By Jane Smith

An incumbent, a former commissioner and two others have qualified to run for two Delray Beach City Commission seats in the March 14 municipal election.
Deputy Vice Mayor Juli Casale is being challenged by Rob Long, while former Commissioner Angie Gray will face off against Angela Burns for the seat now held by term-limited Shirley Johnson.
The candidates filed papers to run for office by the city’s Nov. 21 qualifying deadline.
Casale, seeking re-election to Seat 2, raised $14,725 as of Oct. 31 for her campaign. She has previously served on the city’s Planning and Zoning Advisory Board.
Long, a civil engineer who also served on the city’s Planning and Zoning Advisory Board, raised $17,800 through October.
Gray, a real estate agent who is currently serving on the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency as a volunteer member, raised $4,818.38 through October in her bid to succeed Johnson in Seat 4.
Her opponent is Burns, a retired public school teacher who raised $11,895 as of Oct. 31.

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Ladda carries the American flag into the Town Council chambers, where more than 25 people gathered to honor Veterans Day. The event was postponed from a week earlier because of Hurricane Nicole. In addition to comments from Mayor Bonnie Fischer, World War II veteran Irwin Lebow and Korean War veteran Jack Green spoke to the crowd about their experiences. Light refreshments and a round of patriotic songs led by Betty Sue Shapiro rounded out the program. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

Four candidates will run in Lantana’s Town Council elections on March 14, but the mayor’s race is already decided.
Vice Mayor Karen Lythgoe, who has been acting mayor since Robert Hagerty’s resignation took effect in October, was the only candidate to qualify for the mayor’s race and so is elected automatically. She is 63 and is completing her first three-year term on the council. Lythgoe, who works for LexisNexis, will be sworn in on March 27, according to Town Clerk Kathleen Dominguez.
Mark Zeitler, 66, is seeking re-election to the Group 3 seat as he completes his first term. He is an air-conditioning contractor. His opponent is Raymond Lastella, 32, an entrepreneur with a boat detailing company.
John Raymer and Christopher Castle are vying for the Group 4 seat currently held by Lythgoe. Raymer, 52, a retired Army veteran and the manager at Ace Rental Place in Lantana, finished second in a contest earlier this year against incumbent Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse. Castle, 37, has never sought office before. He is a maintenance facilities director for PetMeds.
Candidates had to submit their qualification papers by Nov. 18. Terms are for three years, and Lantana has no term limits.

By Mary Thurwachter

Lantana Town Council members say it’s time to ditch election runoffs and have approved putting a voter referendum on the issue on the March 14 ballot.
Currently, a Town Council candidate must receive at least one more than 50% of the votes in a race to be elected. If no candidate gets a majority, then a runoff election is held between the two candidates receiving the most votes in the race.
The majority vote requirement has been in effect for decades, but a forced runoff in two council elections this year has council members wondering if that’s the best option. Freshman council member Kem Mason and Vice Mayor Pro Tem Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse both won runoffs in 2022, the first time a Lantana election needed a runoff.
Many municipalities no longer have runoffs. Instead, they use a plurality system, where the candidate receiving the highest number of votes in a race — whether or not it is a majority — is the victor.
Town Attorney Max Lohman said changing the election system requires a change in the town’s charter, something the council cannot do on its own. Voters get to decide the fate of any proposed charter changes.
Mason asked to discuss the issue at the council’s Nov. 14 meeting. He said he had to spend extra money for his runoff, but he said that wasn’t the reason the move toward plurality should be considered.
“It’s costing the town money,” Mason said. He didn’t think it was necessary.
Moorhouse said the extra trip to the polls in 2022 cost taxpayers $50,000 — although Town Clerk Kathleen Dominguez, reached after the meeting, said it was actually $21,728.55 for two runoffs.
“It’s going to save the town some money,” Moorhouse said of the proposal, adding, “A lot of people didn’t even know there was a runoff election.”
Council member Mark Zeitler, who is seeking re-election in March, had concerns that the issue was added to the Nov. 14 council agenda at the last minute.
Zeitler questioned the fairness of plurality. While it may be quick, Zeitler said, more people can vote against the eventual winner than for him or her. He felt the system could be manipulated.
He also said he felt misled following former Mayor Robert Hagerty’s Oct. 12 resignation. At the time, the council decided to continue with four members until the March election. Zeitler said he was told that nothing major would be coming up for a vote before March, only “housekeeping in nature” matters would be addressed.
“I don’t think this is housekeeping in nature,” he said.
Vice Mayor Karen Lythgoe, who is serving as temporary mayor, said she was ambivalent about which voting system was better. “I’ve talked to voters and some are for the change and some are against it. It’s not often voters can make a decision on something we do. This is one time they can.”
The council held a special meeting Nov. 29 for the needed second reading on the proposal. Several residents spoke both for and against the change. The council voted the same as it did at the earlier meeting. Moorhouse, Mason and Lythgoe voted for, and Zeitler voted against, meaning the question will be on the March ballot.

By Larry Barszewski

Vice Mayor Stewart Satter will become Manalapan’s mayor in March and succeed Keith Waters, who could not run for re-election because he was term-limited.
There will be no town election in March because only one candidate filed for each of the four openings on the Town Commission during the qualifying period in November.
Satter was the only person to file for the mayor’s seat. Commissioner John Deese was re-elected when no one filed to run against him.
Former Commissioner Simone Bonutti will return to the commission in March, taking the seat now held by Satter. Bonutti had to give up her former seat last March because of term limits, but is allowed to return to the commission after being off the board for a year.
The final seat up for election goes to Kristin Rosen, who will replace term-limited Commissioner Hank Siemon. Rosen, a town resident since 2015 who moved here from Connecticut, had not previously run for elective office. She is vice chair of the town’s Architectural Commission and secretary of La Coquille Club at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa.
Rosen and her husband, Robert, recently retired and now consult on the side. She previously worked for large pharmaceutical and biotech companies, she said.
“I also have had some light schooling in architecture so I believe my background could be useful as a Town Commissioner,” Rosen wrote in an email to The Coastal Star.
Satter sees a busy time ahead for the incoming commission.
“We have a number of strategic planning items to consider & evaluate,” Satter wrote in an email to The Coastal Star.
Those include: adoption of an improved architectural code for new construction, installing a townwide public sewer system, providing the architecture board with the assistance of outside construction professionals, ensuring the long-term viability of the town’s water plant and options for the removal of overhead power lines. He also cited working with the Florida Department of Transportation “to reduce flooding along A1A for the safety of our residents and others.”
Satter said the town rarely has contested elections and some suggested he put his name in for the mayor’s position — given his experience on the commission — since Waters couldn’t run again.
“Manalapan is truly a very special place,” Satter wrote. “I look forward to continuing to serve the residents of our magnificent Town.”

