09/07/2023 ISSUE 36

An estate in Riomar Bay with nearly 600 feet of river frontage and a classic midcentury home that came on the market last week is making ripples in the real estate world. It was splashed across the pages of the Wall Street Journal’s Mansion Global section last week, where a feature article noted that the 2.2-acre, parklike property “was the longtime home of the late Andrew Edmonds, a direct descendant of E.I. du Pont, who founded the DuPont chemical company in 1802.” Edmund, who lived in the home with his wife Marsha for 40 years and passed away there in January, was a bit of a character who collected, among other things, antique News 1-12 Arts 35-40 Books 30 Dining 56-59 Editorial 28 Games 31-33 Health 41-49 Insight 23-34 People 13-22 Pets 60 Real Estate 63-72 Style 52-55 Travel 50-51 September 7, 2023 Volume 16, Issue 36 Newsstand Price $2.00 TO ADVERTISE CALL 772-559-4187 FOR CIRCULATION CALL 772-226-7925 Doctors engage with cancer patients for better care. P42 Local sculptor thinks big. P35 Shores’ new gas contract halfway home. P12 Mike Block String Camp soars again! P13 © 2023 Vero Beach 32963 Media LLC. All rights reserved. For breaking news visit We’ve learned all we need to know about the Moms For Liberty, who last week showed us who they are and what they’re really all about by resorting to a low-brow stunt that was more disgusting and dangerous than any book excerpt read from the public-comment podium. Now we find out who we are. Are we going to tolerate the Moms – under the watchful eye of Tiffany Justice, the group’s homegrown co-founder – bringing into our community a flame-throwing, out-of-town rabble-rouser known for igniting conflict and sharing his verbal arson with more than 2 million social-media followers? Are we going to allow the Moms to get away with using North Carolina-based culturewar provocateur John Amanchukwu to manufacture an incident that has prompted dozens of dim-bulb disciples to launch a barrage of phone calls New COVID-19 stats from CDC just defy belief During August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new director made almost daily headlines warning of a new wave of COVID-19, citing numbers showing covid hospitalizations sharply increasing week by week.. On Sunday, Aug. 27, the Press Journal jumped on the bandwagon, with its lead headline proclaiming: “Summer COVID surge hits Treasure Coast. Hospitals have seen influx of patients.” But is any of that true? Not only do the CDC’s numbers, upon closer examination, appear grossly inflated, but a bizarre pattern makes many of the recent numbers reported in Florida and elsewhere across the country look totally bogus. BY LISA ZAHNER Staff Writer PHOTOS BY JOSHUA KODIS CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Du Pont mansion becomes Riomar Bay’s second $27M listing CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 BY STEVEN M. THOMAS Staff Writer Vero Beach residents in the Bethel Creek area might’ve noticed recently that the aeration system installed by the city six years ago in response to a major sewage spill isn’t functioning properly. According to City Water & Sewer Director Rob Bolton, oysters have attached themselves to the underwater oxygen lines and cut them, resulting in oxygen leaks. It’s also possible that some of the 10 aeration heads aren’t working. But no repairs will be done – because the city plans to remove the system next month. “We’re probably going to pull it out, anyway,” Bolton said last BY RAY MCNULTY Staff Writer Vero to remove broken Bethel Creek aeration system CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 MY VERO BY RAY MCNULTY Moms’ vitriol merits passionate response PHOTOS BY JOSHUA KODIS

2 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ and emails targeting School Board Chair Peggy Jones and two other members of the embattled panel with obscene language, vile remarks, and threats of bodily harm and death? Or are we finally going to stand up to these self-righteous zealots, refuse to be bullied by a vocal minority, and staunchly support Jones and the board members who care more about the quality of education and student achievement in our school district than controversies concocted purely for political purposes. Clearly, we’ve reached the point where the good people of our community need to reject this fringe group before somebody gets hurt, or even killed. “It’s out of control,” said board member and former Indian River Shores mayor Brian Barefoot, who, along with Vice-Chair Teri Barenborg, has received some of the threatening calls and emails, but not nearly as many as Jones. “I can envision some nut walking in with a gun.” He’s not alone. Barenborg, too, has concerns. “Sure I do, but only because they made sure this story went national, and there’s so much hatred and division out there these days,” she said. “Somebody tells somebody else something that may or may not be true, and if that somebody else is the wrong person …” There was no need to go on. Most of the threats are coming from outside the state, School Superintendent David Moore said last weekend, but they are being taken seriously by the Sheriff’s Office, which is coordinating its investigation with the FBI and reviewing every hostile call and email. Jones said Sunday she already had received more than 75 of them since Amanchukwu’s first social-media post, which appeared after the five-hour-plus School Board meeting had ended. The first death threat arrived in her district voicemail at 11:15 the next morning. “They’re threatening me and calling me horrific names, including a pedophile,” said Jones, 70, a former teacher and principal who has spent nearly 50 years in education. “I can take a lot of stuff, but some of this is way over the top. “It won’t deter me, though,” she added. “I was elected to do this job, and I am 100-percent doing it for the right reasons.” The Moms’ motives and tactics aren’t quite as pure. Certainly, there was nothing genuine week. “We’re going to wait until the fall, when it’s a little cooler, so I expect it will happen at some time in October.” That’s about four years later than originally planned. “When we initially put it the aeration system, the plan was to use it for nine months to a year – just long enough to clean up the damage done by the spill – then take it out,” Bolton said. “But it’s still there. “The system has been repaired a couple of times over the years, and it probably still has some benefit, injecting oxygen into a dead-end canal,” he added. “By adding air, you’re also increasing circulation, so the bottom gets mixed up and produces a little cleaner water. “So even though it’s long past the time when it’s doing any good for the damage done six years ago, but we decided to let the system run until it failed.” The city installed 10 aeration heads in the creek in 2018 attempt to accelerate the cleanup after a sewer pipe broke in November 2017 and dumped 3.2 million gallons of human waste into the narrow waterway lined with expensive homes. The creek, which has little natural flow, smelled like a toilet for weeks after the spill and residents converged on City Hall to demand action, concerned about possible dangers to human and animal health, as well as their quality of life. Bolton moved quickly to repair the broken sewer pipe and posted warning signs to alert fishermen and boaters that the creek was contaminated. He also instituted a testing program to keep track of bacteria levels in the water. With water contaminated enough at one point that it was dangerous to touch – and high bacteria levels persisting for weeks after the spill – Bolton consulted with Florida Institute of Technology scientists and eventually decided to try aeration, which is a standard method for treating sewage spills. The process uses oxygen to enhance the formation of good bacteria that consume organic matter. Human waste is harmful to recreational and environmentally sensitive waters not only because of dangerous bacteria, such as e-coli, but also because sewage carries household chemicals and is loaded with nitrogen and other nutrients that feed harmful algae blooms that deplete oxygen levels and smother marine life. The city bought 10 aeration heads and a compressor for $25,000, along with testing equipment that cost another $11,000. NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Bethel Creek CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 My Vero

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 3 The Moms-staged parade to the podium was all for show, scripted to grab a few headlines in a desperate attempt to remain relevant. “The law just changed, and we were responding,” Moore said. “We’re still hoping to get more guidance from the state, but we were in the process of reviewing the challenged books. Even before the new law, we had gone through a weeding process and removed about 30 books prior to the end of the last school year.” Moore had hoped the review process was the beginning of a new, more-cooperative relationship with Pippin on the book issue. Then he was blindsided. “Nobody saw this coming,” Moore said, adding that neither Pippin nor anyone on the board had given him any advance notice of the Moms’ ambush. To be sure, our School Board has no rule requiring its members to warn the superintendent when they know a major brouhaha is brewing, But, as Barenborg said, it should be done as a professional courtesy. “I would do it,” she said. “I think most NEWS CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 about the Moms’ obviously orchestrated hijacking of the board meeting, which was expected to provide a forum for a robust discussion of Florida’s new-but-postponed African-American history curriculum that requires school districts to teach that slaves benefited from their servitude. Of the more than 50 speakers who spoke at the School Board meeting, only 14 addressed the history curriculum. The rest were there to talk about books. There was nothing authentic about that charade, either, as it soon became apparent that many of the Momsbacked speakers were recruited by local chapter chair Jennifer Pippin to go to the podium and read aloud sexually explicit excerpts from books the group claimed were still on shelves in school libraries. Almost all of those speakers read from cheat sheets – provided by the Moms before the meeting – that contained each book’s title, the school where it was placed, and the page on which the excerpt could be found. Based on their performance, it’s safe to assume most of those speakers, if not all, had never read the books in their entirety, or even had heard of them. Some of the recruits struggled to read the excerpts, and not merely because of the content. It was, in every way, a farce. Yet the Moms did succeed in getting more than 30 books permanently removed from the libraries, exploiting new state legislation that allows objecting parents to read sexually explicit excerpts at school board meetings to make their case. The law, enacted on July 1, also requires school districts to automatically remove the books, citing sexual content, if a board member stops the speaker from reading the excerpt. Jones repeatedly stopped speakers or issued content warnings for viewers watching the meeting on television, and the board voted unanimously to remove all of those books. For those wondering: Before the law was changed, books were determined to be pornographic or not after being evaluated in their entirety, not by a small percentage of sexually explicit content, which is now enough to require removal from school libraries. The Moms, as you’d expect, have been celebrating their rare victory on social media and in the news media, where Pippin has said she plans to use the same tactic at future board meetings to have more books removed. What Pippin hasn’t told you is that the excerpt-reading strategy was entirely unnecessary – that the district had removed 30 Moms-challenged books last year and, having created a book-review committee, was in the process of evaluating others.

4 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ of the other board members would do it.” It’s difficult to believe Jackie Rosario – the Moms’ most dependable ally on the board – didn’t know Pippin’s game plan, given her role in the mix-up that immediately preceded Amanchukwu’s antics at the podium. The last to address the board during the three-hour public-comment session, Amanchukwu’s speaker’s form was briefly misplaced, and he responded in a confrontational and accusatory tone, as if it had been intentionally hidden. As Jones searched for the form, Rosario assured her that Amanchukwu had submitted one. Somehow, she knew. The form was eventually found and Amanchukwu began by spouting anti-abortion rhetoric before moving on to read his assigned book excerpt. He quickly reached a sexually explicit passage and Jones stopped him, but he ignored her request and continued on. Jones tried repeatedly to stop him, assuring him that the book would be removed, but Amanchukwu kept reading, even after she gaveled him. Eventually, a district staffer took away the microphone. Amanchukwu argued that he had a right to read the excerpt, but after giving him multiple warnings, Jones had no choice but to ask sheriff’s deputies NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 My Vero PremierEstateProperties.com 8760 Seacrest Drive $2.995 Million Info: www.V270967.com Lange Sykes 772.473.7983 Explore More Of Our Exceptional Vero Beach Collection

