By Christine Davis

Marcus Neuroscience Institute at Baptist Health’s Boca Raton Regional Hospital announced a new National Institutes of Health research study to assess a potential treatment for brain bleeds and inflammation from ruptured aneurysms.
About 30,000 people in the United States suffer brain aneurysm ruptures each year. A brain aneurysm rupture, which is fatal in about 40% of cases in the United States, is called a subarachnoid hemorrhage. This type of stroke results in a hemorrhage in the area between the brain and the skull, and bleeding may also extend into the brain itself.
Exploring these cases and identifying potential treatments to prevent further brain inflammation and bleeding are key topics of research being led by Khalid A. Hanafy, M.D. at Marcus Neuroscience Institute and professor of neurology at Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine.
For more information, visit https://baptisthealth.net/baptist-health-news/nih-funded-research-targets-treatment-for-brain-bleeding-inflammation-from-ruptured-aneurysms/.

Delray Medical Center’s new electrophysiology and cardiac suite conducts minimally invasive procedures using the Azurion image-guided therapy system to treat arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation. Benefits of these catheter-based procedures include shorter hospital stays, reduced recovery time without the pain of a large incision and less visible surgical scarring.

The FAU Division of Research’s “Research in Action” virtual talk series on Zoom, at 1 p.m. on select Thursdays through Dec. 1, will host experts as they discuss their latest research and take part in Q&A sessions. Events include “Can AI Detect Early-stage Brain Disorders?” on Oct. 20 and “Meet the Creative Mind of James Bond” on Oct. 27. For more information and the Zoom link, visit www.fau.edu/research/community/research-in-action/ or email  fau.research@fau.edu.

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

Chair yoga is offered in the 55+ Wellness Series by Baptist Health South Florida through Mind Body Social. Photo provided

By Jan Engoren

All excuses not to exercise are off the table with the 55+ Wellness Series, offered by Baptist Health South Florida through the Baptist Health Foundation in partnership with Mind Body Social.
Founded by two Miami friends, Jose Antonio Hernandez and Luis A. Sanabria, the company partners with hospitals and corporations to offer free classes for people 55 and older.
Classes are held in the Boynton Beach Senior Center, Pompey Park in Delray Beach, Lake Worth Fitness Center and The Village of Palm Springs Community Room.
Virtual classes are also available.
The mission is to inspire well-being, increase awareness, and create and foster a wellness community, Hernandez says.
“We’re doing this for the people in these communities,” he explains. “Classes are free, accessible, and available with the goal of encouraging healthy behavior and fostering preventive care. Our classes inspire people to come together to find common ground. It helps us live our best life.”
The series began with an online-only offering last January and the in-person events kicked off in May with tai chi, fall flow yoga and chair yoga, Jazzercise, mindful movement, dance fitness, Zumba, gold Zumba and barre.
“Our partnership with Mind Body Social has allowed us to serve wellness-minded active adults throughout the Palm Beach County area,” said Lissette Egues, vice president with Baptist Health South Florida. “The physical and mental well-being of our community is the overall goal of the series, so we are pleased with the popularity of this free health and wellness programming made accessible to the residents we serve.”
Classes are taught by certified instructors. They include chair yoga instructor Mike Mitchell, 35, who teaches at the Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Palm Springs senior centers; tai chi master Helen Carson, 59, who teaches at the Boynton Beach Senior Center, and Zumba teacher Carmen Ormaeche, 52, of Boynton Beach.
Carson’s classes were initially scheduled every other week, but people enjoyed them so much, they requested them weekly. Typically, she gets 12-15 people.
“I’m happy to see such a good turnout, especially in the middle of a Florida summer,” says Carson, originally from Finland and certified since 2017 through Paul Lam’s Tai Chi for Health Institute in Australia.
The main benefit of tai chi is for stress relief, she says. “It’s meditation or, we say, medication in motion.”
Mitchell, who also teaches Thai yoga and martial arts, says chair yoga is good for stress relief and is not only for seniors.
“Because you are not using your body weight, chair yoga is great for structure, even for advanced practitioners,” he says.
“It can help prevent injuries and helps build muscle memory that allows you to be more stable. We hope to prevent injuries before they happen by increasing balance and stability for our seniors.”
Mitchell, who runs a nonprofit called VegFest, an outdoor vegan festival held in Boca Raton and West Palm Beach, says that “it’s good to have a job where people feel good after your classes.”
“I love that I'm able to have a positive impact on the community,” he says.
The Peruvian-born Ormaeche says Zumba is all about balance — and the music.
On a good day, more than 50 seniors come out to exercise to her selection of salsa, meringue, reggaeton, cumbia and samba beats. The mother of two has a full-time job as a cash application specialist and teaches Zumba in Pompey Park as well as at LA Fitness and to low-income kids in Lake Worth Beach.
“I tell them, don’t be intimidated if you don’t know the moves — just try,” says Ormaeche, who took classes for three years before attending a Zumba convention, thus falling in love with the workout.
“I knew that this was part of me, a new way to stay fit and help others reach their goals for a better, healthy lifestyle,” she says.
Ormaeche coined the acronym SSOH for simple, strong, optimistic and happy to go with her practice.
“I’m very happy that with my passion for Zumba, I touched so many lives,” she says. “No matter how bad your day is, once you enter the room it’s a new world.”
One of her students, Boynton Beach resident Sandra Langlois, 62, a retired surgical technician, has been taking classes with Ormaeche for five years.
“I love the music,” she says. “Carmen keeps us moving. After a certain age, you have to keep moving.
“She’s easy to follow and one of the best instructors. We all love Carmen.”
For more information visit www.mindbodysocialevents.com and follow @mind_body_social on Instagram or @MindBodySocialEvents on Facebook. 

Jan Engoren writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to jengoren@hotmail.com.

ABOVE: Cason United Methodist Church’s annual Pumpkin Patch is Oct. 15-31 outside the church in Delray Beach. Admission is free. The festival includes a car-to-car trick-or-treating day Oct. 30. BELOW: Boca Raton will have a Pumpkin Patch Festival at Mizner Park. Tickets must be purchased in advance for the Oct. 15-16 festival. Photos provided

By Janis Fontaine

Any day now, a tractor trailer filled with around 4,000 pumpkins will make its way from New Mexico to Cason United Methodist Church in Delray Beach for the annual Pumpkin Patch, which, after 26 years, is one of the church’s signature events.
“A lot of Methodist churches do pumpkin patches. It’s a fun family event,” organizer Sharon Bebout said.
She enjoys working the event, which requires a village of volunteers to pull off.
Tricia Schmidt, pastor David Schmidt’s wife, has been ordering the pumpkins from the same company for the last few years. Instead of paying for the orange orbs outright, the church pays a commission on their sales in November when all the figures are in. “Everybody makes money,” Schmidt said.
At the patch, pumpkin prices are determined by tape measure. After the church pays the grower, the rest of the proceeds from the event benefit Cason UMC’s mission and outreach programs.  
From minis to monsters, you’ll find a plethora of pumpkins. Some are picture-perfect while others are strangely shaped and colored. You’ll also find vibrant green and gold gourds. With prices beginning at $1, there’s a little burst of fall color for everyone.
“For some people, the uglier the pumpkin, the better,” Bebout said.
The pumpkin patch is open every day for about two weeks, thanks to the volunteers, which makes it convenient for busy families. This year’s dates are Oct. 15-31.
“It’s become a tradition for some families,” Tricia Schmidt said. They take photographs of their kids in costume in the same place each year, she said. “We have a Cinderella’s carriage the kids love to climb on that’s perfect for photos.” Especially if your kid wants to dress up as a princess or a prince.
It’s a lively time at Cason, which is planning two special events to go with the Pumpkin Patch:
The Family Fun Fest takes place from 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 22. This features crafts, story time, a fire truck and free ice cream. Come in costume. Everyone is welcomed and admission is free.
Trunk or Treat, an alternative to the door-to-door Halloween hunt for candy, takes place in the parking lot from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Oct. 30. Costumed kids go car-to-car to beg treats from the decorated trunks. Admission is free. Get a commemorative photo from Marco Photo Co. for an additional charge.
Once the Pumpkin Patch is over, “the leftover pumpkins get donated to zoos and pig farms for the animals to eat,” Bebout said.
Bebout is happy that Cason UMC is known for a great family event that brings hundreds of people to the church each year. “It’s truly a combined effort of love.”

Boca pumpkin festival
Plan for fall — and fun — to arrive in Boca Raton on Oct. 15 and 16 when the Boca Raton Pumpkin Patch Festival takes place in Mizner Park Amphitheater. This family friendly event features carnival rides, a pumpkin food court and fun for Halloween fans of all ages.

