06/29/2023 ISSUE 26

News 1-12 Arts 41-44 Dining 58-62 Editorial 32 Games 35-37 Health 45-53 Insight 27-40 People 13-26 Pets 63 Real Estate 65-76 Style 54-57 June 29, 2023 Volume 16, Issue 26 Newsstand Price $2.00 TO ADVERTISE CALL 772-559-4187 FOR CIRCULATION CALL 772-226-7925 Two massive projects await Vero’s new finance director. P10 Hone mental skills with brain games. P48 Rival suspicious of Thornton’s hefty war chest. P8 © 2023 Vero Beach 32963 Media LLC. All rights reserved. For breaking news visit All of a sudden, the Vero Beach City Council – a panel that historically has moved at the speed of erosion, especially when confronted with major decisions – is in a hurry. Three of the council’s five members, in fact, are determined to hastily push through an ill-conceived plan to reduce lanes on the Twin Pairs, claiming the change is necessary for the vitalization of Vero’s downtown. I use the word “vitalization” instead of their word, “revitalA COVID-19 work group at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after reviewing virus trends and vaccine efficiency data last week, has concluded that the next vaccine booster expected to be available this fall should target the newest Omicron virus variants which put people over age 65 and infants at higher risk for hospitalization. While it’s now almost impossible to obtain up-to-date statistics specific to our community, the Omicron XBB.1.5 variant was responsible for about 1 in 4 positive cases in the Southeast United States from June 11 through June 24. The emerging Omicron XBB.1.16 variant accounted for 1 in 5 positive cases during that same two weeks. The two most recent vac17th St.Bridge project delayed until September The four-year project to rebuild the crumbling 17th Street bridge across the Indian River Lagoon is off to a bad start – or rather, no start at all, since the work, originally slated to begin May 30, has now been postponed until at least September. “We realize that September is the height of the hurricane season around here, so depending on what happens with the weather, there may be further delays of a few days,” said a site manager at the Vecellio & Grogan, Inc., the West Palm Beach-based contractor on the $22.3 million job, one of the largest bridge construction firms in the nation. It seems like those oft-cited supply chain problems are the culprit for the latest delay BY PIETER VANBENNEKOM Staff writer Emeritus CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BY RAY MCNULTY Staff Writer CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 Omicron variants seen target of next Covid vax booster BY LISA ZAHNER Staff Writer Council’s haste on Twin Pairs? Give us a‘brake’ PHOTO BY JOSHUA KODIS It was big – and encouraging – news for the economy last week when U.S. homebuilder sentiment turned positive for the first time in a year, rising for the sixth straight month to 55 on a scale of 100, showing increased optimism about BY STEVEN M. THOMAS Staff Writer Builders’ confidence healthy here heading into summer and beyond Mardy Fish’s tourney aces it again. P22 Tribute to Vero icon Callie Corey OBIT AND EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW ON PAGE 34 the new home industry going forward. Here in Vero Beach, builder sentiment was even higher. “My confidence number right now is a 75 or 80,” said Bill Handler, president of GHO homes, the leading residential builder on the barrier island. “Things are going really well at MY VERO PHOTO BY JOSHUA KODIS

2 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ on the 17th Street bridge work in Vero Beach. “There were problems with materials acquisition, so the start has been postponed a bit,” said the manager. He asked that his name not be used, since all information on the project was supposed to come from the public relations firm hired by the Florida Department of Transportation, which failed to reply to several messages asking for information. The four-year project had originally been scheduled to start May 30 of this year and run until the summer of 2027. It involves the complete replacement of the eastern (beachside) 400 feet of the bridge that has suffered the worst weather and water erosion damage, as well sealing the full 0.9 miles of the length of the bridge, improving signage and creating permanent new markers for bike lanes. Because of the delay, the builders are missing the off-season summer months, when traffic is lighter in Vero Beach. That would have been an ideal time for lane closures, but now the builders will run smack into the busy winter season, likely causing more delays for weary motorists already reeling from several road construction projects along Highway A1A. During the four years of the new construction project, the speed limit on the bridge will be reduced from 45 mph to 35 mph and the bridge will be subject to lane closures, with traffic limited to one lane in each direction most of the time. At times the bridge, officially renamed the Alma Lee Loy bridge but still known to most as the 17th Street bridge, will be closed entirely, with traffic getting rerouted to the Merrill P. Barber Bridge. Those detours will be limited to nighttime hours between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Sunday through Thursday. Emergency vehicles en route to the Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital or other mainland facilities will be guaranteed access across the bridges at all times. Construction will be divided into three phases. During Phase One, scheduled to take 960 working days, the north side of the bridge will be closed to traffic while motorists traveling between the mainland and the island will have one lane in each direction at their disposal on the south side. During the 580-day Phase Two, the traffic pattern will switch, with the south side of the bridge being closed and north side open to traffic with one lane in each direction. The shorter Phase Three, scheduled to last only 60 days, involves road markings for a bike lane, railings and signage. After the bridge, originally built in 1979, had been found to be “structurally deficient” with crumbling concrete and rusted cables by FDOT in 2019, temporary fixes were undertaken in 2020 which also involved alternating lane closures for several months. That part of the project had also suffered significant delays when a contractor went out of business and a new firm had to be found to complete the interim work. Vero Beach residents seem to be largely resigned and inured to the traffic woes caused by constant FDOT road building projects that often extend beyond the original due dates. No elected public officials showed up at a May public information meeting at Vero Beach City Hall and only a couple of questions were asked of the FDOT officials present by video link. Someone wanted to know, in view of the delay in the temporary fixes project of 2020, what measures had been taken to prevent similar delays in the final work phases. He was told that the contractor will face “significant disincentives if they’re late – there is a daily rate of penalties.” It is not known if the new delay has already triggered some of those penalties. Another questioner wanted to know why it took only two years to build the original bridge from scratch and just rebuilding a 400-foot section of it will now take double the time – four years. The engineers on the project explained that the rebuilding is more complicated because the bridge now supports many utility lines and cables, which the original bridge did not, and which will now have to be moved first. The work on moving the utility cables will be done first, which is why Phase One of the project is the longest. The utility lines will be relocated on temporary brackets away from the bridge to ensure no interruption of services to island residents. Additionally, there will be access at all times to all businesses and residences in the vicinity of the bridge work. Engineers working on the project also gave assurances that boat traffic on the Intracoastal Waterway from Jacksonville to Miami will not be interrupted or impeded by bridge construction. NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Bridge project delayed

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 3 Those measures, though, were never implemented – because after Moore and Carroll were elected in November, they teamed with Neville to dump the previous council’s plan and try to ram through a lane-reduction project their predecessors all rejected. Why push so hard now? The council’s three lane reductionists, two of whom have downtown workplaces, know this is their last chance. They know that 20 years from now, when FDOT will be planning its next State Road 60 repaving project, the county’s population will have exceeded 200,000, with almost all of the growth having occurred to the west of Vero Beach’s city limits. They know that, unless our primary mode of transportation advances beyond the automobile or another major east-west corridor is built, we’ll need those three lanes they want to eliminate. They know such a proposal, offered under those conditions, would go nowhere. So it’s now or never. It’s already easy, however, to enviNEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 My Vero CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 ization,” because hardly anyone alive can remember a time when Vero’s old downtown was buzzing with shoppers. And it doesn’t seem to matter that, if adopted by the council and approved by the Florida Department of Transportation, the proposed lane reconfiguration along one of the busiest and most strategic stretches of State Road 60 in Vero Beach almost certainly will create a traffic nightmare likely to haunt our fast-growing county for the foreseeable future. The three council members fiercely advocating for this project – newcomers Linda Moore and John Carroll, along with second-termer Rey Neville – believe the lane reduction would make the downtown area more walkable and inviting, and they insist the time for change is now. That’s why the crucial first phase of the ongoing, city-commissioned traffic study was conducted during our offseason, rather than during the busy winter months when our roads are most crowded. That’s why the council’s lane-reduction proponents refuse to postpone taking action on the Twin Pairs until the city develops its much-hyped “downtown master plan,” which might not recommend such drastic measures. That’s why there will be no Three Corners-like referendum to allow city voters to decide the fate of a section of State Road 60 that has been a source of community debate for years. Figuratively speaking, these three council members are holding a gun to Vero Beach’s head, using FDOT’s roadresurfacing schedule – and the city’s unwillingness to pay for such a costly project – to justify the reckless pace at which this decision is being made. FDOT, which is scheduled to repave State Road 60 during fiscal year 2026- 27 as part of an every-20-years cycle, has given the city until the end of this year to present its final plan for the Twin Pairs, so the agency’s engineers can begin the design phase of the $6.7 million project in 2024. If the city doesn’t formally request the lane reconfiguration, FDOT will simply stay with the wiser and more responsible Twin Pairs plan submitted by a previous council, which recognized the obvious repercussions of removing lanes of traffic at a time when the county’s population was surging. The previous council chose to approve other less-intrusive trafficcalming measures: reducing the speed limit, installing on-demand crosswalks at key intersections, narrowing existing lanes to demand greater caution, and adding bike lanes.

4 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ sion the traffic congestion the proposed Twin Pairs bottleneck would create – especially during our busy season’s daytime hours, when we can expect to endure lengthy backups along the remaining lanes and experience frustrating wait times at downtown traffic signals. The impending arrival of Brightline’s high-speed passenger trains zipping through downtown 32 times each day, along with an inevitable increase in freight-train traffic, will only make a bad situation worse. Indeed, it’s difficult to believe anything close to a majority of our community’s residents, even those who live in the city, would support such a shortsighted plan. “That’s what the public hearings are for,” Vero Beach City manager Monte Falls said. “We’ll find out whether the community wants this.” But will we? And will it really matter? We know Moore and the other lane-reduction proponents will mobilize their base and make sure their NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 My Vero

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 5 supporters are heard during the City Council’s town-hall-style public hearings, which are required by FDOT and will be held later this year. They might be able to fill the council chamber with dozens of backers eager to make the case that slowing and stopping traffic along the Twin Pairs will prompt more motorists to look around and say, “Hey, we’re downtown. Let’s get out and take a look around.” We don’t know how many lane-reduction opponents will show up – because, other than residents of adjacent neighborhoods that will be directly impacted by motorists searching for alternate routes to avoid the downtown traffic jams, most of them won’t be nearly as motivated. That doesn’t mean those opposed to the lane reduction don’t greatly outnumber those who support it. Remember: Thousands of county residents use State Road 60 to travel through the city. Not everyone is paying attention, however, and if this plan becomes reality, many residents won’t realize the damage that was done until they’re inconvenienced, which would be too late. “I talk to a lot of people in my resNEWS CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

