Judy Collins (left) with CARP luncheon chairwoman Barbara Katz. Photo by Paulette Martin
By Thom Smith
“I wanted to get this out of the way right now …
Bows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles
in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds that way.”
Her once long brown hair is now a flowing white mane, and the notes floated flawlessly across the room at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach in Manalapan as Judy Collins — “sweet Judy Blue Eyes” — began a tender, wrenching, emotional, cathartic hour with guests at the annual spring luncheon of CARP, the Comprehensive Alcohol and Rehabilitation Program.
Collins was the perfect choice. She’s seen both sides of life — as triumphant artistic icon and as desperate drunk. Fortunately for her and for her fans, she recognized her problem and dealt with it. The recovery took years — but thanks to her own fortitude, and the concern of others, including her second husband, whom she met a week before she entered rehab — she did it.
“I was dying,” she said. “I knew I was an alcoholic. I knew I was drinking myself to death, but somehow the consequences or the connections hadn’t been made.”
The alcohol contributed to a rare tumor on her vocal cords. It was benign, but had she not dealt with it, she “couldn’t do what I was doing here; I could not sing.” Yet the night before her operation, she polished off most of a bottle of booze. In spite of herself, during a year of recovery from the surgery, “somehow, some way, AA began to come into my consciousness. … I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know where to go.”
One day she noticed that a New York actor friend, a fall-down drunk who was notorious for his bar brawls, was no longer making the papers. He’d stopped drinking. They talked. He suggested a doctor, an internist, who was at the forefront of treating alcoholism as a disease. Three days before she began rehab, at a fundraiser for the Equal Rights Amendment, she met Louis Nelson, a designer. They’ve been together ever since, although they didn’t marry until 1994.
“He didn’t know how drunk I was. How would he know?” Collins said. “He was totally not my type. He was considerate. He was thoughtful. You know what I mean … we attract, as we go down, the kind of people that will allow us to behave the way we behave. The next morning I went to Pennsylvania. The 19th of April, 1978, I took my last drink, and since then I have not found it necessary to drink or use drugs.
“On this wedding ring is the date, the 16th of April 1978, that I met him. I’ve been with him 34 years, which I think is a record for a hippie.”
***
For two days in October 1969, several hundred students camped in the quadrangle west of the Florida Atlantic University administration building during the nationwide moratorium to protest the Vietnam War. No incidents save for raising a flag bearing an image of Mickey Mouse instead of the Stars and Stripes.
The next spring, a group of students protested the dumping of waste from Boca Raton’s overworked sewage plant into the El Rio canal. The city scrambled and came up with $50,000 to mitigate the stench until an ocean outfall was finished. Soon thereafter, a new plant was built at the southwest corner of the FAU campus that remained quiet during the years when GEO founder and chairman George Zoley attended. For most of its half century, the student battle cry at FAU has been “Get a degree, get out and get to work!” Considering the turnout at sports events and the occasional on-campus entertainment, the administration had little reason to expect any opposition to the school’s $6 million stadium naming deal with commercial incarcerator GEO Group, the world’s second-largest for-profit prison company.
But for the first time in 40 years, students actually protested.
And when several dozen actually confronted Florida Atlantic University President Mary Jane Saunders in her office, an “occupation” of sorts, their efforts seemed to bear fruit as she agreed to answer questions a few days later. But that and subsequent sessions with students generated more questions than answers. She preferred to play softball, speaking mainly about opportunity — the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of commercial prisons, the opportunity to raise much-needed money for the school and the opportunity to cheer for the football team in September.
Her responses left students and some members of the FAU community who attended shaking their heads. The faculty senate voted 25-9 to oppose Saunders for making administrative decisons “without participation or input from faculty, staff, or other FAU stakeholders.” Students, faculty members and fans began canceling season ticket orders.
Finally, on April 1, the deal was scrapped — by Zoley, not by FAU.
So what could GEO have hoped to get out of stadium naming rights? American Airlines sponsors the arena in Miami because it wants people to fly on its planes. The only folks wanting to do business with GEO are state legislators.
