Briny Breezes Town Council members Liz Loper and Bill Birch will start new two-year terms in March with a new face joining them on the dais: David Duncan White.

All three filed to run in the March election but drew no opponents during the November qualifying period, ushering them into office without a single ballot being cast.

White, 66 and a newcomer to town politics, bought his home on Lark Drive in February 2023. He will fill Seat 1, which is being vacated by Keith Black after a partial, 13-month term.

Loper, 73, who currently serves as council president, was first appointed to Seat 3 in January 2022 after Alderman Allen “Chick” Behringer died. She kept the seat when no one filed to run against her the following year.

Birch, 70, the Seat 5 alderman, has been on the council since March 2018.

—Steve Plunkett

History enthusiasts hoping to save Boynton Beach’s oldest house showed up in front of it Nov. 25, the day the Andrews House was scheduled to be demolished. City officials intervened and the demolition has been postponed for now. Tim Stepien /The Coastal Star

More local history stories: Centennial Celebrations!;  Delray Beach: Cemetery may be fit for national historic recognition; HIghland Beach: How town grew from wilderness to prime destination in 75 years

By Tao Woolfe

The historic Andrews House, the oldest house in Boynton Beach, has escaped the wrecking ball — at least for now.

The beloved, simple 1907 wooden house suffered a near-death experience just before Thanksgiving, and the City Commission, at its Dec. 3 meeting, decided it would explore saving the house and moving it after hearing many, many residents’ pleas to do so.

Here’s what led to the commission’s determination:

In the early morning hours of Nov. 25, neighborhood residents saw — with dread — a yellow demolition excavator sitting on the Andrews House site at 306 SE First Ave.

Among them was historian Ginger L. Pedersen, who is one of the preservationists who has long advocated for the house to be saved and moved to another spot.

Pedersen and others raised the alarm, calling on the mayor and commissioners to step in and stop the imminent demolition.

Their efforts worked.

That same day, Mayor Ty Penserga and Commissioner Thomas Turkin intervened, asked the developer (who is listed in property records as Manuel Mato, of BB South, LLC) to hold off until the city determines whether there are alternative options.

At the Dec. 3 commission meeting, Boynton Beach residents — and even an out-of-town historian — spoke up. They urged the commissioners, who also serve as the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency board, to preserve the city’s heritage by saving the Andrews House, moving it to a nearby space, and letting it be used as a boutique or small business.

“It’s a beautiful home. I really think it’s an asset to the community,” said resident Flynn Holland. “I walk by there all the time. It’s a magical little home.”
Victor Martel, an Ocean Ridge resident, said he, too, walks past the house every day.

“Look into your heart. This building is not something we can put back,” Martel said. “It would be an atrocity to take it down.”

And Barbara Ready, chairwoman of the Boynton Beach Historic Preservation Board, said her board has been asking the city to save the house for many years, but no action has been taken.

She said in an email that a group of “incredibly devoted preservationists” had met the day after the demolition scare to see what could be done.

They came up with the idea of moving the Andrews House next to the historic Magnuson House and creating a historic nook that could accommodate boutiques or other small businesses.

The commissioners seemed receptive to the idea of creating a historic area, but cautioned that the expense of moving the little house and bringing it up to current building codes could be costly.

Commissioner Turkin suggested exploring the possibility of having developers pay an impact fee — like the fee they pay for public art projects — to offset development impacts.

Mayor Penserga directed the city staff to come back — after the holidays — with estimates for moving the house and economic and structural analyses of how to save the Andrews House.

Pedersen, too, suggested that the house be moved to the nearby Ocean Avenue site of the Magnuson House, which — until recently when its approved developer failed to secure financing — had been considered as the centerpiece for a barbecue restaurant.

The Andrews House, built in 1907 by Dutch pioneer Bert Kapp, has some unusual features — including built-in steel rods that can be tightened to hold the house together during a hurricane, Pedersen said.

“The house survived the hurricanes of ’28, ’47, and more recently, Wilma, Jeanne and Frances,” Pedersen said.

“Its significance goes beyond its age; the structure embodies the craftsmanship and character of Florida’s early settlers,” Pedersen said. “It’s a very cool little house.”

The house was completely renovated several years ago, restored to its former glory, and updated for modern use.

“Despite these efforts, the property’s fate was sealed amid shifting priorities and development pressures,” Pedersen said. “Its loss represents a growing challenge in preserving the architectural and cultural identity of Boynton Beach.”

Pedersen said she’s pleased that the city is stepping in, but she worries that the cost of moving the home — especially if it is moved far away — will be prohibitive.

“I think its best chance is somewhere close to Dixie Highway or U.S. 1 where it could be made into a permanent residence,” she added.

A private person could buy it, move it, and turn it into a home or a guest cottage, she suggested.

Moving costs could run as high as $200,000, Pedersen estimated, but even so, it would be a relative bargain.

“Where else could you buy a house made of Dade County pine for $200,000?” she asked.

“Right now, we’re trying to figure out who should coordinate the efforts to save the house,” Pedersen said. “There is nothing wrong with that house — it is tightly sealed and has no water damage.”

Randall Gill, former president of the Boynton Beach Historical Society, said the house serves another function, as well.

“The Andrews House is a symbol of a more gentle time, when people treated each other with respect and dignity,” he said.

By Tao Woolfe

The Pierce, a huge mixed-use project considered a centerpiece of Boynton Beach’s downtown revitalization, has emerged from circuit court and is expected to file for a building permit this month.

The 15th Judicial Circuit Court on Aug. 14 declined to hear an appeal from a neighbor challenging some street abandonments — a portion of the north alley, the entire south alley, and Northeast First Avenue.

Neighbor F. Davis Camalier (FDC Associates, LLC) had filed the appeal in 2023 claiming that the city improperly abandoned the three roads to accommodate Affiliated Development’s project.

Now that the city has prevailed, however, Affiliated has a Dec. 12 deadline to submit documents and applications necessary to obtain building permits for the project, said Timothy Tack, acting director for the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency.

The Pierce, originally envisioned as a $73 million downtown complex of apartments, restaurants, retail stores and green space at 115 N. Federal Highway, is now expected to cost at least $100 million, Affiliated owner Jeff Burns has said.

The 2.3-acre complex will offer 150 units each of workforce apartments and market-rate luxury rentals. It will have 17,000 square feet of commercial area that will accommodate restaurants, office space and retail stores.

It will feature public art projects including murals and a large, perforated metal corner treatment on the south parking garage emblazoned with nautical images and lettering that says “Welcome to Boynton Beach.”

The restaurants, including a freestanding new building for the popular Hurricane Alley Raw Bar & Restaurant, and wide sidewalks will provide “an active, engaged area with day and night activity,” Burns has said.

The garages will offer 450 spaces, 150 of which will be for public parking.

Tennille DeCoste, the former Boynton Beach human resources director, filed a whistleblower lawsuit in November, claiming she was fired because she complained the city manager had told her to stop hiring too many Black women.

City Manager Daniel Dugger has denied making any such comments to DeCoste.

DeCoste was fired on Feb. 23 by the city for intermingling her job duties with her campaign for the Delray Beach City Commission, which she eventually lost. She was employed with Boynton Beach for 14 months at a $188,000 annual salary.

According to the Nov. 6 lawsuit, DeCoste filed a complaint with Mayor Ty Penserga that Dugger had told her to stop hiring so many Black women. Five days later she was placed on administrative leave.

An independent investigator looked not only into anonymous complaints that DeCoste let her political campaign bleed into her duties, but her allegation against Dugger as well.

The investigator, Stephanie Marchman from the GrayRobinson law firm, said she found DeCoste to be untruthful when questioned. Marchman concluded DeCoste misused a city debit card and asked city employees to contribute to her political campaign, among other violations of city policy.

DeCoste in her lawsuit said the city circumvented policy by not using progressive discipline and that she was never afforded an opportunity to clear her name at a formal hearing.

While she was on administrative leave as Marchman investigated, the city terminated four Black women hired during DeCoste’s employment, the lawsuit stated.

— John Pacenti

A worker records a headstone during an inventory of the Delray Beach Memorial Gardens Municipal Cemetery in June. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Survey maps graves and occupants, opening a new avenue into Delray’s history

More local history stories: Centennial Celebrations!; Boynton Beach: City’s oldest house gets one more chance for a new life; HIghland Beach: How town grew from wilderness to prime destination in 75 years;

By Kathleen Kernicky

When Charlene Farrington discovers an unfamiliar name among the gravestones at Delray Beach Memorial Gardens Municipal Cemetery, she feels like she has found another piece of a century-old puzzle.

“To me, seeing the names on the graves is a validation that this person was here,” said Farrington, executive director of the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum in Delray Beach. “I feel like, ‘I’ve found you.’ I want to go back and research who they were. I want to know a little bit more. I feel good recounting their stories.”

Founded in 1903 on five acres donated by railroad baron Henry Flagler, the cemetery is the resting place of many of the city’s pioneer families, including political, civic and church leaders, business owners and educators, Bahamian settlers and civil rights activists. In those original five acres, they were buried in separate sections for Blacks and whites, reflecting the heavily segregated city of that time.

Over the years, the cemetery has expanded to 38 acres at 901 SW 10th St. The newer burial sections and a mausoleum remain a who’s who in Delray Beach history.

This year, a Historic Resource Survey project prepared for the city found that the original five-acre section is “potentially eligible” for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The recommendation is a first step toward receiving the honorary listing.

The city hired LG2 Environmental Solutions, Inc., to record and assess the condition of the historic graves and establish a written history for the original section. The survey documents and plots the location of graves using GPS devices, records cemetery features, and provides historical research, such as identifying the cemetery’s prominent residents.