6 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ the Strand.” The Strand is a large, luxury home subdivision in Indian River Shores. Handler added that buyers are already signing contracts before model homes are complete at Seaglass, another GHO subdivision on the island. “We’ve had a steady stream of new business over the past six months, with very strong sales in both January and February this year,” said Karen Kicinski, head of marketing at Lifestyle Homes, which is building houses at Bent Pine Preserve and other locations in Indian River County. “Migration to Florida is continuing and we are seeing very healthy demand throughout the region, especially in Vero Beach,” Brent Baker, Southeast Florida Division President for PulteGroup, told Vero Beach 32963 in May, when he announced another new residential development in Vero, where he already has two sprawling subdivisions underway. The June 19 report from the National Association of Homebuilders showing improved builder confidence followed a burst of building activity in May. “U.S. housing starts unexpectedly surged in May by the most since 2016 and applications to build increased, suggesting residential construction is on track to help fuel economic growth,” according to Bloomberg. Besides actual housing starts, two other main measures of housing activity are the number of building permits applied for and the number of permits issued – and Indian River County is seeing a surge in both. Builders applied for 75 new home permits in May, up from 66 in April, according to Ryan Sweeney, a top official with the county’s Community Development Department. Another 89 permit applications had been filed in June as of last Tuesday. Keeping pace, the county issued 77 new home permits in May, which was up substantially from 45 permits issued in April and more than double the 36 permits approved in May 2022. The surge in new home activity is being driven by a continuing shortage of resale homes, lower insurance costs for new homes compared to older houses, and “improving supply chain efficiency,” according to the National Association of Homebuilders. Inventory on the island and countywide remains far below normal levels. With fewer resale homes to pick from, buyers are turning to new homes to find their place in the sun. At the same time, new homes are more attractive to many buyers because they are up to code and cheaper to insure than older homes. “Everyone would love to have a new home,” said Premier Estate Properties broker-associate, Kay Brown. “With older homes, buyers have to worry about the age of the roof and the windows and the condition of all the systems – plumbing, electrical, swimming pool.” That worry is twofold – most buyers do not want to have to deal with installing upgrades or making expensive, unexpected repairs after purchasing a home; at the same time there’s a fear that a house might be uninsurable or taurant, and the vast majority of them want us to do this,” said Moore, the vice mayor and co-owner of the Kilted Mermaid craft beer and wine bar in downtown Vero. “I haven’t talked to anyone who doesn’t want it.” First-term council member Tracey Zudans, on the other hand, said, “Everybody I’ve spoken to was against it,” adding that the only support she has heard for the lane reduction has come from the dais and activists promoting the project. The man in the middle, Mayor John Cotugno, said he wants to let the process play out. That’s why he voted to approve both phases of the ongoing Twin Pairs traffic study being conducted by engineers in the Vero Beach office of Kimley-Horn & Associates, which told the council last week the roadway’s current infrastructure has the capacity to accommodate the reduction. For what it’s worth, though: Cotugno said he doesn’t agree with the practice of overriding a previous council’s decision unless it resulted in an obvious and egregious mistake, but he knows he can’t overrule the majority. “I can’t kill it,” Cotugno said, referring to the Twin Pairs saga as a “zombie” because it never dies. “Even if I vote against it, it’s going to happen, unless FDOT rejects it because of community input.” He’s right. Unless strong community opposition convinces FDOT to scrap the plan, three council members – who in their most recent elections received a combined 5,636 votes in a city with 17,000 residents – will decide the fate of a lane-reduction project that will significantly impact a growing county with a population of 167,000. That should trouble you. So should this: Nobody is talking about the obvious what-if scenario. What are the city’s options if this flawed plan is approved, the Twin Pairs is reduced to two lanes in each direction and we get the traffic debacle most of us expect? They’re not good. “If the project were done and we wanted to change it? FDOT probably would tell us they’ll modify it when they come back to resurface the road again,” Falls said. “That means either the city would have to pay to fix it, or we just live with it for 20 years.” The council’s lane reductionists, who have embraced a we-know-better NEWS The Finest Pre-Owned 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. Get the Best Price For Your Pre-Owned Rolex We are proud to deliver exceptional customer service and high value offers for your pre-owned Rolex. As your trusted and reputable local jeweler, we make selling your watch a smooth experience with our guaranteed offers. Prices Upon Request 3001 Ocean Drive # 105, Vero Beach, FL 32963 772-231-2060 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 My Vero approach, seem willing to take that chance, believing this project is pivotal in the city’s efforts to breathe life into the downtown. “I’m not going to worry about something that’s not likely to happen,” Moore said of the potential traffic mess the reconfiguration of State Road 60 through downtown might create. She noted that the current Twin Pairs traffic study is the third commissioned by the city in recent years, adding that none has found reducing lanes to be detrimental. To be sure, Kimley-Horn’s study didn’t recommend the lane reduction, either. It merely concluded that the roadway’s infrastructure has the capacity to absorb our projected traffic increases through 2045. That’s no guarantee, though. Nobody could have projected the dramatic growth in the county’s population during the past three years, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought thousands of new residents to our community, and such spikes could happen multiple times over the next 20 years. This, however, you can predict: The traffic congestion created by the Twin Pairs bottlenecks will drive people away from downtown, as motorists try to avoid the backups. For those wondering: There’s still a chance the lane-reduction plan won’t get to FDOT. The council seats currently held by Cotugno and Neville will be on the ballot in November, so it’s possible the lane reductionists could find themselves in the minority – with time for another vote. “If this council votes to approve the lane reconfiguration and then we get somebody else up there?” Zudans said. “I would definitely bring this back up. “There’s no reason to rush this through,” she added. “When you make decisions in a rush, you miss something. And if we miss on this, the entire community is going to be affected.” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Homebuilders happier CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

8 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Sheriff’s Captain Milo Thornton’s early fundraising success in his campaign to replace his boss has impressed local elected officials, but one of his rivals in the 2024 race for sheriff has questioned the motives of some of the contributors who in two months have staked him to a $200,000 war chest. Fellsmere Police Chief Keith Touchberry, the runner-up to now-Sheriff Eric Flowers in the 2020 Republican primary, said members of the community are telling him “something doesn’t smell right” and that they find it “odd and suspicious” Thornton has been able to raise so much money so soon. “They believe there’s an agenda behind it – that people are contributing to his campaign to gain influence over the candidate,” Touchberry said. “I’m not crying about it, and I’m not trying to create controversy or turmoil,” he added. “But no one has ever received that level of money that quickly, and people suspect there’s a motive behind it that isn’t good for Indian River County. And I agree. “Someone needs to say it.” Thornton, who has established himself as the early frontrunner in the 2024 sheriff’s race against Touchberry and Flowers, shrugged off the attack, saying, “I am not going to dignify his ridiculous remarks with a response.” According to the county Supervisor of Elections website Monday, Thornton’s campaign had raised $203,575, plus another $1,000 in in-kind contributions. Touchberry had raised $62,737. Flowers, who announced his re-election bid on June 1, isn’t required to file his first campaign financial report until July 10. Touchberry, though, said the local news media has been focusing too much on money and not enough about qualifications. “Someone needs to change the conversation,” the chief said. “You guys keep writing about the money. This race should be about character, honesty, integrity, competency, experience, accomplishments and vision. “That’s what the voters should be looking at – not how much money someone raised,” he added. “From what I’m hearing, people are tired of that. They want a leader. They don’t want someone who has been politically groomed.” That was an obvious shot at Flowers, who was effectively hand-picked by Deryl Loar, who served three terms as that it will cost a fortune to insure. Annual homeowners insurance rates have doubled and tripled for many older homes on the barrier island in the past several years and notices of non-renewal arrive daily in island mailboxes. “In general, the newer the house, the cheaper the insurance,” according to a recent report from Bankrate, a personal financial information website. “Home insurance like all insurance is based on financial risk,” and insuring a home with a brand new roof, windows, plumbing, wiring and other systems, is seen as “less financially risky by insurance companies.” “Having everything new and up to code is a big plus for buyers,” said Handler, who has a dozen subdivisions underway in the county. “It has to be a benefit to our business.” Builder confidence and increased availability of new homes is also being fueled by easier access to building materials, which were in short supply in 2021 and 2022. “The good news is that – knock on wood – all the supply chain issues we were dealing with during and post-COVID have been resolved,” said Kicinski. “Our biggest issues, supply chain wise, were trusses and windows, both of which are now on time. The labor market is also going well for us, and our trade suppliers are recruiting quality construction workers.” “The supply chain issues have cleared up,” agreed Handler. “That issue has pretty much gone away. But costs have stayed high – nothing has come down in price.” “Building conditions are much better now,” added Baker. “A bottom is forming for single-family homebuilding as builder sentiment continues to rise from the beginning of the year,” said National Association of Homebuilders chief economist Robert Dietz. “The Federal Reserve nearing the end of its tightening cycle is good news for future market conditions in terms of mortgage rates and the cost of financing for builder and developer loans.” “It is starting to feel like a much more normal market,” said Handler. NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 Homebuilders happier BY RAY MCNULTY Staff Writer Sheriff race rival sees ‘agenda’ behind big contributors to Thornton campaign

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 9 NEWS sheriff before retiring and successfully running for a County Commission seat. While Flowers with Loar’s backing was an easy winner in 2020, a variety of missteps during the past two years have opened the door to the serious challenge he faces in seeking re-election. “I had no intention of running in 2024,” Touchberry said. “All Eric had to do was an average job, and he could’ve been there forever. But he made some questionable choices, betrayed our trust, and my phone started ringing. “People kept asking me to run again,” he added. “That’s why I’m in this race.” Touchberry said running for office isn’t easy, especially for someone who’s not a politician, but he believes the Sheriff’s Office needs new leadership. Linking Thornton to Flowers’ flawed administration, the chief said change must come from the outside. “I’m not a politician, and I won’t be a politician,” he declared. “I’m a leader, and I’m a cop. But the people of this county have lost trust in the Sheriff’s Office, and I can restore their trust.”

10 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ NEWS Two huge projects await Vero’s newly hired finance director BY RAY MCNULTY Staff Writer cine boosters were a bivalent formula, which included protection against the original strain as well as Omicron variants. Indian River County ranks fourth among Florida counties with 16.3 percent of local residents having have received this booster. Sumter County, which includes The Villages, is the most-boosted county at 24 percent, according to the CDC. But the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices concurred with a June 15 finding of the Food and Drug Administration vaccine panel, After six years of retirement – and with his wife at home in Port St. Lucie, where she takes care of their 2½-yearold grandson – Steve Dionne decided to go back to work. Last week, at age 63, he started his new job as Vero Beach’s finance director. “I put in my 30 years with the state and retired early, but I got tired of sitting on my porch and reading books, so when this opportunity came up, I applied for it,” Dionne said Monday. “This is a great place to work,” he added. “I’ve met some very nice and very talented people, and there’s a standard of success to live up to here,” he added. “Year after year, this office gets recognized with certifications from respected financial organizations. “But I’m well-rested, excited to be back at work and looking forward to contributing to the city’s mission.” Dionne has spent most of his career working for state agencies that include the Department of Corrections, Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, and Department of Children and Families. From 2004 to 2016, though, he worked for the Department of Health in Palm Beach and Volusia counties, and he comes to Vero Beach with more than 25 years of healthcare accounting and budgeting experience. His work history includes an array of positions in financial management in the government sector: budget director, budget analyst, budget team supervisor, chief financial officer, accounting supervisor and management consultant. He was the vice president and chief financial officer of New Horizons of the Treasure Coast – a comprehensive mental health and substance-use recovery agency with nine facilities across four counties – from 2001 to 2003. He also has grant-writing experience. “He doesn’t have municipal experience, but he has plenty of government experience, which is something we were looking for,” Vero Beach City Manager Monte Falls said. “He has an impressive resume, and we’re happy to have him on board. “He’s coming in at a busy time,” he added, “and we welcome his leadership as we put together our budget.” Falls said he interviewed 10 candidates for the position, and he relied heavily on input from City Comptroller Kelley Brost in making his decision. Dionne succeeds Cindy Lawson, who retired in April after 12 years on the job. He will work with Falls, a yet-tobe-hired project manager and various consultant and contractors to accomplish two of the biggest projects the city has ever undertaken – the Three Corners development and construction of a state-of-the-art wastewater facility at the Vero Beach Regional Airport. Those two projects could amount to the expenditure of more than $200 million. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Next vaccine booster