Michael Spencer of South Palm Beach does an inventory of plants in the nursery at Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach. Since 2016 he has amassed more than 2,000 volunteer hours. He creates succulent and cacti arrangements to be sold at the Gift Shop. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Those of us with green thumbs already know that Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach is unparalleled when it comes to the number and variety of herbs and vegetables available for planting our winter gardens.
We also should know when it comes time for a suggestion, or even a class in learning more about the subject, Michael Spencer is the person to see.
Spencer, 64, was named Volunteer of the Year at Mounts, located off Military Trail north of Southern Boulevard. The South Palm Beach resident has for the last six years been a staple in the cacti and succulents portion of the garden, which all told houses more than 6,000 tropical and subtropical plants from six continents.
“We’re in a very unique area because we have so many transplants, especially from the Northeast, who do not realize what can grow here or will not grow that they want to bring down,” said Spencer, who typically volunteers on Wednesdays. “We offer that at our help desk; if you’re not sure what disease a plant has or what it is; we can tell you what grows best in sun, what grows best in shade.”
Spencer said a common mistake people make when landscaping is to plant trees or shrubs too close to the house only to regret it when the roots grow out.
“A coco plum is a tree, but we treat it like a shrub,” he said. “Even treated like a shrub it puts its energy to its roots, which get bigger and bigger and bigger.”
Spencer gained the confidence of the staff about four years ago.
“They saw some designs I did in a greenhouse up in Illinois and gave me carte blanche to do some arrangements, and now I’m doing everything for them.”
“Michael is like a thesaurus for plants,” said Marissa Jacobs, the Mounts community engagement manager. “Everyone loves his classes, everyone loves Michael. He’s a joy to be around.”
Spencer also enjoys gardening at both of his homes, in South Palm Beach and Wellington; and he and his wife, Christine, like to travel to her native France.
Otherwise they spend most of their time at home with their two cats, one a calico Maine coon mix and the other a tuxedo.
Spencer had taught watercolor at his condo during the winter months up to 2020.
“Now that things have calmed down with the pandemic, I plan to restart the class in January,” he said. “I teach the class for two hours every week during the peak season and do it for free. All my students need to do is come with paints, brushes and paper to have fun and learn about watercolor.”

— Brian Biggane

Q: Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A: I was born and raised in Union Lake, Michigan (a northwestern suburb of the Detroit metropolitan area), attended Central Michigan University and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education with a major in German and minors in European literature, European history and biology (botany). I also have a landscaping and greenhouse degree from Southwestern Oakland Vocational Education Center.
Having grown up in what was a rural area at that time, I was influenced by my grandfather and his love of gardening. His yard was full of a variety of fruit trees and every year he planted a large vegetable garden. My parents and my uncle and aunt, whose yard abutted the back of our yard, were also involved. All of my uncles on my mother’s side had a vegetable garden, so gardening was in my blood.
Learning about the different ways to prepare, grow, fertilize and alleviate pests of various sizes and varieties enhanced my will to learn about the environment. Since moving permanently to Florida seven years ago, I have had a vegetable garden every winter where I grow lettuce, carrots, onions, tomatoes, peppers, turnips, beets, radishes, eggplant, green beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, chives, rosemary, thyme, basil, parsley and other varieties of herbs and vegetables.

Q: What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A: My first job was in a mall in Novi, Michigan, selling Christmas plants from SWOVEC to raise revenue for the Greenhouse and Landscaping program. After that I worked in a plant distribution center for delivery to all the Kmarts and Walmarts in the state of Michigan. During college, I worked at McDonald’s and as a substitute teacher.
At the beginning of my senior year at CMU, I married my wife in her hometown in the Provence region of the south of France. Once I graduated from CMU, my wife and I moved to Louisiana and both of us taught 30 years in the public schools in the metropolitan area of New Orleans.
My favorite achievements are being named Teacher of the Year three times at the school I taught, being nominated by one of my kindergarten students for “Who’s Who Among American Teachers,” being a national board certified teacher in early childhood education, being recognized by the city of Kenner, Louisiana, for the 11 years I served as president for the civic association I represented, and being recognized by Mounts Botanical Garden as their Volunteer of the Year 2022.

Q: What advice do you have for a young person seeking a career today?
A: Learn a foreign language. More and more people are moving to the United States or living abroad. Being a global economy, we must learn that English is not the only language spoken in the world.

Q: How did you choose to make your home in South Palm Beach?
A: My wife and I saw an ad more than 20 years ago about condominiums available on the ocean, and we had always spent part of our vacations when visiting family at the beach in Palm Beach or Lake Worth. In 2003, we found a nice condo to renovate in South Palm Beach. We loved the view from the apartment, so we purchased it.

Q: What is your favorite part about living in South Palm Beach?
A: Being between two public beaches, our little piece of paradise is not as crowded as the public beaches; and we have made many friends over the years here in South Palm Beach.

Q: What book are you reading now?
A: My wife and I love historical fiction and murder mystery books. Agatha Christie is one of our favorites and we are presently reading a series of books by M.C. Beaton, who has two series of detective books that are funny and entertaining.

Q: What kind of music do you listen to when you want to relax? When you want to be inspired?
A: I love all genres except traditional country music. I love pop/rock, hip hop, dance, international music and opera. When I want to relax I tend to listen to soft rock, and when I want to be inspired I love dance, and international singers like Julien Clerc, Umberto Tozzi, France Gall, Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti, to name a few.

Q: Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A: I was lucky to have my grandfather, who helped raise me after my father passed away in my teens. My mother basically moved in with him and the two of them were very influential in what I do. My mother was a kindergarten teacher and I was a kindergarten teacher for almost 30 years, one of the few in the state of Louisiana.

Q: If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would play you?
A: It wouldn’t really matter, but if I had to think of someone, it might be Leonardo DiCaprio. People said I looked like him when I was young.

Q: Who/what makes you laugh?
A: My nephew, Nickolas. He is so much like me and he knows the right things to say or do to get me out of the doldrums that I can encounter. He has worked so hard in his life and I am so proud of what he has accomplished. 

Briny Breezes is seeking near- and long-term solutions to flooding that happens every fall during king tide season. During the peak impact from Hurricane Nicole, water flowed over sea walls, making it difficult to see where the marina ends and roads begin. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi

Briny Breezes could be a few years away from starting construction on new sea walls, the initial step of an ambitious multimillion-dollar plan to protect the town from climate change and sea level rise, a consultant said at a town meeting Nov. 15.
But shareholders in the tiny coastal co-op of mobile homes still have tough decisions to make soon about broader long-term measures for protecting Briny Breezes over the next 50 years, said Alec Bogdanoff of Brizaga, a civil engineering firm retained by the town and corporation. 
“We want to figure out how to stop the flooding already existing in the community and then we can talk about how we plan for the long term,’’ he told about 60 people in an hourlong meeting at the Briny Breezes Community Center.
The next step is for Brizaga to conduct a vulnerability assessment that will help in developing an adaptation plan with detailed cost estimates for such construction projects as raising and armoring existing sea walls, expanding the stormwater system and elevating roads and homes.
While the assessment will help town officials rank the most vulnerable assets, it’s also a requirement for different grants Briny will apply for to help pay for construction. 
“Next summer we are applying for a grant to help build whatever infrastructure comes out of this assessment,’’ Bogdanoff said. 
“The hope is that we can apply for grants and start thinking about construction in the next couple of years to really start fixing the assets that need to be fixed the most, which are likely to be the sea walls.’’
Looking beyond the short-term fixes, the town at some point will have to elevate homes and roads, some of which would have to be raised about 2½ feet, Bogdanoff said.  
“Long term you have to elevate. That is really the long-term solution to protecting any community,’’ he said.   

