 p.m. each day at Town Hall.
March 20: Opening ­reception for club members and invitees.
March 21: Patricia Crawford, landscape architect,  plus vendors.
March 22: John Lopez, former president of Tropical Orchid Society; discussion and sale of orchids; and vendors.

The old Mercy Center is demolished next to the new one (right).

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Janis Fontaine

    It’s a new era at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church and School in Boca Raton, where the old Mercy Center, built in 1989, has been replaced with a new one. A formal blessing and dedication is being planned for mid-March.
    The church’s timeline began in December 1956, when the first Mass was held in Domina C. Jalbert’s Aerological Laboratories off 20th Street in Boca Raton.
    In 1960, the founding members funded and built a provisional church and the school’s first classrooms just a few blocks off Dixie Highway in central Boca Raton. The new, permanent church was completed in December 1988. A few months later, the construction began that renovated the provisional church into a parish social center — what became the Mercy Center.
    But the church, with more than 3,600 member families, outgrew the Mercy Center. The development committee first considered expanding the old Mercy Center by adding a second floor, but the building couldn’t support it. To make way for a center that would meet the needs of the church, the old center had to be torn down.
    In December, the Mercy Center was demolished with St. Joan’s new, modern Mercy Center ready. For health and safety reasons, the heavy machinery and demolition crews cleared the land while the 500-plus children who attend St. Joan of Arc School were on Christmas break.
    But seeing the building hauled away as rubble was bittersweet for some parishioners who had seen the church grow over the last 60 years. To help with the transition, the original stained glass windows, a prominent exterior cross, and an Art Deco figure of St. Joan of Arc all became important parts of the new center.  
    Msgr. Michael McGraw offered encouragement to the parish in the church bulletin in November: “Looking past the stained glass windows at the new Mercy Center you can imagine the bright future that we have in front of us, and the wonderful growth that will follow for our parish, ministries and community.”
    Development and Stewardship Ministry Director Wendy Horton says the stained glass windows are better displayed in the new building. The church hired stained glass experts to remove, preserve and reframe the windows for their new home flanking the doorway into the auditorium at the new Mercy Center. Light pours into the new building and through the windows’ red and yellow panes to light the room with warmth and energy.    
    The $5.5 million, 20,200-square-foot building has clean lines and modern design. There’s a catering kitchen, a huge auditorium with a stage, plenty of room for socializing, classrooms and meeting rooms for Bible study and rehearsal space for the drama, dance and music programs.
    Double-bookings of meeting rooms will be a thing of the past, Horton laughs.
    The new building has the same footprint as the old, Horton said. The land that is left vacant by the old Mercy Center will become a playground and sports fields for both children and adults.  
    Horton hasn’t had time to consider what her next project will be, “but there’s always something to be done.”
    “We’re very excited after all this time that (the new Mercy Center) is finally complete,” Horton said. “Everyone will benefit.”
    St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church & School is at 370 SW Third St., Boca Raton. For more information, call 392-0007 or 952-2838; www.stjoan.org.

    Interfaith Dialogues — On Feb. 7 and March 14, the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, 141 S. County Road, Palm Beach, will be the site of interfaith panel discussions. Panelists include C.B. Hanif, a Muslim and former editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post; Tom O’Brien, from the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, and Rabbi Howard Shapiro, rabbi emeritus of Temple Israel. The discussions are hosted by the Palm Beach Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Topics: “Different Ways Jews, Muslims and Christians Read Their Sacred Scriptures” (Feb. 7); and “The Meaning of Israel to Jews, Christians and Muslims” (March 14).
    Admission is free for fellowship members; $10 for nonmembers. Get a series pass for $20 in advance. 833-6150; www.palmbeachfellowship.net.
                                
    Music at St. Paul’s takes place at 3 p.m. Feb. 5, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 188 S. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. It features Gareth Johnson on violin and Tao Lin, piano, performing music of Beethoven, Ysaye and others. $15 adults, $5 students. $20 for preferred seating available. Call 276-4541.
                                
    The Club Singers perform at 3 p.m. Feb. 19 at First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach, 33 Gleason St. This all-volunteer, nonprofit organization of talented singers gives back to the community by providing scholarships and donations to worthy students. Free will offering benefits the scholarship fund. For information, call 276-6338.
                                
    St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church Parish Festival will be Feb. 24-26 at the church, 840 George Bush Blvd., Delray Beach. Carnival rides and games, raffles, live entertainment on two stages, a fish fry on Friday and flea market. Admission is free but for $10 you can get in early at 3 p.m. Feb. 24. For info, call 276-6892 or visit www.stvincentferrer.com.

