By Jane Smith

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

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

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

By Jane Smith

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

By Dan Moffett

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

By Steve Plunkett

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

By Mary Thurwachter

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

By Dan Moffett

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

By Dan Moffett

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

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

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

Jim Macdonald at Ocean Inlet Park.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

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

By Dan Moffett

    As Hurricane Matthew headed on a collision course with the Florida coast in October, Palm Beach County firefighters vacated the Manalapan station and drove their vehicles to shelter on the mainland.
    Now town commissioners are wondering why.
    “It seemed to a lot of us sitting up here that that was really inappropriate in the event there was an emergency on our side of the bridge,” Mayor David Cheifetz told county Battalion Fire Chief Doug Clark during the Nov. 15 town meeting.
    Commissioner Basil Diamond agreed: “It seems to me like we were being abandoned.”
    Clark had a simple answer for the commission. He said there should not have been anybody left in the town to abandon. County emergency managers gave a mandatory evacuation order to Manalapan and neighboring coastal towns, so residents should have departed to find shelter on the mainland, too.
    “When the state of emergency was declared and this island was ordered evacuated, our people were evacuated as well,” Clark said. “That’s our policy. I don’t think you want the rescuers needing to be rescued.”
    Clark said personnel and equipment for Manalapan were close at hand in Lantana and rode out the storm there. There was a “huge amount of resources” standing ready across the bridge, he said.
    No fire-rescue vehicle can operate in winds over 55 miles an hour, according to county policy.
    Though Hurricane Matthew veered to the north and didn’t strike the county, emergency managers said they had to guard against the potential danger of a Category 4 storm and had no choice but to order evacuation.
    Hundreds of residents in the station’s service district from Manalapan and South Palm Beach ignored the warning and stayed in their homes, however.
    Manalapan and South Palm Beach police remained on duty in their towns during the storm, and Cheifetz believes firefighters should maintain some presence on the islands — at least enough to respond to emergency medical calls.
    “It seems to me some accommodations can be made without putting people at risk,” the mayor said, and told staff to talk to county officials about changing policy.
    In other business:
    • Commissioners had hoped to hold a joint public workshop with the Hypoluxo Town Council in January to discuss the prospects for a new contract for water services from Manalapan. But those plans could stall because of the sudden death of longtime Hypoluxo Mayor Ken Schultz in November.
    Schultz, 86, also served as Hypoluxo’s town manager and would have been a key negotiator in dealing with Manalapan.
    Still, Manalapan Vice Mayor Peter Isaac remains optimistic about renegotiating the agreement after talking with the town’s water consultant.
    “It looks like we can put something very, very good in front of Hypoluxo,” Isaac said.
    The commission wants to lock in Hypoluxo to a long term-deal that prevents the town from switching to Boynton Beach’s system.

    • The newly rebuilt Audubon Causeway bridge is expected to open for two-way traffic some time this month. “We’re in the homestretch now,” Cheifetz said.
    One of the last hurdles is a 2 p.m. Dec. 8 workshop meeting during which the Architectural Commission will make the final decisions on landscaping.

The 30 units in the 3550 Ocean building all will have ocean views.

Rendering provided

By Dan Moffett

    What may be the quietest real estate boom in Florida is soon to start shaking South Palm Beach to its economic core.
    The developers of the much-anticipated 3550 South Ocean condo project have begun selling luxury units on the property once occupied by the ramshackle Palm Beach Hawaiian Inn, a forlorn icon that stood long beyond its useful years until demolition last year.
    “This is opening my eyes up to a whole new realm in South Palm Beach,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said after touring the project’s sales office in Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar. “This is totally amazing. It’s wonderful to see something exciting in the town after things being dead and the property vacant for so long.”
    It will take only several dozen new residents to usher South Palm into its whole new realm — enough to occupy the 30 units in the six-story 3550 building.
    By the town’s standards, the math is, as Fischer suggests, totally amazing: Pre-construction prices will start at $2.3 million for 2,500-square-foot units and likely climb over $5 million for 3,400-square-foot penthouse digs, topping out at around $1,700 per square foot.
    Consider that the median market price for condos in the town is about $260,000, according to tax records. Not only will  3550 South Ocean become the priciest building in town, it could account for as much as 30 percent of the town’s total taxable value — some windfall for a built-out, five-eighths-mile-long condo enclave that is just now getting over the real estate collapse of nine years ago.
    “The increased tax revenue is something we can really use,” said Fischer, who has pushed plans to repair the town’s eroding beach and its aging Town Hall. “I had some reservations about the project earlier, but after seeing what they’re doing, I think this is gorgeous and the people in charge are very interested in getting the town and residents involved in what they’re doing.”
    New York-based developer DGG, which joined forces this year with investor Gary Cohen of Boca Raton’s Paragon Acquisition Group, is intent on putting some Palm Beach style in South Palm Beach.
    The building features a saw-tooth design that gives each unit an ocean view through floor-to-ceiling windows. The project has formed a partnership with Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa to allow memberships for owners.
    Douglas Elliman of Palm Beach is in charge of sales. The project’s groundbreaking is scheduled for early next year and completion for 2018.

