06/24/2021 ISSUE 25

‘Home’ team works to prevent
COVID-related evictions. P19
Vero’s Rotary Club
toasts 95 years. P16
Will Elite Airways fly from

Vero to Asheville this summer? P10

GHO Homes takes For breaking news visit
over development
at The Strand Cleveland Clinic
still bedeviled by
BY STEVEN M. THOMAS phone problems
Staff Writer
MY PHOTO BY ROSS ROWLINSON BY MICHELLE GENZ
GHO Homes bought out VERO Staff Writer
mega-homebuilder Lennar’s
interest in The Strand subdi- Vero Council should say ‘No’ to pickleball at Riverside Cleveland Clinic Indian Riv-
vision this month, acquiring er has turned out to be a “long-
all the remaining lots in the BY RAY MCNULTY sioners voted 3-2 earlier cent to the repeated loud hauler” in its case of phone flu.
second-largest new home de- Staff Writer this month to recommend popping sounds of pickle-
velopment on the island. to the council that four of ball paddles hitting plastic It’s been more than eight
The Vero Beach City the city-owned complex’s 10 balls and the noisy chatter months since the hospital’s
“We closed on the lots a week Council should reject the tennis courts be converted that accompanies the game. physician practices were sud-
or two ago and just opened Recreation Commission’s to as many as 12 pickleball denly stricken with phone
for sales and we already have wrongheaded recommen- courts. Converting four courts to problems. At first, they were
many deals in the works,” said dation to destroy the River- pickleball would likely bring thought tied to the imple-
GHO president Bill Handler. “If side Park Tennis Complex. But the result would be a lawsuit from unhappy mentation of new electronic
you look back six weeks from the same: Nobody wants to neighbors, and end the city’s health records software, which
now, there will have been a lot Officially, the commis- play tennis on courts adja- placed additional demands
of action.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 on staff already stretched thin
by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Handler said his company
will be offering five models Now, the pandemic has
with base prices between eased. More people want
$1,175,990 and $1,315,990, check-ups again. They are
with 32 new homes available fighting cancer, or afraid of a
for purchase. heart attack, and calling for
a doctor’s appointment. But
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 many still can’t get through.

Man accused of killing CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
his estranged wife now
planning insanity plea Acupuncturist Jaynes
now selling LifeWave
BY LISA ZAHNER healing patches in N.C.
Staff Writer
BY LISA ZAHNER
Asbury Lee Perkins, charged Staff Writer
with first-degree murder for
shooting his estranged wife in Jill Jaynes, the Vero Beach
the South Barrier Island home acupuncturist convicted of
they once shared, hopes to insurance fraud of more than
convince a jury that a decade $100,000, has moved to North
of false accusations by victim Carolina and wants her court-
ordered travel restrictions and
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 probation ended early so she

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

June 24, 2021 Volume 16, Issue 25 Newsstand Price $1.00 At Hurricane Expo,
expert advice on
News 1-12 Editorial 28 People 13-21 TO ADVERTISE CALL being ready. P18
Arts 37-40 Games 31-33 Pets 22 772-559-4187
Books 30 Health 41-47 Real Estate 59-68
Dining 52-56 Insight 23-36 Style 48-51 FOR CIRCULATION
CALL 772-226-7925

© 2021 Vero Beach 32963 Media LLC. All rights reserved.

2 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Cleveland Clinic phones “Calling Vero Radiology is a NIGHT-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 MARE,” she wrote in her Facebook
post. Even after she went in person,
Last week, more than 150 frustrated she had to wait 30 minutes to talk to
patients responded to a post on social someone, she said.
media asking if people were continu-
ing to have problems reaching their Just last week, a patient needing a
Cleveland Clinic doctors. mammogram after lumps were found
in her breast waited a half-hour on
The question, posed by Vero Beach hold before finally hanging up.
32963 on a local Facebook group, re-
peated the claim of the hospital’s top “I can’t BELIEVE how neglectful that
executive, Dr. Greg Rosencrance, that is!” she wrote on Facebook. Eventu-
call center metrics show the situation ally the patient called a different de-
is improving. partment and left a message there.
Someone got in touch with the other
The fact that there were only 150 department and that person finally
complaints in the span of one day may called the patient back.
back Rosencrance up: There were 250
comments to a similar post in April. As with many of the commenters,
this patient found the real-life people
Either way, there clearly is an on- she dealt with to be “very kind and
going issue, with many of the posts accommodating.” But she wondered
referring to problems last month, last why Vero Radiology doesn’t have the
week, and even one from “yesterday.” kind of phone system where you opt
to get a call-back rather than wait in
The metrics showing improvement the hold queue. The concept is hardly
that Rosencrance provided appeared new.
to include only physician practices in
the hospital’s Wellness Center. “I didn’t want to interrupt the wrong
person’s workflow, but I felt I had no
In December, when appointment choice,” said the patient. She is now
calls for those doctors began be- looking for another imaging center.
ing routed to a call center in Weston, “Especially if I need more follow-up
Florida, some 70 percent of calls were for these lumps. This is frightening
answered, and 21 percent were “aban- enough without these roadblocks!”
doned” – people hanging up when
they got sick of waiting. By May, the Even doctors can’t sidestep the phone
“answered” rate was up to 84 percent, snags.
and 11 percent of calls were aban-
doned. One physician whose specialty
practice regularly requests records
Rosencrance said June numbers from Vero Radiology said hold times
showed even more improvement, with typically last 30 minutes, far longer
abandoned calls down to 5 percent. than normal.

But those numbers apparently did Still another patient spent more
not include primary care physicians’ than six hours on the phone over the
practices acquired in January when course of two days trying to schedule
Primary Care of the Treasure Coast a PET scan for her husband that was
merged with Cleveland Clinic. The needed as soon as possible.
metrics also didn’t include Vero Radi-
ology, now owned by Cleveland Clinic. Finally, she gave up on phones and
emailed “every person in a manage-
Vero Radiology, which has its own ment position at Vero Radiology,” she
schedulers and still uses its own elec- said. “That finally got a response, and
tronic health record software, was we got an appointment. It never used
mentioned frequently in the Facebook to be like this before Cleveland Clinic
posts as having intolerably long hold took over.”
times.
A former employee of Vero Radi-
The metrics also didn’t account for ology who retains close ties to man-
the significant number of patients agement there said the number of
complaining of not having voicemails schedulers is down while patient visits
returned, including for prescription are way up. Last Saturday, schedulers
refills. Their messages would have worked at overtime pay – a rare budget
been left with physicians’ offices, not authorization, the source said – “just
the call center. to try to regain traction and get their
heads above water.”
And the numbers couldn’t include
patients who since last fall have been “What is happening to patients and
driving to their doctors’ offices, so families at CC is a travesty and an em-
frustrated are they with the ongoing barrassment to the Vero Beach com-
phone issues. munity,” said Nick Liguori, a retired
GM employee from Ohio. “I have lived
One woman who ended up driving here 15 years and the last 12 months
over – twice – said she called Vero Ra- has been a complete nightmare deal-
diology multiple times over the course ing with CC.”
of three days, including once when she
put the phone on speaker and stayed Liguori finally switched to a non-
on the line two hours, and could not Cleveland Clinic urologist last month
get anyone to answer. after what he called a “nightmare”
communicating with his Cleveland

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 3

NEWS

Clinic-employed urologist. That in- Cunningham herself has fielded have one person who told me she’s been When you call a doctor’s office,
cluded trying to ask some questions dozens of complaints about Cleveland waiting for a callback from a doctor for the first option on the recorded mes-
about care after two procedures in Clinic phones from residents she runs four months. She ended up going to a sage asks if you’re calling in regard
March. He called it “an experience into in her social life. “I also continue non-Cleveland Clinic doctor.” to an appointment. Only in the sec-
never to be forgotten.” to get comments from people who are ond option are you asked if you want
actually in the hospital and it’s noth- Among the torrent of negative to speak “directly” with someone at
Another patient is similarly at the ing but praise [for Cleveland Clinic]. Facebook posts was a possible solu- your doctor’s office.
brink of changing doctors. She wrote tion. A poster had gotten a call-back
about her effort a month ago to book “They’ve been treated well and gotten from Cleveland Clinic explaining The message says to “please listen
an appointment with a Cleveland great care. But what I hear is that it’s just what could be at the root of some of carefully before making your selec-
Clinic dermatologist. “I ask for my impossible to get hold of somebody. I the problems.
dermatologist, get put in a loop for CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
the appointment department instead,
and no one answers that line either. If
I didn’t love my doctor, I would leave
in a heartbeat.”

One patient who was having trouble
getting responses to messages sent
via MyChart, the Epic patient portal,
called the hospital operator a week
ago and asked to speak to the patient
experience ombudsman. The line
went to voicemail, and she left a mes-
sage. So far, she has not been called
back, she said.

Had such problems occurred un-
der the management of Indian River
Medical Center, the elected board
of the Indian River County Hospital
District might have intervened. The
district, on behalf of county residents,
retained ownership of the hospital in
the transaction that named Cleveland
Clinic Florida tenants of the hospital
and all its facilities in January 2019.

But since the problems began last
October, the subject has not come
up in the monthly, publicly televised,
open-to-the-public Hospital District
meetings, held in County Commis-
sion chambers on the third Thursday
of every month.

Those meetings always include a
time for public comment. To date, no
one from the public has spoken up
about the phone issues, a fact that
baffles District Board Chairwoman
Marybeth Cunningham.

As to why the trustees themselves
haven’t brought up the problems,
Cunningham says the new lease is a
“more hands-off agreement” with the
district than the old Indian River Med-
ical Center had.

And it may be too painful to admit
that such a simple-sounding problem
can’t be solved by Cleveland Clinic. “We
want them to succeed so badly,” she
said. “We really don’t want to talk nega-
tively about them in a public meeting.
That’s probably the honest truth.”

Cunningham, an ex-officio mem-
ber of the hospital board, said she
and the hospital’s chairman of the
board, Wayne Hockmeyer, who sold
his home here last summer, have
been holding joint telephone calls
with Rosencrance every three weeks
since March specifically to discuss the
phone issues.

“I have reached the level of, ‘Guys,
this is crazy.’ That’s how I feel,” Cun-
ningham said.

4 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Cleveland Clinic phones “We have increased our call cen-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 ter staffing by 38 percent between
March and June,” the hospital said
tion.” But it does not say to listen to all in its statement. “We have also en-
the options first. gaged a third-party vendor to assist
as necessary on days with high call
Furthermore, the Cleveland Clinic volumes.”
Indian River website still has numbers
that are not active – including the hot- “Optimizing our call center is a pro-
line established to help people unable cess and we have made progress,” read
to get through to their doctors. Anoth- a quote attributed to Rosencrance in
er number on the Indian River website, the same statement.
reached after hours, directs you to call
another number in Broward County. “At the same time, we know that
there has been dissatisfaction with pa-
The phone problems seemed to tients who have had challenges con-
start last fall when hospital adminis- necting with us. We recognize that and
trators decided to go forward with a have teams working every day to make
planned installation of new electronic connecting with our call center and
health records software on the out-pa- physician offices more efficient and
tient, or ambulatory, side of the hospi- user friendly. Improving this process is
tal system. one of our highest priorities at Indian
River Hospital.”
The $15 million system that would
allow the hospital to integrate with At the same time, several doctors
the entire Cleveland Clinic system in- leaving the hospital to retire or set up
cluded the practices of all the doctors private practices cited the hospital’s
employed by Cleveland Clinic who had phone foul-ups for adding to their
offices outside of the hospital itself. stress and infuriating patients, even
Hospital-owned urgent care clinics though the problems were beyond the
and satellite offices were also included. physicians’ control.

Along with $2.1 million in IT up- Last weekend, management au-
grades, the launch of the EHR soft- thorized overtime pay for schedulers
ware, called Epic, required intensive at Vero Radiology to try to catch up
training that left fewer staff members with a backlog of calls, an attempt to
available to answer phones. When the “regain traction” lost over the past few
system went live on Sept. 15 the situa- months, said one former longtime
tion got worse. employee who maintains close ties to
management there.
With people trying to catch up on ap-
pointments and others still concerned Those efforts may not always be
about COVID-19 flooding the phone well received.
lines, patients found themselves dan-
gling on endless holds. Calls would sud- One patient was floored to get a call
denly drop. Messages weren’t returned. from a scheduler last week for a test
ordered in March by a Cleveland Clin-
One nurse in the Wellness Center ic doctor. “Ridiculous!!” the patient
who has since left Cleveland Clinic
said calls for appointments were being exclaimed. 
routed to nurses and medical assis-
tants who normally work with charts Jill Jaynes
and patients in the exam room area,
not anywhere near the front office CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
staff where calls used to be handled.
can expand her new business selling
People who had barely left their pricey healing patches through a mul-
homes since lockdown began driving tilevel marketing company called Life-
in person to the offices to make their Wave.
appointments.
Court records show Jaynes was ar-
In mid-December, a new wrinkle rested in August 2018 after a lengthy
appeared in the problems: The first investigation found evidence to charge
COVID-19 vaccine became available. her for filing false insurance claims
With cases beginning to spike for the from 2013 to 2016 for acupuncture
third time, even more calls poured treatments for patients, many of whom
into the hospital’s phone lines, adding were county employees on the county
to the chaos. health insurance plan.

