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Published by Vero Beach 32963 Media, 2017-01-12 11:49:37

VB32963_ISSUE01_010517_OPT

VB32963_ISSUE01_010517_OPT

Driver who killed Orchid Island
man to plead guilty. P6
Shores officers help
teen battling cancer. P9

George Heaton gives up on
south island hotel project. P12

School employees School District kept inaccurate health insurance records Buyer emerges
use ‘the card’ for for bankrupt
fancy hotel stays BY KATHLEEN SLOAN lion deficit it ran up in recent surance Regulation and what INEOS plant
Staff Writer years. it reported in its Comprehen-
BY KATHLEEN SLOAN sive Annual Financial Report. BY LISA ZAHNER
Staff Writer One measure of the School Another equally damning Staff Writer
District’s poor management measure is the number and The district’s 2011 audited
If you are a high-ranking of its self-insured health in- magnitude of discrepancies financial report showed plan The INEOS biofuel plant,
School District employee and surance fund is the $7 mil- between what the district re- revenue of $17,162,000 but it a high-tech facility built in
you don’t want the School ported to the state Office of In- South Vero with tens of mil-
Board to know what you are CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 lions of dollars in taxpayer
spending on fancy hotels and subsidies that never worked
airfare, put it on “the card.” right in three years of semi-
operation, may get a second
This is Vero Beach 32963’s chance to produce ethanol.
second investigation into use
of the School District’s “pro- A West Palm Beach energy
curement cards,” which func- company wants to buy the
tion just like a credit card with plant, which failed to produce
an $8 million limit. The first marketable quantities of etha-
investigation revealed nearly nol with its yard-waste fer-
$500,000 has been paid to a mentation process, and con-
mold remediation company vert it to a cellulose-to-sugar
since July, during the same ethanol process.
period the district was deny-
ing there is a problem with Daniel de Liege, who heads
mold in its schools. up Alliance BioEnergy, said his
patented technology is much
This time around, when simpler than what INEOS tried
32963 acquired copies of pro- to pull off, and that the plant
curement card statements can be adapted quickly to a
showing staff travel charges
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

MY John’s Island West golf course a rising star
VERO

BY RAY MCNULTY appreciated – mainland golf JI's West Course has gained
Staff Writer course. greater recognition from golf
publications.
John's Island members It proved to be money well-
spent more than $500,000 to spent. In fact, the West Course
host the 2015 U.S. Mid-Am- was No. 20 on Golf Digest's
ateur Championship, which Not only has the response list of the “2016 Best Courses
the posh, oceanfront club from Mid-Am competitors, in Florida,” out of more than
used to showcase its spec- U.S. Golf Association officials 1,500 in the state, and No. 65
tacular – but too often under- and tournament volunteers on Golfweek's 2016 ranking
from across America been
overwhelmingly positive, but CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

January 5, 2017 Volume 10, Issue 1 Newsstand Price $1.00 SEAL Museum
now more
News 1-12 Faith 67 Pets 46 TO ADVERTISE CALL interactive. P22
Arts 25-32 Games 47-49 Real Estate 69-80 772-559-4187
Books 42-43 Health 51-55 St Ed’s 44
Dining 60 Insight 33-50 Style 57-59 FOR CIRCULATION
Editorial 38 People 13-24 Wine 61 CALL 772-226-7925

© 2017 Vero Beach 32963 Media LLC. All rights reserved.

2 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

School District travel rules to conceal unauthorized spending. because personal car use, food and tional Risk Management Association
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Chief among the rules is that School entertainment are reimbursed later, conference. They stayed three nights
creating a split system that does much at the oceanfront Lido Beach Resort
and showed the statements to three Board members get a daily report to mask total travel expenditure. paying $209 a night for their rooms,
School Board members, one had a vis- of credit card purchases. But board running up a hotel bill of $1,198.
ceral reaction. members Charles Searcy and Shawn Vero Beach 32963 looked closely at
Frost said they’ve never seen a single nine of the 134 credit-card travel pur- Rules governing use of the School
“This is very upsetting to me,” new bank statement detailing credit card chases during the July-October period, District charge cards require any expen-
board member Laura Zorc said. “The spending, even though millions of asking for supporting documents, and diture over $1,000 to be pre-approved,
Waldorf? Give me a break. It’s easy to dollars in purchases have been racked found numerous additional procure- and prohibit splitting a bill to keep in-
spend other people's money.” up on the cards. ment violations, showing that a lack of dividual amounts under the $1,000
third-party oversight makes the cards threshold. But the Lido Beach Resort
Use of the district’s all-too-conve- From July to October, School Dis- ripe for abuse. bill was split into two payments, a clear
nient charge cards is supposed to be trict employees used the unsupervised violation of the procurement code.
governed by an 18-page procurement charge cards to pay for nearly $40,000 In mid-July, two employees from
code, but School District officials in hotel and airfare expenses – but that the Human Resources Department, Also in mid-July, two employees
have repeatedly flouted the written is only a portion of what they spent on Pamela Torres-Spivey and Amy Yeitter, from the Food & Nutrition Services
travel; the total cost is much higher went to Sarasota for a Florida Educa- Department, Director Patrick McCarty
and Elizabeth Dykes, went to San An-
tonio, Texas, for the School Nutrition
Association Annual National Confer-
ence. They stayed five nights at the
Grand Hyatt at $253 a night, racking
up a $2,533.50 hotel bill.

There was no authorization to ex-
ceed the $1,000 cap, an infraction of
the rules, but at least McCarty didn’t
artificially divide the bill.

In late August, Assistant Superin-
tendent of Human Resources William
Fritz and Director of Human Resourc-
es Edwina Suit stayed at the Waldorf
Astoria in Orlando while attending a
Human Resources Florida State Coun-
cil conference, running up the charges
that caught Zorc’s eye.

According to the hotel’s website,
rooms at the Waldorf Astoria “exude
sophistication with their warm dé-
cor and timeless elegance, offering a
plethora of amenities for an unforget-
table stay . . . [including] Italian mar-
ble bathrooms.”

The hotel has more than a dozen
dining options, including the tony
“Bull & Bear restaurant, serving a cu-
linary journey of epic proportions and
. . . [providing] a club-like warmth,
compliments of its handsome furnish-
ings and impeccable service.”

Because dining tabs are reported
separately, it is not know which if any
of the hotel restaurants the two dis-
trict administrators dined at, but their
room charges amounted to $1,224 for
the three-day stay.

The bill was split, keeping individu-
al amounts under the $1,000 cap. A de-
posit was paid before the convention
and then the balance was charged at
the end of the convention. Neverthe-
less, there were two procurement in-
fractions on the trip.

All employees are required to fill out
ahead of time a “request for temporary
duty/travel authorization” form, but
Fritz filled his out a month after the trip
and no fellow-administrator gave au-
thorization. Suit filled her request out
more than a month later and Fritz gave
permission for the trip after the fact.

In late October, two School Depart-
ment employees stayed three nights at
the 4-star Mission Inn Resort & Club at

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 3

NEWS

Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida, for $690. Wendy Gardiner, who worked for for the benefits department and then or four times a year, Felten and Gar-
Again, no trip-leave authorization form the school district for 25 years, in- into the payroll system for 2,000 or diner said in separate interviews.
was filed so it is unknown who traveled cluding 15 years in the benefits de- more employees. “There simply was
for what purpose, another violation of partment, confirmed Brown & Brown not enough time to balance the books Again, Brown & Brown tried to help.
the rules governing card spending. performed the audit, but didn’t know at the end of the month.” “We were almost an extension of the
if the corrections were ever made be- human resources department,” Felten
A Regions Bank statement identi- cause she quit her job in 2015. The work load was massively in- said. “Knowing our reputation was at
fies the card use in this case as stem- creased after Fritz took over the hu- stake, knowing that the district wasn’t an-
ming from Vero Beach High School, “We were extremely under staffed,” man resources department in 2013 swering phone calls, we put two people in
and the procurement code makes the said Gardiner, who was responsible and open health insurance enroll- their office just to answer phone calls.”
principal of the school responsible for for in-putting health insurance data ments went from once a year to three
proper credit card use. But the district CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
office apparently didn’t require any
more specific documentation before
paying the bill.