The project received a total of $50,000 in grants from the state Division of Historical Resources and the federal Historic Preservation Fund, administered by the National Park Service.

The cemetery meets eligibility criteria for the national registry, in part, because of its “period of historic significance,” 1902 to 1974, when most of the burials took place, and a point in time that spanned two world wars, the Great Depression, the post-war era and Civil Rights movement.

In addition, there is a growing interest across the nation in preserving abandoned or neglected Black cemeteries, some dating back to the Civil War. The city cemetery stands as a living legacy of segregation in the first half of the 20th Century.

“Despite facing challenges such as hurricanes, flooding, and more modern additions, the cemetery still retains its original location, setting, feeling and association, preserving its integrity and conveying its historical significance,” the survey found, noting that the city-operated cemetery is well-maintained. Administered by the National Park Service, the National Register of Historic Places includes historic and archaeological properties such as buildings, structures or districts deemed worthy of preservation because of local, statewide or national significance.

Historic recognition of the cemetery would honor the people buried there and their contributions, promote heritage tourism and knowledge of the area’s history, said Michelle Hoyland, principal planner with the city’s Historic Preservation Division, who plans to make a presentation to the City Commission on Dec. 17.

Stories worth telling
“There’s a lot of opportunity to continue to tell the storytelling, something that gets lost in younger generations,” said Hoyland, who would like to see heritage conservation markers or information kiosks at the cemetery.

“You can see the distinction between where Black people are buried and where white people are buried,” Farrington said. “The tombstones are not as elaborate. A lot of the names are not clear or they’re missing altogether.”

Rows of raised concrete grave boxes denote where Black residents were reburied above ground after a 1947 hurricane submerged the cemetery and left caskets floating in four feet of flood water. The flooding knocked down or damaged an unknown number of stone markers.

“In those days, the caskets were not marked on the outside. They could only put them back where they came from,” said Michael Lorne, owner of the Lorne and Sons Funeral Home. Lorne’s father, Wilbur “Bill” Lorne, was part of the cleanup and reburials.

“The records were nothing like they are today,” Lorne said. “The farmers had the equipment to help dig and rebury the people in those graves. But they had to wait until the water receded. Those were very hard times. My father didn’t like to talk about it.”

Lorne heard many of the stories from his father, who was born and grew up in nearby Lake Worth. Bill Lorne worked at a now-defunct funeral home in Delray Beach before opening the family business now run by his sons Michael and Patrick in 1957.

“My father used to talk about the town’s first traffic light and what happened in the old days,” Lorne said. “He could go back through generations of families. Delray was a small, sleepy town. The people in that cemetery are pioneers. Just walk through there and see the names. Many have done so much for the area.”
Lorne likes to tell new clients about the families buried there. “Most people don’t realize what those names mean.”

Original was near beach
Known as Linton until 1898, the town named its first cemetery Bay Ridge. It was located on the barrier island between what is now Seaspray Avenue and Laing Street, and served as a burial site for shipwrecked sailors. To reach the cemetery from inland, caskets had to be loaded onto a wagon and pulled by barge across the canal, now known as the Intracoastal Waterway. Over time, graves were damaged by bears and the wooden boards used as grave markers were eroded by flooding and storms.

By 1903, the need for a proper burial site became the project of the city’s Ladies Improvement Association. Five acres of land was donated by the Florida East Coast Railway Company, owned by Flagler.

The city was heavily segregated, with separate churches, housing, businesses and schools. Black residents were turned away from the municipal beach. In exchange for their labor in clearing the five acres and building a narrow road to segregate the new cemetery, the Black community was given two acres for burials in the northeast corner. The original layout remains in place, including the road that segregated the cemetery before a single soul was buried there.

The women in the improvement association sold single plots for $1 and family plots for $5 to pay for the maintenance. The first recorded burial was a 12-year-old boy in June 1903.

A who’s who of Delray
In 1914, the improvement association turned over the cemetery to the city. Over the years, the cemetery expanded and added a mausoleum. In 1995, the official name was changed to Delray Beach Memorial Gardens Municipal Cemetery. Very few plots remain in the original section, Lorne said.

John Sundy, who was elected mayor in 1911 when what was then the town of Delray Beach was incorporated, is buried there with his wife, Elizabeth. The Sundy House, built in 1902, is listed on the national register. Catherine Strong, who died in 1963, was the city’s first female mayor, city clerk, and a civil rights activist who fought for the desegregation of the municipal beach.

Jessie Spady was the wife of Solomon David Spady, a prominent educator and principal of the first Black school, originally named the Delray Colored School Number 4. Charles

Spencer Pompey was an educator, coach and civil rights leader. Ozzie Youngblood was a civil rights leader who became the city’s first Black City Council member in 1968.

“It tells you how important cemeteries are to history,” said Kayleigh Howald, archivist at the Delray Beach Historical Society. “Cemeteries can tell us a lot. It tells you a little bit about who people were, or how they died, or if a lot of people died at once. It tells you how a town was segregated by race or wealth. It tells the story of a community.”

The headstones reveal what materials were available or used at the time. The symbols on the headstones offer clues about the culture, what was important to people at the time, or even how they viewed death, Howald said.

“This cemetery holds the final resting place of the people who built this town, who settled here, and who made a huge impact. It’s a vehicle by which you can tell their stories,” said Winnie Edwards, executive director of the Delray Beach Historical Society. Edwards’ family came to Delray Beach in the 1920s. Her great-grandfather Charles Harvey

Diggans owned a pharmacy on Atlantic Avenue and a real estate company. Her grandfather LeRoy Diggans was a postmaster and the first president of the city’s first chamber of commerce. Both are buried at the cemetery, along with her grandmother Winifred.

Today, the Spady museum includes the cemetery as a stop on its historic bus tours of the city.

“We talk about the early settlers, the prominent Black families in Delray Beach,” said Farrington, whose father and grandmother are buried in the cemetery’s mausoleum. Her mother, Vera Farrington, an educator, founded the Spady museum in 1996.

During the tours, Farrington encourages the children to call out the names on the gravestones. “It’s a good way to validate the stories we tell. I try to impress upon them the reverence that I feel by being there. You want to pay homage to them and honor their lives. They sacrificed a lot so that I could walk through the cemetery and tell their stories.”

More info
To review the city cemetery’s Historic Resource Survey and database, go to https://delraybeachfl.gov/regulationsandmaps

The renovated shark tank is one of the recent improvements at the Sandoway Discovery Center. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

The Sandoway Discovery Center won the mid-level Hats Off Nonprofit of the Year from Nonprofits First. Sandoway Executive Director Danica Sanborn attended the ceremony in October at the Kravis Center.

“Since ’95, we’ve won awards for our programming, but this is the first time we’ve won a pure achievement award like this,” she said. “We were surprised and happy to receive it. It’s a wonderful honor.”

The Delray Beach center’s submission form put forward several achievements in the last year and a half for consideration.

The center renovated its 15,000-gallon shark tank and built a new 1,000-gallon stingray touch tank. These enhancements are integral to its Junior Naturalist Program, benefiting more than 6,000 students annually, including many Title 1 (low-income) students.

The center secured a $130,000 matching grant from the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County to rebuild its front porch, a project slated to begin soon and be completed by the end of 2025.

The center introduced Sandoway’s Service-Learning Program for teens, who gain hands-on experience with Sandoway’s rescued animals. That aims to help youths develop skills in animal husbandry, public speaking and leadership.  

The center also launched Sandoway’s Science Leadership Academy, which addresses gaps in science education for fourth-grade Title 1 students, through a focus on fundamental concepts like plant structure and photosynthesis.

***

The American Heritage School campus at 6200 Linton Blvd., Delray Beach, was ranked by Niche as the No. 1 private school in Palm Beach County for the seventh consecutive year.

Some ranking factors include SAT/ACT scores, the quality of colleges students consider, student-to-teacher ratio, and private school ratings. Niche is an organization that connects colleges and schools with students and families.

***

Delray Beach Parks and Recreation and Delray Beach Fire Rescue were recognized for several events by the International Festivals & Events Association at an awards ceremony in Pittsburgh.

The 100-foot Christmas Tree won the silver award for Best Promotional Brochure and bronze for Best Promotional Poster. The Delray Beach July 4th Celebration won the gold award for Best Printed Materials. The Delray Beach Holiday Parade won the silver award for Best Printed Materials. The Delray Beach St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival won the bronze award for Best Event Website and Best Street Banner.   

***

The Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce announced honorees who will be acknowledged at the Chamber’s 2025 Diamond Awards Luncheon at The Boca Raton in February.

Restaurateur Danielle Rosse, owner of Oceans 234, was named the 2025 Diamond Award recipient. Rosse supports numerous nonprofit organizations, including serving on the boards of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, the Deerfield Beach Economic Development Council, and the George Snow Scholarship Fund.  

Zoe Abbott won the Pearl Award, created to honor an emerging female entrepreneur. Abbott, who is making strides with her hair growth business, is a graduate of the Chamber’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy, a program of the Golden Bell Education Foundation. The awards luncheon will be Feb. 21 from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

To purchase tickets, visit https://web.bocaratonchamber.com/events/diamondawards%20Luncheon-10993/details. For sponsorship opportunities or to purchase a congratulatory advertisement, contact Kaley Jones at kjones@bocachamber.com.

***

The Greater Lantana Chamber of Commerce’s second annual Awards Gala in November at Winston’s on the Green honored businesses and individuals who have helped the Lantana community.

