06/22/2017 ISSUE 25

Vero Wine + Film Fest Finale:
That’s a wrap! P20
‘Live Like Cole’

golf tournament. P14
Coldwell Banker Paradise
expands again with new offices. P10

MY VERO Hospital told
time has come
BY RAY MCNULTY to find partner

School District hopes fees BY MICHELLE GENZ
will discourage questions Staff Writer

Do you know how much The five charters: North County, St. Peter’s, Imagine, Indian River Charter High and Sebastian Charter Junior High. PHOTOS BY GORDON RADFORD The consultants looking at
our School Board pays Su- the finances of Indian River
zanne D’Agresta to serve as Judge orders School District to pay charters Medical Center didn’t make it
its attorney? to the final slide in their pre-
sentation. The minute the col-
I don’t. I hear it’s a stagger- laborative committee charged
ing amount, but I’d like to with stabilizing the hospital’s
know exactly how staggering. financial future saw a graph
that had IRMC’s credit rating
I’d also like to know how dipping into junk bond ter-
much our School Board has ritory, they cut to the chase:
paid Husch Blackwell, a na- Time to find a partner with
tional law firm, to represent deep pockets.
our schools in connection with
a federal desegregation order. Stroudwater Associates, the
Maine-based healthcare con-
I’d like to know how much sultancy hired after the hos-
the School Board wasted in pital announced in January it
legal fees to unsuccessfully had lost $4 million in the first
defend the district’s refusal to quarter of its fiscal year, por-
pay five charter schools in the trayed the status quo as near-
county their fair share of local ly hopeless.
tax dollars.
Without disputing IRMC’s
I’d like to know how much claims that the hospital is in
has been paid out to lawyers
in hopes of blocking Somerset CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
Academy from opening an el-
ementary and middle charter BY KATHLEEN SLOAN Neighbors divided over need for
school in our county. Staff Writer sidewalk along Live Oak Road

I’d also like to know how In another rebuke to the BY RAY MCNULTY
School Board, which is getting Staff Writer
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 in the habit of losing its court
cases, Circuit Court Judge Paul A car speeding down Live Oak Road. PHOTO BY GORDON RADFORD Have you ever veered off Highway A1A
A reminder of how Kanarek ruled the School Dis- onto Live Oak Road to avoid the seasonal
Vero got stuck with trict owes its five public char- traffic backups at the Beachland Boule-
$50M exit penalty ter schools millions in with- vard intersection?
held tax revenue.
BY LISA ZAHNER CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Staff Writer “The court finds that the
plain language of the statue
As news broke earlier this
month that the promising CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
deal to sell Vero electric to
Florida Power & Light has hit a
multimillion-dollar roadblock

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

June 22, 2017 Volume 10, Issue 25 Newsstand Price $1.00 ‘Sylvia’ shines at
at Genie Awards
News 1-10 Faith 59 Pets 40 TO ADVERTISE CALL gala. Page 16
Arts 25-28 Games 41-43 Real Estate 61-72 772-559-4187
Books 38 Health 45-48 St. Ed’s 39
Dining 52 Insight 29-44 Style 49-51 FOR CIRCULATION
Editorial 34 People 11-24 Wine 53 CALL 772-226-7925

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

2 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Live Oak sidewalks rill Barber Bridge, it is called Indian "Too many people use Live Oak as a the entryways at State Road A1A and
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 River Drive East. cut-through street, and all too often, Beachland Boulevard.
these people are driving at a rate of
If so, you're the reason for those red Short stretches of sidewalk are in speed well above the 25-mph speed "They've told us there's a problem
signs with the message “Vote Yes For place at each end of the residential limit. It's extremely unsafe, even this with the amount of traffic and the
The Sidewalk” that adorn the front street, but for most of its length they time of year. speed the cars are traveling," O'Connor
yards of some residents along the bu- are lacking, which forces walkers to said. "It's such a pretty road, and a lot
colic roadway that follows the shore- use the narrow roadway. "I guarantee you: The way these cars of walkers, runners and bikers like to
line of the Indian River Lagoon. come through there, you'll be jumping go through there. And the make-up of
"Why do we want a sidewalk?" said onto somebody's front lawn to get out that neighborhood is getting younger
From A1A to a 90-degree bend ne- Bill Gurley, a Live Oak Road resident of the way," he added. "If you don't and more active.
cessitated by the shoreline, the road who strongly supports the sidewalk want to get hit, that's the only option."
– one of the prettiest on the island – is campaign. "I invite you to walk that "I can understand why they want a
called Live Oak Road. From the 90-de- section of road between Greytwig and City Manager Jim O'Connor said sidewalk."
gree bend to where it reaches Beach- Mockingbird, especially during the residents on Live Oak Road and In-
land Boulevard at the base of the Mer- season. Do that, and you'll have your dian River Drive have complained Why, then, did a majority of home-
answer. about the increase in traffic, despite owners along that stretch of road op-
"NO THRU TRAFFIC" signs posted at pose the city of Vero Beach's plan to
"It's a safety issue," he continued. build a sidewalk?

Actually, when homeowners first
began discussing the possibility of in-
stalling a sidewalk, as far back as April
2015, most of them expressed support
for the idea. So they asked city officials
to explore their options.

O'Connor said he sent out engineers
to determine the best location for the
sidewalk and then draw up a prelimi-
nary plan.

That plan, however, put the sidewalk
on the north side of Live Oak Road and
west side of Indian River Drive – and
homeowners on those sides of those
streets didn't want their property dis-
turbed.

Two homeowners, who requested
that their names not be used, said
the city's initial plan called for a 12-
foot setback from the roadway and a
6-foot-wide sidewalk – and too many
of their neighbors didn't want to part
with that much of their property.

The plans since have been amend-
ed, the homeowners said, so that
there's only a 5-foot setback and
5-foot-wide sidewalk, and proponents
have launched a new campaign to
persuade their neighbors to support
the proposed project.

"For these kinds of projects, we re-
quire that at least 50 percent of the
residents support it," O'Connor said.
"Initially, they had the 50 percent, but
when they found out where we were
going to put it, everything changed.

"A lot of them wanted the sidewalk,"
he added, "but they didn't want it on
their side of the street."

O'Connor estimated the cost of
installing the requested sidewalk at
$220,000 – $170,000 of which is al-
ready earmarked in this year’s budget
for sidewalk construction.

"We have it designed, we have
the funds and, judging by the signs,
there is a group trying to resurrect it,"
O'Connor said. "But I have not talked
to anyone over there."

The effort to revive the project is
being done by a petition. O’Connor
said the petition can be a paper docu-
ment with signatures, an electronic
document or a series of individual
emails indicating a yes or no vote for
the sidewalk. This time around, only

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 3

NEWS

homeowners on the affected side of find another source for power. To that and the ranking of the bids was done bid, the selection process and even
the street will have a vote. end, Vero hired a Boston-based consul- behind closed doors by the city’s con- the contract itself were squirreled
tant, Sue Hersey, to negotiate the city sultants, plus top city staff at the time, away at Hersey’s office in Boston for
Unless at least 50 percent of those out of the All Requirements Project and including Utility Director R.B. Sloan three years to keep them away from
residents support the sidewalk cam- into a sweet, new wholesale power deal. and City Attorney Charles Vitunac. City Hall and out of the jurisdiction of
paign in writing, O'Connor said that Florida’s Sunshine Law. City Attorney
money will be used for other projects. Three companies submitted bids to Those officials ranked FPL low Vitunac and Sloan flew to Boston for
supply wholesale power to Vero Beach enough in several categories – includ- some of the negotiations to maintain
"Nobody has told me the project – Constellation Energy, OUC and FPL. ing a poor score for reliability – that all this secrecy.
has been killed, so I still consider this OUC was ensured victory.
a work in progress," Gurley said. "I Vero City Council members were CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
know we've got people still working not allowed to see the bid documents, All the documents related to the
on it, and I think most people in the
neighborhood would say we need a
sidewalk.

“I’ve heard people opposed to the
sidewalk say, ‘Nobody has been run
over yet,’” he added. “Do we really
want to wait until that happens?”

Some opponents of the sidewalk
said the safety issue could be ad-
dressed through more police en-
forcement of the speed limit, a cou-
ple of speed bumps and longer green
signals for southbound traffic at the
intersection of A1A and Beachland
Boulevard. 

$50M exit penalty Exclusively John’s Island
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
A historic, prime location coupled with breathtaking JI Sound views complement
that may entangle Vero in a court bat- this highly desirable 2.36± acre waterfront homesite – one of the largest in JI.
tle with the Orlando Utilities Commis- Carefully selected by the original owner before the development of JI, this lot
sion, the question people are asking enjoys deep water access to the Intracoastal Waterway, 188’± of water frontage,
is: How did we get in this mess? gorgeous sunsets, and a boat dock location for boating and fishing. An approved,
optional subdivision allows for two large parcels of 1.10± and 1.26± acres each.
The immediate problem, which led 531 Indian Harbor Road : $6,900,000
to Vero to formally trigger the media-
tion provision in its OUC contract, is three championship golf courses : 17 har-tru courts : beach club : squash
simple enough to describe. health & fitness center : pickleball : croquet : vertical equity membership

Vero’s contract to buy power from 772.231.0900 : Vero Beach, FL : JohnsIslandRealEstate.com
OUC includes two alternate exit penal-
ties if the city pulls out of the deal. Un-
der certain circumstances, the penalty
is $20 million, and that is what Vero and
FPL figured on in their agreement. But
there is also a $50-million exit penalty
that kicks in under other circumstances,
and that is what OUC now says it wants.

So how did a $50 million exit penal-
ty get into the city’s contract with OUC
in the first place?

Well, that is a very long story, and
those who haven’t followed city poli-
tics from 2007 forward may find it
hard to believe.