By March, with vaccine scheduling Jaynes was ordered by the court not
mostly in the hands of the Health De- to treat clients at her clinic, Absolute
partment and Treasure Coast Commu- Integrated Medicine on Indian River
nity Health, call volumes dropped, the Boulevard, and she gave up her license
hospital said in a statement Monday. to practice acupuncture in September
2020, according to court records.
But phone problems were still oc-
curring. In late March, Rosencrance According to State Attorney Tom
decided to double down on the call Bakkedahl’s office and online court
center concept, adding 20 people to records, Jaynes has paid from the pro-
answer the phones. And there may ceeds of the sale of her Sebastian home
have been more added since then. $56,000 of the total she was ordered to

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 5

NEWS

pay to her victims, a “payoff” amount court for her first-degree felony crime. In sentencing satisfies the community uled a hearing on Jaynes’ motion, which
given to the court by her primary vic- addition to the restitution, Jaynes was control portion of her sentence. The she filed herself as a pro se defendant.
tim, the Indian River Board of County sentenced to two years of community next phase would be work-only travel
Commissioners. control plus three years of probation. restrictions outside the home for one “Defendant has furthered her edu-
year, followed by standard probation cation within the holistic healing com-
A satisfaction of judgment was filed, Jaynes claims that the combination for the final two years. munity by taking online classes and
but it’s uncertain if that payoff deal will of restrictions before her trial plus two becoming an independent distributor
lead to the early end of Jaynes’ duty to the months of community control after Judge Dan Vaughn has not yet sched-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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6 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Jill Jaynes ing himself in preparation of an expect- In June 2004, Perkins alleges that GHO takes over Strand
ed trial later this summer, submitted a Betts and her father lied when Boca CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 31-page motion to Judge Dan Vaughn Raton police were called to a domestic
requesting permission to use “reverse disturbance where Perkins was taken The 36-acre Strand site north of Palm
with LifeWave and holding down a job Williams rule” evidence at trial. to the hospital for eight staples in his Island Plantation in Indian River Shores
in North Carolina as a home care pro- scalp. Perkins says he was painted as was purchased for $5 million in 2017
vider,” her motion states. Reverse Williams rule evidence per- the aggressor, but that Betts and her by the Patten Company, a national real
mits the defense to tell the jury about father later signed sworn affidavits estate development firm with offices in
LifeWave sells pricey alternative previous crimes with the aim of prov- that they falsified information. Naples and Boca Raton.
medicine patches intended to treat ing the defendant’s innocence by
various ailments. For example, a pack- showing another person’s guilt. Then in February 2009, Betts ac- Patten got a site plan approved by
age of 39 LifeWave X39 patches are cused Perkins of hitting her twice out- the Shores in 2018 and installed roads,
currently on sale for $449.50. The com- Along with the motion, Perkins pro- side their place of business in Broward sewers, water features and other in-
pany claims the patches are “designed vided police reports and court docu- County. But she later recanted, saying frastructure, creating 47 single-family
to elevate a peptide known to enhance ments from three different Florida she called police only because she home lots and 21 townhome lots. The
stem cell activity. Supports relief of mi- counties alleging that Betts repeatedly wanted to get some products out of the townhome section is in front, vis-
nor aches and pains. More energy and falsified statements to get Perkins ar- business, and he would not let her. The ible from A1A, and the single-family
better sleep. Supports natural wound rested, then later recanted. charges were dismissed, Perkins said. section extends west from the town-
healing process and maintains healthy homes to the Jungle Trail along the In-
inflammatory response.” The cumulative effect of this, Per- Next in April 2011, Perkins points to dian River Lagoon.
kins says, contributed to his temporar- a welfare check called in to the Indian
LifeWave is a global company that ily insane mental state at the time he River County Sheriff’s Office by Betts Handler bought three of the single-
touts its training seminars as a valu- entered the home on Seagrape Drive to find Perkins, who she suspected family lots before Lennar swooped in
able part of the program, meaning and killed Betts in November 2014. was staying at the Costa d’Este hotel. and bought the other 44, giving him a
Jaynes would need to travel outside her presence in the subdivision.
new home in North Carolina. Being off That November, when Betts’ father The officer called Vero for assistance
could not reach her, he asked the In- since the hotel is in the city, and then Lennar was slow to get going on the
probation would make that easier.  dian River County Sheriff’s Office to wrote in his report, “While waiting for a project and had only sold seven or
perform a welfare check. Deputies response back from Vero Beach Police eight houses before turning the proj-
Perkins found Perkins in the home, with open Department, the complainant Cynthia ect over to GHO.
bottles of liquor and a gun, and they Betts said she had a life insurance pol-
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 found Betts’ body rolled up in a rug in icy on her ex-husband Asbury Perkins, Lennar executives declined to com-
the utility room. and she wanted to know how long her ment when asked why they off-loaded
Cynthia Betts caused him to snap and ex-husband had to be missing before a ready-to-go subdivision in a phe-
kill her. The night Betts died seems to be the they would pay out on the policy.” nomenal island location in a sizzling
culmination of more than a decade’s hot housing market where inventory
Perkins, 63, who has been represent- very troubled relationship, and Per- Those are just three of the seven is historically low and buyers excep-
kins wants to show that the blame is run-ins with police that Perkins wants tionally abundant.
not all his. admitted as evidence at trial, in sup-
port of his temporary insanity defense. “I won’t speculate,” said Handler
A STEADY HAND IN TURBULENT TIMES when asked about Lennar’s decision.
Over a Century of Combined Expertise Perkins attached to his motion 24 For his part, he said the purchase made
pages of court documents and police sense for GHO Homes.
Uncertainty calls for a disciplined approach to managing your financial future. reports detailing more than a decade
We’ve spent decades providing professional advice to Vero Beach families. of the troubled relationship, circling “We’re always looking for opportu-
Let’s have a conversation. by hand all the instances of admitted nities. We were already in there with
false statements and strange behavior those first three lots and we had sold
Investment Management • Trust & Estate Services • Financial Strategies by Betts. two homes. I’ve stayed in contact with
Lennar and the developer, and we end-
Barbara E. Magee, Charlene Padgett Tucker, Sue M. Tompkins, Another bizarre aspect to the case ed up getting all the remaining lots.”
Alexander S. Batt and Thomas J. Rollando is that Perkins very much wants his
brother William Perkins to testify at GHO will build 3-bedroom-plus-
772.494.7660 l 3055 Cardinal Dr, Suite 305, Vero Beach, FL 32963 trial for the defense, but it appears den, 3.5-bath homes that range from
www.warrencapitalmanagement.com William does not want to be found. about 2,700 square feet to 3,000 square
feet. Homes will come with “many up-
Investment products and services are offered through Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (WFAFN), Local officials in Polk County where graded features, including swimming
Member SIPC. Warren Capital Management is a separate entity from WFAFN. he lives have tried repeatedly to serve pools,” according to Handler.
him with a summons to be deposed
but have not succeeded. The court In the current island market, it is
may issue a warrant to bring him in to easy to imagine the subdivision sell-
be deposed, but according to the State ing out in a flash, but Handler said his
Attorney’s Office, Perkins’ brother has build capacity will limit to some degree
not yet been taken into custody. the number of contracts he writes in
coming months. GHO has numerous
Assistant State Attorney Chris Tay- other subdivisions underway and with
lor said the State Attorney’s Office is material and labor shortages hamper-
assisting Perkins with gathering peo- ing the housing industry, the company
ple he wants to depose, since the de- can only build so many homes at once.
fendant is preparing his defense from
a cell at the Indian River County Jail. “We don’t want to make a commit-
ment to someone that we can’t keep,”
During the years since he was ar- Handler said.
rested, Perkins has dismissed several
attorneys who were trying to defend Meanwhile, construction and sales
him, or to help him defend himself. are moving forward at the Seabreeze
Cottages at the Strand.
With regard to the reverse Wil-
liams rule evidence, Taylor said Judge The 21 townhome lots were put un-
Vaughn will rule on the admissibil- der contract for purchase from Patten
ity of those documents at trial, which in 2018 and are owned by developer
may be set for later this summer or Joseph J. Rauenhorst. Construction

this fall.  CONTINUED ON PAGE 8



8 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

GHO takes over Strand “It’s a big concern,” Fish Foundation
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 Executive Director Lynn Southerly said
of the potential impact on her organiza-
began in 2019 and the fourth of five tion’s plan to raise money to renovate,
multi-unit buildings is nearing com- expand and beautify the hard-court
pletion. complex, which it hopes to use for tour-
naments, exhibitions and other fund-
The Key West-style luxury town- raisers, as well as for its youth programs.
houses are co-listed by the O’Dare/
Boga Group and Luke Webb at Premier The Fish Foundation’s plan – which
Estate Properties with prices starting at includes construction of a clubhouse
$1,095,000. and natural amphitheater that would
serve as a small stadium court, as well
Three of the units have been sold as refurbishing the courts and land-
and another eight are under contract, scaping the surrounding property –
according to Phil Sunkel, onsite agent was first presented to the city last year.
for the O’Dare/Boga Group.
The foundation used a $30,000 grant
The four-unit buildings have single- from the United States Tennis Associa-
story cottages on the ends and two- tion to fund a site plan, artist rendering
story homes in the middle. Sunkel said and cost estimates for the project.
the one-story “Hemingway” units have
been most sought after by buyers. They The foundation, a charitable organi-
have 2,335 square feet of air-conditioned zation founded in 2007 by former top-
living space, with 2,879 square feet un- 10 tennis player and current U.S. Davis
der roof, and include 3 bedrooms, 3 Cup Captain Mardy Fish, began seek-
baths, 2-car garages, and a long list of ing donors for the $5.7 million project
high-end features and finishes. The two- earlier this year.
story “Audubon” units encompass 3,078
feet of air-conditioned space with 4,121 For those who don’t know: Fish
square feet under roof. They include 3 learned to play and launched his career
bedrooms and 3.5 baths and come with on the Riverside Park courts, where he
the same slate of luxury finishes, includ- was taught by his father, Tom, the long-
ing shellstone floors, quartz countertops time tennis director at Windsor.
and Miele appliances.
And according to the foundation’s
Something about the style, ambi- pitch to the city, the tennis complex
ance or location of the townhouse de- would be open to the public when its
velopment is attracting a younger de- facilities aren’t being used for the or-
mographic, with buyers ranging from ganization’s activities.
33 years old to mid-60s, according to
Sunkel. But you can’t conduct a professional
tennis tournament – such as the foun-
Low HOA fees – just $330 a month dation’s wildly successful men’s event,
– are another draw, along with private which has been held in Vero Beach ev-
beach access a few steps away on the ery spring since the mid-1990s – with
east side of A1A. pickleball being played only a few feet
away.
Buyers are coming from the North-
east, the Midwest and other parts of The same is true for high school tennis
Florida, including a strong contingent matches. Pickleball courts could prompt
from Naples. St. Edward’s to end its agreement with
the city, which allows the Pirates to use
Richard Boga said construction on Riverside’s courts in exchange for the
the fifth building, which will include Recreation Department’s use of school’s
five units, will get underway, “as soon campus for its summer camps.
as we close a few more sales.”
St. Edward’s uses all 10 courts for its
“Those units will be released within matches.
the next six months,” said Sunkel, add-
ing that prices for the final phase homes Then there’s this: It’s difficult to
imagine deep-pocketed donors giving
will be higher, starting at $1.2 million.  sizable sums of money to enhance a
tennis complex where noisy pickleball
My Vero courts create a daily distraction and,
potentially, ignite clashes between
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 tennis and pickleball players.

mutually beneficial arrangement with While pickleball might resemble a
St. Edward’s tennis program – which miniature version of tennis, the two
practices and plays matches at the games simply are not compatible, and
tennis center. their courts belong nowhere near each
other.
Worst of all, it would kill any realis-
tic chance the Mardy Fish Children’s In fact, pickleball probably doesn’t
Foundation would push forward with belong any place at Riverside, where
its proposal to give the aging facility the noise not only would aggravate
a facelift and transform it into some- tennis players but also rattle the tran-
thing special – a first-rate tennis cen- quility of the city’s picturesque, wa-
ter worthy of our island community. terfront park, where many people en-
joy peaceful strolls along the shaded
walking trails each day.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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10 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

My Vero is nothing wrong with pickleball. It is
a good way to get exercise and a lot of
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 people love to play.

Converting those tennis courts for But more than 75 percent of Pickle-
pickleball also could land the city in a ball University’s members live outside
different type of court, as the loud pops the city, and there are plenty of other
and shouts that accompany the sport locations in the county where addi-
would be an unwanted irritant for resi- tional courts could be built. Yet three
dents in the quiet, Central Beach neigh- City Recreation Commission mem-
borhood across Mockingbird Drive. bers, including chairperson Brooke
Malone, didn’t seem to care.
Nathan Polackwich, who lives three
houses from the park on Iris Lane, all The City Council needs to.
but promised neighborhood residents Southerly and other Fish Founda-
would file a lawsuit. tion leaders met last week to discuss
the ramifications of the commission’s
Another neighborhood resident who recommendation. She said the foun-
addressed the commission also warned dation’s board of directors was expect-
of the increased danger to pedestrians ed to consider the matter this week.
created by the additional traffic – 12 pick- The board should vehemently op-
leball courts can accommodate 48 play- pose the recommendation and delay
ers at one time – and the likelihood of any further action on its Riverside Park
more drivers cutting through their streets. plan to give the City Council a chance
to do what’s right – and tell the Recre-
Pickleball University, the group ation Commission pickleball courts at
pushing the court conversion plan, is
a fine organization and there certainly Riverside are wrong. 

Not clear whether Elite will fly between
Vero Beach and Asheville this summer

BY RAY MCNULTY The airline continues to offer service be-
tween Vero Beach and Newark on Mon-
Staff Writer days and Fridays, along with Thursday
flights to and from Portland, Maine.
Island residents hoping to hop on
a convenient Elite Airways flight from Seasonal service connecting Vero
Vero Beach Regional Airport to Asheville Beach and Asheville began in May 2017,
when they head north to the cool Caro- with flights scheduled on Thursdays
lina mountains this summer may have and Sundays, which Pearsall said was
to make other travel arrangements. “ideal for vacationers headed in either
direction.”
As of Monday, Elite’s website listed
no flights connecting Vero Beach to The airline suspended all commer-
Asheville in coming months. cial passenger service in March 2020
because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Judging by our numbers, the Ashe- It resumed flights from Vero to Newark
ville flights have been very popular with and Portland two months later, but the
travelers here,” Vero Beach Airport Di- planned summer service between Vero
rector Todd Scher said last week. “But Beach and Asheville was canceled.
Elite hasn’t told us they plan to fly there
this summer – and there’s nothing on Scher said his only recent conver-
their schedule through September – so sation with Elite representatives was
unless I hear otherwise, I’m guessing a month ago, when they wanted to
they’re not going to do it.” know what he was hearing about local
interest in other markets the airline
But there is still a chance the pop- should consider.
ular service will resume, according
to Elite President John Pearsall, who He said it’s unlikely the scheduled re-
said last week the airline was “strongly surfacing of the airport’s longest runway
considering” resuming the seasonal – the one used by Elite’s jets – will impact
flights, possibly as soon as early July. the airline’s decision regarding Ashe-
ville, because the project won’t begin
“It’s early [in the season], and we’re until October, which is after those flights
still looking at it,” Pearsall said. “We would normally have wound down.
should have a decision in the next cou-
ple of weeks.” Pearsall said Elite will continue its
regular commercial service connect-
Elite began offering passenger jet ing Vero Beach to Newark and Portland
service from Vero Beach in Decem- through Sept. 6. Those flights then will
ber 2015, becoming the first carrier to be moved to Melbourne for six months
provide commercial flights here since to accommodate the runway project.
American Eagle in the 1990s. The initial
flights were to and from Newark Liber- Elite’s service will return toVero Beach
ty International Airport in New Jersey.
when the project is completed. 





