04/13/2023 ISSUE 15

One hundred million dollars in state funding for Indian River County’s namesake lagoon will soon be up for grabs, but the county may get passed over due to not having a fully developed and approved Indian River Lagoon Management Plan with local matching funds committed to shovel-ready projects. The bare-bones outline of a plan to protect and restore the lagoon has been in the works for five years, but county staffers say it’s nearly a year from being finNews 1-16 Arts 53-58 Books 46 Dining 74-78 Editorial 44 Games 47-51 Health 59-69 Insight 39-52 People 17-38 Pets 79 Real Estate 81-96 Style 70-73 April 13, 2023 Volume 16, Issue 15 Newsstand Price $2.00 TO ADVERTISE CALL 772-559-4187 FOR CIRCULATION CALL 772-226-7925 Shores buys high-tech, portable ultrasound machine. P16 Twin Oaks Tennis Club to be sold. P13 Covid hospitalizations doubled here in past week. P14 Cause for Paws fetes 70 years of animal care. P24 © 2023 Vero Beach 32963 Media LLC. All rights reserved. For breaking news visit Are the voters of Indian River County ready to elect a Black man to be their sheriff? That might seem an awkward question to ask in these culturally advanced times, when we’re supposed to have moved beyond the racial prejudices of yesteryear and achieved a level of sophistication at which we no longer judge people by the color of their skin. Some of you might even find it insulting that anyone would dare raise such an issue in a community where so many of its residents are educated, accomplished and affluent, or at least financially comfortable. But Milo Thornton’s entry into the 2024 sheriff’s race last week delivered a jolting reminder that we’ve never had a Black sheriff, nor have we elected a Black candidate to any constitutional office. We’ve never elected a Black county commissioner, either. Islanders eager for natural gas service will soon get wish Florida City Gas is ready to begin building out its distribution lines in barrier island communities next month, with John’s Island being a huge and eager market for natural gas service. The under-river crossing at Wabasso was completed this winter and now the first stretch of the pipeline along A1A through Indian River Shores is in the ground and completed as well. “Florida City Gas has received the official ‘in-service’ letter from Peninsula Pipeline Company (PPC) notifying the company that the pipeline was placed into service as of April 1. Now that the pipeline is active, FCG will begin a methodical process of installing local regulator stations,” said Florida City Gas Sr. Director of BusiBY LISA ZAHNER Staff Writer CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 Brightline anticipates completing construction on improvements to three railroad crossings in downtown Vero Beach by April 21 in anticipaBY GEORGE ANDREASSI Staff Writer CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Brightline plans to reopen downtown Vero railroad crossings within a week Will poor planning sink our shot at state funding for lagoon? PHOTO BY JOSHUA KODIS MY VERO BY RAY MCNULTY Thornton: Indian River ready for Black sheriff BY CASEY STAVENHAGEN Staff Writer Vero’s slim inventory of new waterfront homes and Grand Harbor’s ongoing renaissance both will get a boost in the next week or so when a developer breaks ground on 17 luxury homes on the westBY STEVEN M. THOMAS Staff Writer CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 17 ‘extraordinary’ luxury homes set for Grand Harbor riverfront

2 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ tion of starting high-speed passenger train service between Orlando and South Florida in June. The railroad crossings at 23rd Street, 26th Street and 14th Avenue are set to reopen at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 21, according to Brightline’s latest construction and testing advisory. Brightline closed the three downtown Vero Beach railroad crossings on March 23 to construct a second track in the Florida East Coast Railway right-of-way and install a variety of safety features. “Brightline is more than 90 percent complete with construction to Orlando,” said company spokeswoman Katie Mitzner last week. The $2.7 Billion construction project includes improvements to the FECR tracks between West Palm Beach and Cocoa and new high-speed train tracks along the Beachline Expressway/State Road 528. The project also includes improveNEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Brightline

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 3 deputy in our Sheriff’s Office to be promoted to captain, then major and then deputy chief, which made him the No. 3-ranking member of the agency and, more noteworthy, the highest-ranking law enforcement officer in the county’s 98-year history. He has earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Indian River State College, has been an instructor at the Florida Law Enforcement Training Academy in Fort Pierce for the past 19 years, and was the Sheriff’s Office’s “Law Enforcement Officer of the Year” in 2012. Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021, Thornton sits on IRSC’s board of trustees – one of several local boards on which he has served. He also has coached football at Vero Beach High School. Clearly, Thornton, at age 45, possesses the education, experience, qualifications, local and institutional knowledge, and community connections necessary to be a successful sheriff. Will that be enough? He believes so. “I don’t think voters in this county are concerned with the color of my skin,” Thornton said. “They’re conNEWS CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 ments to 156 railroad crossings, including 31 in Indian River County. Among the additions are new crossing gates, pedestrian gates, signals systems, pavement markings and roadway profiles, Mitzner said. Despite closing three downtown Vero Beach railroad crossings, Brightline conducted test runs at 79 mph last week through 16 railroad crossings in southern Indian River County. Brightline conducted signal and track cutover tests while integrating the new second railroad track into daily operations. FECR runs an average of 15-to-20 trains per day through Indian River County at speeds ranging from 40-to60 mph. Brightline plans to operate 32 passenger trains per day between Orlando and South Florida with speeds in Indian River County reaching up to 110 mph. Brightline agreed in June 2021 to install an extra $31 million worth of safety features at the 32 railroad crossings in Indian River County to settle a state lawsuit and resolve the county government’s claims. Indian River County spent approximately $4 million on legal and lobbying expenses on the train project since 2014, taking an unsuccessful appeal of the Federal Railroad Administration’s approval all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Brightline started operating in South Florida in January 2018 and currently has stations in Miami, Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach. Brightline started construction on the 168-mile link between Orlando and West Palm Beach in April 2019. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 My Vero And while our school district remains under a federal-court desegregation order that dates back to 1967, two members of our current School Board are pushing for the repeal of the Racial Equity Policy approved two years ago. So it’s fair to wonder if Thornton, who is Black, has any real chance to become our sheriff, despite his impressive credentials. For those who don’t know: Thornton is a captain who has spent most of the past 25 years at the Sheriff’s Office, rising through the ranks while serving, or overseeing deputies, in every area of the agency – from corrections to community affairs, from road patrol to investigations, from SWAT to special ops. In fact, Thornton was the first Black

4 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ cerned with their safety and the safety of their community. They want a sheriff they can trust and a Sheriff’s Office that will be fair, honest, professional, responsive and accountable. “They’re going to vote based on who they believe is the most qualified candidate, and I believe that’s me.” Thornton was the third candidate to enter the sheriff’s race, where he joined Fellsmere Police Chief Keith Touchberry and Deborah Cooney, who in 2020 lost in a landslide to Eric Flowers. As of Monday, Flowers hadn’t yet filed to run, but he said last year he will seek re-election. Flowers, though, has lost the trust of many in the community during a mistake-filled 2022, which began with the public exposure of an extramarital affair that came only 13 months after he told his deputies to hold their oaths of office sacred, as if they were marriage vows. His troubles – and the embarrassing headlines they generated – didn’t end there. His deputies were involved in two controversial shootings. He gave a TV interview in which he inexplicably told a reporter where his school resource officers store their AR-15 rifles on campus. And he got pulled over for driving a car with stolen license plates. Then, over the past couple of months, three members of Flowers’ command staff suddenly retired. NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 My Vero DISCLAIMER: Information published or otherwise provided by Premier Estate Properties, Inc. and its representatives including but not limited to prices, measurements, square footages, lot sizes, calculations and statistics are deemed reliable but are not guaranteed and are subject to errors, omissions or changes without notice. All such information should be independently verified by any prospective purchaser or seller. Parties should perform their own due diligence to verify such information prior to a sale or listing. Premier Estate Properties, Inc. expressly disclaims any warranty or representation regarding such information. Prices published are either list price, sold price, and/or last asking price. Premier Estate Properties, Inc. participates in the Multiple Listing Service and IDX. The properties published as listed and sold are not necessarily exclusive to Premier Estate Properties, Inc. and may be listed or have sold with other members of the Multiple Listing Service. Transactions where Premier Estate Properties, Inc. represented both buyers and sellers are calculated as two sales. Cooperating Brokers are advised that in the event of a Buyer default, no commission will be paid to a cooperating Broker on the Deposits retained by the Seller. No commissions are paid to any cooperating broker until title passes or upon actual commencement of a lease. Some affiliations may not be applicable to certain geographic areas. If your property is currently listed with another broker, please disregard any solicitation for services. Copyright 2022 Premier Estate Properties, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Your Trusted Advisor for Vero Beach Luxury Real Estate 772.234.5555 675 Beachland Boulevard OUR INCOMPARABLE GLOBAL NETWORK 730 LAGOON ROAD $3.95 Million Info:www.V266875.com Bob Niederpruem 772.257.7456 726 RIOMAR DRIVE $3.295 Million Info:www.V263499.com Lange Sykes 772.234.5034 1025 ANDARELLA WAY $2.799 Million Info:www.V250160.com Brown I Talley 772.234.5148 503 RIVER DRIVE $5.995 Million Info:www.V266057.com Brown I Talley 772.234.5148 745 LAGOON ROAD $4.55 Million Info:www.V266550.com Bob Niederpruem 772.257.7456 618 LANTANA LANE $3.995 Million Info:www.V266562.com Brown I Talley 772.234.5148 925 Bay Oak Lane $4.5 Million Info:www.V263814.com Lange Sykes 772.234.5034 PremierEstateProperties.com Explore More Of Our Exceptional Vero Beach Collection

