By Sallie James

    Height is hot. At least talking about it is in Boca Raton.
    That’s why council members plan to discuss later this month an ordinance that would limit building heights in areas zoned local business and multifamily residential.
    Council members scrapped plans to review the height-related ordinance on April 26 and voted to continue the matter until May 24 because so few residents were in attendance.
    The proposed ordinance would limit building heights in the B-1 business-zoning district to 30 feet and accessory buildings in the R-2 multifamily zoning district to 25 feet.
    Both zoning categories currently allow building heights up to 50 feet with City Council approval.
    The issue rose to new heights in May 2015 when City Council members approved Chabad of East Boca’s plans to build an 18,000-square-foot synagogue and high-tech Israel museum at 770 E. Palmetto Park Road in a B-1 zoning district.
    The city gave Chabad permission to exceed the permitted 30-foot height limit by about 10 feet, touching off a furor among local home and business owners.
    Opponents of the project protested loudly, claiming the increased height would be intrusive.
    Many homeowners said the city’s approval of the project’s increased height would set a precedent for even taller developments, which could ruin the ambiance of the area.
    Two residents also sued the city in federal court, claiming their rights to equal protection and due process were violated when the city created a special zoning classification that paved the way for the controversial synagogue.
    A trial date was recently set for April 17, 2017, in the case.
    Deputy Mayor Mike Mullaugh said the city wants to proceed sensibly, so waiting until more residents were in attendance seemed logical.
    “The basic idea was: Let’s just figure out how we can make as formal rules as we can about height so we don’t get into so much of this controversy,” Mullaugh said. “Everyone who is planning [to build] will know exactly what the rules are and what height they are allowed to build to.”
    On the other hand, he acknowledged, such height restrictions could be limiting.
    “You take away the flexibility if something different were to come along,” Mullaugh said. “Because of that, we obviously need a lot of public comment.”
    City Council member Scott Singer said the proposed ordinance wasn’t the result of neighbors’ concerns but rather an acknowledgement by the council that existing height standards might not be appropriate.

By Sallie James

    If someone was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Boca Raton City Council, that person could serve up to two years without voter approval.
    It’s a dynamic that council member Scott Singer thinks is just too long.
    Singer has proposed a charter amendment that would require council vacancies to be filled by special election. Singer introduced the proposed charter change at the April 26 council meeting, saying the amendment would put control back into voters’ hands.
    “When the city switched to the three-year term and election cycle, it left open the possibility that voters would have an appointed member who served nearly two-thirds of the term before an election,” Singer said. A deputy mayor who fills a mayoral vacancy could also serve nearly two years, he noted.
    “Shouldn’t residents have the greatest say?” Singer said.
    The measure would come before voters on the Aug. 30 ballot if council members approve the amendment.
    According to the proposed change, a special election to fill a council vacancy would be held no more than 60 days after the day the vacancy occurred, or as soon as possible. But if the vacancy occurred within 150 days of a previously scheduled federal, state, countywide or regular city election, the special election could be held concurrently with the previously scheduled election.
    The charter change does allow for a temporary council appointment to serve until the office is filled by election.
    The same parameters would apply for mayoral vacancies.
    “Giving residents the right to choose their elected officials, rather than by appointment, is much more representative of democracy,” Singer said. “While this issue comes up rarely, when it does, I think people should have their say.”

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Boca Raton’s deputy fire chief has moved two towns north to take the reins as chief of Boynton Beach’s Fire Rescue Department.
    “I know about the passion of the firefighters that work here (and) bring to the job every day, the passion about the city, the commitment,” new Chief Glenn Joseph said. “I want to be a part of that passion.”
    Joseph, who took command May 2, worked for the city of Boca Raton for 29 years, the past nine as deputy fire chief. “He must have started when he was 10,” City Manager Lori LaVerriere joked as she introduced Joseph to the city commission April 5.
    Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes both contract with Boynton Beach for fire services.
    LaVerriere said she, the city’s HR chief and Ray Carter, the now-retired fire chief Joseph replaces, interviewed nine or 10 people for the job. “He rose to the top of a very competitive candidate pool,” she said.
    Joseph, who lives in Delray Beach, also is an instructor at the National Fire Academy in Maryland and develops and coordinates class courses for Jupiter-based Advanced Technical and Educational Consultants Inc., which trains federal, state and local emergency services providers.
    The new chief has a wide range of experience, including coordinating and managing emergency and administrative functions, the city said. Prior to his position as Boca Raton’s deputy fire chief, Joseph served as its acting division chief of safety and training, captain of the training and safety division, EMS captain, station captain, paramedic, fire safety inspector and hazardous materials technician.
    Joseph has a bachelor’s in organizational management at Palm Beach Atlantic University and a master’s in emergency planning and administration at Lynn University. He holds eight state licenses: paramedic, firefighter, safety inspector, fire-fighting instructor, fire officer 1, fire instructor III, hazardous materials technician and fire investigator 1.
    In addition, he is licensed as a registered professional nurse; he worked at Delray Medical Center from 1996 to 2004.
    “I am confident that working together we can continue the city of Boynton Beach’s long-standing tradition of excellence and grow the department well into the future,” Joseph said in a statement.
    Carter resigned Jan. 31 after 11½ years with Boynton Beach and 32 years as a firefighter and fire chief in West Palm Beach. The Boynton Beach fire union presented him with a hunting rifle at a retirement party in February.
    Deputy Chief Greg Hoggatt served as interim fire chief until Joseph took over.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Boca Raton officials are reviewing plans for a second, four-story residence on the ocean east of A1A.
    Vero Beach-based civil engineers Schulke, Bittle & Stoddard LLC designed a 14,270-square-foot duplex for the 0.42-acre parcel at 2600 N. Ocean Blvd.
    The city’s Planning Advisory Review was notified of the oceanfront development proposal at its April 5 meeting. The Planning Advisory Review consists of representatives from city departments and noncity agencies who meet regularly to discuss proposals for development.
    The plans for 2600 N. Ocean were sent to the city just as the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District was deciding not to pursue buying undeveloped parcels on the beach. It had developed a list of possible purchases, with 2600 N. Ocean Blvd. seeming to be the most available, after being asked to do so by Mayor Susan Haynie.
    Her request followed a public outcry after the City Council approved variances for a 10,432-square-foot mega-mansion at 2500 N. Ocean Blvd. Residents said the four-story structure would change the face of the beach, disorient sea turtles and set an unwelcome precedent for development.
    “If sellers know that you are in the market for property and this is your goal, trying to acquire property for market value is going to be extremely difficult. You’re going to be paying somewhat of a very unknown premium,” Arthur Koski, the district’s interim executive director, said at the district’s April 4 meeting.
    “I have little interest in using tax dollars to buy noncontiguous pieces,” Commissioner Dennis Frisch said. “Public property that people can’t access and use in my opinion would be a waste of the funds that we have.”
    Details of the larger structure proposed for 2600 N. Ocean have not been discussed in public. The parcel is owned by Grand Bank National Association. The submission is considered “preliminary” and was done to obtain general comments about whether the proposal meets the city’s development requirements or can be supported by city staff.
    Janet Graham, part-owner along with other residents of Northeast 24th Street of a beach access corridor east of A1A, told the beach and park district in February that she is not interested in selling her portion for public use.
    Al Petruzzelli, her uncle, who owns a duplex next to the pathway and just north of the district’s Ocean Strand parcel, also is not willing to sell, Graham said.

By Steve Plunkett
    
    Arthur Koski’s job at the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District seems secure if district commissioners, his bosses, have any say.
    Or perhaps, because they have very little to say.
    Only one has responded to City Council member Robert Weinroth’s demand that they hire a full-time executive director instead of Koski, who also has a private law practice downtown.
    “I would like to go on the record,” Commissioner Susan Vogelgesang said at the April 4 meeting. “Mr. Koski, I owe you an apology for not speaking up at our last meeting when someone thought you should be ousted as the interim executive director. I think you do a fine job.”
    It wasn’t the first time the city has angled for Koski’s being replaced. City officials last year inserted a clause in a proposed agreement requiring the district to have a full-time executive director.
    Vogelgesang also said she thinks Koski, as a lawyer, would recuse himself from a legal case if there ever was a conflict.
    “I appreciate the work that you do,” she said.
    Weinroth, at the time Boca Raton’s deputy mayor, complained at the district’s March 14 meeting that Koski is representing two residents in a lawsuit against the city challenging its approval of the development of the Chabad of East Boca Raton on the barrier island portion of Palmetto Park Road.
    Koski has said he sees no conflict.