Tara Wright with Jean and Bill Borduin.

BUGGY BUNCH FAMILY CENTER
OPENING IS MOM-UMENTAL OCCASION!

14 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Buggy Bunch Family Center opening is mom-umental occasion!

Sam and Kristin Schultz. Tara Wright and state Rep. Erin Grall. PHOTOS: KAILA JONES Calista Milliman and Erin Refsland.

Terry Schlitt, Sue Carter, Richard Schlitt and Rebecca Schlitt. Rick Lombardo, Kristi White and Alyse Simons.

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF once they met at local churches, all grams and services,” added Wright. A nature-themed Learning Loft en-
Staff Writer activities will be housed at the Vero During a ribbon-cutting ceremony, gages children ages 3 and up with its
Beach facility except for Fellsmere bridge, tunnel, loft, reading corner,
With the opening of their new Bug- programs, which will continue at the Wright noted that the Family Cen- grocery store, LEGO wall and play
gy Bunch Family Center, the Chris- Fellsmere Community Bible Church. ter was “6,000 square feet of hope. A area. Across the hall, a Learning Lab
tian-based nonprofit has breathed place for transformation and support for children from infancy to age 3 is
new life into the former Vero Furni- Through determination and hard and community.” home to an interactive station and an
ture Mart building at the corner of work, the Buggy Bunch raised enough infant ball pit.
21st Street and 15th Avenue. To cel- money to purchase the building in Before cutting the ribbon, State
ebrate the occasion, they recently 2017, and during ensuing years raised Rep. Erin Grall told the invited Trained childcare workers super-
hosted a donor party and a commu- additional funds for the renovations, guests: “This is the time where some- vise the children’s areas so moms can
nity open house. enabling them to open the Family times it feels like families get margin- focus on the programs they wish to at-
Center debt-free. alized and they’re not supported, and tend.
According to their website, the they’re not held up as the backbone
goal of the Family Center is for it to Tara Wright, Buggy Bunch execu- of our country, of this civilization, The building also houses a multi-
be “a one-stop resource for moms tive director, explained that the or- and we know that they are. You show purpose room with remote meeting
and their families to receive free pro- ganization began in 2009 with “four what communities can do. The gov- capabilities and a community room
gramming and services to support moms pushing strollers over a bridge ernment doesn’t have to get involved. for parenting seminars, bible studies,
their physical, mental and spiritual for friendship and fitness. They This is what community can do when marriage seminars and summer mov-
health where they can expand the quickly realized the need and the in- they come together and support each ie days. The Diaper Haven is available
number of families served.” terest of other moms to connect and other, and that’s really what makes for mothers living at or below the pov-
support one another, while building for a better state.” erty level who need help with diapers,
The organization offers educa- their relationship with Christ.” wipes and formula. Leaving room for
tional playgroups, faith develop- A tour of the facility begins off the growth, a 4,000-square-foot second-
ment, mentoring, family outings, Fast forward to 2021, and “here we front lobby, where mothers can park floor balcony was left undeveloped.
fitness and nutrition, social outings, are. The Buggy Bunch has now grown their strollers near an impressive do-
marriage enrichment, food support, into a thriving nonprofit organiza- nor wall and grab a cup of java at the For information about programs,
speakers, and a Diaper Haven. Where tion serving thousands of clients over coffee bar, before heading in for pro- classes and fundraisers, visit thebuggy-
the last decade through various pro- grams and playgroups. bunch.com. 

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 15

PEOPLE

Donna Wood and Christa Goldsmith. Sandy Brackett and Sue Dean. Jen Graves with Danielle and Ryan McLean.

Cyndy Hazlewood and Helen Crockett.

Lisa Todd and Teresa Pastor.
Nadine Boltz and Jarrod Jenkins.

16 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Vero’s Rotary Club toasts 95 years of selfless service

Daniel Fourmont, George Blythe and Dan Stump. PHOTOS: KAILA JONES Mike Kanuka with Gail and Scott Alexander.

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF Ophelia (“Opey”) Angelone, cur- are the members of this club,” said Kitchen. The club has also been ac-
Staff Writer rent club president, shared a little Angelone. tive in the Homestay program, one of
about the history of the nonprofit, Rotary’s international service proj-
The Rotary Club of Vero Beach re- from its formation in 1926 with just She noted that in recent years, the ects.
cently celebrated its 95th anniver- 19 male members, through to the club funded various community
sary with a barbecue at Walking Tree achievements of more recent months, projects, established a vocational During the evening of camarade-
Brewery, where members gathered to even while facing with the challenges program at Indian River State Col- rie, the Rotary Club of Vero Beach
reminisce about nearly a century’s of the coronavirus pandemic. lege and posted signs throughout the presented $950, representing its 95
worth of accomplishments in Vero county to promote Indian River La- years of service to the community, to
Beach and abroad. “All the things we have contributed goon water quality. The Source to help fund its Dignity
to in town, it’s pretty impressive, as Bus program.
Congratulating Angelone on a job
well done, Daniel Fourmont, a Rotar- Through four Avenues of Service
ian for more than 20 years, said that -- Community Service, Vocational
her tenure under COVID should be Service, International Service and
counted as two years. Club Service -- Rotary clubs strive
to improve the quality of life in their
“Opey is the second woman presi- community, represent the vocations
dent in our club,” he said. “The club’s of its members, advance internation-
first woman president was [Vero al goodwill and peace, and perform
Beach 32963’s own] Samantha Baita.” whatever tasks are needed to make
their club function successfully.
Fourmont went on to highlight
some of the more notable achieve- In addition to meeting these Av-
ments of the Rotary Club of Vero enues of Service and leaving “things
Beach, the oldest of the five clubs in better than we found them,” the club
this county, over its tenure. lives by the Rotary International
motto of ‘Service Above Self.’”
Among them, the club was instru-
mental in the establishment of Dol- The Rotary Club of Vero Beach meets
lars for Scholars in 1964, now known Thursdays at noon at the Vero Beach
as the Scholarship Foundation of Yacht Club. For more information, visit
Indian River County, and the devel- rotaryofverobeach.com. 
opment of Our Father’s Table Soup

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 17

PEOPLE

Andrea Barkett and Tiffany Buckels. Eileen Quimby and Eva Houlihan. Ophelia Angelone and Brenda Bradley.

Elaine Jones and Arthur Hodge. Kim Ligon and Kitty Kennedy. Sabrina Misiaszek and George Cooper.

Kathryn Barton and Marty Lewis with John and Tracy Carroll.

Bob Houlihan, Maureen Archer and J.R. Gonzalez.

18 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Prep talk: At Hurricane Expo, expert advice on being ready

Vanessa Brooks, Lexi Nichols and Rachel Ivey. Don Chambers, Sandy O’Neil and Scott Davis. PHOTOS: KAILA JONES Mike Monk, Brian Konefal, Benjamin Dessart and Edward Buck.

BY MARY SCHENKEL neighbors,” said Marion Metakes.
“One of the big things we do is our
Staff Writer
radio system,” added Robert Homdal.
Since 2004, when Frances and He explained that, ideally, represen-
Jeanne paid an unwelcome visit to our
shores, Vero Beach has mostly been tatives from each neighborhood call
spared the mighty wrath of hurricanes, in to the emergency response center,
complacency being the only downside. where police, fire-rescue and other
emergency management personnel
“Prepare before,” advised Rachel are situated.
Ivey, an emergency management plan-
ner with Indian River County Emer- “And then they decide which neigh-
gency Management, at the 17th annual borhood needs to be responded to
Hurricane Expo at and presented by first, which is extremely important.
the Indian River Mall. “Prepare now It saves a lot of time,” said Homdal.
while it’s blue skies and you have plen- “That’s key.”
ty of time and you can do it gradually,
versus all of a sudden a storm’s here, Carm Miranda, CERT program man-
and there’s no resources because ev- ager, explained that they solicit volun-
eryone is running out to go buy them.” teers through expos, public events and
networking.
Emergency Management was one
of the many nonprofits and govern- “Additionally, one of our claims to
mental organizations, along with fame in 2020 is we helped The Source
hurricane-related vendors, who were deliver 10,000 meals to residents here
on hand to provide vital information in Indian River County who were shel-
about these unwelcome visitors. tered in place in April and May of last
year during COVID-19,” said Miranda.
Officially, hurricane season runs
June 1 through Nov. 30. However, Sgt. Linda Nolan of the Indian River
with storms forming each May over County Sheriff’s Department’s Com-
the past six years, the National Hurri- munity Affairs Unit was giving out
cane Center began forecasting Atlan- magnets with their non-emergency
tic basin storms on May 15 this year, number, and encouraging people to
which coincides with the start of the download the Aware and Prepare In-
Pacific season. dian River app on their phones.

“We’re making sure people have in- “Aware and Prepare Indian River
formation about preparing for the hur- provides information about evacua-
ricane season,” said Ivey. tion routes, shelters and storm infor-
mation,” Nolan explained.
“When there’s an actual storm and
we have an evacuation, we work with A comprehensive Official Disaster
a lot of these nonprofits and non-gov- Preparedness Guide for Indian River
ernmental entities. We all come to- County, State Emergency Response
gether as one team.” Team hurricane information, and hur-
ricane tracking maps were also hand-
The Community Emergency Re- ed out.
sponse Team (CERT), a FEMA spon-
sored, volunteer-led group, is part of For more information:
that operation. • T he IRC Disaster Guide can be

Known as “ambassadors of pre- downloaded at irces.com.
paredness,” potential volunteers (age • S ubscribe to IRC emergency
18 and older) are invited to take a free,
three-week course in emergency pre- alerts at alertindianriver.com
paredness and response. • S ubscribe to the Aware and Pre-

“We teach you how to prepare your pare app on the Apple Store or
house and your family for an emer- Google Play.
gency, what to do during an emergency • C reate an online Family Disas-
and afterwards, and how to help your ter Plan at Floridadisaster.org
• To register for CERT training,
email certofindianrivercounty@
gmail.com. 

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 19

PEOPLE

‘Home’ team works to prevent COVID-related evictions

BY MARY SCHENKEL sponse Team (HEART) Program. in other parts of the country and who she knew as the lead housing
Attorney Erin Harrigan has recent- shared the concept with her JICSL judge in the county, and had a se-
Staff Writer ly replaced Mosley, who is moving “brain trust.” ries of conversations with her. Menz
to Palm Beach County to head the thought it was a terrific idea,” Kend-
John’s Island Community Service FRLS office there. “I mean, I just don’t think it was all explained.
League members recently triggered on anybody’s mind. It was an idea
a collaborative effort to establish Ellen Kendall, a JICSL board that we hatched; nobody really had “Lisa also reached out to Paul
an Eviction Prevention and Diver- member, said that they learned the time to deal with it,” said Kend- Amos, immediate past president of
sion Mediation Program, which has about the growing number of evic- all. In February, they hired local at- the Bar Association in Indian River
a goal of keeping tenants in their tion cases through their relation- torney Lisa Kahle through FRLS to County. His role is to get pro bono
homes and preventing COVID- ship with Mosley. Kendall had read develop the mediation program.
19-related evictions by adequately about similar mediation programs PHOTO & STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
compensating landlords for unpaid “Lisa reached out to Judge Menz,
rent.

“The program was initiated in an
effort to avoid the flood of evictions
that we are expecting once the fed-
eral government lifts the morato-
rium prohibiting evictions for the
non-payment of rent (currently set
to expire June 30). Through the pro-
gram we anticipate that we will be
able to provide financial relief to
landlords, while at the same time
keeping tenants in their current
homes,” said County Court Judge
Nicole Menz, who already has some
150 eviction cases waiting to be
prosecuted.

“The program would not have
been possible without the support
and collaboration of the Clerk of
Court, Board of County Commis-
sioners, John’s Island Community
Service League, Florida Rural Le-
gal Services and the Indian River
County Bar Association. This is a
great example of what can be ac-
complished for the citizens of In-
dian River County when we all work
toward a common goal,” added
Menz.

This latest program is one of sev-
eral initiatives prompted by the
John’s Island Community Service
League. When residents began los-
ing their jobs due to the shutdown
last March, JICSL shifted the focus
of its Affordable Housing Task Force
committee, which was looking
for ways to address the lack of af-
fordable housing for lower-income
workers. Recognizing that many
of those same workers would be
among the first to lose their jobs,
and likely their residences, they do-
nated $250,000 to the United Way
COVID-19 Fund to help people meet
basic needs, including rent.

The JICSL next provided $150,000
to fund a first-ever, dedicated le-
gal aid attorney, Iola Mosley, at the
Florida Rural Legal Services to as-
sist residents faced with evictions
and mortgage foreclosures through
another collaborative effort, the
Housing Emergency Advocacy Re-

20 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

STORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19 Kendall explained that

attorney volunteers to sign up for they wanted the dollar
this program and to train them to
work as mediators, representing amount to be attractive
both the landlord and a tenant in a
mediation.” enough that landlords,

Kendall said that Jason Brown, who have been paying
county administrator, initially gave
approval for up to $7,500 per land- utilities and possibly
lord/tenant case, allocating $2 mil-
lion from the CARES Act funding mortgages, would want
the county received last year.
to mediate rather than
When Judge Menz and Amos
spoke at the June 8 County Com- evict, which would only
mission meeting, they requested a
higher case cap. add to the county’s grow-

“Because if you think about the ing homeless population.
fact that, as Judge Menz said in her
presentation, the average rent is “The word is that a lot
about $1,200 a month, and if your
rent is backed up by 12 months, it’s of these landlords really
$14,400,” said Kendall, adding that
the program was very well received want to sell their build-
by the commissioners.
ings, because the real es-
“So, ultimately, at the county
commissioners meeting they agreed tate market is so red-hot
to raise the cap to $10,500 per case,
and that’s on top of the $4,500 that right now,” said Kendall.
was already available for tenants
who needed it for rent support last Their hope is that the
year,” said Kendall. “They kept it a
$2 million cap, but the commission- incentive of receiving
ers said to Judge Menz, ‘If you find
that you need more or you need us $10,500 in back rent will

help change their minds.

“Harrigan is going to

be sort of the central

point for this program,”

said Kendall. “I tell you,

Erin Harrigan, Lisa Kahle, Paul Amos, Judge Nicole Menz and Ellen Kendall. PHOTOS: KAILA JONES she’s got really great ex-

perience and energy and

to raise the cap, come back and talk “I have to say, Judge Menz was the enthusiasm. She’s already hard at

to us about it.’” hero here. She took it on and sort of work drafting all these agreements

Additionally, the United Way of took on a leadership role. She called and sending them to Judge Menz.”