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

Pat Boden lives in Highland Beach and trained on the A1A path.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Lona O'Connor

   As he drank his coffee every morning in October, John Boden could track his wife, Pat, as she made steady progress across the back roads of northern Spain. She was wearing a GPS device that posted her whereabouts on a computer tracking map.
    She was roughly 2,000 miles east of their Highland Beach condominium on the Atlantic Ocean, heading to a place on the northwestern coast of Spain: “Finisterre,” the end of the Earth.
    Pat Boden, 73, and five companions walked 490 miles in 34 days on the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James.
    “I still can’t believe I did it,” she says, looking through a pile of guidebooks and maps and a photo of her in her floppy blue hat. If John Boden had been able to zoom in close enough, he might have seen that spot of blue bobbing along the Camino.
    Pat Boden became fascinated with the Camino after watching The Way, a movie starring Martin Sheen as a grieving father who walks the Camino after the death of his son. She watched it again, and then a third time. She got busy researching the trip.
    The Bodens have been all over the world, to Egypt and Turkey, to China and even Spain on a previous trip. But John Boden decided that walking 490 miles was not to his taste.
    Through a travel service, Patricia Boden joined a group of five strangers with the same fascination and started her training. To allay her husband’s worries, she wore the GPS device. She also texted him daily.
    After Jesus’ resurrection, believers say, he instructed his disciples to preach the gospel to the ends of the Earth. That’s where St. James (Santiago in Spanish) ended up, at Finisterre, the end of the known world at that time.
    Remains thought to be those of St. James were discovered there in the 11th century and the church of Santiago de Compostela was built, 30 miles inland from the Atlantic. Trodden by peregrinos (pilgrims) for a thousand years, the Way of St. James, like the roads to Rome and Jerusalem, became one of the most holy pilgrimages for Roman Catholics.
    Pat Boden had no way to prepare for walking in mountains as high as 5,000 feet, sometimes steeply up, other times down. The highest local elevation she had was the Linton Avenue bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway near her home.
    “I trained during the summer in the wicked heat, walking the sidewalks of Highland Beach, Boca and Delray Beach,” she said.
    “My husband didn’t take me seriously until I bought the plane ticket.”
    The Camino trip was broken down into daily sections of 10 to 15 miles a day, ending in a private room in an inn each night. The pilgrims’ luggage preceded them in a van, so they carried only what they needed for the day. Some days they ate meals or snacks on the road, some days the tour company cooked hot lunches for them on propane stoves.
    “To me, at this stage of life, it was perfect,” said Boden. “In the old days, the pilgrims had to walk home, so it was double the distance. A lot of them died.”
 
Making friends of strangers
    One man in Boden’s group walked so fast — 3.72 miles an hour —that he was already showered and waiting to greet the rest when they arrived at their inn each day.
    “We just bonded so well, we laughed so much,” Boden said. “The people really made it for me.”
    Though she had not embarked on the Camino for religious reasons, she had her share of transcendent experiences.
    “We came to that great big hill with the big tall cross on it. It’s the highest place on the trip,” she recalled. “You bring a rock with you from home and you are supposed to leave your problems and cares, and pray for anyone who’s sick.
    “I didn’t think I was doing the walk for any [spiritual] reason, but a lot of friends had said, don’t forget me when you’re there. And I was giving thanks for my friend Brenda, who had a cancer on her spine that just went away two years ago. The doctors couldn’t see it anymore. I put down my rock and I just started crying.”
    As the pilgrims came within 62 miles of Santiago de Compostela, streams of others were converging on the same road. There are several routes, including walks from Portugal and France, and some pilgrims walk only the last 62 miles, so the small trickle of walkers became a steady stream as they closed in on their destination.
    “When the five of us got to Santiago, we all started crying,” said Boden. “Part of it was just, we made it. Part of it was seeing all those peregrinos together.”
    Boden avoided foot blisters by wearing toe socks under regular socks. One companion had blisters covering the soles of both feet, which had to be drained and bandaged. She never complained.
    “You’d ask her how she was doing and she would say, oh, fine. I said to myself, I’m through complaining.”
    By the time they reached the outskirts of Santiago, Boden had developed painful shin splints.
    “I was near tears. The others said, you don’t have to walk the rest of the way. But I said, I don’t care if I have to crawl on my knees.”
    And she didn’t complain.
    She also decided to go back to church. As it happens, she lives within walking distance of St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach.
    “Every Sunday, I could make up a reason not to go,” she said. “But for some reason, God put me across from that church, so now I go every Sunday.”
    Boden is already planning to walk the Way again, this time north from Lisbon, Portugal. Her sister, as well as the woman with the blisters, are planning to join her.
    “When you’re there, you don’t have any worries in the world,” said Boden. “We didn’t have to worry about anything. It’s just you yourself, nature and your friends.”

Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.