Possibly school spirit did play a role. Zoley, the FAU grad, became Zoley, chairman of FAU’s board of trustees — which includes two other GEO board members: Clarence Anthony, FAU alumnus, one-time South Bay mayor and president in 1999 of the National League of Cities, and real estate attorney and Boca Raton Regional Hospital trustee Christopher Wheeler.
Perhaps GEO wanted to tout more about its “innovative programs and ground-breaking treatment approach.” At Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi, the innovation included staffers who were known gang members.
Even TV pundit Stephen Colbert joined the fray, “It’s just like Bank of America Stadium, only this company believes in punishment for crime.”
As reproductions of various news stories about GEO flashed across the screen, Colbert also recounted accusations of “cruel treatments” of children detained in its facilities, “unnecessary deaths of people in their custody,” and a “pervasive level of brazen staff sexual misconduct” at its Walnut Grove facility.
When GEO took over Walnut Grove in 2010, more than half of its inmates, some as young as 13, were doing time for nonviolent offenses. In his order approving a settlement of one suit in February 2012, U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves cited “systematic, egregious, and dangerous practices exacerbated by a lack of accountability and controls,” sexual misconduct by staff and youth-on-youth rapes “among the worst that we have seen in any facility anywhere in the nation” and “a picture of such horror as should be unrealized anywhere in the civilized world.”
GEO and the previous operator and prison managers, the judge wrote, were “derelict in their duties and remain[ed] deliberately indifferent to the serious medical and mental health needs of the offenders.”
GEO agreed in the settlement to move young inmates to more suitable locations. Two months later, the state of Mississippi, with the Justice Department breathing down its neck, canceled all of its contracts with GEO.
GEO facilities in Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania and even Pompano Beach have come under scrutiny.
We won’t know for a while if FAU will outlive its new nickname — “Owlcatraz” — but of greater concern should be the way the deal was handled before, during and after. Scuttlebutt around FAU’s administration building suggests that Saunders only saw dollars, not sense. Money from the Legislature is scarce, and it hasn’t been discovered in any owl burrows. Zoley, a forceful presence who had run the board, had deep pockets.
Did FAU’s Saunders know about GEO’s reputation and ignore it? If she didn’t know, and no one in her inner circle bothered to check and at least present the pluses and minuses, well …
This is the kind of embarrassment that state officials don’t like. Her predecessor, Tony Catanese, drove away in a new Corvette. She might be lucky to find a rail.
Too bad Zoley threw the switch. Think of the possible souvenirs GEO could have given to each fan at the first game — an Owlcatraz license plate or perhaps a “get out of jail free” card.
***
Maybe with all the fireworks over the GEO deal, the city administration decided that FAU didn’t need any more. City administrators unilaterally moved the Fourth of July fireworks, a campus staple, to DeHoernle Park on Spanish River Boulevard. The park, which opened last fall, was built by the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Parks District, not a city agency.
District commissioners weren’t pleased they weren’t consulted and said so.
After all, the park is beautiful — 80 acres, lakes, jogging paths, 12 athletic fields, but only 403 parking spaces.
The FAU fireworks attracted thousands who used two exits on Glades Road, one on Spanish River Boulevard and one on 20th Street. The new park has one exit onto Spanish River Boulevard.
Restrooms? Broken glass, left by revelers whose lawn chairs gouge the turf? What if an emergency vehicle is needed?
Finally, on March 18, city officials met with district commissioners. Game booths, children’s rides, vendors would set up in the parking lot. The city would provide portable toilets and begin removing trash the next morning.
Spectators would park at Boca Corporate Center and be shuttled by bus.
As for alternatives, turtle nesting, lack of parking and resident complaints rule out a beach site. FAU wanted a ticketed event at the stadium.
Still unswayed, District commissioners want to know more about FAU’s proposed ticket costs and expenses. After all, the stadium holds 30,000, has plenty of parking, vendor space and restrooms; plus the city just signed an agreement with FAU for more joint events on campus, and many residents would get their first view of the new stadium. In view of recent public relations fiascoes, a little fireworks might help.
Members of the district just want answers. If the city doesn’t provide them, it will strain and possibly break a relationship that for three decades has made Boca’s parks among the nation’s best.