The Emerging Young Leader of the Year award went to Sarah Vega. The Entrepreneur of the Year award went to Lori Shore, owner of Pet Wants Palm Beach. The Small Business of the Year award went to Old Timey Joe Handyman. New Business of the Year award went to Le Dor Café.

The Business of the Year award went to Chick-Fil-A of Lantana. The Nonprofit/Not-for-Profit of the Year award went to the Friends of Foster Children.

Several special honors were also acknowledged. The Community Champion Award was presented to Monica Lewis of Total Shredding, in recognition of her efforts to donate proceeds to various charities across Palm Beach County.

The Citizen of the Year award went to Rosemary Mouring. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Mark Easton, chief editor and publisher of the Lake Worth Herald and the Coastal Observer.

***

Florida Atlantic University’s Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center was awarded an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office.

The center will work in collaboration with Lake Worth Beach Electric Utility, 3U Technologies, 48 North Solutions, IDOM Incorporated, Braid Theory and European Marine Energy Centre in a study to set up an ocean current test facility offshore from Palm Beach County.

The project’s goal is to improve the nation’s competitiveness in marine energy technology, encourage domestic manufacturing, and create jobs while helping to achieve the nation’s energy goals.

“Southeast Florida is ideal for ocean current energy projects not only because of its favorable ocean current conditions but also due to several supportive socioeconomic factors,” said Gabriel Alsenas, principal investigator and director of the university’s renewable energy center.

“Major ports, such as the Port of Palm Beach and Port Everglades, straddle (the center’s) proposed test site offshore Palm Beach County to provide excellent access. Local utilities such as the city of Lake Worth Beach’s municipal utility and Florida Power & Light offer essential grid connections and support for a clean energy transition.

“Additionally, (the center) has a strong network and extensive experience assisting current energy conversion technologies developers at various stages, further enhancing the region’s attractiveness for these projects.”

***

Travelers departing from Palm Beach County and using Fly Alliance for charter with their jet cards or their memberships can choose additional perks this season. The private aviation company now offers the option to add wellness and beauty services such as Botox, facials, lashes, chiropractic adjustments, reiki, EMS workouts and/or private Pilates sessions. For more information, visit https://flyalliance.com/ally or call 407-747-0037.

***

Since the group’s inception in 2019, the 30 members of the Boynton Beach Professionals leads group have generated more than $1,026,680 of gross sales by doing business with one another and by referring their colleagues in the group to other potential clients. Founded by John Campanola, Rick Maharajh and Paul Lykins, the group meets twice a month.

Boynton Beach Professionals became a part of the Boynton Beach Online Chamber of Commerce one year ago. For more information contact info@BBOCFlorida.com.

***

Lang Realty and Lang Management are hosting their annual fall food drive, Season of Giving, to benefit Move for Hunger through Dec. 10. People who wish to contribute can bring their nonperishable food items to Lang’s offices from Port St. Lucie to Boca Raton. For more information on Lang Realty or Lang Management, including a list of office locations, visit www.langrealty.com or www.langmgmt.com.

***

The Delray Beach Housing Authority recently disbursed Family Self-Sufficiency funds to Patricia Sampson’s daughter, Jasmine Queeley. This funding program links housing assistance with public and private resources to help families increase earned income, reduce or eliminate the need for welfare assistance, and progress toward achieving economic independence and housing self-sufficiency. 

For Sampson, who has home ownership as a goal, obtaining a college education for Queeley has been challenging. However, to alleviate the financial strain of student loans and college tuition for the next two years, Sampson requested escrow from the Housing Authority’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program. Queeley, currently enrolled at Stetson University, plans to be the first generation of her family to complete a four-year college education. 

***

Whole Foods Market is set to open a 42,024-square-foot store at 7395 Boynton Beach Blvd., Boynton Beach, on Dec. 10. On opening morning, customers will get complimentary coffee and cookies from Gringuita Cookies. The first 300 customers in line will receive a custom tote bag and Secret Saver coupon offering up to $100 off.

Palm Beach Harvest will receive a food donation on opening day as part of Whole Foods Market’s Nourishing Our Neighborhoods Program. For more information, visit www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/boyntonbeach.

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

Sun bathers enjoy Boca Raton's surf.

1920s land boom accounts for why so many places are marking their 100th birthdays

More local history stories: HIghland Beach: How town grew from wilderness to prime destination in 75 years; Boynton Beach: City’s oldest house gets one more chance for a new life; Delray Beach: Cemetery may be fit for national historic recognition

By Jane Musgrave

Janet DeVries Naughton is nagged by a book on her to-do list. If and when she gets time to write it, she knows what she will call it: 1925.

It’s a no-brainer, said Naughton, a prolific writer who teaches history at Palm Beach State College and is former president of the Boynton Beach Historical Society.

“That was the prime year,” Naughton said. “It was the biggest land boom bubble we’ve ever seen.”

West Palm Beach attorney Harvey Oyer III, a local historian and author who is a descendant of Boynton Beach pioneers, agreed.

In a few short years following World War I, Florida overall and Palm Beach County in particular were transformed. 

For roughly five years, beginning in 1920, the county’s farm fields and mosquito-infested swamps became magnets for industrialists, architects, builders and thousands of others looking to get rich while basking in perpetual sunshine.

“It actually makes today’s growth look slow,” said Oyer.

People would line up for hours outside real estate offices to buy land sight unseen. After they bought the mystery property, many would go to the end of the line and sell it for an instant profit.

“It was a crazy time,” Oyer said. “It was like the wild, wild west.”

The land boom, which was burst by the combined forces of deadly hurricanes that cut off routes for building materials and the 1929 stock market crash that drove the country into the Great Depression, changed the face of the region.

A record-setting 30 of Florida’s 411 towns and cities were incorporated in 1925. Boca Raton and Gulf Stream, along with Jupiter and Deerfield Beach, were among them.

Entertainment venues, like the Lake Worth Playhouse and the Gulf Stream Golf Club, opened while the Delray Beach golf course began to take shape.

Families that flocked to the county needed schools for their children. In 1925, a new high school opened in Delray Beach. The buildings now house the Crest Theatre and the vintage gym as part of the city’s iconic arts complex, Old School Square.

As the population grew, police and fire protection were also needed. Boynton Beach in 1924 established its first Fire Department, an all-volunteer force that would remain so for nearly 30 years.

Now, not surprising, the various places are celebrating their past, their longevity and their contributions to the area. Here’s a look at those that not just survived but flourished and their unique plans to mark their centennials.

Public safety was one of a town’s first duties.
The first Boca Raton fire station (and police station, library and Town Hall) is now home to the historical society.

Dancing and fishing got top billing at this shack in Boca Raton. Photos provided by the Boca Raton and the Delray Beach historical societies

Boca Raton
The city’s history is wound tightly to famed architect Addison Mizner. Best remembered (incorrectly, according to city historian Susan Gillis) for strolling the city with his pet monkey while dressed in a bathrobe, he came to Boca Raton from Palm Beach. He arrived shortly before Boca Raton was incorporated as Boca Ratone on Aug. 2, 1924, and then, as simply Boca Raton, on May 26, 1925.

Snapping up tens of thousands of acres, Mizner said that his Mizner Development Corp. would create “a resort as splendid in its entirety as Palm Beach is in spots.”

But, according to Gillis, curator for the Boca Raton Historical Society, Boca Raton’s gain was Boynton Beach’s loss. Mizner originally planned to build his “Dream City of the Western World” along the ocean in Boynton, what is now Ocean Ridge.

But Mizner angered Boynton’s mayor and its residents by ripping up State Road A1A in the middle of the night to create direct beachfront access for his planned palatial community.

Shunned in Boynton, he shifted his attention to Boca Raton, where he was named town planner. Many of his grandiose ideas, such as making El Camino Real a 20-lane highway, never materialized.

Bankruptcy thwarted his plans.

Still, his influence is everywhere, from the famed resort and club now known as The Boca Raton, to the Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, to a smattering of houses in the Spanish Village and the Old Floresta Historic District neighborhoods.

The city has already begun its centennial celebration with a contest, challenging residents to write an “Ode to Boca” in five lines, with each line containing the number of words in their ZIP codes. (For instance, if your ZIP code is 33427, the first two lines would each have three words, etc.) Entries are due by May.

Other events planned include Boca Street Fest on Jan. 25; a Centennial Cup golf tournament in February; a centennial concert at Mizner Park Amphitheater on May 24; a centennial drone show at Boca Raton Innovation Campus on May 25, and a centennial-themed holiday parade in December.

The parking lot and landscaping have changed a little, but the exterior of the Gulf Stream Golf Club still keeps its 1920s Mizner style. Photos provided by Boynton Beach City Library, Boca Raton Historical Society and Delray Beach Historical Society

Gulf Stream
Mizner’s influence extended to nearby Gulf Stream. He designed the regal clubhouse while famed golf course architect Donald Ross laid out the greens and fairways at the Gulf Stream Golf Club, which opened in March 1924. The club celebrated its 100th birthday in March.

Members of the town’s civic association are planning ways to mark Gulf Stream’s 1925 incorporation. In February, a dinner will be held at the Little Club, a private golf course that was built on the town’s former polo grounds where the town took root.

The family of Henry Phipps Jr., who along with Andrew Carnegie founded the company that became U.S. Steel, saw Gulf Stream as an ideal place to build a golf course, polo fields and seasonal homes.

The Phipps real estate company filed papers to incorporate the town. The company wanted to call it Phipps Beach, but it was known as Gulf Stream and the name stuck.

The polo fields along the Intracoastal Waterway established Gulf Stream as the “Winter Polo Capital of the World.” Hundreds of people, some in yachts, watched the matches.