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 5 assigned to the meeting to remove him from the chamber. Once outside the building, Amanchukwu complained to deputies that his paperwork had been hidden, adding, “And had I not had someone contact one of the conservative-leaning board members to make sure the information gets up there, I would not be allowed to speak.” Amanchukwu later posted a video of the entire podium episode on social media, where it went viral, and the threatening phone calls and emails began. It’s despicable, really, especially when you consider this entire book controversy is bogus – a waste of valuable time and resources – because these books were not being checked out by students in any meaningful numbers. According to the school district, 31 of the 34 books cited during the board meeting were checked out by students less than five times during the past two school years, including 20 that were never checked out. In other words, nobody is reading them, which should surprise no one. Kids looking for pornographic materials don’t go to the school library. They go to the Internet, probably using their smartphones. And, oh, but they way: The district report also states that the 34 books were acquired between 2000 and 2021, which means Justice – a failed School Board member who served one tumultuous term here – was on the dais when some of them were purchased NEWS CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 DISCLAIMER: Information published or otherwise provided by Premier Estate Properties, Inc. and its representatives including but not limited to prices, measurements, square footages, lot sizes, calculations and statistics are deemed reliable but are not guaranteed and are subject to errors, omissions or changes without notice. All such information should be independently verified by any prospective purchaser or seller. Parties should perform their own due diligence to verify such information prior to a sale or listing. Premier Estate Properties, Inc. expressly disclaims any warranty or representation regarding such information. Prices published are either list price, sold price, and/or last asking price. Premier Estate Properties, Inc. participates in the Multiple Listing Service and IDX. The properties published as listed and sold are not necessarily exclusive to Premier Estate Properties, Inc. and may be listed or have sold with other members of the Multiple Listing Service. Transactions where Premier Estate Properties, Inc. represented both buyers and sellers are calculated as two sales. Cooperating Brokers are advised that in the event of a Buyer default, no commission will be paid to a cooperating Broker on the Deposits retained by the Seller. No commissions are paid to any cooperating broker until title passes or upon actual commencement of a lease. Some affiliations may not be applicable to certain geographic areas. If your property is currently listed with another broker, please disregard any solicitation for services. Copyright 2023 Premier Estate Properties, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Your Trusted Advisor for Vero Beach Luxury Real Estate 772.234.5555 675 Beachland Boulevard OUR INCOMPARABLE GLOBAL NETWORK 225 RIVERWAY DRIVE $7.5 Million Info: www.V270422.com Talley | Hendricks 772.559.8812 990 CARIB LANE $1.325 Million Info: www.V271112.com Ritter | Talley 772.532.6619 3 WEST SEA COLONY DRIVE $1.95 Million Info: www.V267725.com Schwiering | Hendricks 772.559.8812 618 LANTANA LANE $3.995 Million Info: www.V266562.com Brown | Talley 772.633.0407 3160 NE 233RD TRAIL $17.459 Million Info: www.V270584.com Lange Sykes 772.473.7983 1025 ANDARELLA WAY $2.799 Million Info: www.V250160.com Brown | Talley 772.633.0407 COMING SOON SUNDAY OPEN HOUSE | 1 -3 PM

6 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Back in early August when newly minted CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen began making the interview circuit to rebuild America’s trust in federal public health officials, she repeatedly told the public that the number of patients being hospitalized for COVID-19 illness was increasing. For the week ending Aug. 12, the CDC database showed that Indian River County had 58 COVID-positive people hospitalized. If true, that would have been troubling, as that number would have been about the same as during the deadly Delta surge back in 2021. But Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital showed only six COVID-positive people hospitalized during the same period the CDC said we had 58. And of those six patients, only half actually presented in the Emergency Room with COVID symptoms. The other half turned up positive only because they were tested while in the hospital prior to a surgery or procedure. It took a few days to even track down the number of people in the hospital with COVID because COVID wards are long gone, and patients aren’t tested upon admission anymore. The hospital explained that COVID-19 is now just a code on a patient’s chart, like many other codes for conditions the patient might walk in with or develop in the hospital. When the patient is discharged, the chart goes to coding and billing, and after that’s complete, the COVID hospitalization gets reported to state public health officials. This is similar to what happens if a patient has influenza. “The team at Indian River no longer actively tracks COVID cases,” Cleveland Clinic spokesperson Arlene Allen-Mitchell confirmed on Friday. So where on earth are the CDC numbers that officials using to scare vulnerable Americans coming from? It seems like the feds are using some sort of algorithm to populate the database with bogus numbers – at least in Florida. For week ending Aug. 12, the CDC said Indian River County (population 167,738) had 58 hospitalizations. The CDC also said Brevard County to the north – 3.8 times the population of Indian River with 632,900 people – had the same 58 hospitalizations. Coincidence? Vero Beach 32963 has been tracking all available local COVID Data since March 2020 and Indian River and Brevard have never reported the same number of hospitalizations in three and a half years. But it gets even more bizarre, and more unbelievable. For the week ending Aug. 12, the NEWS The Finest Pre-Owned Rolex Watches Le Classique Jewelers and Watchmakers Every Rolex watch comes backed with our 1 year warranty. All Rolex service and repairs are done on premises. Get the Best Price For Your Pre-Owned Rolex We are proud to deliver exceptional customer service and high value offers for your pre-owned Rolex. As your trusted and reputable local jeweler, we make selling your watch a smooth experience with our guaranteed offers. Prices Upon Request 3001 Ocean Drive # 105, Vero Beach, FL 32963 772-231-2060 CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 My Vero and placed in on-campus libraries. You might think the sickening nature of the threats would give the Moms pause, but, as of last weekend, Jones said she had not received anything resembling an apology or statement of regret from Justice or Pippin. She shouldn’t expect any, even though Justice had Amanchukwu as a guest on her “Joyful Warriors” podcast in May and should have known the damage he could do. The Moms can talk about advocating for parental rights and protecting children, but we now know the truth: They’re a politically partisan organization on a mission to seize ideological control of school boards, and they’re willing to use whatever means are necessary to unseat incumbents and discourage potential candidates who oppose their agenda. Do the Moms advocate for parental rights? Yes, but only the rights of parents who agree with them. You’ll notice they showed no regard for the NAACP’s plans for the board meeting. And if the Moms truly cared about protecting children, they would not have used the excerpt readings to tell kids precisely where to find sexually explicit content, providing them with book titles and pages. The Moms’ hypocrisy doesn’t end there, however. Pippin constantly demands that our School Board follow the law in removing books, but she says nothing about Gov. Ron DeSantis ignoring the Florida constitution to embrace partisan school board elections and endorse Moms-backed candidates. Nor has she criticized Rosario for accepting his endorsement last year. Fortunately, the Moms get little traction here. That’s why they brought in Amanchukwu, who has brought to this county a taste of the hate and division that now poisons too much of America. Are we going to allow such disgusting and dangerous tactics to succeed in our community? Is that who we are? CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Bizarre covid numbers And Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital has been reporting hospitalization numbers for COVID-19 here that are far, far lower than those reported by the CDC.

8 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ CDC said St. Lucie County (population 347,779) had 238 hospitalizations. And Martin County (167,639), roughly the same population as Indian River, also had 238 hospitalizations, according to the CDC. And astoundingly, Palm Beach County (population 1.5 million) also had exactly 238 hospitalizations. Meanwhile, Broward County (population 1.98 million) had 394 COVID hospitalizations for the week ending Aug. 12, according to the CDC, and Miami-Dade County (population 2.9 million) also had 394 hospitalizations. This pattern holds around most of Florida’s 67 counties, with clusters of identical hospitalization numbers for counties with vastly different populations. One popular number was 44 for mid-sized counties. Tiny rural counties typically had 17 hospitalizations – more than the actual number hospitalized with COVID in Indian River in early August. For week ending Aug. 19, the number of Indian River County hospitalizations fit the CDC talking points that COVID is “on the rise,” as the number listed is 70, a 20.7 percent increase over the previous week. Seventy COVID hospitalizations locally would mean Cleveland Clinic would be in crisis mode – but cases inhouse there remain in the single digits. Brevard County also had exactly 70 hospitalizations for week ending Aug. 19, according to the CDC. So we checked our neighbors to the south again. Broward County had 410 hospitalizations and you can probably guess MiamiDade’s number – 410 hospitalizations. The CDC says St. Lucie County had 265 hospitalizations for week ending Aug. 19, with Martin County reporting 265 hospitalizations and Palm Beach County reporting the exact same number, 265 hospitalizations. Curiously, the CDC reported that Cook County, Illinois – a county with a population of 5.1 million – had only three more hospitalizations than Martin or St. Lucie counties. The numbers are equally strange elsewhere in the country. For the week of Aug. 19, the CDC had Suffolk County, N.Y., and Nassau County, N.Y., each with exactly 209 hospitalizations. Nationwide, based on these bizarre numbers, the CDC says 10,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 last week, a 20 percent increase over the previous week. But the Indian River County number, based on the actual number reported by Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, is inflated by about 96 percent if you’re looking at hospitalized specifically for COVID, or about 90 percent if you take into account the asymptomatic patients who coincidentally positive for COVID. Until we see some credible numbers from the CDC, or information from trusted medical professionals at Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, that COVID-positive patients are onceagain tasking our local healthcare system, we will not be reporting that COVID-19 hospitalizations are “on the rise” as the CDC alleges. And we would love an explanation of what is going on with these faulty – if not fraudulent – data. NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Another $27 million listing CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 Bizarre covid numbers fire engines and V-16 Cadillac convertibles. The couple also “collected” abandoned English mastiffs, taking in 15 of the dogs over the years, providing them with loving care and a substantial, tile-roofed doghouse. Local interest in the home has been strong, too. Sixty-one agents showed up for the brokers open house on Thursday, according to listing agent Cindy O’Dare, who leads the O’Dare Boga Dobbs Group at ONE Sotheby’s International Realty. “Ninety percent of the agents were wowed by the place and thought it should be renovated instead of torn down,” O’Dare told Vero Beach 32963. “Several people said it reminds them of a Slim Aarons photograph and three agents have buyers they want to bring by at some point. Right now, most of the big buyers aren’t in town. A lot of them are on their yachts in the Med!” O’Dare said she’s also had multiple inquiries from other sources since going live with the listing last Tuesday. While cultivating local interest, O’Dare said her main sales strategy is focused on getting the property out to “a very high strata” of luxury buyers around the country and the world. “A buyer for a property like this could be someone who has never heard of Vero Beach before but is so taken with the property and what they see when they get here, that they pull the trigger,” she said. The property occupies two adjoining lots at 510 and 512 River Dr. in Riomar Bay. It has an impressive wrought iron entry gate, two houses, botanical garden-level landscaping, an eightfoot-deep pool with diving board overlooking the river, a 594-foot seawall, a concrete dock and garage space for 12 cars – a major selling point in a time when garage space is coveted by luxury buyers and 8-figure garage-centric estates are being built across the counCONTINUED ON PAGE 10