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 5 Thornton, however, said Flowers’ damaged reputation was not a factor in his decision to run for sheriff, and he did not want to specifically discuss his boss’ job performance. Thornton also refused to discuss Flowers’ decision to demote him from deputy chief to captain in April 2022, following an 11-week in-house investigation into bogus complaints about his management style. The clown-show investigation ultimately cleared Thornton of any wrongdoing, but Flowers – in an obvious attempt to discredit a potential political opponent – still imposed the reduction in rank and pay, and reassigned him to the school safety division. The move backfired. Many of the community’s political movers and shakers saw Flowers’ actions as petty, self-serving and politically motivated. Thornton was seen as the victim of a failed and flailing sheriff who was desperate to save his career. Although Thornton said he didn’t want to “say anything to undermine the Sheriff’s Office’s current administration,” the demotion appears to have convinced him to challenge Flowers in 2024. “I had been thinking about running for about a year,” Thornton said. “It’s something I’ve always aspired to do in my career. I’m not married. I don’t have children. I’m married to law enforcement, and I’ve devoted my life to serving my community. “So after having conversations with friends, family members and mentors NEWS CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 DISCLAIMER: Information published or otherwise provided by Premier Estate Properties, Inc. and its representatives including but not limited to prices, measurements, square footages, lot sizes, calculations and statistics are deemed reliable but are not guaranteed and are subject to errors, omissions or changes without notice. All such information should be independently verified by any prospective purchaser or seller. Parties should perform their own due diligence to verify such information prior to a sale or listing. Premier Estate Properties, Inc. expressly disclaims any warranty or representation regarding such information. Prices published are either list price, sold price, and/or last asking price. Premier Estate Properties, Inc. participates in the Multiple Listing Service and IDX. The properties published as listed and sold are not necessarily exclusive to Premier Estate Properties, Inc. and may be listed or have sold with other members of the Multiple Listing Service. Transactions where Premier Estate Properties, Inc. represented both buyers and sellers are calculated as two sales. Cooperating Brokers are advised that in the event of a Buyer default, no commission will be paid to a cooperating Broker on the Deposits retained by the Seller. No commissions are paid to any cooperating broker until title passes or upon actual commencement of a lease. Some affiliations may not be applicable to certain geographic areas. If your property is currently listed with another broker, please disregard any solicitation for services. Copyright 2022 Premier Estate Properties, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Your Trusted Advisor for Vero Beach Luxury Real Estate 772.234.5555 675 Beachland Boulevard OUR INCOMPARABLE GLOBAL NETWORK 730 LAGOON ROAD $3.95 Million Info:www.V266875.com Bob Niederpruem 772.257.7456 726 RIOMAR DRIVE $3.295 Million Info:www.V263499.com Lange Sykes 772.234.5034 1025 ANDARELLA WAY $2.799 Million Info:www.V250160.com Brown I Talley 772.234.5148 503 RIVER DRIVE $5.995 Million Info:www.V266057.com Brown I Talley 772.234.5148 745 LAGOON ROAD $4.55 Million Info:www.V266550.com Bob Niederpruem 772.257.7456 618 LANTANA LANE $3.995 Million Info:www.V266562.com Brown I Talley 772.234.5148 925 Bay Oak Lane $4.5 Million Info:www.V263814.com Lange Sykes 772.234.5034 PremierEstateProperties.com Explore More Of Our Exceptional Vero Beach Collection

6 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ in the profession,” he added, “I decided now was the time.” Would he be running if Flowers hadn’t demoted him? “Honestly, I don’t know,” Thornton said. “I’m not in that situation, so I can’t answer that question. I believe everything in life happens for a reason, but I can’t say what I would’ve done if that hadn’t happened.” Actually, Thornton seriously considered running in 2020 – so much so that he discussed the possibility with then-Sheriff Deryl Loar, now a county commissioner – but he decided to wait after being told Loar had promised to endorse Flowers. His chances are better now. Thornton said he already has amassed an army of backers, and he has multiple fundraising events scheduled, including one this week at Windsor. He believes his newly launched campaign will gain traction quickly. “A lot of people know who I am, but they don’t know me,” he said. “That’s going to be the focus of my campaign, because the people who know me – who know what I stand for and what I’m about – are excited that I’m running.” Less than 10 percent of the county’s population is Black, which means Thornton needs to attract white voters in big numbers to win. Can he get them? Thornton is not the first black candidate to run for sheriff in this county, but he might be the most popular. He has many white friends in the community, including some prominent county residents eager to support his campaign. He also should benefit from the name recognition he has gained through his years of involvement is local causes and events. There’s no way to know now, however, if there are enough voters here willing to see past skin color and elect our first Black sheriff. “I trust the voters to choose the right candidate for the right reasons,” Thornton said. “If they decide another candidate is more qualified than me, I have to respect their decision. “I’m not going to question their reasons.” NEWS The Finest PreOwned Rolex Watches Le Classique Jewelers and Watchmakers Every Rolex Watch comes backed with our 1 year Warranty. All Rolex Service and repairs are done on premises. Prices Upon Request 3001 Ocean Drive # 105, Vero Beach, FL 32963 772-231-2060 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 My Vero CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Grand Harbor riverfront ern shore of the Indian River Lagoon across from Bee Gum Point. A second phase of the project on the Grand Harbor riverfront is slated to bring 18 condos to market. A sales trailer was set up at the site at the end of March and Orlando developer Shane Acevedo told Vero Beach 32963 that he just paid his impact fees and will receive a building permit from Indian River County “any day now.” “This will be the first new direct riverfront subdivision built in Vero in many years,” said Dale Sorensen Real Estate broker associate Rita Curry, whose team has the listings. “Inventory is still tight in every category, including new houses on the river, and we have had hundreds of inquiries about these homes. “We were a sponsor of the [USTA] women’s tennis tournament Grand Harbor hosted in January and had more than 300 people sign up for information, just at that event.” Acevedo is offering five models that range in size from 3,648 to 4,035 square feet under air, with as many as four bedrooms and six baths. Two-story models come with two-car garages, while threestory homes have three-car garages. Architecturally, one model is distinctly modern, while the others are more coastal contemporary with a West Indies twist. They are priced pre-construction from about $2.95 million to $3.2 million, which Curry says is a bargain. “People are asking $900 a square foot for riverfront houses on the island that are 20 or 30 years old and need maintenance,” said Curry, who has been selling real estate in Vero Beach since the 1970s. “We start under $800 a square foot for brand new, concrete block homes that have the finest finishes and meet all the latest codes.” Curry and her team, which includes her daughters Suzanne Curry and Kristin Casalino, said that, besides fine design and all the benefits of new construction, the top selling point for Laguna Village is the waterfront location with its sweeping river views. Homeowners will hear the river lapping among the reeds at the bottom of the seawall when they are on their waterfront lanais and be able to look out across the Intracoastal Waterway, with its parade of beautiful boats and bottlenose dolphins, to wooded preserve land on the far shore. “The views are extraordinary and untouchable,” said Casalino. “All that land is owned by either the county or Indian River Land Trust and will never be developed.” Another top selling point is the Grand Harbor setting. In timing that turned out to be good for Acevedo’s project, the country club community has been on a steady upswing since members took control of the club two years ago from a developer who seemed to have lost interest, adding new members and upgrading facilities. Both of the community’s championship golf courses have just been fully renovated and clubhouse renovations are underway. “It is rare to move into a new subdivision house and have all the amenities complete,” said Rita Curry. “Grand Harbor really has it all – two 18-hole golf courses, the beach club that was just renovated, the main clubhouse, the tennis center, new pickleball courts and a beautiful, protected harbor with 140-some moorings.” Unlike most other clubs in the area that have waiting lists to join, Grand Harbor has memberships available, including golf memberships, at a lower cost than other area clubs, according to Rita Curry. In addition, Laguna Village homeowners will have their own clubhouse and pool, shared with an existing neighborhood, that is already built and is included in resident’s quarterly HOA fee. But Curry and her team aren’t just relying on what looks like an excellent value proposition to sell Laguna Village. “We don’t care who brings the buyers,” said Suzanne Curry. “We are marketing these houses to every agent we know. We have connections on the West Coast and big connections in South Florida. We have the houses listed in multiple MLSs from Brevard down to Fort Lauderdale.” In addition, real estate agents in the Orlando area where Acevedo is headquartered are marketing the houses, and the listings are going out to Dale Sorensen Real Estate’s worldwide network of affiliated real estate groups and websites. In response, Suzanne Curry said, “We are getting lots of interest from all over, from South Florida to the Northeast. We also think we will get buyers moving here from within Grand Harbor who are familiar with what a wonderful community this is and the lifestyle it offers.” Rita Curry and her team said some interested buyers have been sitting on the fence, waiting for construction to start before signing on the bottom line and they believe that bulldozers onsite will trigger contracts. Acevedo, principal and head of development for A&R Meridian Development and Construction, said he will start three houses this month, including one that has been sold and two spec or model homes. He said he expects to be sold out within 24 months. Sometime during that period, A&R Meridian, which is the builder as well CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