Emergency pumps were deployed to contend with the flooding. Photo provided by Jim Connolly

The meeting was held just five days after Hurricane Nicole made landfall near Vero Beach. Although Vero Beach is 90 miles north of Briny Breezes, the Category 1 storm still sent 2 feet of storm surge into parts of coastal Palm Beach County, including Briny Breezes, where several streets and mobile homes on the west side of town were flooded.
“When this water came in (with) this last storm, it kept us out of our units for days,’’ said Christina Adams, a Briny Breezes Town Council member. “I know section 4 has issues with washouts, but there are people in section 3 that have (wet) furniture on their front doorsteps and in their yards.’’ 
The east side of town, by the Atlantic Ocean, is elevated and not prone to chronic flooding. Most of Briny’s flooding problems are on the west side along the Intracoastal Waterway, where most homes are closer to the water. The west side is divided into two residential districts with many aging sea walls.
Chuck Swift of Heron Drive told Bogdanoff that he’s losing land “to the level where in possibly 90 days I’m gonna be in jeopardy,’’ he said.
“I’m looking to see what your program is going to do in the next 90 days for the properties that are in crisis on Heron and on Ibis (Drive),’’ he said. “I’m about to lose my trailer. My deck is sinking. I have a severe washout.’’
When one speaker said 60% of the town’s shareholders are not impacted by flooding and asked who should be responsible for the mitigation repairs, Bogdanoff urged residents to take a broader look at the community-wide benefits of fixing the problem.
“At the end of the day, if you let half of Briny Breezes flood and you don’t have that property revenue, you don’t have that shareholder, how does that work?’’ said Bogdanoff, who mentioned that all county homeowners pay school taxes even if they don’t have children. 
“Sometimes you pay for things in a different part of the community that may not directly benefit you because there are things you get that they don’t pay for,’’ he said. “It’s a difficult conversation. Presumably if you are applying for grants next summer, that conversation is going to have to occur in the spring at the latest.’’
Initial cost estimates, compiled by Brizaga in a 2021 report, called for up to $16 million in immediate measures such as stormwater improvements and replacing the most vulnerable sea walls. It also called for up to $125 million for long-term solutions such as raising roads and homes. Those cost estimates are expected to rise with the new assessment.
Whatever solutions Briny chooses will likely be paid for with state grants that the town will have to match with money from other sources such as federal grants. The town also might need to consider partnerships with a developer that could pay for improvements then lease the assets to the town.
In 2007, developer Ocean Land Investments reached a deal to buy Briny Breezes for $510 million, but the transaction fell through later that year when OLI was unable to secure financing for the project as the stock market collapsed. 
“The question here is you guys need a lot of money, so how do you get as much money as possible without really changing the character of this community?’’ Bogdanoff said.
“You have decisions you have to make but the good news is you have 15 years to figure it out. You are starting now and you’re ahead of most (communities). You might say, ‘Well, I’m probably not gonna be here in 50 years,’ but we all want to be able to sell our properties or pass this community on to the next generation.’’
Some residents wondered if the town and corporation will ever be able to afford the improvements needed to guarantee that Briny Breezes will survive the onset of rising water projected in the coming decades.
“I know people love it, but we might have to come to some really, really hard decisions in the future (about) what to do with the whole area,’’ said Linda Malstrom, whose parents first bought in town in 1979. 
“I’m sorry to say that but it’s a reality.’’

No election required
Three Briny Breezes council members automatically won new two-year terms without a single ballot being cast. Liz Loper retained Seat 1, Sue Thaler retained Seat 3 and Bill Birch retained Seat 5 because no one filed by the Nov. 22 qualification deadline to challenge them.

Hurricane Nicole produced days of turbulent waves along the coast in advance of and after landfall. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Larry Barszewski and staff reports

Hurricane Nicole delivered only a glancing blow to Palm Beach County, but the rare November hurricane still eroded county beaches, gouged out large sections of dunes and combined with king tides to flood barrier island communities.
South Palm Beach County coastal communities were spared the severe pounding that undermined beachfront condos and homes to the north in Volusia County around Daytona Beach. The Category 1 storm made landfall at about 3 a.m. Nov. 10 just south of Vero Beach on North Hutchinson Island, some 100 miles to the north of Delray Beach.
While the strong surf took a toll washing away beaches and dune staircases locally, many South County beaches were recovering nicely just a few weeks later.
Residents at The Addison on the Ocean condominium in Boca Raton were initially concerned about the beach loss there, General Manager Scott Bragg said, but the sand had built back substantially before residents celebrated Thanksgiving.
“The beach settled itself back. Now our beach is almost even bigger,” Bragg said. “Mother Nature has her own strange ways.”

Briny sees worst of it
Unfortunately, her ways brought king tides together with strong hurricane storm surge and surf, producing areas of heavy flooding in South County, especially in Briny Breezes.
“There were homes down there that were entirely flooded,’’ said Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones, whose department provides public safety services for Briny Breezes.

Related: Briny Breezes: Tough decisions ahead on costly plan to keep town dry

Exacerbating the flood problems was a malfunctioning transformer that cut off power to 255 homes on the west side of town north of the marina. That also meant water pumps that the town usually relies on were not working.
“But even if the pumps had worked,” Jones said, “I mean, water was overtopping the sea walls. There is literally no way it would have mattered.”
In Manalapan, waves crashed over dunes and got into homeowner tunnels that run under State Road A1A and link homes on the west side of A1A to the beachfront, Vice Mayor Stewart Satter said.
“At 1660 [S. Ocean Blvd.], when I was on the beach, the tunnel we put in, the water came up over the dune — the first time I ever saw it do that,” Satter said, including even during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. “It filled the tunnel in 4 feet of water. The head wall and tunnel had a waterline at about 5 feet off of the beach. It brought all the debris over the dune against the wall [there].”
In Lantana, safe public access to the beach wasn’t restored until the end of November, due to damage to the stairs there. Town Manager Brian Raducci said a temporary fix — metal stairs with railings — opened Nov. 29. Public Works Director Eddie Crockett said lifeguards were on duty and the boardwalk and Dune Deck restaurant had remained open while the temporary stairs were installed.

Ocean Ridge’s water woes
Ocean Ridge received the most rain in the county from Hurricane Nicole, according to the National Weather Service. Nicole dumped 4.87 inches over a two-day period on the island community, which has historically battled drainage issues. One monitoring station in Boca Raton measured 4.17 inches, while Delray Beach got deluged by 3.89 inches at another.
The storm struck just days after the Nov. 8 full moon, which meant tides were already at their highest even before the storm roiled the waters.
Ocean Avenue from Ocean Ridge to Boynton Beach had flooding problems both east and west of the bridge. At the height of the storm, many Ocean Ridge streets — including Hudson Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Coconut Lane, Inlet Cay Drive and Island Drive — were underwater and impassable by police vehicles, Jones said.
“We were using maintenance trucks to access areas to check on people, and at one point, Coconut and Hudson became impassable even with the maintenance trucks,” Jones said. He was drafting an “after-action” report to the Town Commission “showing what we experienced with a 2-foot storm surge.”
He said he and Public Works Director Billy Armstrong will recommend the town invest in equipment such as a high-water rescue vehicle or a large tractor to be better prepared in case Ocean Ridge ever takes a direct hit from a hurricane.
“If this would have been a storm of any significance beyond what this was and people did not evacuate, there would have been absolutely no way we could have gotten to some of these people’s houses,” Jones said. “We are going to have to do something. In all the years I’ve worked here and the years Billy has worked here, neither one of us has ever seen this level of flooding.”