With land values skyrocketing, the Phipps family sold the fields for homesites in the 1960s, sending polo to the county’s western reaches.

Kirsten Stanley, president of the civic association, said she lives in one of the six surviving “polo houses” where star players spent the season.

More events, such as a Gulf Stream Gives Back Day organized with a nonprofit, are planned to celebrate the centennial, she said.

Lake Worth Playhouse

Lake Worth Playhouse
The county’s oldest working theater and its oldest art deco building has been through a lot in its 100-year history, says Michael McKeich, a local historian.

Founded by two brothers from Pittsfield, Illinois, it started showing silent movies, then talkies and then, when multiplexes threatened small movie houses throughout the country, it survived on X-rated fare, including, famously, Deep Throat, McKeich said. Since the mid-1970s, it has been home to live community theater.

While its offerings have varied, the building has remained surprisingly unchanged, he said. Its pecky cypress ceilings are still marked with a large “O” and “T,” the logo of Oakley Theatre, its name when Clarence and Lucien Oakley opened it on Nov. 3, 1924.

Four years later, the $150,000 theater was ravaged by the 1928 hurricane, which killed at least 3,000 people in the county, mostly in the Glades. 

Less than four months and $50,000 later, the theater reopened, McKeich said.

Having survived Mother Nature, the Oakleys couldn’t survive the financial windstorm brought on by the Great Depression.

In 1931, deeply in debt, Lucien Oakley killed himself. A year later, his brother died of a heart attack, McKeich said.

The building was bought by the Chicago-based Publix Theatres Corp. and renamed the Worth Theatre. (Fun fact: Lakeland grocer George Jenkins, who founded the Publix supermarket chain, named his store after the theater company, fondly remembering the time he spent at the movies.)

In the 1960s, the business fell on hard times again and became the Playtoy Theatre, euphemistically called an “arts theater.” Raided by police, derided by ministers and shunned by elected officials, it eventually closed and fell into disrepair, McKeich said.

In the mid-1970s, the nonprofit Lake Worth Playhouse bought it for $60,000 and refurbished it. With occasional surprise appearances by actor Burt Reynolds, a Jupiter native now deceased, it became a success.

The theater will celebrate its centennial on Dec. 13 with a 1920s-themed party. Guests are encouraged to wear Roaring ’20s-style outfits to watch silent films accompanied by a piano.

Information is available at lakeworthplayhouse.org/special-events.

Delray Beach has grown, but there is no mistaking Old School Square, with the Crest Theatre in the background, as seen from Atlantic Avenue in its early days.

Crest Theatre
Once the home of school plays and high school basketball games, the 100-year-old Crest Theatre and the Vintage Gym, along with its older neighbor, the 1913 Delray Beach Elementary School, for decades have formed the heart of Delray Beach arts.

Renovated and repurposed more than 30 years ago to become Old School Square, the theater and gym that made up the 1925 Delray Beach High School are key spokes in the city’s cultural wheel.

A controversial falling-out in 2021, when the City Commission fired the square’s longtime management company, has divided oversight of the buildings. The city’s Downtown Development Authority manages the Cornell Art Museum in the former elementary school, the gym and outdoor amphitheater. The city oversees the theater.

After years of construction, still not finished, the Creative Arts School reopened in the theater building in November. With questions about the safety of the theater’s balcony and the need to replace rigging and electrical equipment, it is still not known when the estimated $3 million to $5 million project will be underway, much less complete, city executives have told Delray Beach commissioners.  City Manager Terrence Moore said there are no current plans to mark the theater’s centennial, according to Gina Carter, city spokesperson.

But Laura Simon, DDA executive director, said her office is working to raise money to have some events to mark the milestones. It is trying to book a national act for a ticketed outside concert, she said. Details for a community celebration, possibly with a Roaring ’20s theme, are still being worked out, she said.

“Our town is all about history,” Simon said. “We want to celebrate it.”

Members of the Cason family, pioneers in Delray Beach.

Cason Cottage
The three-bedroom cottage that serves as home to the Delray Beach Historical Society isn’t the oldest building in town, although it has the most impressive lineage.

The Casons were a formidable force in Delray Beach’s history, said Kayleigh Howald, a historical society archivist. “They were mayors. They were judges. They were doctors. They were community leaders,” she said.

The house was built in 1924 by the Rev. J.R. Cason, who moved to Delray Beach from Arkansas to be closer to his children and grandchildren.

The pastor quickly immersed himself in civic affairs. He served as a municipal judge, was chairman of the Palm Beach County Board of Instruction and founded the Methodist Children’s Home in Volusia County, the first orphanage in the state.

When the 1928 hurricane leveled the First Methodist Church, he returned to the pulpit and helped rebuild the church on Swinton Avenue. It was named in his honor.

Meanwhile, his extended family members were making their marks. One of his sons, Dr. John R. “Roy” Cason Jr., was the town’s first doctor — the only one between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

One of his daughters, Jessie Cason, married James Love, the city’s first pharmacist who operated Love’s Drugs on Atlantic Avenue. Love also served as a mayor, town commissioner and a municipal judge.

Another son, Andrew E. “Van” Cason, a banker, Realtor and gasoline wholesaler, built a house across the street from his parents. Dubbed Tarrimore, it is home to Dada restaurant.

The restaurant celebrated Tarrimore’s 100th birthday in May. The historical society, which turned 60 this year, held a barbecue in November to mark its milestone and the 100th anniversary of the cottage.

Boynton’s first volunteer fire department in this 1925 photo.

Boynton Beach Fire Department
The agency’s first fire truck was a two-hose cart pulled by a Model T that belonged to the water department. A year later, technology arrived. It got a used 500-gallon pumper truck that remained in service for at least 43 years.

Originally staffed with volunteers, the department hired two firefighters in 1953, according to the Boynton Beach Times. The paid firefighters were required to work 24-hour shifts every other day. Volunteers relieved them.

Clearly, times have changed.

In a television interview, Chief Hugh Bruder remembered his early career when firefighters hung onto the back of the truck when rushing to calls. “Riding the tailboard,” he called it.

The department celebrated its centennial on Sept. 14 with a community party at Centennial Park & Amphitheater.

A newspaper ad from the 1920s promoted Addison Mizner’s dream community in Boca Raton.

The Cops Caring for Cops Fundraiser has started.

The Palm Beach County Association of Chiefs of Police is “adopting” or supporting 20 police officers who were significantly impacted by Hurricane Milton, which made landfall Oct. 9. The affected officers work in the Treasure Island area, just north of St. Pete Beach, and were in some of the most impacted areas. They were selected because Palm Beach County agencies sent officers and other resources to them immediately following the storm and saw firsthand the devastation suffered by the Treasure Island police.

"As we assist these other communities, we think about how lucky we were to be spared by Mother Nature during this hurricane season," said Gulf Stream Police Chief Richard Jones, who also is president of the county chiefs association. "We also know that if our communities would have been impacted, these brave and honorable men and women from Treasure Island would have deployed here to help and support our needs."

The chiefs association has partnered with a foundation that will assist it in supporting these officers by acting as the receiver and distributor of the funds. This process will allow 100% of the money raised to go directly to those in need. The foundation's name is Treasure Island Police Association or TIPA and any checks should be made payable to that foundation.

All donations should be delivered to the Gulf Stream Police Department or Town Hall no later than Dec. 2 so that the chiefs can hand-deliver the funds to the foundation in time for the holidays.

"I would like to kick this off immediately and have it wrapped up by Dec. 2 so we can make sure these officers and their families are able to have the Christmas they deserve," Jones said.

By Steve Plunkett

A third person has drowned in the ocean off South County in a deadly week of rough seas, and another person drowned on the same day in the ocean further to the north.

A teenager ventured into the water early Sunday with his mother and a sibling at Gulfstream Park, according to Gulf Stream Police Chief Richard Jones, whose officers were the first responders on the scene.

The teen’s family was at the park, which is just north of the Gulf Stream town limits, shortly after sunrise and before lifeguards started their day. A 911 call was placed around 7 a.m., Jones said.

One of the siblings was able to make it back to shore. Gulf Stream police Sgt. Bernard O’Donnell rescued the mother but could not save the other child.

Rescuers recovered the teen's body and officials closed the park about  midday, a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy said. Lifeguards had been warning about rip currents and high surf.

“Always swim near a lifeguard, heed all lifeguard warnings. Have a safe beach day!” they urge on their website.

The Sheriff’s Office, which took over the case, had not identified the child.

At least one PBSO boat and helicopter were involved. At least a dozen sheriff’s deputies, as well as officers from Gulf Stream and Ocean Ridge, ultimately responded.

The drowning in the third in seven days to have occurred in a 2-mile stretch from just north of the Boynton Inlet south to Gulf Stream.

“It’s crazy all this unfolded in what — one week?” Chief Jones said.

Farther up the barrier island, in Palm Beach just north of Lake Worth Road, yet another person drowned Sunday after going into the Atlantic while his fiancee sunbathed on a lounge chair about 150 feet away.

Palm Beach police said the victim was a 57-year-old New Yorker on vacation at the Tideline Palm Beach Ocean Resort and Spa, 2842 S. Ocean Blvd. The Tideline is part of an unguarded beach and did not have any flags flying, police said.

However, "The Four Seasons (2800 S. Ocean Blvd.) did have red flags up indicating that swimming conditions were hazardous," Officer Joseph Palladino wrote in his report.

Earlier last week, on Wednesday, a man who had just arrived in Ocean Ridge from Niagara Falls, Canada, drowned near Colonial Ridge Club at 5500 Old Ocean Blvd.

