sandy - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T21:25:16Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/sandyTheater: Dogs paw for the chance to be Annie’s shaggy sidekickhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/theater-dogs-paw-for-the-chance-to-be-annie-s-shaggy-sidekick2020-04-01T16:41:46.000Z2020-04-01T16:41:46.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960940458,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960940458,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960940458?profile=original" /></a><em>The winning dog was Parker, a 2-year-old golden retriever who gave Lake Worth Playhouse artistic director Dan Eilola a sniff during his audition for the role of Sandy. At right is Reese Lores, 11, one of two actresses who will play Annie in the musical. Seated are stage manager Lara Palmer and Andrea Gershbein, Reese’s mother. <strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>By Larry Keller</strong></p>
<p>This was no cattle call, but a canine casting search at the Lake Worth Playhouse.</p>
<p><br /> The March 8 audition was for the role of Sandy, Little Orphan Annie’s dog in the musical Annie. Only four animal aspirants vied for the job.</p>
<p><br /> The play’s timing is notable. The Lake Worth Playhouse opened in 1924 as a movie theater — the same year that the comic strip Little Orphan Annie debuted. The first performance of Annie on Broadway wasn’t until 1977.</p>
<p><br />Now Annie is in local theater limbo with events at the playhouse suspended indefinitely because of the coronavirus. These are gloomy days coping with a pandemic, but Annie would have understood. She sang:<br /></p>
<p><em>The sun’ll come out</em><br /><em>Tomorrow</em><br /><em>So ya gotta hang on</em><br /><em>’Til Tomorow</em></p>
<p><br /> Director Cathy Randazzo-Olsen and artistic director Daniel Eilola were seeking a midsize dog, preferably sandy-colored — to match the character’s name. And — in keeping with Sandy’s personality — a loner, yet friendly.</p>
<p><br /> Randazzo-Olsen had the dogs’ owners demonstrate their pups’ aptitude to respond to a few hand signals that could be given offstage. And she tested them on their ability to respond to a voice command — “Come, Sandy” — because the dog needs to respond correctly when told by Annie to come to her.</p>
<p><br /> Reese Lores, 11, of Palm Beach Gardens, one of two youngsters slated to play Annie, tried out the verbal command with each dog. <br /> The first hopeful hound to audition went to Reese when called, then flopped at her feet for a belly rub. “She’s a people person and loves little girls,” her owner said. Clearly.</p>
<p><br /> Next, a Bedlington terrier named Cha Cha responded to Reese’s command to come to her but walked past her — twice. And while Cha Cha was cute as a lamb and resembled one, the 3-year-old had neither the size nor coloring of Sandy.</p>
<p><br /> The youngest candidate was Bailey, a 4½-month-old golden retriever owned by Randazzo-Olsen’s sister. Bailey was remarkably good at such a tender age, but would she be overwhelmed in a production with 20 adults and 17 children?</p>
<p><br /> Then there was Parker, a 2-year-old golden retriever. With his tail wagging like a high-speed windshield wiper, he was already demanding star treatment, parading around the rehearsal room expecting and receiving a pat from each person there. His Lake Worth agent — um, owner — Mike Gantner watched.</p>
<p><br /> After a couple of false starts, as well as brief foray out an open door to Lake Avenue — perhaps to sniff out paparazzi — Parker returned and came to Reese when she called him.</p>
<p><br /> “I think Parker probably had the most personality,” Randazzo-Olsen said afterward. “We’d really have to work with him. I think he is our best bet.”</p>
<p><br /> And so, Parker got the job.</p>
<p><br /> The original theatrical Sandy missed only 14 of 2,377 performances on Broadway in a nearly six-year run that ended in 1983, his owner and trainer told The New York Times. He was hours away from being euthanized at an animal shelter when he was rescued and found his calling as a performing pooch. He lived to age 16.</p>
<p><br /> Parker will have a far less arduous schedule if and when Annie is presented. Still it will be no walk in the dog park. With rehearsals and 15 actual performances during the play’s run — which had been planned for April 9-26 — he will be practicing and performing at the theater around 50 times, Randazzo-Olsen said.</p>
<p><br /> That’s fine with Reese, who seemed to like all the dogs and approved of Parker as a co-star. “He’s not too crazy,” she said. “And he’s not lazy.”</p>