10 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Lagoon funding ished, and the Board of County Com - missioners is rightly concerned that when state funding becomes avail - able on July 1, many projects which could benefit will be bogged down in the development phase of the plan. “I want to get this done tomorrow,” said Commission Chairman Joe Ear - man at last week’s commission meet - ing. “It’s kind of frustrating for me – pre - senting plans and trying to move ahead to see some real stuff being done. Time is of the essence and to me this ought to be probably the No. 1 priority on our list of things to do upon the thousand other things we have.” The lagoon-specific funding stems from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Executive Or - der 23-06, which pledges $3.5 billion over four years “to further advance the protection of Florida’s environment and water quality,” according to the governor’s website. Of that sum, $100 million is set aside annually for Indian River Lagoon water quality projects. While other counties, such as Brevard County, have similar management plans developed and in place, Indian River county is lagging behind. Commission Vice-Chairwoman Susan Adams said she feared a funding issue of this nature would arise when development of the management plan began in 2018. “If we don’t have a plan, everybody else is going to draw down all those funds and we, who have the name of ‘Indian River Lagoon’ in our county name, are going to be sitting here, wringing our hands, because we don’t have the dollars to do the projects that are necessary because we’ve been work - ing on a plan for five years,” Adams said. “Too much planning at this point.” The management plan is the task of the Indian River Public Works’ coastal division, in partnership with Tetra Tech consultants, who also worked on Brevard County’s 273-page plan. However staffing shortages in the division, COVID delays and other more urgent priorities such as hurricanes and beach replenishment put the lagoon plan on the back burner. “We haven’t been sitting on our heels watching this go by,” said public works director Rich Szpyrka. “My staff has been busting their butts on this and the beaches. With those three, and now we have turtle season, we’ve been doing the best we can with what we got. We’ll put this as a priority – we’re doing it all at the same time.” Szpyrka said the county has several worthy projects in the works that could be highly ranked for state funding. “We tried to move forward as best we could, this is important to us. We have projects in the hopper ready to go. I know there’s a lot of money out there – I’m all about spending other people’s money to get things done for the community and save the taxpay - ers dollars,” Szpyrka added. as the developer of Laguna Village, will release plans for a second phase of the project. “We are looking at building two con - dominium buildings with nine condos each that will be about 2,200 square feet and start around $1.5 million,” Acevedo said, noting that condo de - tails are still preliminary. The development has a very Vero origin. “A friend of mine from high school who knows Shane told him about the land, and he came and looked at it a couple of times,” said Suzanne Curry. “We were able to put a deal together, even though the prior developer was a little difficult.” “Her friend knew we were looking for land,” said Acevedo. “When he brought me here, I was amazed. I had always thought of Vero as a sleepy little beach town but I discovered that it was red hot. “The property has fantastic views, relative to the price we paid, and be - ing in Grand Harbor with all it offers creates a lot of additional value. Our houses, which were custom designed for this location, went through the community architectural review com - mittee and we have kept our lines of communication with the board open. The community board president, Jeff Caso, has been great.” Acevedo and his partners closed on the 4.2-acre Laguna Village parcel on March 10, 2022, paying $9.8 million. Design, en - gineering and permitting followed. “The deal went quick,” said Acevedo of the purchase handled by The Curry Team. “We got it done in a month.” He called Vero Beach “an incredible find.” “I am pretty impressed,” he said. “It is essentially a less expensive Jupiter. Vero is just as beautiful and desirable as Jupiter, but homes on the river like the ones we are building in Grand Harbor would be three times as much down there.” Acevedo has a local project supervi - sor but comes to Vero often himself to check on progress and look for addi - tional opportunities. “I usually stay at Costa d’Este and it is like a vacation every time I come down here,” he said. “We are very excited to be entering the Vero Beach market.” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 Grand Harbor riverfront

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 11 As July 1 approaches, lagoon plan environmental specialist Melissa Meisenburg said staff hopes to have a rough outline of the plan ready to go, along with several projects that are already permitted. “There are definitely projects that we have, including projects that I have permits for, that are ready to move forward,” Meisenburg said. “We need funding. They include seagrass restoration, oyster restoration as well as muck mapping for the lagoon.” In the following 9-12 months, Meisenburg said the focus for the plan will be plugging in data to the outline while communicating between staff and Tetra Tech on edits. “I know we’re short staffed and I know we’re doing a whole bunch of other stuff. I know that I’ve talked to Mr. Zito about this and will talk with the county administrator about getting some additional help or whatever we need to do,” Earman said. “I’m all ears. It’s just not moving fast enough for me, and I’m not blaming anybody at all.” NEWS

12 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Natural gas service ness Development Marc Seagrave. Seagrave said the four regulator stations, including one in Indian River Shores, will reduce pressure between the main pipeline and gas customers throughout the distribution system and serve as a connection point. “This system will serve residential communities and business districts throughout the barrier island. The timing for the installation of the FCG facilities will begin in May and the locations where system installations will occur will gradually increase over time as communities and business sign-on, and as permits are received followed by gas system installations,” Seagrave said. John’s Island Club General Manager Mike Korpar spoke at a recent Shores town council meeting asking for an update on the town’s proposed natural gas franchise agreement. Vero Beach and Indian River County had pre-existing gas franchise agreements signed when gas lines were run on the mainland. “Florida City Gas wants to run lines in John’s Island this summer,” Korpar said. “They are planning on having gas service in John’s Island in the fall, except for Gem Island and Coconut Palm because there are extra permits and it will take two years for that.” Mayor Brian Foley said the town staff is working with Florida City Gas on the contract and he wants it before the town council for consideration at its April 27 meeting. “My target is two weeks to have everything worked out with Florida City Gas,” Foley said. Florida City Gas spokesperson Bianca Soriano said “John’s Island as a community is working with FCG, but not officially signed-on yet. John’s Island officials have expressed that they wish to see a franchise agreement between FCG and the Town of Indian River Shores in place before they can make final commitments.” Councilwoman Mary Alice Smith said she looks forward to seeing the cost figures, specifically how much it will cost each homeowner to hook up to natural gas service. “The hook-up costs in many cases may be limited to an account activation fee and a deposit; in other situations, there could be a requirement for the customer (or community) to make a contribution in advance of construction, which is eligible for refund, in order to receive service,” Soriano said. The Strand community in the Shores was the first island neighborhood to get natural gas service, before the pipeline was run, through a temporary service trailer unit in the development, so most of the infrastructure has been built out there already. The 8050 Blue development across A1A also has a temporary gas facility that will soon be providing Compressed Natural Gas to the condos there. Indian River Shores and Vero’s Central Beach are the heart of the new natural gas service area, but eventually service will stretch all the way north to Windsor and south to Vero’s South Beach neighborhoods, hotels and businesses. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 An updated construction project designed to make the high-span portion of the Wabasso Causeway safer for cyclists and pedestrians is scheduled to finally get underway later this month and end this summer after the $1.4 million state project hit some snags in 2021. Florida Department of Transportation officials say no vehicle lanes will be closed during the day, but that single-lane closures may occur overnight between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. except for Friday and Saturday nights, holidays and during special events in the Vero Beach area. “Business and residential access will be maintained at all times,” the agency stated in a letter about the construction. About 35 people heard Florida Department of Transportation engineers outline the project details Feb. 22nd at the Environmental Learning Center. Orchid Mayor Bob Gibbons showed up, as did several other Orchid resiWabasso Causeway: Long-awaited bridge work to get underway BY SAMANTHA ROHLFING BAITA Staff Writer