A 911 call alerted Ocean Ridge police shortly after noon, and Sgt. Gary Roy responded to the scene. The drowning victim was identified as Gerald W. Julian, 50.

Roy said seas were 4 to 6 feet and that Julian was 100 to 150 yards offshore. Police Chief Scott McClure said the coast was under rip current warnings that day.

McClure, who spent 10 years on the town of Palm Beach's police marine unit, called it tragic.

"If you lived here your whole life, you know (what to do). You don't fight it, you swim parallel (to the rip current) till you get out of it," McClure said.

Four days before that drowning, a Lake Worth Beach man drowned after being pulled from the water near the Boynton Inlet about 1/4 mile north of the non-lifeguard-protected area.

"Security officers and medics from a nearby estate rescued the male from rough surf and rip currents, administering CPR until Palm Beach County Fire Rescue arrived," according to the county sheriff's office.

That victim was identified as Maximilian Sdowski, 34.

John Pacenti contributed to this report.

Unofficial results

SOURCE: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office

By Rich Pollack

In a hotly contested race for Florida House District 91, which encompasses all of Highland Beach and Boca Raton as well as unincorporated areas west of the city, incumbent Peggy Gossett-Seidman was able to hold on to her seat, derailing the heavily funded efforts of political newcomer Jay Shooster to serve in Tallahassee.  

Republican Gossett-Seidman, who narrowly won the seat two years ago as part of a red wave that swept the county, secured almost 55% of the more than 95,000 votes cast this time while Shooster, an attorney, received 45%.  

Gossett-Seidman attributed her victory to her success in the Capitol during the last two years and to “hard work and knocking on doors.”

“I think voters understood that I was working for them to fulfill the needs of the community,” she said. “Our success was also greatly due to the wide swath of friends and colleagues who know me from having lived here so long.”

Shooster, 34, who lives west of Boca Raton, far outspent Gossett-Seidman, 71, a former Highland Beach town commissioner who worked as a sportswriter and publicist. Shooster raised almost $1.1 million and spent about $953,000, more than four times the $232,000 Gossett-Seidman spent while raising just over $338,000.

House District 91, once a Democratic stronghold, shifted to the right in 2022 following redistricting that added more conservative-leaning coastal neighborhoods. Democrats, who hoped to take back the seat, make up about 32% of the registered voters in the district, while Republicans account for 35%.

Gossett-Seidman said that once she returns to Tallahassee her focus will be on finishing work on the safe waterways act — which encompasses sampling of waterways — and on addressing condo recertification issues and HOA issues while at the same time addressing overall homeowner’s insurance issues.

During her campaign Gossett-Seidman touted her success in bringing $10.3 million in state appropriations back to Boca Raton and Highland Beach.

Andrea Virgin, chief executive of The Center for Arts and Innovation, listens intently with (l-r) Brian Hickey, the group's attorney; Derek Bellin, its development officer; and board member Glenn Kaufman on Nov. 4 as the City Council considers ending a deal to lease land at Mizner Park for a new performing arts center. Council members instead gave the group time to come up with a plan to raise adequate funds and will reconvene Jan. 7  to gauge their progress. Tim Stepien/Coastal Star

By Mary Hladky

The Boca Raton City Council has moved back from the brink, giving the Center for Arts and Innovation until Jan. 7 to come up with a revised fundraising schedule that the city can accept.

TCAI officials angered city leaders in October when they said that they had fallen far short of meeting city-imposed fundraising requirements, a failure that could have allowed the city to terminate a 2022 project development agreement and the lease of city land at Mizner Park to TCAI.

Council members and City Manager George Brown criticized TCAI officials for not divulging information that they must have had for months. They scheduled a special Nov. 4 meeting to consider killing the deal.

But at that meeting, all the council members said they wanted to give TCAI more time to find a solution and backed away from their earlier demand that the center make up an $18.8 million shortfall by Jan. 7.

“We have to allow you to find your footing again,” said Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker, adding, “Whatever you come back with has to work for both parties.”

“I think it is the right thing to do to give grace,” said council member Andy Thomson.

Council member Fran Nachlas warned that the council wants full disclosure. “There has to be so much more transparency,” she said.

 The council will consider what TCAI submits at its Jan. 13 meeting.

In explaining why they did not meet the fundraising deadline, TCAI officials said they now realize that donors don’t want to be pushed and often need five to seven years to finalize donation commitments.

TCAI needed to raise $50.8 million by Oct. 22, but donations totaled only $32 million. Cash on hand was about $8 million, well below the $12.8 million it had one year ago when the center surpassed its $25.4 million fundraising target by $1 million for that year. In other words, the group collected a net $5.6 million from donors in the last 12 months and had $4.8 million less on hand.

The new cultural arts complex would be built on city-owned land in at the north end of Mizner Park. As now envisioned, the existing amphitheater would be demolished and its function incorporated into a main venue that would be fronted by a large piazza, an education and innovation building, a covered public hall, an elevated building with 360-degree views of the city, and a restaurant and lounge.

TCAI must raise the entire amount needed to build the complex, but the cost is not yet known. City officials want to know that by Dec. 31.

A county employee uses a gas-powered blower to clear leaves and twigs from a path in Gulfstream Park. BELOW RIGHT: Jim Reynolds, with his wife, Susan Beil, says the noise is ‘like an explosion of sound.’ Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Noisy yet practical leaf movers lose favor in sea of complaints

By John Pacenti

Susan Beil says she feels she has a superpower. Every time she sits to relax on the front porch of her Delray Beach home, the roar of a gas leaf blower somewhere, somehow pierces her serenity — almost like magic.

“They’re a wonderful thing, but I think we should either have them all work on one day, or we should consider having noise-reduction leaf blowers,” said Beil, who lives in the Seagate neighborhood between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.

“I understand that’s very expensive, and it’s a hardship for the people who are working in agriculture, but they are very noisy.”

Jim Reynolds — Beil’s husband — put it this way: “It’s like an explosion of sound the minute we sit on the porch.”

Municipalities throughout Florida and the nation are grappling with the roar of the gas-powered leaf blower. The number of communities banning them is growing, including Palm Beach, Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, Naples and South Miami.

In Winter Park, near Orlando, residents next year will vote on the topic in response to state lawmakers’ attempts this year to pass a law prohibiting cities, towns and villages from regulating the noisy beasts.

Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed $100,000 allocated to this year’s budget to study leaf blowers. That veto also nixed a provision meant to handcuff municipalities by keeping them from regulating the machines.

No imminent restrictions
The gas-powered leaf blower remains ubiquitous in neighborhoods that run along State Road A1A.

On a random Tuesday, Oct. 15 to be exact, a lot of leaf blowers were in action — dozens — as a Coastal Star reporter ducked in and out of neighborhoods. For more than 30 minutes, someone working at Gulfstream Park blew dirt on and off the paths.

There’s been a lot of hot air expelled on what to do by both residents and elected officials, but not so much action.

Delray Beach Mayor Tom Carney said when he was knocking on doors during his campaign that 50% of the time the complaint he heard was about leaf-blower noise — especially on the barrier island.

“We haven’t looked at the issue yet because we’ve been too busy doing other matters, but there certainly is a strong feeling out there,” said Carney, who took office in March.

He said going electric in such a large city could be financially burdensome for the landscape companies.

“Maybe they should only be allowed to use them on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You know, give people some relief,” he said. “I hear them on Saturdays at 8 o’clock in the morning.

They are intrusive, yes. So, I think there’s a real sense that something needs to be done.”

Manalapan and Ocean Ridge will respond to individual noise complaints.

In Manalapan, Mayor John Deese says he hasn’t heard any complaints from residents on the topic.

In Ocean Ridge, Betty Bingham, 90, a former town commissioner, asked the commission at its Oct. 7 meeting if there was a way to write citations that carried no monetary fines, to get leaf blower users to be “civil.”

“I thought the idea of these blowers was to blow weeds into a central place where people could pick them up and put them in a barrel to put out for pickup. Instead, they seem to be to blow, make a lot of noise, a lot of fumes, throw the leaves into the street or under the hedges [or] into the next-door neighbor’s yard,” she said.

In Gulf Stream, officials have batted around the issue for years but never enacted a restriction.

Joan Orthwein, a former Gulf Stream mayor and current town commissioner, said the town first discussed a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers about a decade ago.

“We reached out to the lawn services, and at the end of the day, they just said they’d have to eliminate Gulf Stream,” she said.

The issue came up again in 2021 when Town Manager Greg Dunham surveyed what neighboring communities do about the issue, but the commission decided not to enact restrictions.

In Highland Beach, resident Barbara Nestle has lobbied her town’s leaders to no avail to ban the gas-powered blowers — after all, the town has a Tranquility Drive.

“In Highland Beach, all you hear is leaf blowers. You don’t even hear the ocean anymore,” she said. “And the noise is disgusting. It’s a disturbance, and it’s also unhealthy — especially for the mind.”

A gas-powered leaf blower clears a path at Gulfstream Park just north of Gulf Stream. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

The impact on work crews
A Harvard study on short- and long-term exposure found noise pollution can lead to an increased risk of heart-related problems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says loud noise can damage hearing over time.

This is all bad news for the actual users, many of them immigrants who work for landscaping companies.

Andres Pascual, though, looked perplexed when stopped from his leaf blowing at the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in Boca Raton when asked if he ever thought about how the noise or gas fumes might be harmful to his health. He wore no mask or ear plugs.

For him it was a simple equation: “If the blower is like strong, like powerful, then it makes the job more easier,” said Pascual, who said he works for the city of Boca Raton.

Billy Blackman, owner of Able Tree Service in Boynton Beach, said he went electric for chain saws, trimmers and other equipment and it has saved his company money.