By Mary Hladky

    Hoping to mollify residents who oppose their plans for a 384-unit luxury condominium, the developer and architect of the proposed $500 million Mizner 200 have redrawn their plans once again.
    Unveiling them to residents attending a May 3 meeting of the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowner Associations, architect Peter Stromberg, of Garcia Stromberg/GS4Studios in West Palm Beach, said he and developer Elad National Properties have listened to residents’ concerns and made substantial adjustments to the project. It would replace the Mizner on the Green rental townhomes — which will be demolished — on Southeast Mizner Boulevard.
    The square footage has been reduced by 10 percent and, in turn, the size of the units decreased to an average of 2,000 square feet, setbacks have been increased by 30 to 60 feet, and more green space has been added.
    In response to residents’ main complaint that, at more than 900 feet in length, the nine-story building is too massive, Stromberg said it has, in effect, been divided into three sections connected only on the first and second floors. A portion adjacent to the neighboring Townsend Place condo has been redesigned so that condo’s ocean views are not impeded.
    Traffic generated by the development would not be significantly more than that created by residents of the 246-unit, Mizner on the Green, he said.
    “[Mizner 200] is a great project for Boca Raton,” Stromberg said.
    The revisions follow an outcry from BocaWatch and BocaBeautiful, two organizations that have said Mizner 200 is not compatible with the city’s signature Addison Mizner architecture.
    Several residents who spoke at the meeting heralded the changes.
    “I must admit what I have seen here is impressive,” said James Hendrey. “They have made significant changes.”
    But those who live near the proposed Mizner 200 are not yet won over.
    One Townsend Place resident said her property value would decrease if the project is built because the building will block the sun and her ocean views.
    “We implore you to rethink the south side of your design,” Eileen Sweeney said.  “We won’t be able to see anything from our property.”
    Financial and economic consultant Ann Witte, a Townsend Place resident and vice president of BocaBeautiful, said after the meeting that Mizner 200 would be detrimental to most of her condo’s 195 units and seriously so to about 50.
    She also has concerns that, given the high cost of the project, the units will be priced too high to attract buyers.
    “Developers and commercial real estate brokers have concerns about the economic viability of the project and if Elad will be putting money into the project,” she said. “If it’s not economically viable, what are their intentions?”
    Bonnie Miskel, a Boca Raton attorney who represents Elad, said the cost is not as high as some residents have calculated, and that for Elad to get a construction loan, banks will require it to put up 20-25 percent equity.
    Elad officials “are talking to banks now,” Miskel said. “They wouldn’t even be talking if [Elad] didn’t have the financial wherewithal.”
    The latest proposal marks the fourth time Elad has floated plans for the nearly 9-acre site. When first proposed, it included four towers designed by prominent “starchitect” Daniel Libeskind that rose as high as 30 stories and greatly exceeded the city’s height limits for that part of downtown.
    When that proposal stirred outrage and proved to be a non-starter, Elad returned with the proposed Sol-A-Mar, but four of its seven buildings exceeded height limits.
    In January, Elad submitted plans for Mizner 200 — this time right in line with what the city allows.
    Plans for the latest iteration of Mizner 200 have not yet been submitted to the city. Additional changes may be made before that happens.

Jellybean, a Lhasa apso-shih tzu mix, was kicked

into the Intracoastal after having speaker wire

wrapped around its neck and a hind leg.

Photo provided

By Sallie James

    A dog bound with speaker wire and then kicked into the Intracoastal Waterway has been returned to its original owner: the son of the woman who is accused of leaving the animal to drown.
    Jellybean, as police named the dog, was returned to Richard Ostrovski on April 22, 11 days after his mother, Eva Klein, was accused of kicking the bound animal into the water off a boat ramp at Silver Palm Park.
    Bystanders rescued the struggling dog, a Lhasa apso-shih tzu mix.
    Klein, 60, is charged with felony cruelty to animals and was issued a “no contact” order to stay away from the dog. Bystanders told police the dog had speaker wire wrapped tightly around its neck and also tied to one of its back legs when they pulled it out of the water.
    David Walesky, operations manager for Palm Beach Animal Care and Control, said the dog was returned to Ostrovski under a settlement agreement that bars Klein from ever being near the dog.
    “The woman has a no-contact order. She is not allowed around the dog,” Walesky said. “The legal owner is the son, and there was no legal reason why we could justify not giving it back to him.”
    Klein’s attorney, Craig Blinderman, said Ostrovski gave the dog to his mother a few years ago because he lived in an apartment and couldn’t keep the animal there. But Ostrovski now lives in a house and was able to take back the dog, Blinderman said.
    Blinderman declined to discuss further details of the case, but said Klein does not admit to any wrongdoing.
    According to a police report, Klein had the dog with her about 9:30 p.m. on April 11 at the Silver Palm Park boat ramp, at 600 E. Palmetto Park Road, when she wrapped black speaker wire several times around the dog’s neck, tied the wire to one of its back legs and then kicked it into the water.
    Klein, who called the dog “Chappy,” told fisherman Greg Bunch, 53, that her dog liked to swim from one side of the Intracoastal Waterway to the other. Bunch questioned Klein about the perils of rough water and predators such as sharks, but walked off when she changed the subject to dancing, according to the report.
    A short time later, Bunch told police he saw Klein leave the park without the dog. Then he heard a whimper.
    “Bunch observed Klein’s dog in the water near the north corner of the dock that is connected to the drawbridge,” the police report states.
    Bunch summoned two others, who used a boat to help pluck the struggling animal from the rough water. Bunch used his fishing knife to cut the speaker wire from around the dog’s neck and rear leg, according to the police report.
    “It should be noted that Klein’s method of tightly wrapping a wire around the dog’s neck, tying it to one back leg, and then pushing it into the Intracoastal is a premeditated action that will surely cause the death of the animal if it had not been rescued,” an officer wrote in the report. “When the dog swam, the wire would tighten around the neck, eventually causing the dog to strangle himself due to the lack of oxygen . . . in a short period of time the dog would have drowned.

By Ron Hayes

    City Manager Don Cooper has named Neal de Jesus, a veteran fire chief of two South Florida departments, to replace Chief Danielle Connor, who retires May 31 after a 23-year career with Delray Beach.
    De Jesus, 54, retired from Coral Gables Fire-Rescue in 2002 after a 20-year career with that city. In 2010, he resigned after two years as a city commissioner of Cooper City to join the Broward County Sheriff’s Office Fire Rescue and Emergency Services, which he left in 2013 after the election of Sheriff Scott Israel.
    In announcing de Jesus’ selection, Cooper said he would begin work in early May to provide a smooth transition by working with Connor.
    “I am excited for the opportunity to serve alongside Fire Chief Connor during the transition as I begin to lead the men and women of this great organization,” de Jesus said in a statement.
     “I am confident that by committing to working collaboratively with the community, all fire rescue personnel, the union leadership and city staff, we will build a team that delivers an extremely high level of service that sets the standard for best practice and which is second to none.”
    Connor introduced de Jesus at the April 12 Delray Beach City Commission meeting.
    Mayor Cary Glickstein thanked Connor for her professionalism and dignified manner in running the department, particularly in the past few years when two consolidations with Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue were considered.

Jane Smith contributed to this story.

Dredging equipment fills the central beach of Boca Raton in late April.

The pipes and bulldozers were removed after work was halted.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Steve Plunkett
    
    The city’s dredge contractor has left Boca Raton after completing about 20 percent of a beach renourishment project between Red Reef Park and the Boca Raton Inlet. It will return in December to finish.
    The city’s permit to dredge was set to expire on April 30.
    Palm Beach County Reef Rescue, a group of scuba-diving conservationists who were monitoring the project, announced the suspension of the work on April 25, less than an hour after the dredge vessel operated by New Jersey-based Weeks Marine Inc. left the site.
    The city hired Weeks Marine to move approximately 530,000 cubic yards of sand from borrow areas offshore onto the area it calls its central beach. The sand was to make approximately 1.45 miles of beach 170 feet wider.
    Work was originally scheduled to begin in February but did not start until the end of March because of bad weather.
    The city had planned to post updates of the project online as well as photo submissions from the public. But it made only three entries:
    • “Weeks Marine Dredge arrived offshore of the project site on 3/29.”
    • “The Contractor began pumping sand onto the beach on March 30, 2016.”
    • “As of April 13, 2016, the Contractor is currently placing sand between Life guard towers 3 and 4 and will continue working south.”
    The renourishment contract is for $11.3 million, with the state and county paying about $4 million.
    The city and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District agreed to split the remainder, with each entity paying $3.7 million. The city considers the project to be routine maintenance; the central beach was last renourished in 2006.
    The project caused Gumbo Limbo Nature Center specialists to move the first sea turtle nest of the season, a leatherback’s that was found March 24 in South Beach Park. It and a second leatherback nest were relocated outside the project zone to Red Reef Park.