Dune crossover stairs like these in Highland Beach were broken by Nicole. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Beaches take a beating
Down the coast in Highland Beach, high waves fueled by Nicole’s winds ate huge chunks of the dune line, creating deep sand cliffs and washing out beach stairways. The pounding came perilously close to some of the town’s luxury beachfront homes, leaving some with less than half of their backyards.
“In a number of homes there’s just a few feet before you fall straight down a vertical wall of about 10 feet,” said John Shoemaker, a town commissioner who surveyed the damage left by the storm. “Several homes lost between 10 and 20 feet of their backyards and in some cases lost staircases.”
Boca Raton municipal services and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees found erosion at all of Boca’s beaches when they inspected them on Nov. 15. They found no obvious indication of infrastructure impacts from the erosion, but Municipal Services Director Zachary Bihr said the Army Corps will complete its analysis in the coming weeks. The Army Corps also inspected beaches in Delray Beach, Ocean Ridge and Jupiter and planned to survey beaches in other cities, a Corps spokesman said. The Corps then will complete an inspection report which will be sent to the county. Depending on what the report shows, the county may be able to seek federal funding to rehabilitate beaches, he said.

Waves undermined a lifeguard station on Delray’s public beach, but the sea oats prevented more erosion. Photo provided by Kari Shipley

In Delray Beach, the north end of the municipal beach suffered the most with 4-foot drop-offs, according to an assessment by Chris Bell, Delray Beach’s emergency manager.
The Ocean Rescue North 2 lifeguard stand was displaced by the high waves that washed out sand from underneath it during Nicole. “It is not damaged, and Public Works staff is soliciting bids from a crane operator to reposition the tower,” Bell wrote in a Nov. 17 email to City Manager Terrence Moore.
Palm Beach County was still compiling information on beach erosion on Nov. 18, finalizing the assessment for storm damage losses.
Andy Studt, environmental program supervisor for the county’s coastal resources program, said dune and berm erosion occurred, but the significance varied on whether it was on an unmanaged beach or one which had previous renourishment. Studt said the good news was that previous big projects completed after Hurricanes Irma and Dorian protected infrastructure and property.
“So those projects did their job,” he said.

Ocean Avenue flooded so badly in Ocean Ridge that the road had to be closed after several cars stalled out. Rachel S. O’Hara/The Coastal Star

Floods were widespread
Flooding problems popped up almost everywhere. In Delray Beach, low-lying roads along the Intracoastal Waterway flooded during king tides Nov. 9 even before the storm arrived, Moore said.
In Manalapan, the intersection of Ocean Avenue and A1A — in front of the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa and Plaza del Mar — remained flooded and impassable hours after the storm pushed through the area.
“I thought I could walk to Publix but it’s a lake. You can’t get through it,’’ South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer, who lives north of the plaza, said late in the morning following the storm.
Manalapan Mayor Keith Waters told town commissioners at their Nov. 17 meeting that the Florida Department of Transportation is responsible for the road and needs to fix Ocean Avenue’s perpetual flooding issues that were at their worst after Nicole.
“We’re too nice of a town to have one of our three ways off the island blocked. That’s a health issue. That’s a safety issue,” Waters said.
Manalapan Police Chief Carmen Mattox said: “The electric cars didn’t do very well in that at all. We had one tow truck that was pulling them out and the other two trucks were loading them up and moving them out of there.”
Traffic on Ocean Avenue at times was down to one lane because of flooding after the storm, Lantana’s Crockett said. At Bicentennial Park and Sportsman’s Park, the sea walls were breached and the parking lots were flooded.

Wet and windy
Many Briny Breezes residents had heeded Palm Beach County’s mandatory evacuation order for people living in mobile homes and returned Nov. 10 to flooded streets.
Greg “Doc” Trudell chose to ride out the storm in his double-wide mobile home on the west side of town. He did not lose electricity and he said water never breached the top steps to his home.
“It wasn’t too bad at all, to be honest,” he said. “The worst it got was maybe 50 miles per hour. I sat on my porch and watched it.”
Nicole’s strongest winds in the county were recorded at the Juno Pier, with a gust of 62 mph. Wind gusts reached 54 mph in Boca Raton and 44 mph in Boynton Beach, the weather service reported.
Nicole was only the fourth recorded hurricane to strike the United States after October. The official hurricane season ended Nov. 30.

Lantana town employees Goly Rivera and Erik Canapa work to secure benches displaced by flooding at Bicentennial Park ahead of Hurricane Nicole. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Impact on businesses
Restaurants did their best to clean up and reopen quickly after Nicole moved away.
At the Old Key Lime House in Lantana, the hurricane party got a bit soggy before its hurricane-induced 7 p.m. last call Nov. 9, with ankle-deep flooding on the restaurant’s outside deck and bar.
“It never got in the restaurant dining room. It’s a foot higher than the deck and bar area,” owner Ryan Cordero said. “Cleanup was minimal.”
The parking lot flooded up to the foundation of the restaurant, but before the biggest surge, staff had moved the outside furniture indoors.
Cordero’s neighbors at Sushi Bon Express were busy Nov. 10 cleaning up the water that came into their main space and dining room. There was also flooding reported in the dining room at Two Georges in Boynton Beach, and Kylie Mulhall at the neighboring Banana Boat said the parking lot flooded.
To the north, on the Lake Worth Beach Pier, Benny’s on the Beach had “a lot of damage,” according to chef-owner Jeremy Hanlon.
“They closed the beach on Tuesday,” Hanlon said, “so we boarded up after 7 p.m., pulled in all the furniture, umbrellas and canopies.”
The next morning, Nov. 9, Hanlon and crew continued to secure both restaurants — he also owns Viva la Playa in the plaza on the beach nearby. When they came back the morning after the storm, high seas were still pounding the pier.
“King tides, big waves — it was something,” Hanlon said.
Although surf came over top of the east end of the pier, the water was not able to reach the dining room, as it sits almost as high as the pier entrance.
However, winds had taken out a few beer signs, damaged part of the electrical system, and caused damage to the conduit, Hanlon said. “There were other minor things, but we worked all day and got it all put back together.”
Fischer, the South Palm Beach mayor, had a front-row view of the storm’s aftermath from her oceanfront condo just north of Lantana Beach.
“The spray went so high it went to my sliding glass door. One came over and hit the door,” she said.
“We got lucky for sure.”

Mary Thurwachter, John Pacenti, Jane Smith, Rich Pollack, Joe Capozzi, Mary Hladky and Jan Norris contributed to this story.

By Joe Capozzi

Launching a do-over in their search for a full-time town manager, town commissioners have agreed to retain the national recruiting firm Colin Baenziger & Associates. 
The firm, based in Daytona Beach, offered to conduct the search for $29,500, the highest fee quoted among three recruiting companies that responded to a request for proposals. 
“It’s a lot of money. I’m not sure there is a way around that,’’ Vice Mayor Kristine de Haseth said at the Nov. 7 commission meeting.
But de Haseth and other commissioners were impressed by CBA’s track record in Florida. Commissioner Steve Coz pointed out how the firm was responsible for filling 127 of 161 openings for town manager or town clerk in Florida over the past four years. 
“They also talked a lot about proactive recruiting and I think that that was probably our downfall in our last search,’’ de Haseth said before the commission voted to retain CBA. 
Town attorney Christy Goddeau agreed to draft a professional services agreement with CBA for commissioners to consider in December. 
CBA was chosen over GovHR USA, based in Northbrook, Illinois, and Strategic Government Resources, based in Keller, Texas. Those firms offered to conduct the search for $23,500 and $24,900, respectively. 
Commissioners hope to find a new town manager by Feb. 28, when interim manager Lynne Ladner’s contract expires. Ladner took over after Tracey Stevens resigned Sept. 11 to accept the manager’s job in the town of Haverhill. 
When commissioners started the search process in July, days after Stevens announced her plan to resign, they opted to save money and rejected hiring a recruiting firm.
Commissioners relied on guidance from the Florida City and County Management Association’s senior advisers program, which provided free recruiting services and advertised the job on trade websites and local newspapers. 
Just 15 candidates applied. After a series of meetings with the commission, all but two of the finalists withdrew, prompting town officials in October to start over with a recruiting firm.