“It’s because we don’t buy gas,” Blackman said, before adding an important caveat.

“We just buy gas for our big big backpack blowers. Yeah, they’re aggravating, and I hate them, and I know that all the neighbors hate them, but all our other stuff is battery-powered,” he said.

Blackman said there is no battery-powered leaf blower that equals the power of the backpack leaf blower. “They make the medium-sized, but they don’t make the giant one,” he said. “At the end of the job, when you’re tired, it takes 15 minutes. You blow everything off and you are going home.”

To blow or not to blow
The issue of banning leaf blowers is strangely polarizing and weirdly political. A post seeking comment on the Facebook group Delray Raw drew so many nasty replies that moderators had to take it down. Apparently, some have the attitude that meddlesome lawmakers will have to pry the gas leaf blowers from their cold dead hands.

A similar post on the website Nextdoor for Boca Raton got the same vitriol among the 96 comments. Some residents mocked those who said that the gas-powered leaf blowers were too loud and that maybe they could be banned on the weekends. They asked what’s next, banning crying babies. Another responded, “Be less sensitive.”

Beil in Delray Beach gets it. “It’s a first-world problem,” she said.

But it is a problem. Others in the Boca Raton Nextdoor thread who responded did have babies whom leaf blowers had awakened.

Advocates of restricting the gas-powered devices say the leaf blowers are like torture for the noise-adverse, such as those on the autism spectrum. And so many people work from home — go ahead, try your Zoom call with a gas-powered leaf blower at 75 decibels next door.

Besides health concerns, there is damage to the environment. Let’s just say the gas-powered leaf blower is the unfiltered Camel cigarette of its day when it comes to pollution.

A report by the Public Interest Network found in 2020 that in Florida alone, gas-powered lawn and garden equipment contributed 2.6 million tons of carbon dioxide, second only to California. Lawn equipment in Palm Beach County emitted nearly 310,000 tons that year, sixth most of any county in the nation and the most of any in Florida. That’s the equivalent of total annual emissions from 68,239 cars.

Florida ranked first among all states for fine particulate emissions — and in nitrogen oxide emissions — from lawn and garden equipment.

“There’s so many actions that are going to have to be taken to reach various stated climate goals of various municipalities, this one seems pretty easy to do,” said Aaron DeMayo, chair of the city of Miami’s Climate Resilience Committee and a proponent of his city banning gas-powered leaf blowers in favor of electric.

“We have the technology. It’s not expensive. It works,” he said.

Other stuff is loud, too
Could gas-powered leaf blowers be a scapegoat, an easy target when it comes to noise pollution?

Besides leaf blowers, there is plenty of noise from crews working on homes under construction or undergoing renovations. Noise emanates from other lawn equipment used by landscaping companies and from loud municipal projects — a drilling company was observed boring into a Boca Raton street.

“What’s more annoying is the construction over there — that’s what’s annoying,” Arnie Schwartz said, pointing to a house while walking in his Boca Raton Spanish River Land neighborhood.

Here is a fact, Jack: There is little consensus on what to do or whether to do anything.

Boca Raton Spanish River Land resident Nick Wagner was working in his front yard, which had been transformed into a butterfly garden. Gulf fritillaries danced above his cassia and milkweed. Wagner wants the gas-powered leaf blowers banned.

“I think it’s really invasive,” he said. “It’s too much to be honest. I don’t think it’s fair, and you don’t necessarily even have to use them. They just insist on doing it.”

Meanwhile on Tranquility Drive in Highland Beach, Alisa Musa was walking her dogs and taking a que será, será attitude.

“I am not a complainer. They got to keep it clean,” she said.

Schwartz said banning leaf blowers or forcing landscapers to go electric just isn’t realistic.

“Certain things sound good, but you can’t put them in action,” he said. “So what happens is that if you get rid of them, what are you going to do with all the leaves? Rake them? I haven’t seen anybody with a rake out here in 20 years.”

The proposed center would include open space that provides entertainment opportunities. Rendering provided

Council to consider terminating deal

By Mary Hladky

The Center for Arts and Innovation has fallen far short of meeting its fundraising requirements, stunning Boca Raton officials and imperiling city support for the ambitious cultural arts center planned for Mizner Park.

As a result, the City Council, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, will meet on Nov. 4 to consider terminating a 2022 project development agreement and the lease of city land to TCAI.

A fast-moving series of events that led to this point started on Oct. 21 when TCAI chief executive Andrea Virgin angered and frustrated council members and City Manager George

Brown when she told them that she would not raise the required amount by the next day’s deadline.

The center needed to raise about $50.8 million but donations totaled only $32 million. Furthermore, the amount of cash on hand stood at about $8 million, below the $12.8 million the center had one year ago when it issued its first fundraising report, which showed the center had met fundraising targets for that year.

Some council members accused Virgin of withholding information she must have had months earlier even as she led them to believe that all was well.

Their concerns were elevated when they learned Virgin had paused fundraising in September, an apparent sign that she knew she would not meet the targets.

“I was quite frankly shocked” by the shortfall, said Mayor Scott Singer.

“I am a little disappointed,” said Deputy Mayor Yvette Drucker. “To me the most important thing is, give me the facts, give me the truth. … When that fails, it becomes a real challenge to support a project.”

Council member Fran Nachlas faulted Virgin for not alerting the council much earlier and for meeting with her only two times in the last two years. “I feel I am being kept in the dark,” she said.

But the harshest critique came from Brown, who, while serving as deputy city manager, negotiated with center officials for two years to hammer out an agreement that allowed

TCAI to be built on city-owned land at the north end of Mizner Park.

That deal gave the center three years to raise 75% of the project’s hard construction costs and required its officials to also raise money for reserve and endowment funds and to meet other deadlines.

Brown said he met with center officials in early October and was not told of a likely funding shortfall.

“It was frankly very disturbing to me the way this has gone down, finding out really at the very last minute that the funding was not there,” Brown said. “It seems to me that the center must have known the funds would not be met many months before now.

“I am just disturbed by a lack of accountability, a lack of transparency, a lack of forthrightness and in this circumstance a lack of humility.”

Chief executive explains
In an interview with The Coastal Star, Virgin denied withholding information. “We gave the city information as soon as it was available to us,” she said.

She also denied making unequivocal promises that the fundraising target would be met, saying she told council members in September that she was “cautiously optimistic” about that.

In explaining to the council why fundraising has slowed, Virgin said she and other center officials have learned that donors “don’t appreciate being rushed into commitment,” and that pushing them reduces their trust and prompts them to lower their donation amounts.

“They want to give when they are ready,” she said, later adding, “We can’t control how donors make their decisions.”

Had she understood at the outset that donors can need five to seven years to finalize donation commitments, Virgin said she would have tried to negotiate a deal with the city allowing for that.

“This is not a setback and this is not a result of anyone’s missteps,” she said. “It is merely a reflection on what we have learned from our donors.”

Since center officials have not met the donation requirements, the city could terminate its deal with TCAI. But council members stopped short of that, instead giving Virgin until Jan. 7 to raise the money.

Council members also conditionally approved project plans that have been revised since TCAI selected renowned architectural firm Renzo Piano Building Workshop to create a final design. Had they not done so by Oct. 22, both the city and TCAI had the right to terminate the project development agreement and the lease of Mizner Park land.

Some potential donors wanted the project plans approved before they made a commitment. The approval also would allow TCAI to move ahead with project planning.

Council members relented a bit on demanding that Virgin tell them immediately the actual cost of building TCAI and submitting a budget. The most recent budget estimate was $140 million, but that was made well before Renzo Piano started work on a new design. Virgin was told to do so by Dec. 31.

Since then, however, TCAI rejected the extension to Jan. 7 to raise the money, saying in an Oct. 25 letter that it will not sign an agreement “that it knows cannot be achieved.”

Instead, TCAI proposed renegotiating the development agreement to revise fundraising deadlines and said it would submit its detailed proposal by Nov. 25.

But in an Oct. 28 letter to council members, Brown said that they had rejected the renegotiation during their previous meeting.

He also said that TCAI now is not in compliance with the fundraising deadline and that the council’s approval of the design plans no longer is in effect.

A TCAI official has since said that the organization wants to discuss new revisions to the development agreement on Nov. 4.

While all these matters that could doom the deal are expected to be revisited at that meeting, one possible project roadblock raised in September has been put to rest for now.

The council at the time delayed its vote on the new project design until a consultant was hired to evaluate the project’s feasibility.

The preliminary report by CBRE, a global real estate services and investment company, identified the same concerns raised by city staff about matters such as whether it was possible to build an underground parking garage at a reasonable cost in that location and the adequacy of a canopy over an outdoor piazza.

Yet the report concluded the project design “is an impactful and thoughtful concept package” and that the council can approve it, with any problems addressed before construction begins.

As now envisioned, the existing amphitheater would be demolished and its function incorporated into a main venue that would be fronted by the large piazza, an education and innovation building, a covered public hall, an elevated building with 360-degree views of the city, and a restaurant and lounge.

Supporters speak up
The missed fundraising deadline did not appear to dampen the enthusiasm of project supporters who urged the council on Oct. 21 to stay the course so that TCAI becomes reality.

Those asking for continued city support included state Rep. Mike Caruso, R-West Palm Beach; state Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton; Irvin Lippman, executive director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art; Kelly Smallridge, president and CEO of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County; and former Boca Raton Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke.

“Today I ask you to be bold, to take the actions necessary to get this project done,” Caruso said.

“I want to make this happen,” Polsky said.

O’Rourke asked the council to “show the center some grace … please don’t let this golden opportunity slip away.”