10 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ NEWS try from Malibu to the Hamptons. “The garage space is amazing and I think it has the most water frontage of any home in Vero,” said O’Dare. “It is the largest residential property anywhere in Riomar.” Only a block off of A1A, between the bridges in Central Beach, the property somehow takes you into another world. There is a strong sense of arrival passing through the heavy, stone-columned gate set in a high hedge that shields the house from street view. The driveway curves into a vast front motor court, which is surrounded by groves of slender palm trees reminiscent of Hawaii and perfectly manicured shrubbery. The sense of arrival continues, passing through the double front doors of the main house into an octagonal foyer with a tropical pool and garden placed beneath a domed skylight. Andrew Edmond served as a U.S. Navy Lieutenant and was an engineer by profession, and the house was meticulously maintained and upgraded over the years without eclipsing its bold 1960s style. “My dad was very interested in electronics and anything that could make things more convenient,” said Andrew Edmond Jr., a Delaware resident who was his father’s only child. “The house has a lot of gadgets!" The gadgets include a gauge in the kitchen that shows the water pressure throughout the house, a copper-top bar with a sink that dispenses whiskey, rum, gin and other types of liquor from its faucet, depending on which button you push beside the sink, and an oversized back-up generator placed below ground and fueled by a 1,500-gallon diesel tank that could power the entire compound for days if Florida Power & Light ever falters. “It’s more like something you would see at a commercial building than a private home,” said Allen Coler, a former John’s Island security service lieutenant who has been property manager at the estate for the past three years. “Behind that door over there is a back-up, backup generator just in case the first one should ever fail.” Gadgets and heavy equipment aside the house radiates a bright, refined but comfortable style, with delicate, detailed architecture, fine materials and charming finishes that justify the comparison to images created by Slim Aarons, who “captured a golden age of wealth, privilege, beauty and leisure that occurred alongside – but quite separate from – the cultural and political backdrop of the second half of the Twentieth Century . . . [portraying] high society, aristocracy, authors, artists and business icons . . . and their milieu,” according to Gettyimages.com. “Our interior photos of home look like images from House Beautiful in the 1960s,” said O’Dare. “It is a gorgeous property.” The main house, which was built in the early 1960s and substantially remodeled when Andrew and Marsha Edmonds bought it in the 1980s, is 6,245 square feet under air and 8,754 under roof. The second house, built by the couple in 1985, is 3,806 square feet under air and 6,766 under roof. Combined, the two houses include 5 bedrooms, 6 full baths, 2 half-baths in 10,051 square feet of air-conditioned space – plus all those oversized garage bays. With older houses on such an incredible waterfront lot in one of the most desirable locations on the island, the property presents several possibilities to potential buyers, according to O’Dare. A preservation-minded buyer or someone with a rare car collection could come in and modernize the property while retaining its architectural and aesthetic qualities, mooring a wooden Chris-Craft at the concrete dock. Or someone not entranced by the Kennedy-era glamour of the main house could tear down one or both of the existing structures and build a fabulous new home. A third possibility would be to fix up the second house or build a new house on that part of property and sell it off for $10 million or so while retaining a majority of the acreage and the main house. With all those variables and the uniqueness of the property in terms of size and location, O’Dare said it would ordinarily be a challenge to come up with an accurate listing price. In this case, though, she had the good fortune of a virtual doppelgänger of a comp less than a half a mile away in the same subdivision that made pricing the Edmonds estate much easier. In December 2021, Charlotte Terry of AMAC Alex MacWilliam Inc. listed the house at 500 Bay Dr. in Riomar Bay for $27 million, by far the highest listing price ever for a house on the river in Vero, and in May 2022 Cathy Curley at Dale Sorensen Real Estate sold it for $20 million. The house at 500 Bay Dr. is a little larger than the Edmunds house, while the Edmonds property has more water frontage and acreage, but overall they are strikingly similar properties and O’Dare said it would have been “real estate malpractice,” not to offer the EdCONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 Another $27 million listing CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

12 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ After a summer of delays, Indian River Shores’ utility franchise agreement with a Florida City Gas subsidiary is finally – almost – a sealed deal. According to Town Manager Pete Sweeney, the original plan was to bring forward what he described as “a standard franchise agreement similar to what other municipalities have with this same entity.” That type of action could have been approved with one vote, and become effective as soon as both the town and the gas company had signed. The agreement awards a non-exclusive right to use town rights of way to provide gas service in the town for 20 years with a 10-year renewal unless the town opts not to renew and gives two years notice. Though Sweeney had said near the end of May “it is not anticipated to be an ordinance, which would require at least two readings and the required associated advertising,” the agreement did eventually come to the council by way of a 14-page ordinance, not a standard contract. Florida City Gas is a part of the Next Era Energy Company which also owns Florida Power & Light, but the town’s agreement is not directly with Florida City Gas. The company the town is contracting with is a New Jersey-based company called Pivotal Utility Holdings Inc. which is one of the companies which does business as Florida City Gas, charging rates set by the Florida Public Service Commission. Should Pivotal Utility Holdings Inc. re-organize its operations or have some other reason to hand off its customer base to another provider, the ordinance allows for that. “Franchisee shall have the right, without obtaining the Town’s consent, to transfer or assign this Franchise as result of a total or complete merger or consolidation of Franchisee with a third party, or sale of the Franchisee’s assets. Any sale, assignment, lease or other alienation and transfer of this Franchise shall be subject to the conditions that the successor-in-interest to the Facilities and/or the rights under this Franchise shall have agreed in writing to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Franchisee may, without obtaining the Town’s consent, pledge this Franchise and/or the facilities as security,” the document reads. With gas pipeline work ever-present on A1A this year and more heavy work needed to hook up individual communities, the town made sure to include language making it very clear what the gas company needed to do post-construction. Each private community whose residents want to subscribe to natural gas service will need to execute its own agreement with the gas company, apart from the town ordinance. “Franchisee shall take safety precautions to alert the public of work, which may include, but is not limited to, the use of barricades and signs,” the ordinance reads. No changes were made to the ordinance as presented prior to council approval last month. Town Manager Jim Harpring said the second reading of Ordinance 564 has been set for a second and final vote on Sept. 26. NEWS Shores’ new gas contract halfway home BY LISA ZAHNER Staff Writer munds house at a price close to what the Bay Drive comp was listed for. If the home sells for over $20 million it will set a new record for a riverfront sale on the barrier island. Andrew Edmonds Jr. said his parents bought their paradisical property in 1982 after a house hunting process familiar to many from the northeast. The couple, who married in Key Largo in 1980, “were living in Massachusetts at time and decided that they really didn’t love the cold winters,” Andrew Edmunds Jr. said. On the hunt for a Florida home, “they started in Miami and looked in Palm Beach but couldn’t find what they wanted. Eventually, they worked their way up the coast to Vero Beach and, as family legend has it, they fell in love with Vero the first day and knew they wanted to live here. “My father should have worked for the Chamber of Commerce,” Edmunds Jr. continued. “He told everyone he knew how incredible Vero Beach was. ... He wanted everyone to know how lucky they were to live here and said that anyone who lived anyplace else was a fool!” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 Another $27 million listing

‘EARS’ TO ANOTHER! THE MUSICALLY MARVELOUS MIKE BLOCK STRING CAMP!

14 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Now a much-loved fixture of the Vero Beach music scene, the Mike Block String Camp came to a tuneful close in July, leaving memories of vibrant, toe-tapping performances in its wake. The MBSC was founded in 2010 by cellist, composer and educator Mike Block, who annually tempts other acclaimed musicians to join him in an innovative approach that emphasizes “learning by ear, creativity, collaboration and performance.” The camp is also unlike others in that 60 percent of the 103 participants were over the age of 18, grouped as college students, amateur adults and professionals. Under age 18 players were grouped into elementary and middle schoolers, plus intermediate and advanced high school students. “The professionals are performers and teachers in their 20s and 30s who are maybe coming from a classical background or a bluegrass background or some other specific area of expertise, but they’re coming to our camp to expand their horizons and learn other styles,” Block explained. “I myself have a western classical background on cello. So, for me, the process of branching out to multiple styles is a big deal, and that’s what a lot of the people who come to our camp are looking for.” Roughly half in the weeklong camp were returnees, and Emri Stenn and a couple others are now assistant faculty. “Emri is a Vero Beach native who we met as a middle schooler. He had come to our camp for many years growing up and he fell in love with Irish music. He ended up studying at the University of Limerick in Ireland,” said Block. “And so now he’s an adult and a professional and so we had him come back to camp to share the Irish music that he learned with our community.” Two years ago, Stenn was the recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, awarded to a student for one year, which was gifted to the camp in memory of Daniel Pearl, a journalist and violinist, who was murdered by terrorists in Pakistan. It was passed on last year to Olivia Breen, and this year to Rose Underkofler. “What’s special about Rose is she grew up in Maine studying with one of our longtime faculty members, Lauren Rioux. She was a kid attending some of our very first camps way back when, and then she went into music education and is now a public school orchestra director in Maine,” said Block. “She started coming back to camp as an adult, as a professional, and is obviously getting a very different experience. It’s as we were saying before. She’s look‘EARS’ TO ANOTHER MUSICALLY MARVELOUS MIKE BLOCK STRING CAMP! Daniela Castro. Karlis Ausanz. Tristan Watzlawik. Rose Underkofler, Mike Block and Olivia Breen. PHOTOS BY JOSHUA KODIS BY MARY SCHENKEL Staff Writer

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 15 ing to sort of branch out and develop her own creativity, apart from her day job, as it were. We were just really excited to have her back in the community.” The decision as to who receives the special violin, each a promising young musician at the advanced high school, college or young professional level, is made by the faculty. “I can tell you, it’s actually a very difficult decision because there’s all sorts of people just like Rose who we care a lot about and we also want to be able to CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 Jeremy Kittel. Katie Dancho.

16 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ support. It’s all very complicated and difficult to settle on one person each year,” said Block. “I mean, these are talented people.” Block was very pleased that enrollment was back to pre-pandemic levels and said the student concert at camp’s conclusion was one of the best attended to date. Broken into 20 bands comprised of various levels and ages, the students performed music they co-arranged and created during the camp. There were also two faculty concerts during the week, which were equally well attended. In 2024, the Vero Beach International Music Festival, an offshoot of the camp showcasing faculty and other professional musicians, is planning to have one concert a month January through April, in addition to those held during the summer camp. For more information, visit VeroBeachInternationalMusicFestival.com CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 Bastion Bruner. Doug, Katya, Hollie and Amanda Currie. Analia Holmes and Nina Ruebusch. Natalie Haas and Lauren Rioux. Sasha Korczynski and Mike Block. Paul Puddington and Rose Lilley Haley Fye. Miguel Benitez. Brenda Doblinger and Carol Johnston. Cynthia Du and William MacDonal. Bonnie Shelton and Susan McGarry. Tom Walsh, Blaze Walsh, Diamond Litty and Dr. Ken Wallmeyer.

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 17 Cheers of victory and groans of disappointment emanated from Riverside’s Orchid Lobby over two weekends at the Vegas Nights fundraisers at Riverside Theatre, where assorted casino tables and slot machines offered players a chance to experience the thrill of the games while betting on the betterment of children. There were no losers, as every wager went toward funding scholarships for Riverside’s education programs, as well as for a new Educational Initiative “Version 2.0” kicking off this fall. While Riverside has always integrated education and community outreach throughout its 50-year history, this new collaborative is aimed at increasing youth-based outreach partnerships with Big Brothers Big Sisters, Environmental Learning Center, Gifford Youth Achievement Center, Gifford Youth Orchestra and Youth Guidance Mentoring Academy. The initiative is being overseen by Jon Moses, Riverside’s managing director/COO; Adam Schnell, Riverside’s director of dance education and founding artistic director/CEO of Ballet Vero Beach; and Kevin Quillinan, Riverside’s director of theater education, who has reached out to the nonprofits and will coordinate the project with them. To ensure inclusivity, Riverside will be working alongside the agencies, and will bring some of the programming to the nonprofit facilities themselves, CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 BY MARY SCHENKEL Staff Writer Jackpot! Riverside raises ‘slots’ of funds for ed programs Penny, Mitch, Mitch Jr. and Kaylee Mazzilli. PHOTOS BY JOSHUA KODIS Danielle Kireyczyk. Trudie Rainone with Jack Mondato and Robin Jones Mondato, and Gabriella and Allen Foster. Mike and Linda Lewis. Marie Walker and Peter Worth. Mike and Delfina Corona.