NEWS ANALYSIS

In the 1980s, Vero helped found the
Florida Municipal Power Agency. The
idea was that 30 or so member cities
could pool their resources and benefit
from their collective purchasing pow-
er. Over the next decade, Vero joined
the FMPA’s All Requirements Project
and took on “virtual ownership” of a
sliver of FPL’s St. Lucie nuclear plant,
and OUC’s Stanton 1 and Stanton 2
plants – 67 megawatts total.

Costs under that deal escalated in the
2000s and the city decided it needed to

4 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

$50M exit penalty on a mandate to get Vero out of the The city managed to shorten its My Vero
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 electric business. They were two of the time commitment to OUC by six
three who voted to invite FPL in to talk years in the renegotiation and to get CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Based on these stealthy dealings, city about buying the utility. a somewhat better price per unit of
officials promised electric customers power, but the contract contained a much the School Board paid to Vero
that a new contract with OUC would Wilson soon discovered that the guaranteed “floor” of power the city Beach attorney Jason Odom to pur-
give Vero rates “lower than or equal to contract with OUC he was examining had to purchase from OUC from now sue Superintendent Mark Rendell's
FPL rates. was different than the one voted upon until the end of 2023, no matter what. wrongheaded allegations against Se-
by the prior City Council. The new contract also contained the bastian River High School criminal
City Council members were briefly two-tiered exit penalty, which OUC justice teacher Joe Nathaniel, who
shown a copy of the voluminous con- “I called Jan Aspuru (OUC vice presi- demanded be retained from the previ- won his termination case in a rout
tract, but not given a copy. Instead, dent) and asked him why [the $50 mil- ous contract. and was reinstated.
Hersey gave them a Powerpoint pre- lion penalty] was there,” Wilson said.
sentation, and it was on this basis that “He told me point blank that OUC did The sale to FPL looked dead at that And, eventually, I will – for a price.
they voted to enter a 20-year, $2 billion not require it. It was put there at the in- point because an anti-sale majority A hefty price.
wholesale power deal with OUC. sistence of Vero Beach. controlled the City Council, so no one According to an estimate from Ren-
focused much on how the renegoti- dell's administrative assistant, Bren-
When the contract finally became “It cost city taxpayers more than all ated OUC contract could thwart a new da Davis, it will cost this newspaper
public in the fall of 2009, with its $20 the hurricanes in history combined. deal with FPL. roughly $450 to get that information
million and $50 million exit penalties, It’s the gift that keeps on giving,” Wil- from the district.
city officials seemed mystified about son added. Then after the 2016 election, a new As Davis explained in an email last
how those huge penalties got into the three-vote majority of pro-sale city week, it will take the district staff an
paperwork. A Vero Beach 32963 investigation council members, led by Mayor Lau- estimated 20 hours, at $25 per hour,
into the contract discrepancies found ra Moss, began pursuing a full sale of "to retrieve the information, copy it
Those pushing for a sale to FPL spec- 113 changes in the contract between Vero electric in earnest – with appar- and break it down by case."
ulated Vero officials inserted the exit when it was briefly shown to the City ent cooperation from the FMPA this That's right, folks. If you want to
penalties as a “poison pill” that would Council to vote on it and when then- time around. know how the School Board is spend-
forever keep Vero in the electric busi- Mayor Tom White signed the final draft. ing your tax dollars, you have to pay to
ness so the city could keep benefitting FPL came through last month with find out – even though this informa-
from the $6 million the city transferred Besides onerous exit penalties, the a $185 million offer that would get the tion is public record, which means it
from electric revenue to the general OUC deal contained punishing an- city out of its contractual obligations, belongs to all of us.
fund each year. nual escalator clauses. Beginning in pay off the $20 million exit penalty to And get this: Sometimes, as was the
2011, the amount Vero was paying for OUC, pay off utility bonds, relieve the case when this newspaper requested
Former Vero City Councilmen its contracted electricity spiked and city of some of its pension debt and a district report detailing the teacher-
Charlie Wilson and Brian Heady were kept trending upward, so in 2014 the leave Vero with $20 million in cash turnover numbers by school for the
elected in November 2009, after a City Council and its utilities attorney plus a $10 million cash pre-payment just-concluded academic year, the
summer of scorching electric rates, at the time, Robert Scheffel “Schef” of a lease on city property FPL needs rate doubles to $50 per hour.
Wright, began trying to renegotiate to operate electric equipment. To produce the report would take
the deal. the district staff an estimated four
Then OUC pulled the rug out, with hours, we were told, so that's another
Jan Aspuru (the same OUC vice pres- $200.
ident involved in the negotiation of For those keeping a running tally,
the 2008 contract) saying Orlando’s that's $650 for information that be-
attorneys interpret the contract to longs to the public, records that you
mean Vero is on the hook for the $50 have a right to see, reports that we
million penalty, not the $20 million need to keep you properly informed
penalty. Vero’s attorneys and FPL’s at- about our School District.
torneys disagree, and the parties are So we'll write the check.
headed for mediation in an effort to We'll pay what, by all reasonable
avoid a full-blown lawsuit over the standards, seems to be an unneces-
dispute. sarily high price to gather and trans-
mit information that, given today's
As for the current situation – the data analysis and storage technology,
pending mediation with OUC and should be at the superintendent's fin-
what comes next – Vero has suggested gertips.
eight potential mediators with solid The School District might have
qualifications, and has asked for a thought a small weekly paper would
prompt response from Orlando to back away from these ridiculous fees,
proceed. and just go on to something else. Is
the district, by charging $25 or $50 per
Most of the city officials involved hour and providing work-hour esti-
in the 2008 OUC contract have exited mates that seem excessive, trying to
public life with the exception of for- discourage our reporting by setting
mer Councilman Ken Daige. the price so high?
I mean, there's no charge at all for
Daige, according to records even- the district's press releases, which
tually released by the State Attorney, usually contain positive stories.
would not meet with investigators or But we'll pay because the people at
answer questions over the telephone this newspaper believe these are im-
about the secret negotiations. portant stories that need to be told –
because you need to know how your
Despite being deeply involved in School District operates, and how the
this shameful period in the city’s his- School Board spends your money.
tory, Daige continues to rise to the
public podium at nearly every City
Council meeting – ironically some-
times taking current city leaders to
task over what he views as a lack of
transparency in the current efforts to
sell to FPL. 











10 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

NEWS

Coldwell Banker Paradise opening two new offices

BY STEVEN M. THOMAS Stuart later in the month,” says Broker renovating it. Agents have been work- happened to our economy was when
Staff Writer Steve Schlitt, who co-owns the business ing out of the office for the past two the government got rid of the shuttle
with his sister Linda Schlitt Gonzalez. months as work nears completion and program and privatized the space in-
Coldwell Banker Paradise, one of the new location has already paid off. dustry. Thousands of jobs paying more
Vero’s most venerable real estate bro- The Stuart office will be located on than $100,000 a year are coming to The
kerages, is continuing the aggressive U.S. 1 in front of the Treasure Coast “Sales are going crazy,” says Schlitt. Cape. At the same time, Port Canaveral is
expansion it started in 2011, opening Mall, near the Men’s Wearhouse store. “So far this year, we have doubled our poised to become the biggest cruise ship
two new offices this summer that ex- It will be the company’s 11th office volume in Brevard, from $37 million port in the world by passenger volume.
tend its reach further north and south. and southernmost location. to $72 million, and our market share is We have only about a month and a half
up 40 percent.” of inventory on the MLS. Maybe less.”
“We are planning a 4th of July grand The Satellite Beach office is the com-
opening for our office in Satellite Beach pany’s northernmost office. Schlitt “The market is explosive,” says Mike A sizable chunk of the company’s
and we will be opening a new office in purchased the building where it is lo- Jaffe, Coldwell Banker Paradise’s Bre- 2017 success in Brevard came this
cated on A1A last summer and began vard manager. “The best thing that has month when Jaffe and his wife Bea
Jaffe represented the seller in a $13.5
million land development deal that
will replace worn-out former Patrick
Air Force Base housing with luxury
ocean-view condos.

According to a Coldwell Banker press
release, “The developer plans to build a
very exclusive, high-end gated commu-
nity with price points of over $1 million.
The development plan includes luxury
two-story penthouses of over 4,000
square feet with Atlantic Ocean views.”

Coldwell Banker Paradise was start-
ed by Schlitt’s parents, Ed and Mar-
guerite, in September 1953, the same
month Swanson sold its first TV din-
ner and Earl Warren was appointed
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The brokerage, then known as Ed
Schlitt Realty, opened its first office on
the island in 1968 in a now-vanished
building at Dahlia and Ocean across
from Humiston Park.

The company expanded aggressive-
ly as the market began to recover after
the real estate recession, aiming to be-
come a regional brokerage. It acquired
Paradise Properties of Brevard and
opened an office in Indialantic in 2011.
In 2012, it absorbed Hoyt Murphy in
Fort Pierce, a family firm founded in
1949 that brought strong name recog-
nition in St. Lucie County along with a
large commercial real estate operation.

“People who come here from other
parts of the county want certain things
– they want warm weather, lower den-
sity and to be by the ocean – but most
of them really don’t know Indialantic
from South Hutchinson Island until
they get here,” Schlitt says. “By building
up the largest brokerage [in number of
transactions] on the central coast, we
can help our buyers and sellers inves-
tigate more than one market.”

When the Stuart office opens next
month, Coldwell Banker Paradise will
have more than 280 agents working in
11 offices.

The company made it onto the Real
Trends 500 list this year as one of the
top brokerages in the country in terms
transactions, coming in at No. 406
with 2,141 transaction sides. 