By Ron Hayes

    The Coastal Star has been honored with 10 awards for writing, photography and design, including six first-place winners, in the Florida Press Club’s 65th annual Excellence in Journalism competition.
    Writer Sallie James took a top honor for her coverage of the “Homeless in Boca Raton.”
    First-place recognition for feature page design went to Scott Simmons for a trio of entries.
    Photographer Tim Stepien won a first for his photos of an “Underwater Swimmer.”
    In the health writing category, Lona O’Connor won first place for “Cancer survivor climbs mountain.”
    Sports columnist Willie Howard won a first-place award for his coverage of “Delray’s Sailing Beach” and “The West Palm Boat Show,” and Ron Hayes for a trio of light features.
    Among second-place prize winners were Nick Madigan, in the Lucy Morgan Award for In-Depth Reporting, for his article “Xanax addiction and death.”
    For environmental news writing, Howard also took a second-place award for “Changing tides: A look at the impact of climate change.”
    Dan Moffett earned second place in the public safety category for “Fire district proposed along the coast.”
    Cheryl Blackerby earned a third-place award for her stories “Shrinking habitat for foxes” and “Temperatures control sea turtle hatchling sex.”
    The paper was honored for stories published between June 1, 2015, and May 31, 2016, in the category of non-daily newspapers.
    The winners were announced Nov. 5 during a dinner at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in St. Augustine.
    Founded in 1951 as the Florida Women’s Press Club to promote the advancement of women in journalism, the club was renamed the Florida Press Club as so-called “women’s pages” were eliminated and female journalists moved into more prominent positions.

Eighty-two veterans (79 men and three women) residing at Harbour’s Edge Senior Living Facility

felt appreciated on Veterans Day, with each arriving at a flag-raising ceremony in a decorated golf cart.

Executive Director Bob Scharmann spoke in celebration of these veterans and their importance.

The Delray Beach Fire Department raised the flag. The veterans were then treated to lunch

and a few words from the highest-ranking veteran resident, Maj. Frank Kennedy,

who served in both World War II and Korea. ABOVE: Beverly Agardy and Al Morfee.