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 13 Longtime Central Beach resident Alain Mignolet never thought he would sell the Twin Oaks Tennis Club where he has taught many of Vero’s most promising junior players since the early 1990s. But at age 68, after more than three decades of owning and operating the club, health concerns – combined with the right price at the perfect time from an enthusiastic buyer – convinced Mignolet to accept Kaye Manly’s offer. So, if all goes as planned this week, Twin Oaks will have a new owner ready to spend big money to completely renovate the cozy, seven-court complex on Sixth Avenue, just north of 12th Street. “Barring any unexpected delays,” Manly said last week, “we’ll close on Friday and I’ve got a landscaper scheduled to come by on the 15th.” Neither Manly nor Mignolet would divulge the selling price of the 1.9-acre property and business – the club has more than 75 current members – but Mignolet said money was not the deciding factor. In fact, he said he received four “reasonable” offers from prospective buyers, including one who followed him from the clubhouse to the parking lot, waving a check. “The club was never actually on the market, but people kept approaching me,” Mignolet said. “I guess they heard I was thinking about selling because of my health issues. “At the end of the day, though, it didn’t come down to money,” he added. “It came down to someone who was committed to not only improving the club but also keeping all of my staff. “Of all the potential buyers, Kaye was the best fit.” Also, Mignolet said, Manly told him he’s welcome to return to the club to teach when his health improves. That could be a while, however. For months now, Mignolet has been undergoing medical examinations, subjecting himself to a barrage of tests and taking injections in hopes of identifying the cause of – and curing – the pain in his back and neck, weakening of his leg muscles, loss of balance and reduced motion of his right arm. He said doctors have told him the symptoms, which prevent him from being on the tennis court and even stringing rackets, are not related to the spinal surgery he underwent last summer. Based on the varying diagnoses, Mignolet believes he is suffering from multiple health issues. He said he has been told by specialists that he might need at least two more surgeries, plus additional injections, MRIs and other tests. “I spent 30 years doing everything here – working seven days a week on the court, putting down 80-pound bags of clay, hanging windscreens, repairing sprinklers, painting …,” Mignolet said. “When I bought this place from the bank, it was a mess,” he continued. “It took years to fix everything, even after the club opened. Now, I no longer have the ability to do what I used to do. “As recently as the start of the year, I was not looking to sell and wasn’t planning to sell,” he added. “And if I were healthy, I wouldn’t be selling. But my body can’t keep up with my mind.” As Mignolet’s role has diminished, he has relied heavily on Yohann Prinsen, a 25-year-old fellow Belgian he brought to Vero Beach three years ago, after first convincing him to play college tennis in the U.S. Prinsen, who played for – and graduated from – Idaho State University, has moved into Mignolet’s home and essentially has been running Twin Oaks’ operations, allowing his boss to focus on his health. It was Prinsen who developed a tennis relationship with Manly, 71, who moved from Vermont to Vero Beach four years ago, plays six days each week and continues to take lessons from him. And it was Prinsen whom Manly approached in December, when Mignolet began getting offers, with her interest in buying and renovating the club. “The first time I came to Twin Oaks to hit with Yohann early last year, I walked in, looked around and thought about all the ways the club could be improved,” said Manly, who has a history of taking on building renovation and restoration projects. NEWS ‘Passing baton’: Longtime owner to sell Twin Oaks Tennis Club BY RAY MCNULTY Staff Writer CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

14 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ “I didn’t get serious about it, though, until Alain began contemplating selling,” she added. “That’s when I asked Yohann if he planned to be here a while and whether he would be interested in working with me to make the place better. “He said he was, and that’s when I told Yohann to take my idea to Alain.” Manly was aware that other potential buyers had made inquiries, even offers, but she was willing to retain Prinsen and the rest of Mignolet’s staff. “I knew there were other people interested in buying, but I also knew nobody else would be able to meet Alain’s specific requests,” she said. “And Alain realized he’d never get a better offer.” If Twin Oaks sells as expected, Prinsen will be the club’s tennis director and oversee its operations. “Of all the pros I’ve brought in here, Yohann is the best,” Mignolet said. “He’s intelligent, hardworking and personable. This is a great opportunity for him, and Kaye is so lucky to have him. “I’m passing the baton.” As for Manly, who worked professionally as a nurse anesthetist, she’s excited about embarking on her new venture. “It’s a challenge, and I’m up for it,” said Manly, who described herself as a 3.0- to 3.5-level tennis player. “I love to play, but I never thought about owning a club. That’s not my motivation. For me, it’s about the project.” “I’ve always seen this club as something I wanted to save – something to recreate, something this community needs,” she added. “So we’re going to do it, and we’re going to do it right.” NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 Twin Oaks Tennis Club Covid hospitalizations doubled in week BY LISA ZAHNER Staff Writer Florida did not report new infection data last week to the federal COVID-19 tracker, so it’s tough to tell if numbers are up or down, but locally, hospitalizations at press time for complications of COVID illness had doubled from just one week ago. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID Data Tracker cited five new hospitalizations over the past week, and on Monday Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital spokesperson Arlene AllenMitchell said, “We have eight patients in-house today with COVID. None of the eight patients is in the ICU.” That number is way up from four people hospitalized with COVID one week prior. Two weeks ago, the number of new infections doubled in a one-week spike after spring break for public schools and colleges. Typically a rise in hospitalizations follows roughly two weeks behind a marked increase in new infections. With the federal COVID-19 emergency set to end on May 11, most areas of the country are managing a fairly low rate of new infections per capita. The United States’ sevenday rolling average of new cases – a statistic that soared to more than 200,000 cases per day during the Delta-variant surge in 2021, and to more than 800,000 cases per day in early 2022 as Omicron variants spread like wildfire – is now less than 20,000 per day. Now out of crisis mode, public health officials are studying what worked and what went wrong in 2020 and beyond as the world reacted to the spread of COVID-19, and are planning for the next global. pandemic, which most experts see as inevitable. Two recent polls designed to gauge public opinion about the pandemic found that 45 of Americans feel the federal government was very unprepared for the COVID pandemic. But more telling is the fact that only 49 percent of those surveyed felt the United States is any better prepared for the next pandemic – even after lessons learned since 2020. Eightyeight percent of survey respondents said it will take a significant investment of dollars and other resources to get better prepared. A study of global vaccination rates and best public health practices found that in areas where people distrusted government officials the most, vaccination efforts were not as successful, unless there was a grassroots effort to build trust within communities by local public health officials. Doctors also continue to collect data on and research the constellation of troubling symptoms referred to as Post-COVID Conditions (PCC) or “long COVID” which afflicts an estimated 65 million people worldwide.

16 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ dents, as the town’s concerns have helped shape the design. The first phase of the long-awaited bridge improvements will include installing a pedestrian and bicycle railing next to the westbound lane on the north side of the C.R. 510 Wabasso Beach Road bridge. A second phase will mirror the railing next to the eastbound lane on the south side of the bridge. In September 2021, work had already begun on FDOT’s bike and pedestrian safety project on the bridge between U.S. 1 and the gated island communities along Highway A1A, a hazardous stretch of bridge which offered little room between bikes and motor vehicles. However, the project, which originally included a 3-foot chain link fence, was brought to a halt when residents of the barrier island drowned it in a flood of complaints that the fence would destroy the iconic river view. Though stanchions for the chain link fence are already up, FDOT – working closely with the county Municipal Planning Organization – decided to change the design. Now, the first order of business, says FDOT Administrator Sarah Storey, will be to remove the stanchions. Also scheduled to begin this spring about 700 feet south of the bridge is the Environmental Learning Center’s extensive dock project, which will encompass the removal and replacement of the pilings and deck of a 25-plusyear-old dock extending 365 feet into the Indian River Lagoon. Indian River Shores residents who have a medical emergency at home or in the town may benefit from a recently purchased piece of technology that isn’t typically available in the back of an ambulance. The Shores invested $5,000 in a portable General Electric ultrasound machine and is training paramedics how to use it to save lives of patients in transit to the hospital. Not the previous generation’s clunky ultrasound machine attached to a big screen, this ultrasound wand links by Bluetooth signal to any smart phone or tablet to display a clear image of the scan. Public Safety Chief Rich Rosell told the town council how the new handheld, wireless ultrasound would be used to improve care. “If we get a call and somebody has an aortic aneurism or some other type of bleed, we can diagnose that immediately. It enhances our ability to keep you alive and get you where you need to be.” Having this diagnostic tool will enable the Shores’ paramedics to give the hospital’s emergency room a better idea of what kind of care will be needed. “It will also be used to make the decision of whether to MedEvac a patient or not,” Rosell said. Rosell said he and Deputy Chief Mark Shaw have wanted to purchase the portable ultrasound for some time. “The technology finally caught up to where the affordability is reasonable,” he said. The VScan Air CL unit can be used to scan the chest, abdomen and extremities. It clearly shows arteries and veins and can let paramedics know if a lung is collapsed, if there’s internal bleeding or if an injured leg or arm is getting good blood circulation. “We can use it in a case where it’s hard to find a pulse or there’s a weak pulse,” Shaw said. Since the department has two ambulances plus an advanced life-support fire truck, it would take three portable ultrasounds to equip all three units. Shaw said he and Rosell plan to put $5,000 in the budget next year for a second unit so both ambulances are equipped. Shaw said all three shifts got training from the town’s Medical Director Dr. Bobby Ford, an emergency room physician from Rockledge. NEWS BY LISA ZAHNER Staff Writer Shores buys high-tech portable ultrasound machine CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 Wabasso Causeway project

‘ART IN BLOOM’ ARRANGEMENTS ARE AUTO-THIS-WORLD P. 28 Liza Weihman and Barbara Hotchkiss.