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 11 Amid complaints, stiffer penalties possible on vacation rentals BY CASEY STAVENHAGEN Staff Writer NEWS which directed vaccine makers to drop the original “Wuhan variant” of the virus from the shot formula of the next booster because the virus has evolved too much over the past three and a half years. Based upon the FDA recommendation, Pfizer and Moderna are in the process of testing a monovalent vaccine containing the Omicron variant formula only. CDC COVID Working Group leader Dr. Matthew Daly said the drug makers would need to bring their evidence back to the FDA and then back to the CDC for approval before the new shots could be distributed to patients. CDC staffer Dr. Fiona Havers said researchers have seen a pattern in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations over the past year in what’s known as the Omicron period. In the early pandemic period, children were not particularly at risk for severe illness, but during the Omicron period, Havers said, infants 6 month old and younger were just as likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 illness as adults age 65 and older. “Rates of hospitalization of infants increased during the Omicron period and remain elevated,” Havers said, adding that hospitalizations of the youngest children are now “on par with elderly adults.” The good news is that, of those hospitalized, Havers said the clinical outcomes have been less severe so far in 2023 than outcomes were in 2022. Under a plan being drafted by the new County Administrator John Titkanich, county code enforcement would impose stiffer penalties on owners of short-term island rentals in the unincorporated county at the north and south ends of the barrier island. The move comes in response to a stream of calls to county officials about revelers who rent residential homes for a week or weekend getaway violating county parking and noise ordinances, and keeping their neighbors awake at night. The decision to move forward with a new schedule of fines passed 4-1, with Board Chair Joe Earman dissenting. Before approving any changes to code enforcement, a public hearing will be held and the motion must be approved via super majority. A list of updated fees will be included when the item comes back to the board as exact dollar amounts have not yet been determined, Titkanich said. “The intent is not to be punitive … The level of income derived from these properties is pretty significant and making sure the fine is commensurate with that to prevent bad-faith actors from not regulating their properties,” Titkanich said. “The real intent is to protect the quality of life of our residents in our community.” Interim Community Development Director Andy Sobczak said Indian River County has around 200 vacation rentals licensed throughout the county. Indian River Shores has its own vacation rental regulations and enforcement, and the City of Vero Beach shifted its code enforcement operations to the Vero Beach Police Department when vacation rentals began causing a ruckus in residential neighborhoods within the city limits. “If we’re looking at violations or complaints specifically to short-term vacation rentals, by comparison, those are, in fact, lower than non-short-term vacation rentals,” Sobczak said. “There are certain short-term vacation rentals out there that are kind of repeat offenders with some of the issues like parking too many cars or making too much noise. Overall, the volume of complaints is not too high but we do have some problem properties.” However, one problem facing enforcement of violations is a lack of on-call code enforcement officers. Currently, the county relies upon reports from the Sheriff’s Office to verify CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

12 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ code violations if they occur on weekend nights. County Commissioner Joseph Flescher said the scenario regarding repeat offenders may change if a code enforcement officer was able to appear on scene in response to complaints. “When people are fined … and that fine is substantial, some will still violate and some will comply and do a better job,” Flescher said. “No matter what the fine is, it still happens. Fines are a form of education but they also hit the pockets.” Alongside the draft ordinance, county staff will investigate additional possibilities for on-call code enforcement officers or a dedicated evening and weekend officer to handle vacation rentals – hoping they may better quell complaints from neighbors. And while it’s easy to envision the offenses all stemming from island destination Airbnb’s, the rentals are spread all around the county. NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 Vacation rentals

FUN ACROSS THE BOARD VETERANS COUNCIL’S ‘NIGHT AT THE RACES’ LORI ROSS, TRACEY ZUDANS AND REBECCA EMMONS.

14 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ There was no horsing around at the Kentucky Derby-themed Night at the Races fundraiser at the Heritage Center, hosted by the Veterans Council of Indian River County to honor veterans and raise funds to assist veterans in need. The stakes were high as supporters placed their bets – using funny money – on their favorite horses in a series of eight races with horses aptly named The General, Warhawk and Para Trooper, among others. Winners could later ‘cash in’ the prize money for raffle tickets. Other amusements throughout the course of the evening included dancing to the sounds of the Riptide Band, who curated an exceptional equine and gambling playlist, a Derby hat contest, wine pull and, of course, a bourbon wall. After working up an appetite on the dance floor, folks enjoyed a delectable spread by Wild Thyme Catering as they sipped on icy Mint Juleps and other libations. “In fiscal year 2022, the Veterans Council provided $220,000 of direct aid that went directly to veterans in Indian River County,” said Cynthia Ryan, VCIRC executive director, as she welcomed guests. During that time, the Veterans Councils provided $122,978 toward inFUN ACROSS THE BOARD AT VETERANS COUNCIL’S ‘NIGHT AT THE RACES’ BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF Staff Writer Cynthia and Rob Ryan. PHOTOS BY STEPHANIEE LaBAFF Martin Zickert and County Commissioner Laura Moss.

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 15 home repairs to veterans unable to afford or physically unable to make the repairs themselves. Comparing the first half of the fiscal years 2022 and 2023, their program data indicates a 75 percent increase in the amount of aid provided. “The need is ever-growing, and we currently have a waitlist of veterans,” said Ryan. To expand assistance, the Veterans Council has implemented a holistic approach to give veterans access to Bill and Eva Gurley. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 Jenny and Wes Kraft.

16 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ local veterans groups and resources aimed at helping to improve their quality of life, including direct aid, veteran services, employment, transportation to doctor’s appointments locally and to the VA in West Palm Beach, mental health services, educaCONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 Chantal and Kenny Nolen with Jeff and Jennifer Palleschi. Ray and Mandy Hooker with Stephen and Tori Hume. Carroll and Roberta Oates. Petra King and Karen Deigl. Ronnie Smith, Ingrid Hernandez and Chuck Gerrald. Kevin and Karen Nuccitelli.

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 17 tion and veteran social clubs. Represented in the “winner’s circle” that evening were the more than 15,000 veterans who live in Indian River County. “Thank you for being here. It really does support all of our veterans,” said Fr. Dave Newhart, VCIRC board chairman. He added that when members of the armed services come home, they often have difficulty transitioning back into society. “We handle everybody from World War II to any veteran that needs help and assistance. It’s by you supporting us, doing what you’re doing, that makes the veteran more sustainable in our county and gives them a better life,” he continued. For more information, visit veterans circ.com. Terri Graham, Curtis Holden and Jennifer Bellinger. Marc and Nathalie Ouellet with Rodger Pridgeon. Drs. Ally and Alex Blandford. Chelsea and Ron Garrison. Dr. Deborah Brown and Norman Wells. Tiffani Atteo, Richard Giessert and Robert Bunker. Lisa Stafford, Gabriela Hernandez and Chris Steinhilber. Patrick Bell, Stephanie Bunker and Katie Chisholm. Susanne and Doug Sweeny.

18 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ The Indian River Community Foundation topped off a lovely afternoon with a sweet treat from Yami’s Ice Cream Shop during an Ice Cream Social for Alma Lee Loy Legacy Society members at Northern Trust. “The last time we gathered as Alma Lee Loy Legacy Society, it was actually with Alma Lee in our presence, and we had a chance to sing her happy birthday,” said Jeff Pickering, IRCF president/CEO. “First and foremost, we’d like to remember her. Without her, as our namesake and the first person to make a planned gift from her estate towards the Community Foundation, we would not have the Alma Lee Loy Legacy Society.” Noting that there are now nearly 80 members out of 200 clients, he added, “Comparatively to any community foundation around the country, we are on a rocket ship. It’s a sign of the generosity of this community.” Last year, he said it took some $300 million to run our local nonprofits, including the hospitals and the healthcare system. Those organizations raised roughly $110 million in donations to do so, $12 million of which was distributed by the Community Foundation as grants. To aid the nonprofits, Pickering said they Ice Cream Social: Sweet tribute to Alma Lee, philanthropy BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF Staff Writer Jeffrey Pickering and Katy Healy. PHOTOS BY JOSHUA KODIS CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 Ubaldo Cendejas.

Ubaldo Cendejas.

20 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ launched an Endowment Partners Program, whereby Yamilet Cendejas, director of philanthropy, teaches how to set up endowments, make and manage investments, and cultivate planned gifts from donors. Ballet Vero Beach is joining the program and Adam Schnell, BVB artistic director and CEO, spoke of what they have accomplished over the course of the past 10 years. “At Ballet Vero Beach, our mission is to promote the art of dance as a universal language in our community and beyond,” said Schnell. Anthony Guettler, Ed Massey, Anders Southerland and Will Schlitt. Toni Hamner, Sue Tompkins and Mike Swan. Pam Goldfarb and Brooke Sauserman. Marlen and George Higgs. Lois Appleby and Yamilet Cendejas. Debbi Arseneaux, Scott Alexander and Adam Schnell. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 21 “We have really striven over the past 10 years to challenge the notion of what an arts organization can be and also what an arts organization in a small town can be.” To ensure everyone has access to their programming, regardless of their ability to pay, he said they work with the United Way and 19 social service agencies, which has led to the development of the student matinee series and, partnering with the Learning Alliance, a Stage to Page program for 750 first-grade students. Debbi Arseneaux, TLA learning and arts integration manager, explained that first-graders in that program view a ballet performance of the Sleeping Princess, read a related book created by TLA, and eventually perform their own retelling of the story. To demonstrate, she had guests participate by using their bodies, imaginations and voices to act out using what she called the Storytellers Toolkit. “I hope that with that tiny little taste, you realize that you can expect the unexpected from Ballet Vero Beach. We are way more than tutus and pointe shoes, and we really are interested in the longevity and the betterment of this community and beyond,” said Schnell. Several professional dancers then performed a piece called Take 14, choreographed by Jessica Dare, artistic director of the Chicago Dance Crash. Pickering noted that because of the philanthropy of county residents, our children have greater access to arts programs such as Ballet Vero Beach than other counties, and that philanthropy has also enabled organizations such as the Learning Alliance to significantly improve reading skills as it works toward the Moonshot goal of 90 percent of children reading at grade level by third grade. “Our mission is building a better community through donor-driven philanthropy. That building process started 15 years ago, and it has continued with the generosity of people like you,” said Pickering. For more information, visit IRCommunityFoundation.org. Heather O’Shea and Chiaka Nwosu. Katherine Eppink, Camilo A. Rodriguez, Anders Southerland and Lindsey Kader. Ben Bailey and Matt Rundels. Suzanne Bertman, Ed Massey and Deb Lockwood.