Photo provided by Kim Agardy Coe

Carpenter-turned-sculptor Norman Provost with some of his work.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    Norman Provost has a passion for working with wood.
    Provost, 75, started wood carving 10 years ago, and for the past eight years has been taking carving classes at the Northeast Focal Point Senior Center in Deerfield Beach.
    “I always felt that I had some kind of artistic flair, but I didn’t have a way to express it,” said Provost. “Working with wood gives me a creative outlet.”
    Having worked as a union carpenter for 10 years, taking up woodcarving was an easy transition. Provost, an Ocean Ridge resident since 2001, tries to carve an hour a day. Living right on the beach, he enjoys taking his chair, some tools and sandpaper, and sitting down there by himself.
    “It’s kind of like communing with nature,” said Provost. “You have this organic piece of wood in your hand and you’re creating something. It’s very satisfying and relaxing.”
    For the past three years, Provost has entered his woodcarvings in the Florida Winter National Wood Art Expo and Competition in Punta Gorda every January.
    In 2014, he earned a second-place recognition ribbon for a relief carving he made of an eagle’s head. The following year he entered two works that earned him first- and second-place ribbons.
    This year, he received a first-place ribbon for a large, intricate carving of a woman’s face surrounded by sea creatures, which took him two years to complete; and a second-place ribbon for a small female bust. The large carving was also up for a Best of Show award.
    “As I enter my work and get recognition from professional high-end wood carvers, it validates what I’m doing, and makes me feel good that I’m on the right track,” he said.
    There’s a saying in carving that Provost likes: “Let the wood speak to you.”
    “As you’re carving a piece and you’re looking at it, it keeps changing, and you start to see different things, and it kind of evolves into a new carving,” he said.
    Over the years, Provost has carved out a life for himself that has evolved in a similar way.
    When he was a 4-year-old growing up in Newark, N.J., his father was killed while working as a pipe fitter, just four months after returning from World War II. Soon after, Provost’s mother and her six children were evicted from their home and went to live in unused army barracks near Newark Airport. About a year later, they moved into the first federally funded housing project in the country.
    After graduating from vocational school with a diploma in carpentry, Provost enlisted in the Army for two years and served on a missile site in Okinawa. When he returned to New Jersey, he spent a decade working as a carpenter.
    Then Provost worked for five years as a maintenance mechanic in the Hackettstown School District. He developed friendships with teachers and guidance counselors at the schools where he worked, and they encouraged him to go to college.
    “If there was a boy who was getting into trouble, they would send him to me for one period a day to putter around the school and do little things, so I was informally working with some of the kids,” said Provost.  
    When his professional friends became aware of a position that opened up at the county vocational school for a building maintenance teacher, they told him to apply for it. He did, and was hired.
    Because he had six years of experience in a trade, he was able to get an emergency teaching certificate. In order to keep it, he was required to take a certain number of courses every year. When he realized that it could lead to a degree, he took as many courses as he could each semester.
    Provost began his college courses when he was in his early 30s and married with three children. It took him 10 years, but he eventually got a bachelor of science degree in vocational education from Trenton State College and a master’s in vocational education/special needs from Rutgers University. He went on to work at several high schools, teaching special needs children in a vocational setting.
    At age 62, Provost and his family moved to Palmer Township, Pa. He worked as the adult school coordinator of a county vocational school, and then at the Pennsylvania Treasury Department to promote college tuition savings accounts, which was his last job.
    Now that Provost and Laura, his wife of 51 years, live in Ocean Ridge, he has time to pursue his passion for woodcarving. He enjoys making carvings for his wife, their children, grandchildren and for friends.
    He plans to enter three of his works in the Florida Winter National Wood Art Expo in Punta Gorda next month.
    “It’s all about doing something that you enjoy. I think that in our human nature there’s a need to be productive, and that people start to fade when they lose that need,” said Provost. “I’m retired, but I’m kind of busy.”
— Marie Puleo

    Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
    A. Born in Newark, N.J., in 1941. I went to Essex County Boys Vocational School, got a bachelor of science from Trenton State College and a master’s in education from Rutgers University.

    Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
    A. I worked as a union carpenter, a vocational special needs teacher, a vocational education specialist, and a field representative for tuition account savings program for the Pennsylvania Treasury Department.
    I’m proud of being the first person in my family to earn a master’s degree; receiving the New Jersey Vocational Special Needs Teacher of the Year award; returning to the school where I had worked in building maintenance as the supervisor of applied technology; and supervising some of the teachers who encouraged me to go to college and do more with my life.

    Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
    A. When I struggled trying to pick what trade to study, it was my mom who advised me to take carpentry. Who knows you better than your family? Talk to your family and listen to them and consider their advice.
    The interest you have is there. Pick an occupation that matches that interest. Dream big and have a plan to achieve your goal. I would tell them my story.

    Q. How did you choose to make your home in Ocean Ridge?
    A. On our first visit to South Florida in 2001 we fell in love with the weather, beach and the beautiful vegetation, and without a second thought we purchased our condo on that vacation.

    Q. What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge?
    A. Without doubt the beach road is what I thought Florida would be like. I walk the beach road with my wife, Laura, and I can’t believe this is where we live. When we say we live in paradise, we really do.

    Q. What book are you reading now?
    A. I just finished reading Killing Reagan. I enjoy Bill O’Reilly’s books because they are based on historic record.

    Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
    A. Having grown up in the ’50s, I love that old rock ’n’ roll.

    Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
    A. I’m not sure who said it: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” When I faced hardship and turmoil in my life, I would tell myself, “Just get going.” It wasn’t always easy, but it worked for me.