By Rich Pollack

    Responding to safety concerns expressed by town commissioners, Florida Department of Transportation officials have come up with a nearly $200,000 plan to address flooding issues on State Road A1A through Highland Beach.
    “It’s a safety issue and our main priority is to ensure the safety of people using A1A,” said Town Commissioner Rhoda Zelniker.
    During an April commission meeting, James Poole, FDOT’s district drainage engineer, and Jorge Corrales, FDOT’s district drainage designer, from FDOT’s Fort Lauderdale office, unveiled a plan to alleviate major flooding issues in the town.
    The work could begin in several months, probably before the end of the year.
The first remedy residents are likely to see would be maintenance work being done where the roadway meets the swales.
    Corrales said that in some areas water can’t drain because the grass roots are higher than the edge of the road, forming what is essentially a grass curb.
    Under the proposed plan, maintenance contractors hired by the state would go in and remove grass from the shoulder of the road and dig up grass next to the pavement edge, making it easier for water to flow off the road.
    Poole said that before work could begin, crews must look at permits to ensure there are no irrigation systems or other equipment that would be impacted.
In some areas, Corrales and Poole said, crews would have to install concrete flumes through the rights of way and create new swales to absorb water.
Other areas, especially on the west side of A1A, could see sidewalks raised and sand bases installed that could more easily absorb water.
    Another solution would be for engineers to install permeable pavement accompanied by underground drainage.
    Poole said the total cost of the project would be about $199,424 but that could go higher if design elements are necessary.
    “We have a couple of funding strategies in mind,” Poole said.
He and Corrales told town officials a survey had been done to determine where flooding occurred during rainstorms, to identify causes of the drainage issues and suggest possible solutions.
    The study identified nine sites in the town where there is flooding on the road and on the sidewalks, 37 sites where there is flooding on the shoulder and 10 sites where there is flooding in driveways.
    According to Corrales, existing landscaping along A1A and modifications to driveways along the roadway are among the biggest problems.
He said grass and hedges have elevated root beds that block the swales from absorbing water.
    Another problem, he said, is that driveways along the state road slope toward the road, dumping runoff onto the shoulder.

Tia Jenkins pitches her idea for Switchy Shoes, which earned her the largest cash prize

at Florida Atlantic University’s Tech Runway.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Lucy Lazarony

    Eighteen entrepreneurial youths, members of the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy, made their final pitches to a panel of investors at Florida Atlantic University’s Tech Runway on April 6.  
    The ideas were innovative: online gourmet home-baked goods, silk shirts scented with essential oils, packaged organic crockpot meals for busy moms, a website that connects students with performing arts teachers, a website that connects interns with businesses, a backpack organizer, a solar panel for backpacks and bracelets called “Moody Buddhi.”
    The Young Entrepreneurs Academy is a program of the Boca Chamber’s Golden Bell Education Foundation.
    Student entrepreneurs had been working on their businesses for six months. Each had five minutes to make a pitch for funding from the investor panel made up of Palm Beach County business leaders.
    “These students represent the future innovators and job creators in Boca Raton,” said Jenna Reed, development director for the Golden Bell Education Foundation & YEA!
    With a slogan of “Where there is sweetness for everyone,” Indira Fields of Boca Raton Community High School pitched “Sweeter Things,” her online gourmet baked goods company, which she launched in March.
    Fields started baking about four years ago and shared samples of her products — homemade coconut macaroons, chocolate chip cheesecake and white chocolate blondies — with investors.
    Pine Crest School’s Adrian Abedon of Adrian’s Kitchen promoted “healthy, organic, great-tasting slow cooker meals” that take less than five minutes to prepare. He plans to sell the prepackaged crockpot meals to 4th Generation Organic Market in Boca Raton.  
    And Arianna Staton of Spanish River High pitched her Applause website. “Applause connects aspiring students with teachers of the arts,” she explained to investors.
    But the big winners of the night were the home-schooled Tia Jenkins of Boca Raton, who received first place for “Switchy Shoes,” and North Broward Prep School’s Bryan Edwards for “Baby Go-Go,” a small backpack with baby essentials, including two diapers, for on-the-go parents.  
    With Jenkins’ Switchy Shoes, “one pair of shoes, tons of possibilities,” you are able to switch the color of ballet shoes with ease from black to white, tan or pink, the colors used often in the performing arts.  
    Jenkins demonstrated her prototype to investors, changing the color of her ballet shoes by slipping Switchy Shoes covers over the shoes she was wearing. She earned a prize of  $2,300 from investors.
Edwards as first runner-up was awarded $1,474.96.   
Student entrepreneurs requested different dollar amounts from investors, with each student receiving $100 minimum for his or her efforts.
    Other big-dollar investments for student businesses went to Abedon’s Adrian’s Kitchen, $1,250, and Staton’s Applause, $1,750.  
    Young entrepreneurs participating in the Investor Panel Competition were Adrian Abedon, Pine Crest School; David Benjamin, Miramar High School; Bryan Edwards, North Broward Prep School; Indira Fields, Boca Raton High; Regina Howson, Boca Raton High; Tia Jenkins, home school; Cody Katari, Pine Crest; Ori Leibovici, Dreyfoos High School of the Arts; Skylar Mandell, St. Andrew’s School; Tarini Padmanabhan, Pine Crest; Maxwell Peck, St. Andrew’s; Nicole Rafferty, St. Joan of Arc; Nicholas Schauer, Boca Raton High; Leah Serrano, Westglades Middle School; Charlot Silien, West Boca Raton Community High School; Arianna Staton, Spanish River High; Landon Tice, North Broward Prep; and Jordan Zakka, Pope John Paul II High. 

By Lona O'Connor

    Someone near you suffers from a mental illness. That’s the first thing mental health professionals want you to know during May, Mental Health Month.
    According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the National Institute of Mental Health, about 1 in 4 American adults suffers from some form of mental illness.
    About 1 in 5 children experiences severe mental disorders, according to NAMI, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, mood disorders and major depression.
    “Mental illness is a really loaded term,” says Terri Mortensen, child and family program manager at the Faulk Center for Counseling in Boca Raton. The center offers low-cost treatment for children and adults and runs a number of support groups in Palm Beach County.
    “People have thoughts automatically coming into their heads, images from movies and television,” Mortensen says. “Therapy is often a mystery to people. If you have diabetes, you go to the doctor and take the medicine, but depression and anxiety are just as valid and their physical impact has been shown to be significant.”
    Everyone looks at mental health in a different way, depending on background and culture.
    “In Haiti, there is no concept of mental health,” says Sarah Selznick, senior director of programming at the Achievement Centers for Children and Families, which serves the Haitian-American and African-American communities in Delray Beach. “They don’t know that support is available, or that they can reach out to someone who could help.”
    The solution, says Selznick’s colleague Joanna Reid, takes time and patience. “When I say I can help you, there is skepticism, so first I have to build trust.” Several staff members at the center speak Creole; other staff members visit families at home to explain services to them and listen to their concerns.
    Besides depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and other illnesses, there are also mental illnesses triggered by tragedies like the death of a spouse or major life changes like aging, divorce, physical illness — even seemingly happy events like retirement or having a baby.
    “Everybody has difficult times, things they’re dealing with,” says Mortensen. “Not every one of those rises to the level of needing outside intervention. Sometimes you just have to have coping skills in place.” Individual and group therapy usually occurs in a definite time frame, says Mortensen. “The goal is for people to not have to continue in therapy forever, but to find the tools to manage life issues that come up,” says Mortensen.
    Support groups, by contrast, can go on for years and may produce friendships.
    For those who have lost a spouse, for example, the time quickly arrives when the condolence cards have stopped coming and even the most sympathetic friends have gone back to their own lives.
    “People are starting to tell them to get over it,” says Mortensen.
That’s the time when a group of people in a similar situation is the best tonic.  
    “People say they can talk in our group about things that are bothering them, they can talk about their lost spouses,” says Fran Rosenheck of Boca Raton, who is a volunteer with a widow/widowers group at the Faulk Center. Rosenheck joined a bereavement group after losing her husband as a young woman. She liked the idea of being able to help others in a similar support group.
    “One member of the group said, ‘I don’t know what I would have done without this group,’ ” said Rosenheck. “They really get close to each other.”
    Merle Krimsky of Boca Raton and Philadelphia works with a Faulk Center support group of about 25 people who are divorced or separated.
“This group is so tight. There is such a strong bond,” says Krimsky. “You need that when you’re separated or divorced. They watch out for each other.”
    Lisa Stebbins, a psychology student at Florida Atlantic University, works with a group of people in their 80s and 90s.
    “They could feel lonely because their wife or someone else is not even with them anymore,” says Stebbins. “My purpose is for them to have someone to hear them.”
    Many people do not know what to say when they encounter a friend who is struggling. They may feel awkward or even frightened by seeing someone else’s anguish.
    “If a person seems kind of off, you could say, how’s everything with you?” suggests Mortensen. “That’s different from, what’s the matter with you today? Instead, you keep it open, you ask with some care and concern.”
    If the friend confides that he or she is feeling anxious or depressed, says Mortensen, “you can respond with something like, I imagine that’s really hard for you, an empathetic statement. You don’t have to solve the problem. People just want someone to listen. You might also ask, have you been able to talk to somebody about it?”
    If your feelings are having a negative effect on your life or work, that’s the time to consider talking to a mental health professional, says Mortensen.
    This year’s theme for Mental Health Month is “Life With a Mental Illness.” To share insights into what  a mental illness feels like, participants are tagging social media posts, pictures and video with #mentalillnessfeelslike.
    In recognition of Mental Health Month, the Faulk Center for Counseling, at 22455 Boca Rio Road, Boca Raton, is hosting a butterfly release at 5:30 p.m. on May 12. Suggested donation is $15. For more information call 483-5300 or visit www.faulkcenterforcounseling.org