22 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Tennis fans and competitors weathered numerous storms during what turned out to be a wet but exceptional week of play at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships USTA Pro Circuit ITF World Tennis Tour, held this year at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club. “While this is the third different venue where we have hosted this event, one thing remains the same, and that is the players continue to tell us that this is the best Futures level tennis tournament in the world,” said Tom Fish, MFCF president emeritus and Mardy’s father. “Vero Beach is just such a great tennis town, maybe the best tennis town in the country. This is the 29th straight year that this tournament has been held here, and we are looking forward to many more,” he added. The tournament is the nonprofit’s largest fundraising event, with proceeds supporting healthy afterschool and summer activities for local children. The programs encourage active lifestyles and promote “Mardy’s Six Healthy Habits: Get Sleep, Exercise Daily, Drink Water, Brush and Floss, Eat Healthy and Make Friends.” And while the blustery rain did cause delays nearly every day, MFCF volunteers and the Vero Beach Tennis staff made the best of it, pivoting each day to work around whatever Mother Nature threw or blew at them. Despite the soggy conditions, Lynn Top-rate tennis, anyone? Mardy’s tourney aces it again BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF Staff Writer Tom Fish and Lynn Southerly. PHOTOS BY JOSHUA KODIS Adrian Boitan. Lorenzo Claverie. CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

Lorenzo Claverie.

24 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ If you can picture it, we can build it. Interior & Exterior Painting Flooring Sales and Installation Kitchen & Bathroom Remodeling Countertops Custom Woodworking Built Ins, Entertainment Centers & Closets And Much More! Call Today for a Free Estimate! Showroom: 953 Old Dixie Hwy, Ste. 4 & 5 Vero Beach, FL 32960 Workshop: 6745 N. Old Dixie Hwy, Unit 4, Fort Pierce, FL 34946 Hours: Mon-Fri • 8AM to 5PM (772) 321-7390 Check out our Easy-To-Navigate Website with Colors, Styles and Photos of our work treasurecoasthomeimprovement.com Southerly, MFCF executive director, said the event raised more money for the organization than ever before thanks to sponsorships and a massive effort by the board. Southerly noted the addition of a food truck, bar service and vendors this year, which attendees appreciated, and students from several of the programs funded by the foundation atCONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 Greg Greener and Marvin Simer. Mary and Rich Weisband. Susan Hofstetter, Tina Francis and Trish Lewis. Dan Martin and Jaycer Lyeons. Patricia and Dominic Cassella. Tom Fish with James and Susan Newman and Peter Kendall. Betsy Sturgis and Lynn Southerly.

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 25 tended the matches and enjoyed talking with players and supporters. Mardy Fish, a silver medalist in the 2004 Athens Olympics, reached a career-best ranking of No. 7 before retiring from the tennis tour in 2015. He founded the MFCF in 2007 and it has continued to grow ever since. “We are helping over 2,000 children a year,” said Southerly, adding that their programming has now ramped back up to pre-COVID levels, with new programs being added with each Mary Weisband and Carly Witteck. CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 Carly and Andrew Witteck.

26 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ new grant cycle. Underserved children engage in activities that align with the nonprofit’s mission to encourage participation in safe and impactful fitness, nutritional and enrichment programs, with a goal toward living healthy and productive lives. The MFCF provides funding to nonprofits, including the Homeless Children’s Foundation, the Boys and Girls Clubs, Youth Guidance, the Sally Wilkey Foundation, and Miss B’s Learning Bees, and, coordinating with the school district, provides fourthgrade, fifth-grade and middle school tennis, and funds numerous cheerleading programs and the Treasure Coast Elementary School Garden Club. Dan Martin of Canada and the University of Miami ultimately took home the ITF World Tennis Tour Championship title. For more information, visit MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org. Ching Wang, Tom Fish, Randy Walker and James Bragg. Iliana Hurtado, Shanilah Elder and Daniel Burkett. Audley Bell and Dr. Ivylyn Davis-Bell. Este Brashears and Charles Brashears. Barbara and Joe Price. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

The first time I camped alone in my van, I drove to the Loft Mountain Campground in Shenandoah National Park and asked the ranger stationed at the entrance kiosk if I could book a spot for two nights. She pulled out a paper notebook, a handful of note cards and a pen, then asked me to write down my license plate number, dates and last name. It wasn’t that long ago that many national park campsites, especially the small and obscure ones, still used a low-tech method for booking. The analog, direct approach allowed for the spontaneity of a lastminute camping trip. But thanks to a continued increase of park visitors, possibly fueled by the advent of online reservations systems, even the most seasoned campers have difficulty navigating a labyrinth of lotteries and release dates. As of 2022, all campsites within a national park can only be booked using the app, thus opening all of those previously obscure spots to the 21 million Recreation.gov users. Since its sleek relaunch in 2018, the NPS reservations app has become a blessing and a curse for those hoping to score a coveted camping spot within a given park’s boundary. According to the website, as many as 19,000 people may be competing to book a spot at a park with 57 campsites in a matter of minutes, leading many frustrated would-be campers to wonder if bots are running amok. Frustrations with the app came to a head last summer when an association of 400 organizations in the tourism industry sent a letter to National Park Service director Chuck Sams and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to voice their concerns. For those of us who don’t want to dig through each national park’s individual rules about campsite bookings or idle online at 7:59 a.m. to rapid-click “refresh” in hopes of securing a site in a fully booked campground, there is an alternative: staying in a national forest. The U.S. Forest Service administers almost 200 million acres of forests and grasslands with a broad mandate to sustain health, diversity and productivity. That bigger scope means there are more options: book-inadvance formal campsites (like the ones in national parks); first-come, first-serve campsites (offered in a few of those parks); and open, dispersed free camping (not offered in any national parks without a backcountry permit). You’ll also likely still be close to a national park; most share a border with a national forest or grassland to help protect the parks’ ecological integrity, maintain a cohesive ecosystem and share conservation resources. Over the past year and a half, I’ve visited 42 national parks – and have only secured three formal campsites inside of one. Part of that is my fault: I’m not exactly the type to plan what city I’ll be in next week, let alone which campsite to pick. But even for the special national parks that I’d planned to visit months in advance, I was often defeated by a slow internet connection – a common issue among #vanlifers – and have watched campsites fill in real-time. Thanks to the symbiotic relationship of national parks and forests, campers who find themselves unable to book a site within a national park can, more often than not, find an empty spot in a national forest spot – and it may also be free. Here are some of my favorites:

Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 29 INSIGHT COVER STORY Instead of competing to camp in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, one of the most-visited national parks, head to its southern border to camp on Santeetlah Lake. You can book a formal campsite at Cheoah Point Recreation Area for $20 a night (or $25 for an electric hookup) or try your luck at one of the free first-come, first-serve spots along Pine Ridge Road. The Oconaluftee entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains is an hour’s drive – or, you could skip entering the park entirely and drive north on U.S. Route 129 along the western border through the forest to access dozens of less-crowded hikes just outside the park. The 75 foot high Dry Falls in the Nantahala National Forest is a popular waterfall located a few miles outside of Highlands, N.C. Santeetlah Lake.

30 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 INSIGHT COVER STORY If you’re looking for a secluded – but not isolated – camping trip among oldgrowth forests and idyllic lakes, head to northern Minnesota where Superior National Forest borders two of the least-visited parks. You can take the ferry from Grand Portage to Isle Royale National Park and back in a day, making an easy camping alternative for the vehicleless island park. Camp at a formal site like Fall Lake Campground for $28 a night or for free at a dispersed site in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Then, head west to Voyageurs National Park to knock two parks out in one trip. Many visitors to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming are already savvy enough to find a spot in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. But about an hour’s drive from Jackson Hole will take you around the massive mountain range and into Idaho, where you can find stunning views of the famous peaks from the CaribouTarghee National Forest. Camp for $15 at the Pine Creek Campground or informally along Idaho Route 31 between Victor and Swan Valley. Plus, Targhee National Forest stretches all of the way north to Yellowstone National Park, home to the one of the hardest to book campsites in the entire National Park system. Outdoor enthusiasts travel by canoe through several of the hundreds of freshwater lakes that make up the Boundary Waters. A rainbow appears after an afternoon rainstorm in the Montpelier Canyon Campground in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho. The vehicular campgrounds at Caribou-Targhee National Forest.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 31 INSIGHT COVER STORY You could probably throw a dart at a map of northwestern Montana and hit a beautiful, free dispersed campsite somewhere just outside of Glacier National Park. My favorite spot in the Flathead National Forest is a short drive from the West Glacier entrance to the park where the Flathead River becomes whole at the joining of its north and middle fork, right off U.S. Route 2. This is a particularly good option for those looking to camp late in the season, but don’t want to commit to a reserved spot in the event the park ends the season early for snow. Camping just outside of Grand Canyon National Park is easy thanks to Kaibab National Forest, which buffers both the northern and southern entrances (free camping can be found just off Highway 64 along a number of quiet forest service roads). For a little more space and seclusion, head south from the park to Coconino National Forest, which engulfs the city of Flagstaff, Ariz. Technically – as long as there are no distinct “no parking” signs – you can stealth camp anywhere in the city thanks to its national distinction. A great free option is the Wing Mountain Dispersed Camping area boasting its own area of hiking trails and attractions. The best way to find dispersed camping regardless of where you are is to use the Forest Service’s Interactive Map and be sure to check local notices for hazard warnings like wildfires or flooding. Just remember to stay flexible, leave no trace, and share your best hidden gem campsites with friends. Clouds move over rock formations in the Coconino National Forest in Sedona, Arizona. The author's van parked along a river at Flathead National Forest in Montana.