By Christine Davis

    Bill Russell, chief executive officer and a founder of The Treatment Center of the Palm Beaches, retired in December. Anthony “Tony” Foster, the center’s chief operating officer since 2015, was named interim CEO.
    Also in December, the center made a $25,000 donation to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue for the purchase of naxolone, an emergency-use medication that can block the effects of opioids and rapidly reverse an overdose. The donation covers the cost of more than 700 doses of naxolone, which is approximately a three- to four-month supply.
    In Palm Beach County, more than 375 people overdosed and died from opioids between January and September 2016, already surpassing the previous year’s total drug overdose deaths.
    “With this donation, The Treatment Center is taking our efforts to help individuals and our community overcome the battle of addiction a step further. We recognize the scope and magnitude of this public health epidemic, especially now in this time of crisis, and we will continue to do more to restore hope for the still suffering families and those affected by the disease of addiction,” said The Treatment Center shareholder and recovery advocate Laura Laramee, a Delray Beach resident.
                                
    Lifespace Communities, a not-for-profit operator of continuing care retirement communities, named Kevin Knopf as its new regional director of operations. He will be responsible for leadership, strategic planning and day-to-day operations for the five Lifespace communities in Florida: Abbey Delray, Abbey Delray South and Harbour’s Edge in Delray Beach; The Waterford in Juno Beach; and Village on the Green in Longwood.
                                
    Under the leadership of Bethesda Health’s interventional cardiologist Dr. George Daniel,  doctors at Bethesda Heart Hospital and Bethesda’s Research Center, in conjunction with the Research Physicians Alliance, are studying a treatment to end chronic heart failure through a national clinical trial called DREAM-HF-1.
    The treatment involves harvesting stem cells from healthy matching donors, and later injecting them into the heart muscles of study participants via a catheterization procedure, followed by periodic evaluations with the study team. Post-procedure visits last approximately 24 months and are conducted via office visits and phone interviews.
    For potential study participants to find out more, they should check with their doctors to see if they may be eligible, and call the Bethesda Health Research Center at 374-5020.
                                
    Amanda Murphy was promoted to dean of the Bethesda College of Health Sciences and director of the Education Resource Center. With Bethesda for the past seven years, she previously served as a clinical nursing instructor.

— Send health news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com

A father and son take in the peacefulness of the Cypress Swamp.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

Baton Rouge, a lichen, grows where the air quality is good.

Spider lilies are among the varied flora in the national refuge.

Purple beautyberry offers a spot of color to boardwalk visitors.

A pileated woodpecker drills on one of the swamp’s tree trunks.

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

    The Cypress Swamp in Boynton Beach may be one of our area’s best kept secrets.
    “People don’t seem to know we are out here,” says Bruce Rosenberg, a volunteer at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, where the swamp is located.
    And that’s too bad, because as you walk through the swamp on a 0.4-mile boardwalk, you discover what’s special about this unique ecosystem that used to stretch from Fort Lauderdale north past Lake Okeechobee.
    “Today there are only about 500 acres of swamp left, but what’s here is an environmental jewel,” says Rosenberg, who is an encyclopedia of information about the flora and fauna.
    He points out the trees that tower overhead and filter the light. These pond cypress and bald cypress are at home with their feet and knees in the water. But this time of year they look like they are on dry land.
    Don’t be fooled, says our guide as he explains that October to May is the dry season when the water is stored in layers of peat and muck lying atop an underground base of limestone.
    Notice one large specimen bordering the walkway has striations in its trunk. These are markings of a resident bobcat that uses the tree for honing his claws so he can hunt for raccoons and possums. Take a look on the railing lining the walk and you may find some of his scat.
    Overhead, hanging Spanish moss adds a bit of intrigue to the trees. The Seminoles used the moss as blankets when nights got chilly, Rosenberg tells us.
    On other trees you’ll notice small ferns that may be brown or green depending upon when you visit. This is the resurrection fern that can live for 100 years without water. When it’s dry, the plant looks desiccated and gray but when it detects moisture, it turns bright green.
    There are 11 species of ferns in the swamp, including the giant leather fern that can grow to 12 feet, plus the strap fern, the Hottentot fern, the royal fern and the sword fern.
    Also look on the tree trunks for lichens. The swamp is home to five varieties, ranging from red velvety splashes of Baton Rouge to the greenish tangles that are old-man’s-beard.
    “You only get lichens growing where there’s good air quality,” says Rosenberg.
 Take a deep breath and the air does seem pure.
    But as you near the center of the swamp, you’ll notice there’s very little breeze. Rosenberg explains that the ferns and other plants block the wind and keep the air still.
    Look closely and you’ll even see flowers growing here. Blue mist flower has colorful fuzzy blooms. There also are the purple blooms of the climbing aster. And if you look up you may even see a stiff flower star orchid with its pale green flowers growing in a tree.
    When you tire of looking at what’s growing in the swamp, consider what else lives here. Dragon flies dart from plant to plant. Pileated woodpeckers find the perfect spot to drill into the saw palmettos. Eastern screech owls and great horned owls with their 5-foot wingspans have been spotted. And the air is filled with the chirping of insects and frogs.
    In fact, Cuban tree frogs are the reason you’ll see about 100 numbered lengths of white plastic pipe stuck into the muck. They trap these invasive frogs, which are being counted for a census of their population.
    Although this boardwalk is relatively short, it’s a good place to get away from civilization, and a visit may change preconceived notions you have about swamps.  
    “This is a very peaceful place,” says Rosenberg.

Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley is a certified master gardener who can be reached at debhartz@att.net.

If You Go
    The Cypress Swamp is part of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, 10216 Lee Road, Boynton Beach.
    The Visitor Center is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. It’s closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.
    The swamp boardwalk that you enter behind the center is open daily 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
    Entrance fee is $5 per private vehicle. If it’s not being collected at the gate, please pay in the Visitor Center. Several types of passes are available.
    For information, call 734-8303 or visit www.fws.gov/refuge/arm_loxahatchee/ or loxahatcheefriends.com.
    Volunteer Bruce Rosenberg, a self-taught ethnobotanist, offers a free swamp tour from 1:30 to 3 p.m.  Mondays and Thursdays. To find out about this and other tours, call or visit the websites. Always call before attending any event or tour to be sure it will take place as scheduled.

Gardening Tip     
“You should treat plants that you find growing in South Florida like you would mushrooms up North. Avoid eating them unless you know they are safe. Many of the plants you’ll see here are very poisonous.”
— Bruce Rosenberg, volunteer guide at the Cypress Swamp, Boynton Beach

Ocean Ridge resident Natalia Smith takes a selfie with Coco, her 3-month-old Maltipoo, a Maltese Poodle mix.

Tim ­Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Arden Moore

    Let’s be candid. Valentine’s Day dates can be hit and miss. Even if you are blessed to be with “the one,” this holiday can generate a lot of stress triggered by trying to find the right gift, making reservations at the right restaurant and coming up with the right words to describe your affection for that special person in your life.
    So, why not shift your focus on this holiday to that special four-legger in your life who showers you with love and affection 365 days a year, 24/7?
    That’s my game plan this Valentine’s Day for Cleo, my 15-year-old retired canine surf dog; Kona, my 2-year-old terrier mix; and Casey, my 2-year-old orange tabby.
    Fortunately, Palm Beach County puts out the welcome mat to pets in a variety of ways. Here are some ideas on how you can celebrate this heartfelt holiday with your pet:

    Make a splash. Weather permitting, escort your water-loving dog to the Dog and Bark Beach, 3001 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Please note that you must obtain a permit and show proof of residency before unleashing your pup to race across the shoreline.

    Dine in style. Look for dog-friendly eateries that allow your well-mannered, leashed dog to join you in patio seating. Consider places like the Hurricane Alley, 529 E. Ocean Ave., Boynton Beach, or Boston’s on the Beach, 40 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach. Both restaurants feature doggy menus your canine chum will drool over.
    Unleash energy at a dog park. Treat your dog-friendly, athletic dog to a sniff-and-greet outing at a dog park where she can romp and run without a leash inside a safe enclosed park. Here are parks earning high approval ratings from the www.BringFido.com website: Canine Cove at South County Regional Park, 12551 Glades Road, Boca Raton; Lake Ida Dog Park, 1455 Lake Ida Road, Delray Beach; City Paws, 1401 Lake Ave., West Palm Beach, and F.I.N.D. Park, 211 River Park Drive, Jupiter.

    Attend a special dog event. The PetSmart stores in the county will host a “Puppy Love” event from noon to 3 p.m. on Feb. 11. Dog trainers will be available to offer tips on puppy nutrition, dental health and training. There will be drawings and photo opportunities and plenty of Valentine’s Day-themed toys and treats, according to Robin Burger, assistant store leader at the PetSmart in West Palm Beach and proud pet parent to a pair of Australian cattle dog mixes named Iviza and Pacha.

    Fetch some Fido fashion. Adorable Yorkshire terriers named Charlie and Spike serve as inspiration for a line of fashionable-yet-functional dog harnesses created by Jamie Broder. Her Boynton Beach-based company showcases the WagSwag Collection with lots of selections, including those that illuminate puppy love for Valentine’s Day. Use  the “Be Mine 20” coupon code for added savings at www.charlieandspike.com.

    Head for a pampered getaway. The Alfond Inn at Rollins College in Winter Park is offering a special puppy love package through Feb. 28 that includes a two-night stay, room service for your dog and a variety of treats and gifts at rates starting at $580. Learn more at www.thealfondinn.com. To find other pet-friendly lodgings, go to www.BringFido.com.

    Showcase your camera hound. Honor your dog or cat by booking a photo session with pet professional photographers and frame your favorite pose. Or take some silly selfies with your furry pal. For a list of pet photographers featured on Thumbtack, go to: www.thumbtack.com/fl/west-palm-beach/animal-photography/.

    Bring out the inner hunter in your tabby. Enrich the life of your indoor cat while working his brain and his muscles with food puzzle toys that he can swat and figure out how to get the tasty kibble to spill out for consumption.