***
With 2,011 votes, Jerry Taylor was elected mayor in Boynton Beach. Cary Glickstein won 3,212 votes to upset incumbent Mayor Tom Carney in Delray by 254 votes. In Lantana, Malcolm Balfour’s 284 votes was more than enough to win a council seat.
The number deciding Taylor’s victory was only 4.5 percent of the town’s 44,154 registered voters. Delray’s voters were a little more enthusiastic, with a total turnout of 13.7 percent, tops in the county. Of Lantana’s 6,079 voters, less than 550 voted.
Hardly representative democracy. A candidate could tick off one homeowners association and blow the election. Last November, 68 percent of Palm Beach County’s voters cast ballots, yet every municipality now holds its elections in the spring.
Why?
Proponents of this timeframe believe strongly those who do vote are better informed about local issues and that local candidates aren’t relegated to the bottom of the ballot, as they would be in the fall.
Proponents of fall elections believe that more votes mean stronger mandates, plus municipalities won’t have to spend tax money for a spring election. Boca’s Chamber of Commerce has been lobbying for a switch to November elections, but in Lake Worth, 1,333 voters (8 percent), was all it took to switch its races to March after voting for November races in 2007. Go figure.
***
Money talks, even if someone is just holding onto it, not necessarily spending it. Compare the Ocean Avenue bridge in Lantana to the Flagler Bridge, aka the North Bridge in Palm Beach. Both were in bad shape. The Lantana span was old, narrow and so low that it had to be raised for just about everything but canoes. Flagler Bridge is even older, but it’s wider — four lanes — and higher. Nevertheless, both bridges opened every 30 minutes.
While the Lantana bridge is being rebuilt — higher and wider — motorists who want to go from one side to the other must drive either to Lake Worth — 12 minutes north — or to Boynton Beach — 16 minutes south. Figure a half hour wasted, plus the frustration of “No Passing” on A1A.
By comparison, from the Flagler Bridge motorists easily can see the “middle bridge” to the south. How long does the one-mile detour take? About five minutes. How sad.
And get this. Projected cost for the Lantana Bridge is $32 million. The much longer Flagler Bridge initially is projected at $94 million. After tossing around options from $2 million to $20 million, state officials now say reinforcement of the old span to keep it open during reconstruction will add only $5 million to the budget.
Let’s hope sequestration doesn’t kick in: They may only be able to shore up one side.
***
Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon of Delray Beach and Jestena Boughton, owner of Delray’s venerable Colony Hotel, are among 22 nominees for the Executive Women of the Palm Beaches 2013 Women in Leadership Awards. Gannon is nominated in the public sector, Boughton in the private sector.
Boca’s tireless businesswoman and philanthropist Yvonne Boice is nominated in the volunteer division, with Michelle Poole of the Community Foundation for Drug Free Adolescents in Lake Worth. The awards, recognizing women for their outstanding achievements, generosity of spirit, and commitment to integrity and diversity, will be presented at a May 2 luncheon at the Kravis Center. Proceeds support WILA’s scholarship program. (684-9117).
***
Should be an interesting lunch. Ali Wentworth, guest speaker April 16 at the Bethesda Hospital Foundation’s Women’s Wellness Luncheon at The Four Seasons, is known, among other things, for her impressions of such celebs as Cher, Hillary Clinton, Princess Diana, Brooke Shields and, ahem, Sharon Stone. She first drew notices during in the early ’90s, during her hitch on the groundbreaking In Living Color. When not busy raising two kids, she’s either writing or acting, most recently on Cougar Town. But Wentworth will leave a more lasting impression: a graduate from Bard College; her stepfather was editor of the London Sunday Times; her blueblood grandmother, Janet Elliott Wulsin, was a famous explorer; her mother was Nancy Reagan’s social secretary; her husband is George Stephanopoulos, a key adviser in Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign and in his first term and now host of Good Morning America. Oh, yeah, she also played Jerry Seinfeld’s girlfriend in the legendary “Soup Nazi” episode of Seinfeld. Tickets are $100 (737-7733, ext. 84428).