    Q. Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
    A. Working in the Hackettstown school system, I was encouraged to continue my education by the professional staff. Most influential was a guidance counselor named Frank Joseph. We are still good friends today.

    Q. If your life story were made into a movie, whom would you want to play you?
    A. Brad Pitt — just kidding. Jon Voight. I think he could tell the story of a street kid from New Jersey.

By Jane Smith
    
    City leaders want to reclassify some “agencies” that receive taxpayer dollars as “service providers.”
    “We need to move away from using ‘nonprofit status’ to describe them,” Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein said in mid-November. “The cultural change needs to start at the top.”
    The city would add performance and other requirements in its leases with the Arts Garage, Old School Square, the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, the Historical Society and the Public Library. The commissioners want more accountability from the providers and remedies if they default, which can be included in a lease.
    They also want to reserve the term “nonprofit” for the socioeconomic agencies such as the Boys & Girls Club, the Sandoway Discovery Center and the Achievement Centers for Children & Families.
    “In doing so, traditional nonprofit funding can be maintained at or below the city’s long-standing, but ignored for many years, policy of capping nonprofit spending at 1 percent of the general fund,” Glickstein said after the meeting.   
    “By creating separate agreements with the service providers, future funding will be individual budget line items.”

Arts Garage lease reviewed
    The Arts Garage lease was the first one reviewed at the mid-November commission meeting. Its five-year lease calls for a cut-rate annual rent of just over $1 per square foot for the 10,289-square-foot space and a 3 percent annual increase.  
    In return, the Arts Garage will provide the city with a cultural hub where its diverse population would feel welcome. The city also requires an annual business plan, which outlines the Arts Garage’s operations, business structure, fundraising and capital development plans, and a five-year strategic plan.
    In addition, the city wants to see an independent audit after each financial year, the number of incidental non-arts-related uses limited to two per month, collaborations with other Delray Beach arts organizations, plans to diversify its board membership and the results, and an annual budget with properly kept financial records.
    Missing any of the reporting requirements would be considered a default under the new lease, the city attorney said.
    New Arts Garage President and CEO Marjorie Waldo asked that the incidental uses wording allow more flexibility and suggested it be relaxed to allow a total of eight hours monthly, so that if the organization wanted to host a six-hour wedding reception and a two-hour chamber meeting it could. The commission approved that change and welcomed Waldo, who has a 25-year educational background. She spent 12 years as principal of Tomorrow’s Promise Community School in Delray Beach, which served at-risk students before closing in 2014.   

Library, Old School Square present complicated leases
    City Manager Don Cooper said he expects to bring three other lease agreements to the commission before he leaves the city’s employment at the end of December.
    “Old School Square, Spady and the Historical Society all occupy city-owned property, hence the need for a lease,” Cooper said. He described them as fairly simple, but Old School Square’s lease may be a problem. Its board would have to approve the lease first, but board members might not be able to meet before the end of the year.
    Cooper characterized the library as a complex deal. The library has a 99-year ground lease with the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency. The lease was signed on Dec. 28, 2005, just before the library opened in its new location at 100 W. Atlantic Ave. Terms of the lease allow the library to buy the property for $1 after 20 years.
    The library board would have to approve the new lease.
    Library Board President Nancy Dockerty agreed its land lease is complicated. She also said her board has not been approached by the city about the deal. “We just know what Mr. Cooper said at the end of the commission meeting,” she said, referring to the Nov. 15 session. “We want to work with the city.”
    Library Director Alan Kornblau resigned Nov. 14.

   Three board members met with library staff the next day at 8:30 a.m. to let them know of Kornblau's resignation, Dockerty said.
    Kornblau stopped by the library the day before Thanksgiving and chatted with his former employees. He told them about his new position as president and CEO of a membership-based organization for libraries called Amigos Library Services. Its main office is in Dallas.

Michelle Quigley contributed to this story.