Highlights include:
• Pumpkins! With thousands to choose from, your personal favorite is waiting. The festival has specialty pumpkins too, like white orbs and the popular blue Cinderella pumpkin. Look for tiny pumpkins plus squashes and gourds of all sizes.
• Carnival rides: Kids older than 3 get a wristband for unlimited rides with admission. For the little kids, there are kiddie roller coasters and bumper cars.
• Fall photo vignettes: Capture a memory to share. You can photograph the family for your Halloween cards with plenty of time to share them before Halloween.
• Scarecrow Village: The scarecrows need to dress up in crazy outfits that will scare off the crows and they need your help.
• The cornstalk maze: This twisty, 10-foot-tall challenge is perfect for the little ones.
• Pumpkin decorating kits: Your family Picasso’s time to shine. Decorate your gourd on site or take the kit home ($3). Pumpkins must be purchased separately.
• The Pumpkin Food Court and Pumpkin Beer Bars: Refresh yourself between activities with sweet and savory pumpkin treats along with fair food favorites. Adults can sip pumpkin brews from Sam Adams and Angry Orchard.

If You Go

What: 27th annual Pumpkin Patch
When: Noon-7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays and 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 15-31
Where: Cason United Methodist Church, 342 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach
Admission: Free
Info: www.casonumc.org or 561-276-5302

What: Boca Raton Pumpkin Patch Festival
Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real
When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 15-16.
Admission: $25 for age 3 and older, includes a wristband for unlimited carnival rides and access to all attractions. Infants and toddlers younger than age 3 are admitted free.
Tickets/info: All tickets must be purchased in advance. No tickets at the gate. www.bocapumpkinpatch.com

ABOVE: More than 400 tons of limestone rock were dropped into 65 feet of water by Palm Beach County’s Environmental Resource Management to create a new reef called FWC Rocks 2022. RIGHT: The reef is located about 3,000 feet east of the Seagate Club, adjacent to 13 prefabricated modules called No Shoes Reef 4 that Environmental Resource Management placed in 2020. The exact location is LAT: 26.4528 and LONG: -80.0492. The limestone placement is partially paid for by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Artificial Reef Grant program. ERM to date has deployed more than 110,000 tons of concrete and 140​,000 tons of limestone boulders to create artificial reefs. Photos provided

  Lantana Mayor Robert Hagerty being sworn into office in 2021. Hagerty announced his resignation at Wednesday night's Town Council meeting after serving only 18 months of his three-year term. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

 By Mary Thurwachter

  In a surprise announcement Wednesday night following a vote to accept a tax increase, Lantana Mayor Robert Hagerty announced his resignation.

     Hagerty, 57, has served since March 2021 after defeating 21-year incumbent Mayor Dave Stewart. Hagerty, a former police officer, spent most of his career working in Lantana.

      “I had no intention of going back to work when I retired [from the Police Department], and here I am working on a second career,” Hagerty said. The new job in construction means relocating to Orlando, something he plans to do by Oct. 10. He said he brought the topic up because the next town meeting is Oct. 24, after he will have left Lantana.

      He thanked town staff, fellow council members and residents for their support and said the decision to leave came “after a lot of thought and discomfort” on his part.

      Unlike previous budget meetings and hearings this year, where residents have been largely vocal about their distaste for raising taxes, the Sept. 21 meeting was sparsely attended.

     “I wish more people were here to have said this to,” Hagerty said. “I thank everybody in attendance tonight.”

       Reached by phone after the meeting, Vice Mayor Karen Lythgoe said Hagerty’s announcement came as “a big surprise” that night, although she had expected it for a while. “I just figured the work was getting in his way and he was getting torn both ways. I expected it before now and as time had gone on, I thought well, he’s just going to keep going to the end of his term,” she said.

      Lythgoe is acting mayor temporarily, she said. “The seat will go on the ballot in March, when my seat is up also.” She hasn’t decided if she will run to complete the unfinished mayoral term or to retain her council seat. She can’t run for both.

      Lythgoe has expressed interest in becoming mayor one day but says she hasn’t decided when to do that — now, or after completing another term should she be reelected.

      “Max [Lohman, the town attorney] will give us the details [of what comes next according to the town charter] at our next meeting,” she said.

      Hagerty didn’t respond to The Coastal Star’s request for further comment. He has come under fire for missing multiple meetings since his tenure began in 2021. Mayoral terms are for three years in Lantana, as are terms for council members.

Winds from the east this summer have pushed a nearly constant supply of sargassum onto the beach, challenging beachgoers like Debby Belmonte of Ocean Ridge. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star 

Seasonal inundation is here to stay, scientists say

By Larry Barszewski

Rotting seaweed piles along South Florida’s coast can ruin a perfectly good day at the beach and foul the breeze reaching nearby homes and condos. At night, large sargassum wracks can ensnare sea turtle hatchlings struggling to reach the ocean.
But out at sea, the sargassum is a floating buffet and camouflage for baby sea turtles and other marine species, providing sustenance and protection from predators. And on shore, it can trap sand and fortify eroding coastlines. It can even be recycled into fertilizer.
Good or bad, benefit or nuisance, the seasonal inundation on South Palm Beach County beaches is here to stay, scientists say.
“In the past seven years, starting from 2015, the waters around Southeast Florida experienced way more sargassum than before 2015. This is likely going to continue in future years,” said Professor Chuanmin Hu, an optical oceanographer at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
It’s not only a local issue. Florida Atlantic University researchers have concluded the large increases in sargassum in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, forming the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, are fed by vast amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus pouring into the ocean from the Amazon, Congo and Mississippi rivers, often resulting from deforestation and the rise of agriculture.
The nutrients also are carried in the wind on grains of sand from the Sahara Desert and from biomass burning of vegetation in Africa, according to a 2021 FAU study.
“We saw very clearly in our data that these plants respond to increasing nitrate and phosphate, particularly when they’re combined together,” said the study’s lead author, FAU Professor Brian Lapointe of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. The whole North Atlantic basin is being affected by major river plumes and atmospheric deposits, he said.
The brown sargassum reaching Palm Beach County passes through the Caribbean Sea first, where significant increases have been reported since 2011, leading to “mountains” of sargassum landing on island beaches there, Hu said. Some of the sargassum from the Caribbean travels to the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Straits and north along the Gulf Stream — where a strong easterly wind and local tidal conditions can send it to Florida shores, Hu says.
“The past few years represents a new normal for future years, but every year will fluctuate. It could be higher or lower, but it will never reach the level we see in the Caribbean Sea,” Hu said of sargassum’s impact on the Southeast Florida coastline. “An individual beach may have a completely different story. … An individual beach may have more sargassum, even major sargassum, simply because of winds and tides. That’s a huge variable.”

A swath of sargassum 20 feet wide and knee-deep coats the beach south of the Boca Raton Inlet on Aug. 26. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Tides of seaweed
Clayton Peart experiences the impact in south Palm Beach County, where the Gulf Stream’s proximity to land is at its closest, on almost a daily basis. His family owns Universal Beach Services, a Delray Beach company that contracts with condos and homeowners to clean the beaches in front of their properties.
One thing that has drawn Peart’s attention as he cleans beaches this year is just the magnitude of the large patches of sargassum offshore.
“It seems like islands of seaweed washing in,” Peart said. The frequency of sargassum landing on the beaches rose dramatically this year, he said.
“The normal conditions are three weeks off and then two or three days of bad seaweed,” Peart said. This year, the situation flipped, he said: “The seaweed is bad for two or three weeks, and then there’s a break for three days.”
Fortunately, the sargassum amounts are lessening as fall approaches. Heavy inundations should not be seen again until the spring. But even that is a change from the past.
Hu said that although 2022 doesn’t appear to have dumped the most sargassum on the Florida coast, the sargassum presence expanded, showing up as early as April, in the heart of tourist season, when the beaches are most crowded.
“The amount of sargassum is not the highest we’ve seen, but the duration is the longest,” Hu said. “Usually, the Southeast Florida coast did not experience large amounts of sargassum except in June and July, you know, two months, or sometimes May to June.”
The sargassum piles are particularly noticeable on the south side of jetties at the Lake Worth Inlet, the Boynton Inlet and the Boca Inlet, trapped after being pushed there by southeasterly winds.
“We have seen massive amounts, for example, accumulate on the south jetty at Fort Pierce Inlet, very similar to what has happened in the town of Palm Beach this summer. It can catch on the jetties, right, and accumulate and begin to rot and stink,” Lapointe said. “Those areas are becoming problematic, releasing a lot of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas that is a health issue at very low concentrations.”

Hatchling obstacle
The heaviest time for the sargassum reaching south Palm Beach County overlaps the sea turtle nesting season, posing potential problems for hatchling turtles.
A study by a Florida Atlantic University graduate student published in the Journal of Coastal Research this year said sargassum accumulations in 2020 “may have caused as much as a 22% decline in net hatchling production in Boca Raton.”
The study by Joshua P. Schiariti and Michael Salmon, an FAU professor, at one point looked at 101 hatchlings trying to reach the ocean and found decreasing levels of success as the height of the sargassum barriers increased. None of 16 hatchlings coming upon a sargassum wrack that was a foot or more high was able to cross it, the study reported.
Although it is a potential threat to hatchlings, the sargassum hasn’t stopped near records of loggerheads and other nesting sea turtles from coming ashore this year to lay their eggs. “They plow right through it getting to the beach,” said David Anderson, the sea turtle conservation coordinator at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.
“The biggest impact we have seen, because of the large amounts of sargassum, is hatchlings struggling to get to the high tide line,” Anderson said. “We have a lot of people wave us down on the beach where hatchlings are stuck in the sargassum.”
City and private crews hired to clean the beaches and bury the sargassum aren’t allowed to work until crews surveying the beach for turtle nests and wayward hatchlings give an all-clear. Peart said in early August that there were a couple of weeks when he had lengthy delays in his morning work schedule because of heightened concern about trapped hatchlings.
“The turtle people were requesting I come to work later, to make sure all the hatchlings were out,” Peart said. That meant instead of cleaning the beaches between sunrise and mid-morning, he couldn’t get started sometimes until closer to lunchtime, he said.