Dr. Nick Coppola with Melanie,
Mary Grace and Elaine Coppola.

ENTHUSIASM WAY ABOVE PAR AT
‘LIVE LIKE COLE’ TOURNEY P. 14

12 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Green with envy at McKee’s Waterlily Celebration

Holly O’Brien and Nicole Luecker. Lou Mullan. PHOTOS: GORDON RADFORD Marilyn Miller and Kelly Walker.

Pam Smith with daughter Savannah. Brenda Cetrulo with son Sirus.

Kim Schneider, Lana Lilly and Justin Behl. Denise Sanderson, Frank Reynolds and Keith Sanderson Nancy Willmore, Joan Griffin and Mimmi Mull.
Raymond and Keren Baird.
Toting tripods and easels, photographers and artists descended upon
McKee Botanical Garden last Saturday hoping to capture the beauty of
Mother Nature’s paintbrush at the 13th Annual Waterlily Celebration.
Roughly 500 people were expected to view what is the largest collection
of waterlilies and lotus in Florida nestled among the lush garden’s unique
system of waterways and ponds. “It’s going to get prettier and prettier, and
hotter and hotter,” said Andreas Daehnick, director of horticulture, who
has provided his green-thumbed expertise to McKee since its inception.
“It’s just the beginning of the lily season. This is the big bloom time for
tropical plants.” And while Florida’s afternoon showers may wreak havoc
with outdoor plans, Daehnick says the rain provides nutrients regular wa-
tering cannot. “We have rain lilies; little lilies that come up a day or two
after it rains. They don’t come up with irrigation.” If you missed it McKee
is offering a Kick-Off to Summer $1 admission promotion June 21 to 23.
Mckeegarden.org 

Lori Mitchell and Rick Paquette.



14 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Enthusiasm way above par at ‘Live Like Cole’ tourney

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF
Staff Writer

The fairways and greens of the Isabella Tripson (front), Will Tripson, Tiffany Tripson, Dr. Nick Coppola, Barry Segal and Pat Ciambriello. Barbara Tierney. PHOTOS: DENISE RITCHIE
Grand Harbor Golf Club last Saturday
were awash with pink- and orange- which Cole Coppola lived his life be-
clad golfers who took to the links for fore it was tragically cut short. Tour-
the second annual Live Like Cole Golf nament proceeds will aid in the
Tournament. More than 130 golfers construction of the Cole Coppola Me-
chipped, putted and swung their way morial Fishing Pier.
through 18 holes in support of the
goal of the Live Like Cole Foundation Melanie Coppola, CEO of the foun-
to spread the message that kindness
matters.

After a warm morning on the
course, golfers welcomed the cold air
of the clubhouse as they joined family
and friends for a barbeque lunch after
the sold-out tournament. While wait-
ing for the awards ceremony, guests
purchased 50/50 raffle tickets and
bid on more than 100 silent- and live-
auction items, including tempting
vacation packages, an autographed
Seahawks jersey and Live Like Cole
items autographed by Jake Owen.

The afternoon was a lively affair,
paying homage to the verve with

The Art & Science
of Cosmetic Surgery

SPECIALTIES INCLUDE: Sarah Chapman, Melanie Coppola, Duane Hoppe, Will Cutter, Kevin Keegan
• Minimal Incision Lift for the Jack Carlon and Maria Zambigadis. and Simon Caldecott.
Face, Body, Neck & Brow
• Breast Augmentations & Reductions dation, described the pier as “a safe “The foundation’s goal is to give
• Post Cancer Reconstructions place for children and adults alike to back to the community my brother
• Chemical Peels • Botox go and fish, enjoy the wildlife, or just loved so much and to promote tak-
• Obagi Medical Products • Laser Surgery relax and watch the sunset. We de- ing action and spreading kindness,
• Liposculpture • Tummy Tucks cided this was the best way to perma- something my brother did daily. He
• Skin Cancer Treatments nently commemorate my brother Cole lived in a way that was truly remark-
because he loved to fish and was actu- able and was the person who made
Celebrating Over 25 ally looking for a fishing spot the night everyone feel special,” shared Coppo-
Years in Vero Beach he was killed by a drunk driver.” la. “I also like to speak about making
good decisions and raising awareness
3790 7th Terrace Plans have been approved by the about how one person’s bad choice af-
Suite 101 City of Vero Beach, the Army Corps of fected not only herself but also other
Engineers and the Division of Marine people in the community. As our mis-
Vero Beach, Florida Fisheries for the pier, which will be sion statement says, the Live Like Cole
located on the north end of Riverside Foundation encourages children and
772.562.5859 Park. It is a collaborative project with adults alike to support others, to foster
the city and the Florida Inland Naviga- self-worth and to help out their fellow
www.rosatoplasticsurgery.com tion District. Construction is expected man.”
to begin in late 2017 with a projected
Ralph M. Rosato completion date of January 2018. For more information, visit Live-
MD, FACS LikeCole.org or stop by their table at
Engraved planks with personal- Burgers & Brews on July 1. Beginning
ized messages can be reserved for a July 18, every third Tuesday, Brain
$300 donation to the project at Live- Freeze Cafe will donate 15 percent of
LikeCole.org to remember loved ones, sales to the foundation. 
families, businesses and friends.

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 15

PEOPLE

Becky Mattingly and Margaret Mattingly. Mayor Laura Moss with Victor Basile and Maria Zambigadis. Giuliana Battista, Camille Battista and Brendan Nicholson

Anthony Ventresca, Patrick Rich, Alicia Renz and Jeremy Spilman.

Jeff Goff, Andy Segal, Chris Robertson and Jason Keeler. Bennett O’Brien and Cole O’Brien.

Luke Basile, Chandler Basile and Ella Basile.

Gene Atkinson and Ray Auger.

16 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

‘Sylvia’ shines brightest at dreamy Genie Awards gala

BY CHRISTINA TASCON Claude Cooper and Paula Bushell. PHOTOS: DENISE RITCHIE things for tonight but it’s my joy.” Current Board President Marlys
Correspondent As guests sat to enjoy a delicious Kauten conveyed that the community
work in the front of the house, on theater has given its volunteers, per-
Vero Beach Theatre Guild stars stage and behind the scenes. dinner catered by Betty Nobles, Mas- formers and audiences considerably
sparkled in their most festive attire at ter of Ceremonies Daniel “Dan” Hall more than just entertainment.
the 59th annual Genie Awards Gala, “I always make time for this,” said began the evening’s entertainment.
held last Saturday evening at the Vero social chair Madelyn Rogers, who Hall set a humorous tone from the “I think this is where a lot of people,
Beach Elks Lodge. Close to 30 awards spearheaded the event’s and the star- beginning, inserting names of cho- some of whom may not ever have been
were presented at the Stars in the studded décor. sen members into his opening song on stage before, get to express them-
Spotlight-themed banquet, making it and eliciting intimate in-the-know selves,” said Kauten. “No one gets
a night to remember for the roughly “I don’t know how many hours laughter as he sang his own version paid, they become like family and it
120 guests in attendance. I have spent cutting and creating of “I’m Still Here” from The Follies. sort of becomes all-encompassing.”

The VBTG had yet another great “It’s sort of a-la Neil Patrick Harris “The way this community pulls
season, with large box office num- at the Tonys,” said Hall, who lobbed together has been magical,” stated
bers for each of the five outstanding good-natured digs at many in atten- Wygonik, referencing Vero’s connec-
productions – “Sylvia,” “Evita,” “Cash dance. “I did a little chorus to go with tion to the organization and its assis-
on Delivery,” “The Pajama Game” each show to encapsulate the sea- tance with the theater’s recent expan-
and “Making God Laugh.” And while son.” sion.
many had expected the exceptional
musical “Evita” to garner the Out- Hall’s first target was Mark Wygon- To celebrate the 60th anniversary of
standing Production Genie, the top ik, VBTG past president, whose name the Vero Beach Theatre Guild, a July
honor was presented to the delight- is one of the more familiar ones in re- 20-23 summer production, “Celebrat-
fully quirky comedy “Sylvia.” lationship to the Theater Guild. ing 60,” will feature a concert-styled
musical revue of past performances.
Named for Eugene C. Davis, one of “He and I have always had a great In its 2017-18 season the VBTG will
the Theatre Guild’s first directors, the ribbing relationship,” said Hall. present “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,”
Genies are Vero’s version of the Tony “Joseph and the Amazing Technicol-
Awards, designed to honor outstand- Wygonik said he has spent 36 years or Dreamcoat,” “Lend Me A Tenor,”
ing productions and individuals who with VBTG, more than half his life, “The Fantasticks” and “To Kill a
adding, “It has been one of the most Mockingbird.” 
important aspects of my creative
life.”

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 17

PEOPLE

Shawn Webber, Dennis Love and Julie Geer. James Blyth, Cheryl Belanger and Brian Rene. Abby Bolduc, Austin Peer and Heather Stapleton.

Mark Wygonik, Patricia Hogg, with Sandi and Kent Leonard. Brian Lacerda, Eve Pickart, Jim Mitchell and Amy Woods. Kacy Carvajal, Jillian Lopes, Casey Cole and Nancy Carvajal.

Jason Avery and Kira Keeley. Susan Lynch and Susan Hart.

Larry and Carole Strauss. Ivy King Thompson and John Thompson.

18 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Sea turtles’ plight is final ‘Straws’ for environmentalists

BY STEPHANIE LaBAFF
Staff Writer

Committed environmentalists Nicolas Malbec while mingling in the
trekked up to the Archie Carr Nation- lobby of the Barrier Island Center at
al Wildlife Refuge during last week’s the refuge, one of the most produc-
Vero Beach Wine and Film Festival tive sea-turtle nesting sites in the
for a special presentation by docu- world, located just north of the Se-
mentarian Linda Booker of her most
recent film, “Straws.”