In mid-November, Storm Grove
Middle School Principal Tosha Jones
went to Tampa for a National Alliance
of Black School Educators conference.
The Downtown Embassy Suites bill
totaled $1,436 but the charges were
split, obscuring the total cost of the
convention.

In addition, Jones’ travel form is un-
signed, a violation of the rules, which
makes it seem school principals are
among upper echelon staff who can
travel with no third-party oversight,
in violation of the procurement card
code. 

Health insurance records Exclusively John’s Island
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Appreciate nature’s beauty with brilliant JI Sound views and dazzling sunsets
reported only $14,468,373 in revenue from this casually elegant 4BR/5.5BA retreat. Sited on a private riverfront cove
to the state – an astonishing variation near the Intracoastal Waterway, hardwood floors, architectural detailing, and a
of $2.7 million. On the expense side, courtyard garden with fountain compliment this 6,537± GSF home. Features
the district’s audited report showed include a gourmet center island kitchen adjoining the family room, living room
$16,804,000 but it told the state it spent with fireplace, office, library, newly expanded master bathroom, and boat dock.
$14,630,585, a $2.1 million difference. 731 Manatee Cove : $5,850,000

When Brown & Brown Insurance three championship golf courses : 17 har-tru courts : beach club : squash
– which Assistant Superintendent of health & fitness center : pickleball : croquet : vertical equity membership
Human Resources William Fritz has
blamed for the insurance fund woes 772.231.0900 : Vero Beach, FL : JohnsIslandRealEstate.com
– was hired as the district’s health in-
surance broker in 2010, Executive Vice
President Ken Felten realized his firm
was being fed inaccurate information.

“I asked the district to conduct an
internal audit to reconcile what the
payroll department was deducting
from paychecks, what the benefits
department had for employee cover-
age and what Blue Cross Blue Shield
had as employee coverage. None of it
matched up,” Felten said.

Even though the district is self-in-
sured and financially responsible for
its health insurance fund, the plan is
administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield.

“After asking for two years, we de-
cided to do it ourselves and finally got
permission from Dr. Fritz to do our
own audit. We put two people in there
for a week. We found 250 discrepan-
cies,” Felton said.

Brown & Brown did the audit in
2014, but Felton said he was told dis-
trict staff was too overworked to make
the needed corrections.

4 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Health insurance records And that is exactly what happened. INEOS The INEOS plant on 74th Ave. is
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 Last week Vero Beach 32963 report- in Commissioner Tim Zorc’s district.
ed that Fritz falsely accused Brown & CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 When de Liege notified county officials
Gardiner confirmed Brown & Brown Brown Insurance of giving bad advice in November that he had submitted
sent two people to answer phones on insurance rates when he was ques- mechanical technique his scientists an offer for the plant, Zorc lost no time
and added that a team of four or more tioned by the School Board about the are already using at the company’s lab in driving down to Alliance’s office in
Brown & Brown employees helped peo- health insurance mess. He said Brown in Longwood, Florida. West Palm Beach to meet with him.
ple sign up during open enrollments. & Brown didn’t advise the district to
increase premiums by enough, caus- Alliance put in an offer on the 68- “I was so excited that someone want-
“I could not have gotten through ing a $7 million deficit in the fund, as acre property after Arbor Bank, which ed to take it over and produce ethanol
all those open enrollments without well as the need for a sudden $5.8 mil- holds a federally-backed loan made to out there and keep the employees,”
Brown & Brown’s help,” Gardiner said. lion increase in premiums. INEOS through the USDA, foreclosed Zorc said.
But public records show Wakely Con- in November and began looking for
In another attempt to aid the district, sulting, the actuarial firm selected by a buyer. De Liege would not disclose Zorc said de Liege has also met
Brown & Brown paid $37,000 a year for Brown & Brown, actually told the dis- the amount of his bid, but he said he with county officials and solid waste
three years for an online software sys- trict repeatedly that premiums needed has been encouraged by the bank’s re- staff about continuing the yard waste
tem for the district, which was designed to be increased to keep the fund healthy, sponse. mulching agreement INEOS has with
to align payroll, benefits and insurance advice the district largely ignored. the county, and so far they’ve been sold
vendors’ figures, Felton said. But that And it is clear that Brown & Brown “The bank makes a recommenda- on the proposal.
expense was wasted because the dis- also made repeated efforts to rem- tion to the USDA,” de Liege said. “They
trict “had to upload correct informa- edy underlying record-keeping and weren’t allowed to tell me what their “We are not looking for any govern-
tion. We kept paying because they kept reporting problems at the fund as recommendation was, but they said ment funding; we are strictly privately
saying, ‘We’ll be ready in two months,’ well. the concept has not changed, for it funded,” de Liege said when asked if
but they never had time,” Felton added. Meanwhile, health insurance fund to be sold to someone like us at scrap he was seeking county tax incentives
record keeping continues to be faulty value.” or jobs grant dollars.
Despite its efforts on the district’s three years after Fritz took over. He re-
behalf, Brown & Brown was not al- cently presented a chart to the School “We’ve hired a law firm in Washing- INEOS received both types of as-
lowed to interview when the district Board showing the state of the fund, ton, D.C., the same firm that set up sistance as part of a package of gov-
advertised for insurance consultant including its income and expenses. the original deal with INEOS, and our ernment subsidies that went into its
bids in 2015. The chart, which covered the years attorney and I are meeting with the $130-million project.
2010 to 2016, included 41 mismatches USDA next week [on Jan. 5]. It’s all up
“It is highly unusual for an incumbent between figures he reported and the to the USDA now. I’m ready to go today. Alliance is not interested in the
not to be allowed to interview,” Felten numbers the district reported to two If they say yes, we could have the plant INEOS technology – that has already
said. “That’s when we knew Fritz was state agencies.  converted and up and running by the been sold to a Chinese company, along
probably going to blame us” for the mul- end of 2017.” with an INEOS plant in Arkansas. “The
timillion-dollar deficits and discrepan- Chinese company only wanted the
cies in the health insurance fund. And that would mean jobs, he added, patent and the facility in Arkansas, but
for most of INEOS’ well-paid workers. they did not want Vero,” de Liege said.

The process Alliance plans to use













Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 11

NEWS

whose list of accomplishments in- courts on a year-round basis that gym, where he lifts weights and works He's also looking forward to next
cludes 11 age-group world champi- brought him and his wife to Vero out on the elliptical machine. week's celebration, which Faunce
onships in singles, seven in doubles Beach in 2001, when he embarked on said will be a "causal event" with hors
and 17 in team competitions, as well a remarkable streak during which he "I hate the gym, but I love tennis," d'oeuvres and Van Nostrand's favor-
as more than 40 national titles. "I was won more than 50 consecutive USTA said Van Nostrand, who, despite a ite beverage – Stella Artois beer.
very honored and humbled to be rec- singles tournaments in his various sometimes-achy left hip, compressed
ognized with all those great players.” age groups. spine and a pair of knees that have "I really wanted to do something
been replaced twice, continues to so the tennis community at Grand
What happened afterward, though, And the older he gets, the more play and win into his 80s. "It's a big Harbor could show it's appreciation
meant even more. dominant he becomes: Rarely do his part of my life. I have my family and for all he has done, but when I first
matches reach a third set. my game." suggested it last summer, King didn't
Shortly after the banquet ended, think anybody cared," Faunce said.
as he accepted congratulations from "It's getting harder to find competi- Barring a physical setback, Van "So, at first, I had to talk him into do-
others in the ballroom, Van Nostrand tive matches," Van Nostrand said, "es- Nostrand plans to defend his title and ing this. But, all of a sudden, he's got-
noticed a familiar face moving to- pecially here in the States." his No. 1 ranking in the ITF's men's ten excited about it.
ward him. 80-and-over division next fall, when
He continues to train hard – on the the world championships come to "We're going to have a tremendous
"I saw this older gentleman shuf- court, where he still enjoys running Orlando. turnout." 
fling through the crowd, working his down opponents' shots, and in the
way towards me," he recalled. "He fi-
nally gets to me, grabs my hand and
says: 'I want to shake your hand. You
are an inspiration to all senior play-
ers. I'm proud to meet you.' "

The gentleman was Rod Laver, the
two-time winner of tennis' Grand
Slam who is considered by many to be
the sport's all-time greatest player.