By Willie Howard

    Lantana’s Town Council recently hired consulting engineers to oversee the renovation of a water-damaged building on North Eighth Street to create a new headquarters for the Lantana Police Department.
    The council unanimously approved an $83,450 contract with Mathews Consulting Inc. at its Nov. 28 meeting for the design, permitting, bidding and construction administration needed to transform the vacant, uninhabitable building into fresh offices for the town’s police officers and administrative staff.
    Design work should be completed in time to put the project out for bid in January, Lantana Police Cmdr. Robert Hagerty said. If the project moves forward on schedule, construction will begin in March and will be completed by mid-July.
    The town’s 42 police officers and administrative employees currently work from two small buildings near Town Hall, which is on Greynolds Circle south of Lantana Road.
    The 10,000-square-foot building that will be renovated is about three times the size of the existing police building.
    The Nov. 28 vote to proceed was made with no discussion from the council.
    The town plans to use a $500,000 state grant to pay for the renovation work, along with some town funds if needed. The town’s lease on the building extends through 2048.
    The new location will allow police to keep a close eye on the town’s new sports fields and will be close to the Water Tower Commons, the retail and residential complex being developed at the former A.G. Holley hospital site on the north side of Lantana Road east of Interstate 95.
    In other business at its Nov. 28 meeting, the Town Council approved a $59,565 contract with Mathews Consulting to oversee the design and construction of an 8-foot-wide path along North Eighth Street, extending from Lantana Road north to the sports complex. The North Broadway neighborhood project includes two basketball courts and traffic-calming work on North Eighth Street.
    The town is scheduled to receive $362,000 from Palm Beach County for the improvements, including $46,700 in Community Development Block Grant money.
    The town will contribute $26,000 to match the block grant. Lantana Development LLC, the developer of Water Tower Commons, will chip in another $33,000 in exchange for having the walking path extended along its property.

By Emily J. Minor

    OCEAN RIDGE — Phyllis Anderson Callaway, a Midwestern-born mother of three who grasped the importance of women’s issues early on and never let go, eventually turning her earnest volunteer work into an impressive resume of causes and accomplishments, has died after a seven-year fight with breast cancer. She was 80.
    Born in South Bend, Ind., on Feb. 22, 1936, Mrs. Callaway died on Oct. 30, 12 years to the day after the death of her husband of 40 years, Trowbridge “Toby” Callaway III.
    Raised by her single mother, Althea Trent — described by one granddaughter as a woman of “strength and charisma” — Mrs. Callaway attended John Adams High School and Ball State University. She moved to Chicago, where she worked for a prominent market research firm, then on to Seattle to work at the 1962 World’s Fair.
    In 1968, she married Mr. Callaway after meeting him on a blind date back in Chicago.
    A social activist before most of the other mothers on the block, Mrs. Callaway worked in the late 1960s and early 1970s to support the programs and missives of Planned Parenthood, said her daughters.
    “It just seemed that she always looked out for the well-being of women,” said Leslie Anne Callaway, who lives in Delray Beach.
    Another daughter, Susan Callaway Stein, of Chattanooga, Tenn., said their mother’s social convictions made for some interesting dinner times. “We grew up in a pretty conservative family,” Stein said. “But my mom had progressive ideas and she shared them with us.”
    Her mother, Stein said, spoke freely about issues like pregnancy and birth control, and taught her daughters and others to lift the shame from these personal decisions, Stein said.
    “Once the shame was gone, she felt you could deal with the issues that matter,” Stein said.
    Before her husband’s job brought the family to Delray Beach in 1979, Mrs. Callaway also served on the board of the Gorton Community Center in Lake Forest, Ill., and on the Women’s Board of the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Ill.
    In Florida, missing the more quintessential neighborhoods full of kids and stay-at-home moms, Mrs. Callaway quickly immersed herself in more volunteer work, her daughters said.
    Mrs. Callaway began by giving time to the kids’ school. Eventually her expanding list of causes became “a fabric of the community,” Stein remembered.
    Her community devotions included: Wayside House (1991-2008); Old School Square (1996-2002); and she was on the board of trustees of Gulf Stream School (1982-1991). At the school, she organized and served as the first president of the Parents’ Auxiliary.
    Mrs. Callaway was also named a Bethesda Hospital Foundation Woman of Grace in 2003.
    In addition to her two daughters, Mrs. Callaway is survived by a son, William Trowbridge Callaway, and his wife, Lynn, of Yardley, Pa. Three grandchildren and two step-grandchildren also survive her.
    Gifts in her memory can be given to Gulf Stream School, 3600 Gulf Stream Road, Gulf Stream, FL 33483 or Wayside House, 378 NE Sixth Ave., Delray Beach, FL 33483. Mrs. Callaway’s services were Nov. 12, and a reception followed at the Gulf Stream Bath and Tennis Club.

