January 2012 Blog Posts (68)

Carrie Delafield is one of four coastal women coordinating fundraising for Impact 100 — an organization whose mission is to make a gift of $100,000 to one local non-profit organization each year.  Photo by Jerry Lower…

By Thom Smith

For three decades, Lou Tyrrell has generated hard-hitting drama in Palm Beach County, first with the Theatre Club of the Palm Beaches, then with the Pope Theatre and with The Florida Stage, until last June, when the curtain fell with a thud. The move to the Kravis Center from Plaza del Mar in Manalapan had looked promising … until the economy fell into…

By Tim O’Meilia

    

Briny Breezes has a new deputy town clerk — again.

Cindy Lou Corum, the assistant town clerk in Loxahatchee Groves for the past two years, was hired Dec. 20 by the Town Council as the town’s only employee. Well, not exactly employee. The town’s only independent contractor.

“I…

Ocean Ridge Police officials and Boynton Beach paramedics recently tried parking a fire truck and an EMS rescue vehicle in the garage behind town hall to confirm that the equipment would fit.  Since the garage was built when Ocean Ridge still provided its own fire protection,…

By Margie Plunkett



    Retirement, holiday and emergency-duty bonuses are now official policy for Ocean Ridge, formalized after years of tradition — and considerable current discussion.

    Two recently retired police officers became the first awarded bonuses under the policy.

Commissioners approved the policy and granted officers Doc Darville and Dan Tinfina retirement bonuses at their Dec. 5 meeting — but not before an extended discussion on cash vs. token gifts, bonus…

By Rich Pollack



    The city of Delray Beach now has a new high-tech weapon in its battle against trash-can overflow.

    For months, representatives from the Beach Property Owners’ Association have voiced concerns about trash spilling out of cans along State Road A1A on weekends, despite…

Delray Beach Fire-Rescue veteran Danielle Connor was named chief in December, following the resignation of David James effective Nov. 12 after extensive absences due to health issues.

Connor has been with the Delray Beach Fire-Rescue since 1993 and has been serving as chief during James’s absence, including…

By Steve Plunkett



    Gulf Stream town leaders have abandoned hope of recovering any property taxes that residents of the annexed pocket are paying Palm Beach County for services they no longer receive.

    At the town’s urging, County Commissioner Steven Abrams met with the county administrator, budget director and fire chief to get back some of the roughly $240,000 that pocket property owners paid for fire protection in fiscal 2011.

    “Unfortunately, county…

By Margie Plunkett



    Boston’s continuing restaurant renovation withstood a neighbor’s appeal before the City Commission, but not before the establishment gave up a planned outdoor lobster cooker.

Commissioners later required an additional conditional use approval be required before live…

    Once Lantana’s Ocean Avenue Bridge closes in March, island dwellers will be looking to other businesses and restaurants for some of the same services and foods. Some favorite Lantana spots will be worth the drive (of course) and many favorite restaurants and essential services can be found in Plaza del Mar in Manalapan, but for some foods and services residents will need to venture across either the Ocean Avenue bridge between Ocean Ridge and Boynton Beach, or the Lake Worth bridge.…

By Margie Plunkett

    

Despite years of budget scrimping, Lantana Council went on a spending spree in December, approving a $1.2 million waterfront land purchase and $38,735 in beach pavilion renovations.

    The bank-owned Intracoastal property to be acquired at 106-122 North Lake Drive was…

A group of sixth graders from Gulf Stream School, led by

Philipp Reutter (far right), came up with a novel idea to celebrate the holidays while also benefitting kids at the Achievement Centers for Children & Families in Delray Beach.  Each guest brought a present to a spaghetti dinner at Philipp’s home in…

By Tim O’Meilia

    

The future of the Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn — which pitted neighbor against neighbor and roiled South Palm Beach politics for four years — is now in the hands of a foreclosure judge.

    The owners of the two-story, 58-unit motel, restaurant and bar have been battling foreclosure since February when PNC Bank filed suit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court to collect on a $3.4 million loan.

    That didn’t prevent the owners, the Paloka family, from suing…

By Ron Hayes

    

GULF STREAM — On the wall of his New York study, the celebrated journalist Bill Moyers keeps signed photographs of the great men he has known — John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson.

    He also keeps a photograph of Robert Ford Schumann, a seasonal resident of…

Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway changed life in Southeast Florida. A century ago, it made its way over the waters of the Keys.

By Nancy Klingener



    As early as the 1830s — within the first decade of Key West’s settlement — town boosters…

By Tim O’Meilia

    

Out-of-towners traveling I-95 and headed for the Ritz-Carlton Resort in Manalapan or Grandma and Grandpa’s condo in South Palm Beach better have an updated GPS system.

    When the Ocean Avenue bridge is closed in March for replacement, visitors won’t learn that until they reach the U.S. 1 and Lantana Road intersection.  

    Even locals driving up or down U.S. 1 won’t know the bridge is out until they reach another sign at U.S. 1 and Ocean Avenue.…

Eleanor and Heath Larry stand beside their Bentley at the Ballentrae condominium in the late 1970s.

Photo provided

By Ron Hayes

        GULF STREAM — Heath and Eleanor Larry were married for 73…

By Steve Pike

    

You might say Tony Chate auvert owes his job to two things: A navy blue blazer and a box of crayons. The blazer goes back more than 25 years and the crayons go back less than one year.

    An explanation: As an aspiring golf professional, Chateauvert, PGA professional and manager of…

By Ron Hayes

    Would you spend a little time to give the past a future?

    In 1986, the Delray Beach Historical Society created a time capsule to mark the city’s Diamond Jubilee.

    Among other items, the capsule held a cassette tape from C. Spencer Pompey, a local civil rights activist and teacher; letters from former Police Chief Charles Kilgore, photos of area residents and a letter from Ruth Ann Kuehn to her infant nephew, Jared Charles Malke.

    To mark the city’s…

By Ron Hayes

    How many families does it take to sell a light bulb?

    In Boynton Beach, just one.

    But they have to sell it for 40 years.

    This year, Dale and Edris Hatch, their children, their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren will celebrate four decades as the owners…