Attendees enjoyed a 2014 Maison

PHOTOS: CHRISTINE FIGGENER

Linda Booker, director. PHOTO: BENJAMIN THACKER

bastian Inlet. In addition to the film, used and disposed of daily in the
guests learned a little more about sea U.S., with one large international cof-
turtles and took a moonlit stroll to fee chain alone using 1.5 billion plas-
encounter nesting turtles laying their tic straws per year.
eggs along the dune line, as they have
done since prehistoric time. Interwoven throughout the movie
were interviews with environmen-
Booker, formerly of Vero Beach, talists and some of the restaurateurs
previously directed “Bringing it who have made the switch, com-
Home” and “Love Lived on Death ments from marine biologists regard-
Row” before completing “Straws,” ing the effects of plastics on marine
which had its Florida premier at the life, and facts about the chemicals
festival. The documentary uses film used in their production.
as a medium to create awareness of
the mounting destruction to marine Among them was Jackie Nunez,
life and the ecosystem caused by who founded the volunteer effort The
plastic straws. Booker noted that sea Last Plastic Straw after becoming in-
turtles have become a global mascot creasingly disturbed by the amount
for the overall issue of plastic pollu- of trash she saw in the ocean and
tion in our oceans. along the beaches. One day, while sit-
ting at a beachside bar, she ordered a
She used animation to relate the glass of water. Although she had not
history of straws which, while their asked for one, when her water was
actual origins are unknown, can be delivered it came with a plastic straw.
dated back to ancient Mesopotamia. That, for her, was the last straw.
Uses have varied from Egyptians who
are said to have used straws to avoid According to Booker, despite the
slurping up insects to the 1950s when National Restaurant Association’s
straws were used to avoid contagious policy of straws by request only, most
diseases. restaurants don’t heed the edict.
They should – for their own ben-
As noted in the film, today more efit as well as for the environment.
than 520 million plastic straws are One restaurateur made the commit-

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ment to reduce his single-use plastic
footprint and ended up reducing his
monthly spending by 28 percent. If
a commitment as an ocean-friendly
establishment isn’t enough of an in-
centive, surely the bottom line is.

One of the more poignant mo-
ments in the film was a video clip by
conservationist biologist Christine
Figgener that had gone viral on the
internet two years ago and has since
accumulated nearly 12 million views.
The biologists were studying olive
ridley sea turtles in Costa Rica and
came across a turtle with a four-inch,
plastic drinking straw lodged in its
nostril; a brutal reminder of the dam-
age they can cause.

One young man, 11-year-old Max
Machum, was so moved by the clip
that he started the #NoStrawChal-
lenge for Costa Rican businesses.
He asks the question, “Do you really
need a straw when you’re drinking
out of a cup? Why? To solve the prob-
lem of having to lift the cup up to
your face?”

The film closed with a challenge
to join The Last Plastic Straw move-
ment by making a conscious effort to
eliminate plastic straws as a threat
to wildlife. Encourage restaurants to
only provide straws when requested
and even then ask them to use biode-
gradable or reusable options.

Heather Stapleton, Environmental
Learning Center education direc-
tor, gave an informative talk on the
green, leatherback and loggerhead
sea turtles that nest in our area over
the summer months, each laying
more than 100 eggs in nests along
the dune line before returning to the
sea. Stapleton cited 2,992 loggerhead
nests within the refuge as of June 1.

While conservation efforts are pay-
ing off, only about one in 1,000 hatch-
lings will survive into reproductive
adulthood. After a roughly 60-day
incubation, hatchlings struggle to
make their way into the sea, subjected
to natural threats including weather,
ghost crabs, seabirds, raccoons and
sharks, and man-made dangers such
as disorienting light pollution, inges-
tion of various plastics, including
plastic bags and balloons that resem-
ble jellyfish and squid, poor fishing
practices and boat strikes.

The group adjourned to the board-
walk and enjoyed a nearly full moon
that lit up the ocean on the unsea-
sonably cool evening, while spotters
combed the beach for loggerheads
ready to come ashore and lay their
eggs.

The experience brought home the
critical message that as a society we
must change our plastic consump-
tion and protect our oceans so that
these magnificent sea turtles and
other marine life can survive. 

20 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

PEOPLE

Vero Wine + Film Fest Finale: That’s a wrap!

BY MARY SCHENKEL & STEPHANIE LaBAFF Jane Kreizman and Susan Quinn. PHOTOS: GORDON RADFORD it was for the people coming from ev-
erywhere else to make this a destina-
Staff Writers “I loved it last year. I love it this year. the other films was huge.” tion film festival for filmmakers,” said
I’m hoping they’ll have me back next As with other filmmakers and at- Booker.
Vero Beach Wine and Film Festival year as well,” said Yagobi, adding the
organizers invited wine and film afi- welcoming character of the festival tendees, he was only sorry that he “Jerusha (Stewart) and her co-found-
cionados to Sip, See and Savor a whole and the accessibility of its founders couldn’t get to everything adding, “I ers have obviously put a lot of hard
host of great wines, screenings and spe- were unique, making it by far the best didn’t get to check out all the panels, work into this thing. I think it’s paying
cial events, and attendees were more festival he has experienced. but they seemed like they were cover- off. I look around, and I see tremen-
than happy to oblige. Last Sunday, the ing subjects that would have been in- dous attendance at the events I've been
final day of the recent four-day festival, “I’ve spoken to a lot of people here teresting.” at. The venues are beautiful. You have
those not catching the last of the films and I feel like that is something you such a strong arts community. So for
gathered for a Fete Finale Party at Kitty don’t necessarily get everywhere,” he Filmmaker Linda Booker is no a film festival to happen here it seems
Wagner’s Blue Star, where they enjoyed said. He noted that filmmakers had stranger to Vero Beach either, as her like a natural event that will grow to be
yet more wine paired with great music been given passes to attend all of the parents once owned a home here. something really amazing.”
by the Ladies of Soul. events so that they could interact with She was thrilled to have a chance to
the public, which created an especially visit once again and to bring her film A long-time director/producer, she
“It’s just the single greatest thing on social mood. “Straws” to a place she knew would has been involved with numerous film
the face of the planet,” said Wagner of particularly embrace her message. festivals, including as director of op-
the Fete Finale. “It’s like a compendi- “The schedule was very packed so erations, and said that organizers were
um of all the great aspects of the festi- there was always something I could go “For a two-year-old festival, it’s in- doing a great job. Her advice? “I would
val; all the wines from the other events, to. But the best part of the festival for credibly impressive. The scope of not just caution them, don't grow too fast.
all the actors, directors, the people who me was my own screening,” Yagobi ad- only the films they’re previewing, but Sometimes that can hurt. It's impor-
are experiencing all the movies.” mitted. “Just having people be able to the events that are happening here are tant to evaluate what worked and what
see my film along with the quality of all really a wonderful experience. I’m sure didn’t.”
Although serving as VBWFF Culi- it was just as enjoyable for the locals as
nary Chair limited the number of films Marjorie Rickard said she enjoyed
she was able to see, Wagner said, “I love the overall experience; particularly the
independent film, I love foreign films; wine tastings, the Burt Reynolds movie
I grew up with it. It’s so nice to have and the virtual reality experience, but
something this special in Vero Beach.” was disappointed in the amount of
plastic she saw being used throughout
Artist participants were equally the event. “Why all this plastic?” she
pleased with the festival, including asked, giving as an example the clear-
Aria Yagobi, who grew up in Vero Beach plastic take-out boxes holding a few
and, after graduating from Vero Beach little nibbles at the wine tasting. “They
High School, studied creative writing were huge plastic boxes and they had
and media production at Florida State a couple hundred of them stacked up.
University. He is currently a film edi- If they’d put it on platters it would have
tor in New York City and, as he did last been more eco-friendly.”
year, submitted a film to the Vero Vi-
sions division. Having participated in “I loved the social experience and
film festivals elsewhere, he had an in- the movies. These independent films
teresting perspective on Vero’s version.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 21

PEOPLE

Kerry Firth and Donna Mitchell. The Ladies of Soul. Jim Mitchell and Helen Tracy.
Larry Greenspoon and Cate Wenzing.

John and Karen Bigelow.
David Burri, Janet Gomez and Bruno Stoeckli.

Janie Rardin and Mary Lou Brown.
Kathy Johnson and Debbie Estenson.

22 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20 PEOPLE

are something we don’t get in Vero olds and the film Friday,” said Linda through that movie was just extraor- and took that leap, followed his in-
Beach so I really enjoyed it,” said Cyn- DiMenna. A cabaret singer DiMenna dinary; I was in tears. It was done so stincts and Burt Reynolds picked up on
thia Putnam, owner with husband Bob researched Dinah Shore for a trib- well,” said DiMenna. “You saw clips of it. They all might be nominated for an
of Boston Barricades, which provided ute show and says Shore was the love him in his early days, so even people Academy Award; it’s that good. We’re
three box trucks as movable festival of Reynolds’ life despite his being 25 who didn’t grow up with his movies going to be hearing a lot more about
billboards. years younger. could see just what a major star he was. this movie. What this festival could
[Director Adam] Rifkin went ahead turn into is really extraordinary.” 
“I’m still blown away by Burt Reyn- “The idea that he exposed himself





PHOTOS PROVIDE
‘WATERSHED’ MOMENT
AT VERO MUSEUM OF ART

26 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

ARTS & THEATRE

Anthony Goicolea. Jack Leigh.