"Rod Laver wanted to shake MY
hand," Van Nostrand said. "Can you
believe that? He's not just a great
champion; he's a class act. It wasn't
just an honor. It was truly a thrill.

"It was the highlight of my entire
tennis life."

Van Nostrand began his tennis ca-
reer as a star player at Bay Shore (N.Y.)
High School and went on to play at
Cortland (N.Y.) State, graduating in
1956 and serving in the U.S. Navy be-
fore returning home to spend 30 years
teaching junior high and high school
mathematics on Long Island.

He won his first United States Ten-
nis Association national champion-
ship in the men's 35-and-over divi-
sion in 1971, when he was 37.

But it wasn't until he retired in 1989
that he stepped up his commitment
to competitive tennis and embarked
on a senior and super-senior career
that has produced more national titles
than he can remember – literally.

"When you win a national champi-
onship, they give you a gold ball, and
I've given a lot of them away," he said.
"I've kept a few, but I honestly don't
know exactly how many I've won. Sin-
gles and doubles combined, it's some-
where between 40 and 60."

One world championship that Van
Nostrand won't forget came in 2004,
when he won the men's title and his
wife won the women's crown, both in
the 70-and-over division.

"I taught her to play, and all of our
kids played, too," Van Nostrand said.
"We're a tennis family."

All four of Van Nostrand's children
went to college on tennis scholar-
ships. Two of them, John and Molly,
became All-Americans who went on
to play on the pro tours.

It was Van Nostrand's desire to
play tennis outdoors on softer clay

12 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

George Heaton gives up on south island hotel project

BY ALAN SNEL told 32963 he had hoped to close on the Heaton confirmed the plan as it was 2013, with plans to develop a resort
Staff Writer property at 2600 A1A in St. Lucie County proposed is dead because of the eco- himself.
this past fall to build the 170,000-square- nomics. "We probably over-designed
George Heaton’s ambitious plan to foot, $70 million project. the project,” he said. Lowe worked with the county to get
build a 10-story, 160-room hotel, 45 the property rezoned to CR, commer-
condos and nine cottages on 12 acres But that did not happen. Lowe represents landowner Phil cial resort, to accommodate the hotel
at the far southern end of the barrier The listing broker for the property, Ruffin, a Las Vegas billionaire who and condo project Ruffin had in mind.
island is dead after he terminated a Bob Lowe, said Heaton no longer has a owns the Treasure Island hotel and
contract to buy the land. contract for the prime oceanfront land. casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The St. Ruffin subsequently changed his
“I heard the plan was too expensive Lucie property sold at the height of mind, but that zoning, along with
The developer, who built the Vero to build. He does not have a contract. the real estate boom for $17.9 mil- the tract’s spectacular location on
Beach Hotel & Spa on Ocean Drive and is Anybody can come in and buy the lion, but lost value in the downturn. the ocean near the Fort Pierce Inlet
developing a new subdivision in Riomar, land,” Lowe said last week. Ruffin bought it for $6 million in – which is hugely popular with sport
fishermen and other boaters – was part
of the draw for Heaton when he sought
to buy the land for his resort concept.

Besides the 160-room hotel, con-
dos and beachfront cottages, his
plan called for a spa and fitness cen-
ter, a 4,000-square-foot restaurant
in the hotel along with a free-stand-
ing 5,000-square-foot restaurant, a
5,000-square-foot specialty retail store
fronting on A1A, and a large lawn event
area between the beach and hotel for
weddings, reunions and corporate
events.

He had selected an architect – Del-
ray Beach-based Randall Stofft, de-
signer of the Vero Beach Hotel & Spa
– and planned to sell the 1,000-square-
foot condos for around $500,000 while
offering the nine deluxe cottages for
$1.8 million to $2.5 million each.

The county supported Heaton’s plan,
which diverged somewhat from what
Ruffin had in mind, and was willing
to make modifications to the zoning
code to accommodate him, but Leslie
Olson, St. Lucie County planning and
development services director, said the
application Heaton submitted in mid-
July has been removed from the county
Planning and Zoning Commission
agenda at Heaton’s request.

Now, Lowe’s real estate sign stands
on the land, informing passersby that
commercial, hotel and condo uses
are allowed on the property, which is
located across the road from a Cum-
berland Farms convenience store
where A1A makes a 90-degree bend,
its north-south route interrupted by
the Fort Pierce Inlet.

Lowe said that even though Hea-
ton’s hotel plan is off the table, the
possibility of a resort with commer-
cial and condo use is still in play and
a continuance of the land’s conceptual
resort use will be heard at a St. Lucie
County planning meeting on Feb. 16.

“I kept the concept alive – I have kept
it moving along to save somebody a lot
of money and time,” the broker said.

Lowe, who has worked with Ruffin
for more than 25 years, said he is talk-
ing with two interested parties about
the property, which he hopes to sell for
around $15 million. 



14 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

‘Nutcracker’ gala: A bid adieu … now in with the new!

PHOTOS: DENISE RITCHIE

BY MARY SCHENKEL tress and Mouse Queen. mance, with dancers mingling with I thought. The emotional part of per-
Staff Writer They and roughly 40 other tal- friends, family members and ap- forming is easy. The physical is much
preciative audience members, while tougher. Not having been on stage in
It’s difficult to call anything so ented young dancers each danced getting a glimpse of the new ballet’s eight years and adding performer to
delightfully upbeat a swan song, but their parts so perfectly the audience scene renderings. the list of jobs I usually do in relation
on a recent Sunday afternoon, Bal- could have happily sat through an- to Ballet Vero Beach has proved in-
let Vero Beach fans bid adieu to what other performance. When asked what made him credibly daunting,” said Schnell.
has been a beloved Vero Beach holi- choose to take to the stage once
day tradition for the last seven years “I couldn’t miss this one, because more, Schnell joked, “Poor judg- Among those jobs is choreo-
– “The Nutcracker: In Swingtime!” Adam and Camilo are performing,” ment!” Although a performer at graphing an upcoming interpreta-
said Judy Roberts, who had volun- heart, his time has primarily been tion of Vero Beach composer Paul
Making the final Gold Watch Gala teered at the recent Nutcracker Tea devoted to his work at Riverside The- Gay’s “In Which Cio-Cio San Goes
performance even more special, Party fundraiser. “I think it’s ter- atre and Ballet Vero Beach. with Pinkerton,” as well as an “Any-
Adam Schnell, founding artistic di- rific; I think what they’ve brought thing You Can Do” ballet set to
rector of Ballet Vero Beach, made to Vero Beach is very special. They “I knew though that I wanted yet Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto. Those
his Vero stage debut in the produc- add another dimension to Vero’s art another way to show how passion- pieces, along with dancer Chloe
tion, joined on stage by Ballet Mas- scene. I hope everyone can make it ate I am about the work Ballet Vero Watson’s “Ophelia” danced to a
ter Camilo Rodriguez and returning to one of their productions.” Beach does,” he added. “What better commissioned score performed live
alumni standouts Meghan Calla- way to do that than to put myself in a by composer Sean McVerry, will be
han, as a graceful and lovely Clara, But, while the curtain closed on situation that could result in an epic performed on Jan. 21 and 22 at the
Shannon Maloney, in a sassy gender one Nutcracker, it did so to raise fail?” Vero Beach High School Performing
role switch playing the Father op- funds for a grander version next Arts Center. For information, visit
posite Rodriguez’s Mother, and Pat- year; a full-scale, professionally- While that most certainly didn’t balletverobeach.org. 
rick Schlitt, a brilliantly expressive danced Nutcracker on the Indian happen, he said the physical and
dancer in the dual roles of Headmis- River production created by Schnell. emotional aspects did take their toll. ‘NUTCRACKER’ PHOTOS CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
A champagne reception sponsored
by Patisserie followed the perfor- “Everything I do in dance and the
arts end up being much harder than



16 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

1 2 34

‘NUTCRACKER’ PHOTOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

5 6 7
10
‘NUTCRACKER’ CAPTIONS

1. Terry and Marion Martin, Adam Schnell, Ellen and Bob Gudwin.

2. John Meersman, Camilo Rodriguez, Donna Meersman and

Cathy Morton. 3. Kathleen Schlitt, Patrick Schlitt and Bob

Schlitt, Jr. 4. Irina and Emily Roche with Stephanie Morby.