Despite the criticisms and hurdles, Virgin has never wavered from voicing optimism that any problems can be resolved and TCAI will be built.

“Our commitment to finding a solution remains unwavering,” she told the council, adding, “I am confident as ever that all this can be accomplished.”

But she also has left open the door to moving ahead without city land or support.

“This project will happen,” she told The Coastal Star. “There is no doubt about that. It is not contingent on this agreement with the city of Boca Raton.”

Road and drainage construction along A1A creates a traffic nightmare during work hours. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

Major construction and long daytime delays on State Road A1A, already frustrating local motorists, are certain to shock returning seasonal residents unaware of the extensive resurfacing and widening project on the coastal highway.

A yearlong, $8.3 million Florida Department of Transportation road project that began in July is causing traffic delays, and leaders in Highland Beach — where the bulk of the work is ongoing — fear the backups will get worse with more traffic on the road.

“We feel like it is going to be a busy season,” said Town Manager Marshall Labadie. “As much as we’ve been communicating, I’m afraid our seasonal residents aren’t aware of the disruptions the construction will cause to their daily travels.”

To try to make residents more aware, the town has stepped up its communication efforts.

“We’re sending emails every week telling residents to plan accordingly as their travel plans will be disrupted,” Labadie said.

The 3.35-mile-long project, from just south of Linton Boulevard in Delray Beach to the Highland Beach border with Boca Raton, includes road resurfacing, the creation of 5-foot bike lanes on either side of A1A and drainage improvements on the swales.

The project is expected to be finished by summer. Contractors are permitted to operate from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and as a result have been working on some Saturdays.

Crews using solar-powered “automated flagger assistance devices” — traffic lights on wheels — as well as traditional walkie-talkie flagmen and women, have been shepherding traffic into one lane while work continues on drainage improvements and widening.

Navigating State Road A1A is challenging for pedestrians and bicyclists — not to mention motorists — during construction in Highland Beach. On Oct. 25, this southbound backup stretched for blocks as drivers waited to traverse a section of A1A that had been reduced to a single lane. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Working generally from north to south — currently between Linton Boulevard and the 3300 block of South Ocean Boulevard — crews have begun laying the groundwork for widening A1A to accommodate bike lanes.

At the same time, an infiltrated rock system is being placed under grassy areas to improve drainage and reduce flooding.

Drainage improvements are also being made through the central part of town and those are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

As the work has progressed, the impact on traffic has increased.

“It’s more of a problem now than it was during the beginning phases of the project because the heavy lifting is the more disruptive part of the project,” Labadie said.

Residents like Deborah Muller, who lives in the north end of Highland Beach, agree.

“It was manageable during the summer. Now it’s absolutely insane,” she said.

Town leaders and some local residents are looking forward to having construction completed just south of Linton Boulevard, where plans call for almost tripling the length of the left-turn lane for northbound cars heading west over the bridge, from 75 feet to about 200 feet.

FDOT expects initial milling and resurfacing work in that area to begin in December and continue through early 2025. The final pavement and striping will take place in the project’s last phase during the summer of 2025, weather permitting and subject to unforeseen circumstances.

The expansion of the northbound turn lane onto Linton Boulevard means fewer cars will block traffic heading north through the intersection, town representatives say.

“That area has historically been a huge bottleneck,” Labadie said. “As painful as it’s going to be, we’re glad they’re working on it.”

Muller and other residents say they have complained regularly about northbound traffic backups of more than a half-mile from the light at Linton Boulevard and A1A.

“It’s hard to get in and out of your driveway,” she said, adding that often northbound motorists fail to stop when they see a car trying to pull out or turn in. “Now I have to be aggressive.”

Muller said that if people were more considerate, traffic would flow a little better.

She says she is sometimes frustrated by what she says is rudeness, and believes that fixing the intersection will improve traffic.

“It will definitely be better, especially if you’re making a left onto Linton Boulevard,” she said.

Delray Beach will start imposing fines Nov. 1 for previously unenforced infractions like taking your dog to the beach, or setting your trash out at the curb on the wrong day. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

New citation plan will generate fines for multitude of offenses

By Hannah Spence

Starting in November, Delray Beach is giving out new citations — with fines attached — for many minor violations of city rules.

Potential offenders include litterers, places making too much noise and people bringing dogs to the city’s beach.

The new civil citations are more like parking tickets and less harsh than arresting someone, which was pretty much the only recourse previously available (and something officials refrained from doing). Some residents still are not happy — especially those whose pets love the beach.

“I think it would be a better idea to have a specific beach that is a dog beach, like they do in other cities,” said Marlene Goldstein, who regularly takes her chocolate lab, Tucker, to run on the edges of the water.

The new citations cover dozens of other infractions as well, such as skateboarding (stay off Atlantic Avenue sidewalks between State Road A1A and Interstate 95), roadside markers along residential rights-of-way (pyramid-shaped markers are bad, but dome-shaped ones are fine), and even more that are related to pets (dogs aren’t allowed in public buildings or places of business without owners’ permission).

There are rules for garbage and trash, abandoned property, fire safety, mobile food trucks, vehicle parking and storage, and so much more.

Goldstein said she allows Tucker to run on the beach unleashed because “he runs like a maniac and chases birds, and I can’t hold him when he does that.”

She acknowledged that some dogs shouldn’t be on the beach, but she said that she is mindful, taking Tucker north or south of where people are swimming, so he doesn’t get near anybody.

“I’m only OK with Tucker because I know he’s not going to run into anybody,” said Goldstein.

But being mindful doesn’t cut it, as far as city rules are concerned. Under the new citation program, approved by city commissioners in March, bringing a dog on the beach carries a fine of $100 for an uncontested violation and $175 for a contested violation. The maximum fine in any category is $500. Contested violations will be heard in Palm Beach County Court.

The citations will be issued by code enforcement officers — police, code inspectors, fire inspectors and building inspectors.

It’s not about the money, City Commissioner Rob Long said.

“At the end of the day, we are not trying to use this to generate revenue on the backs of hardworking citizens. It’s just to change behavior,” Long said. “It just gives us an efficient way to hold people accountable for these problems that are tricky to enforce but have an impact on the quality of life of our residents.”

Before the citation program, the potential enforcement mechanism was harsh, says former Delray Beach Mayor Shelly Petrolia, who was in office when the new program was approved.

“Even though we could have arrested somebody because they were breaking the law, nobody really wants to do that,” Petrolia said. Absent making arrests, that left the city only with options like warning violators or putting up signs alerting people to prohibited activities, she said.

“Now it’s going to be something in line with what the penalty should be.”

Petrolia said the city adjusted the rules because of complaints to her office, commissioners and police, mostly about excessive noise. She said near-downtown residents were being disturbed in their sleep by commotion coming from eateries such as The O.G. and Tin Roof.

According to the city’s Code of Ordinances, there will be ramifications for any person who makes, continues or causes “unreasonably loud” noise, such as from dogs or birds, loading and unloading, construction and vibration. Citations may be issued to “continued or repeated violations,” the city’s website says.

“I don’t think that people are out there to break the rules. I think that it’s more of an issue that the rules were not in a way that they could follow,” Petrolia said. “Now we have the ability to be able to show them when [the noise volume] is too high. And, if they continue to break [the rules], then they will get cited.”

While the rule against allowing dogs on the beach is a pet peeve of Goldstein, Petrolia said Goldstein’s desire to have a specific beach for dogs is not feasible in Delray Beach.

“We had that conversation with the commission years ago, determining whether or not we could section off a certain part of the beach and make it into a dog beach,” she said. “The problem with Delray Beach is we have one mile of beach that serves everybody, and it is a very popular beach. We determined that the beach is just not long enough to be everything to everyone.”

Petrolia encouraged people to be empathetic to others by remembering that not everyone is a dog lover. “People can be very wary of dogs. Also, the average beachgoer may have dogs as well, but chooses not to bring them down. They don’t want to have fecal matter or urine in the sand in which their kids are playing and digging.”

Although the offenses included in the program were already illegal, the rules can now be more strictly enforced.

“We want to make sure that people are following the rules of our city and not taking advantage,” Petrolia said. “We don’t want to do things that are an overreach, but we want to make sure that there will be no dogs on the beach for people that are expecting that.”

Some residents agree with the new program, such as Heidi Rabinowitz who has lived in Delray Beach on and off for about nine years.

“I think it’s a good idea to do something that’s a little gentler than actually being in legal trouble,” Rabinowitz said.
Rabinowitz said she is glad to have some control exerted over littering and that it will not only keep places looking better, but be better for wildlife.

“I’ve sometimes gone to the beach and picked up litter myself because it’s so much that I can’t relax,” she said. “It’s also unhealthy for animals who live there.”

Larry Barszewski contributed to this story.

Harold Vanderbilt moved from Palm Beach and in 1930 built Eastover, along with its massive sea wall, that still stands today in Manalapan. Photo provided

By John Pacenti

Manalapan is known for waterfront homes, the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa and its ability to somehow, some way, maintain a small beachside town feel despite all the luxury.

Manalapan’s place in Palm Beach County history is sacrosanct, pivotal in the development of the Lake Worth area, once infamous for the 1955 murders of Judge Curtis

Chillingworth and his wife, Marjorie, and, of course, its American royal heritage of the Vanderbilt family.

But its ultimate roots lie in New Jersey. There is a town in the Garden State that took the Lenape Indian name of Manalapan, which means either “good land to settle upon,” “good bread” or “covered swamp with edible roots,” depending on the translation. Developers from the town landed in South Florida.