The county has a hands-off policy for sargassum at its parks such as Ocean Inlet (above). Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Can’t you smell that smell?
Hatchlings aren’t the only ones affected by the decomposing sargassum — it bothers people, too.
Sargassum, by itself, isn’t toxic like red tide, an algal bloom that has been a particular problem on Florida’s Gulf Coast, Hu said. However, the hydrogen sulfide it emits while decaying can cause health issues for people breathing it in.
“Under Florida sunshine, after a couple of days, the sargassum plant gets rotten and smells very bad, like a rotten egg,” Hu said, especially when it’s in huge amounts. “It’s not good, maybe it’s harmful to your health, especially if you have breathing problems, asthma.”
And the sheer volume of the sargassum at sea is turning its presence from a vibrant living organism into a toxic “dead zone,” according to Lapointe’s study published in Nature Communications. It suggested the increased nitrogen availability is turning the critical nursery habitat for marine life into harmful algal blooms having severe impacts on coastal ecosystems and human health.

Keeping beaches clean
To handle the wrack locally, most beach cleaning in south Palm Beach County is done by private contractors because many towns don’t have a public beach to clean. The larger cities, including Boca Raton and Delray Beach, take care of their own public beaches.
Unlike Fort Lauderdale, which collects and composts its sargassum for use as a soil supplement, the private contractors and local communities here generally bury the seaweed at the beach. “I incorporate it into the dune system,” Peart said.
They must follow strict rules during the turtle nesting season, which runs from March through October, to ensure protection of sea turtle nests and hatchlings.
“We have two teams using a process where groundskeepers in a utility vehicle move forward to clear large debris and trash from the seaweed. As the groundskeepers advance, a tractor is brought in behind to dig a hole where needed and seaweed is pushed into the hole and buried,” Boca Raton spokeswoman Anne Marie Connolly said in an email to The Coastal Star.
“Cleaning is also limited to the last high tide line and our tractors are not permitted to clean the upper beach or dune line,” Connolly said. “The beach is cleaned daily, though at times we are hindered by an overwhelming amount of seaweed that is occasionally deposited during the change in tides or an occasional equipment issue.”
Palm Beach County takes a hands-off approach to the sargassum, because of the beneficial impacts it can have on beaches. That policy is in effect at county-owned beaches, including Ocean Inlet Park, Gulfstream Park, Hammock Park and South Inlet Park in South County.
“The county’s standard practice is to leave accumulation in place as it represents a critical part of the beach ecosystem providing food and shelter for wildlife, and nutrients and stability to sensitive dune habitat,” Andy Studt, the county’s program director for coastal resources management, said in an email to The Coastal Star.
“If necessary, Parks staff will work to clear open pathways through the sand down to the water for beachgoers at county-owned parks,” Studt said.

Adrian Guarniere, 17, a senior at Boca Raton High, wades through dense, floating sargassum on his way back to the beach on Aug. 26. He’d been fishing with a friend at South Beach Park. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The Florida Board of Pharmacy has rules meant to ensure home-delivered medicines arrive unadulterated, but Miriam Sivak of Boynton Beach said a box of her prescriptions — and the cooling pads inside — were hot to the touch. The shipping box (lower right) was clearly marked as perishable. She chose not to take the medication after getting conflicting advice from the pharmacy rep and manufacturer. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Related story: Along the Coast: Pros and cons of prescriptions by mail or delivery

Medication hot to the touch shows risks of booming business

By Charles Elmore

Like millions of Americans, Miriam Sivak agreed to receive prescription medicine by delivery to her Boynton Beach home — but the arrival of a package on a hot June day filled her with anxiety.
The medicine, an infusion treatment for an immune condition, was supposed to be kept at a controlled temperature. But it arrived late and hot to the touch, she said. So were the cooling packs in the container.
Her reaction? “Stunned,” said Sivak, 80.
Floridians get at least $8 billion worth of prescriptions delivered, sometimes steered to do so by financial incentives in their health plans or a desire to cut down on trips outside the home.
While the practice can offer convenience, it also has stirred concerns. These include lost, late or damaged shipments, questions about the consistency of delivery safeguards and regulatory oversight, and — especially in a state like Florida — exposure to extreme temperatures.
In a world where more and more stuff gets delivered, consumers learn to factor in mishaps like a chip in a porcelain figurine or plants that wither. Not ideal, but it happens.
It’s harder to dismiss with a shrug, though, when it’s a prescription medicine — where a person’s life and health may be at stake.
Sivak began making worried calls to the pharmacy, the drug manufacturer and anyone else who could advise her. A pharmacy representative assured her the medicine was fine, as it could withstand a certain number of days up to 104 degrees, or even for shorter periods up to 124 degrees, she said. Others advised caution.
She chose not to take the medicine.
“The manufacturer told me there was no way we could know how hot that medication got,” she said.
A federal agency once measured temperatures up to 136 degrees inside mailboxes exposed to direct sun in St. Louis. Heat exceeding 150 degrees has been reported in the back of commercial delivery vans without air conditioning in Florida and Arizona.
But typical packages don’t arrive with any way to measure how hot the contents got along the way.
Packages arriving hot, late or both can put the customer in a bind.
“We’ve had multiple situations where people bring stuff in, asking if it’s still safe to use,” said Tom Craig, who co-owns Gulfstream Pharmacy in Briny Breezes with his wife, Erin Craig, a pharmacist.
This has happened with prescription eye drops, for example, he said.
In some cases, the trouble is an interruption in supply because of a delivery tie-up.
“We’ve had to call a doctor many times and ask for a three-day supply because the mail order was late,” he said.
Another potential risk: There has been a rash of thefts from mailboxes in local municipalities in recent months, in some cases involving the fraudulent altering of checks.
To date, Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones said he is not aware of anyone stealing prescription drugs. Several employees in his department get prescription drugs sent to the office, he noted.
At UPS, the world’s largest package delivery company, many warehouses and trucks operate without air conditioning. Union officials have cited cases of drivers being hospitalized for heat illness and asked for greater protection as a contract comes up for renewal next year, published reports show.
As for medicine delivery, UPS spokeswoman Christina Repassy said the company “works with customers to ensure they have the proper packaging” with “gels, dry ice, etc., to maintain the required temperature.”
Customers such as pharmacies sending medication can “develop solutions on their own” or work with UPS to “design packaging that can ensure needed temperature throughout transport and delivery,” she said.

Pandemic boosted business
Home delivery of prescriptions has existed in one form or another for decades, but the coronavirus provided a push factor to expand it on a wide range of medicines.
Florida had close to 10 million prescriptions filled by mail in 2019, according to data cited by the Kaiser Family Foundation. That was nearly equivalent to one delivery for every two residents, though of course any given recipient might be getting multiple prescriptions filled that way in the course of a year.
Nationally, 1 in 6 enrollees in Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit, used mail order for at least one prescription. That suggests plenty of deliveries in Palm Beach County, where nearly a quarter of the residents are 65 or older, in addition to younger folks who might get medicines by mail.
The pandemic only accelerated the trend, as some patients were subjected to stay-at-home orders or just wanted to limit face-to-face interactions to stay safe. In the first seven months of 2020, use of mail order increased up to 20% over 2019 levels, Kaiser found.
But 2020 also brought reminders of potential tangles with mail delivery. Service cutbacks at the U.S. Postal Service, some later postponed or modified, produced warnings in congressional hearings about delays in everything from mailed ballots to prescriptions. 
And it became increasingly clear the delivery trend was colliding with weather extremes. A Nevada woman interviewed by NBC said her insurance company told her she could get migraine medication by mail order for about $50 a month, or pay out of pocket at around $600 a dose, she said. The injectable medicine was supposed to be kept refrigerated, but she said it arrived a day late, with the ice packs melted, sitting in 94-degree evening heat on her stoop.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services do not regulate or monitor delivery services through Part D, in which a private insurer may partner with the government to deliver medicine, a CMS spokeswoman said.
“It is important to note that pharmacies must comply with safety requirements pertaining to handling medications when sending them through the mail under the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and state law,” the CMS spokeswoman said. “If there are temperature requirements of certain medications, they must be sent through delivery services that can provide those requirements or they cannot be sent through the mail at all.”
An FDA spokeswoman said the agency oversees the approval and manufacture of prescription drugs, but she referred questions about delivery to state boards of pharmacy.
The Florida Board of Pharmacy enforces rules that pharmacies “must have and follow policies and procedures to ensure medicinal drugs are not adulterated,” a Florida Department of Health spokesperson said.
For consumers concerned about, say, the shipping or handling of drugs, there is an online portal to file complaints (https://mqa-flhealthcomplaint.doh.state.fl.us/).
Records show 99 administrative and disciplinary actions in 2022 as of Aug. 24, after 178 in 2021, 255 in 2020 and 211 in 2019. Penalties can include fines or revocation of licenses to operate in Florida for pharmacies based here or in other states. But the state database offers no way to search for cases involving delivery problems in particular.
A 2020 case alleged a Boca Raton pharmacist shipped misbranded compounded drug products out of state. A settlement was reached, involving a fine of more than $1,500, records show.