    Don an apron and be a pet chef for a day. Instead of buying store-bought treats, find a healthy dog or cat cookie recipe you can make for your favorite pet. My dogs love “Marvelous Mutt Meatballs” from my book Real Food for Dogs, and Casey pumps up his purr for “Tuna Patties” from my book Fit Cat. (The recipes are below.)

    If you are fortunate to share your home — and your heart — with a pet, you will never be alone on Valentine’s Day. Your pet will be there to help you celebrate in whatever manner you choose — guaranteed.

    Arden Moore, founder of  www.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 www.PetLifeRadio.com. Learn more by visiting www.fourleggedlife.com.

From my Real Food for Dogs, here is the recipe for Marvelous Mutt Meatballs:

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
2/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs, whisked
3 tablespoons tomato paste (low-sodium)
    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Scoop out spoonfuls of the mixture and roll into mini meatballs, each about the size of a quarter. Place the meatballs on a cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool before serving. Serves 10 to 15 canine guests.

From my Fit Cat book, here is the recipe for Tuna Patties:

2 eggs
One 6 1/2-ounce can of water-packed tuna, drained
1 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon brewer’s yeast
2 tablespoons margarine

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs. Add the tuna, bread crumbs and brewer’s yeast. Blend with a wooden spoon until moistened and thoroughly mixed. Form the mixture into 6 patties. In a large skillet, melt the margarine over medium heat. Place each of the patties into the skillet. Cook each side for 3 to 5 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the patties to cool and then crumble into small pieces. Sprinkle over your cat’s kibble or put in a wide bowl. Makes 6 portions.

Daniel Diaz, resident chef for Sur La Table, teaches a Mediterranean cooking class

on a Saturday morning at the store’s Mizner Park location.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Janis Fontaine

    Daniel Diaz didn’t intend to have a career teaching cooking to kids. The culinary leader, who trained at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Miami in Miramar, took a part-time gig teaching cooking classes at Sur La Table in Boca Raton.
    “The enthusiasm of the kids really got to me,” Diaz said. “They had an absolute blast, and I did, too. When they offered me the full-time position as the lead chef for the cooking school, I was thrilled.”
    These classes are hands-on, interactive, and the youngsters  leave with new skills, Diaz said. Class sizes are small, usually limited to 16 students so each child gets the attention he or she needs. And where else is a gourmet meal part of the curriculum?  
    “The quality of the students blows my mind,” Diaz said. “Some of the cooking skills and knowledge the younger kids have acquired is baffling. It’s like they grew up watching the Food Network instead of Sesame Street.”
    The Sur La Table Mizner Park school offers more than 20 classes a week in all varieties of cooking and for all kinds of students, but most are geared toward adults.
    Children’s classes are usually in the form of weeklong camps during the summer and winter breaks, but a few children’s classes are scheduled on Saturdays during the school year. And most classes are separated into age groups of 8 to 12 and 13 to 17.
    For special occasions, Sur La Table offers family fun classes designed for a child and adult to cook and learn together. The classes are perfect for one-on-one bonding with parents or grandparents, Diaz said.
    Diaz says the cooking reality shows for kids on TV have driven the demand for classes, and classes do fill up quickly.  “I’m surprised how knowledgeable the kids are. They have very mature palates for their age.”
    Experts say children who get involved in cooking are more likely to try new foods and make smarter, healthier food choices.
   This is tactile, hands-on learning that engages all the senses.
    Diaz agrees. “The best thing is to see a kid come in with no skills and by the end of the week, we’re seeing real creativity and artistry.”
    Sur La Table is at 438 Plaza Real in Mizner Park, Boca Raton. For reservations, call 953-7638 or 953-7670 or email cooking113@surlatable.com.

Sur La Table classes
    Upcoming offerings include:

    Family Fun/Valentine’s Day Treats — Feb. 11. An adult and a child age 6 or older work together to make strawberry jam sweetheart tarts, old-fashioned chocolate fudge and Valentine chocolate kiss cookies.
    Kids Pasta Workshop — 10 a.m.-noon or 1-3 p.m. Feb. 20. Learn to make fresh pasta dough from scratch. For ages 8-12. $49.

Other options
    Classes offered at Publix at Polo Club Shoppes, 5050 Champion Blvd., Boca Raton, include spring break camps for youngsters ages 8-10 and 11-13.
    Both groups get an introduction to the culinary world and learn basic skills, prep and cooking methods. Camps meet in the morning or afternoon March 20-22.
    Publix is also offering a Teen Chef’s Camp at 6 p.m. March 20-22 for ages 14 and older. Teens learn advanced skills and get a sound culinary base to launch future culinary expeditions.
    For information or to register, call the Publix Aprons Cooking School at 994-4883.

Third-grader Phoebe Condon is the picture of concentration as she lines up a shot.

Ryan Fenton, a fourth-grader at Gulf Stream School, hits an iron at The Little Club range.

He has played golf for about three years.

After the practice session ends, the students gather, some holding hands,

for the quarter-mile walk back to Gulf Stream School.