Florida towns named for other places are not unusual. Delray Beach is named after the Detroit neighborhood of Delray. Riviera Beach was named for the famed European vacation spot. Golf, the small village west of Boynton Beach, took its name from Golf, Illinois, home of the Western Golf Association.

On the other hand, Highland Beach shares its name with a Maryland community but it’s a coincidence rather than a historical tie.

Finding the truth about Manalapan’s New Jersey ties takes some sleuthing.

A good place to start is Eliot Kleinberg, the retired Palm Beach Post reporter who is a walking encyclopedia on Florida history — though he modestly says he “just worked the clips.” Asked through text messages if Manalapan was founded by railroad executive Harold Stirling Vanderbilt or the people of New Jersey, he gives a very Kleinberg answer: “Both right.”

Harvey Oyer III’s great-grandparents built the first home in the Manalapan portion of Hypoluxo Island in 1873. Photo provided

The next stop is Harvey Oyer III. He is a fifth-generation Floridian, former chairman of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, and a man who turned his love of local history into a series of educational children’s books.

“My great-grandparents settled on and owned what was known as Hypoluxo Island, the southern half of which is now part of the town of Manalapan,” Oyer said. “So, we were the first people to ever build a house in what is today Manalapan, and that was in 1873.”

Kleinberg, in a 2021 story for The Coastal Star on the 90th anniversary of Manalapan, said the town started as part of a large coconut grove homesteaded by pioneer George H.K. Charter in 1882. Charter sold his 2½-mile stretch of property for $7,500 to Elnathan Field and a group of investors.

Manalapan stretches for 2.65 miles between the Boynton Inlet and Ocean Avenue and includes the southern third of Hypoluxo Island. Google Map image

And this is where New Jersey enters the picture.

Oyer said the person who knows about the New Jersey connection is real estate agent Michelle Donahue, whose hobby is local history. Oyer couldn’t be more right.

“In about 1892, this guy Field, as well as quite a few other people, created a company known as Hypoluxo Beach Corporation,” Donahue said. Hypoluxo was the original name for Lake Worth.

The group included Field and four others from New Jersey who named the area after Manalapan Township, New Jersey, founded in 1848, Donahue said. They transported lumber by train from the area to Stuart and then by boat from there, she added.

The wood was used to build a fishing hotel and Field’s home, which stood until early 2000 around the properties now at 1780 and 1790 on State Road A1A, Donahue said.

“It is a fascinating connection, I think for them coming down here, naming it Manalapan,” said Donahue, who lives on Hypoluxo Island in Lantana. “And they floated the name Manalapan around because a lot of that area was just more likely to be referred to as either Lantana Beach or Hypoluxo Beach.”

Field’s group called its resort Manalapan Estates, but the name didn’t get formalized until Vanderbilt and his crew took on the name when the town was incorporated in June 1931.

Manalapan Township, New Jersey, could not be more different. It is about 45 miles south-by-southwest of New York City. It is near the Revolutionary War battlefield Monmouth and is known for its rolling hills and suburbs — not multimillion-dollar homes with beachfront views.

Manalapan, New Jersey, has nearly 39,000 residents as opposed to its sister city’s 419, according to the 2020 census. The average home price in Manalapan, New Jersey, was $775,000. In Manalapan, Florida, a 22-acre property was purchased in 2022 by Oracle founder Larry Ellison for $173 million — a state record — and the average value is $4.2 million.

Barry Jacobson is a committeeman in Manalapan, New Jersey, a position akin to a commissioner.

“I heard some people who moved from Manalapan into Palm Beach County and named it after Manalapan, but I don’t know that for a fact that is a fact,” he said.

Asked to describe his town, Jacobson said it’s a pleasant mix of professionals, some who commute to New York City, and there is even still some farmland left from when agriculture was the main industry. One of the highlights of the year is the Feast of San Gennaro festival in September, he said, honoring the patron saint of Naples, Italy.

Donahue said she wished there was more common knowledge of the history of Palm Beach County’s coastline.

“I’m like, why wasn’t there more written about Manalapan and even Hypoluxo Island for that matter?” she said. “And so, I have, over the years, done extensive research, sitting days and hours at the archives, at the Palm Beach historical society and all this, just to make sure I can get the story right so I can share it.”

Sweet 16! The Coastal Star is growing up. …

Sixteen years ago — November 2008 — our first edition was delivered to homes and condos in the South County coastal area stretching from Manalapan through Delray Beach.

As other print publications stopped reporting on South Palm Beach, Highland Beach and Boca Raton, we added those municipalities to our coverage area.

That’s right. In the middle of what’s now known as the Great Recession, we started a print-first newspaper and expanded its geographic reach at the same time other publications were going out of business or scaling back. Call us crazy, but we’re still here 16 years later and looking toward the future.

We’ve been through hurricanes, the ups and downs of the real estate market and, most significant, a deadly global health pandemic with far-reaching impacts on the supply chain and the U.S. economy. And yet we persisted with the help of our advertising partners and with assistance of PPP loans and media grants during those dark times.

Today the economy is strong and we’re taking advantage by adding sales staff to help us find and support our business partners in the local market. We are also investing more in our editorial staff to improve quality and dependability.

All of us at this newspaper believe our coastal area is enhanced by having residents informed of local news and information. We are the only publication — digital or print — informing them in this way.

It feels unthinkable to let our commitment to community news fade away as we grow older. But our leadership team is growing gray, and at some point others will join me in deciding it’s the right time to shift into retirement.

We’re not all there yet, but are working to figure out our succession plans to help this sweet-16 teenager make it through the exciting promise of coming years.

One way we’re building this safety net is by partnering with the Florida Press Association to provide a tax-free way for readers to contribute to our present and future. Our hope is that as you are doing your year-end financial planning you will consider a donation. You can do this at https://supportfloridajournalism.com/newspaper/the-coastal-star.

If you don’t care about the tax deduction, you can simply send us a check at our office:

The Coastal Star
5114 N. Ocean Blvd.
Ocean Ridge, FL 33435

As we enter November — the month of Thanksgiving — please say thank you to all of the nonprofits featured in this edition’s Philanthropy Season Preview section. Each of these groups provides essential services to individuals in our community who benefit from their efforts. Please consider making a donation or volunteering.

Since it’s too late to offer this sweet-16 newspaper Taylor Swift tickets for its birthday, please consider a financial contribution. We want to be here covering our communities for another 16 years.

Thank you.

— Mary Kate
Leming, Executive Editor

Highland Beach resident John Shoemaker, a Vietnam War veteran, visits the South Florida National Cemetery. He encourages others to visit as Veterans Day approaches. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Rich Pollack

John Shoemaker knows that heroes living throughout Highland Beach are hidden in plain sight.

They are the retired brigadier general living a quiet life in the next condo over, the gastroenterologist who served during the Vietnam War, and the parish priest, an Air Force major who served as a chaplain in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They are police officers, firefighters, a homeowners association president, and present and former town commissioners like Shoemaker. He has made it his mission for the past several years to shine a light on veterans throughout the small town by telling their stories on a portion of the town’s website.

“I’m committed to helping to make people aware of the heroes in their midst,” says Shoemaker, himself a Vietnam War veteran. “We have a lot of veterans who live quietly in Highland Beach and it’s important to bring recognition to what they’ve done.”

Some profiled by Shoemaker in the “Veteran Heroes of Highland Beach” section of the website will bristle at being called heroes, since their service was far from front lines.

Still, Shoemaker bestows the title readily, recognizing the sacrifices that come with military service, including being away from family for months on end, living in a foreign country in sometimes harsh circumstances and living a regimented lifestyle.

“No one knows what it’s like until you’ve slept on the floor of the jungle in the pouring rain, or until you’ve been on a ship in such rough weather that you can’t see the bow because of crashing waves, or until you’ve been sitting in a bomber for hours on a mission,” Shoemaker said.

With Veterans Day being celebrated this month, Shoemaker knows that there will be valued recognition of those who served. But he believes that by telling the stories of his neighbors, he has gone beyond the surface and is giving readers deeper insight into who the veterans are and how they served their country.

“I’m bringing meaning and detail that helps readers understand the contributions of our military people,” he said. “These stories reveal who these neighbors are and the magnitude of their sacrifice.”

One of the stories on the website is Shoemaker’s own. In it he tells of his decision to go to college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and get a degree so he could enlist, rather than be drafted, and attend officer candidate school.

“I wanted to enlist on my own terms, go to officer candidate school, be in the infantry and go to Vietnam,” he said. “I wanted to be close to the action.”

He got his wish and after two years of intense training was sent to Vietnam in 1970. He was 23, married and already a father.

A lieutenant, Shoemaker served as a platoon commander supervising a 23-person infantry squad. Five of the members of the team didn’t make it home, a half-dozen others were wounded.

Shoemaker spent seven months in the Vietnam jungle and rice paddies, coming close to injury or death on his first day in the field when a mine exploded just a few feet away. Two of his team were badly injured and it wasn’t until decades later that a routine MRI revealed shrapnel in his leg.

Shoemaker spent his last five months in Vietnam as a company commander, away from the combat, supervising support for a battalion.

Now 78, Shoemaker focuses on helping veterans through other portions of the town’s veterans website, which he helped create. It includes links to resources they can use.

“My hope is that in reading these stories people will be more respectful of veterans,” he said.

This Veterans Day, he hopes that people will continue to treat veterans they encounter with “polite awareness.”

He is encouraging residents to visit the South Florida National Cemetery, on U.S. 441 south of Lantana Road, with family, especially children. The cemetery is a burial site for those who served in the armed forces and their eligible family members.

“It’s important to maintain a continual awareness and recognition of the contributions of veterans,” Shoemaker said. “It’s necessary for our country to survive.”

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