Complaints hard to gauge
The FDA received 2.3 million reports of “adverse events” associated with drugs and therapeutic biologic products in 2021, up from 2.2 million the year before, a government database shows. The reports do not prove a given drug caused a reported symptom, which can range from a headache to life-threatening conditions, disclaimers note. 
Relatively few cases deal with the delivery of drugs, at least as an identified category. Complaints the FDA classified as a “manufacturing product shipping issue” rose to 68 in 2021 from 64 in 2020, after 124 in 2019, records show.
Then again, a consumer might not have an adverse reaction to report if she chooses not to take a medicine that arrives hot to the touch or otherwise in question.
Even if a consumer took a drug and suspected it may not have been handled properly, proving that it caused adverse health effects can be difficult. The drug itself may have been consumed and unavailable for testing. In addition, many consumers are not sure where to direct a complaint — to the delivery company, the issuing pharmacy, the insurance company? Not all of those routes would necessarily lead to a report registering in an FDA database.
The Package Shippers Association, whose members include UPS, FedEx and others, did not respond to questions for this story.
Neither did AHIP, formerly known as America’s Health Insurance Plans, whose members include Aetna, CVS Health, Cigna and other large health insurers.
But Sivak believes the issue should not be ignored. She remembers the feeling, during some of her phone conversations, that “they tried to browbeat me, saying it’s perfectly fine.”
She wonders how many other people find themselves wondering what to do when an arriving package produces a queasy feeling.
“I could have gotten seriously hurt,” she said. “There’s no oversight and we need oversight.”

Related story: Along the Coast: When home delivery of prescriptions is not what doctor ordered

Pros
• Possible savings. Your health plan might offer discounts for certain drugs by mail, often for a 90-day supply. Check to see how it compares with the co-pay at the pharmacy.
• Convenience. Skipping a trip to a pharmacy or clinic can save time and money. Among the most common prescriptions by mail are for chronic conditions like high cholesterol, acid reflux and thyroid issues.
• Privacy. Not running into a chatty neighbor at the pharmacy might be a plus if you don’t feel like discussing medical conditions or issues.

Cons
• Initial delays. It can take up to two weeks to receive a prescription by mail. If you need the medicine immediately, consider asking for two prescriptions. One can be filled right away at the pharmacy and the other can be by mail for the longer term.
• Delivery tangles. During the pandemic, consumers got used to having more things delivered. But the post office and delivery companies sometimes have run into staff shortages or budget constraints trying to meet that demand. The more important a medicine is to a patient’s day-to-day health, the more comfortable it might feel to know it can be filled at a pharmacy if there’s a glitch.
• Heat and other issues. Extreme temperatures in warehouses, trucks, stoops and mailboxes without air conditioning can leave consumers uneasy about whether drugs remain safe and effective.
• Difficulty keeping up with prescription renewals remotely. Sometimes the onus is on a mail-order customer to go online or call and request a periodic refill. A pharmacy provides a face-to-face way to sort that out, as well as to answer any medical questions.

Sources: Kaiser Family Foundation, Consumer Reports, goodrx.com

Highland Beach Reserve Officer Gerry Riccio says the department’s modified Tesla is turning heads because it doesn’t look like a typical police car. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

At first glance, the sleek black Tesla blends in easily with other cars and SUVs on State Road A1A.
Take a closer look, however, and you might notice the low-profile light bar attached to the glass roof and the word “Police” painted on the front and sides of the car in gray “ghost lettering” that is difficult to see in daylight but glows at night.
This is Highland Beach’s new Tesla police cruiser, a donated electric vehicle that after a year and a half of research by local police personnel has been transformed into a customized prototype of sorts unlike any other police vehicle in Palm Beach County.
“This is a concept vehicle that we’re able to test and integrate into our existing fleet,” said Highland Beach Police Chief Craig Hartmann. “Having this car as a donation gives us the opportunity to test the functionality of a fully electric car in a police patrol capacity.”
The first-of-its-kind in the county Tesla has a customized police package developed locally and specifically for this vehicle. It has been on the road for about a month in a dry-run capacity to work out bugs and is expected to be tested on 12-hour shifts later this month.
“It doesn’t replace any other vehicle in our fleet, it’s just an extra vehicle at no cost to taxpayers,” Hartmann said, explaining that the car was given by an anonymous donor to the Highland Beach Police Foundation, which in turn gave the car to the Police Department. The foundation provides equipment that is not covered in the town’s budget to the Police Department.
For Highland Beach, a Tesla police car — especially a $90,000-plus car that came as a donation — arrives with a long list of benefits.
An electric vehicle, with a range of about 300 miles per charge, is a good fit for a town that has one main road — A1A — and is only 3.5 miles long with a handful of side streets.
In fact, most of the vehicles in the department’s fleet, which includes Ford SUVs made specifically for police work, are hybrids and have been for years.
The Tesla, however, takes cost savings and environmental friendliness to the next level. It is less expensive to operate than even the hybrids with the cost per mile estimated to be about 50% of the cost of a traditional gas-engine vehicle.
On top of that are the savings that come with significantly lower maintenance costs and downtime.
“There’s very little maintenance,” says Jeff Rubenstein, a Highland Beach reserve police officer who focuses on applying technology to law enforcement and who took the lead in configuring the Tesla for police work. “There’s no oil to change, no engine service needed and it has so many fewer parts.”
Another benefit of the Tesla that works well in Highland Beach is that it is quiet and stealthy.
“If you look at it, you can hardly tell it’s a police car,” Rubenstein said. “It looks like a civilian car until you don’t want it to look like a civilian car.”
Patrolling quiet residential neighborhoods at night, the car can remain all-but-silent and it can sit in a condo parking lot — idling at a lower cost than a gas counterpart — unnoticed by thieves focused on yanking valuables from vehicles.
“It looks like it belongs there,” Rubenstein said. “Nobody is going to think a Tesla is a police car.”
Rubenstein also believes that having an electric patrol vehicle adds depth to the fleet should gasoline become scarce or unavailable.
“Having a Tesla means we can always have a vehicle on the road,” he said.
Although Highland Beach has one of the lowest crime rates in Florida, the Tesla is a capable deterrent on the road. It can quickly catch up to another vehicle with rapid acceleration due to the torque provided by its electric motors.
While other municipalities in Florida have Teslas — Hallandale Beach in Broward County just added 13, most of which will be used by detectives — no others have been customized to the extent that the 2015 Model S in Highland Beach has been.
To turn a standard Model S into a police car meant that radar systems, computer systems and communication systems had to be installed.
To find the right equipment, Rubenstein worked closely with vendors here and nationally and with Tesla.
Because of what Highland Beach is doing, several manufacturers — including Panasonic, Havis, Sound-off and Airgain — agreed to partner with the Police Department and provide their latest state-of-the-art equipment at no charge.
One of the biggest challenges was to make sure electrical power to run all the police equipment was available all the time, since the Model S is designed to shut down power once the driver steps away from the vehicle.
To conquer that, Rubenstein worked with designers and engineers and added a second battery in the car’s trunk to run police equipment that is separate from the Tesla’s operating electrical system.
To address a remaining issue with the Tesla, Highland Beach is trying to acquire a high-speed charger that can get the batteries up to capacity while an officer is on his lunch or dinner break or in the station doing a report, Hartmann said.
In the interim, the car is charged overnight by Reserve Officer Gerry Riccio, who has been test-driving the Tesla before it goes on patrol.
He’s noticed, not surprisingly, that heads turn when people see the car.
“One of the first times I was driving it, a lady in a white Tesla pulled up to me and said, ‘I can’t believe it’s a Tesla police car,’” Riccio said. 

Thirty years ago, life changed over the course of an August weekend.
A swirling mass off the coast of Africa had struggled to develop until it was on South Florida’s doorstep. Then it intensified so quickly that Hurricane Andrew rushed ashore less than 24 hours after a hurricane warning had been issued for the Southeast Florida coast.
With 27 years since a major storm and 13 years since the last significant threat, South Floridians were taken by surprise. A normal Saturday morning suddenly became belated preparations, with cars lining up at gas stations and plywood flying off hardware stores’ shelves.
By late Sunday, the track of the storm began shifting from its original forecast toward Stuart and was aiming for Miami.
Then the sun rose on Monday morning to illuminate thousands of shattered lives. Andrew had ripped off roofs and imploded houses, tossed boats ashore, uprooted trees, buried roads in debris and left more than 1.4 million people without power.
Fifteen people had died during the storm. In total, 65 deaths were attributed to the storm and its aftermath. More than 60,000 homes were destroyed and an additional 100,000 damaged. Only in retrospect was Hurricane Andrew measured as a Category 5. The storm had ripped the radar off the roof of the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables.
Florida’s collective memory was split that 1992 weekend into “before and after Andrew.”
In the wake of the storm have come many positive changes: Hurricane forecasting has become more precise, emergency managers have improved communication tools for coordination and — thanks to major changes in Florida’s building codes — homes are more storm-worthy.
But over the same time period, 9 million more people have moved to Florida, 4 million more housing units have been built in the state and sea levels have risen. Meanwhile, residents opt out of watching TV news, preferring to get their information from disparate and opinionated social media silos.
So, the hot, sunny, calm days we’ve had so far this summer make those of us who lived through Andrew nervous. We keep an anxious eye on the weather systems in the Atlantic and stay prepared.
We know from a terrifying experience 30 years ago, that life can change over the span of a weekend.