Photos provide ‘Watershed’ moment at museum

BY ELLEN FISCHER inflected aspects of America’s land- “Watershed: Contemporary Land- and dead grass, with accents of fluores-
Columnist scape from the 1970s to the present; the scape Photography” was organized by cent signage, factory paint jobs and sun-
setting of our own times that, in its de- the Telfair Museums in Savannah, Ga., struck clapboard.
A new photo show at the Vero Beach spoiled and developed state, we often- by Telfair assistant curator Erin Dunn.
Museum of Art focuses on the human- times choose not to see. The exhibition of 38 photographs is There are thee untitled photos of
drawn from that institution’s perma- Cape Cod in the show by Meyerowitz;
nent collection as well as (among oth- the images are of stranded dinghies on
ers) the collections of Atlanta’s High a tide-washed beach. Although they are
Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of as frank and artless-looking as a tour-
Contemporary Art in Kansas City and ist’s snap, these pictures are anything
the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. but. The artist used the most intention-
al of photographic means to take them:
Grouped under four broad themes an early 20th century view camera,
(“Objective,” “Atmosphere,” “Expo- complete with adjustable bellows and
sure” and Narrative”) in the Titelman dark cloth.
and Schumann Galleries, some of the
show’s most compelling images are of Only one print was included in the
corporate wastelands, a dump, and a show to represent Eggleston, an unti-
condemned building. And that’s just the tled landscape from his “Election Eve”
urban views. When the vistas are rural, series. The photo was taken on a road
they are often scenes of poverty, subur- trip Eggleston took through the rural
ban encroachment and blighted nature. South just prior to the 1976 presiden-
tial election. It shows a weedy patch of
There are pictures of rural beauty ground that abuts a rough shack at the
here. Jerry Siegel’s panoramic 2001 picture’s left.
inkjet print of a cloud of blackbirds
above a country lane might remind It is hard to see from this lone image
you of a sepia parlor etching. Jack what all the fuss is about; the subtlety of
Leigh’s mist-shrouded palm tree is as Eggleston’s vision is best appreciated by
poetically concise as a haiku. Its long viewing a related group of his images.
tonal range – courtesy of the antique
carbon process used to produce it – Another thing: The color of the print
suits the image to a tee. is off. Think of grandma’s old color
snapshots fading away on the bureau,
Without a doubt, this is the kind of and you’ll get the idea.
imagery with which folks like Ansel
Adams and Minor White raised pho- Although Eggleston early adopted the
tography to a high art form in the early stable dye transfer process for printing
20th century. his images, this print appears to be an
example of the ephemeral chromogenic
In the 1970s younger photographers color printing process, widely used back
like Joel Meyerowitz and William Egg- in the day for general photo finishing.
leston brought color photography into
the realm of fine art via banal scenes of Eggleston’s photo is grouped in the
modern life. Everyday people and ev- “Objective” section of the show that,
eryday environments are their forté, de- according to the exhibition’s text
livered in the drab neutrals of concrete panel, “features works that present
an indifferent aesthetic, achieved by
straightforward depictions of Ameri-



28 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 ARTS & THEATRE

Coming Up: Check into ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’

BY SAMANTHA BAITA concierge at a famous European ho- Sept. 10 in the Schumann and Titelman
Staff Writer tel, and Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), Galleries. From Savannah’s Telfair Mu-
the lobby boy who becomes his most seums, this exhibition of 40 works by 26
The Grand Budapest Hotel. trusted friend. The plot revolves around artists considers the dynamic between
the theft and recovery of a priceless Re- man and environment. Telfair calls it
Allan Whitehead as Arthur. naissance painting and the fight for an a photographic survey, as opposed to
enormous family fortune, played out the idealistic view of mid-20th century
PHOTO: MONICA MULDE against the backdrop of a “suddenly landscape photographers such as Ansel
and dramatically changing Continent.” Adams. Rather, this exhibition reveals
in Fur” and “Seminar” at Henegar, is In addition to Fiennes’ tour-de-force “human impact on the earth,” and de-
not at all charming in “Superior Do- turn, the huge cast includes such no- picts the landscape as “an activated
nuts.” He is Kevin Magee, a thug whose tables as Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Jeff space, one that is imprinted by mankind
boss is Irish-American thug Luther Goldblum, Willem Defoe, Jude Law, F. and marked by social performance.”
Flynn (DiGeorge), his third show in a Murray Abraham, Tom Wilkinson and
row as a young man with questionable 1 Spend a few hours out of the sum- numerous others. Fox Searchlight calls 3 A delightful, smile-inducing pho-
motives, the previous two being The- mer heat, enjoying an excellent the film “typically stylish but decep- tographic exhibition is on dis-
ater on the Edge’s “American Buffalo” tively thoughtful,” and notes that “Wes
and “Tape.” Anderson once again uses ornate visual play in the Museum’s Holmes Gallery
environments to explore deeply emo-
“I am Flynn’s little lackey and we’re film. Sound like a plan? Then consider tional ideas.” “The Grand Budapest Ho- through Sept. 3 – “Dan Gunderson: A
on the hunt for Franco, the young guy tel” was nominated for nine Academy
who has gone to work for Arthur in “Reel in Summer at the Museum: The Awards in 2015, capturing four. Admis- View from Above,” 40-high def digital
the doughnut shop. I’m the muscle; sion is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, and
goonish,” said Roundy, who added World of Wes Anderson.” On Tuesday, free with Museum membership. prints (that might remind you of that
that he cannot say enough good about
the show or the theater. A graduate of June 27, at 5:30 p.m. the Vero Beach magical childhood favorite, the kalei-
Eastern Florida State College, he too
is one of DiGeorge’s students (“I’ve Museum of Art brings you the third in doscope). Said Palm Beach Illustrated,
taken all the courses”) and loved the
notion of Theater on the Edge from its summer film series: a gem of a flick in introducing Stetson University art
the start. 
by American screenwriter and director professor Dan Gunderson’s Toys Are

Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” Us series, “positioned madala-like, the

The Atlantic terms it “a thoughtful com- 2 While at the Museum, absolutely works employ children’s toys, garage-
take advantage of the current ex-
edy about tragedy.” The film takes place sale novelties, superhero figures and

between the first and second World hibitions, which will all be open on film vintage bric-a-brac.” Bearing out archi-

Wars, and centers on the adventures of evenings. “Watershed: Contemporary tect Frank Gehry’s quip, “You can look

Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), a well-known Landscape Photography” runs through anywhere and find inspiration.” 



30 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT COVER STORY

THOMAS KAPLAN IN FRONT OF THE “REMBRANDT WALL” AT THE LEIDEN COLLECTION, HIS GALLERY IN NEW YORK.

Thomas Kaplan was the first foreign collector to chance encounter 15 years ago with Sir Norman New York and Johnny van Haeften in London, and
have an exhibition at the Louvre, and he wanted to Rosenthal, then secretary of the Royal Academy, bought directly from them or had them bid at auc-
tell me all about it. that led him to consider the idea. tion on his behalf to keep his identity secret.

Striding into “Masterpieces of the Leiden Collec- At 39, he was on his way to making a fortune, first By 2007, when he sold his business, he was ac-
tion,” he plunged through the crowd, eager to point out of silver and later in natural gas, and was thus quiring a painting a week. For at least five years,
out Gerrit Dou’s old scholar interrupted at his writ- steeped in the business of arbitrage. Reassured by Van Haeften reckons, Kap¬lan bought nearly three-
ing; Frans van Mieris’s exhausted traveler who can’t Rosenthal that Old Masters were unfashionable quarters of all the fijnschilder pictures that came on
even pull up his wrinkled socks; the creased, lived-in – and therefore affordable – Kaplan and his wife, the market. Many he acquired inexpensively, but he
face of the old woman in her white bonnet, the first Daphne Recanati, started to buy. pushed the boat out if necessary. “When he really
Rembrandt Kaplan ever bought. He now has 11. wants a picture you can’t stop him,” saysVan Haeften.
The Kaplans focused on the Dutch Golden Age, on
It’s clear Kaplan loves them all, especially for Rembrandt and his pupils in Leiden, the fine 17th- Steve Wynn, a Las Vegas casino magnate, offered
their humane qualities. If his three-piece suit and century painters known as fijnschilders, who cre- Kaplan a Rembrandt self-portrait on condition that
the discreet red flash of the Légion d’Honneur ated works that told stories from history, the Bible he also buy his lovely little Vermeer, “Young Woman
ribbon at his lapel already set him apart from the and every¬day life: of butchers and fishmongers, Seated at the Virginals.” Kaplan went for it.
daytrippers in the crowded French museum this milkmaids and musicians, cardplayers and travel-
spring, what marked him out even more is that he ers, men praying, women at the keyboard. But the real holy grail for Dutch Old Master col-
never stopped talking. lectors is Rembrandt’s greatest pupil, Carel Fabriti-
Over nearly a century these painters produced a us, who painted “The Goldfinch” and was killed at
He reminded me again and again that he is a his- historical record remarkable for its humanity. Ac- the age of 32 in an explosion in 1654 that destroyed
torian (“by avocation rather than vocation,” but with cording to Kaplan, “They offer beauty, storytelling much of the city of Delft, including Fabritius’s stu-
a BA, MA and DPhil from Oxford). He told me about and a peephole into Western culture and the uni- dio.
Rembrandt’s influence on Goya, Picasso, Francis Ba- versal themes of civilization.”
con, Damien Hirst and Zang Fenzhi. Just 13 of his works survive; “Hagar and the An-
The Leiden Collection, named after Rembrandt’s gel,” the only one still privately owned, had been in
Kaplan did not set out wanting to be a collector. birthplace, began with a small oval portrait on metal the same collection for more than 200 years. When a
His mother took him regularly to the Metropoli- by Gerrit Dou, Rembrandt’s first pupil. Kaplan took dealer made a discreet phone call on Kaplan’s behalf
tan Museum when he was a boy, but it was only a advice from a few expert dealers, Otto Nauman in
STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 31

INSIGHT COVER STORY

32 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31 INSIGHT COVER STORY

to see if the picture might be for sale, the owner, a for the world’s new economic titan is becoming the KAPLAN AT THE LOUVRE IN PARIS.
Viennese count, had just one question: “Will he pay focus of cultural diplomacy. Christie’s French owner,
a Rembrandt price?” He did. François Pinault, has made important gifts to China, Christie’s that introduced Kaplan to Wang Wei, the
and the company remains the only foreign auction founder of the Long Museum in Shanghai.
Kaplan now owns more than 250 works. He won’t house licensed to operate on the mainland. It was
say how much he has spent, but the finest have re- The Kaplans are lending the show to China free
cently been insured for over $500 million. His office of charge and, unusually, are covering all the trans-
in New York has a special “Rembrandt wall” with a port and insurance costs. This could prove a sound
lighting scheme designed to glorify each picture – to
make it “pop off the wall.”