20 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ as transportation is often an issue. For example, Riverside staff will provide coaching assistance in such areas as art, acting and dance to Boys and Girls Club enrollees who are participating in a National Arts Contest that recognizes their visual, digital and performing arts talents, and will then assist with the judging in December. They are also exploring the possibility of a bilingual program at the BGC Fellsmere club, with SpanLori and George Evans. ish language instructors teaching Ann Maria Guiliano. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 21 dance, singing and theater classes. Ideas to incorporate Gifford Youth Orchestra members include finding ways to showcase GYO musicians on the Riverside campus at productions and events. Another thought is to have teaching artists visit Dodgertown Elementary School to provide afterschool classes in dance or theater. With Youth Guidance, Riverside hopes to provide a theater arts program with instructors offering weekly classes in drama, dance and music, Natalie and Patrick Savadge. CONTINUED ON PAGE 22 Linda and Ned Shea.

22 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 PEOPLE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ culminating in revue-style performances at Youth Guidance and during the Winterfest weekend. Riverside Theatre would also like to organize a trip for Gifford Youth Achievement Center students to take part in the January 2024 Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta; funded by Riverside through a generous legacy donation. Prior to the trip, Quillinan and Schnell would work with students to create a junior musical to be performed in part at JTF and in full on stage at Riverside. Another proposal is to take some of the Riverside Children’s Center productions to a new venue, utilizing the pavilion at the Environmental Learning Center. Plans are to have all the nonprofit participants take part in some fashion with the newly rebranded Winterfest: Festival of Trees weekend, which will feature greater community participation, especially among children. The weekend will kick off with an evening gala on Thursday Nov. 30, followed by the festival weekend, Dec. 1-3. For more information, visit RiversideTheatre.com. Margaret Reeser. Ella Tierney, Peyton Snarey and Misti Winemiller. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

Whatever you do, don’t call it a race. That’s the advice of Antonio Argüelles – renown athlete, proud abuelo, and the first person to complete the Triple Crown of open water swimming twice (first in 1999 and again in 2009). To Argüelles, a race is a competition against someone else. When you step into the water and see no land ahead, you compete against yourself. The honor of the Triple Crown is for those who: swim across the English Channel (20.5 miles), cross the Catalina Channel off the coast of California (20 miles), and circumnavigate the whole of Manhattan Island in New York City (28.5 miles). Only 292 swimmers achieved this feat and few, two times over, according to data up through the end of 2022. The earliest reference to the Triple Crown comes from the Albuquerque Journal in 1988 when profiling the late Ashby Harper in his intention to swim the three routes. The first person to complete the Triple Crown, though, was Alison Streeter, according to LongSwimsDB. Each swim takes the better part of a day to complete. Together they take 35 hours on average and years of planning. And that’s if conditions cooperate. Strong currents, cold temperatures, fields of jellyfish, high winds, broken down boats, and low visibility all contend against the ease of each passage. Swimmers are allowed: a swim cap, goggles and swimsuit. Protected by just a Speedo can make for a brisk voyage from England to France. The English Channel sits between 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 Celsius) to a balmy 65 Fahrenheit (18 Celsius) during the July to September swim season. Swimming the Triple Crown By Daniel Wolfe | Washington Post THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 25 INSIGHT COVER STORY In 1875, Captain Matthew Webb became the first known swimmer to cross the channel. The British daredevil made the passage over two days, one with a jellyfish sting and another a sip of brandy later. Today the swim can take anywhere from the record six hours fifty-five minutes held by Trent Gimsey to almost 27 hours. The swim’s variability is owed to the strength of the currents. An athlete will encounter the flooding North Sea tide, pushing them north once they depart from Dover before a mid-channel meeting of the switching ebb tide, which pulls them south. A majority of athletes depart at Shakespeare Beach, Dover or nearby Samphire Hoe aiming for Cap GrisNez in France. The average swim takes 14 hours to cover the 20.5 miles span. Argüelles brings water and stones from his training waters in native Mexico or Aquatic Park in San Francisco before he starts. It’s a ritual. “The only thing I ask the water is that it allows me to swim,” says Argüelles. To him “it’s the only place you can still be a kid,” the ocean is a place where women and men of all ages and body types can swim. At 40 years old, he swam the channel in 18 hours. At 50, 12 hours and 52 minutes and at 62, 12 hours and 58 minutes — although he says never ask someone their times. When Argüelles turns 65 next year, he will attempt to complete the Double-Triple, a to-andback of each Triple Crown swim. Have you practiced urinating during a swim? This is a question asked of a Catalina Channel applicant. Knowing your bodily functions is necessary in these journeys. Additionally, Suzie Dods, a Triple Crown swimmer and coach, advises to remember the four P’s: “You gotta be able to pay ... you need to know it’s okay to puke and poop… and you can swim through a period.” As for pee, knowing one’s frequency during a swim helps keep ahead of dehydration. Bathroom breaks matter, since half of all successful Catalina crossings take 12 hours to complete. The midnight start makes this swim unique. If an athlete can overcome the fear of swimming in the dark, they may meet bioluminescent waters; dinoflagellate phytoplankton emit emerald light when disturbed as swimCONTINUED ON PAGE 26 THE CATALINA CHANNEL

26 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 INSIGHT COVER STORY mers’ strokes reach toward the port of Los Angeles. As dawn comes, Pacific bottlenose dolphin pods may investigate, flying fish leap ahead and migrating gray whales breach. As for risk of a great white shark? That’s just an urban legend, says Argüelles. No swimmer we spoke to recalled an incident of a shark attack during a Triple Crown swim. Stève Stievenart, also known as Stève the Seal, completed three consecutive Catalina crossings from the island to Los Angeles, back and then back to Los Angeles again. After hitting his head on his supporting kayaker’s vessel just an hour into the swim, he thought that might be it, but pushed through. On his third and final leg, hundreds of dolphins came to swim alongside him. One backflipped behind him. The experience encouraged him to finish his record breaking journey. It wasn’t the first time dolphins assisted him. During a bout of sea sickness on a double Catalina Crossing, a dolphin and her calf brought him peace to carry on. Swimmers used to need to write an essay to swim around the island of Manhattan. Argüelles remembers this was tougher to write than his application into Stanford University. Nowadays, while the logistics remain difficult, piloting underneath 20 bridges through the East, Harlem, and Hudson rivers, the barriers have improved: There’s no essay, just an application, and there are experienced pilots and swimming associations and nonprofits to support athletes. While the idea of floating through waters surrounding 1.7 million residents might make even Cosmo Kramer blush, the juxtaposition is what makes this trial unique. Bonnie Tsui, author of Why We Swim, admits the waters’ cleanliness over the years might give one pause, “but that shift in perspective is so glorious, it’s so amazing.” It is a sense of putting oneself where you’re not normally, Tsui says, it’s like you’re a kid getting to throw yourself into the water and no one’s going to tell you that you can’t swim around. “It’s very elemental... there’s something satisfying about it in a basic way." MANHATTAN ISLAND

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 27 INSIGHT COVER STORY Of the Triple Crown, Stievenart’s favorite swim is the Manhattan length. You’re like a tourist hearing the sounds of New York City. “There’s something special about the atmosphere in Manhattan,” Stievenart says. No porpoises join swimmers on this leg, but Suzie Dods ran into a dead chicken and a grapefruit when she completed the swim, earning her Triple Crown status in 2015. That’s city life. On occasion, a whale can be spotted in the bay, says Stievenart. Steven Munatones, referred to by Argüelles as the “Godfather of the Triple Crown” for his efforts in popularizing the challenge, recalls swimming the 20 bridges of New York City fondly. When Munatones swam it in 1984 the Clean Water Act was only 12 years old. The rivers were different then. He recalls taking a bus to his friend’s apartment in the city, hair still wet from the 7 hour 51 minute journey. One New Yorker said to him: “You stink like s-- t.” “Yeah, I just swam around Manhattan,” Munatones replied. The bus rider looked at him again and said “You are so full of s--t!” All these years later, Munatones laughs at the experience, saying he was just tired and wanted to take a shower. Paraphrasing Jacques-Yves Cousteau, he says about our vital waters: “If you love it, you protect it.” The more people swim, the more people will protect our marine environment, he believes. “So everybody head to the shores.”

28 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ INSIGHT EDITORIAL During the coronavirus crisis, our Pelican Plaza office is closed to visitors. We appreciate your understanding. By David Ignatius It was a moment when time seemed to evaporate, as if dawn and sunset were converging. A young Vietnamese diplomat, new to her post in the embassy’s political section, was trying to explain to older American guests at a formal luncheon what she called her country’s resilient DNA. Sitting across from her in the embassy’s grand dining room was an American man nearly 70 years her senior, who had served as a senior Pentagon official during the Vietnam War. Like most Americans who were involved in the war, he doesn’t talk about it much. The young diplomat said the war had touched her family, as it did everyone in Vietnam. She lost an uncle, a cousin, probably many more relatives. But by the time she was born, the family’s scars had healed and the war was mostly a distant memory. Her grandmother, who recalled the painful days, explained to her: “Life has to move on.” The young woman repeated the words for us. The United States today is admired by about 90 percent of Vietnamese, another young Vietnamese diplomat said, adding that few foreign countries have such a level of support in Vietnam. Vietnamese people know about the horrors of war, the carpet-bombing of villages and the defoliation of jungles with Agent Orange. But time and growing trust in the United States have dulled what anger remains. The setting for this encounter was timeless, in its way: a Beaux-Arts mansion along Embassy Row, with elegant parquet floors dating perhaps to the 19th century. The food reflected mostly the delicate flavors of Vietnam: lightly fried spring rolls of minced prawn; stir-fried mien glass noodles topped with crabmeat. And, for American tastes, pan-seared filet mignon. This story of reconciliation between the United States and Vietnam should be a “case study,” taught at Harvard Business School, the young woman said. It teaches how conflicts are resolved. The older American man nodded. As it happened, he had begun his career as a junior instructor at the business school before he founded a company and then went to the Pentagon. A third young Vietnamese diplomat offered a lesson from his country’s history. Vietnam prevailed in most of its wars through the centuries, he said. After the conclusion of these conflicts, Vietnam would often send emissaries to its former rivals, to soften the pain of their defeat. It was our fault, the emissaries would say. We regret any suffering. That was a way of allowing the other nation to save face and maintain respect. The older ex-Pentagon official nodded at that, too. He said that America’s problem in Vietnam had been partly that it couldn’t see the war through its adversary’s eyes. He recalled that when the Viet Cong attacked a big U.S. military facility at Pleiku in February 1965, during a visit by national security adviser McGeorge Bundy, the Johnson administration responded by bombing North Vietnam, a sharp escalation. The Pentagon’s retaliation mirrored its own thinking. The Pleiku attack was so provocative that officials believed it must have been ordered by Hanoi to coincide with Bundy’s visit. In fact, said the former U.S. official, it turned out the attack had been ordered by a local Viet Cong commander who had no idea who Bundy was. That brought nods of assent from the Vietnamese hosts. Wars often turn on misread signals. So what was this special occasion? The lunch was hosted by Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Dzung. It was meant to celebrate a breakthrough moment that’s just ahead in the long and complicated journey of the United States and Vietnam. President Biden plans to visit Hanoi on Sept. 10. During his trip, Vietnam will formally upgrade its diplomatic relationship with the United States. The visit will mark one of most important strategic realignments in the Indo-Pacific in recent years. Biden will underline the theme of reconciliation by offering American help in finding the remains of the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese who went missing during more than a decade of war. That’s a reciprocal gesture, to match at last Vietnam’s help, starting more than 35 years ago, in finding the remains of Americans missing or killed in action. Dzung toasted one special guest at the lunch, Kurt Campbell, the National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific. Campbell has been the chief American architect of improvement in U.S.-Vietnam relations, traveling there repeatedly over the past two years. Another guest of honor was the older man, the former Pentagon official. He’s named Paul Ignatius, now 102, and he’s my father. During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, he served as assistant secretary and undersecretary of the Army, assistant secretary of defense and secretary of the Navy. He might be the oldest surviving presidential appointee who served in the Kennedy-Johnson Pentagon through the Vietnam years. He uses a walker now, but he spoke in a firm, measured voice. As the lunch was ending, my father told a story about the aircraft carrier on which he served during World War II. He explained to the Vietnamese hosts how the USS Manila Bay, as his ship was called, had survived the ferocious Battle of Leyte Gulf, perhaps the greatest naval battle in history, and several subsequent Japanese suicide bombing attacks. Many years after the war, my father recalled, he read in a newspaper that the Manila Bay was being towed to Japan as scrap metal to produce steel for Toyotas or other industrial products. It was his way of saying that life goes full circle. Like the young Vietnamese diplomat, my father journeyed back in time to grasp the significance of the present. Some wounds never heal. But when Biden touches down in Hanoi, we should take a moment to remember how far the United States and Vietnam have come since their terrible conflict. If that pain can be overcome, almost anything is possible. A version of this column first appeared in The Washington Post. It does not necessarily reflect the views of Vero Beach 32963. The U.S. and Vietnam have come a long way since their war