— Mary Kate Leming, Editor

Charna Larkin and her poodle, Gigi, sit in front of framed images, letters and signatures from American presidents. Her late husband, Alan, loved history and the family has amassed a letters collection from every U.S. president from Washington to Biden. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jan Engoren

For longtime Boca Raton resident Charna Larkin, who turns 94 this month, doing good comes naturally.
Both Larkin and her late husband, Alan, were the children of Russian Jewish immigrants and she remembers life was not always easy, but the practice of tzedakah (charity) was instilled at an early age.
One of her latest good deeds was a grand one. In June, she donated $1.6 million to Florida Atlantic University to support student scholarships and establish the American Presidential Study.
The donation establishes the Alan B. and Charna Larkin Student Opportunity Fund within FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters.
“We’ve been coming to Boca Raton from Newton, Massachusetts, since 1988 when our children were still young,” Larkin said, recalling family vacations. She enrolled in FAU’s continuing education classes and says, “I was impressed by the faculty and their vision and saw a great fit for us.”
This donation is in addition to a $617,000 gift from Larkin to construct and name the Alan B. and Charna Larkin American Presidential Study on the third floor of the S.E. Wimberly Library. The space will house the family’s letters collection, making it available to a wide audience.
Among the items are letters signed by all 45 American presidents from George Washington to Joe Biden.
“Charna’s philanthropic vision elevates the profile of our college and university while providing students access to the historical record of the American presidency and to the financial support to pursue their studies in the arts, humanities and social sciences,” said Michael J. Horswell, dean of the College of Arts and Letters.
History was a passion for Alan Larkin, but his claim to fame was as founder of the Larkin Group with his brother Harold. It grew into the largest producer of fashion trade shows in the country, hosting events at Lincoln Center and the Javits Center in New York City during the Woodstock era.
“It was hysterical and fun,” Charna Larkin recalled. She worked there after she graduated from college later than usual, and the couple had three sons. “It was a true family business.”
“Alan was interested in the American presidency,” Larkin says. “It began as a hobby, but as Alan acquired more of the letters, it became too intriguing not to pursue.
“We realized what a unique resource he had.”
Larkin says her intention with the donation was to honor her husband, who died after a fall in 2002 at age 80.
“Now we feel that the whole Larkin family shares in this legacy,” she said. “It’s inspiring to see people of all ages and walks of life participate in the Larkin Presidential Symposium.”  
Her favorite letter is a thank you written by Harry S Truman to the Anti-Defamation League, after it acknowledged him for recognizing the State of Israel in 1948. In later years Alan Larkin was active in the ADL and its parent group B’nai B’rith.
“I’m happy that I’ve been able to continue collecting letters since Alan’s passing,” says Larkin. “Both George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump wrote personal letters to Alan after hearing about his collection,” and Biden followed suit this past spring.
“There is something inspiring about seeing all the Founding Fathers autographed letters represented,” she says, noting that it will be a legacy for her sons and six grandchildren.
“I take pleasure in our family,” says Larkin. “All our children and grandchildren are good people. They take pride in this collection and are as excited as I am that we found FAU as stewards for the collection.”
Her advice for future donors? “Start early and get in the habit of giving. Assemble assets and personal interests. Find ways to give back to the organizations you care about.”
“We found a way to succeed,” Larkin says. “We are grateful for the life this country gave us. The surprise is that I am still here and life is more interesting than ever.”

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Send a note to news@thecoastalstar.com or call 561-337-1553.

Nearly 60 friends and family members gathered in Ocean Ridge on Aug. 29 for a candlelight vigil for Cassidy Craig. Cassidy’s parents, Johnny and Deborah Craig, are on the right. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

By Joe Capozzi
 
Ocean Ridge police are investigating the death of a Lake Worth Beach teenager whose body was found in a vacant lot just east of the Ocean Avenue bridge leading to Boynton Beach.
 The body of Cassidy Craig, 18, had been lying in a vacant lot at 21 E. Ocean Avenue for at least two days before being discovered around 7 p.m. Aug. 12 by a man walking his dog, Ocean Ridge Police Chief Richard Jones told The Coastal Star. 
 Jones said police and the county medical examiner’s office were awaiting results of toxicology tests before they could determine a cause of death. Although Jones said she might have died of a drug overdose, “the investigation will continue as a homicide until we prove otherwise.’’
 Police said she might have died at a different location. 
 “The scene doesn’t appear to contain all the evidence that would be contained if that is where she expired,’’ Jones said.  
 On Aug. 29, nearly 60 of Cassidy’s friends and relatives, some from as far away as New Mexico, gathered at sunset for a candlelight vigil on the grassy spot at the base of some bushes where her body was found. Many of them wore red, Cassidy’s favorite color.
 A short white lattice fence strung with white lights surrounded the spot, which was covered with more than a dozen bouquets of roses and flowers by the time the vigil ended with her friends and family holding candles toward the sky. 
 “She was just my baby girl,’’ said her mother, Deborah, choking back tears. Losing her “is unbearable. You can’t understand it unless you go through it. It’s horrifying.’’ 
 She said Cassidy, who would have turned 19 on Oct. 16, was homeschooled and three credits shy of earning her high school diploma. She loved going to the movies and “had an infectious laugh. She always made us laugh with her smart-aleck comments,’’ her mother said. 
 Cassidy’s surviving relatives include her father, Johnny Craig, her older sister, Priscilla, and her maternal grandfather, Dr. Angelo Pace. 
“I just want to know what happened. That’s all I want to know,’’ her mother said.
 Deborah Craig praised the detectives with the Ocean Ridge Police Department for their compassion and professionalism during the investigation.
And she offered a message to anyone with information about who dumped Cassidy’s body in the lot. 
“Please just step up. Do the right thing. If you do the right thing then people can forgive that,’’ she said. “And for the people who did do this and left my daughter there, I hope you actually burn in hell.’’ 
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Ocean Ridge Police Department at 561-732-8331.

By Larry Barszewski

A low pressure sewer system may be the best option for getting properties in Manalapan off septic tanks, but Mayor Keith Waters is skeptical residents will agree with the idea.
Consultants studying the town’s sewage needs called the system the “least expensive” and “least disruptive” of three options they analyzed. It would require each property to have a macerating pump, said Thomas Biggs of Mock Roos & Associates, the civil engineering firm contracted by the town in 2019 to do the study.
The pumps would grind the solids in the wastewater coming from homes and push it into sewer lines to flow to a regional treatment plant, Biggs said during an Aug. 10 online Zoom workshop on the subject.
But the pump installations may be opposed by property owners, Waters responded.
“There’s no prayer in all of our lifetimes that you’re going to get anywhere close to even half of the people who live in Manalapan to agree to drill holes in their front yard,” the mayor said. Half of the 20 to 40 residents he’s talked to about the issue “don’t even think we need the sewer system,” he said.
Commissioners will hold another workshop, tentatively scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at Town Hall, to discuss which, if any, option would work for residents. Besides the low pressure system, Mock Roos also considered a gravity system and a vacuum system. The three options each had a price estimate exceeding $10 million.
The commission is looking at the options because 220 properties in town use septic tanks: 155 on Point Manalapan and 65 along State Road A1A. Only 93 properties are part of a gravity sewer system, from Town Hall to the north, which includes the town’s commercial properties.
The septic tanks pose an environmental threat because of their potential for leaching contaminants or algae-producing nutrients into groundwater or the Intracoastal Waterway. While there have been discussions at the state level about the need to eliminate septic tanks on barrier islands, Biggs said the state currently has no conversion requirement or deadline.
Septic tanks can also hurt property values, although that may be less of an issue in this exclusive town, which this year saw a home sell for $173 million. “That is a question that’s asked when people are coming in and inquiring about properties in the town. They always ask if we are on sewer,” Town Manager Linda Stumpf said.
Commissioner John Deese told the mayor he has heard from plenty of residents who would prefer a sewer system.
“I’ve probably spoken to at least 10 or 15 people and I have not had one person that said they don’t want to do it. They can’t believe that we don’t have sewer in our town,” Deese said.
Waters agreed many people favor sewers, but he said support for a new system quickly evaporates once details emerge of how properties will be impacted, potentially with lawns and landscaping having to be ripped up and replaced.
Stumpf said the town has been down this road before with residents. “There’ll be pushback,” she said. “We’ve done this over and over and over again. Here’s where we get. We get to this point where it’s the cost and that’s the end of the conversation. And then, a couple of years later, we do this again.”
Waters and Vice Mayor Stewart Satter said it was more than the cost that’s at issue.
“It’s the complications in addition to the cost,” Satter said.