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

The north end of Delray’s municipal beach
 has been a hangout for catamaran sailors
and their friends for more than 35 years.
Delray Beach resident Bob Kubin sails his catamaran, North East,

from the north end of Delray’s municipal beach.

This part of the beach is often called the Catsailors Yacht Club.

Delray resident Jack Indekeu takes a nap on his catamaran.

An appropriately named catamaran is prepped for launching.

The masts of the catamarans stand above the vegetation on the dunes along A1A in northern Delray Beach.

Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

VIDEO: Watch a sailing encounter with dolphins

Catamaran owners say communal feel
makes area a special place to hang out

By Willie Howard

    The north end of Delray Beach’s municipal beach is easy walking distance from the more crowded sections of public beach near Atlantic Avenue.
    But culturally speaking, Delray’s sailboat beach — marked by dozens of aluminum masts jutting into the sky east of the dune — is a far cry from a typical public beach.
    Populated by veteran sailors and their friends who often gather around the row of sailboats parked on the sand, Delray’s sailing beach boasts a welcoming, club-like atmosphere featuring impromptu parties, visiting dogs, lounging beach readers and oceanfront nappers.  
    “With the boats here, it makes it more communal,” said Bob Kubin, who can create a shaded gathering spot around his Nacra 17 catamaran in a minutes with the help of a few bungee cords and a tarp. “It’s not a bad man cave,” he said.
    Elias Reynolds has been storing a catamaran and sailing from the north end of Delray Beach for 17 years.  
    Reynolds said Delray’s north beach catamaran owners share parts and help each other, in addition to sailing and sometimes racing together. He’s watched kids grow up sailing at the north beach.  
    “I’ve met some great friends here,” Reynolds said while relaxing in a beach chair with friend Barbara Myer. “You can go from Key West past Palm Beach and you won’t find a place like this.”
    There’s almost always somebody to talk to at the sailing beach. Sometimes, the sailors bring food and drinks and make it a beach party.

    Yoga classes, Easter sunrise services, weddings — they all happen on the sailing beach, regulars say.
    “It’s a club without being a club,” Myer said. And, in fact, the area is informally known as the Catsailors Yacht Club.
    When wind conditions are favorable, shoving a boat from the sand and heading out into the open ocean for a few minutes or a few hours of sailing is always an option.  
    Maneuvering boats out beyond the breakers can be tricky, but once sails fill with wind and hulls slice through the blue waves, the cat sailors watch the beach grow smaller behind them as they focus on wind, tacks and leaning back to keep their boats from heeling over too far.
    Some north beach sailors troll for fish while they’re out on the ocean. Others enjoy sailing alongside curious bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles that surface for air or schools of flying fish that burst out from the ocean’s surface and glide over the waves.
     Andrew and Fran Montague of Delray Beach enjoy snorkeling and hunting for shells when they’re not sailing. (They search for shark’s teeth when newly dredged sand hits the beach during beach renourishment projects.)
    Unlike stretches of the municipal beach to the south, the north-end sailing beach is not protected by lifeguards. Andrew Montague, a former lifeguard, said he has saved swimmers who have gotten into trouble off the sailing beach.
    Reaching the beach and parking with bags full of sailing gear can be a challenge. Parallel parking costs $1.50 an hour — if you have plenty of quarters and can find a space.  
    On the other hand, limited parking keeps the sailing beach from becoming too crowded, as does the lack of a restroom.

    Beach sailors often rely on friends to drop them off or devise other means of reaching the beach. Jack and Terri Indekeu come by bicycle on weekends and use a trailer to lug their gear.
    The sailing beach was created by city officials around 1980. Before then, sailboats could be kept anywhere along Delray’s municipal beach, said Rich Connell, a former Delray Beach lifeguard and Ocean Rescue superintendent who retired in 2005 after 30 years with the city.
    Connell said the designated sailboat beach was established after sailboats began to collide with swimmers.
    A common sight on the north beach is someone wandering over to ask how much it costs to rent a sailboat.

    For the record, sailboat rentals are available at the south end of Delray Beach near Casuarina Road and Anchor Park. (Call 279-0008 or go to www.delraybeachwatersports.com.)

    Even though the north-end sailing beach is generally laid-back, there are rules.  
    Boat owners must buy $265 annual permits sand affix the sticker permits to the hulls of their boats to secure their places on the sand. (Sixty permits are available, and they were not sold out as of mid-April.)

    Sailors must steer clear of swimmers in guarded sections of beach to the south. Boats must be inspected, maintained in usable condition, stored east of the dune and secured so they don’t blow around.
    When a hurricane warning is issued, sailboats must be removed from the beach. That’s when the north-beach sailors come together to move boats in a hurry and lash them down in their owners’ yards.
    Mat Urrutia keeps his kayak chained to a friend’s catamaran on the north beach and enjoys spending his afternoons hanging out with the sailors.
    “This is local,” Urrutia said. “There’s no place I’d rather be.
    “This scene ties me to this place.”

By Steve Plunkett
    
    The meeting pitted City Council member Robert Weinroth against a roomful of unhappy Boca Raton residents mostly from the barrier island and downtown.
    The adversarial nature was apparent from the start, when Weinroth noted he brought Mayor Susan Haynie and a deputy city clerk with him and had issued a public notice of the meeting so he and Haynie would not stumble over the Sunshine Laws.
    “This is our meeting, and I appreciate your thoughts, and it’s nice the mayor’s here, but this meeting is for your opportunity to speak with the residents, so we’ll just keep it with you,” said James Hendrey, a member of the board of the Riviera Homeowners Association who organized the April 18 get-together and acted as emcee.
     First question: Would Weinroth be in favor of putting a question on the ballot as to whether voters want a restaurant on the Wildflower property or open green space?
     Before he could answer, Hendrey asked how many in the room preferred a restaurant. Five or six hands went up in the crowd of perhaps 80.
     “There has been a lot of conversation before and during the process getting us to where we are today,” Weinroth began, noting he was not on the council when the city acquired the $7.5 million property.
     Weinroth said video from the Oct. 18, 2011, workshop is still available on the city’s website.
     “The decision was made at that time to go forward with something like what has now been proposed, which would be a restaurant with space so that people could enjoy the waterfront, that they would have free access to the waterfront,” he said.
     “If I could interrupt you for a second,” Hendrey said, “the question is, sir, would you honor and allow the residents of this city to vote their heart on the March election if they wanted a park or if they wanted a restaurant? It’s a real simple question. Please answer.”
     “Well, the answer to that is no, I don’t think so,” Weinroth replied.
     “You would prefer that the citizens don’t vote for what they want?” Hendrey continued.
     “No, what I’m saying is, it’s my feeling that we’ve gone much further down the road on this timeline, and I think that that decision was made many years ago,” Weinroth said.
     “I disagree, because I think most of us have watched that video, sir, and we can tell you that in the video we were promised a park,” Hendrey said.
     And so the evening went. Next question: Do you think that traffic is a growing problem in Boca Raton and in downtown? And if you think it’s a growing problem, what are you going to do about it?
     “Yes, there’s traffic,” Weinroth said. “And yes, every one of us who gets on the road every day probably curses, especially if we get there at 5 o’clock or rush hour and there’s a lot of traffic.”
     But Weinroth blamed the congested roads on “background traffic,” not a lack of planning.
    “We have a lot of traffic coming from outside the city passing through the city,” he said. “It’s like water – if you leave something open the water’s going to find a way in.”
     Next question: Can you name certain projects that you voted for that benefited the public versus the developers in the community?
     Weinroth said he did not keep track of his votes that way and that “we have to accept the fact that developers are not nasty people.” Anyone who wants to see his votes can go to the city’s website, he said, adding that he looks at each decision case by case.
     “The five of us [on the City Council] really are in place not to plan the future but to respond to the things that are brought before us and be able to deal with them logically and legally,” Weinroth said.
     In all, Weinroth fielded questions at the Boca Raton Community Center for almost two hours, including why he grants variances and whether the council would “show some backbone” and “stick with the city codes” the next time a developer threatens a lawsuit.
     Hendrey said council members Scott Singer and Jeremy Rodgers have appeared before the group, which also draws residents from Golden Triangle and Golden Harbour.