Tree ordinance creates knotty situation
Plans for Ocean Ridge to become a Tree City USA member have been uprooted because of concerns about excessive language in a proposed ordinance creating a tree advisory board. 
The ordinance, a requirement for the designation, went beyond the narrow intent for Ocean Ridge to partner with the Arbor Day Foundation and join more than 4,000 other municipalities across the country as a Tree City USA member, Mayor Susan Hurlburt said Nov. 7. 
Referring to the purpose of the advisory board, Hurlburt said, “It was never the intention to oversee anything more than a singular Arbor Day celebration.’’
Among the stipulations in the proposed ordinance, which commissioners withdrew from the agenda Nov. 7, was for the board to offer advice on “the care of all trees on town-owned property” consistent with the town’s land development code and to “assist the town in enhancing its existing tree canopy, and raise the standards for better tree care throughout the town.”
“It kind of went down a rabbit hole,’’ Hurlburt said before asking staff to rewrite the proposed ordinance. 
Commissioner Martin Wiescholek said he wants the commission to consider a new draft as soon as possible. 
“I don’t want to table this and just forget about it,’’ he said. “I think it’s important. I would like to have Ocean Ridge as a Tree City. I was hoping we could just discuss the flaws and straighten up this ordinance and get it done.’’ 
In other business:
• The Starbright Civic Collective, a nonprofit formed by Ocean Ridge residents, presented the Police Department with a painting by artist Pati Maguire. The painting, called The Weight of the Flag, was donated as a gesture of “our gratitude and respect” to the Police Department, said Carol Besler, the group’s chairwoman.
 The collective also has offered to help pay for emergency medical technician training for residents and officers. Chief Richard Jones said the EMT proposal, including cost estimates, could be presented to the Town Commission as early as December.
• City officials are considering requests by the Garden Club and the Book Club to waive rental fees at Town Hall, where the clubs meet. The requests were scheduled to be considered Nov. 7 but were pulled from the agenda.
• The annual “Light the Lights” holiday event will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 at Town Hall. But the Santa golf cart parade, first held in 2020 as a safe pandemic celebration, will not be held.
• Unwrapped toys for the annual Christmas toy drive can be dropped at the Police Department through Dec. 5. The toys will be distributed to needy children.  
• The first Town Commission meeting in 2023 will be Jan. 9, a week later than the usual meeting date on the first Monday of the month. Jan. 2 marks the observance of the New Year’s holiday. 
• The Town Commission will hold a joint workshop with the planning and zoning board on Jan. 11. An agenda will be set in December.

MANALAPAN — Dr. Gerald K. Shortz of Manalapan died Oct. 11. He was 86.
He was born in Indianapolis on Oct. 6, 1936, and received his bachelor’s degree from Wabash College in 1958 and his doctor of medicine from Northwestern University in 1962.
He was an Air Force medical officer (captain) and flight surgeon from 1963-1965. Dr. Shortz was in private practice in Delray Beach as a board certified orthopedic surgeon.
Dr. Shortz was heavily involved in the Manalapan community. He served as a town commissioner from 1978-1982, vice mayor from 1982-1988, mayor from 1988-2002, chair of the Zoning Commission from 2003-2007 and served as vice chair from 2010-2014.
During his free time and into retirement he enjoyed playing tennis, going scuba diving and fishing, road racing cars in endurance events throughout the Southeast and Skip Barber racing, while winning many races. He was also an avid downhill skier.
Dr. Shortz is survived by his son Steven, daughter Bretton (Jeff), granddaughters Lauren and Audrey, sister Gretchen (Walton) of Vero Beach, girlfriend Kathleen Poole and fur babies Sweet Pea and Rusty.
In lieu of flowers, the family requested that contributions be made to the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League and/or the Nature Conservancy.

— Obituary submitted by the family

DELRAY BEACH — Francis Xavier Foster of Delray Beach and West Harwich, Massachusetts, died Nov. 19 in Boca Raton. He was 95.
He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to parents Anthony and Martha Foster on May 20, 1927.
In his youth he was soloist in the choir of St. Paul Church in Cambridge, as well as other local Christian churches. He thoroughly enjoyed music and entertainment throughout his life.
Mr. Foster was an entrepreneur who started many businesses, which he later sold. His pride was in the education business, when he founded New England Building Specialties, which provided design and complete furnishings of school interiors, particularly parochial schools in the Northeast. He sold his business at a young age, retiring to Cape Cod.
There he started his commercial real estate career as owner of F.X. Foster Real Estate in Hyannis. He was an active member in both Needham and Yarmouth town governments. His last position was serving as chairman of the Yarmouth finance committee.
Mr. Foster lived his life to the fullest, traveling the world on 150-plus cruises, golfing, and dining with family or friends. When you were Frank’s friend, you were his friend for life — whether or not you wished to be.
Mr. Foster was a unique, kind and generous man who unquestionably loved his family and friends, including the family of his wife, Pat. He treated her brothers as his own siblings. His sense of humor and fun-but-realistic outlook will be sorely missed by the many friends he collected over the years.
He was a longtime member of the Hyannis Yacht Club, The Little Club in Gulf Stream and the Delray Beach Club, where he served as president as well as on many committees.
He was predeceased by his parents, first wife, Frances, and five siblings. He leaves behind his wife, Patricia; son Francis X. Foster II (Theresa) of West Harwich; granddaughter Patricia Lurvey (Matthew) of Dover, Massachusetts; and two great-granddaughters, Penelope Lurvey and Lillian Lurvey.
Funeral Mass was held on Nov. 26 at St. Lucy Catholic Church in Highland Beach. Entombment followed at the Boca Raton Mausoleum. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to St. Lucy Catholic Church, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or to the charity of your choice in his memory.