32 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ INSIGHT EDITORIAL During the coronavirus crisis, our Pelican Plaza office is closed to visitors. We appreciate your understanding. By Leonid Bershidsky Russian pop music producer Iosif Prigozhin publicly supports Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this month, however, a recording, ostensibly of Prigozhin’s expletive-laced telephone conversation with sanctioned billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov, was leaked on YouTube – and on it, both parties curse “Satan” Putin. The content of the conversation is mildly interesting and but ultimately, the recording offers nothing particularly revealing. A year into the invasion, it’s hardly new knowledge that Putin dragged Russia into the war against the will of its hedonistic business elite, that this elite resents the inconvenience of sanctions and that it nevertheless won’t stand up to Putin publicly. What’s notable about the leak was Prigozhin’s defense: He claimed the conversation, or at least parts of it, was generated using artificial intelligence – and today, it’s impossible to prove otherwise. “This recording is a mix of phrases we said and those that were generated but never said.” Now that the world has seen realistic images of Putin apprehended and on trial in the Hague, and Pope Francis wearing a faux Balenciaga puffer coat, why not a deepfake phone call between two wealthy Russians slagging off Putin? Now that a large language model can convincingly imitate the style of any writer, living or dead, why not the style of a slightly tipsy music manager? Some people will claim to be able to tell immediately if a digital object – a picture, a text, an audio or video file – has been created by generative AI, and they already do: They’ve noticed that the pope in the viral image has a weird-looking right extremity, his glasses aren’t quite right, and anyway, he wouldn’t wear anything this fatuous. Experts claim that the Prigozhin-Akhmetov recording would have been next to impossible (not 100% impossible) to fake in full or in part. I wouldn’t, however, lend much credence to such claims, based as they may be on expertise rooted in past experience. These are revolutionary times, and the quality leap of AI services such as ChatGPT and Midjourney has been so enormous that it would be nearsighted not to expect fully realistic output in the foreseeable future. The ease of generating any kind of media already appears to be increasing exponentially. We will doubtless be force-fed this stuff – “until false is true, until day is night, until wrong feels right,” as Iggy Pop once sang. Until recently, the emergence of a good deepfake was newsworthy. The fake could be relished and debunked, a dark future could be half-seriously predicted. Even today, the pope image and some others of its kind have been treated like this. But because the future is already here, these takes are behind the curve. The fakes are part of a new reality, and Prigozhin’s defense is destined to become ubiquitous. This development should spell the end of social networks as a news source. Today, about half of Americans use them as such, but once they realize it’s no longer possible to tell if anything on them is real in the old-fashioned way – meaning that it depicts what it claims to depict – they should stop. Not that they necessarily will, of course – many of us prefer to look for a comfortable version of the world rather than confront the disagreeable reality. For those who seek a reasonable approximation of the truth, however, the use of Twitter, Facebook and the rest of them will become less reliably useful and more time consuming. The AI revolution will also wreak havoc with web search, the preferred research method of most students, some academics and many journalists today. Even if links are provided in the search results, they may lead to fake sources; current tools can fill entire books and academic journals with content created by large language models. What is seen as a trusted source today may be irretrievably corrupted tomorrow by the trigger-happy use of the new “magical” techniques. A true revolution often wipes out patterns of ingrained habit. It may, however, bring back some even older, forgotten ones. What the tech world has come to call “legacy media” – ie, real newspapers – have an opportunity to claw back much of their clout. Taking to people and working in real-world archives, analog or digital, are again, as they were 30 years ago, almost the only methods of finding out the real state of affairs. The ability to get information from the direct source suddenly becomes more valuable to the curious information-seeker and the information consumer worried about veracity. Journalists are trained communicators, interviewers, seekers of newsworthy grains of meaning in countless boring documents. The “legacy media” have lost their role as information gatekeepers as technology erased entry barriers. Now, the verified and proven ability to get real information and strict rules against faking it are suddenly relevant again. Iosif Prigozhin’s AI defense was probably lost on Putin. As a mere news consumer, however, I simply cannot be sure that he actually said the things his voice is heard saying on the recording – and I wish a journalist I could trust had made the tape. The “legacy media” may still waste this opportunity: To use it, a certain return to the basics is required in working with human sources and being at the scene, and that can be an expensive undertaking. But the investment is certainly worth it. At its core, news is an artisanal product with a broader appeal than, say, handmade shoes or custom-built bicycles – and, like them, it cannot be replaced with the output of the most perfect AI model. A version of this column first appeared on Bloomberg. It does not necessarily reflect the views of Vero Beach 32963.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 33 INSIGHT OP-ED When Robertann Usher's home security company merged with ADT, he discovered he has a five-year contract with a higher price. Getting out will cost him $527. Is that legal? QUESTION: I have a problem with ADT and was hoping you could help me. I had a home security system through Ackerman Security, which recently merged with ADT. I paid $63 quarterly for security service with Ackerman. ADT's prices are higher. When I received my first bill from ADT, I decided to discontinue my service. But upon calling ADT, a representative told me I was under a five-year contract with ADT and that I could not cancel. This is a mistake. My agreement is with Ackerman Security. I appealed to a supervisor who said that in order to end the contract, I would have to pay a $527 cancellation fee. The representative placed me on hold and promised me a call back in 48 hours. I have not heard anything back in weeks. I am requesting that I not be charged a $527 cancellation fee for a contract I know nothing about. Can you help me? ANSWER: You're right. Your agreement was with Ackerman Security. Even though ADT acquired Ackerman, that does not give it the right to start charging you more and impose a $527 cancellation fee. Or does it? Contracts like these can be filled with consumer-unfriendly clauses that allow the company to raise rates without notification and impose cancellation fees. I'm sure the ADT lawyers reviewed the Ackerman contracts before they signed off on the acquisition. So maybe they shouldn't have raised your rates, but they probably could. Still, this doesn't look right – and it isn't right. A business must notify its customers before raising its rates, and it should give them a way to opt out of its services if the cost is too high. A $527 cancellation fee seems outrageous. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of the ADT customer service executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. A brief, polite email to one of them might have helped. Your case is a cautionary tale for anyone who is interested in a home security system. These can certainly be worth it if you live in a high-crime neighborhood or need a sense of security, but the contracts can be tricky. You need to read them from front to back before signing, and be sure to monitor your monthly bill for price increases. If you don't, the systems can quickly become unaffordable. I contacted ADT on your behalf, and it agreed to cancel your account without penalty. Get help with any consumer problem by contacting Christopher Elliott at http://www.elliott.org/help BY CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT

34 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ INSIGHT MEMORIES Callie Corey:Remembrances of Vero Beach in times past Callie Corey, who with her late husband started the island’s Central Beach drugstore 67 years ago, passed away earlier this month at the age of 94. In 2008, she sat for a Vero Beach 32963 interview with writer Leslie McGuirk. Excerpts reprinted below: Q: You’ve been in this corner location on Ocean Drive since 1956. How did you make your way to Vero? Mrs.Corey: “My husband was a pharmacist. We lived in Kentucky and he got a call from Vero saying they needed a pharmacist. They also needed one in Okeechobee, but thank goodness we ended up here!” Q: What was your first impression of Vero? Mrs.Corey: “It was windy and desolate. We walked around this building many times, and stayed up the road at a motel . . . No one was here. We were young and foolish, with two little children, and we just decided to come. There was a sundries store up the street called Cypress Center. They sold their business to us, and we combined their store with our pharmacy. We couldn’t even get a phone number. We had to take theirs, which was Jordan 1319. Back then all the numbers had prefixes.” Q: What’s the biggest change that you’ve seen on the beach? Mrs.Corey: “Back then there were only six Realtors on the beach, and we knew everyone. We had a soda fountain, and you can still see the marks on the floor where the stools were located. Everyone in town would come in for coffee in the morning and another one in the evening. The mailman was a daily fixture at the counter, and he did the entire beach route in time for his afternoon coffee. I would make lunches and dinners – homemade meatloaf, and I’d bake a ham at home. I recently found an old menu. A sandwich and a soda was 65 cents back in the late 1950’s. Q: When did you shut down the soda fountain? Mrs.Corey: “1964….and it was because it was too hard to get help.” Q: Did you have any interesting visitors during those early years? Mrs.Corey: “Fontaine Fox was a regular. He was the well known cartoonist who drew the Toonerville Trolley. He’d come in here and sit at the fountain wearing an old railroad engineer cap, and draw cartoons of people at the counter.” Q: Anyone else? Mrs.Corey: “Billy Graham and his family used to rent down the road, the Old Villa on the beach, and he used to pop in and out on a regular basis, and his daughter Bunny would work behind the fountain. Every day was wild. The interactions of the people was something. Mel Fisher used to come here a lot, and he was always broke, so my husband and I helped him out by buying some of his stock. He needed money so he paid us back with old coins from the shipwrecks.” Q: What about the animals on the beach? When I first moved her 8 years ago I used to see armadillos all the time. They seem to be totally gone. Mrs.Corey: “That’s right. We used to have lots of them. I don’t think I’ve seen one in over 10 years. We also used to have skunks! I haven’t seen one of those in over 20 years. I remember once hitting one with my car, and the stench was so bad I thought it would never clear up.” Callie Gibson Corey, age 94, passed away on June 15, 2023, at Hidden Lakes Retirement Community, after suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease for a number of years. She lived a wonderfully full life, leaving her family and many friends to remember her and mourn her passing. Callie, the daughter of Victoria Davis and John Wharton Gibson, was born in Artemus, Ky., on May 7, 1929. Callie had a fascinating childhood in the Eastern Kentucky mountains, and she retained the values and attitudes of that culture her entire life. She was valedictorian of her class at Artemus High School and attended Union College in Barbourville, Ky. Callie and Luke Corey married in 1945, after he was discharged from the U.S. Navy. This union produced four children and they were married until Luke’s death in 1997. After Luke graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in 1949, he was a pharmacist in Kentucky until the family moved to Vero Beach. Luke and Callie opened Corey’s Pharmacy on the island in August 1956. The drugstore became a thriving business and an institution on Ocean Drive. Callie’s grandson, Dr. Mark Corey Frankenberger, became the pharmacist at the drugstore in 2000. She was in the drugstore daily until she fell and fractured a hip in July 2017. She had been affectionately called the “Mayor of Ocean Drive.” Callie had many interests including antiques, cooking, collecting shells, gardening, orchids, bonsai and needlework. She created a beautiful home, all the while helping the drugstore business grow and flourish, and raising three children. She was known for her hospitality and she loved to entertain. She was of the Christian faith. She was preceded in death by her husband Luke, her son Mark, her infant daughter Elaine, her parents, and her brother Theodore Gibson. She is survived by her daughter, Judyth Corey Dawson of Micanopy, Fl.; and her son, Scott Corey and his wife Sherry, of Vero Beach. In addition, she is survived by six grandchildren: Sandra Lynn Frankenberger of Gainesville; Dr. Mark Corey Frankenberger and his wife, Dr. Alison Frankenberger, of Vero Beach; Lauren Corey Geda and her husband Stan Geda of Etters, Pa.; Hillary Corey, of Jefferson, Ga.; Jacob Ashley Corey of Raleigh, N.C.; and Luke Gibson Corey of Tallahassee. She is also survived by six great-grandchildren: Graham and Anna Frankenberger, Kiera Ogle, Harper Grace Duke, and Izzy and Mark Geda. In addition, she is survived by six nieces and three nephews, as well as numerous great- and great-great nieces and nephews. She leaves many dear friends, including Bob and Linda Stone, Nat Jackson, Jesse Nartker, Patty Vaughn, Gracie Barry, Vange Cesarotti and Bill Boye’. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, July 8 at First Presbyterian Church, 520 Royal Palm Blvd., Vero Beach. The Rev. Dr. Timothy Womack will officiate, Robert E. Stone will provide the eulogy and Dr. Jacob Craig will conduct the music. A reception will follow the service. The family would like to thank the staff at the assisted living and skilled nursing units of Hidden Lakes Retirement Community for their excellent and compassionate care of Callie since August 2017. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to: CALLIE GIBSON COREY First Presbyterian Church Youth Orchestra 520 Royal Palm Boulevard Vero Beach, FL 32960 Alzheimer’s Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC, 20090-6011 http://www.alz.org or (800)272-3900 or