5. Kendra Nagy, Kristen Yoshitani and Kathleen O’Brien. 6. Christina

Pines, Carly Conboy, Clara Martin, Emma Swallow, Mackenzie Ross,

Kendra Nagy, Isabel Morby and Lilly Connell. 7. Carol, Cheryl and

Charlie Ernst with Ann Eckerd. 8. Ashley and Bryan Dowgell with

daughters Victoria and Audrey. 9. Isabel Squires and Lisa Cave.

8 9 10. Frances Sprout and Lucinda Gedeon PHOTOS: DENISE RITCHIE

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Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 17

PEOPLE

Healthy dose of optimism at Resolution Run 5K

Joseph Granberg was the first male runner across the Tisha Lowery and Linda Parson.

finish line. PHOTOS: J PATRICK RICE

Erin Payne, Shelby Settle and Annabelle Moore. Alysa Hatfield and Kayla Gravel take a selfie.

BY MARY SCHENKEL tions had to do with health or run-
ning, such as Carol Koiro, who said
Staff Writer hers was to stay fit, and Shawn Hoyt,
who said he hoped to do more tri-
More than 350 runners started off athlons in 2017. Jessica Schmitt said
2017 in a fit and healthy way on New she wanted to run in a marathon
Year’s Day, participating in the 2017 in North Carolina, but then added
Resolution Run 5K from Riverside with a smile, “To be debt-free – every
Park near the Vero Beach Museum year.”
of Art.
“Thanks for getting your New
The race is the fourth in the 2016- Year’s off with a good start,” said Jim
17 Run Vero Race Series sponsored Van Veen to runners at the start line,
by Runner’s Depot, which included before a New Year’s race countdown
the August Twilight 2-Mile at the that ended with confetti canisters
Riverhouse, October’s Frightening shot over the heads of participants
4K from South Beach and Decem- as they took off. Van Veen credited
ber’s Candy Cane 3K, which preced- wife Meredith with the festive idea,
ed the Christmas Parade on Ocean adding, “We thought it would add
Drive. Still to come in the series are some atmosphere.”
the Feb. 11 Cupcake 2-Mile at AW
Young Park and the April 1 Citrus “It’s a beautiful day and a good
Classic 5K at Pocahontas Park. start to a new year,” said Trish Metz-
inger, waiting with husband Jim for
The six-race series promotes the their son-in-law Tyler Donnelly to
overall wellness of the commu- cross the finish line. Tyler and their
nity by donating a portion of race daughter Margaret, both teachers in
proceeds to local nonprofits. The Chicago, were visiting for the holi-
Education Foundation of Indian day.
River County was the beneficiary in
this first race of 2017, and provided Shoshanna Shelley and Joanna
roughly 20 volunteers to help out at Findley waited with their friend Glo-
the event. ria Dowd to cheer on husband Bob
Dowd.
While all of the participants had
clearly made the commitment to Shelley said her resolution was
start the year off right, many were not to make a New Year’s resolution,
keeping their New Year’s resolutions reasoning, “You end up resenting
fairly simple or, more times than yourself because you don’t follow
not, opting out of the tradition alto- through with them. I think if we
gether. make a resolution we should make
it for one day. We should start them
“To spread more love in the world,” one day at a time and then renew it.”
said the always upbeat Jennifer
Jones of her resolution. Sounds like a pretty good plan.
Joseph Granberg finished first
“I don’t have one,” said Makaela with an impressive 17:25, while
Tippins, before adding succinctly of James Granberg was close on his
her plan for the new year, “Making heels at 17:30. Lotte Branigan was
the most of it.” the top female finisher at 19.26. 

Not surprisingly, many resolu-

18 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Bittersweet ’16 sendoff as revelers welcome new year

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF vate parties where s’mores roasted Ted Truslow and Todd Darress designed a ball with 2,000 lights to ring in the New Year with a Vero Beach
Staff Writer over open fires, and silverware
clinked as diners took advantage of ball drop. PHOTOS: J PATRICK RICE AND GORDON RADFORD
New Year’s Eve is always some- exceptional dining opportunities at
what bittersweet, a time to reflect local restaurants. Theatre Plaza on 14th Avenue orga- under the stars where the sand
on the past and look forward to the nized by The Hub @ Theatre Plaza. meets the sea. And down by the
future while sitting on the precipice The evening got an early start river, DJs kept the party going at the
of what was and what can be. And in the Historic Downtown district Attendees lit up the night with Riverside Cafe.
what a year 2016 was, with births during the second annual Down- color, having purchased RF LED
and deaths, political turmoil and town New Year’s Eve Celebration. wristbands whose lights flashed The last hurrah of the year sets
activism, environmental atrocities Little ones enjoyed their own spe- to the beat of the music, and at the the tone for what’s to come, with
and triumphs; each a reminder that cial party as families spread out end of the evening one lucky wearer partiers singing “Auld Lang Syne”
no matter what life throws our way, blankets on the lawn of the Heritage would start the year off $2,500 rich- surrounded by new friends and old,
humanity is resilient. Center to watch an outdoor viewing er. holding the joys and tragedies of a
of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate year gone by close to their hearts.
Last Saturday night Vero Beach Factory” before standing wide-eyed Ted Truslow and Todd Darress There were even millions of follow-
revelers donned party hats and as their own special ball dropped at outdid themselves again this year ers watching anxiously as two South
fancy outfits to say goodbye to 2016 what local radio personality Hamp with their design of a ball with 2,000 Florida eaglets made their way into
in grand style. Telisa Hamilton Elliot deemed “New Year’s Eve and lights to ring in the New Year with a the world, serving as a reminder
summed up the evening with a pos- a half.” Vero Beach ball drop and fireworks. that with the start of the New Year,
itive outlook for the New Year, say- we can begin anew.
ing, “It’s a fresh start with endless With the help of Charter High Over on the barrier island, the
possibilities.” School students, the downtown crisp, winter night was perfect for No matter how you celebrated
area was transformed into a 1920s those heading from one party spot the end of 2016, kisses at the stroke
And the evening’s possibilities Speakeasy, featuring music on two to another along Ocean Drive, of midnight promised a bigger and
were endless as well, from intimate stages and live Instagram posts of where live bands played an eclectic better 2017.
gatherings to street parties and the evening on big-screen televi- mix of music ranging from current
from fine dining to poolside danc- sions. The block party also celebrat- hits to old favorites. And those who weren’t quite ready
ing. Sky lanterns holding wishes for ed the announcement of another to get out of bed but still wanted to
the New Year wafted up from pri- revitalization project for the old A raucous crowd spilled out onto say goodbye to 2016 headed over to
the street as revelers enjoyed the the Blue Star’s annual New Year’s
band at Grind + Grape. Guests at Day Pajama Brunch, toasting the
Costa d’Este mingled poolside and year with Bellinis, Bloody Marys
enjoyed a roaring fire, while at the and mimosas. 
Vero Beach Hotel & Spa they danced





Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

19

20
COSTA D’ ESTE CAPTIONS

19. Costa d’ Este diners enjoy the evening. 20. Telisa
Hamilton, Karen Bartolini and Gregory Arnone.

21

22
RIVERSIDE CAFE CAPTIONS

21. DJ’s Loren and Michael at Riverside Cafe.
22. The crowd at Riverside Cafe.

22 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

SEAL of approval: Navy museum now more interactive

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF Naval Amphibious Training Base.
Staff Writer The World War II base was a hub of
maritime activity, used to train Na-
Between 1943 and 1946, people val Combat Demolition Units and
strolling along the sandy shores of Underwater Demolition Teams in
the Treasure Coast were more like- the use of underwater explosives,
ly to see an amphibious frogman amphibious assault techniques, and
emerging from the ocean than a procedures for breaching and re-
sunbather, thanks to the nearby lo- moving beach fortifications.
cation of the 19,000-acre Fort Pierce
Over the years, as the needs of the

Andy Brady, community outreach coordinator for the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, explains

the latest additions to the museum. PHOTOS: MITCH KLOORFAIN

military evolved, so did the UDTs, and Music Festival this past Veter-
developing into the elite branch of ans Day, the museum unveiled its
the Naval Special Warfare Com- new Cold War Gallery in the com-
mand – the U.S. Navy SEAL (Sea- pletely remodeled west wing. The
Air-Land) teams. Today they are the museum’s major renovation features
Navy’s primary special operations the addition of mission-specific in-
force, conducting small-unit mili- stallations and chronicles UDT and
tary operations that generally initi- SEAL history from 1945 into the 21st
ate from a body of water or coastal century.
area.
From the shores of Normandy
The legacy of the early frogmen and Southern France during WWII
through to the missions of today’s to Osama bin Laden’s compound in
SEALs resides where it all began – at Pakistan, this tight brotherhood has
the Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, which been an integral part of all war ef-
opened on Veterans Day 1985 just forts, often without any credit due
north of the Fort Pierce Inlet. The to the sensitive nature of their mis-
museum initially focused solely on sions. Now as guests enter the mu-
the WWII historical aspects, but over seum they can literally revisit his-
the past 30 years it too has evolved, tory with a walk back through time
expanding with tremendous growth that begins with recent events and
and inclusivity. works back to the birth of the UDT

During the 31st Annual Muster CONTINUED ON PAGE 24



24 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 PEOPLE

and SEALs. to educate and engage our guests,” the museum is the fact that every-
The Cold War Gallery includes ar- says Rick Kaiser, executive director thing on display was used during a
of the Navy SEAL Museum. “The re- SEAL operation. There are no repli-
tifacts from military operations that modeled west wing emphasizes the cas.
occurred between 1945 and 2000, il- imperative role the SEALs played
lustrating events that unfolded dur- during this era by recounting some of “This stuff is the real deal,” says
ing Korea, Vietnam and Panama, and the untold stories and through sever- Brady. “And we’ll even let you climb
it also includes the SEALs’ involve- al artifacts that have never been seen into some of the equipment.”
ment with NASA space exploration. before.”
In the 1950s the SEALs assisted with Some of the more recent items
NASA recovery programs, training “For the SEALs, Vietnam was their put on display include a piece of
astronauts how to safely emerge from coming-out party,” explains Andy Osama bin Laden’s compound, the
the pods. Brady, community outreach coordi- Black Hawk helicopter used to res-
nator. “Our exhibits stopped at Viet- cue Jessica Buchanan, Captain Phil-
“The new Cold War Gallery is just nam, but we had some stuff from the lips’ Maersk Alabama lifeboat, and a
one more example of how the muse- Gulf too.” piece of steel from the World Trade
um continues to expand and improve Center.
One of the more unique aspects of
“Everything is interactive now,”
says Elaine Ryan, museum market-
ing and media coordinator. “The
whole thing about SEALs is that
they’re interactive, Sea-Air-Land.
They are trained to be able to do
anything, so we’ve tried to make the
museum a lot more interactive and
user-friendly.”

The new gallery emphasizes the
evolution of the SEALs’ gear and
how they utilize it. The exhibit also
stresses the development and im-
portance of tactical improvements.
The museum will continue to ex-
pand, keeping pace as the SEALs
continue to make their mark, pro-
tecting America and her citizens.
They are currently working on “top
secret” plans for a K-9 exhibit.

“The SEALs are a highly-evolved
team, always staying three steps
ahead of the enemy,” says Ryan.
“Like a game of chess, you want to be
able to anticipate your opponent’s
next move, and I think the SEALs do
that very well.”

The museum is also home to the
only Memorial Wall solely dedicated
to Navy Frogmen and SEALs, forever
memorializing the men who have
died in the service of the country
since the frogmen were first com-
missioned. That number currently
stands at 288.

A byproduct of the museum’s suc-
cess is its ability to offer support
to SEAL families through Trident
House Charities, which provides
care for veterans, current members
of the military, and the families of
those who made the ultimate sacri-
fice. Support is offered through its
three pillars: Trident House, a three-
bedroom respite house in Sebastian;
the Navy SEAL Museum Scholarship
Program; and family support.

“When you come to the museum,
your admission helps the museum
and a much bigger cause – the fami-
lies of the SEALs,” says Brady.

The National Navy UDT-SEAL Mu-
seum is the ideal place to experience
and pay tribute to the many ways
these men have impacted military
warfare from the time amphibious
frogmen first hit the beach. 

THE NATURAL: GARDENS INFUSE,
INSPIRE MARY SEGAL’S ART

26 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

The Natural: Gardens infuse, inspire Mary Segal’s art

BY MICHELLE GENZ her paintbrush to a beauty nature teaching space, Art by Mary Segal. PHOTO: DENISE RITCHIE
Staff Writer never knew.
in her home two she says. “There’s a lot of shine in my
Mary Segal begins her day as an art- “I do it very intuitively,” she says. new paintings, a lot of gloss medium
ist in her garden, the source of not only “The painting just suggests itself years ago, she is and a lot of layers of color so you build
her morning exercise – and occasional to you, which is the part that is just that beautiful glow. It looks like they’re
lunchtime salad – but also her inspira- fabulous.” offering a one- lit from behind.”
tion.
Friday, Segal’s latest painted col- day workshop Often, it is the gels that lend the
In the backyard of her Roseland lages will be on view at the Center for mystical air to the floral paintings.
home of two decades, off an out-of- Spiritual Care, a few blocks north of April 1 at the mu- Her latest series has veered away from
the-way dirt road, she intersperses Vero’s downtown public library. Like
the rows of arugula, kale and yellow the other exhibitions staged at the cen- seum on the use
beans with zinnia and marigolds. ter over the past year or so, her show
The shrub-like eggplant offers up is expected to draw a warm throng of of acrylic medi-
simple lavender blooms before supporters, both fellow artists and pa-
fruiting; tomato plants, when Segal trons. Like Segal’s garden, the center’s ums and gels.
snips off an errant shoot, scent the artist receptions have proven nurtur-
air. Mango and avocado trees are ing beyond measure, inspiring and Developing her
quickly filling in, and Segal imag- through its sales funding the work of
ines the day they will tower over top Vero independent artists. own knowledge
the rest. “I may not be around, but
who cares?” says Segal, who is now a And Segal herself has done her share of those tech-
great-grandmother. of nurturing artists. In 2012, Segal and
Sebastian artist Sharon Morgan or- niques has been
The garden is also her art sup- ganized the first Sebastian Art Studio
ply shop, where she plants, prunes Tour. Once again, her studio will be on the focus of her
and plucks the actual media for her the tour, scheduled for Feb. 11.
painted collages. She then dries the artistic life
petals and leaves until brittle and Segal is a longtime instructor at the
colorless, then restores them with Vero Beach Museum of Art. Though lately. The
she has limited her course offerings
since opening Red Door Studios, a products

range from

transparent

or iridescent

glazes to high-

solids gel that

can be manipu-

lated as it dries – shaped, carved

or even stamped. She also uses inter-

ference colors that change tone as the

viewer passes by, from green to violet,

for example.