— Obituary submitted by the family

Auto dealership rezoning denied for second time near Place Au Soleil

By Jane Smith

The Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority moved closer to its takeover of the Old School Square campus in November when city commissioners gave the DDA $25,000 to run the Cornell Art Museum.
“It’s a short-term agreement,” City Attorney Lynn Gelin said at the Nov. 15 City Commission meeting. It will terminate when the overall deal, called an interlocal agreement, between the city and the DDA is signed. The larger deal will cover the entire campus with its five venues: the Pavilion stage, the Fieldhouse, the Cornell, the Crest Theatre and the Creative Arts School.
Known as the heart and soul of the city, the Old School Square campus is mired in a lawsuit filed in November 2021 by the former operators.
The new overall agreement with the DDA is expected to be ready in December.
The Cornell deal began on Nov. 16 and calls for free admission to the museum.
Exhibits will be a collection consisting of a Surfing Florida display, a historical retrospective of the campus and Delray Beach, and a Love Delray art exposition by local artists, DDA Executive Director Laura Simon wrote in a Nov. 21 email to The Coastal Star.
The prior tenants criticized the Cornell deal in a Nov. 16 email blast, saying the DDA was a taxing authority, “which means that you as a taxpayer will be paying 100% of this cost.”
Simon said she had not heard that criticism.
“We have a big job to do and are staying focused on moving forward,” she wrote. “We are also moving forward with establishing a [nonprofit] arts foundation to collect donations from those who want to contribute to the campus directly, just as it was originally intended back in 1987.”
The former tenant, the Old School Square Center for the Arts, continues to hold events that raise money for scholarships and mentoring, but not for the buildings because the city owns them. Its lease ended in February.
In October, the organization held LunaFest, featuring films for and about women, at the iPic Theater in downtown Delray. Nearly 400 people attended the event, which raised about “$50,000 for arts and cultural programming for local youth in our community,” according to an Oct. 19 Old School Square Facebook post by the organization.
“We are NOT back in the buildings, but we are continuing our mission to bring arts to Delray by supporting one of our partners,” the organization’s board wrote in a Nov. 5 email blast.
The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board agreed on Nov. 17 to enhance the Old School Square campus lighting by spending up to $10,000 on lights.
In other news from the Nov. 15 commission meeting, commissioners:
• Denied for a second time the rezoning of property on the east side of North Federal Highway next to Gulf Stream’s Place Au Soleil neighborhood. Property owner John Staluppi Jr. wanted to put a Hyundai car dealership there.
The 11 people who spoke during the quasi-judicial public hearing opposed the rezoning, including former City Commissioner Gary Eliopoulos, who said the 8-foot wall separating the dealership and the Gulf Stream residents would limit air circulation. The other 10 live in or represented the town of Gulf Stream.
When land use attorney Bonnie Miskel gave the presentation for Staluppi, she stressed that North Federal was the preferred location for auto dealerships in the 2020 update of the city’s comprehensive plan. That point was hammered home during witness cross-examinations by Beth-Ann Krimsky, a partner in the Greenspoon Marder law firm in Fort Lauderdale.
The commission vote again was 3-2 against the rezoning, with Commissioners Adam Frankel and Shirley Johnson supporting the rezoning.
• Approved a nearly $1 million budget amendment to cover increased payroll costs to police after new collective bargaining agreements were signed at the Oct. 25 City Commission meeting. The expenses will be offset by an unexpected $990,000 increase in the state sales tax revenue.
• Approved a fee increase for the first time in six years at the recently renovated city marina on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway south of Atlantic Avenue. The fees for people who want to live aboard their boats at the marina increase from $23 a linear foot to $29 a foot for city residents and to $33 a foot for non-residents. For people who want only to dock at the marina, the fees rise from $22 a linear foot to $26 a foot for city residents and to $30 a foot for non-residents.
The day rate stayed the same for city residents at $60, but it increased 25% for non-residents, who will pay $85.
The marina makeover cost about $4.6 million, including consultants’ fees. The work included 23 new floating docks, a raised sea wall, drainage and lighting improvements and installing Wi-Fi.

By Jane Smith

In a battle for control of the “Old School Square” name, Delray Beach says it is more entitled to use the moniker than the cultural center’s ousted operators who want to make it their trademark.
The city has owned the property for more than 33 years; Old School Square has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988; and the city continues to hold cultural and community events there, its outside counsel wrote in an objection filed Nov. 21 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Old School Square’s longtime former tenant, the Old School Square Center for the Arts, Inc., applied to trademark the Old School Square name in November 2021, three months after the City Commission voted to terminate the nonprofit organization’s lease effective Feb. 9 of this year.
“The [former tenant] has no substantiated intent to resume use of the applied-for services in connection with the [trademark],” wrote outside counsel Anne Flanigan of the Fort Lauderdale office of Weiss, Serota, Helfman, Cole & Bierman law firm.
A spokesperson for the nonprofit organization did not respond to an email request for comment from The Coastal Star. The organization has until Dec. 31 to file a response with the Patent and Trademark Office to the city’s trademark challenge.
The nonprofit sued the city over its termination about the same time as the trademark application was filed. The organization has continued to raise funds for cultural and arts programs, though not specifically for ones at the Old School Square campus.
The nonprofit canceled all its events and classes on the campus as of Oct. 1, 2021, according to the city’s filing.
The nonprofit listed its address in the trademark application as 51 N. Swinton Ave. — Old School Square’s address — even though the organization had been told it would have to leave the campus in February 2022.
The Old School Square campus is no longer the nonprofit’s physical address, according to the filing.

The five-bedroom spec home in Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club was developed by SRD Building Corp. Photos provided

By Christine Davis

A new 8,300-square-foot residence at 500 E. Alexander Palm Road, Boca Raton, was sold to Arty Langhaus from the 500 East Alexander Palm Road Trust in a $25.75 million transaction. The sale was recorded in September.
Langhaus is the co-founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s private wealth advisory arm.
The five-bedroom spec home in Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club — fronting the Intracoastal Waterway and developed by SRD Building Corp. — was completed this year. Amenities include a club room, wine cellar and billiards room.
Steven M. Scott, an obstetrician/gynecologist and entrepreneur, owned the property.
Scott founded national health-care companies Vista HealthPlan and Phoenix Physicians. Records show that he bought the property for $5.8 million in 2017, and in June 2021 transferred it to the trust managed by attorney Jeffrey Baskies.
David Roberts of Royal Palm Properties represented both sides of the latest deal.

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Leland Ackerley, one of the owners of the second-largest independent distributor of semiconductors in the world, has new digs in Highland Beach and paid a handsome price for it: $8.25 million.
He acquired the 5,425-square-foot, five-story, four-bedroom townhome, built in 2018, on Oct. 22 from Stuart Siegel. Among the amenities are a private elevator and plunge pool.
Ackerley co-founded the Houston-based semiconductor distributor Smith & Associates in 1984.
Siegel, who was the owner and CEO of the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers from 2008 to 2012, turned a nice profit on the sale. He had purchased the townhome for just $5.995 million two years ago.
Ackerley’s new residence, Unit 2 at 3621 S. Ocean Blvd., was sold by Catherine McGlennon of Engel & Völkers. Corcoran agent Suzanne Petrizzi represented the buyer.

Premier Estate Properties recently made the T3 Sixty Almanac Top Rankings. The company, with 42 agents, ranked No. 126 nationally of the Mega 1000 Brokerages, garnering 573 sales transactions, totaling $3.116 million.
Premier ranked No. 1 nationally for the highest sales volume per agent and No. 2 for the highest sales price.
The T3 Sixty Almanac, an independent, data-driven report, analyzes and quantifies the national rankings of top real estate companies annually.

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Joe Fagan is replacing Florida Peninsula Insurance’s vice president of underwriting, Michael Koscielny, who is retiring. Fagan spent 16 years in leadership roles with Travelers Insurance in Hartford, Connecticut, with his last six years as senior managing director of national underwriting.
Most recently, he served as underwriting governance leader with AIG Private Client Group/Lexington Insurance.

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The Old Inlet Bridge holiday ornament is available for sale.