Pastor Andrew Hagen of Advent Lutheran also writes online under the moniker ‘The Faster Pastor,’

in part because he loves to ride his Harley-Davidson Sportster.

Photo provided

By Janis Fontaine

    That very creative Pastor Andrew Hagen of Advent Lutheran Church in Boca Raton is at it again.
    He’s written another musical version of a Bible story for his congregation, and he’ll perform it with other actors on May 22.
    Hagen’s first project focused on the Gospel according to Paul. This one, called In These Last Days, was written from Peter’s perspective.
    Hagen, who was born in 1960, has been writing songs since he was a child. He was just the right age when two major Christian musical masterpieces premiered. The first was the 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. JCS was released as an album soundtrack (a vinyl LP) before the show was staged on Broadway in 1971.
    The second was the musical Godspell by John-Michael Tebelak with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. That opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and became one of the most popular shows. Two productions are planned in 2016, in Guatemala City and New Zealand.  
    Both inspired the kid, but “Godspell was my highest inspiration,” Hagen said. “It was the most important, single religious piece of music for me. I love hymns, but Godspell was more.”
    Hagen’s new musical has nine original songs and tells the story of the Pentecost, the important moment when the Holy Spirit appears to the apostles, about seven weeks after Jesus is crucified. It’s based on the story as it’s told in the Book of Acts, the pastor said.
    “As much as possible, I keep the words Biblical, but you do have a certain amount of license.” For example, in this story, the composer created a role from Mary Magdalene.
    Hagen is a self-described Apple freak, and its user-friendly recording software has enabled him to do things he wouldn’t have been able to do 10 years ago.
    “God gave us music to use in a lot of ways,” he said. “Preaching is two dimensions, but musicals are three-dimensional.”
    The performance, In These Last Days: A Musical Worship Experience, will take place from 8:30 to 10 p.m. May 22 at Advent Lutheran Church, 300 E. Yamato Road, Boca Raton. For more information, call 395-3632 or visit www.adventboca.org.

Bill signing at Zinman Hall
    On April 6, Gov. Rick Scott ceremonially signed a state bill (SB 86) that prohibits the state Board of Administration from investing in companies that boycott Israel. The signing took place in Zinman Hall at the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.
    Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera; Lior Haiat, the new consul general of Israel to Florida and Puerto Rico; and federation President and CEO Matthew C. Levin spoke.
    State Sen. Joe Negron and state Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who sponsored the bill in the Legislature, also attended.

Car wash can help kids
The Avenue Church youth group — called The Pursuit — is raising money for its summer mission trip with a car wash from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 7 at Carver Middle School, 101 Barwick Road, Delray Beach.
    The Pursuit, for students in grades 6 through 12, meets on Tuesdays at a private home in Delray Beach. For information, call group leader Chad Kelker at 886-8726 or email youth@theavechurch.com. The Avenue Church is at 2455 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach. Visit www.theavechurch.com.

New rector named
    The Chapel of St. Andrew Episcopal Church in Boca Raton welcomed the Rev. Charles A. Browning II as its new permanent rector on April 12. He’s the chapel’s third rector. The Right Rev. Peter Eaton, the fifth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, presided over the ceremony.
    Praised for his passionate preaching style, Browning, a graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary and Palm Beach Atlantic University, served as assistant rector at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Palm Beach from 2011 to 2013.
    The Chapel of St. Andrew Episcopal Church is at 2707 NW 37th St., Boca Raton. For more information, call 210-2700 or visit www.chapelsta.org.

Woman’s escape from Iran
Author Sima Goel will speak to women about her experiences detailed in her book, Fleeing the Hijab: A Jewish Woman’s Escape From Iran, at Women’s Spring Education Day, hosted by the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County on May 10.
    Goel’s book chronicles her arduous fight for freedom, which began when, as a teenager, she escaped from the oppressive Iranian regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini by crossing the desert into Pakistan. As a homeless refugee, she fought all the way to Canada, where today, Goel is a successful chiropractor who enjoys giving inspirational talks about her life’s journey.
    Women’s Spring Education Day will be from  9:30 a.m. May 10 in Zinman Hall, 9901 Donna Klein Blvd., Boca Raton. Tickets are $45 and include breakfast (dietary laws observed). Reservations are required to Frannie Watt at 852-6058 or francescaw@bocafed.org.

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

Boca resident Lisa Huffman holds her son Harrison while keeping an eye on her golden doodle

and a friend’s greyhound at Bark Park Dog Beach.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Arden Moore

    My dogs, Chipper and Cleo, remind me to never stereotype canines — especially when it comes to water play. Cleo, a 12-pound poodle-terrier mix, and Casey, a 60-pound husky-golden retriever mix, share a love of racing along beach shorelines, swimming in oceans and even coasting to shore on surfboards.
    When we pull into a dog-welcoming beach parking lot, I take note of the enhanced excitement they display — at rates far above what they exhibit for daily neighborhood leashed walks or trips to local dog parks.
    Got a dog who really digs life at the beach? Who leaps for joy at the opportunity to race into the ocean? Fortunately, Boca Raton is home to the Bark Park Dog Beach at Spanish River Park. The beach in the north end of the park, between lifeguard towers 18 and 20, is designated as the place for canines looking to make a splash.
    Also within easy reach is the 2.5-mile stretch of the dog beach in Jupiter at Ocean Cay Park, just north of the Juno Pier.
    Here’s your chance to be your dog’s personal lifeguard by following these safety rules:
    • Sign up for swimming lessons. Not every dog is a canine version of Michael Phelps. Examples of breeds that may face challenges in learning to swim include barrel-chested dogs (great Danes, German shepherds), short-nosed breeds (pugs, bulldogs) as well as those with short legs and long backs (dachshunds, corgis). Fortunately, there are a number of qualified professional dog trainers in Palm Beach County who offer swim lessons.
    • Fit your dog with floatable safety gear. Play it safe by fitting your dog with a canine life jacket or other gear that keeps him afloat. I rely on life jackets featuring easy-to-grip handles when Chipper and Cleo want to go surfing. I like the well-designed ones made by EzyDog, Kong and Outward Hound.
    Or, to protect your dog from water fatigue, consider a new product called the WaterCollar by Hedz Up Pets. This donut-shaped, brightly colored item is designed to keep your dog’s head above water to minimize the risk of drowning.
    • Protect your dog from the sun’s rays. Before heading to the dog beach, dab canine-safe sunscreen on your dog’s tip of the nose, abdomen, legs and ears. Make sure your dog has access to shade.
    • Dodge the double-D dangers. Bring plenty of bottled water for your dog to drink to stay hydrated. Dogs that swallow salt water are at risk for dehydration and diarrhea (due to salt water pulling fluids into the intestinal tract) and the water can trigger projectile vomiting as well. Before heading home, rinse your dog at the beach shower to remove saltwater from his coat.
    • End the water activity before your dog becomes overtired. Many dogs are motivated by fetching or so want to please their people that they can be at increased risk for drowning if they play too long and too hard.
    • Be on the lookout for jellyfish. The tentacles contain toxins. If your dog does get stung, never attempt to remove the tentacles off his body with your bare hands. Instead, wear rubber gloves or scrape off the tentacles using a credit card or large seashell. Then soak the wound in salt water — never drinking water — and use hydrocortisone cream and dog-safe antihistamines. Seek immediate veterinary care.
    • Enroll in a pet first aid class. Learn how to perform canine CPR and rescue breathing and what to do if your dog is drowning. As founder of Pet First Aid 4U, I incorporate water safety in our classes that feature a real dog and cat. Knowing what to do — and what not to do — in a pet emergency when minutes count is truly the best way to be your dog’s best health ally.
    Fortunately, the weather in Palm Beach County is conducive to year-round beach opportunities with your dog. Play it safe — for your dog’s sake — and you can make a day at the beach generate lifelong happy memories. Right, Chipper and Cleo?