Gravity sewer system
The guts for a gravity system are already in place on Point Manalapan south of the Audubon Causeway. Its developers installed a sewer line for a future system, passing the price on to the original purchasers of the homes there.
Consultants would have to test to make sure the pipes are usable, but Biggs said he has no reason to think they wouldn’t be. He said they could be part of any of the proposed options.
The gravity system along A1A at the north end of town connects to the Lake Worth Beach system and a pump station — also called a lift station — on A1A. Town Hall uses a macerating pump to push its wastewater to the pump station.
“That pump station has some issues, has some structural issues,” Biggs said. “It’s functioning, but it’s not ideal. That pump station has to be reconstructed as part of this program.”
Biggs said a gravity line system would be the most expensive and the most disruptive during construction. In part, it would require the creation of six additional lift stations throughout the town.

Vacuum collection system
Another option is a vacuum collection system, which is more common in the Florida Keys and used in only a couple of communities in Palm Beach County, Biggs said.
“You apply a vacuum to the collection sewers. Every house basically has a storage tank and then there’s a valve. As the storage tank fills up, the valve trips open and the vacuum sucks out the storage tank and on it goes,” Biggs said.
Each storage tank could be placed near an existing septic tank, Biggs said, but Waters saw the system as basically replacing one tank with another.
The system would also need large vacuum pumps at the library on Point Manalapan and somewhere along A1A, Biggs said. “The vacuum pump stations would require probably at least a 40-by-40-foot easement as well to build,” he said.
While the cost to operate the vacuum system would be lower than for a gravity system, Biggs said operating a vacuum system is more challenging. Stumpf called the vacuum system “a maintenance nightmare, very costly.”
“This is not the option we’re recommending at this point in time, but this is one of the options we had to develop in order to submit for a loan,” Biggs said.

Low pressure system
A low pressure system would have homes connecting to a small-diameter pipe in the roadway. Residents would each have a small pump station in place of their septic tank. The pumps would be similar to one that sits in front of Town Hall and each would cost about $9,000 installed, Biggs said.
Some properties along A1A already have pump stations connected to their septic tanks and those should be able to be used as part of a low pressure system, Biggs said. Other properties along A1A might need to have pumps installed even with a gravity system, if the wastewater lines on their properties would be lower than the main A1A sewer line.
“If it’s already macerating the waste, then it would be potentially usable for this,” Biggs said of the existing residential pumps. “You’re going to connect to this low pressure system and instead of pumping it into your tank, and then your tank feeding a soil absorption system to dispose of the water, you’re going to pump it into a small-diameter force main that’s in the road and then it’s going to carry it away to the regional facility.”

Cost scenarios
The consultants prepared cost scenarios for the systems, based on estimates of potential grants and the likely interest rates for any loans that may be needed.
A look at the present worth — the total cost of each alternative over time using today’s dollar values — showed the cost of a low pressure system at $10.3 million, a vacuum system at $10.9 million and a gravity system at $13.4 million.
The lifetime operation and maintenance costs were projected to be $3.3 million for a low pressure system, $3.4 million for a gravity one, and $3.9 million for a vacuum system.
The actual costs will depend in part on decisions the commission has not discussed. With a low pressure system, for instance, would the town or each property owner pay for purchasing and installing the macerating pumps?
When estimating how much grant money the town would receive, Waters said the town should plan as if it were getting nothing, because of the difficulties involved in the grant processes.
“Whether we even qualify to get those grants is another thing altogether,” Waters said. The town should assume it will have to cover the full amount needed, he said, “and hope that we can get that down with some grants in the future.”

Other things to consider
Another benefit to getting off septic tanks, Biggs said, is that every property no longer would need a drain field.
“That frees up for everybody the opportunity to do something else with that part of their property,” he said.
“That’s huge,” Satter said, “because if you want a tennis court or something, you can’t put it over your drain field.”
Some property owners may have recently installed septic systems and be against switching now because of those investments, but Stumpf said the town could consider not requiring immediate hook-up to a new town system.
“As far as everyone hooking in, the town could make a policy that when you’re having issues with your septic or you have to replace your septic, that’s when you would put a pump in,” she said of the low pressure system.
The planning is in its early stages; the idea is to have the eventual sewer system tie into the Lake Worth Beach wastewater treatment system, Stumpf said. To do that may entail the town’s purchasing capacity from another municipality, but those discussions have not begun yet, she said.

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream is getting its first-ever assistant town manager and a public works director come Oct. 1 amid other high-level moves in Town Hall.
Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro will be promoted to assistant town manager/legal, and water maintenance supervisor Anthony Beltran will be public works director.
In a shuffle of duties in the town clerk’s office, Rita Taylor will get a new title — senior town clerk. Her deputy clerk, Renee Basel, will become town clerk and Rebecca Tew, the town’s chief financial officer, will handle more of the building permit work previously done by Taylor.
Town Manager Greg Dunham made the recommendations on Aug. 12 and said the changes, which town commissioners will approve during budget hearings in September, will add a cumulative $47,000 in salary expenses.
“We’re happy with all the staff recommendations and titles. Everyone’s doing well so we’ll keep moving forward,” Vice Mayor Tom Stanley said.
Nazzaro, who helped write the town’s public records procedures as a paralegal, was named its full-time staff attorney in 2016 and assistant town attorney in 2019.
“I think someday, I think he has visions of going into city management,” Dunham said, calling Nazzaro his “right-hand man.”
Basel came to Gulf Stream as a temporary worker in 2015 and was given a permanent position as executive assistant soon after. She became assistant town clerk in 2019 and deputy clerk after earning her designation last year as a certified municipal clerk. She is also the Southeast district director of the Florida Association of City Clerks.
Taylor, who has been the town clerk for 32 years, “will always have a place on our staff as she continues working in our clerk’s office and also providing historical perspective, knowledge and advice to our staff and to the residents of Gulf Stream,” Dunham said.
Commissioners early last year named the one-room library inside Town Hall the “Rita L. Taylor Gulf Stream Library” in a show of gratitude for her years of service.
Before taking her job in Gulf Stream, Taylor served 20 years as clerk in Ocean Ridge. And from the early 1970s to the late 2000s, she was an alderwoman and volunteer clerk in Briny Breezes, where she owns a second home.
In other personnel moves, Dunham proposed hiring a new police officer and an accounting clerk.
He also recommended giving town employees a $200-a-month “fuel allowance” to offset inflation pressure, along with a 5% cost-of-living raise.

In other business, commissioners:
• Agreed to pay consulting engineers Baxter & Woodman $64,000 for construction management services for civil work to be done at Bluewater Cove. The nine-month project will include water, wastewater, drainage and paving work at the new subdivision north of Place Au Soleil.
• Were told the town will pay police officers on night duty a shift differential above the pay given daytime patrols.

Deb and Larry Handler will mark their 30th wedding anniversary this school year at Gulf Stream, where they total 75 years of service as teachers. They also love basketball. Deb played for Keene State College in New Hampshire and Larry is co-athletic director at Gulf Stream.
Rachel O’Hara/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

For Deb and Larry Handler, the return of students to the Gulf Stream School campus in late August signaled the beginning of a year packed with milestones.
For Deb Handler, this calendar marks the beginning of her 40th year at the school, where she has been teaching kindergarten for most of her career. Some of the little ones, in fact, are children of her former students.
For Larry Handler, this year marks his 35th year teaching math to middle-schoolers and playing a key role in the athletic programs.
This school year will also include the 30th anniversary of the couple’s wedding, which took place in the school chapel and was, by all accounts, a major Gulf Stream School happening.
“Almost everything in our lives has involved Gulf Stream School,” Larry Handler says.
In fact, the Handler family and the family-like atmosphere enveloping the school have been firmly intertwined over the years.
The couple’s daughter, Kendra, attended the school, as did Handler’s son from a previous marriage, Aaron.
“Kendra literally grew up here,” said Larry Handler, adding that she is now an elementary school teacher in Cocoa. The school, Deb Handler says, has helped to provide a solid foundation for the couple and their family to build upon, both personally and professionally.
“Gulf Stream School gave us the opportunity to work and grow as a couple,” she said.
Both give credit to school leaders, especially former Head of School Anne Gibb, for making that possible.
“Miss Gibb set the atmosphere that allowed us to flourish as teachers and as a family,” Deb Handler said.

The weddings of Bryan and Shani Cook and of Deb and Larry Handler were celebrated in the 1994 edition of the Gulf Stream School yearbook, The Mariner. The Cooks and Handlers still teach at Gulf Stream. Photos provided

Other campus couples
When it comes to married couples on the Gulf Stream School campus, the Handlers are not alone.
The school has employed couples before, and two are teaching now: the recently married Rob White-Davis and Samantha Smith White-Davis, as well as Bryan and Shani Cook, who have a story similar to that of the Handlers.
Like Larry Handler, Bryan Cook teaches middle school math. He is also co-athletic director with Larry Handler and was his best man in the couple’s wedding.
Shani Cook, like Deb Handler, works with the youngest students, teaching prekindergarten.
Bryan Cook says that what stands out about the Handlers is their significant impact on the school and the students over their years there.
“They’re such a large part of the fabric of the school and have been for such a long time,” he said.
Cook says their dedication to the students is clear even outside of teaching or coaching. It’s not unusual, he says, for the couple to attend students’ games when they play in rec leagues or on travel teams or even after they graduate from the school.
Because the Handlers teach at opposite ends of the school — as do the Cooks — their paths don’t usually cross during the school day.
That’s also the case for both Samantha and Rob White-Davis. Rob, the director of performing arts who is beginning his 15th year at the school, teaches at the south end of campus. Samantha, the newly named lower school division coordinator, is at the north end of the school.
The couple, who got married in July, do their best to avoid shop talk during their time off.
“It would be easy to talk to each other about school, but we try not to,” says Samantha White-Davis, who began dating Rob during the pandemic while becoming best friends. “It would consume our whole relationship.”