The Boca Raton Historical Society and the Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum are now offering their annual commemorative holiday ornament, which highlights the Old Inlet Bridge. The first bridge over the Boca Raton Inlet was built in the late 1910s with a fixed span that ran south of the present bridge, which is at the inlet near The Boca Raton resort. In 1920, it was replaced with a wood one-lane “bascule bridge,” as ordered by the resort owner, Clarence Geist. In 1963, it was replaced with the current span. 
This holiday collectible, based on the bascule bridge, was created by Boca Raton artist Barbara Montgomery O’Connell. It is the 21st of the holiday series.
All of O’Connell’s depictions for the ornaments over the years are based on information and photographs from the Boca Raton Historical Society. This ornament can be purchased for $22.50 at the museum’s gift shop, 71 N. Federal Highway, or at BocaHistory.org. Click on “museum store.”
 Some of the previous ornaments are also available. The gift shop hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. For more information, call 561-395-6766.

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The Palm Beach 2022 Solar Co-op selected Sprightful to install solar panels through a competitive bidding process over four other firms, because of its equipment, price, warranty offerings and experience. The co-op is free to join and open to new members until Jan. 17. Palm Beach County residents and businesses interested in joining the co-op can sign up at www.solarunitedneighbors.org/palmbeach.

Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.

Former Monkee Micky Dolenz and his band to appear in Beatles fest at Old School Square

By Ron Hayes

When the last surviving Monkee was told he’d have to play a Beatles song or two if he wanted to headline the International Beatles on the Beach Festival in Delray Beach, he was happy to oblige.
“I like to try and support the old bands nobody hears about anymore,” Micky Dolenz says. “My mother and grandmother were big fans of the Beatles, and you never hear about them anymore. I like to support those bands from the distant past.”
He’s joking, of course. The Monkees always got the joke, even when their harshest critics didn’t.
When Dolenz and his five-piece band take the stage Dec. 16 at the Old School Square Pavilion, he’ll sing Last Train to Clarksville, Daydream Believer and all the Monkees’ greatest hits, but you’ll hear some Beatles, too.

Micky Dolenz, now 77, says he will play a few Beatles songs when he performs at the International Beatles on the Beach Festival, on Dec. 16 in Delray Beach.

“I do a bit of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and ‘Oh! Darling,’” he says. “I’ve done them over the years. I was an enormous fan, a huge, huge fan.”
But a Monkee? At a Beatles festival?
Imagine.
Back in 1966, both the Monkees’ TV show and their records were big hits, but to rock snobs they were the Rodney Dangerfield of pop. They got no respect.
The Beatles were the Fab Four, the Monkees were the Pre-Fab Four.
The Beatles had played together for years. The Monkees were actors, hired by men in suits for an NBC sitcom.
The Beatles had John Lennon and Paul McCartney writing their own songs. The Monkees had veteran tunesmiths like Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart and Neil Diamond writing theirs.
The Beatles played their own instruments. The Monkees’ early albums were backed by studio musicians.
The Beatles were gods, the Monkees were frauds.
But that was 56 years ago. Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork are dead now, leaving only Micky Dolenz to say again what they’d all said all along.
“The Monkees was not a band,” he explains. “We were a TV show about an imaginary band that lived in this beach house in Malibu. It was a show about a band that wanted to be the Beatles.”
A good comparison, he suggests, is Glee.
“That was a show about an imaginary glee club at a high school, but the actors were singers and dancers. You wouldn’t call them a manufactured glee club.”

Micky Dolenz, then known as Mickey Braddock, starred in the ’50s TV show Circus Boy.

From Circus Boy to Monkee
Dolenz was already an established actor when he auditioned to be a Monkee. In the mid-1950s, he starred in Circus Boy, a TV series about an orphan traveling with a turn-of-the-century show. He called himself Mickey Braddock then, because his father, George Dolenz, was already starring in The Count of Monte Cristo series.
“To get an audition for the Monkees, you had to be able to read lines and act,” he remembers, “but you also had to be able to play an instrument. I played ‘Johnny B. Goode’ on guitar.”
Tork and Nesmith played guitar, too, so Dolenz, who didn’t play drums, was ordained the drummer. He took lessons, learned to mime along with the prerecorded tracks, and then to really play when the band began touring.
“We were not America’s answer to the Beatles,” he says. “Our fans were the younger brothers and sisters of the Beatle fans.”
On Feb. 9, 1964, when the Beatles made their American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, Dolenz was sitting in his black 1962 Grand Prix at a Bob’s Big Boy in Van Nuys, California.
“A friend of mine had a little portable, black and white TV with rabbit ears that you plugged into the cigarette lighter,” he remembers, “so we watched them while having burgers.”
On that same show, Dolenz might well have heard a young actor sing a song from the hit Broadway musical Oliver. His name was Davy Jones and a year later they would be Monkees together.
“I was the first Monkee to meet a Beatle,” Dolenz says, “at Paul’s house. We had a lovely dinner and Paul was very gracious. We just sat and chatted and he invited me to a recording session at Abbey Road Studios.”
Dolenz arrived expecting a Beatlemania love-in funfest.
“So, I dressed accordingly in my paisley bell-bottoms and tie-dye underwear, glasses and beads. Limo picked me up. I walk in and there’s nobody there except four guys in folding chairs. It looked like my high school gym, and I looked like a cross between Ronald McDonald and Charlie Manson.”
John Lennon glanced up at him and said, “Hey, Monkee man, want to hear what we’re working on?”
They were working on a Lennon tune called Good Morning Good Morning, which wound up on their masterpiece, the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
Years later, the two partied together in Los Angeles during Lennon’s infamous drug- and alcohol-addled “lost weekend.”
“I’m told I enjoyed myself,” Dolenz says dryly.

The Monkees, clockwise from upper left: Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and Davy Jones.

The Beatles got the joke
If Beatle snobs snubbed the Monkees, the Beatles clearly didn’t. In March 1968, viewers saw an episode, written and directed by Dolenz, that began with the four Monkees being awakened by a Rube Goldberg alarm clock that played a tune.
It was the Beatles, singing Good Morning Good Morning.
“It was the first time the Beatles gave anyone permission to use any of their songs, and for no money,” Dolenz says proudly.
No, the Monkees were not the Beatles. Who was? But when the last surviving Monkee sings Last Train to Clarksville at this year’s Beatles on the Beach, he will know that 56 years later, the group has earned an enviable amount of respect and, what’s more, affection.
“The Beatles got what the Monkees was,” Dolenz says. “A TV show about this group.”
The TV show won an Emmy. The band had four No. 1 albums on the charts and sold 75 million records.
In May 1967, the Monkees released Headquarters, on which they played their own instruments.
Headquarters debuted at No. 1, for a single week. Then another album knocked it from the top spot.
That album was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The Monkees stayed at No. 2, right behind the Beatles, for the next 11 weeks.

If You Go
What: International Beatles on the Beach Festival, a four-day event featuring bands from around the world playing tribute to the Beatles, artwork displays and a performance by Micky Dolenz of the Monkees
When: Dec. 15-18
Where: Old School Square Pavilion and clubs throughout Delray Beach
Information: beatlesonthebeach.com for a list of venues, events and ticket sales.