Indian River County has agreed to all the county commissioners be- Tenants and landlords who wish

pay the filing/court fees through forehand and talked to them about to participate in the program should

Sept. 30, said Kendall, who has high the program, so everybody under- call Erin Harrigan at Florida Rural

praise for Judge Menz. stood what we were asking for.” Legal Services, 888-582-3410. 



22 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PETS

These three Boxer buddies hit if off with Bonzo

Hi Dog Buddies! tree. Didn’t knock the tree over, either. PHOTO: KAILA JONES mans holler an wave to us. It’s
An once he ate the squeakers outta two way Fun. ’Cept sis still gets a liddle ner-
Woof, did I have a fun innerview with squeaky toys an hadda get his stomach Boxer, too. She found me in vous.”
three super well-groomed, frenly, enthu- pumped.” FEE-nix an picked me from my litter of
siastic Boxers with lots of intresting tails eight, all inna wiggly row. I was biggest, “How ’bout pooch pals,” I asked.
to tell. “Did you HAFF to share that?” Bis- plus, I’m Very Intelligent! Took me one “There’s our next-door neighbors Calli
cuit grumped. day to get potty trained, No Woof!” an MayMay; an Bodie an Utah across the
They greeted me an my assistant in street,” Doak said.
their yard, wearin’ harnesses cuzza all We moved inside and sat around a “Impressive,” I exclaimed. “Oh, an guess what?” chimed in Bis-
their energy an outgoin’ doganalities. table. Biscuit, who had put his front “Me an Renegade were Besties. Then, cuit. “Bodie an Utah get Bark Boxes ev-
Doak Campbell Gilmore is the oldest, 5, paws and big smiley face on my as- not that long ago, she hadda go over the ery month, so now WE get ’em, too. Cool
so he was Spokespooch, and trotted right sistant’s lap, nudged my notebook. Rainbow Bridge. It was Very Very Sad. Kibbles, right?”
up for the Wag-an-Sniff. His coat was “What’s THAT? Are you gonna WRITE Preddy soon, Mama an Papa found “Where do you all sleep?”
golden fawn color with white trim. stuff? About US? Doak said you were! Choctaw in Oak-luh-HOME-muh, which “With Mama and Papa, of course!”
About Me, even? LIke, I have a pawsome is way far that way.” (He pointed.) they all replied.
“Howdy there, Bonz, it’s OK callin’ you pooch sitter, Maddie! She’s 12. Mama “I helped Mama an Papa an Doak feel “At first they said ABSOLUTELY
Bonz, right? I’m Doak Gilmore. (We’re says ‘It Takes a Village’ to raise me, what- better when they were Dismal Dog Bis- NOT!!!” Choctaw explained, “but, obvi-
Major FSU fans.) I’m from Air-uh-ZONE- ever that means. What’s in that satchel? cuits cuzza losing Renegade,” Choctaw ously, we disagreed. I mean, after all! So
nuh. This liddle gal” (he nose-bumped a Is that your pencil? Can I chew it?” said softly. we cried outside the door. We’re always
pretty, shiny black Boxer, smallest of the Doak gave his sister a nuzzle. “You very careful to give them enough room –
three) “is our sister, Choctaw Lil Lady, When Biscuit turned his attention to were wonderful! Then, Mama was 17 inches just for them.”
just turned 1. An this silly muffin” (an a Large, Durable Chew Toy, and Miss lookin’ for an additional Boxer an found Heading home, I was smiling, pictur-
ex-ZOOBER-ently bouncin’ brindle) “is Choctaw curled at their Mama’s feet, I our lovable, goofy liddle bro Biscuit in ing three pooches and two humans all
Buster the Biscuit Posey, he’s 11 months. addressed Doak. “How’d the three of you Muh-ZOO-ree.” snuggled up, nice an cozy. An reminding
We mostly call him Biscuit. He goes UP find your Forever Famly?” Biscuit popped up from munching myself to check out what a Bark Box is.
a lot, jus’ so you know. An these are our his chewy bone. “I wanna tell this part, Till next time,
Mama an Papa, Kris an Chuck.” “It wasn’t what you’d call a direct path,” OK? So, Mama flew out to get me in one
he smiled. “Back in 1990-ish, Mama and of those big, funny bird thingys. It was The Bonz
“Welcome, Mr. Bonzo,” Choctaw said Papa were lookin’ for a boxer pup and when that duh-zeez was everywhere, so
sweetly. found one they loved. But when they me an Mama hadda whole row for just Don’t Be Shy
went to pick him up, their car wouldn’t us. I got to sit in an ack-shull seat next to
“Miss Choctaw, Doak, Biscuit, it’s a start, and the pup got another famly. Mama ’cept at the start an the end, an ev- We are always looking for pets
pleasure to meet you all!” We followed Mama and Papa were bummed. So they erybody thought I was the cutest pupper with interesting stories.
them into the open garage. On the wall had Pugs for a while. Don’t ask me why. EVER!
was a fancy sign that said “Doak’s Gym: Anyway, in 2006-ish, their son Ryan got a “When we got to here an I met every- To set up an interview, email
Where Muscle Matters.” Boxer, Isabel, nicknamed Izzy. Whenever body, I was SO HAPPY. I knew I’d found [email protected].
Papa’d come home from work, Izzy’d do my Forever Famly. Papa says we were like
“Woof! You gotta GYM? Cool Kibbles!” the liddle dance lotsa us Boxers do when PB&J right off the bat. An guess what our
“Yeppers! We train every day. I’m in we’re excited an happy, the Wriggly Bean. favrite thing is? Ridin’ in our Jeeps. Safely
charge. Mama an Papa retired from cuh- Papa totally loved Izzy’s greeting an, tucked in, lookin’ out the back. Lotsa hu-
rears in Law Enforcement, an we’re al- when Ryan an Izzy moved out, he Totally
ways goin’ on excitin’ ad-VEN-churs, so Missed it. Then, unbeknownst to Papa,
we gotta stay in shape, ya know?” Mama got another Boxer pup, Renegade,
“Totally,” I agreed, then saw what Doak as a surprise. When Papa came home
meant when he said Biscuit goes UP. Bis- from work, in full uniform an all his gear,
cuit put his front paws on my assistant’s there was Renegade, fluffy an adorable.
shoulders by way of greeting, an received Papa totally melted. He plopped right
lots of ear friffles an head pats in return. down on the floor an cuddled her an
“Yup!” said Doak. “Biscuit’s our goofy that’s when they started havin’ excitin’
liddle brother. Gets in trubble all the Road Trips an ad-VEN-churs all over the
time. Can’t be left alone for long. Took a country, Mama, Papa an Renegade.
whole string of lights off the Christmas
“Then Mama decided she wanted a



24 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT COVER STORY

LONACONING, Md. – There haven't rich has caused some strange things free money, they denied being sudden Manager Debbie Bennett
been a lot of big wins in this little town to happen. multimillionaires. shows off the symbolic
tucked between gentle green moun- winning check at
tains in Maryland's far western reaches. An anonymous letter circulated Gold diggers poured into town. Peo- Coney Market.
Coal brought work, then took it away. naming a 76-year-old grandfather of ple showed up from Georgia and Ohio
The railroad meant prosperity, then seven and his longtime partner as the and Arkansas, asking for a piece of the Customers scan losing
stopped running. They made glass winners. Besieged with requests for prize to care for an ailing relative, or lottery tickets at Coney
here, and then they didn't. to save their struggling farm, or to pay Market, which has been
for that European trip they’ve yearned besieged by gold diggers
These days, the line of cars at the to take. since January.
First Assembly of God food giveaway
is so long that the volunteers split A woman in Georgia wrote to the
each box into two smaller portions to owner of Coney Market asking him
feed more families. to buy her a couple of chain saws for
her farm. Another supplicant wanted
But over the past few weeks, Lona- a piece of the lottery winnings to get
coning – the locals call it “Coney” – has her driveway paved.
acquired a new shine, a glint of gold in
iron country. Sometime in late Janu- “They say, ‘If you don’t ask, you
ary, someone bought a Powerball lot- don’t get,’ ” said the guy being
tery ticket at the Coney Market, and asked, Richard Ravenscroft, who
that ticket’s six numbers won the big owns the market. “People don’t
one – $731 million, the fifth-richest know the winner’s name. I’m
payout in U.S. history. the person whose name they do
know, so they ask me.”
That someone lives in Lonaconing,
according to the owner of the market. People from thousands of miles
But because Maryland is one of seven away have sent money in envelopes
states that allow lottery winners to re- asking the market staff to send them
main anonymous, and because the lottery tickets from the lucky shop. (Lot-
winner is no fool, the identity of that tery sales at the market, usually a mod-
someone isn’t public. est $4,000 a week, briefly soared, then
returned to earth, Ravenscroft said.)
(The $731 million ended up be- Out-of-towners drove through the
ing $367 million because the winners mountains to bet the very same set of
chose a lump-sum payment rather
than 30 years of installments, plus the
feds and the state take a hefty share as
taxes.)

The fact that one or more people
in this town of 1,200 people (just 400
families, actually, down by half over
the past 50 years) are suddenly Midas-

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 25

INSIGHT COVER STORY

Lottery tickets, cash and set of numbers selected by the lotto
food stamp restrictions machine.)
at Coney Market.
A man from Northern Virginia
numbers that the big winner had wa- showed up to ask Ravenscroft to re-
gered on: 40, 53, 60, 68, 69 and Power- issue a purportedly winning lottery
ball 22. (Some folks in town thought ticket that the man had lost. The man
the winning numbers might be the stayed in the shop for an entire day,
ages of the winner’s family. No: The and state police had to stop by to
jackpot combination was a random make sure things didn’t get too crazy.

It’s not just outsiders making a fuss
about the big money. People up and
down Main Street are eager – “some
are pretty impatient about it,” says
Debbie Bennett, Coney Market’s man-
ager – for the winner to donate a pile
of cash to improve life in a town where
the poverty rate of 24 percent is more
than double the statewide number.

The No. 1 need, many say: Clean
up the “Coney water,” the local name
for the skanky H2O that sometimes
bubbles up from underground right
into people’s basements. “Mine water,”
some call it, rising from old coal shafts
into the houses of people whose fa-
thers once worked those tunnels.

Or: Fix the streets. Help the strug-
gling shopkeepers. Put some cash in
the pockets of seniors who can’t get by
on $500 a month in Social Security.

But the first thing on most minds is
the simplest question of all: Who won?
The golden ticket was purchased in
January, and the winner – winners,
actually; it’s a group of unknown size
that calls itself the “Power Pack” –
claimed the award in late May.

By now, many people think there
ought to be some sign that someone

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

26 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 INSIGHT COVER STORY

has come into a substantial chunk of The sun rises over the was sold – a windfall of several million Below: Old cars outside
change. mountains in Lonaconing, bucks, the mayor says – will go instead homes in Lonaconing.
Md., where a $731.1 to Allegany County.
“Everyone is still, ‘Who is it?’ ” said million lottery ticket “I throw them in the trash,” he said.
Bob Fazenbaker, 67, who’s retired was sold in January. At the store, things are slowly return- Lonaconing’s needs remain acute,
from the auto parts store up the road ing to normal. The parade of out-of- so great that some residents say even a
from the market. Below: A little food pantry towners asking for free cash has thinned, most generous lottery winner couldn’t
in Lonaconing, where the Ravenscroft said, though some still turn things around.
“We think it’s the person who keeps poverty rate is double show up with letters they want him to “The coal mine closed, then the tim-
saying that’s not who it is,” said Ben- that of the state. pass to the lottery winner. ber left, then the train left, and every-
nett, the market manager. “If it’s who thing was gone,” said Robert Lee Fa-
people think it is, they’ve had a lot Coney Market owner Rich- zenbaker, an 84-year-old retired miner,
of visitors on their property lately. ard Ravenscroft chats with
They’ve been going around different customers as he leaves
places, casinos, spending money at with a delivery order.
Rocky Gap and Nemacolin.”
that they somehow deserve some of
Some people say they’ve noticed that money.”
a new car or two at one house or an-
other. Some people point to some- Alas for Lonaconing, its government
one who’s spruced up the front of the won’t get a penny from the lottery be-
house. Some people profess not to cause Coney Market, a barn-red em-
care, but they seem to be outnum- porium right at the entrance to town,
bered by people who say they know for actually sits one block outside the city
sure who won. limits, so the share the state gives to
the local government where the ticket
On the other hand, Bennett said,
“We all could be wrong.”

Happily, a number of people in
Coney who definitely did not hit the
Powerball jackpot nonetheless feel
like winners.

At the market, employees are a lit-
tle bit flusher. The Maryland Lottery
bestows a $100,000 bonus upon the
store that sells the winning ticket, and
Ravenscroft, the owner, “gave us girls
some of the money, all 11 of us,” Ben-
nett said.

Depending on how many hours
they work, they got anywhere from a
few hundred dollars to a couple thou-
sand.

Ravenscroft put the biggest share of
the bonus into expanding the market
– a new kitchen and a bigger seating
area for folks to try the new menu item
(ham salad, joining tuna salad and
chicken salad among the sandwich
offerings).

But some of the new equipment just
sits in the store, waiting until the owner
can find workers to put it all together.

“We can’t find nobody to work be-
cause everybody’s staying home col-
lecting unemployment,” Bennett said.

The mayor, John Coburn, says Lo-
naconing is a winner because the
jackpot “put the town on the map,”
bringing in visitors, generating world-
wide publicity.

Coburn, who owns the florist shop
and the pizza place on the same street
in this one-traffic-light town, has got-
ten a firsthand taste of people’s passion
for free money: Strangers kept calling
his stores, asking – even demanding –
that the mayor give them some of the
winnings.