<p><br /> As for those critters and their owners who didn’t make the cut: Well, there’s always Tomorrow.</p></div>Boynton Inlet: Post-storm dredging won’t close jettieshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boynton-inlet-post-storm-dredging-won-t-close-jetties2013-01-30T21:36:08.000Z2013-01-30T21:36:08.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Cheryl Blackerby</strong><br /><br />Dredging of Boynton Inlet, and some structural repairs due to damage from Hurricane Sandy, is scheduled to start in mid-February, but won’t affect public access.<br />“We had some minor damage in the sand transfer plant at the inlet,” said Dan Bates, deputy director of Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management. “We were able to get it back working pretty quickly. Some of the stainless steel railing got damaged, as well as some of the panels on the floor of the jetty.”<br />The concrete panels, which weigh 2,000 pounds each, were meant to move, and they worked as designed to relieve pressure during the storm. <br />Sandy dumped sand in the sand transfer plant but not in the inlet itself, Bates said. “A good amount of current kept it pretty clean. Every time we dredge the trap, we also dredge the channel and the Intracoastal Waterway.”<br />Beach-compatible sand from the dredging will go to Ocean Hammock Park. The sand that’s not compatible, mostly rock material, will go to an artificial reef adjacent to the sand trap, and the smaller pieces will be discharged into Half Moon Bay Hole, a deep hole in the Lake Worth Lagoon.<br />“It’s a pretty small-scale dredge, and won’t take long to do the work. We’re not closing the jetties. People will still be able to go there,” Bates said. <br />The total cost of the dredging and repairs is $2.5 million, paid for with grants from the Florida Inland Navigation District and by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the city of Boynton Beach and Palm Beach County. <br />Most of the work will be done by Palm Beach Marine through contractor Center Marine. The Boca Inlet needed no repairs from Sandy, just the usual removal done by the small dredge that works there all year, Bates said. <br /><br /></p></div>Shifting Sands: Regional beach planning proving a hard sellhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-regional-beach-planning-proving-a-hard-sell2013-01-02T19:00:00.000Z2013-01-02T19:00:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Tim O’Meilia</strong><br /> <br /> A proposed inlet-to-inlet approach to beach restoration and management will cost small coastal towns $4,000 to $19,000 a year with no promise that a beach protection project would be approved. <br /> The pilot project proposed by state environmental officials is the first of its kind in the state to take a regional approach to beach management rather than evaluate each individual project. It’s also designed to streamline the state and federal permitting.<br /> After meeting monthly since May with local town and Palm Beach County officials to craft an agreement, state officials will visit council meetings in February to seek approval of the basic five-year, 33-page agreement.<br /> “We’re 90 percent there, folks. We’re down to the fine-tuning,” Danielle Fondren, deputy director of the state water resource management division, told municipal officials, environmentalists and engineers at the final <br /> meeting Dec. 6 in Palm Beach. <br /> “This allows us to take the blinders off our eyes and take a longer look at beach management. We’re not looking narrowly, we’re looking regionally, more realistically,” she said.<br /> The contract would cover projects along the 15.7 miles of shoreline between the Lake Worth Inlet and the Boynton Inlet, and would require the coastal towns — Palm Beach, Lantana, South Palm Beach and Manalapan — to share in the annual cost of monitoring hard-bottom, sea turtle behavior and physical beach changes, including dunes. <br /> The monitoring is key to accelerating approval of projects because the basic information needed for state and federal permits would already be on hand. <br /> Three previously approved projects — all in the town of Palm Beach — would benefit most from the agreement, mostly from accelerated permitting. <br /> Two proposed projects — at the south end of Palm Beach and in South Palm Beach and Lantana — are in the middle of environmental impact studies after previous proposals to install breakwaters and groins were rejected over environmental concerns.<br /> The towns would pay for the annual monitoring regardless of whether a project is eventually approved for that town.<br /> Fondren proposed two assessment methods, one based on the percentage of shoreline and the other on the percentage of critically eroded beach, as established by regulatory agencies. <br /> State officials estimated the monitoring costs at $472,000 a year, not including about $50,000 more in the first year. Under either method, Palm Beach would pay the vast majority of the cost.<br /> While the costs to Lantana and Lake Worth would be similar, Manalapan would pay more than $80,000 based on shoreline alone but only $4,725 based on eroded beach. South Palm Beach would pay $5,670 under the shoreline method and $19,372 under the eroded beach version. <br /> “Is Manalapan likely ever to have a project? No,” Fondren said. “Are they going to have benefits? Yes.”