30 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Nancy the mischievous cartoon moppet, born during the Depression and later a plucky survivor of print journalism’s heyday, found herself back in the cultural spotlight in 2018. The perennial tyke with spiky, red-bowed hair had spent most of her existence delivering minimalist, sometimes absurd jokes. Now, Nancy was once again – in the parlance of the moment – “lit.” Her newfound viral fame came thanks to an internet meme, known as “Sluggo is lit,” that drew on a panel from her eponymous comic, an unexpected but not entirely surprising development for a character who was, by that point, more than 80 years old. “Nancy” the iconic American comic strip had generated headlines months earlier when it inherited its first-ever female creator, the pseudonymous Olivia Jaimes, who draws with a sincere appreciation of the man who created Nancy and shaped her world for more than a half-century: the late Ernie Bushmiller. Legions of Jaimes’ fellow cartoonists hold Bushmiller in the highest professional esteem, among them Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden, who in 2017 published their deep-dive paean to Bushmiller, “How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels.” Also among the most vocal industry fans is “Zippy the Pinhead” creator Bill Griffith, who told me in 2018: “In ‘Nancy,’ Ernie Bushmiller created his own reality, where everything is wholly his and the world as we know it has been reduced to its essentials – there’s a Zen-like mastery of form.” Griffith expanded on that thesis: “It’s a messy, lumpy, chaotic world we live in, and it’s hard to make sense of it all. But not for Ernie Bushmiller. All he needs are one fence, a tree and three rocks” – a reference to the visually efficient and clean aesthetic of Bushmiller’s “Nancy” strips. “Unlike a justly venerated classic like ‘Peanuts,’ ‘Nancy’ doesn’t tell us much about what it’s like to be a kid. Instead, ‘Nancy’ tells us what it’s like to be a comic strip.” Those words about the essence of “Nancy” echo throughout Griffith’s brilliant new graphic biography of Bushmiller. “Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy” is a warmhearted artistic exploration of the cartoonist’s life and mind, told entirely in comics form with Griffith himself appearing in some panels as a character to genially lead us through Bushmiller’s life and work. In other sections, Nancy functions as a tour guide through Bushmiller’s mind, and some pages are simply given over to the best of Bushmiller’s influential strips. Griffith, a master of crosshatching, offers a love letter to form and function, line by careful line. Along the way, he explores how one man could so thoroughly devote himself to coming up with mind-bending gags (or “snappers,” as he called his final panels, in which the real joke is revealed) with no wasted visual energy. “Three Rocks” offers all the biographical details we need, starting at the beginning: Bushmiller was born in 1905 in the Bronx – nephew to three cops back in Belfast – and became attracted in the ’20s to bustling newsrooms like the New York World, where one of the first Sunday color newspaper comic strips had been published just a quarter-century earlier. There, he came to know a bullpen of artists who brimmed with deadline talent, and soon joined them. In 1925, at age 19, Bushmiller became the youngest daily syndicated cartoonist in the country, taking over the established strip “Fritzi Ritz,” which had launched in 1922 and starred the titular dark-haired flapper winkingly rendered in pinup style for the male gaze. (Griffith’s book pointedly puts the lie to the notion that “the funnies” of the era were aimed first at a kiddie audience.) Eventually, Bushmiller got creatively itchy. In 1933, he introduced Fritzi’s niece, Nancy, who would quickly become the star of the strip, which was renamed “Nancy” in 1938. Sales and popularity soared throughout Bushmiller’s run, and in Griffith’s assessment, the United Feature strip reached its creative pinnacle in the early ’60s. Griffith gives us a celebrity artist who rubbed shoulders with Eleanor Roosevelt (despite his Republican leanings) and Groucho Marx, as well as with many of his fellow cartooning luminaries. Yet wherever he was, his creative hardwiring seemed forever tethered to the daily challenge: how to make “Nancy” consistently inventive (even puncturing the side walls of his panels or otherwise breaking the fourth wall to comment on the form of comics themselves) while keeping it spare enough for mass appeal. At the heart of “Three Rocks” is a probing of what made Bushmiller tick. He was preoccupied with thinking up gags that tweak our sense of logic and perspective and reality. In one biographical scene in the book, his wife asks him to pick up a meat grinder; by the time he returns home, he has an idea for a visual joke about the grinder – but absent-mindedly forgets to buy the appliance. Griffith doesn’t shy from showing the relative warts as well: He argues that the strip strayed too far from its strengths when the conservative Bushmiller used Nancy as a foil for contemporary themes that irked him in his later decades, mining hippies and rock-and-roll for jokes during the Woodstock era, for example. His snappers were better, Griffith convincingly demonstrates, when his ideas organically fit into the mostly time-suspended world of “Nancy” – what Griffith calls “Bushmillerland.” It was the absurd transmutation of the everyday into something rich and strange, rather than mere parody, that showed “Nancy” at its best. Affectionate insight into the syndicated cartoonist’s life pulses through “Three Rocks.” The book serves, too, as an invitation to understand that artistic simplicity does not equal simplemindedness. Bushmiller, in his relentless quest for the perfect gag, spent much of his life honing his smartly observed cartoon world down ever closer to its ideal sensibility: Three rocks. Sometimes two people. And one inimitable vision. Griffith lovingly does him justice. INSIGHT BOOKS Three Rocks The Story of Ernie Bushmiller: The Man Who Created Nancy By Bill Griffith | Abrams. 265 pp. $24.99 Review by Michael Cavna | The Washington Post

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 31 Two pots boiling on the range By Phillip Alder - Bridge Columnist Even though you don’t need to be a mathematician to play good bridge, it helps to know some percentages. When there are two lines of play available, it is useful to be able to calculate the approximate probabilities of success in order to decide which is better. In today’s deal, South was in three no-trump after a straightforward Stayman sequence. West led the spade king and had no intention of switching suits. What should declarer have done? South saw that he had eight top tricks, instant winners: one spade, two hearts, two diamonds and three clubs. From where would the extra trick come? Clearly, the heart suit could have produced a third winner, but if South had to lose a trick in the process, the defenders would surely have cashed a fatal number of spades. Declarer had to get the ninth trick without losing the lead. If either opponent had the singleton heart queen, or if the heart finesse worked, that would generate a third heart winner. Chance of success: a little over 50%. The other possibility was a 3-3 club break: a 35.53% shot. That suggested taking the heart finesse. However, on this deal it was possible for declarer to try both suits. After winning trick one or two with the spade ace, he led a heart to his ace and cashed his three top clubs, ending on the board. As the suit did break 3-3, South crossed to hand in a red suit and cashed the club seven for his contract. If the clubs had not split favorably, declarer would have taken the heart finesse. Combine your chances whenever you can. Dealer: South; Vulnerable: East-West NORTH A 5 10 8 6 5 8 7 4 3 A K 3 WEST K Q J 10 7 Q 7 2 10 6 10 8 5 SOUTH 8 3 A K J A K 5 2 Q 7 6 2 EAST 9 6 4 2 9 4 3 Q J 9 J 9 4 The Bidding: OPENING LEAD: K Spades SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST 1 NT Pass 2 Clubs Pass 2 Diamonds Pass 3 NT All Pass INSIGHT BRIDGE

32 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ The Telegraph How to do Sudoku: Fill in the grid so the numbers one through nine appear just once in every column, row and three-by-three square. The Telegraph SOLUTIONS TO PREVIOUS ISSUE (AUGUST 31) ON PAGE 62 ACROSS 1. Whiskers (5) 4. This place (4) 8. Measures depth of water (7) 9. Benefactor (5) 10. Water vapour (5) 11. Self-centred types (7) 13. Perspicacious (6) 15. Sunglasses (6) 17. Situated (7) 20. Mineral veins (5) 22. Surplus (5) 23. French castle (7) 24. Bank (on) (4) 25. Endures (5) DOWN 1. Polishes; experts (5) 2. Verify, certify (12) 3. Downtrodden person; rug (7) 4. Rush, urgency (5) 5. Wild-West Show (5) 6. Bias (3-9) 7. Critical situation (6) 12. Form of matter (3) 13. Out at night? (6) 14. Mummy sheep (3) 16. Travel bag (7) 18. Business, commerce (5) 19. Express strong disapproval of (5) 21. Stupefies (5) INSIGHT GAMES

Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 33 ACROSS 1 Michael married her 10 Heavenly sight 15 Deer John? 19 Relatives of police sketch artists 20 Astringent-tasting, wine-wise 22 The Alienist author Caleb 23 Place that attracts a lot of animals? 25 1963 role for Shirley 26 Final analysis 27 Camel dropping? 28 Bill with George 29 The Joy Luck Club author 30 Novelist Malraux 33 City of cranky people? 39 Drug agent 40 Yarn 41 Fly traps 42 Willies-inducing 43 Hush-hush org. 44 Like the Kalahari 45 Pal, to Paulette 47 ___ loss 48 Coldest city in the south? 55 Top player 56 Blocker role 57 Floor pad 58 Love god 60 Kids’ game 63 Addict 65 Roseanne’s last 66 Through 67 Actress Claire 68 Home of the other Turner network? 70 Using 71 Mighty Aphrodite first name 73 In ___ (going nowhere) 74 America’s side dish 75 Best 77 Start of a Supremes hit 78 Certain terminal: abbr. 79 Bookstore sec. 80 Juan married her 81 City with the most seafood restaurants? 88 Comics caveman 89 It may get dunked in milk 90 Age, in Antrim 91 Train alternative 93 Get higher 96 Full of a certain herb 98 Sea bird or Irish lake 99 Civilized chap 100 City of folks who are all washed up? 104 Speed limit, sometimes 105 Actress Merkel 106 Role for Ed 107 Dorothy Parker’s asset 108 E-mail address word 109 Certain chord: abbr. 111 Best place to mooch cigarettes? 119 Main Mongol 120 “Relax” 121 “She loves me not” item 122 Part of Manhattan 123 Golf legend 124 Answer to “Oh, Darling” DOWN 1 Vinyl collection 2 Saver’s option 3 Impresario Hurok 4 “... except ___” (spelling mnemonic) 5 Pooh’s creator 6 “Put ___ on it!” 7 Tape: abbr. 8 Bother 9 Houdini could do it 10 ___ plate (up) 11 Voting word 12 Serengeti beast 13 Bury 14 Woody vines 15 Mr. Wizard’s subj. 16 Sauce for seafood 17 Fashion figure 18 Large, at Starbucks 21 Silkwood co-star 24 Pitcairn, for one: abbr. 30 Crime writer Rule 31 Early editorial cartoonist 32 Do lots? 33 It takes a pounding 34 Designer Gucci 35 Cheese type 36 Meets with 37 Living snowman 38 Left a lily pad 40 Locust, for one 44 Rudiments 45 Included in 46 Give the wrong meaning for 47 Latin stars 49 Arnold’s nickname, “The Austrian ___” 50 Heartland crop 51 Picture 52 Kerala outfits 53 Show positively 54 Where Ephesus was 59 Circus animal 60 Garrison and Morrison 61 Clarence’s accuser 62 Joyous song 63 Young who sang “Hello, Walls” 64 “Made ___” 65 Military jails 68 Drink like a dog 69 University of Maine city 72 Self-confidence 75 Physiologist Pavlov 76 Ex-anchor’s first name 79 Emerald’s mineral 80 Reveler’s cry, in ancient Rome 82 Soliloquy start 83 ___ stick 84 Fenced-in area 85 Koppel’s competition, once 86 Mountain goat 87 Em, for one 92 This place is a mess 93 Throws 94 Crow’s-nest cry 95 Bible book 96 Noses 97 Keen insight 98 Bistro 99 Macy rival, once 101 Napoleon’s place, for a while 102 Had the deed to 103 Semi 104 Zesty? 108 Red’s rube 110 6 on a phone 112 The lusty West 113 “Life ___ cabaret ...” 114 Hitter Howard 115 Donkey 116 From ___Z 117 Dallas player, in headlines 118 Stout relative The Telegraph The Washington Post ...Been there, punned that Familiar-Sounding Places By Merl Reagle INSIGHT GAMES

34 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ INSIGHT BACK PAGE Dear Carolyn: I am frustrated by the way my husband’s procrastination affects the family. One example: Last week, we both had the week off and planned to drive to the beach four hours away. The day before our scheduled departure, my husband told me that he hadn’t done a work assignment yet and needed to before he could leave town. I took the kids to the pool all day so he could finish, but when I returned, he hadn’t even started. He’d spent the day watching Netflix and panicking about the work that wasn’t done. It ended up taking him two more days to start the project – which then took only three hours to actually complete. We lost two prepaid nights in a hotel. This is a common pattern: He says he needs to do something, so I take over all household responsibilities so he can do it, then he still doesn’t do it. What do I do? A friend said I should have left without him and let him suffer the consequences, but, in this case, and in many cases, the “consequence” would be that he ends up getting a quiet house to himself for a week while I solo-wrangle a 2-year-old and 4-yearold by myself at the Jersey Shore. – Just. Do. It. Just. Do. It.: This could be a neurological issue, an anxiety issue or some other issue in your husband’s mind or character, so it’s not your issue to solve for him. I assume that informed your friend’s answer, and it’s not wrong. Because it makes your life worse, however, it’s a serious marital issue and is therefore your issue. Attrition is one of love’s top causes of death. Plus, all those family adventures you don’t have are memories you don’t form and therefore can’t summon years later to renew and reinforce your bond. It’s the family’s issue. I belabored this because it’s such a tough spot for you both. No one (healthy) wants to have or be a spousal homework monitor, so attrition is a risk here as well. But your husband clearly needs monitoring if he hopes to stay married, employed and bonded to his kids. The best option this leaves for you is to serve as a kind of before-and-after bracket, where you initiate the remedy process, then support the one he chooses, but the remedy itself is on him. Specifically, you begin a multipart conversation – never drop big things on distracted or unfocused people in passing – and note that your current leavehim-to-it strategy isn’t effective. Then you sit down to brainstorm and assess alternatives. Hire an organizer? Get neuropsych testing and any follow-up treatment? Identify and replicate conditions where he is able to focus? People don’t need an ADHD diagnosis to benefit from related work strategies, so hit the search engines. Again: You only precipitate the change. He makes it, then you support it. This may still be more involvement in a fellow adult’s workload than you ever wanted, but that’s the riddle of life partners and executive functioning problems: How much extra work do you assume to preempt doing all the work? Loading nonexecutive household responsibilities, or ones he procrastinates less, onto his side of the ledger is one way to correct potentially relationshipkilling imbalances. So are vacations that anticipate his disability, whether it’s official or not – with contingencies built in. BY CAROLYN HAX Washington Post Husband procrastinates work and tanks a beach vacation

MAKING IT BIG ROBERT COON’S CREATIVENESS SHINES IN SIZABLE SCULPTURES

ARTS & THEATRE 38 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Local sculptor Robert Coon knew from an early age that art would be a driving force in his life. “One of my earliest memories was sitting on my dad’s lap as he would draw for me,” Coon recalls. As an only child growing up in North Carolina, he would spend hours drawing and imaging things, and then creating those same items. “I made a rocket ship in a pear tree out back and then I made a ray gun to fend off the aliens. Even today when I’m making a sculpture, I sometimes feel like I’m still in that pear tree making the object I want to play with today. Everything I do is from my imagination and deeprooted feelings, with things going on in my brain for a long time. It’s completely devoid of how old I am.” Coon studied a variety of art mediums at the University of Georgia where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree and completed his masters at the University of Massachusetts. “When I was a student of art I wanted to get as much information about art as I could because, even at that young age, I knew my entire life would revolve around art. My initial major was drawing and painting and later I majored in sculpting and print making, so I am degreed in many fields of art,” Coon says. Early in his career Coon focused on painting, utilizing myriad techniques, including watercolor gouache and oil, and then moved toward three-dimensional works, making unique waxes that were later cast in bronze or aluminum. “I would occasionally sell a sculpture, but it wasn’t enough to support a family. So I became an art professor at the high school and college level and taught every kind of art course you could imagine. When I was teaching at a small liberal arts college, a donor financed the construction of a sculpting studio where my students and I could work. Sculpture has been my preferred medium of expression ever since,” he says. Since the mid-1980’s Coon has focused on large outdoor works fabricated in aluminum and painted with bright, bold colors. His works often incorporate layers of brushwork, and a few have basic kinetic elements, much like a weather vane. When the Vero Beach Museum of Art (then known as the Center for the Arts) opened in 1986, Coon was hired as its first artist in residence. “That was a dream job because it was the first time I had a place that wasn’t totally enclosed. It was more like a carport and the outdoor studios had nothing but a roof. The center had all the equipment I would never have been able to afford, and I was encouraged to work on my own sculptures when I wasn’t teaching or working on something for the center. All I had to supply was the metal,” Coon explains. “This was the start of my dive into BIG art, and I began creating sculptures that were 8- to 20-feet high. I made them out of aluminum because steel was just too heavy for me to work with and ultimately transport to art shows. When funding for that position dried up, I created my sculptures at home and showed them at juried art shows and exhibitions around the country.” Coon’s sculptures have been exhibited nationally and internationally in art galleries, museums, colleges and at outdoor civic and community exhibitions. “I don’t create to sell, and I never wanted to be a bulk seller. I create for my own personal satisfaction and, while I love it when someone else appreciates it, that is not my goal. If I were creating a commodity, it certainly wouldn’t be sculptures,” he says. Now that Coon is in BY KERRY FIRTH CORRESPONDENT MAKING IT BIG COON’S CREATIVENESS SHINES IN SIZABLE SCULPTURES Robert Coon. PHOTOS BY JOSHUA KODIS

ARTS & THEATRE Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 39 his 80’s and no longer physically able to work with large sheets of aluminum, he is creating scaled model sculptures called maquettes. These smaller works of art are constructed using high impact styrene, much like the plastic that is used to mold model airplanes. “I sketch out my idea on paper first to see if I can convey that image for someone else to build,” he explains. “In my mind I’m free to do whatever I want, but when it comes to making it, it has to be real. I need to have a sense of balance in terms of design, art and reality. A sculpture has to be stable and can’t fall over even if the winds are 75 miles per hour.” Coon says he then proceeds to cut the plastic and bend and shape it into place. His maquettes are created in pieces which are slotted to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The idea is to produce a model for a larger sculpture that can be fabricated elsewhere. The parts need to be balanced and strategically placed so that when the piece is replicated in aluminum or steel it can be dismantled and transported easily. If done correctly, the large, heavy pieces of metal will stack in place without the need to be welded. As it turns out, his maquettes are also stand-alone pieces of art worthy of gallery showings. A maquette made from sheet styrene from his Leaf and Twig Series was recently displayed in the Vero Beach Museum of Art’s Treasure Coast Creates: A Tribute to local Artists exhibition. “I’m thrilled to still be creating and selling art at my age,” Coon says. “I have everything I need to make the maquettes here in my home. I use the same process with sheet plastic as I did with aluminum. And I still have the tools to weld smaller aluminum sculptures. If someone likes one of my maquettes enough to commission it on a large scale, I’ve got a fabricator lined up in Jacksonville who can turn it around in their metal of choice in about a week’s time, under my supervision. That’s where I see my future heading.”