“We heard from homeless shelters,
refugee centers, people wanting to
build a church,” he said. “People asked
me for a new car. I tried to be polite,
but I had to say, ‘Please stop calling.’ It
really showed me a different perspec-
tive on people with an entitlement,

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 27

INSIGHT COVER STORY

railroad man and furnace operator collecting metal and hauling it to the “We love the Lord,” Cooper said, “and into the shop to buy lottery tickets
who saw each of his careers vanish. junkyard. He sends us what we need.” ahead of every drawing. The person
He’s been getting by mainly on Social hasn’t been back since the big one.
Security and the federal government’s Some people don’t buy the denials. Around town, people still trade
covid relief payments, and he’s worried Miller and Winebrenner “used to clues. Idle gossip, says the mayor. A steady stream of people enter the
about what happens when they stop. come get food – no more,” Cooper said. market to buy their shot at a different life.
But he doesn’t want anything from the Still, sure as she is that they’re the If the winners “keep their current A sign on the front window shows the lat-
lottery winners. As he sees it, some- winners, Cooper says the new mil- lifestyle, we’ll never know who it is,” Co- est Powerball jackpot tally: $20 million.
body got lucky. Good for them, he says. lionaires shouldn’t feel any obligation burn said. “But what good is winning it
They don’t owe us anything. “We can’t to support the rest of Lonaconing. if you can’t enjoy it?” The winner can’t hide forever, Ra-
all win the lottery.” As a steady stream of cars arrive to venscroft figures. Win millions, and
pick up boxes of sweet potatoes, on- Back at the market, Ravenscroft ar- you’re going to want to spend some of
Nearly everyone in Lonaconing who ions, apples, squash and cucumbers, rives with money from the bank so his it. Then the pressure from friends and
thinks they know who won names the people talk more about being grate- cashiers can make change, then picks family and neighbors and gold diggers
same couple, Wilbur Miller and Nancy ful for what they have than about up sandwiches to deliver them to the will become impossible.
Winebrenner. wanting or deserving anything from school – lunch for the teachers.
the Power Pack. “We’ll find out who the winners are,”
“They’re good people, and they de- He has a theory about the winner’s the shopkeeper says, “when they qui-
serve it, and we’re happy for them,” said identity, but he’s not naming names. etly move away.” 
Bennett, the store manager. The person he suspects used to come

“Everybody respects them,” said
Gloria Cooper, who manages the food
giveaway at the church. “They’re very
private, and nobody resents them.”

The anonymous letter that made its
way around town named the couple.
The mayor was quoted in a local pa-
per embracing the theory.

Whereupon Miller and Wine-
brenner were besieged with requests
for cash, gifts, charitable donations
and meetings.

It got to the point that they felt they
couldn’t leave their house. They asked
the authorities for help. They hired a
lawyer to look into the harassment.
Finally, they wrote a letter to the local
paper, the Cumberland Times-News.

“We are writing to clear up a rumor
that has circulated about the winners
of the Maryland Powerball for $731
million,” Miller and Winebrenner
wrote. “Sadly enough, we are not the
winners of this drawing. We do not
have this ticket!”

The couple suggested that “every-
one take a better look in your glove
boxes, consoles of your cars or the
pockets in your coats. Who knows,
maybe you are the ticket holder.”

The letter continued: “We have no
idea how this false rumor started, but
we are writing this so it will stop.”

It did not.
But it should, the mayor says, be-
cause he knows that Miller – who did
score $10,000 last year on a scratch-off
lottery ticket that he bought at Coney
Market – cannot be the big winner.
The proof: On the May afternoon
when the winner traveled to Balti-
more to claim the award, “Wilbur was
with me all that afternoon,” Coburn
said. “He didn’t leave town. He’s not
the guy.”
Miller and Winebrenner did not re-
ply to requests for comment, but the
mayor said the tales told about his
longtime friend are bogus. Yes, Miller
has gone to casinos, but “he’s always
done that, before and after the lot-
tery,” Coburn said. No, Miller hasn’t
altered his lifestyle; in fact, he still
works every day – he’s a truck driver,

28 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT OPINION

Back in 1992, Yiannis Klouvas converted an old cin- tificates. More than 60% of Germans now support tion to ban so-called vaccine passports in the state –
ema into the Blue Lagoon restaurant, which garnered implementing them, even though less than half the even though the governor has repeatedly said she has
a strong reputation for live music. There is no music population has had a first jab. no intention of introducing them. “The threat of gov-
now. The business, like so many others on the Greek ernment controlling one’s daily life through identifi-
island of Rhodes, is struggling due to the pandemic’s But the freedom debate has been particularly fierce cation of whether one is immunized or not is fright-
restrictions on travel. in the U.S. Much like other issues throughout the pan- ening,” said Rep. Sue Allor, who proposed the bill.
demic, the vaccine certificate has become deeply po-
“If we see a tourist on the street these days,” he says, larizing. Like the rest of the country, the state is divided. The
“we take a photo to remember them.” University of Michigan has mandated that students
The divisions fall along partisan lines – just as they living in dormitories must prove vaccination. Since
Mr. Klouvas is now banking on the EU Digital CO- did with stay-at-home orders and mask mandates – Michigan is a border state, some see passes as a way to
VID Certificate, also known as the “green passport,” and so different states have moved toward normalcy travel more easily to Canada and avoid quarantines.
to save the summer. Starting July 1, all EU member in distinct ways.
states will accept the certificates as proof of COV- Dave Boucher, a government and politics reporter
ID-19 vaccination, a recent negative test, or recov- NewYork was the first to introduce its Excelsior Pass, with the Detroit Free Press, says opposition centers
ery from the disease. which allows residents to prove their vaccination sta- around freedom of choice. It’s about “the government
tus to gain access to certain social venues. But several ‘telling me what I can and can’t do,’” he says.
The plan got a resounding yes at the European Par- states, including Florida, ban such passes outright.
liament on June 9. All EU member states, Liechten- “And there’s always the slippery slope argument
stein, and Norway will implement the passport. The state of Michigan has been one of the most where if the government is endorsing vaccine pass-
closely watched during the last year. ports now, then they’re going to get vital information
Coronavirus passes could become the new normal about you and track that information and use it in un-
in Europe, even as the U.S. balks at the idea. This month the Michigan House approved legisla- known, nefarious ways.”

On this side of the Atlantic, the idea faces strong In general, Americans – much like Europeans – are
head winds, whether for travel or domestic use. The more accepting of passports to travel than they are
Biden administration has ruled out introducing vac- for domestic use, according to polls. Some analysts
cination passports, and some states – like Florida – believe they are an inevitable part of post-pandemic
ban them. mobility.

Prioritizing freedom and fears of government over- “Digital health certificates are already available in
reach underpin the rejection of vaccine certificates in the EU, and my guess is that they will be widely used,
the U.S even without being adopted by the U.S.,” says Chris
Dye, a professor of epidemiology at Oxford University
But nine European countries, including Greece and in Britain.
Germany, are already using the EU COVID-19 pass-
port. As other parts of the world move forward with pass-
es, the U.S. seems likely to find itself playing catch-up.
Ipsos polling data suggests the dominant attitude
toward COVID-19 vaccine passports across Europe is “It’ll be really interesting to look ahead three to six
highly positive. When it comes to using them domes- months and see as other parts of the world are go-
tically, Europeans are more concerned by questions ing forward and using these kinds of mechanisms, if
of fairness than by privacy issues, and pockets of soci- there will be a change,” says Dr. Jen Kates, director of
ety are ambivalent about or opposed to vaccines. But global health at the Kaiser Family Foundation. 
when it comes to travel, the view is clearly pro.
A version of this column first appeared in the Chris-
Even Germany, which had more rigorous ethical tian Science Monitor. It does not necessarily reflect the
debates on the issues and boasts stringent data pri- views of Vero Beach 32963.
vacy laws, got behind the idea of digital health cer-

During the coronavirus crisis, our Pelican Plaza office is closed to visitors. We appreciate your understanding.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 29

INSIGHT OPINION

When Home Depot loses Jennifer the time, but we got a receipt that in- our receipt. We want and need a re- tive should have contacted you at that
Gaetjens's refrigerator order, it offers a fix cluded the tax and delivery charges. frigerator. Can you help us? point to ask for a different card and
she doesn't like: Pay an extra $700 for the We also had a coupon for 18 months complete the order, but that didn't
appliance. Is there any way to get Home interest-free. ANSWER: happen.
Depot to honor the original price?
I called Home Depot to check on I'm sorry you're without a refrigerator Home Depot's initial response wasn't
QUESTION: the order a few days later, and a repre- and that Home Depot wants to charge terrible. It offered you a 10 percent dis-
sentative informed me that our order you an extra $700 to get one. If its com- count on the new refrigerator. But that
Last year, my husband bought an had been lost. We needed to return to puters were down on the day you tried still fell short of the Black Friday bar-
LG Electronics stainless steel refrig- the store to buy the refrigerator again. to place your order, it should fix this gain you thought you would get. Why
erator on Black Friday. After trying My husband went to the Home De- problem for you without charging ex- was your card declined? It had a zero
to buy the appliance online, we had pot. But this time, they denied him tra. balance with a $2,500 credit limit. The
to go to the store to finish the trans- the Black Friday discount. They want- charge should have sailed through.
action. The computers were down at ed him to pay an extra $700 for the It appears Home Depot tried to Maybe it didn't because of Home De-
refrigerator. The store manager was run your credit card after its comput- pot's computer issues.
instructed by corporate not to honor ers came back online. But it looks like
your card was declined. A representa- If you run into a problem like this
again, you can always reach out to an
executive at Home Depot. I publish the
names, numbers and email addresses
of its managers on our nonprofit web-
site, Elliott.org.

I contacted Home Depot on your
behalf. It made arrangements for you
to buy your refrigerator at the Black
Friday price. And it honored your in-
terest-free coupon. 

Get help with any consumer prob-
lem by contacting Christopher Elliott at
http://www.elliott.org/help

30 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BOOKS

It is easy to think of transformative years. Some are Angeles folk rock that differed from the sound of the Such was not the case with “Hearts and Minds,”
obvious: 1776, 1861, 1914, 2001, last year. Others are previous decade. An analogous move, Brownstein ar- the searing documentary about Vietnam released in
notable, but do not immediately leap to mind: 1831, gues, took place in politics, as Hayden and Fonda es- 1974. Produced by Bert Schneider, who had success
1877, 1968, 1989. Ronald Brownstein, a senior editor sentially unplugged – they softened their earlier stance with “Easy Rider” (1969) and “Five Easy Pieces” (1970),
at the Atlantic and political analyst for CNN, offers as revolutionaries and, instead, through the Indochi- among other films. Schneider never abandoned radi-
1974 as a pivotal year in which Los Angeles took cen- na Peace Campaign, began lobbying to effect change. cal politics: he plotted and financed Black Panther
ter stage as a cultural broker and “transformed mov- The system seemed to be working, as evidenced by Party co-founder Huey Newton’s escape to Cuba. Di-
ies, music, television, and politics.” cuts in funding for the Vietnam War and the triumph rected by Peter Davis, “Hearts and Minds” won the
that fall of liberal Democrats, including the election of Oscar for best documentary. The story told here is less
For anyone of a certain age (Brownstein was a Jerry Brown. about the film than Schneider, who became increas-
teenager in 1974) the films, shows and songs that he ingly destabilized from drug use and only upon his
discusses evoke strong feelings. The movies include Brown rode to victory “with an agenda and persona death in 2011 was remembered as a force behind Hol-
“Chinatown” and “The Godfather Part II” (somehow that stressed social change while maintaining a skep- lywood’s transformation in the 1960s and 1970s.
he omits “Blazing Saddles,” though it was the highest tical distance from government.” Brownstein says the
grossing film of the year); albums comprise work by candidate also related to the bleak vision of social cor- Brownstein’s profiles of the producers and writ-
Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt and ruption and personal despair evident in films such ers behind the scenes are one of the book’s strengths.
the Eagles; television encompasses the famous CBS as “Chinatown” and “Shampoo.” Brown’s attempt to Especially noteworthy is his discussion of the writing
Saturday night lineup of “All in Family,” “M.A.S.H.,” revive Democratic politics in the aftermath of Ron- team of Mary Kay Place and Linda Bloodworth-Thom-
“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Bob Newhart ald Reagan’s gubernatorial reign ultimately unraveled ason, who helped modify staid depictions of women
Show” (all of which began before 1974); American pol- as he soon came to be mocked as “Governor Moon- on television with episodes for “M.A.S.H.,” “Maude”
itics embraces the activism of Tom Hayden and Jane beam,” the untraditional candidate of New Age ideal- and other shows. In 1973, women had written
Fonda, and the election of Jerry Brown as governor of ists.
California. fewer than 1 in 14 of the televi-
Hollywood also sion scripts that aired, according
Brownstein adopts a month-by-month approach lost its political te- to a survey by the Writers Guild of
to telling the story. Although appealing as a narrative nacity as films that America. The gradual transforma-
device, doing so makes it more difficult to analyze the once challenged tion of their role in Hollywood be-
categories and draw connections between them. He viewers yielded to gan in the 1970s. So too for Black
is less engaged in offering close readings of any of the mass entertainment. artists, though some of that suc-
films, shows or songs than in the personalities who Brownstein pres-
made and promoted the work. What lifts the book out ents a dual portrait cess originated with blaxploita-
of familiar terrain (the story of “All in the Family” has of Robert Altman’s tion films that perpetuated offen-
been told many times) are the interviews with actors, “Nashville” and Ste- sive stereotypes.
singers, writers, producers and executives who reflect ven Spielberg’s “Jaws,”
on the creative urgency of the ’70s. both filmed in 1974 In the end, “Rock Me on the
and released in 1975. Water” is only partially about
Brownstein spoke with Warren Beatty, James L. The one represented 1974. More to the point, Brown-
Brooks, Jackson Browne, Barry Diller, Robert Evans, a last gasp of movies stein traces the currents that
Jane Fonda, Anjelica Huston, Norman Lear, Rob Rein- from the 1960s that emanated from Los Angeles and
er, Linda Ronstadt and others. He also relied on pub- probed the American engulfed American culture in
lished interviews and memoirs, as well as the sizable character (think “Bon- the 1970s. The book will have
secondary literature on these topics. nie and Clyde” and “The done its work if it inspires read-
Graduate,” both 1967) ers to revisit these films, shows
One of the central figures is David Geffen, the well- and the other launched
known billionaire businessman who started by repre- a movement toward and songs. I suggest start-
senting artists and then co-founded Asylum Records summer blockbusters. ing with the tune that gives
to produce and distribute their work. Geffen comes As Brownstein is aware, Brownstein his title, a Jack-
across as smart, ambitious and avaricious. “You have these shifts are not as son Browne spiritual that ap-
to realize that Geffen was there for Geffen,” recalls neat as he suggests. “Dog peared on his debut album in
Graham Nash. But Geffen admired the songwriters Day Afternoon,” for ex- 1972. In these troubling times,
and appreciated them as artists. Jackson Browne felt ample, also appeared in it still soothes. 
he erased the distinction between the creative side 1975. It is telling, nonetheless, that George Lucas, in
and the business side. Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen’s the aftermath of “American Graffiti” (1973), declared ROCK ME ON THE WATER
longtime manager and producer, observes there was that he wanted to make a movie “where people felt bet-
not “a Geffen sound, but a Geffen sensibility,” artists ter coming out of the theater than when they went in.” 1974: THE YEAR LOS ANGELES TRANSFORMED
you would hear who belonged on the Asylum label.
MOVIES, MUSIC, TELEVISION, AND POLITICS
Landau was alluding to a particular version of Los
BY RONALD BROWNSTEIN |HARPER. 439 PP. $29.99
REVIEW BY LOUIS MASUR, THE WASHINGTON POST