<br /> Manalapan Town Manager Linda Stumpf said there is little reason for her town to sign. “We have no projects. We won’t have any projects,” she said. <br /> Only 12 one-hundredths of a mile of Manalapan’s shoreline is classified as critically eroded, all in front of the Ritz-Carlton resort. Stumpf said the resort’s management had no interest in footing the annual bill. <br /> Other officials acknowledged that the monitoring would benefit future projects. “I know the difficulty in getting permits. If this helps expedite permitting, it’s a good thing,” said South Palm Beach Councilwoman Bonnie Fischer. <br /> Lantana Town Manager Debbie Manzo said she would leave the decision to her council but recommend an annual cap of $5,000. <br /> If some towns refuse to sign the agreement, Fondren said, the project may be dead. <br /> “Right now, I consider it an all-or-nothing thing. If not everyone signs, then we lose the benefit of the regional approach,” she said. <br /> She said she hoped that Palm Beach County could be persuaded to pay a share of the monitoring. The county spends $42,000 a year on monitoring individual projects between the inlets now. <br /> The agreement has not gained the support of environmental groups. <br /> Dan Clark of Broward County-based Cry of the Water said too many questions remain, especially regarding turbidity monitoring while projects are under way. <br /> Fondren insisted that the regional approach is better. “None of the regulations have been compromised or weakened. In fact, they’re strengthened by the beach management agreement. We’re testing a wider area. We’re going beyond what we normally would require.” </p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960423068,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960423068,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="576" alt="7960423068?profile=original" /></a></p></div>Sunday, 10/28: Most Palm Beach County Beach Parks Still Closed to Swimminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/sunday-10-28-most-palm-beach-county-beach-parks-still-closed-to-s2012-10-28T15:56:35.000Z2012-10-28T15:56:35.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p align="center">Most Palm Beach County Beach Parks</p>
<p align="center">Still Closed to Swimming</p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">With the exception of Boca-South Inlet, all Palm Beach County ocean beaches remain closed to swimmers due to high surf and greater amounts of debris in water and deposited on shore. Crews are waiting for lower tide to begin debris removal and lifeguards are monitoring conditions and public access. Inland swimming locations (Dubois and Phil Foster Parks) are open.</font></p>
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">Stay tuned to local news outlets for the latest information. For instant access to emergency information, follow us on Twitter @PBCDEM and @PBCGOV, become a fan on Facebook, or visit</font> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pbcgov.com"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman" color="#0000FF">www.pbcgov.com</font></a><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">.</font></p></div>Most Palm Beach County Beach Parks Still Closed to Swimminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/most-palm-beach-county-beach-parks-still-closed-to-swimming2012-10-27T15:41:52.000Z2012-10-27T15:41:52.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p>Most Palm Beach County Beach Parks Still Closed to Swimming</p>
<p>With the exception of Boca-South Inlet, all Palm Beach County ocean beaches remain closed to swimmers due to wind gusts, high surf and debris in the water. PBC Ocean Rescue personnel will continue to monitor beaches and reopen them as conditions improve. Inland swimming locations (Dubois, Phil Foster and Peanut Island Parks) are open. Some of the ocean beaches may be opened following the next low tide at this afternoon. Stay tuned to local news outlets for the latest information. For instant access to emergency information, follow us on Twitter @PBCDEM and @PBCGOV, become a fan on Facebook, or visit <a href="http://www.pbcgov.com">www.pbcgov.com</a>.</p></div>Palm Beach County Closes All Beach Parks to Swimminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/palm-beach-county-closes-all-beach-parks-to-swimming2012-10-26T16:45:00.000Z2012-10-26T16:45:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p align="center">Palm Beach County Closes All</p>
<p align="center">Beach Parks to Swimming</p>
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<p>All Palm Beach County operated beaches have been closed to swimming due to large surf, big shore break, 50 mph gusts and a great deal of debris in the water. Other beaches controlled by municipalities may also be closed to swimming. The beaches will be flying double red flags to alert beachgoers. The beaches will be surveyed after the storm passes with the expectation that they will open Saturday morning.</p>
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<p>Stay tuned to local news outlets for the latest information. For instant access to emergency information, follow us on Twitter @PBCDEM and @PBCGOV, become a fan on Facebook, or visit <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pbcgov.com">www.pbcgov.com</a>. </p></div>