Dec. 6: The affair organized by the Boys & Girls Club of Delray Beach will kick off the holiday season with a social featuring entertainment, gourmet food stations, signature cocktails and a silent auction to support club activities. Time is 6 to 9 p.m. Cost is $175. Call 561-676-5472 or visit bgcpbc.org/events/4th-annual-cocktails-for-the-club. ABOVE: (l-r) Co-chairwomen Jorgette Smith, Jennifer Coulter and Virginia Costa. Photo provided

The basketball and volleyball arena at FAU will now be named for Eleanor Baldwin of Boca Raton. Photo provided

By Amy Woods

Eleanor Baldwin of Boca Raton has made a $7.5 million pledge to Florida Atlantic University’s athletics program, and in recognition of the gift, the basketball and volleyball facility will now be known as the Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena.
Baldwin’s name is well-known at the university: It graces the Eleanor R. Baldwin House — the campus residence for the president — the Eleanor R. Baldwin History and Tradition Hall in the athletics complex, and the Eleanor R. Baldwin President’s Suite at the stadium.
“Eleanor has generously supported so many projects and initiatives at FAU and throughout the community, and we are so incredibly grateful to her for this gift,” said Brian White, director of athletics. “We cannot thank her enough for this support, which will impact the lives of so many Owl student-athletes, coaches, staff and community members who will utilize Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena.”
Added FAU President John Kelly, “Elly has been a true champion of Florida Atlantic and its students over the years, from mentoring future educators to cheering on our sports teams to donating crucial funds to support the university’s growth. The Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena will be one more shining example of her generosity at FAU.”

Urban League’s $5.1 million grant to help minorities
The Urban League of Palm Beach County hauled in the largest grant in the 49-year history of the organization when philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced a $5.1 million donation.
The gift will enable the nonprofit to elevate its assistance to the Black community and other minorities with the mission of achieving social and economic equality.
“We are so excited that Ms. Scott has recognized the work and contributions that the Urban League of Palm Beach County has made in the communities we serve across South Florida,” President and CEO Patrick Franklin said. “The board of directors and staff of ULPBC thank Ms. Scott for entrusting us with the awesome responsibility of ensuring that this generous gift will have a long-lasting and positive impact in our community.”
In 2019, Scott pledged — along with some of the world’s richest individuals and families — to dedicate the majority of her wealth to charity.
“When our giving team focuses on any system in which people are struggling, we don’t assume that we, or any other single group, can know how to fix it,” Scott said. “Instead, we seek a portfolio of organizations that supports the ability of all people to participate in solutions.”
For more information, call 561-833-1461 or visit https://ulpbc.org.

Boca West foundation has record year for giving
The Boca West Children’s Foundation distributed an all-time high of $2.2 million to local children’s charities this year.
Buoyed by proceeds from the annual golf tournament, which broke attendance numbers, grants were given to the foundation’s 30-plus partner organizations.
“This is truly historic and remarkable,” Executive Director Pamela Weinroth said. “This is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our board, Boca West members and supporters in the community that we were able to raise record dollars in a year with an array of obstacles.”
In addition to the grants, the foundation donated 45,000 volunteer hours as well as 180,000 diapers, along with cribs and other essential items for families in need.
“Despite some challenges over the last couple of years, so many good and caring people came together and kept our focus on helping the children,” board Chairman Richard Zenker said.
For more information, call 561-488-6980 or visit www.bocawestfoundation.org.

$100,000 donation to boost reading skills
The New York-based Soloviev Foundation has made a $100,000 donation to Roots and Wings to support early student reading for needy families as well as teachers to support the effort.
Delray Beach-based Roots and Wings provides services to economically disadvantaged public school students in South County — more than 500 boys and girls.
“All the research has shown that the pandemic has severely damaged educational advancement for our children, particularly those in disadvantaged communities,” Soloviev Group Chairman Stefan Soloviev said. “It’s all our responsibility to help all our students receive a strong education.”
For more information on Roots and Wings, call 561-404-0455 or visit https://rootsandwingsinc.org.

Gift drive underway for Boys & Girls Clubs
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County has launched its Holiday Gift Drive to collect toys and teen-appropriate gifts for thousands of local youths.
This year, families are facing challenges as a result of inflation and the organization is counting on the community for lots of support. The goal is to ensure less-than-fortunate children receive presents under the tree.
“The holidays are right around the corner, and we need to act quickly to collect enough toys and gifts for these deserving children and teens,” said Sarah Alsofrom, senior director of community relations at GL Homes, the drive’s sponsor. “Inflation is eating into every dollar families try to save, and unfortunately, holiday stockings stuffed with toys may not fit into the family budget.”
The drive runs through Dec. 11. Items can be dropped off at select local businesses — the list of locations can be found at the link below — and at the nonprofit’s corporate offices, 800 Northpoint Parkway in West Palm Beach.
“Our annual Holiday Gift Drive is important because we believe in making sure that our club members are happy,” said Jaene Miranda, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County. “For most members, this will be their only chance to receive a gift this season.”
For more information, call 561-683-3287 or visit bgcpbc.org/2022/10/31/support-our-holiday-gift-drive.

Send news and notes to Amy Woods at flamywoods@bellsouth.net.

Barbara Stark, president and CEO of the Milagro Center, sits among some of the children involved in the center’s programs. Photo provided

By Amy Woods

The Milagro Center’s popular annual fundraiser will take on a holiday twist this year and include an urgent appeal to help the 150 at-risk children it serves.
The Ho Ho Holiday Hoedown on Dec. 10 will be a country-Western shindig combining cowboys with Christmas and line dancing with the lighting of the menorah. The event will direct proceeds to the center’s “Last C.A.L.L.” emergency campaign, designed to rally the “Community Against Learning Losses” stemming from the pandemic.
“We are specifically raising money to increase the academic support so that these kids can make up what they have lost and start to succeed in school again,” President and CEO Barbara Stark said. “COVID really put a monkey wrench into things, if you will.”
The emergency campaign comes on the heels of “The Nation’s Report Card” published in October by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education. The data shows that fourth- and eighth-graders fell behind in reading and had the largest-ever decline in math.
“The saddest part is that COVID has had a disproportionate impact on the country’s most vulnerable children and teens, like the students in our program,” Stark said, noting that poor families often do not have equipment such as laptops, much less high-speed internet service.
“The additional funding will go a long way in making sure each and every student gets the attention they need and deserve so that they have a fighting chance to achieve success in school and in life.”
Funds will enable the center to hire more tutors who can work with children in small groups or, better, in one-on-one settings.
“The fact is these kids have an increased chance of school failure because of their economic status,” Stark said. “Our goal is to help them graduate and pursue a career so they do not repeat the cycle of poverty.”
Guests are asked to bring gift cards to hang on the gift-card tree. The cards will be distributed to middle school and high school students. There will be a live band, a barbecue dinner, a silent auction, a raffle and more.
“It will be a fun night to enjoy,” Stark said.

If You Go
What: Milagro Center’s Ho Ho Holiday Hoedown
When: 7 to 10 p.m. Dec. 10
Where: Delray Beach Elks Lodge, 265 NE Fourth Ave.
Cost: $45
Information: 561-279-2970, ext. 107 or www.milagrocenter.org

The Achievement Centers for Children & Families’ 11th annual Witches of Delray fundraiser took flight to benefit the community-based organization. More than 300 women wearing their best witch apparel atop extravagantly decorated bicycles rode through the downtown area, turning many heads. At the conclusion of the ride, the party continued at Old School Square with activities and awards. A total of $28,000 was raised. ABOVE: (l-r) Achievement Centers CEO Stephanie Seibel, Andria DeVoe and Tricia McFadden. Photo provided by Ethan Dangerwing

More than 150 guests attended Florida Atlantic University’s Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education’s annual gathering. During the event, the exceptional work of teachers supported by the center was celebrated. In addition, the 2021 Gutterman Family Outstanding Holocaust Educators were honored. ABOVE: Arthur Gutterman with Outstanding Educators (l-r) Tracy Sachs, Chelsea Dittrich and Maureen Carter. Photo provided