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 31

INSIGHT BRIDGE

NORTH

A FIT AND A VOID LIMIT THE OPPONENTS J 10 6 3

By Phillip Alder - Bridge Columnist 87542

Dame Judi Dench said, “Work certainly does help fill a void.” A94

She is such a good actress. If you haven’t done so already, watch her in the television WEST 3
series “As Time Goes By.” 742 EAST
K Q J 10
In a bridge deal, a void can help “fill” that side with extra tricks. The hardest part of — —
today’s deal is getting to the right final contract. How would you and your partner bid? K86542
A963
In the given auction, North had the ideal hand for a splinter bid. Over two spades, his
jump to four clubs promised good spade support and a singleton (or void) in clubs. 876532

South now knew that he had no club losers because he could ruff the seven and queen J 10 9
on the board. But who had the diamond ace? Using Blackwood would not have helped
when North showed one ace — was it the useless heart ace or the invaluable diamond SOUTH
ace? So South continued with a four-heart control-bid, which denied first-round
diamond control (a suit skipped over) and showed first-round heart control. Then, when AKQ985
North control-bid five diamonds, South confidently jumped to seven spades.
—
After West led the heart king, South ruffed and cashed the spade ace, planning to claim
if both opponents followed. However, when East discarded, declarer cashed the club K Q J 10
ace, ruffed a club, played a spade to hand, trumped the last club, ruffed a heart high and
drew the missing trump. AQ7

Note that South did not try to return to hand with a diamond, because it carried the risk Dealer: South; Vulnerable: East-West
that West was void in the suit.
The Bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST OPENING
2 Clubs Pass 2 Diamonds Pass
2 Spades Pass 4 Clubs! Pass LEAD:
4 Hearts Pass 5 Diamonds Pass K Hearts
7 Spades Pass Pass Pass

32 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT GAMES

SOLUTIONS TO PREVIOUS ISSUE (JUNE 17) ON PAGE 58

ACROSS DOWN
1 Riding pace (6) 2 Very tired (3,2)
5 Leg joints (5) 3 In the news (7)
9 Thought 4 Balderdash (3)
5 Inuit craft (5)
communication?(9) 6 Absorb (7)
10 Mush (3) 7 Staffordshire city (5-2-5)
11 Mother’s ruin (3) 8 Actor’s aside (5,7)
12 Hard part of face (9) 13 Master of ceremonies(5)
14 Tiny (3) 15 Justify actions (7)
16 Pub (5) 17 Matter of chance (7)
18 Shiner? (3) 20 Glowing (complexion)(5)
19 Flawed (9) 21 Trust (5)
21 Some distance away (3) 24 Bite (3)
22 Small vegetable (3)
The Telegraph 23 Yellow‘clock’bloom (9)
25 Flowing (5)
26 Hitchcock classic (6)

You Can Always Spot The Student It’s Going To Be A How to do Sudoku:
Who Spent Their Summer With Working Summer
Fill in the grid so the
Mathnasium But Let Us numbers one through
Still Make It Fun nine appear just once
in every column, row
Mathnasium of Vero Beach and three-by-three
square.
772-222-MATH (6284)
[email protected]

2057 Indian River Blvd

(behind California Closets)

The Telegraph

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 33

INSIGHT GAMES

ACROSS 97 Preemptive action by an 48 Some babies The Washington Post
1 Off the injured list electric company 50 Court promise
5 Crash-boom follower 52 “Make like ___ and leave” THE STEPHEN KING COUNTY FAIR By Merl Reagle
8 Archer’s asset 99 Florida-flattening 53 Picketer’s prefix
11 U.N. first name hurricane of 1992 54 Middle management?
14 Scornful look 55 Worthy of a People cover,
15 Wild West Show guy 100 Furry swimmers
16 Lukewarm 102 Grants org. perhaps
18 “___ get it” 103 Kids’s guessing game 56 Notorious “witch hunt” org.
19 The only snacks sold at the 105 1 Down’s hubby, Wallach 57 Mailing ctr.
106 How Fairgoers feel at 58 List of features
Fair? 63 Jane, for one
21 A, in Aachen day’s end? 64 One of 76
22 By way of 111 HAL’s disabler 65 Facility
23 Primo 112 Altdorf’s canton 66 Power companies
24 The two top-selling items at 113 Have the nerve 67 Gigi star
114 What Stephen King takes 68 Japanese carp
the Fair’s gift shop? 71 Livid
27 Play about Capote home from the Fair? 74 Beet variety
28 Sun-deprived 117 White House nickname 76 CD continuation?
30 Tavern 118 Toledo-Buffalo separator 77 Spiritless
31 Former minors 119 ___ d’oeuvres 78 Voice-over: abbr.
32 Brat 120 1972 creature feature 79 ___ speak
34 Like some roofs 81 Coldly inexpressive
39 Secret motive starring Ray Milland 84 Moo ___ pork
40 Most popular “game” at the 121 Golfer who won the 1994 86 Brooks
87 Cinderella’s deadline
Fair? and 1997 U.S. Open 88 Cry of pain
42 First name in fashion 122 Cut (off) 89 Supermarket section
44 Props for 121 Across 123 Global carrier, once 90 Type of pass
45 Org. 124 Boosters 91 Involves
46 Multi-family bldgs. 93 “I shot ___ ...”
47 Insensitive DOWN 94 It may widen
49 Big name in CD 1 Actress Jackson 96 Wear away
2 ___ for more 98 Food-packaging info
retrospectives 3 Creepy Christopher 101 Speak angrily
51 The Fair’s version of 4 Olivia’s Captain Blood 104 Overly formal
107 The Stooges, e.g.
information booths? co-star 108 Dickensian clerk
56 Scottish philosopher David 5 Nitwit 109 Throw ___ loss
59 On the ___ (precisely) 6 Confusing 110 It might come after “prior”
60 Nail site 7 1967 Petula Clark hit, “This 111 Face lickers
61 See 121 Across 115 Rifleman’s org.
62 Retrieve from the dustbin Is ___” 116 Scam
63 Fair vehicles that you 8 Sacked out
9 Hipbone parts
shouldn’t stand too close to? 10 Spiritual sustenance
69 Home of DFW 11 Reveal
70 Sleeping disorder 12 Slightly
72 Norma ___ 13 Part of the Clark Kent look
73 Chinese concept 14 Holes in your head
74 Newport or Salem, e.g. 15 Martha’s Vineyard entree
75 Entered a Stephen King 17 Louella’s rival
19 Incursions
version of one of those 20 Hotbeds of hedonism
“how many are in the jar” 23 Victory ___
contests? 25 Spectator
80 Like Joyce 26 Death Be Not Proud author
82 Fit again, as a window 28 Pip
83 Peace Prize city 29 102 Across issue
85 “Yummiferous!” 33 Cross home
89 “Not guilty,” e.g. 35 Whack
92 Attire 36 MIT, e.g.
93 What you shouldn’t be 37 The Time Machine race
surprised to see walking 38 Actress Laura
among the Fairgoers? 41 Copier company
95 Scope 43 Slangy job
47 Ink mishap

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36 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BACK PAGE

When there’s so much loss you can’t even feel your grief

BY CAROLYN HAX On a certain level, they’ve done their job. You’re
Washington Post still working and child-rearing and loving your
husband and kids; you’re still thinking clearly
Dear Carolyn: I lost my mom and cracking jokes. The emotional fail-safe has
kept all the accumulated pain from debilitating
in 2018 and 18 months later my you. Good. But it’s obviously not a state you want
to remain in.
dad, right at the start of COVID, so
When the numbness and detachment outlast
I watched his funeral on an iPad. their usefulness, then it’s time to get help. So in
this framework, your question becomes: Are you
Then spent a year surviving the still in a typical healing process, or has your heal-
ing process stalled? Is this numbness protective
pandemic with school-age kids, a or dangerous?

demanding job, and anxiety. Just got vaccinated and Don’t wait for an answer – in case the stall is
the start of a spiral. And don’t treat it as a dichot-
feel … no more hopeful. omy, either, that you either “trust that my inner
self will return” or get help. Trust yourself and get
My favorite uncle died this week and I feel “intellec- help to ensure there’s a strong net to catch you as
you do this important work.
tual sadness” – can’t think of any other way to describe
Grief support groups are generally accessible
it – but haven’t cried, not even when telling my kids or (relative to therapy) and plainly appropriate here,
but if you have access to one-on-one therapy,
talking with my cousin. I think of my parents with a then follow that track, too. See who and what fits.
Any names you get still require due diligence, but
sense of vague sadness. I love my husband and can’t your primary care physician, a local hospice pro-
vider and local churches, hospitals and funeral
think of anyone else I enjoy more, but when I think homes can often steer you to grief support re-
sources, and Open Path Collective is a network of
about my love for him, it feels intellectual versus vis- therapists offering reduced rates.

ceral. My kids I love intensely but that’s about the only Take care, and I hope this finds you as you’re
feeling better already. 
emotion I seem to feel right now.

For what it’s worth, nobody can tell that I feel dead think you’ll see what I see – that your body has
used the means available to it to protect you from
inside. I talk, I laugh, I work, I sing and dance with the all of this pain and grief. It’s too much for you
to be fully, emotionally engaged with so many
kids, I make jokes, but deep down I’m untouched by wrenching things at once, so you’ve tripped a
mechanism that’s shutting you down in self-de-
it all. I know I’m utterly and completely burned out. fense.

Could that be it? Is this grief and trauma, and I just Numbness and detachment are common re-
sponses to grief. (“Fearless,” with Jeff Bridges, is
need to trust that my inner self will return? a memorable take on this. Or a “This American
Life” episode from Memorial Day weekend.)
– I Feel … Hardly Anything

I Feel … Hardly Anything: I am so sorry, for all
of it and for the amount of it.

If you can take a couple of steps back, then I

‘OLIVERIAN FANTASY’:

BELOVED TEEN’S MUSIC AND LEGACY LIVE ON

38 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

‘OliveriAaRTnS &FTHaEAnTRtEasy’:
Beloved teen’s music and legacy live on

Composer Brian Balmages works with
students at Vero Beach High School.

PHOTOS BY BRENDA AHEARN

BY BRENDA AHEARN | STAFF WRITER

When Vero Beach High School stu- Oliver Bartel
dents gathered for their annual Vero
“Pops” Concert on May 6, the rep- cal high school musician. He had not
ertoire included the world premiere begun playing an instrument until af-
of “Oliverian Fantasy,” by composer ter completing eighth grade, when he
Brian Balmages. The piece was based took a particular shine to the cello. De-
on a melody written by Oliver Bartel, spite the late start, he would eventually
a VBHS sophomore who passed away meet his goal of earning a spot with the
last November, just 10 days before his VBHS Philharmonic Orchestra.
16th birthday.
According to Mark Shuping, VBHS
Bartel’s story was not that of the typi- orchestra director, Bartel had a strong
work ethic and what he described as
Conductor an “old soul.”
Mark Shuping.
“From a teaching standpoint, Oliver
was the kind of kid you wish you could
have a thousand of. It didn’t matter
how difficult the challenge, he had
this internal drive to learn and to push
himself,” said Shuping.

During his freshman year, Bartel
persevered with his goal, culminating
in an audition and acceptance into the
orchestra in May 2020. However, when
COVID-19 altered the school land-
scape, Bartel began his sophomore
year of school virtually, and passed
away without ever having had a chance
to play with the orchestra.

It made this recent concert especial-

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 39

ARTS & THEATRE Composer Brian Balmages. Grace Murphy.

Thomas Miller.

ly poignant for his parents, Scott and what those kids played last night. It
Sybil Bartel, as their son would other- was astounding.”
wise have been on the stage, playing
with his peers. Shuping said the students had cher-
ished the opportunity to honor their
Shuping said that Bartel had so friend as a class and to share his music
looked forward to being a part of the with the world.
orchestra, adding, “I believe it is all the
more touching that we get to honor CONTINUED ON PAGE 40
him by playing his music.”
travel schedule to rehearse with the or-
Those students who knew Bartel chestra in Vero Beach.
best are still struggling with their loss
and grief. Shuping said that after he As a result, the students had an op-
and several students took part in his portunity to work directly with the
funeral, they were still left with a sense composer, instead of simply playing
of wanting to do more. music written, as Balmages put it, by
some “dead white guy who has no con-
They eventually decided to commis- nection for a 21st century kid.”
sion a piece that would honor Oliver;
something that would last forever and The students were also working with
continue his legacy. As a result, Shup- music that flowed from an experience
ing reached out to Brian Balmages, an in their own lives; a tragedy that they
award-winning composer, conductor could connect with.
and music educator.
“This shows the power of music. It
Balmages recalled that he nearly really does allow us to get in touch on
said no. When Shuping made the re- a deeper, more personal level. And in
quest, Balmages said he was still reel- this case, to showcase beauty and to
ing from three emotionally powerful honor Oliver’s legacy,” said Balmages.
yet draining compositions that had
all touched on moments of great loss “All art is the result of life experi-
and grief. His gut reaction at the idea ence. All art is the product of people
of taking on yet another such project, who are either trying to bring beauty
even a compelling one, was to decline. into the world, to highlight the beauty
that already exists, or to shine a light
“What did it for me was that Mark on injustice or tragedy in the world,”
sent me the file of Oliver’s melody. I said Balmages. “Given the absolute
looked at the music and thought, ‘Wow, intense nature of this experience for
I can really hear doing something with each kid in the orchestra, this concert
this,’” said Balmages. gives them a chance to explore those
connections for themselves.”
“They wanted this to be a light in
the sea of darkness that had been sur- Fifteen members of Bartel’s fam-
rounding the family, the orchestra pro- ily were in attendance at the concert,
gram, and the school. And I felt I could some from as far away as California.
do something to help, so I decided to
take the commission.” It was a moment filled with signifi-
cance and hope for Oliver’s parents,
While “Oliverian Fantasy” will soon who have a deep and abiding pride in
be professionally recorded, the May their son, paired with gratitude and a
concert performed by VBHS students sense of humility for this gift.
was its world premiere.
“There are no words to describe
When Shuping offered the baton this ruthless separation,” said Sybil
to Balmages to conduct his piece, he Bartel. “I was apprehensive going into
demurred. Oliver’s parents suggested this concert. I thought, this is it. This
that the honor should be Shuping’s. is going to have a sense of finality.
After this, people will move on with
The students themselves discussed their lives and forget Oliver. But when
and decided upon the musicians who I was in the auditorium listening, I re-
would play the two solos in the com- alized the exact opposite is true. This
position. Although solos are tradi- concert was a beginning. His music
tionally performed by principal play- will live on. This young child, who
ers, in this case they decided that the was kindhearted and driven and cre-
students who were socially closest to ative, he will live on.”
Bartel should play. The violin solo was
performed by Graham Frankenberger, “That melody that he wrote, it’s
and the cello solo by Thomas Miller. short and beautiful. It’s haunting,”
added Scott Bartel. “The way those
The students also got a rare level of kids played it, and the emotion be-
connection with the Maryland-based hind their knowledge of Oliver –
Balmages, who was able to arrange his nothing will ever be as powerful as

40 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39 Mark Shuping conduciting at

ARTS & THEATREthe Vero “Pops” Concert.