Photos by Jerry Lower/ The Coastal Star

By Brian Biggane

    As club pro Wanda Krolikowski hauled several sets of undersized clubs from the bag room at The Little Club in Gulf Stream on a recent sunny late afternoon, a cluster of children appeared in the distance, marching down the No. 4 fairway on their way to the driving range.
    Skipping, jumping and clearly excited to be outside after another long day in the classroom, the group — all students from Gulf Stream School, ranging in age from 7 to 10, first to fourth grade  — soon spread out across the range, grabbed clubs, balls and tees and launched into a range session.
    “The school actually approached me about it a couple of years ago,” Krolikowski said before fanning out to give individual instruction to each of nine junior golf wannabes. “It’s worked out great; I think even better than we expected.”

The Little Club pro Wanda Krolikowski works with first-grader Colton Ettwein.

    Many, but not all, of the students’ parents are members at The Little Club, and the youngsters say the most enjoyable part of the exercise is that they see enough improvement to encourage their parents to bring them along when they play a round.
    “This helps me a lot,” said Ryan Fenton, a 9-year-old fourth-grader who said he’s been playing about three years.
    “I practice at least three times a week, and my handicap is about a 20 on this course. I come out and play 18 (holes) with my dad.”
    Eight-year-old Phoebe Condon, a third-grader, already has set high goals for herself. Asked how good she thinks she can be, she replied, “As good as my dad. No, better than my dad.”
    That will take a while. Fenton, clearly the best of the group on this day, has enough control over a sand wedge, which he says is his favorite club, that he can flip shots toward a natural bunker about 50 yards away and almost make them stick. Many of the others swing and alternately connect and miss the balls, all of which are teed up to improve the chances of contact.
    There is plenty of banter back and forth, and much of it brings smiles to those within hearing range.
    “That tee is very unlucky,” one girl comments after several poor hits.
    “Oh my God, you should have recorded me!” another cries out to a photographer who was looking the other way.
    Gulf Stream School art director Holly Pemberton, who is the chaperone on this day, watches one of the smallest boys swing a driver and says, “It’s like the weight of the club throws his whole body backward.”
    Krolikowski had predicted some students would start losing interest after a time, and sure enough, water breaks and bathroom breaks become the norm about halfway through.
    Krolikowski said the number of students who turn out for the twice-weekly lessons depends largely on the schedules of their parents.
    “One reason some of the parents like the program is they don’t have to pick them up until 4:15, which gives them a little more time at work or whatever,” she said. “It really is a part of their after-school program, and it’s more than just playing in the playground. They come here and learn golf, so it’s more beneficial.”
    Twice a year Krolikowski puts on what she calls a “golf-a-rama,” a daylong event with several skill competitions — closest to the pin, a six-hole putting contest and a three-hole scramble — followed by a barbecue with pictures and prizes.
    “I limit it to 16 teams, which is 16 parents and 16 children, with complimentary food and drink,” Krolikowski said. “And the parents don’t have to be members. I give the Gulf Stream School top priority, and then I open it up to our members. We fill it right up and they have a great time.”
    Soon enough, Pemberton checks her watch and sees it’s time to head back. Worn out by the exercise, the students line up and trudge the quarter-mile back to campus.
    “A lot of these kids come to my summer camp, and we have Thanksgiving and Christmas camps too,” Krolikowski said. “Our junior program is growing; we had 13 at my Christmas camp and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ My main goal is to let them have fun while learning the game, and that seems to be working.”

By Willie Howard

    Boating the waters near Mar-a-Lago was restricted when then President-elect Donald Trump visited his luxurious estate in Palm Beach for the holidays during late December and early January.
    Boaters enjoying the waters near the Southern Boulevard Bridge probably noticed the orange Coast Guard boat with a machine gun mounted on the bow stationed in the Lake Worth Lagoon just west of Mar-a-Lago.
    Offshore boaters might have noticed the Coast Guard cutter in the ocean east of Mar-a-Lago.
    But it’s not clear how many boaters were aware of the three “security zones” on the water established by the Coast Guard and other law-enforcement agencies to protect Trump.
    The Coast Guard announced the zones with a press release and with postings on its Twitter and Facebook accounts. (Search for U.S. Coast Guard Southeast on Facebook and use @uscgsoutheast on Twitter.)
    The Coast Guard will not say whether the same security zones will apply whenever Trump comes to Mar-a-Lago, but it’s safe to say that some sort of boating zones are likely.
    Penalties for violating the boating security zones included a civil fine of $88,000, a criminal penalty of up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 12 years, according to the Coast Guard.
    No boaters were found in violation of the boating zones when Trump visited over the holidays, according to the Coast Guard’s District 7 public affairs office in Miami.
    “Several boaters were reminded of the security zones, but there were no repeat offenders that resulted in fines,” said Eric Woodall, a Coast Guard public affairs specialist.