A basketball connection
For the Handlers, who sometimes compare notes during evening walks, there’s a chance to work together during basketball season as co-coaches.
Basketball, it seems, has played a large role in how the Handlers got together.
“We hit it off largely because of college basketball,” Larry Handler said.
Deb, who played college basketball at Keene State College in New Hampshire, is a fan of NCAA powerhouse Duke, while Larry is just a fan of the game.
There was even a time when the two took to the basketball court for a game of one-on-one, although it appears no one kept score.
It was during the summer of 1992, when Deb was in Massachusetts and Larry was here in Florida, that the two got engaged. Larry sent Deb a wooden puzzle in the shape of a heart with the words “will you marry me” visible once it was completed.
It is clear to those who work with the Handlers and who know them well that teaching at Gulf Stream School is more than just a profession — it’s a passion.
“I love teaching kindergarten,” Deb Handler said. “I love seeing the joy on a child’s face when they see they can read. They just light up.”
Larry Handler says his enjoyment of teaching has never faded and that he can always expect the unexpected.
“There’s still a time when something will happen that I’ve never seen before,” he says.
What the long term holds for the Handlers is unknown — they’re both in their early 60s — but it’s a bet that whatever they do, they’ll be doing it together.
“We’re a package deal,” Larry Handler says.

By Rich Pollack

Armed with a unanimous recommendation from a county advisory board, Highland Beach leaders this month will go before the County Commission seeking a much needed certification that helps clear the way for a new town fire department.
Last month Palm Beach County’s Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council reconsidered Highland Beach’s application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (COPCN) license. That certificate is required before the town can provide EMS services once its new fire department is operational in May 2024.
The council, which earlier postponed a vote on the application to get additional information, agreed to forward its recommendation to the County Commission after little discussion.
“This is a very big step in establishing a Highland Beach Fire Rescue Department,” Town Manager Marshall Labadie said. “We were able to work through the initial roadblock and have been able to secure the advisory council’s first new agency approval in more than 30 years.”
Still, the final decision on whether to grant Highland Beach the license will rest with county commissioners, who are scheduled to vote on the issue at their Sept. 13 meeting.
To support their efforts, town leaders hope town residents will come to the meeting. They plan to send a bus of about 50 supporters and will supply T-shirts with the fire department logo on them.
Labadie has spoken with several county commissioners and said they have indicated support for the town. Like Labadie, Mayor Doug Hillman says he is optimistic the town’s application for the certificate of need will be approved.
“It would be remarkable if the commissioners went against it but it’s never a done deal,” Hillman said. “It’s not over until the County Commission approves it.”
Having residents attend the County Commission meeting, Hillman said, will remind commissioners that a referendum in which voters agreed to let the town spend up to $10 million to start the new department passed with more than 90% approval.
“We want to be sure to show that our residents support the creation of a new fire department,” Hillman said.
Hillman and Labadie encouraged residents who want to ride the bus to the meeting to register online, with a link provided on the town’s website. The bus will leave at 8:30 a.m. with only 50 spots available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Town commissioners in April 2021 voted to split from Delray Beach Fire Rescue and start a new department — breaking a relationship that had lasted more than 30 years. Commissioners, citing a consultant study, said they believe the town can still provide quality fire service for less than the $5 million a year Delray charged.
Since then, sometimes contentious discussions have taken place in which Delray Beach Fire Chief Keith Tomey has expressed concerns about the ability of the new department to provide residents with the level of service they receive from his department.
In a memo to Delray Beach City Manager Terrence Moore the day after the EMS Advisory Council vote, Tomey reported Highland Beach had agreed to increase its staffing to eight paramedic firefighters on a shift and said that Delray would be required to provide EMS mutual aid to Highland Beach.
“Our COPCN license requires any COPCN holder to render aid to another COPCN holder in another jurisdiction as a requirement to have a COPCN license,” he wrote.
At the same time, he pointed out that Highland Beach’s two neighboring communities have declined to provide mutual aid for fire calls.
“The bigger issue for them is that Boca nor Delray will be providing the fire protection mutual aid,” he said.
Both Labadie and Hillman have said they have a verbal commitment from Palm Beach County Fire Rescue to provide mutual aid for fires, but no formal agreement has been reached.

By Joel Engelhardt

The Aug. 23 primary whittled the field in three state Legislature races critical to residents of coastal South County.
In the closest race, Highland Beach Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman defeated newcomer Christina DuCasse with 52.6% of the vote, per unofficial results posted on Aug. 24. Gossett-Seidman, a Republican, will face Boca Raton City Council member Andy Thomson, a Democrat, for the House District 91 seat in November. 
State Rep. Mike Caruso, moving into new House District 87, took 67.5% of the vote in defeating Republican Party activist Jane Justice. Caruso, who has spent more than half of the $208,000 he raised through Aug. 18, will face Democrat Sienna Osta, who has raised $4,900.
In Senate District 26, Republican Steve Byers took 58.8% of the vote to defeat William Wheelen. Byers will face incumbent Democrat Lori Berman on Nov. 8.
Gossett-Seidman, who won by about 500 votes from about 9,500 cast, spent nearly $194,000 in her race. DuCasse, a Russian-born American adoptee married to a Boca firefighter, spent less than $10,000 but had the support of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1560 of Boca Raton. 
Gossett-Seidman, 69, raised nearly $290,000, including a $200,000 loan from herself. She credited her victory to hard work going door-to-door and her success in getting Tallahassee financial support for local projects. 
Thomson, who had no primary challenger, has raised $225,000 but spent just $30,000. The district includes all of Boca Raton, most of Highland Beach and much of west Boca.
After four years representing the Delray Beach area and most of the South County barrier islands, Caruso moved into a new coastal district that starts at the Boynton Inlet and covers Hypoluxo, Lantana, Manalapan and South Palm Beach, as well as large swaths of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.
He decried the split in the party that turned many local party members against him over his primary endorsement of Democrat Katherine Waldron, a Port of Palm Beach commissioner. He said he spent money fighting “untruths” that should have been saved for his Democratic rival. 
Caruso, 63, said he took calls every day from voters concerned by allegations made by his opponent and that his campaign knocked on 14,000 doors. 
“We need to come together as a party,” he said. “We’ve got to keep Florida red, keep Florida conservative and keep Florida free.”
Byers, 54, parlayed success in Amway sales into a consulting business, which did projects for IBM and the CIA, he said on his website. Among businesses he started since then is one as a beekeeper. 
Byers sent out campaign mailers promoting himself and DuCasse. The mailers stated they were paid for by the Byers campaign but did not contain a similar disclosure on behalf of DuCasse, prompting criticism that they violated Florida election law. 
Byers said he has not received notice of an elections complaint and he noted that the law says for there to be a violation it must be committed “knowingly and willingly,” and he did not know the flyer would pose a problem.
In his upcoming campaign, he said he would focus on insurance reform and reining in homeowner association overreach.
He lent his campaign $54,800 and raised an additional $1,665, while spending nearly $33,000 (including $5,000 to repay loans to himself).
Wheelen had been a party volunteer since 2015 and was honored with the local party’s Jean Pipes Award for Volunteer Service in March at a Mar-a-Lago dinner headlined by former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Byers will face Berman, who served eight years in the state House and has been a state senator since 2018. Through Aug. 18, she raised $130,000 and spent $35,000. 
Senate District 26 extends along the beach from Boca Raton’s Red Reef Park to the Boynton Inlet and stretches west to Belle Glade.