“The moment was magical,” said to break that moment. We had that
Shuping. “We felt that Oliver’s pres- last night.”
ence was really on the stage with all
the students last night. I always tell In addition to the composition, an
my students that when a piece finally Oliver S. Bartel Memorial Scholarship
ends, if nobody claps right away, then has been arranged through Vero Beach
you’ve really done it. And you’ll know, High School for an exceptional senor
because no one wants to be the first orchestra student planning to contin-
ue with a music education in college. 

COMING UP! Kick-start your weekend at Downtown Friday

BY PAM HARBAUGH VeroBeach for more information. by calling 855-252-7276.
Correspondent

1 Start your weekend off with 2 For some big family fun this 4 Riverside Theatre’s
Downtown Friday. This is a weekend, it’s got to be “Burgers Comedy Zone will

& Brews,” which runs this Saturday present headliner Mike Rivera

street party open to the public. There in historic downtown Vero Beach. Go and opening act Vien Phom-

will be music, demonstrations, street hungry, because this free street fes- machanh (replacement for Sheena

vendors, food vendors and a gener- tival will have the Best Burger in In- Reagan). Rivera started doing com-

ally fun-filled atmosphere at this dian River County Competition and edy when he was a student at San Jose

free event. Organized by Main Street Burger Slider Tasting, which will be State University in California. He has

Vero Beach, it runs 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. held 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. along 21st Street. done stand-up in the San Francisco

on the last Friday of every month. So To participate in that, you need to Bay Area and won Showtime’s “Fun-

that means tomorrow, Friday, June buy a punch card/slider pass, which niest Person in America” competition.

25, head to 14th Avenue in downtown costs $25 in advance or $30 the day He taught middle school civics for 13

Vero Beach for the fun. For a start- of. The punch card/slider pass will let Café, Big Shots Golf, Captain Hiram’s, years, which must give him plenty of
Cobalt, Marsh Landings and Wilke’s
ing point, head to 2036 14th Ave. For you sample up to five sliders created 14 Bones BBQ. An Apple Pie Eating comic fodder. Phommachanh not only
Contest begins at 4:15 p.m. The Vero
more information, call 772-643-6782 by competing chefs from 10 popular Beach Police Department will con- performs stand-up, but is also an ear,
duct a K-9 demo from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30
or visit Facebook.com/MainStreet area restaurants including Barefoot p.m. There’s also going to be live mu- nose and throat doctor in Sarasota.
sic by local bands, a Kids Zone with gi-
ant board games, vendors, food trucks He was a finalist in the Clean Comedy
and more. There are VIP package tick-
ets for $100 which get patrons into re- Challenge in Nashville. Shows begin 7
served seating in an air-conditioned
VIP lounge, complimentary cocktails, p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday,
local craft brews, soft drinks and VIP
outdoor seating at the main stage per- June 25-26, at Riverside Theatre, 3250
formances. Funds raised will go to
United Against Poverty. Call 772-770- Riverside Dr., Vero Beach. Tickets are
0740 or visit BurgersAndBrews.org.
all $20 plus a $2 processing fee. Get

there early and enjoy a free concert

outdoors at the Loop. The music acts

are Doo Wop City on Friday and Joe

Reid and Heartland on Saturday. Food

and beverages available for purchase.

5 Get this on your calendar ahead
of time: the Summer Film Pro-

gram at the Vero Beach Museum of Art.

3 Also on Saturday, the Space Coast The program is called “Yes We Cannes”
Symphony Orchestra will per-
and is held in conjunction with “A Trib-

form a patriotic concert – “Let Freedom ute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The

Ring.” The concert includes popular Tom Golden Collection,” which recent-

American tunes like “Star Spangled ly opened. The film program schedule

Banner,” “God Bless America,” “Vic- includes: “The Piano” and the short

tory at Sea,” selected marches by John film “The Pistol,” 7 p.m. Tuesday, July

Phillips Sousa, and the world premiere 13; “Anna,” the 1987 feature film that

of “Semper Fi,” a three-movement will be preceded by the 2019 short film

homage to the U.S. Marine Corps, “Anna,” 7 p.m. July 20; and “Persepolis,”

composed by Michael Daugherty. It preceded by the short film “12 Zioty,” 7

features tenor Aaron Odom singing p.m. July 27. Each program will be pre-

Omar Thomas’ “Come Sunday,” “God ceded by a brief introductory lecture

Bless the USA” and more. The concert, by host and filmmaker Xaque Gruber,

which is performed under the baton who will share his experiences at the

of conductor Aaron Collins, also pays famed Cannes Film Festival. Tickets to

tribute to the late Marion Scott, a long- the entire package are $48 for museum

time and devoted music leader in Bre- members and $54 for non-members.

vard County. The concert starts 2 p.m. Single tickets are $16 member, and $18

Saturday, June 26 at the Emerson Cen- non-member. The Vero Beach Muse-

ter, 1590 27th Ave., Vero Beach. Tickets um of Art is at 3001 Riverside Park Dr.

are free, but you need to reserve one by Call 772-231-0707 or visit VBMuseum.

going to SpaceCoastSymphony.org or org. 

Dr. Robert Reinauer
and Dr. Dennis Saver.

‘NEW VISION’ DOCTORS PROVIDING
FREE CATARACT OPERATIONS

42 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

‘New Vision’ doctors providing free cataract operations

BY KERRY FIRTH Dr. Dennis Saver. mally clear lens of your eye,” accord- glasses can help you deal with cata-
Correspondent ing to Mayo Clinic. “For people who racts. But if impaired vision interferes
PHOTOS: KAILA JONES have cataracts, seeing through cloudy with your usual activities, you might
We Care is not just a slogan for Dr. lenses is a bit like looking through a need cataract surgery – generally a
Robert Reinauer, an ophthalmologist mic Surgery Expedition Network. frosty or fogged-up window. Clouded safe, effective procedure in which a
with New Vision Eye Center, and Dr. The two physicians recently vision caused by cataracts can make highly trained surgeon removes the
Dennis Saver, a retired geriatric phy- it more difficult to read, drive a car lens of your eye and, in most cases, re-
sician. It’s also the name of a medical teamed up to offer free cataract (especially at night) or see the expres- places it with an artificial lens,” restor-
nonprofit organization and a promise screening clinics and surgeries for sion on a friend’s face. ing normal vision.
and commitment to give their medi- uninsured Indian River County resi-
cal expertise to help the underserved dents, 18 years or older with incomes “At first, stronger lighting and eye- The current We Care effort will pro-
in our community. less than 200 percent of the poverty vide 26 patients with free cataract sur-
level – $25,520 for a single person and geries and follow-up care. This num-
Dr. Saver was one of the five doc- $52,400 for a family of four. ber is quadruple the average yearly
tors who founded We Care in 1991, number of cataract surgeries offered
and he continues serve as president “A cataract is a clouding of the nor- by the organization in the past and has
of We Care of Indian River County, been made possible by the generosity
a nonprofit dedicated to improving of Dr. Reinauer, New Vision Eye Cen-
the health of county residents. It’s his ter, the Indian River County Health
mission to attract and organize vol- Tax District and We Care donors.
unteer doctors willing to provide free
medical services for uninsured Indi- Dr. Reinauer, who joined the board
an River County residents. at We Care in 2020, is donating his
services for a pilot group of six pa-
Dr. Reinauer is one of the newest tients who will have cataract surgery
We Care board members but is no later this month. An additional 20
stranger to pro bono medical work, patients will have their surgeries this
having completed several ophthal- fall with the help of Dr. Stephen Tate,
mology missions to Mexico and Nica- Dr. Sarah S. Khodadadeh and Dr.
ragua as a volunteer doctor and board Mohamed Sayed – all New Vision Eye
member with the Christian Ophthal- Center doctors.

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1225 US HWY 1, VERO BEACH, FL 32960 JULIE A. CROMER, DDS

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 43

HEALTH

“This is a great opportunity to services for the clinic are provided by he’s already had all his medical his- “Our goal is to convince industry
change a life in 10 minutes or less with the Indian River County Health De- tory documented and his bloodwork, sponsors to donate intraocular lenses
cataract surgery,” said Dr. Reinauer. partment. The We Care Foundation CT scans, X-rays and whatever else is and supplies,” explained Dr. Reinau-
“I’ve been doing mission work outside of Indian River funds ongoing supply needed is already done. The surgeon er. “Once we have the pilot program
the country since 2008 and I wanted to costs and meets patient needs for non- just comes in and does the procedure. completed, that puts us in a good po-
offer my services to those in my own physician services. sition to ask for their donations.”
backyard. I’d been volunteering my “He gets to do what he does best
services through We Care since I came “We Care matches up a patient with without all the backlog of the day-to- Those who meet the financial cri-
to Vero in 2015, but now that I’m estab- a doctor who will see the patient for day preliminary steps. Our goal is to teria and think they may need cata-
lished, I wanted to do cataract surger- free,” Dr. Savor explained. “There is no have our volunteer specialists feel so ract surgery need to get referred by
ies on a larger scale. co-pay and no sliding scale. The doc- good and get so much pleasure out of a primary care doctor to We Care.
tor is donating his time and expertise helping people and they want to do it There may be a waiting queue, but
“I gathered support from my col- for the good of the community. We again and again.” Dr. Reinauer and Dr. Saver hope the
leagues at New Vision Eye Center and Care is run entirely by goodwill. Our funds will be acquired to hold anoth-
presented the idea to Dr. Saver. As oph- organization ensures that everything While this year’s cataract surgery er large-scale cataract clinic in 2022.
thalmologists we have a special op- that needs to be done before the evalu- patients have already been screened
portunity to help people regain their ation is accomplished, so that when and selected, We Care hopes to get For more information about We
sight with cataract surgery. I’ve seen the patient shows up at the specialist, community and corporate funding for Care, visit www.wecareofirc.org or call
grandparents see their grandchildren another expanded clinic next year. 772-794-7422. 
for the first time after surgery. It’s very
rewarding.”

“Dr. Reinauer said if we could cover
the cost of the operating room and
supplies and the cost of buying the in-
traocular lens, he would be willing to
do the cataract surgery for free,” said
Dr. Saver. “Normally We Care pays for
five or six cataract surgeries a year out
of our fundraising efforts, but because
we got a little more money for salaries
from the Health District that we didn’t
use, we are able to fund 26 cataract op-
erations.

“Preliminary screenings were held
by primary care physicians at Treasure
Coast Community Health and Whole
Family Health Clinics and referred to
We Care,” said Dr. Saver. “These two
federally qualified health centers see
county indigent people at zero charge
and were able to assist with the labo-
rious task of pre-screening. If they de-
termined a patient may need cataract
surgery they referred them to us, and
Dr. Reinauer did the final screening.
He’ll be doing the first surgeries later
this month and the rest with the help
of his colleagues in the fall.”

We Care celebrates its 30th an-
niversary this year with a network
of dedicated physicians including
ophthalmologists, cardiologists, gas-
troenterologists, urologists, oncolo-
gists, radiologists, surgeons and other
healthcare professionals. Their servic-
es are valued at more than $1 million
annually.

But even with the free physician
service, there is still a need for medi-
cal supplies and facilities and other
patient services. The We Care Foun-
dation of Indian River was formed in
2011 to help with fundraising for the
program.

In 2015, We Care opened its own
clinic in a wing of the Gifford Health
Center, funded in part by an Impact
100 grant. The clinic is staffed with a
full-time primary care physician, and
care coordinators with a mission to
improve continuity of care. Salaries
are funded by the Indian River County
Hospital District and administrative

44 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

Cholesterol-reducing statins relatively safe for most people

BY FRED CICETTI lesterol; HDLs are called “good” choles- than 200 mg/dL. (“Mg/dL” stands for Some of the best-known statins in-
Columnist terol. milligram per deciliter.) “Borderline clude simvastatin (Zocor), atorvastatin
high” is defined as between 200 and 239 (Lipitor), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravas-
Question: I’ve heard statins referred to If there are too many LDLs in the mg/dL. You’re risking heart disease if tatin (Pravachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor)
as wonder drugs that we should put in blood, they will combine with other ma- your reading is 240 mg/dL or more. and fluvastatin (Lescol).
our drinking water. Do they deserve this terial in your bloodstream to manufac-
reputation? ture plaque, a waxy crud that builds up LDL cholesterol level should be less Your cholesterol level is just one num-
on the inner walls of the blood vessels than 130 mg/dL. “Borderline high” is be- ber doctors consider before prescribing
Statins are relatively safe drugs used that feed your brain and heart. When tween 130 and 159 mg/dL. There’s heart- a statin. If your only risk for heart attack
to reduce high levels of cholesterol. Cho- this build-up occurs, you have a condi- disease risk if your reading is 160 mg/dL or stroke is high cholesterol, you may not
lesterol is a fat-like substance in blood. tion called “atherosclerosis,” which is or more. need medication.
You need it to produce cell membranes, commonly referred to as “hardening of
protect nerves and make hormones, but the arteries.” HDL cholesterol levels should be at 60 Other risk factors are lifestyle, age,
too much of the wrong kind of choles- mg/dL or higher to cut the risk of heart family history of heart attack and stroke,
terol can cause heart disease. If a clot forms in blood vessels nar- disease. You’re at high risk for heart dis- smoking, weight, blood pressure, diabe-
rowed by plaque, it can block blood ease if you have a reading less than 40 tes, narrowing of arteries in your neck/
The body can make all the choles- flow, which can cause a heart attack or mg/dL. extremities, and overall health.
terol it needs. Most cholesterol is made a stroke.
by your liver. You also get cholesterol Some physicians use the ratio of to- Changes to your lifestyle such as quit-
from foods such as meat, eggs and dairy The recommended levels of choles- tal cholesterol to HDLs. The ratio is ob- ting smoking and exercising may have a
products. Too much cholesterol is dan- terol are as follows: tained by dividing the HDLs into the greater impact on reducing risk of heart
gerous because cholesterol can lead to total cholesterol. The goal is to keep the disease and stroke than medication
blockages in your blood vessels. Total cholesterol level should be less ratio below 5 to 1. alone.