18 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ A Vanity Fair article written on the 30th anniversary of Truman Capote’s infamous ‘A Night to Remember’ recalled: “If you weren’t invited to Truman Capote’s black-and-white dance in honor of Kay Graham, you simply left town.” The same could possibly be said for the recent John’s Island Community Service League Gala, An Enchanted Night of Black and White. Unlike the 1966 soiree, though, which was all about power, for the hundreds of guests at the John’s Island celebration, it was all about philanthropy. The weather was picture perfect as arriving guests gathered for cocktails under the porte-cochère and were greeted by lithesome acrobats pouring champagne, and black and whiteclad stilt-walkers, one skillfully playing a violin. Guests were asked to wear black and white, whether black tie or informal chic, and everyone willingly embraced the theme. Inside, the club was with elegant black and white décor, from the casino in the ballroom to the multiple dancing and dining venues, including a most tempting black and white dessert table. In her welcome, Delia Willsey JICSL gala chair, thanked everyone for their Service League’s gala: Black and white – and out of sight! BY MARY SCHENKEL Staff Writer Courtney Pastrick and Lynda Glavin. PHOTOS: JOSHUA KODIS Allison Brokaw, Donna Hall and K.K. Lowther. Liz Schroeder, Wheatie Gibb, Betsy Fox and Pat Thompson. Baerbel O’Haire with Jay and Carolyn Antenen. Sherm Hotchkiss, Lynn and Jerry Babicka, Kyle and Ben Legg, and Barbara Hotchkiss. Lisa Bullock, Angie Marriott, Mary Bradley and Caroline Vandeventer. Delia Willsey and Karen Drury. PHOTOS, STORY CONTINUED ON PAGES 19-23

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 19 generous support of the league, which for four decades has raised and distributed millions to benefit the greater community through charitable initiatives and scholarships. “A big thank you to all our generous sponsors and a special thank you goes out to Bob Gibb and our legacy partnership with John’s Island Real Estate Company. Over the years Bob has been an outstanding supporter of the Service League and those in need,” said Willsey. Willsey also recognized many of the individual members of her expansive and enthusiastic 60-member gala committee, who “opened their hearts to take part in the planning of the event,” before praising David Colclough, assistant general manager, for guiding her “through every step of this journey,” their “amazing chef Anthony Cole,” and the entire John’s Island team. In the gala program, Karen Drury, JICSL president, said that their mission has remained the same for the past 43 years.

20 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Betsy Fox with Amy and Cecil Conlee. Ellen Kendall and Chuck Lyon. Kristen Yoshitani and Patricia Carter. Ron and Connie McGlynn. Sherry Ann and Ned Dayton. Al and Barbie Horton with Steve and Julie Williams. Gene Atkinson, Carolyn McCoy, Eleni Henkel, Debra Littleson and Benagh Newsome. PHOTOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 21 Ellenann Haughey with Carol and Ted Price and Christine Price. Rick and Anita Leggott, Merrole and Paul Steinway and Linda Fox. Kate and Bill Freeman with Liz Schroeder. Jackie Bryant and Anne Graves. Teresa Winslow with Bernie and Linda Kastory. Jimbo and Jessica Lumley. Terry Pflager, Nancy Ross and Rich Marra. Susie Perticone, Joan Marrow and Nancy Axilrod. PHOTOS, STORY CONTINUED ON PAGES 22-23

22 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Jim and Priscilla Morphy. Mary and Don Blair with Monica and Rick Segal. Tim Morris, Pam and Jake Layton, Dale Dutile and Kathy Sanford. Peter and Eleni Henkel. Sara Beth and Dillon Roberts. PHOTOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 23 “We are a nonprofit, member-driven organization involved in raising funds for the operating expenses of charitable agencies in Indian River County. Our focus is on the health, education and human services issues of women, children and families in need, regardless of race, religion or ethnicity. That focus also includes scholarships for the post-secondary education of the JI Club’s employees and their children,” wrote Drury. Using monies raised during the 2021- 22 fundraising cycle through contributions, fundraisers and the Tambourine Shop, the John’s Island Community Service League this year provided 42 agencies with $1.186 million in regular grants and $220,000 in strategic grants, plus another $55,000 in scholarships, for a total of $1.463 million. Funds raised at this year’s gala will go toward next year’s distributions. With these most recent allocations, the Service League will have distributed more than $18.5 million since its inception. For more info, visit jicsl.org. 2001 PLYMOUTH PROWLER • 6,387 Mi. 2021 CADILLAC CT4 V • 8,447 Mi. 2016 CHEVROLET CORVETTE 3LT CONV • 4,735 Mi. 2022 FORD BRONCO BADLANDS • 890 MI. 2017 MERCEDES-BENZ SL 550 • 18,504 Mi. 2023 BMW X5 M50i • 1,477 Mi. 2023 LAND ROVER DEFENDER 90X • 2,787 Mi. 2017 PORSCHE 911 4S • 18,280 Mi. 2018 PORSCHE 911 TURBO S • 6,503 Mi. $97,750 $117,750 $189,750 $37,750 $46,838 $62,750 $70,738 $74,750 $96,750 SELL US YOUR CAR. WE PAY TOP DOLLAR. IMMEDIATE PAYMENT. STATE OF THE ART SERVICE FACILITY • WE SERVICE ALL MAKES AND MODELS • FINANCING AVAILABLE WINTER HOURS Monday - Friday: 9:00AM - 5:00PM • Saturday: 9:00AM - 4:00PM • Sunday: Closed Service Hours: Monday - Friday: 9:00AM - 5:00PM ROSNER MOTORSPORTS Contact Us Sales: (772) 469-4600 rosnermotorsports.com 2813 Flight Safety Dr., Vero Beach, FL 32960 TREASURE COAST’S LUXURY DESTINATION SHOP 24/7 AT ROSNERMOTORSPORTS.COM 52 Years In Business!

24 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ The Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County celebrated seven decades of caring for animals in need during its annual Cause for Paws Dinner at the Oak Harbor Club. A pack of special canine greeters, all available for adoption, wagged and licked their way into guests’ hearts as they arrived, while their feline counterparts, a kindle of purr-fectly adorable kittens, won over any holdouts. All those soulful eyes clearly worked their magic, as the event, which featured silent and live auctions and a call to the heart, raised more than $425,000 to benefit the HSVB, which will use the funds to further its mission of caring for animals and promoting responsible pet ownership. “Tonight, we are celebrating a very special milestone. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County,” said Susan Schuyler Smith, HSVB board president, as she welcomed guests. “We haven’t all been here for 70 years, but for 70 years we’ve been dedicated to the life-saving work of rescuing and caring for the animals in our care. We have come a long way since our very humble beginnings, and it is thanks to the hard work and dedication of our staff, volunteers and supporters that we’ve been able to make such a difference in the lives of so many animals.” A video was shown chronicling the history of the shelter, which began in 1953 when Peggy Kuster and 15 other local residents founded the Animal Protective Society of Vero Beach. The goal was to ensure that lost and unwanted animals would receive caring treatment and a place to live. “I am proud to announce that, in the past year, we provided shelter for more than 3,000 animals and helped over 2,000 find their new, loving homes,” said Kate Meghji, HSVB CEO. “And, for the third year Pet fete: Cause for Paws celebrates 70 years of animal care BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF Staff Writer Dick and Sally Daley with Sue Sharpe. PHOTOS: JOSHUA KODIS PHOTOS CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 25 in a row, achieved a 95 percent save rate, making us the largest no-kill shelter in Indian River County. “We have reunited over 500 lost pets with their owners, given nearly 8,000 vaccines, and performed nearly 3,000 spay and neuter surgeries to help reduce the number of homeless animals in our community,” said Meghji. She added that the shelter also cared for 500 wild animals, fostered more than 600 animals and rescued about 200 homeless pets from other Florida shelters. After a spirited live auction, guests viewed several brief, but heartwarming videos featuring the various aspects of the work done by the HSVB to help animals and people, from caring for injured, abused and/or older animals to assisting owners who can no longer care for their pets, before closing the evening with a call from the heart. For more information, visit hsvb. org.

26 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Robin Davis, Page Franzel, Bob and Cindy Broten, Diane Langevin and Patricia Willis. Suzanne Leigh-Vilas and Marcelo Vilas, Liz and Rob Kusch, and Terry and Harvey Wilson. Garrick Kantzler, Charlotte Terry, John Hilton and Doreen Kantzler. Anne Dunwoody with Warren and Virginia Schwerin. PHOTOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 27 Debra Schoonover and Cindy Diamond with Whiskey and Cairo. Lisa Bergman and Shelby Varacalli with Mimosa and Amaretto. Debra Schoonover and Cindy Diamond with Whiskey and Cairo. Robert Fabian, Jennifer Wallens and Michael Roe. Teresa Ingram and Harold Oberkotter. Susan Schuyler Smith, James and Jane Schwiering, Jordan Schwiering and Jonathan Schwiering. Kristin Dobson and Chris Gurney with Cassie.