By Joe Capozzi

Lynne Ladner, a former interim town manager in Pinellas County, will take over as interim town manager in Ocean Ridge. 
Town commissioners voted 4-0 on Aug. 8 to hire Ladner after interviewing one other candidate, former Lake County Manager Alan Rosen. Commissioner Geoff Pugh was absent. Ladner formally accepted the job on Aug. 10. 
Ladner planned to start Sept. 1, working alongside departing manager Tracey Stevens, whose last day is Sept. 11. Stevens has accepted the town manager job in Haverhill. 
Commissioners hope to interview candidates for a full-time town manager in October and hire one by Thanksgiving. Ladner told commissioners she is interested in the full-time position. 
“I am thrilled at this opportunity and I am excited to come next week and get started,’’ Ladner told commissioners after they approved her contract at a special meeting Aug. 25. “I look forward to working with all of you and everyone in the town.’’ 
Commissioners were impressed with Rosen, but felt Ladner was the better fit. Rosen had told commissioners he probably would not be interested in the full-time position because of family commitments.
“I think Lynne would be a good fit for keeping the boat afloat for the three months while we are looking for somebody else,’’ Mayor Susan Hurlburt said. 
Ladner has more than 15 years of experience working in local governments in Florida, Michigan and Kansas. More recently she served as interim town manager in Kenneth City, a suburb of St. Petersburg.
She also has been working as a consultant for the city of Pahokee, a job she planned to leave before starting in Ocean Ridge. 
Ladner will draw a paycheck based on a $100,000 annual salary for the first two weeks. On Sept. 12 her pay will increase to $132,500 a year, which Stevens was making. 
The commission also gave Ladner permission to serve on a Florida League of Cities committee that will require her to attend a meeting once a month in Kissimmee. 
At the Aug. 25 meeting, Ocean Ridge resident Terry Brown, a former commissioner, asked commissioners to give Ladner an overview about the town’s neighborhoods and political factions.  
 “I’m not trying to be cute or anything, but I want to be sure as soon as possible” that officials “give an orientation to the town in terms of demographics and neighborhoods where various tensions exist,’’ Brown said.
It’s important that Ladner is “aware of what happens in the town with various groups so there are no surprises. You dig what I’m saying?’’ Brown said.

By Steve Plunkett, Jane Smith and Rich Pollack

Highland Beach and Gulf Stream have struck a deal in which the former will process the latter’s applications for building permits.
“We’re excited about this. We’ve been kind of in a purgatory here,” Gulf Stream Town Manager Greg Dunham said after a special meeting on Aug. 26 that culminated with a 3-0 vote to approve the arrangement.
A day earlier, Highland Beach commissioners OK’d their side of the bargain on a 5-0 vote.
“This is an example of how small towns can work together for the benefit of everyone,” said Highland Beach Commissioner Evalyn David.
Under the agreement, the Highland Beach Building Department will provide building plan review and inspection services to Gulf Stream, work that until last spring had been handled by Delray Beach.
 In May, Delray Beach ordered an abrupt halt to engineering, floodplain and landscaping review for Gulf Stream plans after discovering its building department was doing the reviews without necessary City Commission authorization.
Gulf Stream hired outside engineers and a landscape architect to pinch-hit on the reviews and solicited bids from three third-party firms while also negotiating with Highland Beach to take over the work.
Highland Beach Town Manager Marshall Labadie touted the advantages to both towns.
“Overall, the building permit fees generated by the Town of Gulf Stream customers would cover all variable costs (plan review and inspections) and its proportion of fixed costs and provide an administrative fee to cover management costs, all while improving service for Highland Beach customers by securing greater access to more inspectors and plan reviewers,” Labadie wrote in his Manager’s Minute online newsletter. The inspections and reviews are done by an outside contractor, CAP Government Inc.
Dunham said Gulf Stream officials “have been working on this for longer than we really liked.”
Highland Beach officials originally were scheduled to consider the proposal on Aug. 2, but the mayor was absent so the matter was postponed until Aug. 4. At that special meeting, commissioners decided to ask their Financial Advisory Board to review the terms at its Aug. 23 meeting. Commissioners then approved the agreement on Aug. 25.
Some final tweaks included striking a clause that applications from both towns would be handled first-come, first-served and that Gulf Stream residents would pay the same fees as those charged to Highland Beach properties.
Labadie said the permit fees paid by Gulf Stream may not be the same. “In fact, the Town Commission has signaled its desire to maintain the 10% discount to Highland Beach customers put in place earlier this year,” he said.
The first-come, first-served idea was scrapped to give Highland Beach flexibility in scheduling small jobs submitted shortly after a much larger project such as a home renovation.
Dunham said the next step will be to schedule the transition toward the Highland Beach takeover and away from Delray Beach’s withdrawal.
Meanwhile, Delray Beach city commissioners on Aug. 9 unanimously agreed to stop processing building permits for Gulf Stream on Oct. 10.
The city is installing a computerized permit system that allows builders and others to submit plans online. City staff sent a letter to Gulf Stream in late April about the upgrade and that paper plans would not be accepted after the transition. Delray Beach estimated the annual cost to Gulf Stream would be $13,208 for storing and maintaining the electronic system.
Delray Beach also wanted Gulf Stream to pay for travel time and a portion of the salary and benefits when one of the Delray Beach inspectors or its contractors drives to the town to inspect a building.
Delray Beach has been processing Gulf Stream’s permits for nearly 13 years. The town’s permits account for between 3.6% and 5.6% of the building fund revenue, said Anthea Gianniotes, the city’s development services director. The town’s permits comprise 3% to 20% of the permits processed annually by Delray Beach.
Highland Beach estimates Gulf Stream’s permits will add around 40% to its workload. Gulf Stream won’t have to pay extra for inspections because the third-party inspectors come from their company offices in West Palm Beach, passing through Gulf Stream on their way to Highland Beach.
The new agreement between Highland Beach and Gulf Stream is of a “continuing nature,” with either side able to terminate it by giving no fewer than 90 days’ written notice.

Related stories: Interim public safety chiefs win permanent status |Commission selects police captain to be city manager

By Tao Woolfe

The romance between Boynton Beach and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is officially over. Both sides announced separately last month that negations to allow PBSO to take over the city’s police services had ceased.
Boynton Beach Mayor Ty Penserga told a delighted crowd at an Aug. 16 City Commission meeting that the merger was “financially infeasible” due to unspecified pension fund liabilities.
“Given the financial reality, it is not in the best interest for the city to move forward at this time,” Penserga said.
The previous day, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw had announced the breakdown in merger talks.
In his statement, Bradshaw made it clear that Boynton Beach had approached the PBSO about a possible merger — not the other way around.
“At no time did we ask for or initiate the discussions,” the sheriff said.
Nevertheless, the sheriff had presented a $42.5 million proposal in July to provide Boynton Beach with “greatly enhanced security and depth of law enforcement,” if the commission hired PBSO.
Although the Boynton Beach Police Department’s proposed budget for next year is a relatively modest $38.5 million, newly named Police Chief Joseph DeGiulio and interim City Manager Jim Stables said the City Commission would not regret its decision.
The future city Police Department will be reorganized, adequately staffed and willing to work more closely with the community, DeGiulio and Stables said.
The commissioners promised to support the department and its goals.
“The people have spoken. Sorry it took so long,” said Commissioner Woodrow Hay, who had been opposed to a PBSO merger all along. “I’m happy we are headed in the right direction. Let’s not waste more time and money. … Let’s work together with our Police Department and our citizens.”
Residents at the meeting applauded the commission for opting to stay with the city police, but some questioned the rationale.
“You didn’t make the motion because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s financially infeasible,” the Rev. Richard Dames, pastor of the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, said of the decision to end the talks.
Community activist Bryce Graham said negotiations with the sheriff’s office should be called off permanently. “This should not come up again,” Graham said. “This should be a cease and desist.”
He added that going forward, the City Commission should heed the community’s “cries for transparency and accountability” from the Police Department and city officials.
The possibility of bringing PBSO in to replace the Boynton Beach Police Department was raised in April following months of tumult and anger — especially from the Black community — after 13-year-old Stanley Davis III was killed during a Dec. 26, 2021, high-speed police chase. The teen was riding a dirt bike.
Residents had expressed frustration that an internal investigation was taking so long. Nevertheless, Black and white residents had repeatedly said at commission meetings that they did not want PBSO to replace the city’s police.
Instead, residents said, the local force should be winnowed of bad officers and more enlightened policies enacted.

Officer fired; union protests
Just days after the commission meeting, the Boynton Beach Police Department announced that its internal investigation into the circumstances of Davis’s death had come to an end.
As a result, Mark Sohn, the officer involved in the deadly chase, was fired.
On Aug. 19, the same day the termination was announced, Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association attorney Lawrence K. Fagan sent a letter to DeGiulio to initiate the union grievance process with the city, alleging that Sohn had been disciplined through termination “without just cause.”
The union is seeking Sohn’s reinstatement as a police officer “along with back pay, wages, pension contributions and all associated emoluments,” according to the grievance document.
According to the findings of the months-long internal affairs investigation, Sohn violated the department’s strict vehicular pursuit policies on more than one occasion.
“By repeatedly violating this policy, Officer Sohn unnecessarily placed the safety of the public and officers at risk,” DeGiulio wrote in the report dated June 29.
Sohn also violated the officers’ code of ethics and engaged in conduct unbecoming a police officer, according to the report.

Reorganization planned
Stables and DeGiulio told the commissioners and the residents that community policing would be a top priority going forward.
“We have been thinking through reorganization, and looking at efficiencies,” Stables said. As for staffing, “we don’t have the budget this year, but we will look at expansion in the future.”
DeGiulio said the department would specifically like to add to its road patrol, investigations and communications personnel.
Commissioner Thomas Turkin said city officials should ensure, during upcoming budget hearings, that the Police Department has the money it needs to meet its new goals.
“We need to put our money where our mouth is and invest in the Police Department,” he said. “I hope this support of the Boynton Beach Police Department does not disappear overnight.”
For his part, the sheriff said there are no hard feelings about the city’s decision.
“The Sheriff’s Office wishes the city all the best, and will assist them in any way if asked to do so,” Bradshaw said.