ARTS & THEATRE 40 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ The Tunnel to Towers 5K Run/ Walk happens at 7:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at Riverside Park, 3280 Riverside Park Dr., in Vero Beach. This event, which is held throughout the country, honors 9/11 first responders and helps raise money for first responders and veterans. The series was created to honor New York City firefighter Stephen Siller, who died on 9/11. After strapping on all his gear, he ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the Twin Towers, where he lost his life. The Tunnel2Towers Foundation has provided mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children. It has also built specially adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders. The organization also works to eradicate veteran homelessness. Registration for the run/walk is $12 for children 12 years and younger, $20 for children 13 to 17 years, $25 for first responders and military, and $35 for general adult. Online registration does not close. Packet pickup is 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8, at 709 Washington St., Sebastian. You can also pick up your packet beginning at 6:15 a.m. the morning of the race. You can register the day of the run, but registration cost will cost an additional $10, and you might not get a shirt. Registration opens 6:15 a.m. For more information, visit RunSignUp.com or t2t.org. Now that the children are off to school, the Vero Beach Community Center has some regular daytime programming that might be just what you’re looking for. Duplicate bridge is played from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is an ongoing session run by bridge director Norman Hinds. It’s designed to be friendly and fun. The cost is $7. Call 772-532-2215 for more information about the duplicate bridge program. The Vero Beach Community Center also has dances twice a week. They are held 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and 10 a.m. to noon on Fridays. The cost is $2 at the door. Everyone is welcome. The Vero Beach Community Center is at 2266 14th Ave. Call 772-567-2144 or visit COVB.org and look for the Vero Beach Recreation Department for more information. The Vero Beach Recreation Department also has lessons in Tai Chi/Qi Gong taught by Angie Watson. The class is open for all ages. Its gentle movements and breathing techniques make it suitable for those of all fitness levels. The class is held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Bethel Creek House, 4405 SR A1A, Vero Beach. The cost is $7 for a “try out.” If it suits you, you can get a punch card with eight classes at $12 per class, or a guest pass at $15 per class. For more information, call 772-532-4218. There is a wide array of public art on view throughout Vero Beach. You are invited to go take a look at what your talented neighbors have been creating. All the exhibitions have free admission. “Collecting Wisdom” runs through Oct. 25 in the gallery hallway and council chambers at the Vero Beach City Hall, 1053 20th Place. The works on view are by Merana Cadorette and Barbara Krupp. The Indian River Distillery currently is showcasing the exhibition “Old Florida.” Works in that are on view through Oct. 18. The featured artists are Jen Berlin, Judy Burgarella, Andy Burman, Mary Carter, Mark Sans Souci and Mariya Yankovich. The Indian River Distillery is at 3308 Aviation Blvd. The Indian River County Intergenerational Recreation Center has an “Artist’s Choice” exhibition on view through Sept. 13. The show features works by Jen Berlin, Judy Burgarella, Mary Carter, Ella Chabot, Evelyn Haught, Gail Holl, Eileen Lovre, John McAleer, Gwen McNenney and Mariya Yankovich. The Indian River County Intergenerational Recreation Center is at 1590 9th St. SW. The exhibition entitled “Beach Scenes” is on view through Oct. 4 in the first and second floors of Buildings A & B at the Indian River County Administration Complex. It features works by Jen Berlin, Judy Burgarella, Mary Carter, Ella Chabot, Barbara Krupp, Gwen McNenney, Michelle Nevaeh and Mariya Yankovich. The Indian River County Administration Complex is at 1801 27th St. The Indian River County Courthouse has the exhibition “Planet Soul” on view through Nov. 1. It features the creative photography of Joaquin Zalazar. The Indian River County Courthouse is at 2000 16th Ave. For more information, visit Culture-Council.org. 3 2 ‘TUNNEL TO TOWERS 5K’ HONORS HEROIC IDEAL 1 BY PAM HARBAUGH Correspondent COMING UP! If you can picture it, we can build it. Interior & Exterior Painting Flooring Sales and Installation Kitchen & Bathroom Remodeling Countertops Custom Woodworking Built Ins, Entertainment Centers & Closets And Much More! Call Today for a Free Estimate! 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SHARED EXPERIENCE Doctors collaborate with cancer patients for better care

HEALTH 42 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ As healthcare shifts to include more virtual care experiences like telehealth and remote monitoring, patient engagement has become increasingly important for physicians and patients alike, especially when dealing with cancer and other serious conditions. According to the National Institutes of Health, “effectively engaging patients in their care is essential to improve health outcomes, improve satisfaction with the care experience, reduce costs and even benefit the clinician experience.” Dr. Long Dang, a hematologist/oncologist who is affiliated with Health First’s Cancer Institutes in Melbourne, Viera and Titusville, strives to learn all he can about his patients so he can help them make the best decisions for their treatment. “I’m a teacher,” he says, “and each of my patients is unique and different in their terms of understanding. The decisions about treatment that we make are almost always mutual.” Cancer “patients have many more options today than they did even a few years ago,” said Dr. Jean L. Wright, a radiation oncologist and breast-cancer specialist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. A report from the Institute of Medicine defines patient-centered care as “care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs and values,” adding “that patient values guide all clinical decisions.” The report emphasized “the importance of clinicians and patients working together to produce the best possible outcomes.” “Shared decision making is a model of patient-centered care that enables and encourages individuals to play a role in the medical and mental health decisions that affect them,” the report continues. “In this model, the care team and the individual receiving care work in partnership to share information that may impact decision making. Importantly, the individual shares personal preferences, needs and values with regards to their condition and treatment.” Benefits of using shared decisionmaking include strengthening the patient-provider relationship and building trust and understanding. Individuals who are empowered to make decisions about their health that reflect their personal preferences often experience more favorDoctors collaborate with cancer patients for better care BY JACKIE HOLFELDER Correspondent Dr. Long Dang. PHOTOS BY JOSHUA KODIS

HEALTH Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 43 able health outcomes and may be more likely to follow through with the treatment plan that is mutually developed. Healthcare Success, a medical blog for industry professionals, says that a wide range of patients are seeking out and engaging with digital resources to gain the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about their health. A majority of patients and caregivers are fairly tech savvy, with digital-centric Gen Xers (ages 41-56) quickly becoming a dominant voice in healthcare as they care for themselves, their aging parents and their children, relying in part on Internet resources like Healthgrades, Vitals, Google My Business, and even Facebook to research doctors, medicines and treatments. Dr. Dang shares the story of one of his patients, a woman in her 30s, who was very proactive in finding and selecting her cancer treatment and the venue in which she received it, with his complete support and guidance. Christa Lequear learned from scans taken by her primary care physician that she had a rare form of cancer called thymic carcinoma. It only took one week for her to get an appointment with Dr. Dang, who suggested she go to Shands and Moffitt to seek out oncologists who specialized in or had deeper knowledge of thymic carcinoma. Lequear joined a Facebook group in which other patients discussed their experiences and learned of a doctor at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who had treated many in the group successfully. Dr. Dang encouraged her to reach out to Mayo to secure an appointment which she was able to do – and she had surgery four days later! She currently has a clean bill of health. “Dr. Dang really advocates for his patients,” Lequear says. “He’s aggressive with his care in a positive way. He called me every couple of days to see how I was doing. He gave me options and encouraged second opinions. Plus, he shared great resources with me. I really feel like it was a team effort.” For his part, Dang says he learns from his patients. “Someone like Christa Lequear did so much research that I obtained valuable information from what she discovered. You must be your own advocate and she was.” Dang says part of his job is to provide a road map for patients. “What is the goal of the treatment? What are side effects of treatment? Patients should understand as much as they can from the beginning. I never go against the patient’s final decision.” Dr. Long Dang received his medical degree from Harvard University Department of Medicine; internship in general surgery from University of Minnesota Medical School; residency in neurosurgery from VA Medical Center, Minneapolis; residency in internal medicine from University of Pennsylvania Health System; and fellowship in medical oncology from Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is certified in internal medicine and medical oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He is currently accepting new patients and can be contacted at 321-268-4200.

HEALTH 44 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Move over, Grey’s Anatomy – there’s a new teaching hospital in town. HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, a 430-bed, full-service acute care facility in Fort Pierce, has launched a pair of graduate medical education (GME) programs. The internal medicine and general surgery programs began in July with an inaugural class of 21 residents. According to the hospital, residents are provided individualized learning opportunities by faculty and staff who support and sustain one another throughout quality care delivery. “We are committed to ensuring our residents’ clinical experience and educational needs are fulfilled,” said Dr. Michael Bakerman, HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital’s chief medical officer. “In our program, residents learn to become compassionate and professional caregivers. Our program emphasizes not only the scientific aspects of medical practice, but also humanistic ones.” The program is good news for the Treasure Coast, where doctors are in short supply, adding 21 physicians to the healthcare mix. Building a residency program is an arduous process that can take years of effort to gain accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. “The hospital has to fill out a very long application with the ACGME detailing the curriculum and program design,” Dr. Joshua Hagen, surgical program director, explained. “If after they review the application they feel like what you wrote was sufficient, then the employees of ACGME will conduct a site visit where they review all the documents and talk to the principle people involved in the residency program. If Lawnwood launches grad medical education with 21 residents By KERRY FIRTH Correspondent General Surgery Residents (from left): Dr. Alejandro Battistel, Dr. Anthony Della Rossa, Dr. Shanna Hutchins, Dr. Hamza Chaudhary and Dr. Natalie Viscomi.

HEALTH Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 45 they approve everything, they give you the initial certification to recruit residents for your program.” “The majority of our residents have earned their medical degrees from the eastern part of the United States or Caribbean training programs,” Dr. Bakerman said. “They are highly screened physicians when they come here. In our advanced training program, they get exposed to a host of different conditions. They’ll participate in patient rotations, elective rotations, continuity clinics where they see patients in the office. They can even rotate to other hospitals for different experiences. The goal is to make sure they have a variety of experiences that will lead them into a successful posttraining career.” Lawnwood’s new graduate medical education program is one of many residency and fellowship programs provided by HCA Healthcare at its 186 hospitals in the U.S. and United Kingdom. “We focus on making sure residents are able to advocate for patients and that they are aware of the social aspects of health by preparing them to deal with loneliness, depression and isolation. We have programs set up to teach them how to deal with chronic illness, readmission risk and healthcare literacy issues as well – so it’s a great opportunity for them to understand how to take care of patients. It’s also a great benefit for the community to be able to provide additional services to the community,” Dr. Bakerman said. Both GME programs are rigorous and designed to train the next generation of physicians and physician leaders. The general surgery residency program is a five-year accredited program centered at HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital. Accepting only three categorical residents per year, the program covers the breadth of general surgery as well as all surgical sub-specialties. Rotations for general surgery include Colon and Rectal Surgery, Endoscopy, Endocrine Surgery, General Surgery, Head and Neck, Plastic Surgery, ICU, Trauma, Vascular Surgery and Night Float. The program includes a collegial and multidisciplinary curriculum dependent on clinical skills, surgical skills, knowledge-based learning and problem-based competencies. Residents benefit from personalized mentorship from board-certified faculty who instruct them through didactic conferences, core rotations and skills labs. The accredited internal medicine residency program offers a broad array of conferences, small group and interactive learning activities and simulation-based training in all medical specialties. Monthly administrative reports help residents understand the business side of medicine and monthly journaling helps trainees excel in critical appraisal of evidence and literature review. All didactic and scholarly sessions are supervised by faculty and each resident is assigned a personal mentor. “The internal medicine and general surgery programs are just our first steps into graduate medical education programs for physicians,” Dr. Bakerman said. “We are actively looking at other opportunities that might involve anesthesia, radiology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, podiatry and OBGYN down the road. We anticipate having over the next several years approximately 150 residents.” Which means 150 more doctors on the Treasure Coast. A common misconception about residency programs is that the residents are medical students. In fact, they are full-fledged physicians who have graduated from medical school and may even have practiced independently. They get paid to be part of the hospital staff while continuing their education. “These young doctors are interested in critical care, the determination of disease, learning about the disease process and learning how to manage it,” said Dr. Bakerman. “They work very closely with attending physicians but, ultimately, it’s the attending physician who is responsible for the care. The residents don’t do anything on their own. “They are a great addition to our medical staff and it’s a great opportunity for us to teach, train and share our knowledge with these residents. We do our best to train them to be excellent physicians and stewards of the profession. We would like them to stay and grow with us but as long as they are accomplished physicians and capable of taking care of patients when they leave here, that’s our primary goal.” Dr. Bakerman received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed his internship in internal medicine and his fellowship in MD/Cardiology at Boston University School of Medicine. He later earned a master’s degree in medical management from Tulane University. Dr. Hagen is a critical care medicine specialist who received his medical degree from University of Tennessee College of Medicine, completed his internship at Boston Medical Center, and his residency and fellowship at University of Tennessee College of Medicine.