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 35 Another Catch-22 of our pastime By Phillip Alder - Bridge Columnist If you know you will be outbid, you do best not to enter the auction, because you give the opposing declarer a road map of the distribution. However, it isn’t until you act that you find out that you will be outbid. Let’s look at the downside of bidding. South reached four spades after West opened one heart. West led the heart king. East overtook with the ace and returned the suit, West taking two more tricks in the suit and East discarding a low club. West shifted to the diamond two. How should South have continued? What do you think about West’s defense? North’s two-heart cue-bid showed at least 10 support points with three or more spades. South made a game-try with three clubs, which North was happy to accept. Both overbid slightly, but aggression often pays when you know the opposition’s strength is concentrated in one hand. Frequently you can make a game with fewer high-card points than are customarily required. Once East, who couldn’t respond, turned up with the heart ace, West was marked with the spade queen and diamond king. South won the fourth trick with dummy’s diamond queen, played a spade to his ace and cashed the spade king. When the queen dropped, declarer removed East’s final trump and claimed. West defended poorly. With his honor cards uncovered when East produced the heart ace, he should have led another heart at trick four, hoping his partner had 10- x-x in spades. Then if declarer discarded from the board, East’s spade 10 would have executed an uppercut on declarer. Or, if South ruffed with dummy’s spade jack, East’s 10 would have been promoted. Dealer: West; Vulnerable: Both NORTH J 8 7 9 4 2 A Q 10 4 K 10 2 WEST Q 2 K Q J 10 8 K J 2 J 9 4 SOUTH A K 10 9 4 7 6 3 8 5 A Q 5 EAST 6 5 3 A 5 9 7 6 3 8 7 6 3 The Bidding: OPENING LEAD: K Hearts SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST 1 Hearts Pass Pass 1 Spades Pass 2 Hearts Pass 3 Clubs Pass 4 Spades All Pass INSIGHT BRIDGE Jack Harty & Kevin Hughes 772-532-2915 855 US1 Vero Beach FL 32960 DirectSalesVeroBeach.com Personal and commercial financing available Family owned and operated since 2001 2018 BMW X2 sDrive28i Sports Activity Vehicle 2023 Chevrolet Corvette 2dr Stingray Coupe 2020 Mercedes-Benz SLC 300 Roadster 2022 Cadillac Escalade ESV 4wd 4dr Premium 2006 Porsche Boxter 2dr Roadster 2004 Jeep Wrangler 2dr Sport $89,590 5 mi $31,590 15,595 mi $98,590 15,594 mi $47,500 9,702 mi $18,790 53,832 mi $21,790 56,720 mi

36 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ 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 ACROSS 1. Winner (6) 5. Bring up (4) 8. Rub down (4) 9. Jerks (8) 10. Crime (6) 11. Gas (6) 12. Meat patties (11) 15. Renowned (6) 17. Tuber (6) 19. Hinder (8) 20. Baked product (4) 21. Idol (4) 22. Lacking (6) DOWN 2. Picture (5) 3. Young frog (7) 4. Irritable (5) 5. Insecure (5) 6. Forever young (7) 7. Activity (6) 12. Prickly shrub (7) 13. Shellfish soup (6) 14. Coaxes (7) 16. Surpass (5) 17. Flatbread (5) 18. Symbol (5) SOLUTIONS TO PREVIOUS ISSUE (JUNE 22) ON PAGE 64 INSIGHT GAMES

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 37 ACROSS 1 Quips 6 Tank top? 12 Get rid of 18 Riyadh’s region 20 Millionaires’ homes 22 Shade 23 Line from a 1960s human-interest show 26 Vermilions 27 Boston Bobby 28 Carving mo. 29 A Chinese ism 30 Line from a late-night show 38 Son/gun filler 39 Bump ___ 40 A movie channel, in TV Guide 41 Canyon effect 42 Depends 44 Prophet ending 47 “___ boy!” 49 Paul Newman biographer Oumano 53 “Honeykins” 54 Food stretcher 56 Cara and Ryan 57 Line from a 1960s comedy hour 61 Faux pas 62 Latin 101 verb 63 Actor Marvin 64 Hungarian sheepdog 65 An M.D.-headed bunch 68 Actor Keach 70 Schemes 72 Mr. Whitney 73 Marquand sleuth 75 Ms. Farrow 76 “Alas!” 79 Greek portico 81 Line from a game show 88 Beings from beyond 89 Game for tots 90 Mix 91 Le ___ du printemps 92 She excels in many arias 93 Neither follower 94 Cause of weird weather 96 Pierce portrayer 98 Rocket org. abroad 100 Casablanca role 102 Some people 103 Line from a 1980s dramatic series 110 Black church inits. 111 27 Across’s org. 112 Folksinger DiFranco 113 Investment guru Marshall 114 Line from a critics’ show 123 Video crime 124 Ready, as reservists 125 The word for what a basic linguistic unit means, as “not” for “un-” (when pluralized, it’s a palindrome) 126 Candidate lists 127 Affected laugh 128 Actor Buddy DOWN 1 Freewheeling improv 2 Go wrong 3 Biological pocket 4 Ski lifts 5 Indefinitely, in Latin 6 High sch. paper? 7 Type of tie 8 Prosecutor Kenneth 9 Toyota models 10 Did lunch 11 Part of r.p.m. 12 Early computer 13 Deut. preceder 14 Senorita’s article 15 Limit: ___ a customer 16 Happy as ___ 17 Friday’s creator 19 Extras 21 With Flush, a bowl cleaner 24 Ain’t right? 25 Bible prophet 30 Alexander, Michael, or Zoltan 31 “___ A Song Coming On” 32 Lama preceder 33 Ready-___ (precooked) 34 Macbeth et al. 35 California, to the Eagles 36 Unit of heat 37 Hide out, in a way 43 N.Y. subway trains, once 45 Lost calf 46 Renamed country 48 Bird sound 50 Follow 51 Lois Lane of 1950s TV, Noel ___ 52 Standard computer code 54 Mend 55 Eggs 56 “By the Time ___ Phoenix” 58 Bonus square in Scrabble: abbr. 59 Test paper? 60 Thomas Hart Benton’s Missouri birthplace 65 Oscars org. 66 Greenbacks 67 Room at the top? 69 Wrist bones 70 Balladeer Bryson 71 French cent 74 Macbeth et al. 76 “... with the greatest ___” 77 Hunan pot 78 Algerian port 80 The Bar, for one: abbr. 82 Sixteen oz. 83 “Doc, will ___ play the violin again?” 84 1933 film, Flying Down ___ 85 “Turn, Turn, Turn” snippet 86 S.F. player 87 Stingless male 92 Russian villa 94 Halts legally 95 Payment penalty 97 24-hour chain 99 To ___ (excessively) 101 Comics girl, Little ___ 103 Light sources 104 Online missives 105 ___ firma 106 French phone greeting 107 Not achieved, as goals 108 Cuba ___ (rum drink) 109 Megaton destroyer 115 Hood armament 116 Guy Lafleur’s floor 117 Explosive stuff 118 “Bali ___” 119 The Bering, e.g.: abbr. 120 In medias ___ 121 Bovary or Curie: abbr. 122 Velvet finish? The Telegraph The Washington Post TV Déjà Vu By Merl Reagle INSIGHT GAMES

40 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ INSIGHT BACK PAGE Dear Carolyn: My partner and I are expecting our first child in a few months. We are on the same page about most of the big aspects of child rearing but have a couple of minor disagreements. One that’s not so minor is about what the child will call us. My partner calls his parents by their first names, which was a decision made decades ago in the spirit of egalitarianism. I call my parents Mom and Dad. I understand the philosophy that went into my in-laws’ choice, but I don’t especially agree with it and don’t really want to continue that custom. This seems like an area where it won’t work for each of us to do it our own way, i.e., calling us “Mom and Ben” (seems more confusing than anything else). So what do we do? – “Mom and Ben” “Mom and Ben”: I actually like Mom and Ben. Why not? Seems to me that if “confusing” is an issue, then we’re all living in the wrong millennium. Plus, like so many of these parental things you decide in advance, reality will come in with its vote, which has a way of wiping out certainties that you can only hope someday to laugh about. Reality’s changes are often upgrades, too, because they’re collaborative in ways that preconceived notions can never be. Not to say you’re wrong to talk about it – that part’s good, especially if this is the tip of a major-philosophicaldisagreementberg. In fact, the more I think about it, the more urgent it feels that authoritative-you and laid-back Ben work out a general approach for when your parenting styles clash. Just understand that any parenting plans you make ahead of time are more like an opening gambit with life than a last word. And kids can roll happily along with parents of different styles, but not when the parents themselves can’t. Readers’ thoughts: Our oldest insisted on calling me “Ben” for the first four years of his life, including saying things like, “my Ben told me to come home now,” etc. My wife hated this, but she did not interfere. By 5, he decided to call me “Dad.” You may think you’re deciding this, but like many other things in life, your kids are the ones who make the decisions. When my niece and nephew were in elementary school, they tried to call me by my first name, no “Aunt.” I quietly told them they were the only people in the world who could call me “Aunt [Name],” and that gave them special powers. They were momentarily stunned and resumed calling me Aunt [Name]. Now in their 30s and parents themselves, they still call me that. ·If your real (underlying) concern is what strangers will think when they hear your child call you Mom and Ben, please dig into that, because it’s worth questioning the importance of that in relation to your husband’s preference to be called by his name. We always referred to ourselves as Mom and Dad, but, for whatever reason, our toddler child started calling us “Mommy Maria” and “Daddy Captain” after watching “The Sound of Music” and then transitioned to our names at some point, “Joe and Jane,” for a couple years, and then switched to “Mom and Dad.” It was weird for me to be “Mom” after all those years. BY CAROLYN HAX Washington Post Expectant parents can’t agree on a name for themselves

BLOCK-BUSTER COMBO MUSIC FESTIVAL AND STRING CAMP

ARTS & THEATRE 42 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Get ready once again to hear incredible music performed by recording artists skilled in a mix of multicultural genres at the Vero Beach International Music Festival, which runs concurrent with the 13th annual Mike Block String Camp, July 10-15 at the First Presbyterian Church of Vero Beach. Concerts on Wednesday, July 12, and Friday, July 14, feature the exceptional MBSC faculty, which is made up of acclaimed musicians trained in everything from Americana and Celtic to classical, bluegrass and jazz. The final concert on Saturday, July 15, showcases the MBSC students, with faculty occasionally joining in, followed by a barn dance for players and audience alike. The camp and the festival are led by Grammy-winning cellist, composer and educator Mike Block, who with wife Hanneke Cassel, a captivating, award-winning fiddler/violinist, are now part-time residents of Vero Beach. “We are succumbing to the snowbird lifestyle, if that’s what people who enjoy Vero in the winter are called. We really like the community. We’re pinching ourselves every time we’re down there,” says Block. They otherwise reside in Boston, where Block is an associate professor at Berklee College of Music. Julliard-trained, Block toured the world with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and may be even better known for his Block Strap, which enables cellists to stand and move about the stage; he was the first standing cellist to perform at Carnegie Hall. In a display of his versatility and creativity, Block also produced a “Bach in the Bathroom” series, playing in acoustical concert hall ‘facilities’ around the world. The faculty concerts will feature different performers each evening; half the faculty leading one night and half the other night. “Everybody’s still kind of collaborating with each other and supporting each other, so you’ll likely see all the faculty play each night, but only half of them will be featured each night,” Block explains. For the full experience, you will likely want to go to both. “And our final concert is going to be featuring 20 different student ensembles that have created music during the week that they’ll be sharing,” says Block. The roughly 100 camp participants are of all ages and skill levels and from around the world. When COVID put a halt to in-person camps in 2020 and 2021, Block offered virtual camps, complete with live-streamed faculty performances. The camp returned to in-person in 2022, albeit with fewer participants. “We definitely feel like we’ve recovered from our post-pandemic enrollment dip last year. So it’s been really great to see that we’re pretty much back where we were pre-pandemic,” says Block. “We’ve got 10 faculty this year and I’m particularly excited that for the first time we finally have a local Vero Beach musician on our faculty, the great Jacob Craig,” says Block. A multi-talented jazz pianist and educator, Craig is director of music and arts at First Presbyterian. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education and Piano Performance from Shorter University, a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Florida State University, and a Doctor of Sacred Music from the Graduate Theological Foundation at Oxford University. Craig directs the Vero Beach Choral Society, ACTS Choristers, Sea Oaks Chorus, John’s Island Singers, and the Senior Resource Association Silver Tones. An accomplished highland bagpiper, he is Pipe Major of the Vero Beach Pipes and Drums. Craig and Block also serve together on the Indian River Symphonic Association board of directors. “Jacob’s a good friend and he taught a single elective last year, and it was so brilliant. So I was really excited that he was able to join us for more this year. He’s going to teach a series of elective classes exploring improvisation and vocals, primarily. And he’ll also be coaching our student ensembles that perform on Saturday,” says Block. He explains that while Craig is an accomplished pianist, piano isn’t part of the curriculum, which is primarily structured for bowed and plucked string instruments. “Jacob is an inspiring performer and teacher and despite us being in a string camp, we finally got him to join us last year for just a single class. Like I said, he was so brilliant, and the student feedback was so positive, that I thought even though Jacob plays piano, he would have so much to offer our camp. We’re really excited to have him be a bigger part of our community MUSIC FESTIVAL AND STRING CAMP: A BLOCK-BUSTER COMBO BY MARY SCHENKEL STAFF WRITER Mike Block and Hanneke Cassel. Casey Driessen.