“It can be daunting to figure out,”

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 27

ARTS & THEATRE

Mary Segal. PHOTO: DENISE RITCHIE journals of musings ment to her art-making. She left the or so exhibits to date, all involving re-
ashram and spent two weeks at Pen- spected local artists.
the patterns she was laying out a few and drawings; the land School of Crafts in the Blue Ridge
years back and now involve more ab- Mountains near Asheville. “It was very “They’ve been wonderful,” says
stract composition. resulting assemblage important to me once I’d dedicated my Segal. “They take very good care of
life to art.” their artists. They came out to my
“It’s always an adventure. I will just went on to be shown studio, they really looked at my work,
have a germ of an idea, it might be a A decade later, when the Center for and Warren wrote this wonderful
color or just a gesture, not fleshed out in a number of ven- Spiritual Care opened in 2000, its of- essay about where it all fits in the
at all. I know I get very excited about ferings, mostly workshops in spiri- stream of art.”
the flowers’ forms and shapes, then I ues, including the tual and psychologist growth, were
just start building a painting.” a natural fit for Segal. Today founder The reception for Segal is Friday
National Museum for Ludwig, along with her husband War- from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Her works will
Segal, who earned a degree in art ren Obluck, the longtime film studies be on view through the month of Janu-
history from Brown University in 1955 Women in the Arts in director at Vero’s art museum, have ary. The Center for Spiritual Care is at
while studying studio art at the near- helped curate and promote the dozen 1550 24th Street, Vero. 
by Rhode Island School of Design, is Washington, D.C.
best known for her mixed media. Her
“altered books” were the subject of an Segal, whose
earlier course at the museum. In it,
she shared various methods of trans- late husband was a
forming books, including journals,
into sculptures with glue or paint, or sculptor, briefly lived
creating new “books” by pasting clip-
pings of printed words or images onto as part of the com-
a canvas, and embellishing them with
script or painted designs. Years earlier munity at nearby
a variation on the concept earned her
a National Endowment for the Arts Kashi Ashram when
grant. She spent five years keeping
she first moved to

the area in the 1980s.

She still drops in for

dinners on occasion

and is impressed

with the Ashram’s

sustainable garden-

ing program, which

offers workshops to

the public.

Daughter of a

journalist, Segal

had grown up in Cleveland, then

after college moved to Munich with

her first husband. Six years later, in

the 1960s, the couple moved to San

Francisco where Segal got a job in

advertising; she showed her artwork

in various galleries while making

her home in Berkeley. From there,

she moved to rural New Mexico with

her new husband, the sculptor. For a

year, she taught English at an alter-

native school and remains close to

her students even today. “Everything

was experiential,” she says with exu-

berance. “We went on field trips and

we made things and the parents

came in and taught their skills. We

had a fabulous year with them.”

The couple arrived in Florida just

as the Vero Beach Museum of Art was

opening its doors. Segal became an in-

tegral part of establishing a print-mak-

ing studio there, teaching a number of

classes including some for children.

Around 1990, Segal made a commit-

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Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 31

ARTS & THEATRE

busting musical tells the tale of two tone title role in Verdi’s “Nabucco,” 5 Next Wednesday, the Atlantic Orchestra, as well as three perfor-
girls from Oz, one born with emerald conducted by James Levine and si- Classical Orchestra opens its mances of the Brevard Symphony
green skin, who grow up to become mulcast at the Majestic 11 Theatre. Orchestra.
the Wicked Witch of the West and Levine and Domingo, both in their season with newly appointed ar-
Glinda the Good Witch. It’s the mod- 70s, have worked together in more Gustavo Acosta - Corner Lot.
ern dichotomy of popular girls and than 360 performances at the Met tistic director David Amado taking
“different” girls. over the past 45 years. The Saturday
simulcast is sold out (in two theaters the podium to conduct Smetana’s
no less) but there’s a repeat Tuesday
night at 7 p.m. “Overture for the Bartered Bride,”

David Amado. Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto in B-

flat minor” performed by Vyacheslav

3 The Vero Beach Theatre Guild Gryaznov, and Beethoven’s “Sym-
knows its audience loves British
phony No. 5 in C Minor.” Amado,

farce, so they’re serving up another who studied at Juilliard and Indiana

one next week. “Cash on Delivery,” University, officially joined the or-

directed by Art Pingree, is about a chestra last July after six years with

man who has lost his job but doesn’t the St. Louis Orchestra and dozens of

tell his wife, and instead takes every engagements with major orchestras.

government hand-out he can find, Gryaznov, the 34-year-old pianist

inventing plenty of dependents along whom reviewers have described as

the way. “brilliant” and “stunning,” is also a

When social workers come to call, composer and professor of piano at

the mad scramble begins. The play the Moscow Conservatory.

opens next Thursday and runs Wednesday’s concert is at St. Ed-

through Jan. 22. ward’s School on Vero’s south bar-

rier island. 7 The First Friday gallery stroll
in Vero includes an impressive

4 The Opera Orlando production 6 The Indian River Symphonic show of prominent Cuban artists at
of “Don Pasquale” comes to Association brings the Prague
Raw Space at Edgewood gallery on

Vero Beach this Sunday through Vero Philharmonic to Vero Beach’s Com- Old Dixie. And on 14th Avenue, cow-

Beach Opera, staged at 3 p.m. at Vero munity Church next Thursday. The boy poet and painter Sean Sexton

Beach High School’s Performing Arts Jan. 12 concert opens the 2017 sea- has a show of his three-dimensional

Center. son, which includes the Royal Scot- works in clay at Flametree Clay Gal-

And if that’s not enough opera for tish National Orchestra, the Nation- lery, now under new ownership. Sex-

one week, you can see the legend- al Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, ton will be giving a poetry reading

ary Plácido Domingo sing the bari- and Germany’s Bamberg Symphony there later this month. 





34 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT COVER STORY

BY JASON GALE, LYDIA MULVANY A WORKER FEEDS FISH AT A FARM IN DATIAN-
AND MONTE REEL | BLOOMBERG LANG IN CHINA’S GUANGDONG PROVINCE.
THE FEED IS LACED WITH ANTIBIOTICS.

You might not a year globally by 2050 – more people than currently
want to eat that die from cancer.
shrimp cocktail
In November 2015 scientists reported the discov-
From the air, the Pearl River Delta in southern Chi- transformed ecological efficiency into a threat to ery of a colistin-resistant gene in China that can turn
na’s Guangdong province resembles a mass of human global public health. a dozen or more types of bacteria into superbugs.
cells under a microscope. Hundreds of thousands of Since then the gene has been found in patients, food,
livestock pens are scattered among the thousands of At another farm, in Jiangmen, a farmer scatters a and environmental samples in more than 20 coun-
seafood farms that form the heart of the country’s scoop of grain to rouse her slumbering swine, penned tries, including at least four patients in the United
aquaculture industry, the largest in the world. on the edge of a pond with 20,000 Mandarin fish. The States. Food, it now appears, can be a crucial vector.
feed contains three kinds of antibiotics, including co-
Beside one of those fish farms near Zhaoqing, on listin, which in humans is considered an antibiotic of “People eating their shrimp cocktails and paella
a muggy summer day, a farmhand wearing a broad- last resort. may be getting more than they bargained for,” says
brimmed straw hat hoses down the cement floor of Dr. Martin Blaser, a professor of microbiology and
a piggery where white and roan hogs sniff and snort. Colistin is banned for swine use in the U.S., but an infectious diseases physician at New York Univer-
The dirty water from the pens flows into a metal pipe, until November, when the Chinese government fi- sity Langone Medical Center who chairs President
which empties directly into a pond shared by dozens nally clamped down, it was used extensively in ani- Barack Obama’s advisory panel for combating anti-
of geese. As the yellowish-brown water splashes from mal feed in China. biotic-resistant bacteria. “The penetration of antibi-
the pipe, tilapia flap and jump, hungry for an after- otics through the food chain is a big problem.”
noon feeding. The overuse of antibiotics has transformed what
had been a hypothetical menace into a clear and Research has found that as much as 90 percent of
Chinese agriculture has thrived for thousands present one: superbugs, bacteria that are highly the antibiotics administered to pigs pass undegrad-
of years on this kind of recycling — the nutrients resistant to antibiotics. By British government esti- ed through their urine and feces. This has a direct
that fatten the pigs and geese also feed the fish. But mates, about 700,000 people die each year from an- impact on farmed seafood. The waste from the pig-
the introduction of antibiotics into animal feed has tibiotic-resistant infections worldwide. If trends con- pens at the Jiangmen farm flowing into the ponds, for
tinue, that number is expected to soar to 10 million example, exposes the fish to almost the same doses
of medicine the livestock get – and that’s in addition
to the antibiotics added to the water to prevent and
treat aquatic disease outbreaks.