28 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ The imaginative floral designers at this year’s Art in Bloom luncheons at the Vero Beach Museum of Art were tasked with expertly interpreting 3-dimensional pieces, fashioning designs as unique and appealing as the exhibit that inspired them, Rolling Sculpture: Streamlined Art Deco Automobiles and Motorcycles. This year’s luncheon committee was co-chaired by Barbara Hathaway and Kathy Flatley, while Ann Jones and Ann Webber co-chaired the floral exhibition. The extraordinarily talented floral artists crafted 12 interpretive designs, each of which creatively played off the colors and shapes of the spectacular vehicles. In addition to Jones and Webber, this year’s designers were Emily D’Andrea, Ginger DeSimone, Julie Herrmann, Barbara Kaytes, Lee LaPointe, Cress Graham Meier, Sharie Mortimer, Nancy Murray, Anne Noonan, Pinkie Roe, Elaine Sigler, Liza Weihman and Arun Wijetilleke. To accommodate the 420 guests, ladies had their choice of attending one of two luncheon sessions, viewing and voting for their favorites in several categories, before enjoying a luncheon catered by Elizabeth Kennedy & Co. This year’s presentation featured Texas-based floral designer Maxine Owens, who creates art- and natureinspired arrangements at Max Owens Design, a boutique floral and event design company. “This is a particularly spectacular Art in Bloom. It’s amazing to see these floral arrangements in conjunction with the art deco automobiles and motorcycles,” said Brady Roberts, VBMA CEO, before thanking the event sponsors, which included presenting sponAuto-this-world arrangements at Museum’s ‘Art in Bloom’ BY MARY SCHENKEL Staff Writer ART IN BLOOM 2023 WINNERS: Best in Show: Lee LaPointe Automobile: 1934 Packard Twelve Model 1106 Director’s Choice: Ginger DeSimone Motorcycle: 1941 Indian Model 441 Best Interpretation: Emily D’Andrea and Julie Herrmann Motorcycle: 1930 Henderson KJ Streamline Best use of Color: Cress Graham Meier Automobile: 1939 Graham-Paige “Sharknose” Combination coupe. Best use of Texture: Liza Weihman and Anne Noonan Automobile: 1938 Tatra T77A Best Use of Rhythm: Ann Jones and Ann Webber Automobile: 1938 Talbot-Largo T150C-SS Mary Bell Case, Kathy Strickland, Helen Getz, Robin MacTaggart and Sharon Lydon. PHOTOS: JOSHUA KODIS PHOTOS, STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

30 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Anne Jamieson, Emily Sherwood and Sue Siegelbaum. Michelle Julian and Pat Thompson. Kathy Flatley and Barbara Hathaway. Daria Stranghoener, Nancy Van Dyke and Connie Coolidge. Mary Lee Stallkamp and Sandy Rolf. PHOTOS, STORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28 sor and VBMA board chair Emily Sherwood. Introducing Owens, Roberts commented that she has focused her career on creativity, whether merchandising for well-known brands or designing arrangements for events and weddings. “As an extensive traveler, she also finds that seeing the world provides a creative spark and, being one of our kind of people, she draws inspiration from paintings like Dutch Master paintings and also architecture and interior design,” said Roberts. “I absolutely love sharing my love for florals with people who are excited about it and want to learn and really embrace all that flowers have to offer,” said Owens, before sharing her personal journey as she demonstrated the creation of two stunning arrangements. Extending the lovely afternoon, guests also shopped the Museum Store Trunk Show which featured Erica Zap Jewelry and Winding Road purses. The Rolling Sculpture: Streamlined Art Deco Automobiles and Motorcycles exhibit is on display through April 30. For more information, visit VBMuseum.org.

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 31 Becky Torbin and Gerri Smith. Loretta Kaplan with Jane Chisholm and Gertie Chisholm. Ann Jones, Anne Noonan and Ann Webber. Suzy Grote, Katie Heins and Lisa Brownback. Carol Brown and Barbara Schimansky. Mare Tormey and Betsy Smith.

32 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ A blanket of colorful easter eggs dotted the grassy area and beach in front of sponsor Mulligan’s Beach House before swarms of children, in three age groups from toddlers to age 9, eagerly dove in, hoping to gather as many eggs as possible during the City of Vero Beach Recreation Department’s 62nd annual Easter Egg Hunt. Roughly 3,000 candy-filled plastic eggs, plus some special golden eggs, had been carefully placed by recreation staff and volunteers, overseen by recreation supervisor Gaby Dwyer. An extra-large but very friendly Easter Bunny was also on hand to make sure that no child was left empty handed, and Muffin the Clown was kept busy painting face-art on the youngsters. Plans are already in place for the 63rd Easter Egg Hunt, March 23, 2024. Everything’s ‘find’ and candy for kids at Easter Egg Hunt Liberty Blossom Heen.

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 33 Vero Beach Mayor John Cotugno and Recreation Director Jim O’Connell. Destin, Colt and Chen Jarrell with Bonnie Stansel. Lana Rae and Lola James visit the Easter Bunny. PHOTOS: JOSHUA KODIS Savannah McCrae and Genevieve McCrae. Charlotte Long and Violet Long.

34 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ CARPET ONE CREATIVE FLOORS & HOME Creative Floors & Home has more for your entire home from the floor up! With Flooring, Tile, Cabinets and even vacuum cleaners! 772.569.0240 1137 Old Dixie Hwy • Vero Beach creativefloorscarpet1verobeach.com Professional Cabinet Design Available Bob and Sue Krzemien. Danielle and Addison Sonntag. Ebbe McLacken. John and Tracy Carroll. Mike and Mazie Regan with Rhett. PHOTOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33

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36 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Firefighters Fair: Another perfect 10 (days) for family fun! The Indian River County Firefighters Fair once again offered up 10 days of good old-fashioned family fun, with thrilling rides, carnival games and food, and a large enough variety of live entertainment to suit everyone’s taste. This year also boasted shows featuring a Big Bee Transforming Robot Car, sea lions, glass blowing, comedy, hypnosis and magic acts, Aerial Antics, karate demonstrations, a demolition derby and the ever-popular firefighter training show. A highlight of the fair is always the Indian River County Youth Livestock and Horticulture Show and Auction, with young residents taking over the barn area to showcase their 4-H Club endeavors. Proceeds support the IRC Burn Fund, high school scholarships, fairground improvements and charitable organizations, which this year included the American Red Cross, One Blood, United Against Poverty and the Salvation Army. Colton Russano, Wyatt Russano, and Ivie Anderson. Julianna Bynum. Stacey and Olivia Carpenter with Camilla Pastore. PHOTOS: JOSHUA KODIS Lucas Walton, Chloe and Sean McDonnell. PHOTOS CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

38 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Arely, Diana, Heidi, Perla and Italy Simon. Chanley Kessler-Rovella with Bobby. Cheyenne House and Makenzie House. Lauryn Craft. Carlei Jenkins and Braeden Patteson. Brynleigh Patteson. PHOTOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 36

One night in mid-February, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took the stage at the Breakers in Palm Beach to brag about how much he’d done for the Everglades. “Protecting Florida’s natural resources has been a top priority since my first day in office,” DeSantis told the crowd of more than 600 as they nibbled on shrimp salad and short ribs at the $2,500-aseat fundraiser for the Everglades Foundation. These were well-heeled nature lovers and outdoors enthusiasts who cherish the Everglades, the subtropical wetland that covers thousands of square miles of southern Florida. It’s a landscape teeming with plant and animal life, but scarred by the impacts of runaway urban development and industrial agriculture. DeSantis was essentially opening for Lionel Richie, slated to play later. By the time he was done, the hotel’s Ponce de Leon Ballroom erupted in applause. To many at the event that night, Florida politicians had let them down, failing year after year to execute ambitious plans to restore the natural flow of water through the Everglades’ sawgrass prairies and cypress swamps. But the 44-yearold DeSantis was different. In his first term, with the help of the president of the Florida Senate, he’d secured an historic $1.7 billion in state and federal funding for the Everglades. Then he pledged $3.5 billion more to accelerate federal restoration plans a quarter century in the making. “DeSantis has been very good about restoration,” says Paul Tudor Jones, the billionaire hedge fund investor who co-founded the Everglades Foundation 30 years ago with his fishing buddy, the late George Barley. “I give him high marks – higher than any other leader.” A few days after the gala, the first effects of that spending became visible 55 miles west of the mansions lining Palm Beach: The US Army Corp of Engineers broke ground on a huge project to clear away sugar cane plantations and create a reservoir the size of Manhattan. It’s the centerpiece of what may be the world’s largest wetlands restoration, aimed at cleansing the waters of Lake Okeechobee of decades of fertilizer runoff and refilling the Everglades, long ago drained to make way for Miami. DeSantis has embraced conservation and clean water unlike just about any Florida governor before him. His focus on restoring the Everglades, in particular, has won him hefty donations that could help pay for an expected run for the White House in 2024. At the same time, he’s divorced his form of environmentalism from

STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 38 the larger climate agenda that’s anathema to most of the Republican Party, mainly by avoiding the term “climate change.” The governor’s approach to Everglades’ restoration has bipartisan support, but it’s driven a wedge into the Florida environmental movement. A different Everglades advocacy group, Friends of the Everglades, and the Sierra Club criticize the planned reservoir as too small to truly restore water flows. Picking the right environmental fights has paid off for DeSantis, literally. He’s raised at least $3 million from members of the boards of some major Florida conservation groups, according to a review by Bloomberg Green of Florida Division of Elections records. Many men and women in the room that night in Palm Beach have written big checks to the governor, especially Jones. Since 2018 he’s donated $1.25 million. “I’m kind of a one-issue guy when it comes to Ron DeSantis,” says Jones, who’s given to Republican and Democratic politicians

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41 alike in the past. “He’s been great for the Everglades.” Top aides like to tout DeSantis as a modern-day Teddy Roosevelt, the former Republican president, avid hunter and conservationist. That resonated with former Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, a Florida trustee of the Nature Conservancy. Last year, he gave DeSantis’s reelection campaign $605,000, according to Florida Division of Elections disclosures. “People often forget these days that conservation and conservative come from the same root word,” says Rauner, a Republican. “Going back to Teddy Roosevelt, and even earlier, the Republican Party is about conserving what’s good and important and valuable in our society.” DeSantis’s commitment to the Everglades is tied to his antagonistic relationship with Florida’s billionaire sugar barons. For years, brothers Alfonso and Pepe Fanjul of Florida Crystals Corp. and the Mott family’s U.S. Sugar Corp. poured money into politicians’ campaign coffers, securing backing for federal price supports and tax breaks. Those taxpayer subsidies make sugar cane very profitable in a place where it otherwise wouldn’t be. There are about 400,000 acres of sugar cane planted on drained swaths of the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee. Florida’s governor: 'He's been great for the Everglades.'