ARTS & THEATRE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 43 since he’s such a big part of the Vero community already,” Block explains. “And we’ve got a new cello teacher, a young musician named Zachary Brown that I’m excited to bring into the community. His background is also more jazz and R&D,” says Block. “So I am now finding myself in this position of not being in the younger generation anymore. I was excited to reach out to a young, really promising, talented cellist who’s doing interesting things and so I’m eager to get to know him better myself. As a performer, he’s particularly special with his rhythmic playing. He’s really groovy and a really, really special improviser as well. So I think he’s going to bring that to the concerts.” Brown, equally adept at classical and contemporary repertoires, has a double degree in Cello Performance and Jazz Studies from Ithaca College, and a Master’s in Cello Performance from SUNY Purchase. He is a member of the Westbound Situation string quartet that, according to their website, “blends the precision of classical chamber music, the rhythmic drive of bluegrass, and the colorful expression of jazz into a new style of chamber music – chambergrass.” What fun! The others are all returning faculty. Cassel, a U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion, among other awards, has a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Berklee College of Music. She skillfully blends Scottish traditional fiddling with an Americana vibe in a unique style filled with exuberance and passion. Casey Driessen, another fiddle player and violinist, earned a Master’s in Spain, at the first international campus of Berklee College of Music, and has been described as “a mad scientist with a five-string fiddle.” In 2021 he produced “Otherlands: A Global Music Exploration,” a six-country, nine-month European tour featuring video and audio recordings of local music and cultural traditions. Natalie Hass, another Julliard graduate, is a classically trained cellist with an ability to provide rhythmic accompaniment to fiddle tunes and Celtic music. She has toured the world with Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser for 20-plus years and as a member of the Appalachia Waltz Trio. She holds an associate professorship at the Berklee College of Music and teaches privately and at fiddle camps around the world. American violinist and fiddler Jeremy Kittel is fluent in multiple musical genres, including folk, jazz, Celtic, classical and electronic, and performs with his group Kittel & Co. An exceptional composer and arranger, Kittle has a Master’s in Jazz Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. He was the first recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, gifted to the MBSC in memory of Daniel Pearl, a journalist and violinist, who was murdered by terrorists in Pakistan. The violin is annually awarded to a camp student for one year. Taylor Morris is known for blurring the line between violin and fiddle, whether playing classical music with an orchestra or folk tunes with a band. He is quoted as saying that “music is music. I actively play music from a wide variety of styles, so why identify with one label over another?” He received a Bachelor’s in Violin Performance at Arizona State University and a Master’s in Education from Harvard University and has toured the world with Barrage, a Canadian troupe. Lauren Rioux, who plays viola and violin, holds degrees in Violin Performance and Music Education from the University of Southern Maine and resides in Scarborough, Maine. She has toured the United States and Europe and is sought after for her teaching expertise, leading classes and workshops around the world to beginners and skilled players alike, and on her online community, JamWithLauren.com. Lastly, alphabetically only, is Joe Walsh, an award-winning, internationally renowned bluegrass mandolin player and acclaimed master of American roots music. Walsh was the first mandolinist to graduate from the Berklee College of Music and returned there in 2011 as a mandolin instructor and as managing director of its American Roots Music Program. The Main Stage faculty concerts are ticketed at $25. The Culminating Concert of Mike Block String Camp students is free, with a suggested donation of $20, which goes directly to the MBSC Scholarship Fund to support camp scholarships such as for Gifford Youth Orchestra students. All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 520 Royal Palm Blvd., Vero Beach, Fla. For more information, visit VeroBeachInternationalMusicFestival.com. Taylor Morris. Natalie Haas. Joe Walsh. Lauren Rioux. Jacob Craig. Casey Driessen. Jeremy Kittel. Zachary Brown.

ARTS & THEATRE 44 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Reel in some fun this Saturday at the Wounded Waters Offshore War Fishing Tournament. The event includes both a fishing tournament and an all-day festival in Fort Pierce. Profits will go to the organization’s Help the Heroes initiative. The tournament is scheduled to run from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. However, the family festival held dockside runs 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. This is a “KDW Fishing Tournament” (kingfish, dolphin and wahoo), with the fee per boat of $300. Each boat can accommodate up to six people fishing. The tournament also includes a “Calcuttas” entry in which fishermen can enter any grouper, tilefish and amberjack they catch. The Calcuttas entry costs $50 each and winners split the prize with the organization. Back on land, there will be a festival which includes a kids’ fishing tournament on the docks running until noon; bounce houses; vendors; music supplied by a DJ; an awards ceremony; and live music with The Landsharks from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. The festival will also have food trucks, soft drinks and a full cash bar. Admittance to the festival is free. Money raised would help veterans, first responders and retired/active military struggling with PTSD. Kevin Klepac, who founded Wounded Waters, served almost 21 years in the Army. “It’s therapeutic,” Klepac says. “As soon as you get underwater, it doesn’t matter how bad a day you’ve had. It all washes away.” Klepac hopes enough people show up so he can get a healthy kickstart to raising $500,000 for the organization. The first thing he’ll do with the money is buy a bigger boat, with wheelchair access. The Wounded Waters Offshore War Fishing Tournament runs Saturday, July 1, at Causeway Cove Marina, 601 Seaway Dr., Fort Pierce. There is a Captain’s Meeting on Friday, June 30. Discount of $25 if a veteran or first responder will be fishing (limit to one discount per boat, proof of service will be required). For more information, visit WoundedWaters.org or call 772-321-9366 or email [email protected].. The Friday Morning Story Hour with Miss Erin will celebrate the Fourth of July with the annual “Bubble Wrap Explosion Party” Friday morning at the Vero Beach Book Center. It begins with Miss Erin reading “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom,” “Sharky McShark,” “I Love You with All of My Heart” and “What Does the Crocodile Say at the Beach?” Normally, after the story reading, children do some art projects. This time, though, they will be stomping on the scads of bubble wrap the Vero Beach Book Center has saved up during the year from all the packages they receive. The stomping of the bubbles sounds a little bit like firecrackers, hence the Fourth of July theme. After the celebration, children will receive a voucher for a Kona Ice Cream served outside of the Book Center. This is designed for children up to the age of 5 years. The Bubble Wrap Explosion Party starts at 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 30. Admission is free. The Vero Beach Book Center is at 392 21st St. (Miracle Mile), Vero Beach. Call 772-569-6650, 772-569-2050 or visit VeroBeachBookCenter.com. The Sea Turtle Conservancy will present Guided Sea Turtle Walks through July this summer. The walks begin 9 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Space is limited to 20 people per night. Cost is $20 per person. You must be at least 10 years old. Be prepared to spend up to four hours on these walks and to cover about a mile on soft sand. The walks end somewhere between midnight and 1 a.m. Also, be prepared to encounter some mosquitoes and sand fleas. Register online at ConserveTurtles.org. To register, go to Programs, select Education on the drop-down menu, then click onto Turtle Walks. Riverside Theatre for Kids presents Disney’s “Newsies” performed by students ages 13 to 20 years. The fully staged musical runs on the Stark Main Stage at 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 30, 1 p.m. Saturday, July 1, and 5:30 p.m. Saturday, July 1. Tickets are $10. Riverside Theatre is at 3250 Riverside Park Dr., Vero Beach. Call 772-231-6990 or visit RiversideTheatre.com. The Celebration of Freedom Patriotic Concert begins 7 p.m. Sunday, July 2, at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church, 7590 26th St., Vero Beach. Free, but donations are accepted. Call 772-584-9744. The City of Sebastian’s Freedom Festival starts with a parade 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 4, followed by a festival at Riverview Park running 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. It ends with fireworks at 9 p.m. Visit CityOfSebastian.org. 3 2 Catch all the action at ‘Wounded Waters’ fish tourney 1 BY PAM HARBAUGH Correspondent 4 COMING UP! 5 6

HEALTH ‘BREATH HOLD’ TECHNIQUE HELPS PATIENTS IN RADIATION THERAPY 32963

46 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 HEALTH Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ ‘Breath hold’ technique helps patients in radiation therapy Imagine being told that a tumor has been found on your lung or breast and that you will require radiation therapy. While it’s devastating news, the best thing you can do to limit your radiation exposure to other organs is, quite simply, take a deep breath. Deep Inspiratory Breath Hold (DIBH) is a technique employed in radiation therapy when a patient is instructed to take a deep breath and hold it while receiving treatment. By utilizing DIBH, radiation oncologists enhance the accuracy of treatment delivery, reduce radiation exposure to healthy tissue and improve patient outcomes. “During the time of radiation simulation, which is when we scan patients in order to plan their radiation treatment, we ask them to take a moderate breath and hold it,” said Dr. Jean-Pierre Obeid, a radiation oncologist with Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital. “We also have them hold their breath at the time of treatment while they are on the table. The purpose of this exercise is to help inflate the lungs to change the physiology of the patient in such a way to improve normal tissue sparing, reduce the dose of radiation, and to improve the accuracy and reproducibility of the target treatment. “We shoot for a minimum breath hold of 20 seconds, although some patients can hold their breath longer,” BY KERRY FIRTH Correspondent Dr. Obeid continued. “This inflates lungs so that whenever we radiate a certain volume, there’s less density of lung tissue, which in turn reduces the dose to the whole lung in general. The breath hold pushes the heart backwards and down out of the field for breast and other lung tumors, giving us the ability to measure precisely and target the treatment more accurately. Not only does it reduce the dose that goes to normal structures like the lung and heart, but it also benefits us by being more precise and having to treat less of a volume since we don’t have to cover a larger area. Smaller tumors that sometimes get smeared out when we image a patient who is breathing normally, are more easily detected.” DIBH is used for early-stage lung Dr. Jean-Pierre Obeid. PHOTOS: JOSHUA KODIS

Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 47 HEALTH Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ cancer and left-sided breast cancers. In lung cancer treatment, DIBH causes the lungs to expand, creating a better separation between the target tumor and critical structures such as the heart and healthy lung tissues. This increased separation reduces the chance of radiation-induced damage to healthy tissues and reduces the risk of long-term lung damage. Lung tumors can move during breathing due to respiratory motion. By utilizing DIBH, tumor motion is reduced, leading to increased accuracy in target localization and minimizing the need for larger target margins. This reduction in tumor motion helps to spare nearby organs like the heart and esophagus, and reduces potential complications. “With this technique we can catch lung tumors that wouldn’t even show on a simulation CT scan,” Dr. Obeid implored. “Without DIBH, the tumor would be smeared to oblivion or simply present as a haziness. The breath hold allows for a better snapshot, identifying the tumor and allowing us to treat the cancer earlier.” For left-sided breast cancer patients, the proximity of the heart to the treatment area presents a challenge in radiation therapy. DIBH allows for greater separation between breast tissue and the heart by expanding the lungs and pushing the heart away from the radiation field. This reduces the radiation dose to the heart, minimizing the risk of cardiovascular complications. The use of DIBH in breast cancer patients also spares healthy lung tissue from unnecessary radiation exposure by pushing the breast tissue away from the lungs and lowering the risk of long-term lung damage. The physician can better define target volume and treatment fields, ensuring that the radiation is delivered precisely to the intended area while sparing nearby normal tissue. “DIBH is typically not utilized for right-sided breast cancer patients because the heart is positioned farther away and the radiation is already so accurate that it’s not necessary,” said Dr. Obeid. “If a patient presents with bilateral breast cancer, then we would treat both sides with DIBH.” When asked what happens if a patient can’t hold their breath for the specified amount of time, Dr. Obeid said that they treat across the respiratory breath cycle with continuous inhalation and exhalation as the lungs inflate and deflate. Respiratory gating is a process that uses advanced computer software to guide the delivery of the radiation as the patient breathes. “Instead of treating in just one breath hold, we treat in in four or five accounting for subtle changes that can occur over the course of seconds. “The key concept behind the entire process is reproducibility,” he continued. “I need to be sure that I’m treating the same region and space so the breaths need to be similar. We track this using surface imaging. Sometimes it’s a challenge to make sure that the patient is getting into the threshold correctly. “The main thing that is impacted by DIBH is decreased toxicity and not long-term survival rates. Even though the chance of curing cancer is about the same whether we use DIBH or not, the amount of future heart and lung disease is decreased. It really is amazing that with the right technology to read the scans, something as simple as holding your breath can make such a dramatic difference.” Dr. Obeid received his medical degree at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida; completed his internship in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston; and served his residency in radiation oncology at Stanford Health Care in Stanford, California. His office is located in the Scully-Welsh Cancer Center at Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, 3555 10th Court, Vero Beach. You can call 772-794-3333 to schedule an appointment. “It really is amazing that with the right technology to read the scans, something as simple as holding your breath can make such a dramatic difference.”

48 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 HEALTH Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ old dog new tricks.” However, research on neural plasticity (the ability of our brain cells to change and reorganize) has reversed that thinking, showing that creating new brain tissue and behaviors is possible through all stages of life. Pathways in the brain are made by connections between neurons (nerve cells). When a behavior is performed, the connections between these cells change with the frequency of the behavior performed. With brain games, you can practice traveling down new neural pathways by performing a new behavior with frequent repetition, connecting new beliefs to support the new behavior, as well as visualizing a positive outcome resulting from these new behaviors. “Brain Training Games Enhance Cognitive Function in Healthy Subjects,” a study archived by the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, found “significant improvement” in a range of cognitive abilities in people using the brain training website Luminosity.com. “Games should be fun and stimulate your cognitive skills and critical thinking,” Dr. Visa says. “Since different brain games target different parts of your cognition, it is a good idea to mix them up – like you do when you go to the gym,” and do a series of different physical exercises. Dr. Zaldy Tan, director of the CedarsSinai Memory and Aging Program and medical director of the Jona Goldrich Center for Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, recently described different types of games and other activities that benefit the brain in an article in Forbes Magazine, making the following suggestions: Do a crossword puzzle. You use verbal memory when you match words with a certain number of letters that fit descriptive phrases. Play some of the hundreds of cool online brain games. They are engaging and fun, as Dr. Visa recommends, plus they often have time limits, which escalates the challenge. Plus, games often start at an easy level and become more challenging with practice – which is cognitive training. Play a jigsaw puzzle at a site like jigsawexplorer.com. You’ll tap into many BY JACKIE HOLFELDER Correspondent There’s ever-mounting evidence from medical experts that brain games like Wordle, Sudoku and Crushstations are beneficial for seniors. Working at these challenging exercises won’t reduce your risk of – or the progression of – Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia, but they provide many other significant benefits. Dr. Visalakshi Srinivasan – who goes by Dr. Visa – is board-certified in geriatrics and internal medicine and is affiliated with Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne. She says it’s a myth that forgetfulness is normal as people age. “Physical activity, socialization, a grain-rich diet – these are all things we can do to keep our brain healthy,” she says. And, she adds, the latest research shows that healthy brains can grow and change throughout adulthood. According to Maximus, which provides clinical health services, it was commonly believed that once we grew older our brain could not change, similar to the adage “you can’t teach an MIND GAMES: Hone your mental skills with array of fun, challenging exercises Dr. Visalakshi Srinivasan. PHOTO: JOSHUA KODIS

Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 49 visual-spatial working memory skills – seeing and remembering which pieces fit into similarly shaped spaces. Build a model or start a knitting project. Tactile hobbies like these utilize procedural memory, which includes understanding, remembering and performing a sequence of actions. Join a card game, in person or online. Many involve significant cognitive challenges, like bridge, where you not only have to remember who played what cards, but also develop your own strategy. Dr. Visa says these are especially helpful for other reasons, as well. “Socialization is part of almost every card game and in places like assisted living facilities, they help to remove barriers to personal interacting.” Learn some new dance moves. It’s tactile, visual, physical and auditory, and it has the added benefit of improving your cardiovascular system. The AARP also suggests dancing as a way to marry mental engagement with physical exertion. Dr. Visa adds virtual sports like bowling and tennis to the mix. “Plus,” she says, “you won’t have to leave home, if that’s a consideration.” Don’t play it safe, she advises. “Try more complex games, even if you don’t score high. And any time you get the chance to play with your grandchildren, do it.” In 2020, three digital games were developed in New York University’s CREATE Lab by NYU Steinhardt Professor Jan L. Plass and his colleagues. The games were designed to help children and adults improve their cognitive skills. Evidenced through a series of research studies, these games were found to help users boost memory and cognitive flexibility. The games were the result of a fouryear research project funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. The goal was to design targeted computer games that improve executive functions like memory and inhibitory control. Unlike other games, theses apps were designed from the ground up by a team of psychologists, neuroscience researchers, learning scientists and game designers to train cognitive skills. The three online games – CrushStations, Gwakkamolé and All You Can ET – each support a different executive function. Although not designed specifically for seniors, they are all available for download at Apple’s App Store for anyone wishing to give them a try. There are multiple brain game websites where a wild variety of fun, mentally challenging activities can be engaged, including Lumosity.com, Braingle.com and happy-neuron.com. Visalakshi Srinivasan, who everyone calls Dr. Visa, is board-certified in Geriatrics and Internal Medicine, Dr. Srinivasan is a member of the Health First Aging Services. She has been a Health First Medical Group Geriatrician since September 2005. Dr. Visa earned her medical degree at Kilpauk Medical College in Chennai, India, where she grew up. She completed her post-graduate work in the United Kingdom. After completing her post-graduate training, she moved to Ohio where she completed her internship and residency at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Visa serves as a preceptor for University of Central Florida medical students and Florida State University medical students, and she teaches neuropsychology students at Florida Institute of Technology. She is board-certified in geriatric medicine and by the American Board of Internal Medicine. She is accepting new patients at her practice, Health First Aging Services, 3661 South Babcock St., Melbourne: 321-434-7611. HEALTH Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

50 Vero Beach 32963 / June 29, 2023 HEALTH Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Odds are the age you feel does not match up with the number of candles you blow out on your birthday cake. Middle-aged and older adults tend to feel younger than their chronological age, research shows. Many adults feel a few years to decades younger, and this may be a good thing. Turns out, a younger subjective age is correlated with better overall health and can serve as a “biopsychosocial marker” predictive of healthy aging beyond chronological age, studies show. This persistent perception of youth in later life is, in one sense, a denial of reality. “You’re not accepting who you are, you’re sort of lowballing it, you’re lying to yourself to make yourself feel better,” said Yaakov Hoffman, a clinical psychologist and associate professor of social sciences at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. “You’d think that should be less healthy.” But research has consistently found that feeling younger is usually associated with better health. “We know that those who feel younger are healthier,” said Markus Wettstein, a psychologist at Humboldt University of Berlin. “They also remain healthier over time.” Older adults who feel young at heart may not only live longer, but may also have more life satisfaction, lower dementia risk, reduced depression symptoms and better health in the future. Interestingly, how people feel about their age has been changing over time. New research suggests that middle-aged and older adults today may be feeling younger than their counterparts in the past. A study published in Psychological Science in April reported that, over time, adults have been feeling younger, and younger than those of the same chronological age in the past, even when accounting for other factors that could influence subjective age such as chronic illness, loneliness and education level. Wettstein and his colleagues anaFeeling younger than your age may be good for your health BY RICHARD SIMA The Washington Post lyzed data from the ongoing German Ageing Survey, which started in 1996, and tracked 14,928 German adults between 40 and 85 years old across 24 years. The participants felt, on average, 11.5 percent younger than their chronological age. For example, a 60-year-old would feel more like they were in their early 50s. People born more recently felt even younger. Every decade that passed conferred an approximately 2 percent younger subjective age. For example, a 60-yearold born in 1936 would feel more like 53 years old, or only about 12 percent younger. But a 60-year-old born in 1956 would feel like they were 50 years old, or about 17 percent younger. And, as they got older, their subjective age did not increase as much as their peers born more distantly in the past. Hoffman, who was not involved in the study, called the data “very clear and quite amazing.” The researchers called it the “subjective rejuvenation” effect and said it held up even in very old age, which was a surprising finding because this period is associated with greater vulnerability and mortality. The finding that people may generally be feeling younger can be seen as positive because it is associated with greater well-being, healthier lives and lower rates of mortality. (There can be, as always, too much of a good thing. In some cases a younger subjective age was associated with more risky pandemic behaviors, possibly because people felt more of that invincibility of youth.) Researchers are not sure what is causing the trend of feeling younger. One reason could be that a younger subjective age reflects having more resources than stress, Hoffman said. With overall improved health, higher life expectancy and better resources available today than in decades past, people may feel more youthful. There could also be a less positive possible explanation for this recent shift toward a more youthful state of mind: Ageism. People could be feeling younger because “they don’t want to belong to the group of older adults,” Wettstein said. “So, it’s a kind of psychological distancing oneself from the older adults.” If our views of old age have become more negative over time – one study showed that age stereotypes in American print media have become more negative over the last 200 years – feeling younger may be a coping mechanism against ageism and aging. The research also found a pronounced gender gap. Women reported feeling younger than men of the same age, a gap that has only widened in recent years, which may explain some of the trends in youthful feeling: Women generally live longer and feel healthier than men, but they are also subject to greater societal scrutiny just for getting older. “There’s this double standard of aging,” Wettstein said. “Age stereotypes about women are somehow more negative than about men. Older women are even more underrepresented in the media than men and also more negatively represented.” The research found an education gap, too, though it is a smaller one. People with more education had younger subjective ages than those with lower levels of education, but this gap is shrinking. Wettstein, however, said we need to be careful about projecting trends into the future. Life expectancy may not continue to climb – in the United States, it is declining – and neither may ageism in society. The study had other caveats. The data set had relatively fewer centenarians and most of the subjective age research focused on people living in