The $90 billion aquaculture trade accounts for al-
most half of all seafood harvested or caught, accord-
ing to the United Nations. China supplies almost 60
percent of the global total and is the biggest exporter.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 35

INSIGHT COVER STORY

U.S. food regulators have known about the country’s of antibiotic often used to treat patients in hospitals most of the shrimp consumed in the U.S. was raised
antibiotic problem for more than a decade. The Food with multidrug-resistant infections. domestically, primarily off the Gulf Coast.
and Drug Administration intensified its monitoring of
imported farm-raised seafood from China in the fall of Initially, the resistant bacteria from breeding From 1990 to 2006, shrimp import volumes dou-
2006 and found a quarter of the samples tested con- grounds such as China were believed to spread most- bled. Today about 90 percent of the shrimp eaten in
tained residues of unapproved drugs and unsafe food ly by international travel. Michael Mulvey, head of America comes from abroad. China’s share of im-
additives. antimicrobial resistance at the National Microbiology ports touched an 11-year high in 2003 at 16 percent
Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was among the of the market. (It’s now 5.6 percent.) In 2004, the U.S.
The following June an import alert was applied to all first to realize that seafood could also be a vector. Department of Commerce announced a 112 percent
farm-raised shrimp and several other kinds of seafood tariff on Chinese shrimp, effective 2005 – a response
from China, allowing the agency to detain the prod- In 2015, Mulvey’s lab secured funding for a study to complaints of domestic producers that insisted
ucts at port until each shipment is proved, through that enabled him and his colleagues to run a test for Chinese suppliers were selling seafood below market
laboratory analysis, to be untainted. carbapenem-resistant bacteria on 1,328 samples of prices. In 2007 came the import alert.
seafood collected from Canadian retail outlets from
But antibiotic-contaminated seafood keeps turning Malaysia jumped in to pick up the slack. In 2004
up at U.S. ports, as well as in restaurants and grocery AQUACULTURE FARMS IN DATIANLANG. imports of Malaysian shrimp rose tenfold, according
stores. That’s because distribution networks that move to U.S. government figures.
the dirty seafood around the world in much the same BELOW: A WORKER ON THE DATIAN-
way criminal organizations launder dirty money. LANG FARM SETS OUT TO FEED THE FISH. There’s reason to doubt that all that Malaysian
ANTIBIOTIC MEDICINES AT A VETERINARY shrimp is Malaysian. Ronnie Tan, vice president of
The Chinese government is well aware that the use Blue Archipelago, Malaysia’s largest seafood produc-
of antibiotics has gotten out of hand. Nevertheless, PHARMACY IN JIANGMEN. er, says that Malaysia produced about 32,000 tons of
China’s rates of drug resistance remain among the shrimp in 2015; about 18,000 tons were consumed do-
highest in the world. Surveys across the country have 2011 to 2015. Eight, or 0.6 percent, tested positive; all mestically, and about 12,000 tons went to Singapore.
found 42 percent to 83 percent of healthy people came from Southeast Asia.
carry in their bowels bacteria that produce extended- That would leave little legitimate Malaysian shrimp
spectrum beta-lactamases, or ESBLs, which create Since the early 1990s, the average amount of to go to the rest of the world. Yet according to U.S. De-
reservoirs of potential pathogens that can destroy shrimp Americans eat annually has doubled, turn- partment of Agriculture figures, imports from Malay-
penicillin and most of its variants. ing what was once a specialty dish into the country’s sia during the past decade have exceeded 20,000 tons
single most popular seafood. As recently as the 1980s, a year on average.
The aquaculture products sold in Shanghai teem
with bacteria that can’t be killed by common antibi- It’s a mystery that may be explained, at least partially,
otics. In almost a third of random seafood samples by examining the business practices of JunYang, a Chi-
collected in Shanghai from 2006 to 2011, researchers nese-born entrepreneur based in Texas. Homeland Se-
found salmonella, a major cause of gastroenteritis in curity Investigations, a part of U.S. Immigrations and
people. A closer examination of the germs showed Customs Enforcement, first knew him as a honey bro-
that 43 percent of the samples harbored multidrug- ker. The agency arrested him in 2012 (then unarrested
resistant strains of bacteria. him so that he could cooperate with the investigation,
then arrested him again) and charged him with mak-
Over the past year, scientists have tracked the ing false claims about the honey he was selling.
spread of colistin-resistant bacteria throughout Asia,
Europe, and the Western Hemisphere. In May the first It was harvested in China but was passed through
report of an American infected with a colistin-resis- Malaysia, where it acquired Malaysian certificates of
tant superbug was announced. By August researchers origin.
were announcing that American patients had been
infected with a strain of bacteria that had developed The investigators also determined that Yang’s
resistance to colistin and carbapenems, another type main business wasn’t honey – it was seafood. His
company brokered shrimp for a Houston company
called American Fisheries. At the time of Yang’s first
arrest, some of the shipments were still in cold-stor-
age facilities. The feds required him, as part of his co-
operation, to send samples to a laboratory for analy-
sis. Five shipments tested positive for nitrofurans, a
class of antibiotics banned in the U.S. Those tainted
shrimp were eventually destroyed. All the tainted
shipments had been labeled as products of Malaysia.

In May 2013, American Fisheries sued Yang, say-
ing it had received only $6.1 million of the $12.1 mil-
lion Yang owed it for 74 shipments of shrimp, weigh-
ing as much as 62,000 pounds each, from June 2011
to January 2012. That case, still pending in Texas, as
well as Yang’s countersuit against American Fisher-
ies, has uncovered a trove of documents that detail
how a Shanghai-based company hatched a plan to
get its Chinese-farmed shrimp into America.

In 2005, about nine months after the U.S. anti-
dumping tariffs on Chinese shrimp went into effect,
a group of seafood executives gathered in a Shang-
hai conference room. The executives agreed to cre-
ate a venture that would focus primarily on exporting
shrimp to the U.S., despite the new tariff. They would
finance and control the company from China, but it
would be incorporated in Texas. That was the begin-
ning of American Fisheries.