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.

If You Go
    Since late 2013, water-loving dogs have enjoyed the sand and the calm surf at Bark Park Dog Beach at Spanish River Park at 3001 N. Ocean Blvd. in Boca Raton. The dog section is located on a stretch of beach in the north end of the park between lifeguard towers 18 and 20. To ensure a safe, fun visit, heed these rules:
    Respect the hours of operation. Dogs are welcomed Fridays through Sundays from 7 to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to sunset from March to November, and from 3 p.m. to sunset from November to March.
    Pay the beach fees. If you live in Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District or city resident, the annual permit fee is $30 per dog (effective between Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 and not pro-rated). The annual permit fee for nonresidents is $165 per dog. Single weekend passes are $10 per dog and are available at the Spanish River gatehouse. Residents must provide a city or county tax bill, utility bill, rental or leash agreement, current Florida driver’s license or notarized letter from their condo association.
    Pack the permit. You must carry the beach permit and be ready to show it during the beach visit with your dog.
Honor the dog limit. Each person is permitted to bring up to two dogs to the beach. Dogs must be leashed when entering and leaving the dog beach.
    For more information, visit www.patchreefpark.org/
bark-beach-permits.

Informal Japanese gardens from the 9th to 12th centuries featured lakes and islands

and were intended to be viewed from a boat. At the Morikami, lush trees and shrubs

have been selectively pruned to create the impression you’ve been transplanted to a historical Japanese garden.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

The Paradise Garden is a representation of the Pure land, or Buddhist heaven.

Gardens like this were intended to be walked through, not viewed from a boat.

Historically this garden design dates from the 13th and 14th centuries.

Landscape using well-maintained gravel is a classic Japanese technique from the 17th or 18th century.

It is sometimes referred to as borrowed scenery.

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley

    Feel the breeze on your skin, inhale the aroma of bushes and flowers, fill your ears with the gentle sounds of flowing water and singing birds. This is just some of the beauty you’ll experience at Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach.
    Sure,the garden has plenty of plants, such as podocarpus, Mexican petunia, ficus, azalea, pentas, slash pine, sable palm, plumbago, as well others less familiar.
    But this is not a botanical garden with signs identifying each plant. In fact, the individual plants don’t really matter.
    “What is important is that you experience how the garden appeals to your senses so that you can be in harmony with nature,” says Freya Homer, who is the docent on our walking tour.
    This Japanese garden, which first opened in 1977, was re-envisioned in 1999 by noted Japanese landscape architect Hoichi Kurisu. He was engaged to create “Roji-en: Garden of the Drops of Dew”— described as “a garden complex for the new millennium.”
    These 16 acres are such a special place that the North American Japanese Garden Association hosted about 150 people here at its March conference focusing on creating “havens for healing.”
    And no wonder. Just stepping into this garden you can’t help but relax and unwind.
    Every time you come to the garden, it will look different, because it grows according to the cycles of nature. Sometimes you may see blooms, sometimes trees will wear their finest greenery and sometimes a dry spell may turn things a bit brown.  
    “It’s all about man and nature; nature’s beauty and man’s skills,” says Homer, who has volunteered here for 22 years.
    Gravel trails wend their way through six gardens created by Kurisu. He took his inspiration for each from a different period of Japanese political and cultural history, ranging from the ninth century to the early 20th century.
    “The Japanese culture is like a huge jigsaw puzzle. The more you learn, the more you see how all its pieces fit together in one,” Homer says.
    For example, the Paradise Garden represents the 13th and 14th centuries, which was a time of prolonged civil war in Japan and portrays Kurisu’s vision of Buddhist heaven. Set in its own time, it would have served as a place for war-weary samurai to escape combat and center themselves.
    Today it is a place for people to contemplate carefully placed rocks and a pond in the shape of the Japanese character representing “heart.”
    Along the way, you’ll also find yourself in more modern gardens such as the one inspired by life at the beginning of the 18th century, when Tokyo was the largest city in the world with 3 million inhabitants, says Homer. People needed a place to escape but space was at a premium.
    This, the Hiraniwa Flat Garden, is designed to fool your eyes. The gravel is raked to make the space look larger and a tall tree adds depth.
    The garden designer also uses the element of shakkei or “borrowed scenery,” to trick your perception of space. You can see the main Morikami building that is actually a half mile across the lake. But from this vantage point it looks like it’s part of this garden, making the space seem grander than it is.
    But words are not enough. You will have to visit Morikami to discover these carefully crafted gardens for yourself — where it’s not about the plants per se but the wisdom, beauty and peace you’ll discover within.

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

What to look for  in the Morikami Japanese Gardens

    Age: Age is revered in Asia for its stability, endurance and wisdom. That’s why you’ll find older trees with their gnarled roots and trunks covered with lichens. Also notice the yin and yang of these trees’ delicate lacy leaves and sturdy deep roots.
    Bamboo: It’s an important part of a Japanese garden because it propagates itself and grows quickly. You can hear it rustle in a breeze. When bamboo grows thickly it can actually darken the area; when thinned, it brings in light.
    Bridges: The bridges do more than join pieces of land. For example, in the Shinden Garden you’ll notice a side-by-side bridge that slows you down so you can’t run and miss what the garden designer wants you to see. And, as you go from one part of the bridge to another, you are provided a new perspective on the scene in front of you.
    Deer Chaser: Many years ago, someone came up with this ingenious solution for chasing critters from streams. The combination of bamboo “pipes” filling with water and then periodically depositing it into the stream creates a monotonous and repetitive sound that becomes almost hypnotizing. Although Western children viewing a deer chaser often drop pennies into the water thinking it is a wishing well, it is not.
    Ferns: They, like humans, have the ability to grow and prosper in dark times.
    Rocks: Rocks can survive the elements of nature, an attribute that also is important in man. The samurai would use rocks to barter for goods. And when they received a new rock, they would name it and have a party. Many of the rocks you see at Morikami were brought in 17 rail cars from Texas; others are the limestone rock native to Florida.
    Water: Moving water adds life to the garden. When it is still, it can act as a mirror reflecting what’s around it. You will notice the water in the lake at Morikami is always moving because of the shape of the islands and the fact it’s fed by a sluice. Many of the trees are angled toward the water, providing energy to the landscape and reminding us that we, like trees, need water.
    Water Iris: From a bridge in the Shinden Garden (ninth to 12th centuries) you may be lucky enough to see yellow and purple irises growing in the water. The leaves of these water irises each resemble the shape of a samurai’s shield. On May 5 of each year, Japanese mothers take the leaves and grind them to put in the bath water of their baby boys. This is to make the youngsters strong and brave like samurai.
Source: Freya Homer, docent at Morikami Museum and professor of Japanese culture at Nova Southeastern University.
If you want to learn more about specific plants used in the garden, resources are  available in the Morikami library.

The Fish Rules app is location-specific and works on either an Android or an iPhone.