Bahamas requires license, guides for flats fishing
    Anglers ages 12 and over intending to fish flats in the Bahamas for bonefish, permit and other shallow-water fish must first buy a license.
    The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism recently announced the flats fishing license requirement, effective Jan. 9.
    A “personal angler’s license” is $15 daily, $20 weekly and $30 monthly. Annual nonresident licenses cost $60. Also, a certified guide must be hired for every two anglers.
    The new regulations were called “unnecessary and counterproductive” by the Abaco Fly Fishing Guides Association.
    The regulations define “flats” as areas with 1 to 6 feet of water with habitats such as sand, mud and mangroves.
    Bonefish, permit, tarpon, snook and cobia caught on the flats must be released under the regulations.
Bahamians can keep one flats fish daily for personal consumption, but Americans and other visitors must release all fish caught on the flats, said Richard Treco, a manager with the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism office in Plantation.

    The regulations ban commercial fishing on the flats.
    Applications for a personal angler’s license must be submitted in hard copy (until an electronic processing system is established) at administrators’ offices throughout the Bahamas. For visitors, they must be stamped at the port of entry.
    Many guides and lodges are buying licenses ahead of time for their clients as a service, said Cindy Pinder, secretary of the fly fishing guides association.
    “Rollout of the licensing scheme before the online mechanism was in place was a foolhardy decision on the minister’s part,” Pinder said.
    Penalties for violating the Bahamas flats fishing regulations include fines of up to $5,000, up to three months in jail (or both), as well as possible forfeiture of boats, fishing gear and vehicles.
    For more information, go to www.Bahamas.com/fishing or call the Bahamas Tourist Office in Plantation, (954) 236-9292.

Fishing poetry contest
    South Florida fishing fans will have a chance to test their skills at writing poems based on the Delray Beach Historical Society’s Fish Tales! exhibit.
    The free poetry contest based on the popular exhibit is being organized as part of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival.
    Contest organizers suggest that contestants first visit the Fish Tales! fishing history exhibit, then write a poem of up to 30 lines for the contest, inspired by the exhibit.
    Only one poem per person will be reviewed. The deadline for submission is March 1. Winners will be announced in April.
    Prize for the best poem: $100. Four $25 prizes also will be awarded. The 10 best entries will be published online.
    For details on the poetry contest, visit: www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/news/fish-tales-poetry-contest/
    Winnie Edwards, the historical society’s executive director, said the Fish Tales! exhibit has attracted about 2,000 people and will remain open through late spring.
    The exhibit features more than 300 historical photos of fishing, diving and related events, along with antique rods, reels, fishing tackle and diving gear.
    It’s open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Delray Beach Historical Society’s campus, 3 NE First St., Delray Beach.Admission is free. Donations are appreciated. 274-9578 or www.delraybeachhistory.org.

Double Take wins
Silver Sailfish Derby
    The Key Largo-based fishing team on Double Take, led by Capt. Mike Laufle, released nine sailfish to win the 80th annual Silver Sailfish Derby, a sailfish release tournament hosted Jan. 5-6 by the West Palm Beach Fishing Club.
    The Juno Beach-based fishing team on Goin’ Raptor, led by Capt. Will Sabayrac, also posted nine releases for the tournament but finished second overall based on the time of the releases.
    Capt. Jamie Ralph and his team on Pro Payroll, based in Lantana, finished third with eight releases.
    Fishing was relatively slow. Anglers on 40 boats released 153 sailfish in two days of fishing — down from 166 sailfish released by 37 boats in the 2016 Derby.
But when winter winds kicked up heavy seas a few days later, it stoked the sailfish action in the 45th Annual Gold Cup Invitational Team Fishing Tournament, held Jan. 8-12.
A record 448 sailfish were released by 21 boats in three days of fishing during this year’s Gold Cup.
Heavy seas kept most at the docks in the first day of the tournament, but on the second day 20 boats released 199 sailfish, a one-day tournament record.
Capt. Jon Brooks and his fishing team on Ditch Digger won top boat and took home the Gold Cup trophy, with 38 sailfish releases posted in three days of fishing.

Fly fishing for billfish
    Renowned billfish angler Nick Smith will speak on fly fishing for sailfish and marlin Feb. 22 at the West Palm Beach Fishing Club.
    Smith is a lifelong blue-water angler who won the fishing club’s Donald S. Leas III International Angling Trophy for numerous sailfish and marlin releases on fly during 2016.
    The free speaker meetings, held the first and fourth Wednesdays of most months, begin at 7 p.m. in the club’s headquarters at 201 Fifth St. in downtown West Palm Beach.
    At the March 1 meeting, angler Rich Vidulich will share methods and locations for catching pompano.
    For more information about the fishing club and upcoming speakers, go to www.westpalmbeachfishingclub.org or call 832-6780.