Cane fields can’t thrive without lots of fertilizer. In 2016 and 2018, fertilizer runoff spawned huge plumes of toxic green algae that moved through Everglades canals, east and west, spoiling Florida’s nicest beaches. DeSantis, a Florida native, has gone up against sugar interests since 2012, when he won a U.S. House seat. He began to describe restoring the Everglades as critical for assuring there’s clean water for drinking, fishing and the tourism industry that drives Florida’s economy. Twice he voted against renewing the federal sugar subsidies. (They passed anyway.) A few days after taking office, in 2019, DeSantis replaced the board of the South Florida Water Management District, the powerful state agency that controls the use of water and land across the Everglades. The commission had quietly reversed legislative plans to build the reservoir, appeasing sugar farmers who stood to see tens of thousands of acres of their fields flooded. “If you look back through history, the sugar industry is one of the most powerful political forces in the state, maybe the most powerful, and they have heavy influence in both political parties,” says Rauner. “But Governor DeSantis has stood his ground.” U.S. Sugar and Florida Crystals said in separate statements that they have long supported the Everglades restoration plan and have even ceded thousands of acres of fields for the cause. The two companies denied being responsible for extensive pollution, arguing that the fields are downstream of Lake Okeechobee. The Everglades sugar cane farming region, Florida Crystals said, “is the most regulated in America and meets the strictest water-quality standard in the nation.” Twenty-three years ago, Congress passed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, but it stalled for lack of political support. DeSantis began to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state funding for it in early 2019, days into his first term. The now $16 billion plan, known as CERP, would reclaim – and eventually rewild – thousands of square miles of Everglades wetlands that had been drained, covered with invasive crops like sugar cane, paved and channeled into cement causeways. Restoration of the Everglades has advanced more in the past five years than the previous two decades, says Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation. The proof is rising from a clearing in the cane fields, just south of Lake Okeechobee: great piles of earth and gravel that will be shaped into miles of dikes, 23-feet high, that will enclose the reservoir, in the middle of what’s long been sugar cane plantations. By 2030, if all goes according to plan, cleansed waters from Okeechobee will flow into a series of marshes seeded with cattails and water lilies that will remove contaminants. Then, the water will continue south, replenishing the so-called River of Grass and recharging the vast aquifer that supplies 9 million people in greater Miami with drinking water. Top: DeSantis speaks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, March, 5, 2023. Bottom: The late February groundbreaking for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir, the centerpiece of the restoration plan. Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation.

44 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ INSIGHT EDITORIAL During the coronavirus crisis, our Pelican Plaza office is closed to visitors. We appreciate your understanding. By David Ignatius Saudi Arabia’s coldly pragmatic decision a week ago to cut oil production and raise prices sent a simple message: The United States doesn’t call the shots in the Persian Gulf or the oil market anymore. For better or worse, the era of American hegemony in the Middle East is over. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pressed OPEC producers on Sunday to reduce production by about 1 million barrels a day, which boosted the price of crude oil by more than 6 percent to about $85 a barrel. For a Biden administration struggling to contain inflation and avoid recession, the Saudi-led price increase was as welcome as a poke in the eye. Saudi Arabia is hedging its bets, and so is the United States. Neither country wants a break in relations, but leaders in both capitals feel disrespected. It’s not an easy or stable balance – especially for Israel, which wants better relations with Riyadh but depends absolutely on the reliability of U.S. power in the region. But life goes on, even for a jilted superpower. The Biden administration’s “back channel” – CIA Director William J. Burns – visited the kingdom last week. He “discussed shared interests” with top Saudi officials and “reinforced our commitment to intelligence cooperation, especially in areas such as counterterrorism,” a U.S. official told me. It is tempting to see the oil-production move by MBS, as the Saudi crown prince is known, as an endorsement of former president Donald Trump. Certainly, he prefers Republicans, but he has been hedging his bets in the GOP, too. In February, MBS hosted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and a group of top GOP senators that included James E. Risch of Idaho and Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Last week, the Saudis staged a lavish event in Miami hosted by Republican Mayor Francis X. Suarez, an ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump rival. MBS is still loyal, in his way, to the former president who boasted to Bob Woodward, “I saved his ass” after the 2018 murder of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. MBS’s sovereign wealth fund has financed the LIV Golf tour that has showcased Trump’s resorts and has put more than $2 billion in an investment firm run by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser. But I’m guessing that, for MBS, Chinese President Xi Jinping is the new Trump – the big guy who indulges the Saudi leader’s ambitions as a regional powerhouse. When Xi visited Saudi Arabia in December, MBS organized a Gulf summit at which other countries joined in pledging cooperation on economic, energy and security issues. MBS has told Saudi confidants that the United States remains the kingdom’s partner, but not its only partner. I am told that the crown prince explained to these insiders that while his predecessors would immediately grant U.S. requests, “I broke that because I want things in return.” MBS is still buying Boeing airplanes, for example, but he just received a reaffirmation of U.S. protection in Burns’s visit and a joint military exercise. The Biden administration has taken the latest Saudi rebuff calmly, in contrast to its anger after the kingdom sharply cut production in October. Officials note that crude oil prices were at 15-month lows, below $80 a barrel for much of March, and that analysts were forecasting a further slide below $70. Facing that kind of price decline, the Saudis often cut production. Biden administration officials are betting that prices will settle in the mid-80s, and that the overall economic effect will be limited. But if the market tightens and prices rise above $100 a barrel, it’s not clear what the administration could do about it. Biden is not a president for whom this Saudi leader is likely to do any favors. Oil analysts argue that there is an upside. Prices had fallen to levels that discouraged spending for new production capacity. Modestly higher prices might encourage investment that “will be highly necessary when demand takes off” as the global economy revives, argues Andrew Gould, a former chief executive of Schlumberger and former board member of Saudi Aramco. As MBS explores partnership with his new best friend, Xi, he’s becoming more assertive with such neighbors as the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. MBS told Saudi confidants last year that he had demanded concessions from both countries by the end of 2023. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi traveled this week to Riyadh, in a visit that “affirmed mutual concern for promoting common cooperation,” a spokesman for the Egyptian president said. Tensions are said to remain with the UAE, but the Emiratis followed MBS’s lead on the oil-production cut. For Israel, a headstrong MBS carries special risks. Israel has been seeking to normalize relations with the Saudis. But MBS just made a deal with Iran, Israel’s mortal enemy, in a diplomatic bargain brokered by China, the United States’ strongest rival. MBS wants it both ways: maintaining U.S. (and covert Israeli) protection while he ignores their interests. That won’t work. The United States coddled a vulnerable Saudi Arabia for more than half a century because we needed its oil. Now, increasingly, we don’t. What we want is a Saudi Arabia that behaves like a responsible partner, even as it inevitably puts Saudi interests first. A version of this column first appeared in The Washington Post. It does not necessarily reflect the views of Vero Beach 32963.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 45 INSIGHT OP-ED When a U.S. Customs agent confiscated Adriana Cordero's passport, she tried to get it back. And tried. But government bureaucracy was impenetrable. QUESTION: Last year, U.S. Customs confiscated my passport in Montreal as I was returning to the United States. The reason the officer gave me was that it had been reported as “lost or stolen.” It was neither, because I was holding it in my hand! What I had reported as “lost or stolen” was my passport card. I had applied for both a passport and passport card. I received the passport but never received the card. I reported the card as missing, and in time received a replacement. When I got home, I started to call and email the State Department. There is no way to speak to a human. The phone recording tells you to go to the website, and the website gives that same number to call for help. There are no options on the website, forms, or phone tree for my particular situation. Finally, I filled out a complaint form on their website, and that yielded a phone call. A representative gave me an address to send a letter with documentation about my situation. That was three months ago. I've spent hours trying to figure out how to fix this. I know passports are taking longer than usual, but I'm uncomfortable not having my legit passport in hand. Can you help me? ANSWER: The State Department really got its wires crossed on this one. You reported a missing passport card, but the government thought you had lost your passport. I had no idea that U.S. Customs would confiscate a passport reported as lost or stolen, but that makes sense. What makes less sense is that the State Department didn't return your passport when you pointed out the mistake. The passport system is a vast bureaucracy that even experienced travelers don't fully understand. And you are absolutely right about the phone numbers and websites – that reflects my experience and that of most other travelers. The problem with the system is that it can't identify serious errors or assign a level of urgency to them. The government had taken your passport – and kept it – for several months by the time you contacted me. So, apart from visiting Canada and Mexico (which your passport card gives you access to), you were pretty much confined to the country. There was no way you could have avoided this problem. Fortunately, you kept a flawless paper trail, which you forwarded to me. I shared the information with my State Department contact. It took some time, but you finally received a new passport. Get help with any consumer problem by contacting Christopher Elliott at http://www.elliott.org/help BY CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT POOL DECKS • DRIVEWAYS • WALKWAYS FIREPLACES • RETAINING WALLS STAIRS • ASTROTURF & MORE! 634 Old Dixie Hwy. SW Vero Beach, FL 32962 O: (772) 999-5136 C: (772) 563-8377 Licensed & Insured LIC #16674 INSTALLATIONS • CLEANINGS REFINISHING • REPAIRS Committed To Exceeding Expectations