By Willie Howard

    Remember the correct slot size limit, bag limit and open seasons for snook?
    What about the bag limit for pompano or the minimum sizes for mutton, yellowtail and vermilion snapper? Can you keep bonefish or a tarpon?
    Not sure? You’re not alone.
    Florida has way too many saltwater fishing regulations to memorize — and they change based on the angler’s location.
    Different regulations apply in federal waters (more than three miles off Florida’s east coast) and in the Gulf of Mexico than in state waters along the east coast.
    Three different bag limits (number of fish anglers are allowed to keep per day) apply for spotted sea trout, depending on which part of Florida you’re fishing in.
    In the old days, anglers carried crumpled fishing regulation brochures in plastic bags that eventually succumbed to the sun and salt water.
    Now there’s a simple way to keep fishing regulations at your fingertips: the Fish Rules app for smartphones.
    Fish Rules is free. And it’s “smart.”
    The app uses your smartphone’s GPS and calendar to show the regulations that apply based on the date and your location. (Users who lose their signals can manually set their locations to show which regulations apply.)
    The location system in Fish Rules is so sensitive that an angler could stand on the Atlantic Ocean side of a bridge in the Florida Keys and see the Atlantic fishing regulations, then walk across the bridge to the Gulf side and get the Gulf of Mexico regulations, said Albrey Arrington, a Jupiter fisheries scientist who developed Fish Rules with app architect Rick Blalock.
    “The fact that regulations are sorted by your location is the most awesome feature of the app,” Arrington said. “Few people understand all the location complexities of fish regulations in Florida.”
    A note to users: Location services must be enabled for the app to take into account the angler’s location. Those who choose to set their locations manually should do so using the map or their GPS coordinates, Arrington said.
    Fish Rules made its debut in 2012 and has since been upgraded to include saltwater fishing regulations for the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Maine to Texas — plus the Bahamas. The app updates itself every time it is opened.
Fish Rules works on iPhone or Android platforms. It’s available in the app store or through the company’s website, www.fishrulesapp.com.
    Anglers can browse saltwater regulations on the website. There’s also a Fish Rules app page on Facebook for those who enjoy viewing or posting fishing and boating photos.
    Arrington said Fish Rules operates on a small amount of advertising revenue along with grant money from the Fish Florida (sailfish) license tag, from the Bahamas Reef Environmental Education Foundation and from NOAA Fisheries.
    “We want people to understand and abide by fishing regulations,” Arrington said.

FWC incentives encourage divers to take lionfish
    The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission approved incentives in April that encourage divers to harvest more lionfish — the non-native fish with venomous spines that eats native fish, steals their food and is taking over Florida fish habitat.
    Divers will be able to harvest an additional lobster each day during the two-day spiny lobster sport season — if they qualify by first documenting the harvest of 50 or more lionfish.
    Divers can qualify for the extra mini-season lobsters by taking at least 50 lionfish between Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day (May 14) and the mini lobster season, set for July 27-28 this year.
    If they remove 50 or more lionfish between May 14 and Sept. 30, divers will each receive a commemorative coin and T-shirt, be featured in the FWC’s Lionfish Hall of Fame (on the FWC’s website) and be entered into drawings for prizes such as fishing licenses, lionfish harvesting gear, fuel cards and tank refills.
    Lionfish harvests must be documented through an FWC-approved process, such as a lionfish derby or an approved check-in station.
    The FWC is working to establish lionfish check-in stations before May 14. Check-in stations will be listed on the website.
    The diver who checks in the most lionfish between May 14 and Sept. 30 will be crowned Florida’s Lionfish King (or Queen), will receive a lifetime saltwater fishing license and will have his or her photo featured on the cover of the January 2017 saltwater fishing regulations brochure.
    For details about lionfish and the Lionfish Removal and Awareness Day Festival set for May 14-15 in Pensacola, go to www.myfwc.com/lionfish.

Delray fishing exhibit set to open June 17
    Fish Tales!, the Delray Beach Historical Society’s fishing history exhibit, is scheduled to open with a kickoff party set for the evening of June 17.
    The opening party will feature food and music and will be held on the grounds of the historical society at 3 NE First St. in Delray Beach.
    The historical society still is looking for fishing photos, newspaper clippings, trophy fish mounts and fishing memorabilia (especially from the Delray Beach area) for the Fish Tales! exhibit.
    Anyone with something to be considered for the fishing history exhibit should call the historical society at 274-9578 or email archive@delraybeachhistory.org.
    May 13 is the deadline for submissions.

Team GAFR shows off the 35.8-pound bull dolphin, at left, that won heaviest dolphin

in the April 23 Boynton Beach Firefighters Fishing Tournament. From left are GAFR team members

Keith Bach, Greg Schatz, Chris Cooney, Brandon Thomasson and Tim Thomasson.

Willie Howard/The Coastal Star

Boynton Firefighters event
    Kingfish dominated the weigh-in scales during the April 23 Boynton Beach Firefighters Fishing Tournament & Firehouse Chili Cookoff, but anglers also managed to catch a few nice-sized dolphin and small wahoo.
    Alex Burgess of Lake Worth and his team on Seapremacy boated the heaviest fish of the 122-boat tournament — a 53.4-pound kingfish — by slow-trolling live bait in 145 feet off Juno Beach.
    Burgess said he and team members Mike Wood and Jim Wood also caught 25- and 40-pound kingfish before the really big kingfish hit a live goggle-eye around 12:30 p.m. to win his team $1,500.
    “This time of year, there are a lot of big kingfish around,” Burgess said, noting that his team had to put its time in to catch a fish over 50 pounds. “It’s just a waiting game.”
    Tournament veteran Bill Wummer and his team on Spiced Rum III placed a close second in the kingfish category with a 49.9-pound kingfish, caught on a slow-trolled blue runner in the same area Burgess was fishing off Juno Beach.
    The kingfish bite was so strong in the firefighters’ tournament that it took a kingfish over 40 pounds to win money and earn a spot on the scoreboard.
    Keith Bach, fishing with team GAFR, caught a 35.8-pound dolphin (mahi mahi) in 850 feet of water off Lake Worth to win the dolphin category.
    The GAFR team stopped near a patch of floating Sargassum and pitched out a jig to catch a smaller cow, or female, dolphin.
When the big bull dolphin followed the cow to the boat, Bach pitched a live goggle-eye out, hooked up and fought the fish for 25 minutes before it was close enough to gaff.
    Wahoo brought to the scales were small. The winning ’hoo, caught by team Double Ds, weighed only 17.4 pounds.

Coming events
    May 7: Basic boating safety class offered by Coast Guard Auxiliary in Boca Raton. Class is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the headquarters building at Spanish River Park, 3939 N. Ocean Blvd. Fee: $35. Register at the door. Bring lunch. 391-3600 or email fso-pe@cgauxboca.org.
    May 7: Grand Slam KDW fishing tournament, Riverwalk Events Plaza, Jupiter. Captain’s meeting and kickoff party 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 6 at Riverwalk Events Plaza, 25 S. Coastal Way, Jupiter. Entry fee: $250 per boat. 847-2090 or www.fishgrandslamkdw.com.
    May 14: Lantana Fishing Derby for kingfish, dolphin and wahoo. Captain’s meeting 6 p.m. May 12 at Lantana Recreation Center, 418 S. Dixie Highway. Weigh-in at the Old Key Lime House in Lantana. Awards party 11:30 a.m. May 15 at recreation center. Entry fee: $250 per boat. 585-8664 or www.lantanafishingderby.com.
    May 14: Sail Inn Tavern KDW fishing tournament for kingfish, dolphin and wahoo. Captain’s meeting 5 p.m.to 8 p.m. May 12 at Sail Inn, 657 George Bush Blvd., Delray Beach. Weigh-in at Boynton Harbor Marina. Entry fee: $225 per boat. 703-1907 or www.sailinnkdw.com.
    May 14: Palm Beach Paddlefest featuring exhibits and demonstrations of paddleboards and kayaks, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Currie Park, 2400 N. Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach. Paddle race. Guided kayak tours. Live music. Food, drinks and paddling apparel for sale. Free admission. 863-0012 or www.palmbeachpaddlefest.com.
    May 21: Downtown Showdown KDW fishing tournament for kingfish, dolphin and wahoo. Captain’s meeting 6-10 p.m. May 19 at West Palm Beach waterfront, 101 S. Flagler Drive. Weigh-in at West Palm Beach waterfront docks. Entry fee: $250. 248-1439 or www.downtownshowdownkdw.com.
    May 28: Coast Guard Auxiliary offers basic boating safety class, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park, 2010 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach. Fee: $40. Register at the door. Call 334-2429.

Tip of the month
    National Safe Boating Week is held in May every year to remind boaters to check their boats’ safety gear and review their boating skills.
    Basic gear includes: a Coast Guard-approved life jacket of the correct size for each person onboard; a fire extinguisher; emergency flares; a sound-producing device (horn or whistle); running lights in working order; and a throwable flotation device.         On May 21-22, the Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 54 will conduct free vessel safety checks at the Sportsman’s Park boat ramps in Lantana and the Harvey E. Oyer Jr. boat ramps in Boynton Beach. (Call Bruce Parmett at 818-7905.) The flotilla also will man a safety table set up at the West Marine store, 2275 S. Federal Highway in Delray Beach.

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

Colleen Paul-Hus hosted a small educational farm-to-table gathering at her home

in Gulf Stream, and she addressed those attending (below).