By Dan Moffett

    After months of discussion, South Palm Beach Town Council members moved closer to giving themselves pay raises that would start next year.
    The council, on a 3-1 vote at its Nov. 15 meeting, approved a proposal to have Town Attorney Brad Biggs draft an ordinance that could phase in $150 monthly raises for council members — increasing their pay to $400 per month — and $250 for the mayor’s position, doubling the monthly salary to $500 — beginning after the March election.
    Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan said the demands on the mayor’s time justify raising the compensation for the job.
    “I cannot explain to you all this woman does,” Jordan said of Mayor Bonnie Fischer. “The mayor is worth way more than what she’s paid.”
    Councilman Robert Gottlieb said council members voluntarily took a $50 monthly pay cut eight years ago when the Great Recession put South Palm Beach in a financial bind, so it makes sense to give raises now that the town is in a stronger financial position.
    “The council took a cut when we were being pinched,” Gottlieb said. “We never restored that. The council never asked for it to be put back where it was.”
    Under the proposal, the raises would begin after the election with the winners of the three seats up for a vote — those held by Fischer and Vice Mayor Joseph Flagello, and the one left open by the death of Woody Gorbach in October.
    At the meeting, the council unanimously approved allowing Elvadianne Culbertson to serve out the remainder of Gorbach’s term.
    Gottlieb and Jordan would not be eligible for an increase until they come up for reelection in March 2018. Flagello said he voted against the change because he opposed the timing of giving raises now instead of budgeting them into the next fiscal year. The council is expected to vote on the new ordinance at the Dec. 20 town meeting.
    In other business:
    • Council members didn’t hesitate in accepting Culbertson’s application for the open seat, saying she is ideally suited to serve.
    “She certainly has her finger on the pulse of the town and knows the community,” Flagello said.
    Culbertson, who has lived in South Palm Beach for some 15 years, is the editor of the town’s newsletter and has worked on the zoning board and Community Affairs Advisory Board. Jordan said Culbertson has attended hundreds of meetings and “has done so much for our town.”
    The new council member is scheduled to be sworn into office at the December meeting.
    • Two representatives of the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association told the council that negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement are foundering over arbitration rights and pay.
    Union negotiator Vinnie Gray said the town should consider eliminating its department and contracting with the sheriff’s office “so officers can earn a living wage.”
    Union attorney Angela Barbosa said, “Every single police officer would receive a raise under the sheriff’s office.”
    Town officials say they remain hopeful a new three-year agreement can be reached before the current contract expires in January.
    • In November, South Palm Beach Police Commander Robert Rizzotto graduated from a three-week leadership program sponsored by the Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute in Tallahassee. Rizzotto was one of 20 law enforcement officials from around the state who completed classes on risk management, succession planning, strategic change and policing trends.

    SOUTH PALM BEACH — Samuel M. Faysal, who for many years ran a popular beachside restaurant and music lounge in his hometown of Revere Beach, Mass., before moving south to enjoy the sunshine and water with his wife, died Nov. 19.
    Mr. Faysal was 81, and had lived in the Palm Beaches for almost 30 years.
    His wife, Adeline Reil Faysal, preceded him in death in 2004, but the couple’s six children and 13 grandchildren survive him. Most of them still live in Massachusetts, but one daughter, Joanne Faysal, lives in South Palm Beach.
    Before moving here in the late 1980s, Mr. Faysal was well-known in Revere Beach for running Sammy’s Patio, a still-famous restaurant and nightclub. Upon coming south with his wife, they quickly began to give back to both church and community here.
    For many years, both Sam and Addie Faysal volunteered as active members of the Palm Beach Power Squadron, a civilian unit that patrols the waterways to ensure boaters’ safety and familiarity with Florida navigational laws. Within the family, the couple was famous for taking jaunts on the water and showing visitors the intricacies of local waterways.
    But Mr. Faysal’s biggest commitment was to provide love, security and laughter to his family, survivors said. He was known by his loved ones for always putting family first.
    Mr. Faysal was an active member of St. Mary’s Orthodox Church in West Palm Beach, and a member of the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch organization. He was also an avid racquetball player.
    A funeral service was held Nov. 25, and the family asks that memorials be made to the charity of your choice.
— Obituary provided