Some of the same executives also controlled a
Shanghai Fisheries subsidiary called Guangzhou Ling-
shan, a seafood packing plant in the Pearl River Delta,
and the plant was buying shrimp from local farmers.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 36











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42 Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BOOK REVIEW

Whatever your feelings about rock- Ed Sullivan. Their books are that was already underway,” Ed Ward
and-roll, you must admit that there entertaining and also educa- he writes, taking a dig at Don
has never been a better time to read tional, offering insight into McLean’s 1971 song, “Ameri- Presley and his band began to ham it
about it. popular music history along can Pie.” up, playing “That’s All Right (Mama).”
with the trash-talk and bad Feeling deranged after a few too many
Lately, some of the more compelling behavior. These artists had made a drinks, blues singer Jay Hawkins took
artists of the 1960s and ’70s have found mark, but they were already a weirder and wilder pass at “I Put A
the time – and the financial incentive, If you prefer a more cut-and- being shoved aside by soft- Spell on You” and scores a hit as Screa-
no doubt – to publish memoirs. And dry take, however, there’s “The er, schmaltzier performers min’ Jay Hawkins.
their books aren’t too bad, either. Roll- History of Rock & Roll,” written such as Frankie Avalon and
ing Stones guitarist Keith Richards’s by longtime music writer and Bobby Vee. For Ward, the story of rock-and-roll
2010 memoir, “Life,” helped tug the rock historian Ed Ward. This is one of weirdo fortitude. Iconic per-
rock bio format toward respectability. first volume, covering 1920 to Instead, Ward finds sig- sonalities such as Presley, Freed and
Written with the assistance of journal- 1963, traces the genre from its nificance in events that are Carl Perkins were applicants for jobs
ist James Fox, “Life” contained a lot of primordial origins in country a bit more banal, such as the that didn’t yet exist. The music was not
the usual stuff – sex, drugs, headscarves and blues to the dawn of its release of the film “Black- a sure bet, but a passion project ped-
– but it also had humor and depth. cultural dominance during board Jungle” and its open- dled by opportunists slinging 45s out
Other iconic baby-boomer-era artists the early ’60s. Ward’s writing ing song, “Rock Around the of the trunk of their cars.
noticed. In just the past three months, is deeply researched, but con- Clock,” by Bill Haley & His
Bruce Springsteen and the Band’s Rob- versational in tone. He nerds Comets. “If we had to pick a Ward underscores the vital point
bie Robertson have published career- out just the right amount, moment when rock and roll that rock was a music invented by peo-
spanning bios. Because these artists moving briskly from hit to was born as a major move- ple who knew better, but just couldn’t
came of age during the ’50s and ’60s, hit and craze to craze, slow- ment in American popular help it. 
their lives parallel the commercial rise ing down only to impart a few music (and we don’t), May
of rock-and-roll – roughly from the ad- choice anecdotes. 1955 would be a good candi- THE HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL:
vent of electric blues to the Beatles on date,” he writes, logging the VOLUME ONE 1920-1965
The pace can be a little month that the tune topped BY ED WARD
daunting. Early on, the book the charts. The song’s suc- Flatiron. 416 pp. $35.
reads a bit like a biblical ge- cess proved the music had
nealogy: Hank Williams be- an audience and that young Review by Aaron Leitko, The Washington Post
gat Bob Wills, Ahmet Ertegun begat people were paying attention.
Atlantic Records, “Teen Angel” begat
“Tell Laura I Love Her,” and so on. But “The History of Rock & Roll” favors
this rapid turnover helps underscore facts over drama, but that shouldn’t
a reality of early rock: Careers didn’t suggest that the book is a snooze.
last long. Rather, Ward’s faithful documentation
Eventually, a few familiar names of the genre’s more obscure corners
emerge – Elvis, Chuck Berry, pioneer- helps to point out that, early on, rock
ing disc jockey Alan Freed – and their was weird. Once the red-hot sound of
longer, deeper stories help to keep the teenage rebellion, it has since grown
book engaging. up. Its rhythms are now familiar and
Ward is not very sentimental about comfortable. Its ability to shock and
his subject matter. He doesn’t spend awe has been subsumed by hip-hop,
much energy explaining how rock- R&B and dance music. A single song is
and-roll felt or interpreting what the no longer enough to scandalize Mom
music meant to teenage consum- and Dad. And maybe you’ve even bor-
ers. At times, he takes a cold stance rowed a couple of their CDs.
against the established mythology.
For instance, he downplays the sig- In the same way that Richards’ “Life”
nificance of the 1959 plane crash that recalls an era of rock celebrity as cul-
killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and tural outsider, this book helps to reaf-
the Big Bopper. “Despite the words of firm that the genre was once strange,
a popular song written years later, this wild and dangerous. In Ward’s book,
wasn’t ‘the day the music died,’ but an the genre’s defining acts emerge in
unpleasant moment in an evolution moments when inhibition fell by the
wayside. Following an afternoon spent
recording not-so-great ballads, Elvis

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Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / January 5, 2017 43

INSIGHT BOOK REVIEW

“The Inheritance” is the 10th of nursery for the aristocracy.” In Lenox novel related his role in Charles Finch
Charles Finch’s novels featuring the “The Inheritance,” Lenox bat- thwarting an attempt on the
character Charles Lenox, an amateur tles to save the life of a friend life of Queen Victoria. The Finch writes graceful prose that goes
sleuth who in the 1860s becomes Lon- from Harrow, Gerald Leigh, queen doesn’t turn up here, but light on sex, violence and profanity. One
don’s first private detective. The special who has become a celebrated we meet her genial son, Prince winter day he has a woman declare, “It’s
pleasure of this series, beyond the mys- scientist. Alfred, who chats about gifts colder than a witch’s heart,” whereupon
teries Finch concocts, is how nicely he for children and is convinc- my own heart leapt with joy. All my life
sets his stories against the background When the two met, the teen- ingly described as “a creature I’ve been hearing a less printable ver-
of Victorian England. It’s one of the age Lenox was a handsome, without anxieties.” We also en- sion of that expression, and it was reas-
more enjoyable history lessons you’ll athletic and well-born star on counter Winston Churchill, but suring to learn that only 140 years ago it
come across. the Harrow campus. Leigh, he’s only 4, out for a walk with was an entirely respectable phrase that
by contrast, was small, surly, his father. “Looks like a bull- a proper young woman might utter. As
Finch, who is 36, was born in New scornful of the school and dog,” we’re told. crime series go, the Lenox novels are ex-
York City, educated at Phillips Acad- scorned by his classmates, ex- ceptionally civilized. 
emy and Yale, then was off to graduate cept for Lenox. Their friend- Lenox, his late father and his
study at Oxford, where he still lives and ship was an early sign of the older brother all served in Par- THE INHERITANCE
writes. However, his fictional Lenox at- independent mind that later liament, and he’s proud of their BY CHARLES FINCH
tended Harrow, which we’re told ranks would lead Lenox to give up his contribution to the nation’s so- Minotaur. 304 pp. $25.99.
with rival Eton as preeminent among seat in Parliament to become a cial progress. Early in the cen- Review by Patrick Anderson,
the English public schools, “each a private detective. His fascina- tury, his father helped pass the The Washington Post
tion with crime was also influ- Factory Act, which decreed that
enced by his reading of penny children should work no more
dreadfuls from America and than 12 hours a day. “The story
by Edgar Allan Poe’s stories of of their century had been that
crime and detection. of the vote,” Lenox reflects, and
he’s pleased that it has been
This novel is set in 1877, extended from a select few to
when Lenox has been a detec- many thousands of men, al-
tive for more than a decade. though he thinks the vote for women is
He has lost track of Leigh, only to have still decades away.
his friend abruptly reappear, by then
a world-famous scientist; he’s mak- We’re given enticing glimpses of Lon-
ing a rare visit to London because he don life. Despite Queen Victoria’s up-
has been told a mysterious inheritance lifting influence, prostitution remains
awaits him. Instead, gangsters try to kill legal and highly visible on the streets.
him, for no clear reason, and he turns to Indeed, we’re informed that Charles
Lenox for help. Dickens has founded a home where
Even as Lenox seeks to decipher the its practitioners might retire in relative
plot against Leigh, he’s pleased to in- comfort. We’re told that Lord Byron’s
troduce his old friend to his wife and daughter, the Countess of Lovelace,
daughter and to his partners in the “used her mathematical abilities to
detective agency. But even as Leigh is devise a system for betting horseraces
welcomed, and lionized by the Royal and ended up penniless.” We learn that
Society, the lawyer handling his unex- “In Lenox’s day the women’s engage-
plained inheritance is murdered. ment rings had been, without excep-
It’s a good plot, but readers will also tion, of pearl and turquoise,” but the
enjoy Finch’s digressions on life in new vogue is for diamond rings, a style
mid-19th-century England. An earlier that Lenox finds garish.

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