He doesn’t quite say so, but one of his ambitions is
to make Old Masters sexy. There are good business
reasons to do that, and humanitarian ones too: the
acquisition of “Hagar and the Angel,” with its story
of the saving of Hagar’s son Ishmael, whose story is
central to both Jewish and Koranic traditions, per-
suaded the Kaplans that their collection had a mes-
sage for the world.

They commissioned Arthur Wheelock, curator of
northern European art at the National Gallery of Art
in Washington, DC, to write an essay on every pic-
ture in the collection, and put his research online.
The Kaplans also revealed their identity: the Louvre
show was their “coming-out” party.

The Paris museum rarely borrows from private
collectors, and never from foreigners. But even in
France, museums are changing: they make a lot of
money out of blockbuster exhibitions, which need to
draw from collections all over the world. The director,
Jean-Luc Martinez, is seeking global partnerships. By
winning the Leiden show, the Louvre proved it is top
dog, and the Kaplans’ pictures get sprinkled with the
fairy dust the art world calls “validation.”

From Paris, the Leiden Collection sent 68 pictures
to a show that opened last Friday at the National
Museum in Beijing. In late September, an even big-
ger show will open at the Long Museum in Shanghai.
Further stops are planned for 2018, at the Pushkin
Museum and the Hermi¬tage in Russia, and finally
at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Kaplan – “one of the great conveners,” as Jussi Py-
lkkanen, Christie’s worldwide president calls him
– is following in the footsteps of Armand Hammer,
another great American trader. The founder of Oc-
cidental Petroleum, he often lent his art collection to
countries where he did business, especially Russia.

It is no accident that the show is visiting China,

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 33

INSIGHT COVER STORY

investment: if they ever wish to sell their paintings, with which they have long been involved. Three “Rather than silently acquiescing to the building
three of the Rembrandts that have come up for auc- years ago the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi gave their of walls or the burning of bridges,” he said, “we are
tion in recent years have been acquired by a collector big-cat conservation charity, Panthera, $20 million. using the most powerful tools we have, Rembrandt
in Hong Kong, and the Kaplans’ generosity will not and our passion, to build the connections that
go unnoticed by the government. Kaplan understands the commercial value of con- bind people together rather than tear us apart.”
nections, but his diplomacy is not just transactional. The fijnschilders would probably have gone along
They no doubt hope that their relationship with His speech at the opening night of the Louvre exhibi- with that. 
China will prove as fruitful as that with the UAE, tion ranged across the world’s political troubles.

34 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT OPINION

Embargo lite: Turning back the clock on Cuba is a mistake

Nearly two years after President is that large tour groups are too big for American travel to Cuba has been a That includes 330,000 Cuban Ameri-
Obama restored U.S. diplomatic re- smaller bed-and-breakfast rentals, and political battleground since the early cans visiting relatives on the island,
lations with Cuba, President Donald their government-appointed guides 1990s, when the collapse of the Soviet but many of the rest were Americans
Trump is proposing to roll them back. tend to ply the well-trodden routes that Union left the island’s communist gov- taking advantage of Obama’s landmark
That, in our view, is a mistake. bypass the new galleries, restaurants ernment starved for hard currency. moves to restore ties with Cuba.
and night spots opened by enterpris-
Central to President Trump’s plans ing Cubans and others after the open- As its resort industry grew and more While the statutory U.S. ban on va-
to peel back his predecessor’s detente ings spurred by Obama. foreign visitors arrived, the Castro cationing in Cuba remains in effect,
with Cuba is the idea that there is government’s enemies in the halls of visits to the island by non-Cuban
“good” and “bad” U.S. travel. “I think if you come here on a pack- Congress enacted a statute restricting Americans had been on pace to dou-
age tour, you see what the Cuban gov- Americans from vacationing there – ble this year.
The U.S. government since the Obama ernment wants you to see,” said An- convinced that withholding U.S. tour-
opening has allowed travel to Cuba that drew Sleyko, 36, a food scientist from ist dollars would help choke the Cu- This upsurge in travel by Ameri-
falls into 12 categories, including“people Chicago visiting the island for the first ban economy. cans also is already creating more Cu-
to people” cultural exchanges. time last week. Sleyko and a friend ban entrepreneurs: Airbnb has paid
had booked rooms through Airbnb Instead, Cuba’s tourism industry Cuban hosts $40 million over the past
While Trump’s proposed regulatory and were spending their days walking grew on euros and Canadian dollars. two years – an average of $2,700 per
changes still allow certain American around the city in the muggy heat. year, nearly eight times the average
travelers to visit as individuals for reli- But that’s beginning to change. annual wage.
gious, professional or other purposes, “We’re talking to people wherever we The government says it received
it eliminates the people-to-people go,” he said. “Isn’t that the idea of peo- more than 4 million visitors last year Trump’s rollback is expected to put
category that in the last two years has ple-to-people?” – a record number – of which about a brake on that growth.
become the most popular way to go to 615,000 came from the United States.
Cuba without booking a group tour. U.S. travelers also will now need
to keep detailed records and receipts
Tightening this regulation, Trump from their Cuba trips in case of an au-
believes, can deprive the Castro gov- dit by Treasury Department officials,
ernment of dollars. But the Trump and that alone could be a deterrent if
administration’s reinstatement of re- aggressively enforced.
strictions on individual travel ironi-
cally will hurt Cuba’s emerging private Because Treasury’s foreign assets
sector that caters to American visitors. division is the same office in charge of
enforcing sanctions against countries
Americans will generally still be al- such as Iran and North Korea, one
lowed to visit Cuba if they come on has to wonder what sense it makes
cruise ships, for instance, or book for the agency to devote resources
with U.S.-approved tour agencies. But to investigating the travel receipts of
cruise lines or tour agencies apparent- Americans who visit Cuba.
ly will have to ensure that Americans
follow structured itineraries. Reversing course in Cuba will ben-
efit neither Cubans nor Americans.
The new rules seem likely to have the
unintended effect of herding Ameri- “Embargo lite” won’t work any bet-
cans back toward the kind of prepack- ter than the failed U.S. policies of the
aged, predictable group tourism that last half-century. The past 50 years
the Cuban government actually prefers offer plenty of proof of what doesn’t
– and earns more revenue from. work. Why repeat it? 

The complication for Trump’s rules The Washington Post contributed to
this op-ed article.





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38 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

INSIGHT BOOK REVIEW

“The Force” is about Dennis last year, before it even “He hands down justice.” Don Winslow.
Malone, a powerful New York City had a title. James Man- Malone is the top dog, though: “All
police detective. He’s arrogant, con- gold, who directed “Lo- Da Force detectives are kings, but are they so vulnerable, why so weak,
temptuous, corrupt, smart and vio- gan,” is already attached. Malone – with no disrespect intended why do they live in those conditions,
lent. He steals a lotta cash and heroin You’ll see the book in ev- to our Lord and Savior – is the King of why do they join gangs, sling drugs,
from a drug bust. Things get compli- ery airport you go through Kings. Manhattan North is the King- why do they have to shoot each other
cated. Malone gets tossed in the slam- this summer. dom of Malone.” over nothing … why are they such
mer. But he’s got the glossies on the But everything is corrupt here, ev- (expletive) animals?
rest of Gotham’s power players, and Here Winslow turns his erything. So when Da Force raids a
he’s not going down easy. He’ll fight to ruthless gaze from drug big-time drug lord, Diego Peña, and “But Malone still (expletive) cares.
the end to protect his family and his cartels – the subject of his nails him with 70 kilos of Mexican “Doesn’t want to.
brother cops. past two books – to law en- cinnamon heroin, Malone assassi- “But does.”
forcement in New York. In nates him and takes a chunk of loot. After reading that passage, I scrib-
If this sounds like a good pitch for a interviews, he has referred “We’re rich!” a fellow cop gloats. bled two things in the margin. One
summer blockbuster, that’s because it to his past as a private in- This sets off the central narrative was “White Man’s Burden,” the in-
is. The latest from Don Winslow (“The vestigator in the city and arc of the story, which spreads over famous Rudyard Kipling poem that
Cartel,” “The Power of the Dog”) is a how much time he spent 400-plus pages. The action — a lot crystallized the colonialist mind-set.
big, fat book of fast-moving fiction. It with cops reporting this of it related in one- or two-sentence Second was “Mark Fuhrman” – the
sold to Hollywood for seven figures one; he has said that he’s paragraphs that rocket you through former L.A. cop whose racist ram-
been wanting to write this the tale — is, as you might expect, blings to a screenwriter about police
book all his life. cinematic. It’s often funny, ironic and beatings of black suspects helped lead
tense. to the 1995 acquittal in O.J. Simpson’s
The result is riveting Malone’s mind-set was the only murder trial.
and scary – in a lot of ways. thing that slowed me down. So what do you think will happen
And that mind-set may be the most when a cop like this, working in Har-
Malone is like a lot of disturbing element at work. Accord- lem, thinks that he’s the good guy?
New York cops you’ve read ing to Malone, only he and his fellow Yeah. This novel? It’s that scary. 
about. He’s the son of a cop, cops really care about the poor and the
Irish American, grew up in downtrodden, especially about young TALKING PICTURES
Staten Island, wears black African Americans (the story mostly How to Watch Movies
all the time, has a massive takes place in Harlem), Malone thinks
chip on the shoulder. His to himself on more than one occasion. By Ann Hornaday
brother was a firefighter When a black superior tells Malone and Basic. 289 pp. $26
who died on 9/11. In 18 years with the his brethren that he won’t stand for po- Review by Amy Henderson,
NYPD, Malone has worked his way up lice violence, Malone sneers and puts The Washington Post
to being the biggest dude on the city’s “police brutality” in quotation marks.
most elite unit, the Manhattan North “How the (expletive) does he think
Special Task Force, known as “Da we maintain a semblance of control,”
Force.” Malone thinks.
Malone sees his group as the saviors It’s the same with Black Lives Mat-
of American society, the underpaid ter, “celebrity ministers” who swoop
guys doing the grunt work, the real men in for the cameras, liberal pinheads
of the city. Civilians, those morons, who claim to be “outraged.” Malone
have no idea of what heroes Malone’s is not even 40, and he’s tired of the lot
guys are, the kings of the street: of them.
“We earned our reps as tough, “You start blaming yourself and/
strong, ruthless and fair rulers, ad- or you start blaming the victim – why
ministering rough justice with tem-
pered mercy.
“That’s what a king does.