46 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ All true confession books tend to have something in common, which is conversion. After all, if the sinners hadn’t converted at some point after sinning, they wouldn’t be in the business of writing books that declare their former lives to be sinful. Jeannie Marshall’s compact and elegantly voiced book, “All Things Move: Learning to Look in the Sistine Chapel,” is a confession about a former life which begins with a childhood that was squalid in both material and spiritual circumstances, and proceeds into a young adulthood that (mostly by implication) left her emotionally deprived but then got turned around by repeated exposure to the Sistine Chapel, where she found herself reborn into the love of art, the love of the past and, indeed, into love itself. Don’t miss that subtle choice of preposition in Marshall’s title: not “learning to look at the Sistine Chapel,” which is what we expect art books to offer, but learning to look in the Sistine Chapel. It’s not just a book about art appreciation, in other words; it’s about life appreciation, with a conversion that takes place through the author’s encounter with Michelangelo – and with a certain pivotal moment of the European past. The conversion/confession story has a kind of sublime simplicity: I am not the person I once was, but the experience of change has enabled me to speak with the tongues of angels about both my former life and my new life. For Marshall, this means that studying Michelangelo’s work provides her with a new perspective on her life. Simultaneously, the narrative of her past provides her with a frame through which she can manage the otherwise overwhelming scope of the chapel and its contents. Early in the book, when narrating her pre-conversion attitude toward the chapel, which consisted of avoiding it altogether, Marshall refers to it as “something that seemed simultaneously too complex to be understood just by looking at it and too worn out from overexposure.” It’s not always clear that she evades this set of traps. On the personal side, Marshall situates her experience of the Sistine Chapel within her family’s story, offering a simple and moving account of her parents, who never married because Roman Catholic religious considerations made it impossible for her father to divorce his frail and alcoholic first wife. Late in the book there is a touching scene in which her mother, now elderly and weak, finally accepts a visit from a priest, who (without saying it in so many words) absolves her from her irregular life on the grounds that she truly loves her children. On the Michelangelo side, “All Things Move” admirably explicates the art of the Sistine Chapel and the history of its moment. The chapters are structured along the lines of the frescoes themselves, from the narrative panels on the ceiling to the Sibyls and Prophets to the painted faux architecture to the Last Judgment, such that the book really could be used as a guide by a visitor navigating the crowded space. There are moments that reveal both how much Marshall knows and how eloquently she can translate pictures into words. Her account, for instance, of the female figure in the painting of “The Deluge” who is trying to carry a jug balanced on an upside-down table is a little masterpiece of description. What could signal desperation with more pathos, Marshall tells us, than some housewife attempting to hold on to a few household goods at a time like this? The same goes for the marvelous detail that she notices in the depiction of the prophet Isaiah, who has stuck his finger in the open book of what is presumably his prophecy, “holding his place in a way that is ordinary and unremarkable, a practical action that any of us would take when we interrupt our reading to think.” The challenge is to get past what anthropologist Clifford Geertz in another context called “thick description.” That housewife escaping the flood and Isaiah with his finger in a book: How do we go from pointing out these inspiring details to revealing the sublimity of a masterpiece? Marshall reaches out in some familiar directions, for instance to other works of art and other media. She visits the Roman church of Santa Cecilia, patron saint of music, where she discovers that she is enveloped by the sound while feeling no need to explain anything, though it’s not quite clear how that might raise questions about her project of explaining Michelangelo. She reaches out toward poetry, citing the often-quoted work of William Carlos Williams in “The Red Wheelbarrow,” though it would seem that Michelangelo’s aesthetic is as far from those spare lines as it’s possible to be. She reaches out toward the history surrounding the chapel, which is – like all history – a tissue of savagery and intolerance. She finds traces of that darkness in her old childhood rages and in the scrawled commentary left on the walls of the chapel by the Protestant imperial soldiers responsible for the 1527 sack of Rome. Does all this explain the Sistine Chapel? Does it need to? Perhaps not. In one of the book’s most striking claims, referencing the late-Renaissance moment of violence, iconoclasm and religious strife, she declares of the “Last Judgment” that the “painting is about petty, human failure.” To place oneself imaginatively in front of that gigantic, frescoed wall in the Sistine Chapel with its vast span of cosmic horror (the damned) and ecstasy (the saved) and then to receive such a deflationary interpretation – really? “petty, human failure”? – is, at first, profoundly unsettling, counterintuitive, wrong. Upon reflection, however, one comes to understand from the whole of Marshall’s engaging and wellresearched book that the record of her experience in the chapel is not so much Art History 101 as an act of encouragement and permission, inviting readers to bring their own lives to bear as they, however briefly, inhabit this masterpiece. ALL THINGS MOVE LEARNING TO LOOK IN THE SISTINE CHAPEL BY JEANNIE MARSHALL | BIBLIOASIS. 239 PP. $25.95 REVIEW BY LEONARD BARKAN, THE WASHINGTON POST INSIGHT BOOKS

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 47 INSIGHT BRIDGE THE DANGER OUGHT TO BE ABATING By Phillip Alder - Bridge Columnist Robert Hall, an economist, said, “The innocence of the intention abates nothing of the mischief of the example.” I read that three times before thinking that I got the gist of it. For two days, I have been trying to explain the danger-hand concept. Here’s hoping that this example will abate any doubts you still have, I wrote innocently! How should South play in three no-trump after West leads his fourth-highest spade seven and East puts up the queen? North was right to jump to three no-trump. With a long minor, no singleton or void, and insufficient power to consider a slam, just go for the nine-trick game. Yes, it is unlucky that five clubs fails here, but three no-trump can survive the bad breaks. In some cases, it is right for declarer to duck trick one from this holding, but this isn’t one of them! South has six top tricks: one spade (given the first trick), three hearts, one diamond and one club. The extra winners can come from either minor suit. But which one should declarer attack? The first trick marks West with the spade ace. (If East had the ace and queen, West would have led the 10 from a suit headed by the 10-9-8-7.) So, if East gets on lead, a spade through declarer’s remaining jack could be — and, here, is — fatal. East is the danger hand. South should play a heart to the queen and run the diamond 10. Yes, it loses, but even if West finds the best defense of a club shift, declarer wins with dummy’s ace and runs for home with one spade, three hearts, four diamonds and one club. Dealer: South; Vulnerable: North-South NORTH 5 2 K Q 10 9 8 A Q J 8 7 4 WEST A 10 8 7 4 9 6 2 K 5 6 3 2 SOUTH K J 3 A J 10 A Q J 7 4 10 9 EAST Q 9 6 8 7 5 4 3 6 3 2 K 5 The Bidding: OPENING LEAD: 7 Spades SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST 1 NT Pass 3 NT All Pass

50 Vero Beach 32963 / April 13, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ INSIGHT GAMES The Telegraph How to do Sudoku: Fill in the grid so the numbers one through nine appear just once in every column, row and three-by-three square. The Telegraph SOLUTIONS TO PREVIOUS ISSUE (APRIL 6) ON PAGE 80 ACROSS 1 Of room; alas tip (anag.) (7) 5 Every 24 hours (5) 8 Folklore being (5) 9 Hateful criticism (7) 10 Moscow cash (7) 11 Fighting (5) 12 Shoal (6) 14 Badly ventilated (6) 17 Doha’s state (5) 19 Single payment (4,3) 22 Burdensome (7) 23 Flutter one’s eyelashes? (5) 24 Sadly (5) 25 Arm muscle (7) DOWN 1 To this point (2,3) 2 Astronomical bearing (7) 3 Rural scene (5) 4 Excessive (6) 5 Take away (from) (7) 6 Topping in a bag (5) 7 Somewhat like butter? (7) 12 Enormous evergreen (7) 13 Rowing blade holder (7) 15 Celebratory (7) 16 Secret (6) 18 Eighth Greek letter (5) 20 Civvies (5) 21 Adding and subtraction, etc (5)