Max, one of the four children in the household, interacts with neighbor Brenda Medore.

Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Janis Fontaine

    Sea Star Initiative, a private school that follows the structure, philosophies and curriculum established by German educator Rudolf Steiner, is tucked away in central Boca Raton. About 75 children attend the Waldorf school, which emphasizes the role of the imagination in learning. Teachers use art, music and expressive movement to enhance teaching.
    The goals sound modern.
    “We are preparing children to be conceptual thinkers whose self-understanding, compassion, expressiveness and creative problem-solving skills equip them to take on life to its fullest potential while providing an antidote to violence, alienation and cynicism,” according to the school’s website, www.whywaldorfworks.org.
    The school’s fresh focus is catching on. Waldorf is among the fastest-growing independent school movements in the world, with more than 1,000 schools in more than 60 countries. New schools are opening all the time, driven by parental demand.  
    Sea Star was founded in 2006 by local parents who wanted to provide a holistic education for their children. Waldorf schools are not directed by a principal or headmaster, but rather by two main groups: the teachers and the parental board of trustees. At Sea Star, the board has eight members; six are parents and two are teachers.
    Administrator Vera Swift said Waldorf schools have been popular in Silicon Valley and New York City for years, but are just now catching on in Florida. Because the schools are governed by parents, they must have parents who are deeply committed to the program and willing to serve on the board.
    Colleen Paul-Hus, 32, of Gulf Stream, joined the board in January. Her four children attend Sea Star.
    “My role is development liaison, and I am on the site committee to help find a permanent home for our school,” she said. The school is leasing its current location.
    But Paul-Hus is also a sort of self-appointed PR rep for Sea Star. She loves to tell anyone who is interested about the school. “I truly enjoy standing up and speaking to everyone about how Waldorf education has impacted our family life.”
    In April, she and her husband, Richard, hosted a farm-to-table dinner for more than 50 parents and friends of the Sea Star Initiative. She invited 10 local farmers to meet parents and teachers before serving them a gourmet meal prepared by celebrity chef Cindy Barbieri, the author of Paleo Italian Cooking and a frequent guest on The Dr. Oz Show.
    Paul-Hus is a “clean food” supporter who grows much of the family’s food in the home garden she started when she was pregnant with Max, their first child. Now their little garden produces so much, Paul-Hus donates it to the school to sell at the weekly bake sale. They also have about 50 fruit-bearing trees, six chickens, and an indoor beehive, specially built so kids can observe the progress of worker bees.
    Crops include Okinawan and malabar spinach, hoja santa (a Mexican herb), strawberries, golden berries, tomatoes, pigeon pea, sweet potatoes, peppers, rosemary, tarragon, mint, comfrey and marigolds.
    “We also have two papaya trees, 10 mango trees, two fig trees, and more than 30 sea grape trees,” she said. “Did you know you can eat sea grapes? We make jam from the grapes.
“I also have a soursop tree, two miracle fruit trees, six banana trees, passion fruit and many native plants around the pool.”  
    The Waldorf curriculum embraces gardening and growing your own food, as part of being self-sufficient.
    Swift, who has been at the school for 10 years, says she discovered Steiner’s philosophy about 30 years ago when someone asked her to translate a document from German to Portuguese.
    “It was a revelation,” she said. “I started looking into it and it changed the way I looked at education.” The biggest difference, she said, is that “there is a joy in learning here that is absent in many schools.”
    Keeping kids engaged is not the challenge. Because the curriculum is focused on the student and individualized, doing what engages the student becomes the goal. The school provides the access and structure the child needs to explore his or her curiosity in a variety of ways.
    “We are able to keep that love and joy of education and the kids do well as a result,” Swift said. “I feel bad when I hear about a child who doesn’t like school.”
    Classes are small — there are only 75 students in the whole school, early childhood through eighth grade. Teachers are top-shelf. Most teachers have graduate degrees and special training in the Waldorf methods.
    Paul-Hus says she’s constantly surprised by the questions her children ask her. Lincoln recently asked, “Mom, why are we here?”
That kind of thinking, she says, is inspired and encouraged by the Waldorf system.
    One thing they don’t ask? “Where does our food come from?”
    They already know.

Want to check out the school?
    Sea Star Initiative is hosting its annual May Faire from 10:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 7 at the school, 251 SW Fourth Ave., Boca Raton. A traditional May pole dance and other children’s springtime activities are planned.
    Recognizing and celebrating the changing seasons is an important tenet of the school. A favorite school quote is from Festivals, an essay by Marilyn Pelrme: ‘Through various festivals and rituals we acknowledge and celebrate our connection to and our responsibility toward each other and the world.’  
    For more information: 452-3618 or seastarinitiative.com

By Rich Pollack

    After months of study and research, the Delray Beach Parks and Recreation Department has submitted a draft report to City Manager Don Cooper, recommending a six-month pilot program for a dog beach at the city’s Atlantic Dunes Park.
    While the proposal is good news for proponents of a dog beach, it has not received the approval of the city manager, who is recommending city commissioners reject the plan — in large part because it would be implemented at a time when two other beach projects would be underway.  
    “My big concern is we’re going to have a lot of things going on at the beach,” Cooper said, explaining that construction of portions of the beach master plan and installation of new parking meters would likely be taking place at the same time as the pilot project. “If we’re going to do it, I want to do it correctly.”
    The final decision will rest with city commissioners, who are expected to discuss the plan during a May workshop.  
    The proposed pilot project would restrict the dog beach to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only with two hours in the morning — from 7 to 9 a.m. — and three hours in the afternoon ending at sunset.
    Under the proposal, the dog park would be supervised by a park ranger, and users would be required to show proof that dogs have a current license and have received all required shots.
    Although the future of the proposal is still up in the air, the plan is drawing praise from dog beach advocates.
    “This is going to end up being a win-win proposition for the city and for dog owners,” said Bob Brewer, who leads the Friends of Delray Dog Beach, a group that has been working with the city on the proposal.
    In making the recommendation to go forward with a dog beach pilot project, Parks and Recreation Director Suzanne Fisher pointed out that supervised dog beaches have been successful in other cities throughout South Florida.
    “This program would increase our services provided to city residents and visitors alike,” she wrote. “Similar programs have been done in local municipalities, including Boca Raton, and have been shown to be successful.”
    Under the proposal, Delray Beach residents would be able to obtain an annual permit for $30 per dog. That cost, however, would jump to $165 a year for nonresidents, the same fee Boca Raton charges for nonresidents. A $10 per dog visitor weekend pass would also be available.
    While Brewer is pleased overall with the proposal, he thinks the recommended annual fee for nonresidents could be adjusted.
    “I think it’s excessive,” he said.
    In the proposal, the parks and recreation department staff estimates that revenues to the city could exceed $50,000 annually, while expenses — including the hiring of a part-time park ranger — could be as low as about $25,000.
     In his memo to commissioners recommending against approval, Cooper said he believes the staffing needs and the costs associated with them are underestimated.  
    Under the proposal, a 100-  to 300-yard portion of Atlantic Dunes Park — just north of Linton Boulevard — would be reserved for dogs. The pets would be required to be leashed until they reached the dog park and then could be off leash within the boundaries.
    Fisher said the area would be marked off by temporary fencing that could easily be installed and taken down twice a day by the park ranger. The ranger would also be responsible for making sure owners pick up after their pets, she said, and would be charged with removing anything left behind.
    Advantages to the site, according to the report, include two nearby metered parking lots, restrooms and a single entry point where a ranger could check for permits.
    Parks and recreation department staff wrote that after the six-month pilot program is concluded, several criteria could be used to determine whether to extend or end the project. Among those would be the amount of usage, how well the program was received by the public and whether there were compliance issues.
    The evaluation would also explore whether or not the dog park helped reduce the number of people bringing dogs to other parts of the municipal beach, which is prohibited.
    Cooper said he is concerned that some members of the public will believe that the beach is open to dogs all the time and that additional resources would be needed to enforce the ordinance.
    “Right now we still have people bringing their dogs to the beach,” said City Commissioner Mitch Katz, a proponent of creating a regulated and supervised dog beach. “Having a dog beach is one way to regulate that and to keep dogs in a section by themselves. This may be the only way to stop people from bringing their dogs to other parts of the beach.”
    Should commissioners give the proposal a green light, Cooper said it would be several months before it could be implemented.
    “I expect there will be significant pressure to proceed with the pilot program and because of the costs, procedures necessary to implement and the required personnel, the pilot program would not be ready until Oct. 1, if the commission directed such a program,” he wrote.