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Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 39

ST. EDWARD’S

Drive to succeed steers St. Ed’s Hadnot to Dartmouth

BY RON HOLUB LSU. Rather, it was I think I’ve only got- didn’t like that I thought I knew too
ten one four on 13 much. He always thought his deci-
Correspondent a tribute to the AP exams that I’ve sions about who to throw to and when
taken.” were better than mine. As a coach, of
Recent St. Ed’s graduate CJ Hadnot is demanding cur- course he was right. I was a rebellious
by no stretch a milquetoast, laid-back Hadnot had an un- teenager and sometimes didn’t take
individual who shunned the spotlight riculum he had to usual quip regard- that too well. But most of the time it
in his four years on campus, and that ing his near-perfect worked out and we got along OK. Se-
inner drive likely had some bearing on master at St. Ed’s. AP classroom per- nior year I was exclusively the QB all
his successful effort to get into an Ivy formance, telling the way through.”
League school. “One of the first us, “My parents al-
ways had me read- Hadnot’s last season was the most
“I used to live in the New Orleans classes I took was ing and listening to memorable even though the Pirates
area and I came here about halfway (different types of) lost the Sunshine State Athletic Con-
through the first semester of my fresh- AP Human Ge- music. They played ference championship game, 21-14,
man year,” Hadnot said. “I started Led Zeppelin a lot after leading 14-0 going into the final
playing football as soon as I got here ography with Mr. because they didn’t period.
and I’ve played every year since.” want me to listen to
CJ Hadnot. (Terence) Mitch- Mozart all the time. “What really made it work was the
The family decided to relocate to this ell,” Hadnot said. I will always believe group of seniors we had,” Hadnot told
area in the wake of the massive 2010 oil that type of back- us. “We had a small team and the 11
spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As Hadnot “He was really ground helped with seniors had been starting together for
explained, “What brought us here was my cognitive devel- three years. We knew the ins and outs
mostly jobs. My mom is an architect tough on us. For example, his mini- opment.” of each other and how to play the other
so she was able to make a lot of con- teams maximizing our skill sets.”
nections. My dad is a yacht salesman. mum standard on AP exams was a Call it a “Stairway”
After the spill, sales suffered in Louisi- to an Ivy League Head coach Bill Motta said this
ana, but there were plenty of good op- five. He equated not getting a five with education. On the about his intrepid three-year QB:
portunities here.” sports side of the “He really never lost games for us. He
failing, so I always tried to get a five. ledger, Hadnot pos- went out there and did exactly what
From both an sesses a leadership we asked him to do. He exhibited a
academic and quality that served lot of unselfishness because QBs usu-
athletic stand- him well at quarter- ally want to throw the ball all over the
point, good op- back for three years, yard. We didn’t have the team that
portunities also although that same attribute occa- could compete like that.
abounded for sionally put him at odds with the game
Hadnot at his new plan. “He was a very cerebral player and
school. Getting “I’ve always been a big attractor of could play anywhere on the field. He
into Dartmouth attention, so when I first started at QB actually played tight end for us in a
speaks for itself. my sophomore year it kind of fit right pinch. He came to practice every day
in for me,” he said. “Johnny Schwerer and worked hard. He was very self-
“I had a lot of op- was the starting QB, but after some motivated and goal-oriented. He ran
portunities here injuries he switched to running back our offense extremely well. As a senior
that I wouldn’t and I became the QB. Junior year Bri- he was almost good enough to be on
have had if I stayed an Minella and I alternated at QB at auto-pilot. He probably could have
in Louisiana,” times for a few drives within games, called the game himself.”
Hadnot said. “It but there was never a game where I
was great. I prob- didn’t play QB. Hadnot would have liked that last
ably would have “There were a few conflicts that part. He may get that chance in col-
gone to LSU if I didn’t have the type of I had (with an assistant coach). He lege. After he settles into academia
teachers here that pushed me to do big- majoring in history and economics,
ger and better things.” the game plan is to walk-on the Dart-
mouth football team and play QB. 
That was no attempt to demean

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46 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

HEALTH

Chemo cocktails pack a potent cancer-killing punch

BY TOM LLOYD
Staff Writer

“A chemo cocktail” might sound What they can expect, according to the very least – inhibits the growth of Don Weiss. PHOTO: DENISE RITCHIE
like something you’d find at a trendy the American Cancer Society, is nau- healthy cells. That includes cells that
New York City mixology bar. sea, vomiting, hair loss, anemia, con- line the mouth and intestines as well “off-the-shelf” chemo cocktail.
stipation, loss of appetite and fatigue. as the internal organs, and it’s the “Most of the time it’s just a single
It’s not – there’s not a drop of liquor damage to those healthy cells that
in a chemo cocktail. But there can be That’s because, as the ACS says, causes the side effects. drug that’s mixed into an IV fluid,”
some tough-to-swallow names like ox- while “surgery and radiation therapy Weiss volunteers, but then adds, “I
aliplatin, albumin-bound paclitaxel, can remove, kill, or damage cancer Weiss adds that he and Patel must have patients that get five different
gemcitabine and paclitaxel involved. cells in a certain area, chemo works work to help patients keep up their drugs” in their infusions.
throughout the whole body. This nutritional status and their exercise
Simply put, chemo cocktails are means chemo can kill cancer cells tolerance as well as their hydration Despite the fact that Weiss has been
designed to kill cancer cells. that have spread (metastasized) to because. “We have drugs that are doing this since 1981, he proudly con-
parts of the body far away from the damaging to the kidneys so [patients] fesses to what some might see as ex-
Don Weiss, oncology pharmacist original (primary) tumor.” have to keep up their fluid intake. We cessive caution.
at Scully-Welsh Cancer Center, has have a drug that will cause hemor-
heard all the bartender jokes before But the National Cancer Institute rhagic cystitis so if the fluid intake “You can’t have any ego when
but he and Megha Patel, the center’s points out that while chemotherapy isn’t great enough to keep their kid- you’re working with this stuff,” Weiss
soon-to-be number two pharmacist, kills cancer cells, it also kills – or at neys working,” an already bad situa- says bluntly. Every single thing, every
have to be far more precise in build- tion can rapidly get even worse. step of the way, he insists, must be
ing their “cocktails” than any gin- double-checked.
slinger ever dreamed of being. Age is another factor Weiss and Pa-
tel must take into their calculations Most frequently he turns to Pa-
“We have very strict rules that we when compounding chemo cocktails. tel to “make sure that it’s the right
have to follow,” says Weiss, “and we medicine and that we’ve drawn it up
have very strict procedures that we Aside from kidney function, Weiss in the proper volume and make sure
put in place so that we don’t make points to existing co-morbidities typ- that the IV tag is the right bag and
a mistake. We’re dealing with very ically found in older patients. the right volume. So, if it’s something
potent chemicals and we’re dealing that has to go in dextrose, it’s not a
with people’s lives. So, we have to be “You’re dealing with an aging pop- bag of saline. Then we make sure that
extra careful.” ulation,” he explains, “that may have we’ve labeled it and it’s the label that
high blood pressure issues. They’re matches everything else.”
Medical News Today gets straight on a lot of other medications. We have
to the point of chemotherapy, say- to look at those medications and how Any country club bartender can
ing “cancer is a killer and to attack a they might be affected by their che- build you a tasty highball, but Weiss
killer, doctors sometimes need to hit mo. That’s one of the things that we and Patel’s chemo cocktails might
it with a highly toxic drug cocktail.” do. Along with the nurses, we have to well save your life if cancer comes
get a really detailed medication his- your way.
However you might try to garnish tory on the patient.”
it, chemotherapy is nobody’s idea of Don Weiss is an oncology pharma-
happy hour. And there’s also no such thing as an cist with the Scully-Welsh Cancer Cen-
ter in Vero Beach. The phone number is
“Chemo,” Weiss states emphatical- 772-563-4673. 
ly, “is rough. We tell our patients we
don’t pull any punches. What they’re
undergoing is tough. Our job is to try
and make it as easy as we possibly
can. The nurses and I, we are always
apprising the patients of the side ef-
fects. And while physicians do as well,
maybe we go into a little bit more de-
tail, because we tell the patients what
they can expect.”