***
At the Ritz-Carlton you can always be sure of finding a grand cut of beef or a marine delight, such as Sunday’s staple: Black Angus prime rib with foie gras and brioche stuffing or Atlantic sea bass with sauerkraut, smoked fingerlings and Florida caviar. But the resort, which recently introduced its revamped restaurants and its new culinary staff led by Executive Chef Jason Adams, also likes to push the envelope, whether at the casual Breeze, the relaxed Temple Orange or the avant garde Angle, which always is ready to tantalize more adventurous palates. How does Superior Farms lamb belly sound? Wood-grilled octopus? Or perhaps Jerusalem artichoke cappuccino?
The restaurants culminate a $130 million renovation of the resort, part of what the Ritz calls “barefoot elegance.” And after the dessert, you can always burn it off with a visit to Eau, its 42,000-square-foot spa, or with a walk on the beach.
***
Bartenders who know their mixes can mean big bucks for a restaurant. The Tanteo Tequila Tri-County Bartender Throwdown, held a few weeks back at Buddha Sky Bar, meant a few extra bucks for the barmen. A bartender from South Beach won the $1,500 first prize for her “Kickin’ Hibiscus” coconut milk, black cherry juice and Tanteo Jalapeño Tequila. But the competition was dominated by locals. Jeffrey Zadoff from Budda Sky Bar and Charles Steadman from Lantana Jack’s tied for third ($300 each) and Jonathan DiFonzo from Cut 432 took second ($600) for his Spicy Blood Orange Margarita with lime salt foam and Tanteo Tropical Tequila.
***
In other restaurant news, Sarah Sipe, formerly at The Omphoy, has once again teamed up with her former boss Lindsay Autry, as pastry chef at the Sundy House in Delray. Both Sipe and Autry refined their technique under Michelle Bernstein, the Omphoy’s original exec chef.
***
Newly retired football star Ray Lewis has again put his Highland Beach bungalow on the market. Lewis bought the seven-bedroom, 10,890-square-foot beachfront in 2004 for $5.22 million, listed it in 2011 for $6.4 million, and last summer for $5.9 million. Now he wants $4.995 million.
A couple of miles farther south, at Boca Inlet, One Thousand Ocean just found local buyers for two units.
The last available two-story, three-bedroom, 4½-bath, 4,538-square-foot beach villa with private entrance, elevator and plunge pool commanded $5.15 million. A designer-ready penthouse, with direct ocean view, 14-foot ceilings, private pool-deck cabana, two-car garage, 4,142 square feet under roof and an additional 1,450 of terrace sold for $5.86 million. Five units remain — $3 million to almost $13 million.
***
Back to the drawing board. Plans to renovate the old Boynton Beach High School building were submitted on time, but city officials saw some problems with some of Juan Contin’s paperwork. So the Lake Worth architect has to correct a few deficiencies concerning parking and the boundary between the school and the Schoolhouse Children’s Museum. Stay tuned.
***
Seems like only yesterday that Arts Garage opened in Delray, yet on April 20, the multifaceted center will celebrate its second birthday with a gala party, food, drink and entertainment by Little Jake Mitchell and the Soul Searchers and special guests. Tickets are $100 (www.artsgarage.org or 450-6357).
***
More total immersion entertainment. To build its latest XD (Extreme Digital) auditorium at its Palace 20 in Boca, Cinemark, one of the world’s largest movie exhibitors, had to raise the ceiling and dig out the floor to accommodate the huge new screen and sound system. The theater contains 285 seats, including 70 in the Premiere Level in the balcony.
XD is Cinemark’s new proprietary projection system, with floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall screen and a new Dolby 7.1 sound system.
It’s a modest technical improvement over IMAX; but the big benefit, according to Cinemark’s marketing VP, James Meredith, is flexibility.
With IMAX, exhibitors are locked into screenings for a fixed period, possibly several weeks. With XD, Cinemark can negotiate directly with distributors.
“If a movie is a dog, with IMAX we were stuck,” Meredith said. “With XD, we can swap it out immediately.”
Blockbuster new releases will have preference, Meredith added, but widescreen classics such as Lawrence of Arabia will also get the XD treatment.
Tom Smith is a freelance writer and a 1971 graduate of FAU. Reach him at thomsmith@ymail.com.
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