Coming events
    Feb. 4: 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 adults, $20 ages 12 to 19. Register at the door. Bring lunch. 391-3600 or fso-pe@cgauxboca.org.
    Feb. 16-20: The 2017 Progressive Insurance Miami International Boat Show will be at the Miami Marine Stadium on Rickenbacker Causeway. (Strictly Sail Miami will be held on the same dates at Miamarina at Bayside Marketplace.) Show hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Adult admission is $25 except Feb. 16, when admission is $40. For details about this year’s boat show, including tickets for the show and parking, go to www.miamiboatshow.com or call (954) 441-3220.
    Feb. 25: Boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the classroom building next to the boat ramps, Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee $20. For ages 14-18, fee is $10. Family rate for three or more people $50. Under age 14 free. Register at the door. 704-7440.

Tip of the month
    Snook season opened Feb. 1 and will remain open through May 31 along Florida’s east coast.
    Spring can be a great time to catch snook at spillways, at fishing piers, inlet jetties and from boats in the Lake Worth Lagoon.
    Snook are both beautiful and delicious, but anglers should brush up on the state’s strict snook regulations before heading out to fish for the popular silver fish with distinctive black lateral lines.
    To be legal to keep on the state’s east coast, snook must measure between 28 inches and 32 inches in total length. The daily bag limit is one snook.
    No multiple-pronged hooks may be used to take snook when fishing with live or dead bait. Spearing snook is prohibited.
    Anglers who plan to keep a snook must have a snook permit in addition to a Florida saltwater fishing license — unless they’re under age 16, Florida residents age 65 or older, or otherwise exempt from the license requirement.
    When fishing for snook, be sure to have a measuring device ready. Because so many snook are not of legal size, anglers should think ahead about how they will handle them before they’re released.
    Keep snook in the water as much as possible. For photos, ready the camera before lifting them out of the water for a few seconds — or photograph them in the water. Support snook under the belly when lifting them, and lower them gently back into the water.
    Try using non-offset circle hooks to reduce the chance of deep-hooking snook, especially when fishing with live bait. Consider flattening the hook barbs on lures used to target snook.

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

Peter and Carmel Baronoff believe in giving back to the community.

Photo provided

By Amy Woods
    
    He serves on the board of trustees for Boca Raton Regional Hospital, chairs its medical staff review committee and runs one of the largest health care companies in the United States.
    She has a background in bodybuilding, culinary arts and modeling and hosts a weekly television show about living life to the fullest. She wrote a book about it, too.
    Both their résumés are reason enough for Peter and Carmel Baronoff to win a Boca Raton Rotary Club OPAL (Outstanding People And Leaders) Award. Add in their tireless philanthropic work raising scholarship funds to send local students to college, and they define the acronym.
    Peter Baronoff, 58, a longtime Rotary member who chaired the ceremony in previous years, said news of the personal honor took him by surprise. He was having lunch with another Rotarian, thinking they were going to discuss nominees for the award’s health-and-wellness category, when the following exchange occurred.
    “He stopped me in the middle of our conversation while I was making a suggestion,” Peter Baronoff said. “Then he said, ‘Unfortunately, you couldn’t be there, but we’ve already decided who’s going to be this year’s honoree.’ And I said, ‘How can you do that to me?’ And he said, ‘Real simple: Because it is you and Carmel.’ It kind of caught me in my tracks.”
    The lunch companion, Irving Gutin, died two months later, making the moment even more poignant.
    “He was going to present Carmel and me the award,” Peter Baronoff said.
    The OPAL Award recognizes Boca Raton residents who have demonstrated a commitment to serve their community through charity efforts aimed at making the area a better place to live, work and play.
    The Baronoffs will join honorees Arthur Adler, Yvonne Boice-Zucaro and Jordan Zimmerman on Jan. 14 at the Boca West Country Club.
    “Carmel and I have always believed in giving back to the community,” Baronoff said. “We’ve been blessed with so many wonderful things in our lives. We like to help others. It’s just something that’s ingrained in us. Getting this award means we are doing the right thing.”
    Carmel Baronoff, 56, who has a degree from the Florida Culinary Institute, now the Lincoln Culinary Institute, puts it to good use.
    She frequently offers to prepare dinners for 10 as auction items and, to date, has raised $20,000 doing so. She also volunteered to cook a meal for more than 100 at another charity event.
    “Whoever calls us, we help them,” she said. “It’s a team. People get awards, but you really can’t do anything without support and help.”
    One of her most passionate causes is clothing and feeding single mothers and their children. She does so as president of St. Jude Catholic Church’s Council of Catholic Women.
    “People who do not have food and clothes in Florida is mind-blowing to me,” she said. “It’s here, and it’s right in our neighborhood. Even Mother Teresa said you don’t need to go to India to see the poor. And she was right.”

If You Go
What: Rotary Club of Boca Raton’s OPAL Awards
When: 6:30 p.m. reception, 7:30 p.m. dinner Jan. 14
Where: Boca West Country Club, 20583 Boca West Drive, Boca Raton
Cost: $250
Information: Call 477-7180 or visit opalawards.com or rotarydowntownbocaraton.org