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 47

HEALTH

Grant ends, but heart ‘navigator’ likely won’t miss a beat

BY TOM LLOYD Moore says that while age
alone may not be the cause of
Staff Writer heart failure patient readmis-
sions, he does point to “the di-
Two years ago, the Indian River abetes, the renal insufficiency
Medical Center was given the medi- and all the co-morbidities that
cal equivalent of a winning lottery come with aging” as factors
ticket. With a catch. that work against a senior pop-
ulation like Vero’s.
The payoff from that ticket, ac-
cording to cardiologist Dr. Richard Moore, Loveday and Draper
Moore, nurse practitioner Diane
Loveday and registered nurse Pat CONTINUED ON PAGE 48
Draper, has come in the form of lives
saved and more Medicare dollars Diane Loveday, Dr. Richard Moore and Pat Draper. PHOTO: GORDON RADFORD
staying with the hospital.

The catch? The two-year grant
from the American College of Cardi-
ology which helped to fund the na-
scent “patient navigator program” in
2105 and 2016 is now gone.

Moore, Loveday and Draper all
seem confident that IRMC will take
fill the funding gap for what so far
appears to be a bona fide cardiac
care success story.

In 2015, IRMC was the only hospi-
tal in the state of Florida – and one
of only 35 healthcare facilities na-
tionwide – selected to participate in
the American College of Cardiology’s
pilot navigator program. The pro-
gram’s goal? Reduce the number of
heart failure patients who needed to
be readmitted to hospitals within 30
days of their initial discharge.

Featuring a multi-disciplinary
team approach, the program’s aim
was to better prepare heart failure
patients for discharge and then to
follow up with them on a regular ba-
sis after they leave the hospital so
they didn’t suffer a relapse of com-
plications that required another hos-
pital stay.

The results over the past two years
have been impressive.

At the time of the program’s incep-
tion, Becker’s Hospital Review re-
ported “the 30-day readmission rate
after heart failure hospitalization
nationwide is 24.8 percent.”

Today, just two years after insti-
tuting the ACC program, Loveday
proudly says, “from April 2015, when
the navigator program really started,
to December of 2016, [IRMC’s] read-
mission rate for heart failure patients
is 15.2 percent.”

Loveday’s enthusiasm continues
as she adds “there are 35 navigator
hospitals that were in the program
and today their mean readmission
rate is 18.1 percent, so we’re even
better than the mean of all the navi-
gator hospitals.”

That 15.2 percentage mark is per-
haps even more eye-catching given
Vero Beach’s aging demographic.

48 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 47 HEALTH

would clearly rather talk about lives Medicare patient a hospital treats.
affected than funding dollars, but That added up to big bucks. Really
there is some evidence that this pro-
gram might just be paying for itself. big bucks. Almost immediately.
In 2015, nearly three-quarters of
That’s because right before the
ACC launched its navigator program, U.S. hospitals were hit – and hit hard
Medicare instituted its own “Hos- – by those fines. That year Medicare
pital Readmissions Reduction Pro- withheld hospital reimbursements
gram” which, simply put, slaps hefty in excess of $425 million.
fines on healthcare facilities that
have what it considers inordinately Today the Kaiser Family Founda-
large readmission rates. tion reports that in 2017, “total Medi-
care penalties assessed on hospitals
And while it may have seemed dra- for readmissions will increase to
conian at the time, Medicare based $528 million.”
its fines not just on cardiac readmis-
sions but on a percentage of every Given the sheer volume of Medicare
patients treated at IRMC and the fact
that its original two-year grant from

Diane Loveday and Pat Draper. PHOTO: GORDON RADFORD

the ACC was only for $80,000, it’s not vanced heart disease” and, she says,
hard to imagine that the navigator “it often takes somebody sitting with
program now more than pays for itself them, pleading, ‘Mr. Jones, you must
by minimizing or possibly even avoid- get treatment. Don’t worry about the
ing those Medicare penalties. fact you have no money or no insur-
ance. We will take care of you, but you
If the hospital can find any addi- have got to participate with us,’ so that
tional outside dollars to help defray is another huge challenge for us.”
costs, so much the better.
Medicare will release its latest re-
And there are plenty of other car- admission rates – and fines levied –
diac costs to help defray. this July, but in the meantime, Moore,
Loveday and Draper all seem confi-
Moore, Loveday and Draper all dent IRMC will grade well and that the
speak passionately about the need for navigator program will continue.
cardiac care for those who don’t have
Medicare. Or any other insurance. The heart failure management
clinic at IRMC can be reached at 772-
Draper points out that far too 563-4415. No physician referral is re-
many uninsured people allow their quired. 
heart disease to advance and prog-
ress untreated.

“These people come in with ad-

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Style Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 49

The power of wearing white

BY LISA ARMSTRONG able, washable fabrics – and, unless
The Telegraph you’re aiming for an ashram vibe, to
break your outfit up with black, tan,
“Fashion is part of the daily air and navy or khaki accessories. Gold can
it changes all the time, with all the look blingy.
events. You can even see the approach-
ing of a revolution in clothes. You can Even then, the effect may not be
see and feel everything in clothes.” quite what you intended. White does
strange things. Marilyn’s outrageous
I’m nominating this quote as peak breeze-jacking in “The Seven Year
Diana Vreeland. What we wear is al- Itch” looks oddly angelic, thanks to
most always, in one way or another the halo of white pleats billowing
political, without us noticing. Do we around her. Others have tried to ex-
broadly follow the rules, or fall in with ploit white’s innocent qualities only
them? to find their outfit became transpar-
ent under flashlights (Princess Di-
Most of us don’t have to take sarto- ana’s cotton nursery teacher skirt) or
rial risks to the extent that those brave makes them look like a moderately
Iranian women posting pictures of competent midwife (Gwyneth Pal-
themselves wearing white last week trow at the Oscars) when they were
have. In defiance of Iran’s all-black aiming for Hollywood glamour.
rule, they’re a reminder of the ways in
Hillary Clinton got with the white
intense nature. I loved it then when I program in the final months of her
owned only one white dress and I still campaign. Ultimately it didn’t too
love it now.” her much good. Perhaps Melania’s
tan simply sets white off better in the
It’s striking how even in 2017, white eyes of many voters. That’s the trou-
has overtones of purity despite the ble with using clothes to political
gargantuan cleaning bills, bleach- ends – sometimes they take on views
ing agents and general high mainte- of their own. 
nance. The trick is to go for sustain-

which the tiniest gestures can become on Fridays, Hindu brides, Buddhist
a mass movement. How cool, in every mourners, Kundalini yogis, Zoroastri-
sense, to be able to borrow, even tem- anist priests, many observant Jews on
porarily, some of the privileges of Ira- the high days of Passover and Selichot,
nian men, who are permitted to enjoy and the first wave of suffragettes all
wearing white whenever they fancy. wear or wore white. It symbolizes good-
ness, but also passive resistance.
Arguably clothes haven’t flexed
this degree of rebellious muscle since It’s the color of peace, power and sur-
punk. Watching the pantsuit (as Amer- render. In most societies, it’s also quite
icans insist on calling it, despite sup- look-at-me. There is no way the poster
posedly being great marketers) trans- of John Travolta’s “Saturday Night Fe-
mute into a female rallying symbol last ver” would be seared forever into our
year beats tracking the stratospheric consciousness if Travolta, who origi-
ascent of handbag prices. nally pushed for black, had got his way.
Author Tom Wolfe wears white, always.
And what about feminist slogan T- He claims that rather than an affecta-
shirts? Whether we aim to look afflu- tion, this began because where he came
ent, deliberately grunge down, settle from in Virginia, gentlemen always
for a classic fudge of expensive under- wore white in the summer, and when
statement or subscribe to any of the he first arrived in New York, he couldn’t
above without realizing – these things afford to buy other suits. Ditto Leslie
become habitual. And they’re often Kenton, the beauty guru who says her
rooted in attitudes to wealth and class 50-year passion for white seeded when
that took form when we were teenagers she was broke and bought the simplest
or younger. clothes she could find, which she con-
stantly tossed in the washing machine.
As for white – it’s quite a strange syn- “White not only inspires me,” she writes
chronicity that it’s also very fashionable on her lesliekenton.com blog, “it is so
on the catwalks, don’t you think? Then simple to wear and it calms my overly
again, white is wonderfully ambigu-
ous. Brides, druids, devout Muslim men

50 Vero Beach 32963 / June 22, 2017 Style Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™

Why the Breton stripe’s style status will never fade

BY WENDY DOUGLAS
The Telegraph

What do the Duchess of Cambridge, reality is that, since its creation, it has
Alexa Chung and a sailor have in com- unwittingly become a fashion classic
mon? An unlikely little group we agree, – with a little help from Coco Chanel.
but on the right day you could find The designer took inspiration from the
them all rocking a Breton top. Is there local sailors she saw while holidaying
any other piece of clothing that can on the French coast, and introduced
unite such a disparate fan base? From her own interpretation of the Breton
the best-dressed kids to the hippest in her 1917 collections. And chic cul-
of hipsters, the horizontal stripes of a
Breton are an undisputed wardrobe
staple. But how did a practical military
item from France become the go-to
piece for fashionistas everywhere?

Decreed as the uniform of the
French Navy in 1858, this tightly knit-
ted top was a second skin for those
working at sea. And while stripes are
now a style choice, back then they were
more about making sailors easier to
spot if they had fallen overboard.

Legend has it that each of the Bret-
on’s 21 white and 21 blue stripes, in the
very specific widths of 2 centimeters
and 1 centimeter, respectively, repre-
sents a victory by Napoleon Bonapar-
te. But whether this is true or not, the

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