Cholesterol is transported through Statins, which are also known as Statins can have potential side effects
the bloodstream in packages called li- HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, are such as liver damage, pain in muscles
poproteins. Low-density lipoproteins drugs that reduce cholesterol by block- and joints, constipation, nausea and
(LDL) deliver cholesterol to the body. ing the liver substance responsible for diarrhea. Those who take statins have
High-density lipoproteins (HDL) re- making cholesterol. Statins may also their liver function tested periodically.
move cholesterol from the bloodstream. help your body reabsorb cholesterol
LDLs are often described as “bad” cho- that has accumulated on your artery [This column is part one of a two-
walls. Statins are relatively safe for part response. In our next column, we’ll
most people. discuss additional benefits from taking
statins.] 

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 45

HEALTH

Study: Hope for young adults
with poor cardiovascular health

BY ERIN BLAKEMORE the less likely participants were to be For true independence this Fourth of July,
hospitalized for heart trouble. That take control of your hearing health.
The Washington Post isn’t surprising based on what scien- Left untreated, hearing loss can affect
tists already know about the benefits your relationships, your physical health
Scientists know plenty about heart of a heart-healthy lifestyle. and cognitive function.
health in middle and old age. But
data on the cardiovascular health of But you may be surprised by how New or upgraded hearing devices provide you with:
young adults is scanter. big of an effect each cardiovascular
health factor had. A one-point in- • More natural sound processing for improved speech
A new study in the journal Circu- crease in the score was associated recognition and sound quality.
lation sheds some light on this little- with a 42 percent reduction in heart
understood period – and shows it may attack risk and lower risk of heart fail- • Bluetooth® connectivity to your devices.
be feasible to reduce the possibility ure and stroke. And patients who had • Long-lasting, rechargable batteries.
of heart attacks and strokes even in lower scores but improved them over
people who start out with poor heart time managed to reduce their risk. Experienced treatment by Aaron’s board-certified audiologist
health. will help you to find the best fit for your hearing and lifestyle needs!
That has important implications
The study used insurance data col- for doctors and patients. It suggests Aaron’s Hearing Care
lected during routine health exams that while it’s best to start out with
for 3.5 million young adults in South good heart health and healthy hab- Trust your hearing to an AUDIOLOGIST with 30+
Korea between 2003 and 2004. Many its, gains are possible even for those years of experience and make 2021 your best year ever!
received follow-up exams in the years who don’t have good heart health
that followed. scores in young adulthood. It also im- Call (772) 562-5100
plies that it’s worth monitoring heart
Researchers from Yonsei Univer- health in young adults, even those TO SCHEDULE YOUR APPOINTMENT
sity College of Medicine in Seoul who don’t have a history of cardio-
gave each patient a score based on six vascular events. Only Doctor of Audiology owned office in Indian River County
common measures of cardiovascu-
lar health: low cholesterol, a healthy Unsurprisingly, the study found Professional Care and
weight, participation in physical that people who began with good Quality Service Since 1982
activity, under-control blood sugar heart health and maintained it were
and blood pressure, and nonsmoker least likely to be hospitalized or die Dr. Aaron H. Liebman
status. Then they looked to see how of a stroke or heart attack. But even Doctor of Audiology
many people were hospitalized for though young adults are less likely to
cardiovascular events such as heart have cardiovascular events, research- 925 37th Place • Vero Beach, FL 32960
attack or stroke. ers say, it’s worth tracking them.  (772) 562-5100

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PLEASE CALL 772-562-3960 FOR APPOINTMENT

46 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

First doctor’s appointment in a while? Make the most of it.

BY STACEY COLINO chael Hanak, an associate professor don’t sweat it; you can follow up on the conversation with those items,
The Washington Post of family medicine at the Rush Uni- the results later, if necessary. advised family physician Lou Edje,
versity Medical Center in Chicago. associate dean of graduate medical
Now that coronavirus pandemic Record your latest health info. education at the University of Cin-
restrictions are easing up, people Another option, Hanak said, is Use the patient portal to update cinnati Medical Center.
are madly scheduling in-office to ask if you can schedule a virtual the list of medications you’re tak-
doctor’s appointments that they visit first – “almost like a planning ing – including prescription and “It’s usually while the doctor has a
had put on hold for a year or lon- visit so you can make sure there’s over-the-counter drugs as well as hand on the doorknob and is about
ger. That puts great pressure on time for the most important issues vitamins and nutritional and herb- to leave that the patient brings up
you and your doctor to catch up on during the in-person visit.” al supplements – so that you won’t the issue they really want to ad-
your health status, which may have need to spend valuable time during dress because they had to build up
changed while you were doing your Take care of what you can ahead the appointment doing this. to it,” Edje said. “Be explicit about
best to live through an unprec- of time. Find out if there are any why you’re there and what your
edented challenge. Given that the blood or imaging tests you can have If you take medication for hyper- chief complaints are.”
average doctor’s appointment is performed before the appointment tension or have diabetes, measure
only about 20 minutes, you’ll want so that you can discuss the results your blood pressure or blood sug- If a problem – such as inconti-
to make every moment of your al- during the visit, Hanak said. You ar regularly in the days and weeks nence, vaginal dryness or erec-
lotted time count. may have several screening tests leading up to the visit and track the tile dysfunction – is embarrass-
– breast, skin, or colon cancer, for numbers in a log that you can take ing to you, write it down and hand
Here are tips to help you get the example – to catch up on. A study with you, advised Hiten Patel of the paper to your doctor, who will
most out of your in-person doctor’s found that from March 11, 2020 Ohio State University Wexner Med- lead the conversation from there.
appointment: through May 21, 2020, the average ical Center in Columbus. This way, If you don’t get to all of your con-
weekly volume of imaging proce- your doctor will get a sense of how cerns during the visit, ask the doc-
Ask for a longer appointment. If dures declined 54 percent at Mas- these conditions are trending over tor whether you should schedule a
you have a lengthy list of symptoms sachusetts General Hospital and time, rather than simply getting a follow-up or if you can discuss the
and concerns to address, tell the re- 64 percent at its affiliated imaging status snapshot during the visit. issues through email or the patient
ceptionist that you have a lot to talk centers; mammograms were the portal.
about, and that you’d like an ex- largest drop – 92 percent at all the Prioritize your issues. Before you
tended appointment. “I think that’s locations. go to the appointment, create an Be specific about what you’re
very appropriate, especially com- agenda and identify the top three experiencing. When describing
ing out of the pandemic,” said Mi- If you can’t get all your screening to five concerns you’d like to ad- a particular symptom, be sure to
tests done before the appointment, dress with your doctor, then start tell your doctor how it feels, when

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 47

HEALTH

back” communication technique, recommended changes, what you
in which a clinician asks a patient can do to prevent a chronic condi-
to express in their own words the tion from worsening, and whether
information they just heard. A 2017 you need any follow-up lab tests,
study examining the quality of com- imaging procedures or visits to a
munication with parents in pediat- specialist or therapist.
ric clinical encounters and found
that the teach-back technique was “Every visit should end with some
associated with more patient-cen- piece of anticipatory guidance such
tered communication, which en- as when you should touch base
ables the patient, or parent, to make again or what red flags to watch for,”
informed decisions about whether Hanak added. Following up with
to act on the information that’s pre- your doctor should be easier than in
sented and how. the past, he said, with the options of
virtual visits or phone-based visits.
Formulate a follow-up plan. Be- “One of the silver linings of the pan-
fore you leave the doctor’s office, demic has been opening up other
discuss how you’ll implement any areas of access for healthcare.” 

it started, what makes it better or this front. Research has found that
worse and how it’s affecting or in- especially early in the pandemic,
terfering with your life, said Don- people’s intake of high-calorie or
na Zulman, an assistant professor salty foods, screen time and use of
of primary care and population tobacco, alcohol and cannabis in-
health at the Stanford University creased considerably. Meanwhile,
School of Medicine. one study released this year found
that the pandemic stay-at-home
Don’t limit your report to physi- orders led to a decline in physical
cal symptoms: In recent months, activity, while another found that
“many people have experienced participants had gained an average
mental health symptoms such as of 1.5 pounds per month they were
depression and anxiety and some sheltered in place.
are reluctant to bring those up,”
Zulman noted. Your physician Make sure you understand what
wants to help you so it’s best to en- you’re being told. Bring a pad and
gage in full disclosure, especially paper to the appointment so that
because “these are issues that af- you can take notes – or ask a fam-
fect other aspects of your health,” ily member or friend to accompany
she said. you and perform this task. If you
don’t understand something your
Be honest about your lifestyle doctor says, ask clarifying ques-
habits. In particular, describe how tions until you get the picture. In
your diet, your use of alcohol and particular, make sure you under-
caffeine, and your exercise regi- stand the diagnosis, including
men have changed since the pan- your doctor’s recommendations for
demic began. It’s important for treating it and why they’re impor-
your physician to be aware of how tant, Edje said.
these practices may have evolved
over the past year because they Review your doctor’s advice
can influence your health risks and about medications, additional
conditions in many different ways, testing and lifestyle changes. Then
Hanak said. “repeat back what you’ve heard
to make sure you’re on the same
Don’t be embarrassed if you’ve page,” Zulman said.
been eating more or exercising
less; you’ll be in good company on This last step is part of the “teach-

48 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Style Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

Dior’s new show confronted 1950s fashion and made it woke

BY LISA ARMSTRONG
The Telegraph

Let’s face it: 1950s values are the
antithesis of woke. That’s a potential
minefield for certain brands – from
James Bond and the Eames office chair;
The Archers to Dior.

These are all ongoing entities striv-
ing to seem relevant and modern, be-
cause that’s what you do, without turn-
ing their backs on their own valuable
heritage, because that’s also what you
do. It’s the history that fans so often se-
cretly (and not so secretly) thrill to.

Take Dior’s wasp waists and full
skirts. The so-called New Look de-
buted in 1947 but shaped, literally, the
next decade’s fashion. For every de-
signer who’s been in charge there since
Christian Dior died in 1957 has found
themselves entranced by the archives,
but also tortured by the need to keep
moving the brand’s aesthetic on.

“Honestly, for me, when I look at Dior
pictures from the 1950s it’s not always
the clothes that grab me, so much as the
spirit,” says Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior’s

first female creative director, talking to the audience can see the meticulous
me from Athens, where its Cruise 2022 craftsmanship?
show took place in a stadium last week.
Perhaps because staging shows
This show is a big deal – the first one around the world is what this house has
Dior has done in front of a sizable live been doing since the 1950s. The Greek
audience since COVID shut down every stadium also enabled her to hang on
fashion centre in March 2020. Sizable to some core Dior ideas – corsets (worn
but nothing like the shows pre-pan- with shorts), gorgeous one-shouldered
demic – just 400 guests in the Panathe- lame gowns reminiscent of the one
naic Stadium, built entire of marble in Grace Kelly, a Dior fan, wore in 1955’s
around 100 AD. Given that it has a 50,000 “To Catch a Thief,” cinch waist Bar jacket
capacity, there was plenty of room. from Dior’s New Look and pleated skirts
– and suffuse them with a sporty spirit.
So why bother with a live show and
transporting all that entails, from Par- Those one-shouldered gowns were
is to Athens, when we’ve all learned light as air and worn over fine sparkly
to live with digital presentations and stretchy knits. Skirts were worn with
when, by her own admission, she loves sneakers. Suits with bowling bags. Two
the intimacy of a small setting, where white trouser suits (there was a lot of

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Style Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 49

white) had a looser, more androgynous that Dior’s traditional emphasis on
jacket. They were inspired by a 1930s wasp waists became much more about
photo of Marlene Dietrich and a remind- celebrating a fit, strong body.
er that much as the 1950s feeds some in-
ner fantasies we may have about gender “The body’s always been so impor-
roles, even at the time, some 1950s mo- tant in Greek culture,” notes Chiuri
res and fashion were regressive. shrewdly. “But it has never been about
being the ‘right’ size, but about free-
“Honestly, for me, when I look at dom.” Of course she can take the sting
Dior pictures from the 1950s it’s not al- out of the 50s. This is the woman who
ways the clothes that grab me, so much turned a house that was almost suffo-
as the spirit,” says Maria Grazia Chiuri. cating under a froth of femininity into
one that champions feminism. 
The overt athletic references meant

50 Vero Beach 32963 / June 24, 2021 Style Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

The six summer dress trends to try now

BY CAROLINE LEAPER
The Telegraph

Summer dress season is finally in full
swing. But are you more of a puff-sleeve
prairie dress type, or someone who pre-
fers the crisp lines of a maxi shirt?

Whatever your personal style, you
should find something to love in the
shops this season as the biggest dress
trends are nothing if not varied.

Here, we run through the six key
styles to try.

Best summer dress trends for 2021 onto one frock, the better, while for check’ dress, for its easy-to-wear color
1. Summer of Love florals others all that smocked fabric equates palette and flattering proportions.
Graphic bloom prints are saturated to too much fuss. Wherever you stand,
in pumped-up colors, offering a 1960s there are ways to dip into the trend – try 4. The maxi shirt
and 1970s aesthetic. There are feel- Marks and Spencer’s iterations for a re-
good dresses galore to be found just laxed take on the trend, or visit Johanna
about anywhere – best worn with sim- Sands, Ulla Johnson or O Pioneers if
ple black or tan sandals. you’re looking to go the full Meg March.

2. The prairie dress
The trend for unashamedly girly, frill
covered prairie dresses is fashion Mar-
mite. For some, it’s a case of the more
ruffles and micro florals you can pack

3. Picnic checks
Gingham can be found everywhere
this season, from Albaray’s ruffled midi
dresses to Mango’s easy shirt dresses. A
winning design has to be Next’s ‘multi-