HEALTH 46 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Short sessions of high-intensity exercise in the weeks before surgery can improve cardiorespiratory fitness and lower risk for complications, new research shows. The research analyzed 12 studies with a combined 832 patients that compared the effect of “prehab” high-intensity workouts to standard care. The study, which was published in Jama Network Open, focused on a type of workout called HIIT, which stands for high-intensity interval training and involves short bursts of strenuous exercise, often lasting only seconds or minutes, followed by rest. Other researchers have looked at the potential benefits of “prehab” – exercise to get patients in better shape before a surgery. Many patients getting ready for major surgery may only have a few weeks between their diagnosis and heading to the operating room, so an effective and fast exercise intervention is crucial, experts say. In the studies included in the analysis, some of the HIIT sessions were as short as 18 to 20 minutes. This popular form of exercise “can get people fitter, faster,” said Kari Clifford, the first author of the review and a research fellow in the department of surgical sciences at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Most of the patients in the review underwent major abdominal surgeries. The researchers found that HIIT can improve patients’ fitness before surgery in a “meaningful way,” Clifford said. This improvement was measured using several indicators of cardiovascular fitness including a six-minute walk test and improvements in peak oxygen uptake, which is a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise. “That’s important because your body needs oxygen to recover and to heal itself after surgery,” Clifford said. In a 2022 study included in the review, participants aged 45 to 85 undergoing major abdominal surgery were randomized to 14 sessions of HIIT over four weeks compared to standard care. Standard care typically would include general information about staying active and reducing alcohol and smoking before surgery, but not a specific training program, Clifford said. In the 2022 study, HIIT sessions involved about 30 minutes of stationary cycling. But instead of riding for 30 minutes straight, patients were told to alternate between one minute of high intensity cycling, with the goal of reaching 90 percent of maximum heart rate, and one minute of active recovery. The study, in which Clifford was a co-author, found significant improvement in peak oxygen uptake before surgery after just 12 to 14 sessions over four weeks. The overall findings of the larger meta-analysis were limited by the fact that not every study in the review relied on the same measures of fitness or used the same HIIT routines. Researchers often defined HIIT in different ways and while most exercise programs were less than four weeks, some interventions lasted six weeks or more. The medical issues faced by patients also varied. “Overall, I think it’s good to look at HIIT, specifically,” said Daniel McIsaac, an associate professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Ottawa who was not involved in the new review. “But I think the review leaves … [some] questions.” Not only did patients get fitter, HIIT exercises lowered risk for problems after surgery, Clifford said. The study found that the “prehab” HIIT exercises before surgery reduced the odds of postoperative complications by 56 percent, based on eight studies in the review that reported on after-surgery complications among 770 patients. In Clifford’s 2022 study, the researchers measured complications by personally seeing participants during the hospital stay and recording any complications. They also sent a follow-up questionnaire six weeks after the operation. Additionally, the review’s authors looked at length of hospital stay. Although the research suggested that High intensity ‘prehab’ exercise can help surgical recovery BY KELYN SOONG The Washington Post

HEALTH Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 47 HIIT exercise before surgery could reduce the length of hospital stay by about three days, the finding wasn’t statistically significant so firm conclusions couldn’t be drawn. McIsaac, who has conducted his own studies on prehabilitation exercise, notes that the studies in the review did not compare HIIT to other exercise interventions such as moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. A traditional prehab program would probably include three to five weeks of exercise like brisk walking, jogging, cycling or swimming, he said. It can’t be determined from the new review whether HIIT is more effective than other forms of exercise modalities for prehabilitation, but Clifford said her team is working on this research. “I think anybody getting ready for surgery, if they can increase the level of physical activity and improve their nutrition, they can expect that they’re likely going to have better outcomes after surgery,” McIsaac said. “This review suggests that if they’re interested in high intensity interval training, it could be a benefit to them. If they’re not, there’s probably just as much evidence or more that other more traditional forms of exercise would likely be just as beneficial.” High-intensity interval training can help patients improve their fitness and may reduce postoperative complications, according to a new review.

HEALTH 48 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Q. I know magnets are used for different bodily problems, but can they be used to alleviate mental disorders? A. There is a procedure known as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) that is used to treat moderate depression when medication and psychotherapy aren’t effective. TMS was developed in 1985. It has been studied as a possible treatment for depression and other disorders since the mid-1990s. In October 2008, TMS was approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for major depression for patients who have not responded to at least one antidepressant medication. It is used in other countries such as Canada and Israel as a treatment for depression. During TMS, doctors place an electromagnet against your head. The magnet creates powerful magnetic fields that work on the part of your brain that is responsible for mood control. Scientists don’t know how it works, but it appears that the stimulation changes how the brain functions. More study about TMS is needed. Some research demonstrated that TMS relieved depression; other studies showed that it wasn't effective. Transcranial magnetic stimulation may be less likely to work if the depression has lasted for more than four years, or a patient is suffering from a break from reality. TMS is usually an outpatient procedure. It can be done in a doctor’s office. Treatments are done daily for about 40 minutes, five times a week for four to six weeks. They do not require anesthesia. There are mild side effects that usually go away after a week of treatment. These include headache, tingling, feeling lightheaded and some scalp discomfort. Serious side effects are uncommon. During a procedure, you usually sit in a comfortable chair such as a recliner. A magnetic coil is placed on your head. When the magnet is turned on, short pulses are administered through the coil. You will feel tapping and hear clicking. The magnetic field is similar to that used by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. When the treatment is completed, you can return to your normal activities. The major advantages of TMS are safety and ease of treatment. The biggest drawbacks are that it doesn't help some patients, it can take several weeks to begin to work, and it is expensive. The cost can range from $6,000 to $10,000, depending on the clinic and how many sessions are needed. Insurance may not cover the cost of treatment. [In my next column, I’ll cover other brain-stimulation therapies.] Transcranial magnetic stimulation used to treat depression BY FRED CICETTI Columnist

HEALTH Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 49 Between 2014 and 2021, 78 foodborne disease outbreaks linked to leafy greens (mainly lettuce) were reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So if you’ve noticed recalls for lettuce contaminated with E. coli and listeria, you might be wondering whether the salad in your bowl is safe to eat. The good news: You don’t need to give up lettuce – leafy greens are highly nutritious. You just need to take a few precautions. Consumer Reports experts answer questions about the risks of bacteria in lettuce and how to minimize them. Q: How does lettuce get contaminated? A: There are a few ways. Irrigation water, which is necessary to grow crops in areas that don’t get a lot of rain, creates a pathway for contamination, especially if the lettuce field is near livestock farms. Cattle can carry deadly strains of E. coli, and their manure, which contains the bacteria, can seep into irrigation water and contaminate crops. Even when leafy greens are grown free of harmful bacteria, contamination can still occur during harvesting, processing or packaging. And because packaged salad greens are processed at a small number of facilities across the United States, bacteria such as listeria can easily spread from one batch to many. Q: Does washing lettuce remove bacteria? A: Not entirely. When bacteria such as E. coli come into contact with lettuce, they’re almost impossible to wash off completely. That’s often because bacteria can get inside the leaves of the greens as they’re growing, when contaminated water taken up by the roots is dispersed throughout the plant. What’s more, surface bacteria can adhere stubbornly to wrinkles and grooves in leaves. So whether the packaging says “triple-washed” or you wash it yourself, bacteria could still be present – and even a small amount can make you sick. Q: What about soaking greens in vinegar? A: It won’t eliminate bacteria, but some experts say that soaking your greens in white vinegar (or a vinegar-and-water solution) for about 10 minutes, then rinsing them with water, may help reduce bacteria levels. Your greens may retain a slightly vinegary taste, but most salad dressings contain vinegar anyway. Q: Are some types of lettuce safer than others? A: Because contamination can happen anywhere from farm to table, no single type of leafy green is risk-free. But hydroponic lettuces (which are greenhouse-grown) are less likely to be contaminated by bacteria from animal droppings. Their cleanliness depends on the source of the water used to grow them and whether proper safety practices are followed by the people who handle the greens, says James E. Rogers, Consumer Reports’ director of food safety research and testing. Whole heads of lettuce (instead of bagged greens) may also be safer. While whole heads don’t necessarily have lower bacteria levels than packaged greens, their inner leaves are less exposed to sources of contamination and are handled less than bagged greens. This reduces the opportunities for contamination. Q: What else can you do to make your lettuce safer? A: Bacteria multiply at room temperature, so it’s crucial to refrigerate bagged lettuce promptly. Salad ‘safety’: How to guard against germs in leafy greens BY KEVIN LORIA Consumer Reports and The Washington Post

50 Vero Beach 32963 / September 7, 2023 Your Vero Beach Newsweekly ™ TRAVEL For the first two decades of the 21st Century, Crystal Cruises regularly finished Number 1 in surveys of “world’s best” luxury cruise lines. We came a bit late to the party, taking more than 90 cruises on other lines before first trying the Crystal Serenity over Thanksgiving in 2018. But that cruise through the Panama Canal more than lived up to the raves we had heard from other travelers, and in the next three years, we sailed on Crystal five more times – persuading friends to join us on a couple of those voyages – before post-Covid financial troubles forced the line to abruptly shut down in 2022. Amid the spate of painful publicity that followed, we imagined we had seen the last of what had become our favorite luxury cruise line. Oh ye of little faith! Now, 18 months later, Crystal Serenity and its sister ship, Crystal Symphony, are sailing again – bought at auction by the owner of luxury tour operator Abercrombie & Kent, extensively renovated in an Italian shipyard, and put back into service as though they had never been away. But they have returned to a luxury cruise market that is more competitive than ever – not just jousting with the next generation of ships from old rivals Regent, SilverSea and Seabourn, but also facing sleek ultra-modern vessels from new entrants Ritz Carlton, Atlas and Explora. In late August, we revisited the made-over Serenity for an eightnight cruise from England to Iceland. So how does the updated Serenity, a classic among cruise ships, compare to luxury vessels that in many cases are newer, more amenity-packed, and generally glitzier. Well, Serenity has stood the test of time very well, and it has one thing these other ships don’t have – the best, most-caring, warmest, most genuine service staff at sea. When we were first told back in the spring that a majority of the employees of the old Crystal Serenity and Symphony would be returning to the ships, we thought: ‘Give us a break! They are going to come rushing back after being out of work for a year and a half? Or after finding jobs with other cruise lines?’ But amazingly, more than 82 percent of the Crystal “family” is back – a staff retention rate most cruise lines only dream of even during the best of times. Our super-attentive butler Engin, from Turkey, has spent here’s some good news If you are thinking about a luxury cruise, BY MILTON R. BENJAMIN | STAFF WRITER Serenity sets sail on its 2023 'maiden' voyage.